vaguely of smoke and dirty feet, which was a rather gross combination that made the big breaths I had to take even more uncomfortable. I wrinkled my nose, hating that I was breathing harder because I was packing Penny. But the thing was, I didn’t trust Jacob or Louis to take her, Missy couldn’t, and I wasn’t sure when Robert would suddenly turn back into a skeleton.
So me it was.
“Girl, this feels like the wrong way,” Penny said. “You sure about that ex of yours? Would he turn on you for any reason?”
The tunnel had leveled out, but it wasn’t going back up as if it would take us out of the ground. I swallowed hard. Would Alan turn on me? If the necromancer offered to restore him to life, he might. Crap.
“Alan,” I called out softly, trying to keep my tone nice. But there was no answer.
He wasn’t there. I frowned. Screw nice. “Alan, get your ass back here!”
Nothing.
Damn it all, I should have murdered him myself.
24
The realization that Alan had likely turned on me for some cheap trip off the necromancer really made the whole lost in a tunnel at an old amusement park bit that much worse. I mean, it hadn’t been great to start with, let’s be honest.
Jacob held up a hand. Behind us came the thumps of the alligators making the slide down the slope. I yelped as a scaled body thumped into the backs of my ankles. “Nope, not today, Satan!”
I all but sprinted forward, taking me and Penny well past Jacob, even hip checking Missy along the way, not on purpose, of course.
All of which was a terrible idea.
Because there was a cliff edge in front of us that I hadn’t seen in the semi-darkness.
And Penny and I went straight over it.
She grabbed me harder around the neck, which caused instant strangulation. I couldn’t draw breath, which meant I was already hurting for air by the time we hit the water.
The cold water rolled over us both and Penny let go. I didn’t reach the bottom, but as I turned myself around to swim to the top my feet brushed something solid. I pushed off it, and it instantly gave way.
Not in the way of mud, but like something that was alive and swimming around under me.
I panicked and swam hard for the surface, the briny liquid working its way into my mouth as I tried not to scream underwater. Breaking through the surface, I turned toward the only visible light in that cold, dark, wet place, and swam hard toward it. I wasn’t going to think about what was in the water with us.
Not alligators.
Something large came off the cliff and hit the water, the sound putting a fire under my butt.
“Swim faster!” Jacob yelled unnecessarily from somewhere up above. “Swim faster!”
Panic clawed at my insides and I had a moment of fear that I was going to pee myself. Never mind, it wasn’t like anyone would be able to see anyway. I let loose, hoping that maybe alligators didn’t like pee. One could hope for a small miracle.
Ahead of me, I could just see Penny drag herself out of the water and up a rocky embankment. She was out at least.
Ten feet from shore, I reached down with my foot and hit solid ground. Another five feet, and I was in waist deep water.
Three feet out, a set of jaws clamped down on my left ankle and calf and yanked me off balance. I hit the water a second time with a much smaller splash, the ground knocking the wind out of me for a split second when I hit.
“Fuck!” I screamed as I got my air again, and the gator dragged me backward. I managed to grab onto an outcropping of rock, but the gator’s teeth were still crushing my ankle, driving spikes of pain up my leg that made me forget every other ache and pain I’d been dealt in the last few months. The water thrashed around us, and I was plunged under for several seconds before I managed to pull my head back up for a quick breath.
Over and over, I was dunked. I could hear Penny cursing, and I mentally cursed with her. It wouldn’t be long before my foot was just amputated with a mighty tear of the gator’s jaws. Fatigue set in, and my hand slipped. Only my fingertips held me back from certain death. A splash sounded beside me, and I went under