A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1) - Kevin Hearne Page 0,224

time that I was sorry for how they died, for not being there to help, for not keeping them safe. And then I remembered to be thankful for the time I did have with them, for it truly had been a blessing.

“It’s all over now, though,” I said, and dived into Bryn’s Lung.

The shock of the cold stole most of my breath away immediately, escaping from my mouth in startled bubbles, but I kicked and parted the water with my hands, trying to push it behind me and force my body down, and then I opened my eyes to search for the light. There was none, but I kept kicking and stroking, and after a few more seconds I saw a dull gleam in the center of my vision. I kept swimming and wondered if I would reach it, but it grew in size with each passing moment. It didn’t get any brighter, however—just bigger.

My lungs burned to suck in a deep gulp of oxygen and my muscles cried out for energy, and I hadn’t even made it to the cave yet. Did everyone simply drown in the chimney and then get flushed into the ocean, turning Seekers into metaphorical turds? I wanted to see the cave, at least, before I drowned, so I kept going even though my arms and legs were turning into weak noodles and I was chilled to the bone.

The glow of the light abruptly expanded in my vision, extending off to my left and continuing below me until I realized I was seeing the outline of the cave, illuminated in green and blue and occasional pinpoints of white. Immediately to my right was the back wall of the cave, its bare rock beneath my fingers and devoid of any life. Fleetingly I wondered why the back would be lifeless while the walls and ceiling were covered, but that thought was pushed out by the sight of the cave floor and the silhouettes of bodies floating just above it. Drowned Seekers, including the man who’d jumped in before me—I’d be joining them shortly as my lungs couldn’t take it anymore. And on the cave floor, a carpet of bones and flesh picked over by crabs and eels and other scavengers. No bladefins, though, or larger predators; the blessed must keep them out somehow. And they must also periodically clear away some of the debris or the cave would be choked with remains before long.

I couldn’t hold my breath any longer and the cave mouth and surface were so very far away, but I had seen what I wished to see, and that was enough: the mystery of Bryn’s Lung was revealed to my eyes, and there was no longer any need to struggle. I would give my body to the sea and eventually be borne by currents across the world. My mouth opened reflexively to gasp for air, and I welcomed the expected rush of seawater into my lungs, except that I actually drew breath instead. That first gasp was followed by another, and another, and not a single drop of water entered my mouth or my nose. It was singularly odd to be completely submerged, to feel water on my very eyeballs, yet somehow breathe only air through my mouth and nose. I was treading water, trying to figure out where the air was coming from, when a hand latched on to my hair and pulled.

There was some spirited movement after that.

The hand belonged to another Seeker swimming down through the chimney: the one who’d been behind me in line and who couldn’t breathe in the water like most humans. I saw a flash of pleading eyes in the murk—terrified, really—as she tried to grab on to me and follow me wherever I was going. Not a logical move since I wasn’t going anywhere, but she was panicked and rethinking her decision to drown at the worst possible time.

Belatedly, I realized that since I could somehow breathe and the water did not seem so cold anymore, I quite possibly could save her, and I bunched my legs against the back wall and pushed off, grasping her arm and trying to pull her along with me. My speed was far less impressive than I had hoped.

She went slack and dead before I had managed four lengths, and reluctantly I let her go. I would never make it to the surface in time to revive her, and it reminded me once again of how I’d failed my