Touch of Evil - Cecy Robson Page 0,45

aren’t mineral deposits like in caves. It’s the same crap that makes up the wall.”

He presses his hand against my shoulder, driving me backward. I think he hears Una, until the walls splinter and crack. A large stalactite falls, and another. We double-back, returning to the small pathway as the opening of the cell we were just in collapses.

The sound of rushing water fills my ears and the cavern floor grows wet and cold. Panic threatens to consume me. We’re in a dark maze, filling with water, and no exits in sight.

“Bren,” I say.

“Don’t,” he tells me. “I’m going to get you out of here. I swear to God I will.”

Merche’s squeaks reverberate from further away and down toward the right. She’s in pain, and she’s scared, each sound sharpening to an ear-rupturing squeal.

The entire area shifts forward at an angle and we fall, the frigid water soaking my chest and legs and threating to split my bones.

Merche shrieks and shrieks, her terror adding to mine. I cover my ears, but I cannot muffle her torment.

Merche and Farrah were wrong to do what they did. But they didn’t deserve such a harsh end. I promised to help them if they helped me.

I promised!

Bren clasps my wrists and gently pulls them down. “Emme, we have to keep moving,” Bren tells me. “Come on, baby. There’s nothing we can do for her now.”

A harsh wave knocks me down when I try to stand.

Merche stops screaming.

Except for the increasing rush of water, there’s only silence.

Bren lifts me, steadying me when another wave strikes us and leaves us in waist-high water.

“We have to go back,” he says. He positions himself in front of me, moving us through the freezing enclosure as fast my feet will allow.

My teeth are rattling so hard, dull pressure builds along my jaw and head. I stir my healing touch awake, beating back the hypothermia setting in.

We cut left and then right, the rising water bites across my shoulders.

“I can’t change in here,” Bren tells me. “There’s not enough space. But if this place fills up with water, grab onto my neck. You hear me? I’ll get us back to where we were.”

I don’t question his tactics or ask him what we’ll do if that cell is gone, too. Bren’s fighting to get us out. I won’t distract him with stupid questions or blatant fear. Even if this fear is unlike any I’ve ever felt.

Bren rounds another corner and we force ourselves up an incline. The entire labyrinth has reformed. If it weren’t for his sense of direction and ability to reverse our steps, we would have perished where we last heard Merche.

“Do you think Merche is dead?” I ask.

“The mouse?” he asks. “I don’t know. She sounded hurt and this place is falling down around us. It doesn’t look good for her, Em. The vamp? I’m guessing that thing definitely found him.”

“If so, I can’t imagine he survived her,” I say.

“If it came down to a fight, probably not in his condition. ‘Cept it’s hard to tell anything in here for sure. Everything echoes in these tunnels and I lost track of him when he went after the mouse. All I know is that we’re on our own and we have to get out before that thing tracks us down.”

My body is trembling out of control when we finally reach the other cell. The shift in the wall caused the opening to widen, but it also allowed more water into the small space.

Farrah is gone and the pool has flooded the area in waist-deep water. Bren lifts me and places me on a section of stone wide enough to stand. He looks around for something he can work with, but there’s nothing. Just rock and water and sand.

I glance up at the clear ceiling when he does. A school of fish jet by, frightened and eager to escape from something more vicious and larger.

“She’s out there,” Bren says.

I nod and grip the side of the wall for balance when that touch of evil spirals into a storm of terror. “I can feel her. She’s coming.” I start to climb down. “Should we hide?”

He shakes his head. “No. She knows we’re here, just like she knows we’re trapped. I can get us to the surface, Emme. But I’m not sure we’ll make it before she sees us, and no way will she just let us swim to shore.” He meets me square in the face. “We’re going to have to