The truck’s trailer slammed metal, bending it outwards.
When it finally came to rest with a shudder, the cab faced north, like a dog peering over its shoulder.
In a daze, people exited their vehicles.
Several walked to the rail overlooking blue-gray water. The scream of sirens could be heard approaching from the other side of the tunnel; the dull thud of news and police helicopters grew audible overhead.
All of the onlookers simply stared down at the lake’s depths, at the rings of wavelets forming a perfect circle in the otherwise calm surface. They all looked at that same spot in the water in the center of those rings, searching for the thing they had witnessed smash through a two foot guardrail and fly out over an early morning sky.
But the GTX was nowhere to be seen.
Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure, Magic
10
SEATTLE
Cold green shimmered around me, clouds of sand and rising bubbles.
My mind flashed to Monterey Bay Aquarium as a kid, seeing the jellyfish on the other side of the glass as they opened, closed, opened, closed...but this time, glass and metal trapped me inside the tank and freezing cold water, instead of the other way around.
Still feeling dazed and only half-there, I grappled with the car door until fingers gripped my arm, causing me to turn. Once I did, I saw Revik through the green water, eyes open, his long fingers seemingly drained of blood. The knuckles of his other hand bled in red clouds and the window frame behind him bled upwards into the water from an odd-shaped smear, like watching a film happen in reverse.
No Barrier, he sent, so softly I barely heard him.
My mind, everything about me, remained oddly calm.
I squeezed his arm to let him know I understood.
I’ve always been able to see well in water.
Revik hit the locking mechanism of his seat belt clumsily, rising to thump up against the roof of the car as the belt slid off his chest. It was only then that I realized the car was still sinking. Blood swirled around us from his his head and hand. He pedaled his arms to reach me, grabbing for the strap of my own seatbelt, fumbling with the clasp and hitting the button to unlock it from around my body...which still hadn’t occurred to me for some reason.
He got it undone, then held me to keep me from rising too fast.
My body hurt...badly enough to bring the first real flickers of fear.
My limbs only half-cooperated as I jerkingly swam for the open driver’s side window at the prompting of his hands. I’d always been able to hold my breath under water for a long time, too. Jon would time me at the community pool when we were kids, taking bets...but now I was starting to worry about air. I had no idea how far down we were.
I pedaled through bubbles like a crippled dog, aiming my body at the window.
Shards of glass nicked my cheeks and arms...then grated on my leg until I jerked away from the edges of the window frame, emitting a garbled sound as I kicked my way through.
Then I was on the other side, in open water.
I watched the car roof and hood as the GTX sank below me.
Revik swam past me then and I felt his fingers tug my arm, pulling on me to follow.
Looking up, I glimpsed rays and sparkles of light through chunks of green plant matter, remembered anti-drowning training and followed the bubbles. The tugging on my arm grew less once I was swimming alongside him...until I saw clouds and patches of blue sky through a window of clear water. Then he pulled me roughly sideways, guiding me under the surface before I could reach the open air.
By the time he let me rise, I was panicking for real, fighting to pry off his fingers, and the sunlight was gone.
He didn’t let go until we breached the surface together, gasping.
Once I’d filled my lungs with air, choking out the water I’d inhaled, I looked up. We were under the bridge. Land lay a few hundred meters behind where I watched Revik tread water. I glanced at it, saw mostly greenery and rocks, then looked back at Revik himself, watching him gasp to regain his own breath. Massive cement pillars stood to either side of us, and the thundering sound of cars on the bridge overhead echoed over the water.
The sound touched a memory in me.
Something about it brought a wave of fear, and I shivered.
I was still staring up at the underside of the overpass, when Revik’s fingers circled my arm. I felt an apology there, but also fear, enough to take my breath. He looked different with his hair slicked back, and for an instant, I could only stare at his face. I almost didn’t recognize him with how pale he was, exaggerated by the wet hair and the blood on the side of his head.
Only his eyes and mouth looked the same.
“Don’t go into the Barrier.” He was having more trouble than me regaining his breath, and I watched him struggle to speak. “Not even a little, Allie. If they find us––”