Worse, it wasn't only filled with glass, rocks and other dangerous debris. It had also carried along the minions and Vritra with it. Three snakes popped their heads out of the water next to me, and I lunged away just in time. Adrian released Costa and grabbed the snakes, tearing their heads off with a brutal yank. I screamed when three more appeared in the water behind him. He whirled, grabbing them and tearing, but too late. One of them latched on to his arm and those deadly fangs sank in.
"No!" I shouted.
Adrian grimaced as he pulled the snake head off his arm and threw it aside. I tried to run to him, but the water was now up to my chest, and I tripped over objects it hid from my view. Then Vritra emerged from the frothing waves. Decapitated snake heads swirled around him as he grabbed Adrian, his features a mask of rage. Adrian fought, but his movements were terrifyingly uncoordinated and his eyes looked unfocused.
The poison, I realized in horror. Adrian was half-demon, so most things couldn't kill him, but other demons could and, maybe, so could demon poison.
Arms grabbed me around the waist and pulled. Hard. I kicked to get free, but with everything shifting from the rising water, I lost my balance. Those arms pulled me under, and for a few frantic seconds, I fought to break the surface. My assailant kept dragging me back down, and amid my panic over lack of oxygen, I realized my error.
Instead of fighting to break the surface, I grabbed my assailant. Water blunted the effect of my punches and made my slingshot useless. My only advantage was that it also blunted the punches and kicks from the minion I was grappling with. I had to do something else. Fast.
With my lungs burning for oxygen, I felt around until I reached his face. It was easy to find, since he bit me viciously as soon as I grazed it. Instead of trying to pull free, I used my trapped hand as a map, and then shoved my thumb into his eye as hard as I could.
Frenzied kicking and fighting ensued. I absorbed every painful blow and held on, shoving my thumb deeper and twisting. Those movements abruptly stopped and I twisted free, taking in huge gulps of air as soon as I cleared the surface.
"Ivy!" my sister screamed. I sloshed around, seeing her and Costa much farther ahead. The force of the water had swept them and several minions into the mine, but Adrian and Vritra were still in this chamber, and I was horrified by what I saw.
Vritra's hands were wrapped around Adrian's neck. Adrian was trying to pry the demon's hands free, but his eyelids were fluttering and he looked to be fading.
"You tore my throat out once," the demon hissed. "It's time I repaid you for that."
I lunged toward them, desperation allowing me to cut through the water with more power than I should have had. Then, because I had nothing else to use and Adrian's eyes were closing with a terrifying finality, I looped the sling around Vritra's head, planted my feet in his back and pulled with all of my might.
I fell backward into the water so suddenly that I was sure I'd failed. Then something bobbed against my chest, and I stared down at Vritra's decapitated head. His mouth was still moving in curses as his skin blackened and caved inward, then his head disappeared and ashes filled the water around me.
I swam over to Adrian. Ashes blackened his throat from Vritra's hands, but that was quickly washed away in the swirling water. It had risen until I could no longer feel the ground, and the ceiling was only a few feet away.
"Adrian!" I said, shaking him. His eyes fluttered and he smiled, but his veins were starting to turn black as the poison worked its way through his body.
I pulled him with me as I swam, keeping his head above the water. The only place left to go was the mine shaft where the staff was located. From the little I remembered of it, it went back a long way, so it might buy us time before the water reached the ceiling and drowned us all. Plus, once I crossed through the doorway, I wouldn't be thinking about anything except finding the staff.
Maybe that was a good thing, I grimly decided as I swam toward the mine shaft. The only way any of us would survive was if these waters suddenly, miraculously receded, and there was only one item in the world that could cause them to do that. It might kill me to use it, but if I didn't, we were all dead anyway, and if I was going down, I'd rather go down fighting.
I tightened my grip on Adrian and pushed us toward the doorway to the mine. Right before we crossed it, the entire cavern filled with light.
Zach appeared in the center of the water. Light radiated from the sword in his hand, growing in brightness, until the blade shone like a lightning bolt. He used it with ruthless accuracy, hacking into every minion that the rushing river swept his way. Ashes blackened the water and screams echoed in the mine as the minions tried to fight the current to swim away. They couldn't. Faster than my eye could follow, Zach hacked them to pieces, somehow not hindered at all by the chest-deep water.