“Up here,” Temi called back, her voice barely audible over the roaring water.
“Simon?”
“Here, but—” His words were cut off in a gargled choking.
I fumbled at my belt for the flashlight. The chamber was filling fast, with the water already creeping up to my thighs. We’d need to climb back up to the other alcove room—it was at a higher elevation—but I had to round everyone up first.
I swept my flashlight beam toward Simon, glad we’d shelled out the bucks for waterproof tools. He’d been swept halfway through the chamber, toward the pool at the back end. The pool’s borders had been buried beneath the deluge, and now water covered most of the chamber. Simon was clinging to the bottom of a stalactite, his legs stretched out behind him, the water threatening to carry him away. Away where, I didn’t know, but a strong current sucked at my legs.
A second beam of light joined mine—Temi’s. She’d also found a column, hers at the first alcove. The water only reached her knees.
“We need to go in that direction,” I called to Simon and pointed at her.
“No problem,” he sputtered, “if you’ll just turn off the faucet...”
I patted my belt, relieved to find the bullwhip hadn’t been torn away by the encroaching water. “Give me a second. I have an idea.”
“Jakatra!” Eleriss called again, panic in his voice. It was the first time I’d heard concern or any intense emotion at all from him. Even when the creature had been attacking Jakatra, he’d remained calm.
He produced a light of his own, his beam thinner than ours and brighter, as if he had the sun harnessed in whatever tool he was using. It hardly mattered. All it showed was the chamber filling up. Jakatra was gone, sucked down into some drainage hole at the base of that pool.
“I have to go after him,” Eleriss called, speaking to me. “You need to find the sword. It’s the only tool left on this world that can fight the jibtab and those that will come after.”
Ugh, did I look like I was in charge? Why?
He kept looking at me, waiting for an answer.
“I’m not sure where it went down, but I’ll try to find it.” All those years on swim team had to be good for something. I hoped.
Eleriss nodded once, then let go of his perch. The water immediately swept him toward the far wall, then pulled him under. I had no idea where it was taking him—to some underground reservoir with no oxygen for all I knew—or if I’d ever see him again.
A concern for later.
The water had climbed to my waist, and Simon was still trying to improve his hold on the stalactite.
“Here, catch the end.” I loosed the whip, hoping the popper would reach him.
A good notion in theory, but I wasn’t directly upstream from him, and the water swept the thong away from him as soon as it touched the surface. I tried again, this time trying to wrap the popper around the stalactite itself. The stone was too far away and too thick, and the whip nearly smacked Simon in the face, but he released his grip long enough to try and grab it.
His other hand slipped and fell away from the stalactite. His head disappeared beneath the water.
My breath hitched. I was about to uselessly shout his name, but then a weight on the other end of the whip almost pulled me out of the alcove. Only jamming my leg against the other column kept me from flowing out with the water. I feared I didn’t have the strength to wind Simon in, but his head popped above the surface. He gasped and started pulling himself up the whip, hand over hand.
I kept my foot braced against one column and gripped the other with my free hand. The end of my flashlight was between my teeth. If not for Temi’s beam, I wouldn’t have been able to see a thing.
It might have only taken Simon ten seconds to pull his way up to the alcove, but it seemed like minutes. Both my arm and leg were quaking, but I refused to think of letting go. With a great surge of energy, Simon hauled his body the last couple of feet and wedged himself into the corner of the alcove.
“That’s the... only problem with... Arizona,” he said, gasping for air between words. “The blasted monsoons.”
“I figured someone from a rain forest would be familiar with such things,” I said, even as I peeked around my column to meet Temi’s eyes. I waved the whip. “Ready?” The water had grown too deep to wade through without assistance. We’d have to use the whip’s help to claw our way up to her next.
“It’s more gradual in rain forests,” Simon said. “A little bit each day instead of all at once.”
“Well you’re the one who thought it’d be a good idea to leave.” I cast the end of the whip toward Temi. As with Simon, it took a few tries before I got it close enough for long enough that she could snatch it. By now, the water was hugging my ribcage.