Chapter 236
Chapter 236
Chapter 236
Chapter 237
ARIA
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I held Ivory’s weight with strength that should have been impossible, my fingers were locked around her wrist with a grip that held on tight to her despite the strain it should have been causing. No matter what happened, I wasn’t going to let my partner meet her end here.
My newly awakened bloodline was doing something to my body, giving me boosters to strength that I never imagined I was capable of, always knew that I was weaker than most wolves, but all my life I assumed it was because that was how it is, just too weak to survive here, but whatever happened to me, that transformed my body was enhancing it in ways I didn’t fully understand yet, giving me capabilities that went far beyond what I’d possessed just hours ago.
Below us, I could hear water rushing. Not a gentle stream but a full flowing river, moving fast enough to create rapids waves, slamming itself against the walls, the sound echoing up from the darkness with a roar that suggested that it had a lot of depth and the current were dangerous to navigate easily. This wasn’t an illusion, this was the kind of water that could kill you just from the force of being thrown against rocks repeatedly, even if you were an excellent swimmer.
The spiders were seconds away. I could see their front ranks entering the chamber now, their bodies too large to move quickly in the confined tunnel but still advancing with determination to rip us into shreds.
Behind them, more spiders piled up, creating a living wall of venomous obstacle and threat that would reach us long before my grip failed or Ivory found the strength to pull herself back up.
“Let go,” Ivory said through gritted teeth, her body still dangling over the pit, her eyes meeting mine with grim calculation. “Drop into the water. It’s our only chance p>
“The current could kill us,” I protested, even as I felt my grip beginning to slip from her sweat-slicked wrist. The enhanced strength was helping, but physics was physics-I couldn’t maintain this position forever, especially not with my still-healing injuries.
“The spiders will definitely kill us,” Ivory countered, her voice sharp with urgency. “Choose the maybe-death over the certain-death. Let go.
She was right. We had no good options, only degrees of terrible. Staying here meant being eaten by giant venomous spiders. Dropping into the river meant maybe surviving if we were lucky and skilled and the Ghost Council hadn’t made the water section completely unsurvivable.
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Chapter 236
I released my grip.
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We plunged into darkness, falling for what felt like forever but was probably only seconds. My stomach lurched as gravity took over, as the ground disappeared beneath us, as we dropped toward water I couldn’t see and impacts I couldn’t predict.
I hit the water hard enough to drive the air from my lungs. The cold shocked my system- not freezing exactly, but far colder than surface water should have been, this was the kind of temperature that existed only deep underground where sunlight never reached. The current grabbed me immediately, pulling me into its chaos before I could even orient myself to which direction was up.
I tumbled underwater, lost all sense of direction as the current threw me around like a rag doll. My injured abdomen screamed in protest as I was battered against submerged rocks, the stitches Ivory had so carefully placed pulling and straining but still holding. My lungs burned, demanding air I couldn’t access, panic trying to override rational thought as I struggled to find the surface.
Then my head broke through and I gasped desperately, sucking in air mixed with spray, my arms flailing to keep myself afloat even as the current continued dragging me downstream at terrifying speed.
Somewhere nearby, I could hear Ivory’s similar gasping, could sense her partner’s presence even if I couldn’t see her in the darkness. The bioluminescent fungi didn’t grow down here- this was absolute blackness, navigation impossible, survival dependent entirely on instinct and luck and whatever capabilities my awakened bloodline was providing.
“Aria!” Ivory’s voice reached me over the roar of water. “Stay near the surface! Don’t fight the
our head up!” current-let it take you but keep your
I tried to follow her instructions, tried to stop struggling against the inevitable and focus instead on breathing whenever air was available.
The river threw us through rapids that sounded like thunder, each drop and surge threatening to pull me under permanently, I crashed against rocks that appeared from nowhere, felt impacts that would have broken bones if my wolf constitution hadn’t been enhanced by whatever had awakened in my bloodline.
The current dragged me under again and I tum led, couldn’t tell which way was up, my Jungs burning as I searched desperately for air. Then something grabbed me-Ivory’s hand finding mine in the darkness, pulling me toward where she’d found the surface. We broke through together, both gasping, both barely keeping our heads above water as the river continued its relentless downstream assault.
“Stay together!” Ivory shouted, her grip on my hand painful but necessary. “Don’t let go p>
I had no intention of letting go. Her hand was the only solid thing in this chaos, the only
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Chapter 236
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confirmation that I wasn’t alone in this nightmare of cold and darkness and water trying to kill us.
The river threw us through section after section of rapids, each one threatening to separate us, each one battering our bodies against submerged obstacles. My wound was throbbing constantly now, not reopened but definitely aggravated by the ordeal. I could feel exhaustion. trying to claim me, could feel my muscles burning from the sustained effort of keeping my head above water.
Then the river opened up.
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