Triss had fought Hoots twice now, and it seemed the monster had finally left her alone. But she couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t just waiting for her to enter the water where it would have the advantage of surprise, so Triss waited and watched as her one remaining lamp slowly dimmed.
The light should have lasted longer than this. The batteries must have been dodgy or something. It didn’t matter though, Triss obeyed the rule of thirds. She was now two lamps down, but she still had her glow sticks as back up. Instead of immediately cracking one though, she let the light fade and the darkness slowly envelope her. Only the faint glow of her watch, air meter, and tank gauges remained, each component producing a faint eerie greenish glow, just enough to remind her of where she was.
But even with enough light, she was pretty certain that at this point she didn’t have enough air for a proper decompression.
If Odessa had made it out then she would bring help for Nico first, and if she hadn’t made it out, well then there wasn’t much hope for the rest of them.
So Triss waited.
And nothing came.
Several times she considered entering the water and making a run for the exit. The first time she’d jumped in after Hoots she had barely survived. She’d pulled the monster back with her powers as Odessa had disappeared into the tunnel, but Triss had lost her main headlamp in the ensuing scuffle and gouged her leg escaping the monster’s claws when she’d retreated to the air pocket. Up here she had more control of her powers as well as better visibility. Given the speed that Hoots had moved Triss hadn’t dared entered the water again. She hoped at least that she had bought Odessa some time.
Her leg throbbed. The creature’s fingernails had cut deep, but at least it seemed like it had stopped bleeding.
All she could hear in the darkness was her own breath.
What was taking so long?
The air in here would not last forever. She estimated a few days at most. And it wouldn’t be the lack of oxygen that got her. The carbon dioxide would build up long before the oxygen got low enough to cause hypoxia. Right now the gas meter was reading safe levels but she was sure that would change over the next several hours.
She’d been on enough rescues to get an idea for how fast responses typically were. It was possible that Odessa had gotten out and the monster was still out there, wasn’t it? Triss didn’t think so. Not given the time it would take to decompress. More likely grandma was just waiting for her in the water. Time was on Hoot’s side.
Triss needed to make a decision. Wait for rescue or risk the water?
If help was coming then waiting was safer. They could bring her more air. But if not, then she had only one option, an option which also likely ended in death. Still, if she was going to die in here, it was better to go out fighting. And the earlier she made her attempt the better. The longer she waited the the more fatigued she would get. If she had any chance of getting out of her on her own, she needed to do it now.
With a deep breath, Triss decided she’d waited long enough.
Silently, she reattached all her equipment. She reached for a glow stick, and then she hesitated. While a lot of her gauges produced their own soft light, it was nowhere near as bright as what cracking that glow stick would be. She would need the light to navigate the tight tunnel but from here to its entrance she knew roughly where to go. Perhaps a stealth approach would be better? She could crack one once she was closer to it. Surely even monsters could get bored from waiting too long? Maybe she’d get lucky and it wouldn’t be paying much attention.
In almost darkness, Triss slipped silently into the water. She made not a sound or single splash. She remembered how well Hoots could hear, and as she entered the water another horrible thought crossed her mind. What if there was more than one of them?
But she’d made her decision. There was no going back now.
She lined herself up with where she knew the tunnel to be, and then she kicked off in that direction, into inky blackness that swallowed her whole.
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Odessa awoke screaming.
Arms grabbed her and pulled her back.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Chaser whispered in her ear as he wrapped her in a tight hug.
They’d fallen asleep on top of the duvet, fully dressed, in a small motel room in town that Odessa didn’t know the name of.
She pulled herself upright and rubbed her eyes, trying to clear the image of Nico’s green one’s from her own.
“It’s okay, you’re safe,” Chaser told her in that calming voice of his.
But it was too calm. Odessa just wanted to scream some more and she wanted him to scream with her. But it wouldn’t solve anything. Didn’t change anything. What she really wanted was to go back and save them.
“Could we time travel?” Odessa asked once she’d regained her bearings.
Chaser pulled himself upright and looked at her. “What?”
“That’s... that’s a power people have right?”
Chaser nodded but she could see in his expression that the sadness remained. Her suggestion gave him no hope. “Do you know a sandman?” he asked.
She frowned, not familiar with the term.
“A time traveller,” Chaser clarified.
Odessa shook her head. She did not. She knew it was a rare power, but then so was mindwalking. She reached down the front of her t-shirt and pulled up Bob’s infusement that she was still wearing around her neck. “But don’t they make infusements from it, like this?”
This time Chaser’s expression changed. “Where did you get that?” he asked with an intensity that was unusual for him.
“It was Bob’s. He dropped it I think, before she got him.”
Chaser held his hand out for it so Odessa took it off her neck and handed it to him. She watched his expression soften back into a sad look again.
He sighed and shook his head. “Maybe if we had a new Kevin. Even these are rare, expensive. And time travel doesn’t work like you think it does. It’s also highly illegal.”
“How would they even know?”
“Oh, trust me, they’d know. That’s not the issue though. To find someone selling them requires interacting with the worst kinds of people. Anyway, even if you could get one you’d need to know how to use it and I don’t. That’s more of a Bob thing.” He caressed the jade infusement sadly.
She watched him for a moment and then she asked, “Chaser, how come we didn’t see what they were planning? Why didn’t we read it in their minds. We had that.”
He gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Remember how I told you about masking your thoughts?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah well that, plus it’s kind of rude to just read someone’s mind without their permission unless you actually suspect them of planning to kill you.” After a brief consideration he quipped, “Most people don’t think as loud as you.”
She glared at him and then smiled, for a second she was in the moment, the last few days forgotten.
He grinned when he saw her smile. “That’s the Odessa I know. I missed that smile.”
At his words it all came crashing back again and her smile vanished.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
So did his.
Then with a soft sigh he turned, slid off the bed, and headed toward the ensuite.
He’d taken his shirt off before he’d fallen asleep and as he walked to the bathroom, Odessa’s eye caught sight of the tips of the tally marks tattooed into his lower back, peeking out above the rim of his trousers.
“You’re going to need to add another line to your tattoo,” she told him observationally, her voice cracking just a little.
Chaser stopped and for a moment she thought she’d upset him because he didn’t immediately turn and look at her. But then he glanced back, a strange expression on his face, followed by a smile. He replied, “Yeah, I guess I do.”
----------------------------------------
Chaser’s smile vanished the moment he closed the bathroom door. Once Odessa could no longer see him, his whole body deflated. Then he leaned against the bathroom doom and closed his eyes. He felt like the world hadn’t stopped spinning. His body cried out for rest, for contemplation, for a re-evaluation. But he’d done enough of that to know that it didn’t lead anywhere good, not for him. He knew if he just kept pushing forward, chasing the next thing, eventually this would all just be a distant memory, a moment lost to time, no more pivotal than any other. Eventually, everything dies.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t try and make some things last a little longer. He’d be alright. He knew that. It was Odessa he was worried about. She’d never lost anyone like this, not people she’d known quite so well, and never in her presence.
He looked up and caught sight of his own reflection in the mirror. In his right hand he still clutched the mindwalking infusement he’d taken from her. His fingers graced its surface carefully. He could see, could tell from a quick glance at her thoughts that she was already considering returning home. He knew she would not be happy there. Her parents were like his. They loved her but they didn’t know her. They couldn’t help her. Couldn’t give her that spark of life back. His fingers gripped the infusement tighter. Did he really think he knew her any better?
He turned around so his back faced the mirror. He could see the tally marks there. Nine in total. Perhaps he would need to add another? But he had promised himself he would never do that again.
What had he told Odessa they represented? The number of time he’d found life? What a joke. Except, it hadn’t been entirely untrue. In a way they did represent the number of times he’d found life, it just wasn’t his life he’d been referring to. He’d meant what he had said to Odessa, and he knew, if she quit on this life it would be like she’d died too.
But was that just his own perspective or hers? Chaser had to be sure.
His fingers reached back around and found the first two marks he’d added to his skin. His parents had fought so much over the son they’d never understood. They’d been much happier once they’d forgotten he ever existed. And the next four? The climbers who had lured him away from the edge of oblivion, had started him down his path to a happier life. He had owed them. They didn’t need to remember the way their friend’s face had splatted open on the rocks they had loved.
He still had his own infusement but it was nearly out of juice. There was not enough energy left in it to do what he would need to do. Odessa had just handed him the one thing that might just let him help her.
----------------------------------------
Beneath a full moon, a white hand thrust upward and out of the watery abyss known as the Goblin’s Grotto. Triss pulled herself out of the water gasping for air. She’d done the last few minutes without any oxygen in her tanks. She’d lasted as long as she could, giving herself the best chance of survival. No monster had gotten her, but decompression sickness still might.
She pulled herself to her feet, intending to quickly grab another tank and go back down to finish of her decompression. If she was fast enough she’d be okay. But the scene before her was not what she’d been expecting.
Blood and guts covered the campsite. She could smell it. She’d breathed in with that first gasp of what should have been fresh air. Instead she’d almost choked on something rotten. In the bright light of the moon she could see that some sort of explosion had occurred.
“Shit!” She swore as her eyes swept the area and she realised that the gas tanks appeared to have been at the centre of it.
Only one set remained intact and it lay in a different location, in the direction of the road. One of the vehicles was gone. Evidentially Odessa had made it out.
As she felt a dizziness sweeping over her, Triss went for the tanks Odessa had dropped. Whatever was left in them would give her a little more time. At the very least a few more minutes of holding her breath at 3 metres might just save her life.
She was back in the water seconds later and she was relieved to find that the tanks actually contained some remaining air. She waited at 3 metres, trying to think through what she had seen on the surface. Odessa had gotten out hadn’t she? What else could explain the tanks and the missing vehicle. But then if that was the case, where was she? Why hadn’t she come back?
There was another problem now too. As Triss looked down into the hole beneath her, she wondered what she would find when she could finally get down to her brother. He’d had extra air but she’d been waiting for hours already. Or maybe Odessa had gotten him out? Except, while Triss did not know Odessa that well, she had no doubt that her brother would not have left her alone.
She ran out of air before her decompression was complete but it bought her some time. Once more she surfaced gasping and then choking. Exhausted, she collapsed onto the grass near what once was the fire pit. Around her, the stink of blood was overwhelming.
Her plan once she got out had originally been to go back in for Nico but with no tanks remaining, that was no longer an option.
She closed her eyes. She was so tired. A part of her urged herself to get up, reminded herself that if there was a chance that Nico was still alive then she needed to move. Needed to get some air tanks and get back down there now. But her body refused.
In her mind she heard her father’s words. An echo of another time.
‘You’re going to be a great diver some day.’
She forced herself to open her eyes.
When she did, she found herself face to face with grandma Hoots.
Triss shot upright, her heart pumping fast. It took her a few seconds to realise it was just grandma’s Hoot’s head, without the body. It was lying near an overturned camp chair, staring lifelessly with glassy eyes.
Triss no longer felt tired anymore. She picked herself to her feet and went in search of the keys. She would find air tanks in town no matter who she had to wake up, and then she would be back.
----------------------------------------
“What about necromancy?” Odessa asked Chaser the next morning. She was sitting at the little table in front of the motel room, staring out at the desert.
“Huh?”
“What if we went back and got their... got them out of the hole and... or are you going to tell me that’s illegal too?”
Chaser sighed and took the other seat. “No, it’s not, not if you’re licensed and professionally trained. It does need to be done within an hour though. Otherwise you get zombies and... something else, I forgot what it was... something beginning with a g?”
“Goblins?” Odessa asked.
Chaser shook his head. “No...”
She noticed his empty hands. “I thought you were going to get coffee and breakfast?”
“We’re out of money.”
“Kevin didn’t even pay us?”
“Apparently not.”
“Oh. Well take my card.” She started digging about for her wallet.
“I did.”
“Oh.”
She stared silently out at the desert. She knew what she needed to do. She needed to post a new video online. That always brought in more funds, but somehow today, she just didn’t have the heart for it. Or any of the footage they’d recorded. It was as if her friends last moments had been erased along with the film. Riftgate had taken everything.
Suddenly she realised that Chaser was giving her a funny look.
“What?” she asked.
He turned to look out at the desert. “It’s pretty here isn’t it?”
“I guess.”
“You want to go climbing in the Thornwall Peaks? We could climb The Gap. Maybe you could invite that Silas guy you like so much?”
Odessa made an attempt at half a smile. “I don’t know.”
“Hey, Odie?”
“Yeah?”
“You know how I told you what my tally tattoo was for?”
“Yeah?”
He hesitated, gave her face a good study, then after a moment’s silence he smiled and shook his head. “Never mind.”
There was quiet again.
Finally Odessa spoke. “We need to tell the world what happened here. And notify everyone’s parents.”
Chaser frowned. “The monster’s dead. There wouldn’t be any point. Nothing to warn them about.”
“It would bring people closure,” she countered.
He sighed and stared out at the desert. “People don’t want closure. They want happiness. They’re better off not knowing. Let them think their loved ones are alive a little longer. I’m sure the town will make a cover story anyway.”
“You’d just let them get away with it?”
Chaser was silent a moment. “Bringing attention to it will just make things worse. You want to reiterate in detail everything that’s happened over the last few days to the police? Again and again and again. You want them to question every decision you made? Be called as a witness in court for months on end? Have your name tossed about like candy by the newspapers?”
Odessa thought back to her brief period in the inspection room at Riftgate. She imagined more of that. She shook her head. Chaser was right. It was better to stay silent. But even though it was the logical decision, her acceptance of it made her heart feel heavier.
She stared out at the red sand. The world looked different today than it usually did. The sun felt colder.
She was surprised when Chaser suddenly got up and walked a few steps out into the desert, kicking up red dust with his bare feet.
He stood there looking out.
“What are you doing?” Odessa asked.
“Come here,” he called back. “Take off your shoes and stand next to me. It’s different when you’re in it you know. One with the desert. A part of nature.” He reached his hands upward as if in some kind of prayer.
“Aren’t your feet burning?”
He turned back with a small smile. “Only a little. Trust me. Come out here. The pain will only last a second.”
Odessa kicked of her shoes and went to stand next to him. It wasn’t like she was going to be seeing much more of him. She needed to enjoy what little time she had left with him. She’d already decided this morning that she was done with the adventuring lifestyle. Maybe it was time to finally settle down and actually use her degree? She would miss Chaser, but at least she had her memories of him and she could always email him. There had been fun, for awhile, but now she was just scared.
She winced as the sand burned her feet, but she trusted Chaser. It would probably stop hurting once she stood in one place for long enough. She paused next to him and looked up at him with a smile.
He reached a comforting hand and placed it around the back of her shoulders, his fingers gracing her neck. His other hand played with whatever necklace he was wearing today.
“Your fingers are cold,” she said with a surprised laugh. His touch wasn’t unusual but the strange chill she felt in the back of her neck was, and it was slowly creeping its way up. She didn’t like that. Something was wrong.
Chaser squeezed her shoulder, ever the encouraging one.
“It’s okay, Odie. Everything’s going to be just fine. In a moment, you won’t remember a thing.”