Aegis: Catalyst Grove by Nathan Roten

Author:Nathan Roten
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Uncharted Waters

The decent took only seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Grabbing at air, the walls of the ravine amplified their screams as the echoes. Their vision was limited in the darkness with no way to know what was at the bottom and no way to tell when to brace for impact. All they could do was hopelessly fall into the sheet of black, waiting for it to be over. An overwhelming sense of dread came over Graham. Thousands of memories flashed through his head making it seem like they had been falling forever, but in reality, it only took seconds before they plunged into the icy water.

The sting of the frigid river contracted every muscle in their bodies forcing them into the fetal position. The river was deep enough so they did not hit ground or rock. Paddling upwards, or what direction they hoped was up, they all eventually bobbed back up to the surface as the current swept them downstream. Kel came to the surface first, followed by Damien, then Graham. The chill running through Kel’s body faded, being replaced with fear as she looked for Ailey.

“Ailey! Ailey where are you?!”

Graham and Damien looked around them, but did not see her.

“AILEY!!” Kel was in full panic, to the point where she could hardly keep her head above water. “I don’t even know if she can swim! Oh, please God, where is she?!”

The three of them frantically looked around them, but it was almost impossible to see anything down there. Small shafts of light could be seen from the sky above, reflecting off the water’s surface, but it was only enough to see a few feet at a time.

“THERE! Over there!” screamed Damien. “I see movement!”

Graham and Kel looked ahead to see little arms flailing against the current. Kel went face first into the water swinging her arms in perfect strokes. She swam to Ailey in seconds, grabbing her under her arms. Ailey’s eyes were as big as dinner plates. The corners of her mouth were pulled down under the strain and shock of the frigid water. Ailey looked over to Kel with a mixture of relief and panic in her eyes.

“Its ok. I’ve gotcha. We are going to be ok,” said Kel, pulling Ailey close to her chest.

Ailey pulled away so that she could look directly into Kel’s eyes. Raising her eyebrows and shaking her head ‘no,’ she pointed up to the sky. Everyone looked up and saw that the gap in the ground was closing. The walls of the ravine that were once parallel with each other were now moving closer together. The river was about to go completely underground.

“Oh no,” whispered Kel.

“Grab on to each other!” said Graham, bracing to go underground.

They paddled through the water towards one other, each finding an arm or a shoulder as they passed the threshold of the cavern entrance into complete darkness. It took every ounce of energy they had to time their breaths so they could inhale air in-between the waves of water hitting them in the face.

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