A banging, which I now realized had been sounding ever since I descended inside, had erupted into a fury at the sound of my cry. I looked longingly up the stairs before wading through the rising water after the source of the noise. When a hoarse call sounded from inside a cabin, it confirmed my guess. Julian.
Reaching the door, I tried to twist the handle, but it didn’t budge. The banging stopped, however, so I called through the solid wood panels. “It’s Evie. It seems to be locked. Do you know where I could find a key?”
“Get one of the crew,” he called back.
“There’s no time,” I shouted. “They’re abandoning ship.” I didn’t mention that the water had now reached my thighs, since he must be experiencing the same thing.
He swore and then was silent for a moment.
“Julian?” I was starting to shake although the water wasn’t actually that cold. My mind was screaming at me to get out now while I still could, but I pushed it down. Julian might not be my favorite person, but that didn’t mean he deserved to die. Perhaps one of his crew would come looking for him and absolve me of responsibility. They probably knew where to find a key, too.
“Try the table,” Julian called at last. “There’s a small hidden drawer on the underside. It’s at one of the corners. If you run your fingers underneath, you should be able to feel a small mechanism to open it.”
I growled and sloshed back toward the table. Why couldn’t he have kept them on a nice obvious hook like everyone else? The water was starting to slide across the tabletop now, and I hoped the mechanism would work while submerged. Running both hands along beneath the table I shuffled along as fast as I could, pushing against the resistance of the water. Finally, on the third corner, I felt something out of place. Wiggling my fingers around, I felt it release, a small section of the table dropping down.
With a gasp, I squatted, submerging the rest of my body up to my neck in the water, as I felt around for a piece of metal. One of my fingertips hooked around a ring, and I triumphantly pulled out a small bunch of keys.
“I’ve got it!” I yelled, not sure if he could hear me from over here.
The boat lurched, and I slipped splashing into the water, before scrambling back to my feet. I was half swimming now, as I made it back to Julian’s cabin.
“Which key?” I shouted, even as I tried shoving a random one into the keyhole, now below the waterline. I tried a second one, but as I maneuvered it around the ring into position, the whole bunch fell from my hands.
“The round one,” called Julian.
I took a deep breath and plunged beneath the water. My grasping hands quested wildly until my fingers hit the ring. Shooting back to the surface, I sucked in a deep breath and examined the keys.
Taking a firm hold on the round one, I thrust it into the lock and turned. I could feel a bolt drawing reluctantly back, and then the door swung forward. The resistance of the water slowed its progress, but Julian immediately lunged out of the cabin. A trail of red followed him.
It took me a moment to find its source in the swirling water. “Your foot!”
“There’s no time for that. We need to get up those stairs.”
I couldn’t see the extent of his injury, but the water was high enough that he wouldn’t be putting weight on it, at least. Moving through the red trail that followed him made my stomach turn, but my terror and claustrophobia drove me forward as fast as I could go.
By the time we reached the stairs, the water had reached his armpits and my shoulders, and my breaths were coming hard and fast, more from fear than exertion. Julian lurched up the stairs, hopping on his good foot, and had nearly reached the top when he cried out and fell.
I surged behind him, bracing myself on both handrails to hold us both up. He groaned, “My foot,” and then his weight pulled away from me, and he was out on deck. He disappeared from view, and my world narrowed to getting up those stairs and across that deck as fast as I could go. So the reappearance of his hand, reaching down to assist me, took me by surprise.
I met Julian’s grim eyes as he hauled me up on deck beside him, my feet merely skimming the final steps. We both took a moment to breathe now that water no longer pulled at us. But a gurgle from the stairway made me look down to see only water where the hole had once been.
I looked around and found the deck deserted. Rushing to the railing that faced toward the beach, I located a number of heads bobbing in the water part way toward land. Several voices called mostly unintelligible words.
“Look! There!” called one voice clearly, and a distant figure pointed in my direction. Looking down, I saw the water rushing up to meet me as the boat continued to sink. Soon it would swamp the deck.
“We need to get swimming as well,” said Julian behind me. “I’m not exactly sure what will happen once she goes down completely, but I’d rather observe from a safe distance.”
I nodded my head and was about to ask after his injury when he scooped me off my feet. Without further comment, he flung me through the air away from the boat. I hit the water hard and sank before twisting and propelling myself back to the surface. I reemerged in time to see him dive from the deck.
Still spluttering and wiping moisture from my eyes, I trod water while I waited for Julian to reach me. He didn’t arrive. Looking back, I saw him bobbing next to the rapidly sinking boat, struggling to stay above water. I struck out toward him, glad for my light and mobile swimming costume.
When I reached him, I hesitated. “Don’t pull me under.”
He grimaced. “You need to be swimming away, not toward the boat.”
“I know. That’s what we’re doing.” I slipped under one of his arms and tried to take some of his weight. Instantly I began to sink. Dis-attaching myself, I frowned. “This isn’t going to work.”
He said nothing.
“Give me a minute.”
I swam off around the sinking vessel looking for any useful flotsam. Thankfully, I found a piece of wood floating nearby. It had obviously come from the boat, but I couldn’t tell what useful purpose it had once served. Draping myself across it, I rested for a second, relieved when it held my weight. Then I kicked back to Julian. Slipping off, I let him take my place.
“Kick with your good leg. I’ll tug you along.”
I grabbed the end of the piece of wood and struck off hard toward the shore. Slowly, inch by inch, we crept away from the boat. Within minutes I knew there was no way I could pull him all the way to shore. I paused for another rest, letting the wood hold me up as well.
A splashing caught my attention. Two swimmers powered through the water in our direction. I soon recognized Frederic and one of the crew members.
“Your Highness,” the man said as soon as they stopped. “You need to swim to the beach.”
“And I will,” snapped Frederic, more angry than I had ever heard him. “When everyone is safe. You assured me…”
“Yes, Your Highness,” said the man hurriedly. “I’ll assist—” He looked over at us, and his brows creased. “Sir?” He addressed the question at Julian.
I looked down into the water and both of their eyes followed me. The man swore when he saw the red trail that still followed us. “You leave this to me, miss. I’ll see him safe to shore.” He looked back at the crown prince. “Perhaps His Highness can help you to shore ahead of us?”
I had already heard enough to know his concern wasn’t for me, but I was so grateful to have someone else take responsibility for Julian, that I could have kissed him anyway. Nodding, I let go of the wood and floated for a moment before kicking away from them.
Frederic kept pace with me. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” I squeezed the word out between breaths.
“What happened, where were you?”
I shook my head, my eyes fixed on the beach, still a long way ahead of us. “I’ll explain…on…shore.”