Lukas tied the other end of the rope around his own waist, and Jared grabbed the section between his brother and the edge of the well.
Alara handed Priest a long cold-iron rod. “After this, you need to invent a gun that works underwater.”
“I’ll get right on it.” Priest swung his other leg over the side and slid down the moldy stones.
He was almost at the bottom when he looked up and smiled, just as a gnarled hand broke through the surface.
CHAPTER 19
Dark Water
The hand reached up from beneath the rancid water and grabbed Priest’s leg. His eyes widened in terror as the hand jerked his body away from the wall. He let out one strangled scream before the water swallowed him whole.
A terrifying reality hit me.
Spirits are capable of touching people.
Priest’s head burst through the black surface for a second. He thrashed desperately, only to disappear again.
“We have to do something!” I shouted.
Jared threw his leg over the side and tried to force his body into the narrow opening. But his shoulders were too wide.
Alara grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him out. “Move or I can’t take a shot.”
She fired liquid-salt rounds into the well, but they didn’t have any effect.
Priest’s head pushed up through the churning water again, a bony arm locked around his throat. A woman’s bruised and bloated face rose from the waves, filthy well water running down her cheeks like black tears. Her neck was broken, hanging unnaturally to one side.
“Get out of our well.” Her raspy voice echoed against the stones.
“Millicent.” Alara leaned over the edge. “I know what happened to your son. I know what they did.”
Jared and Lukas pulled the rope. But even their combined strength was no match for the spirit of a mother who had witnessed her child’s murder.
The spirit tightened her hold around Priest’s neck. He sputtered and coughed, choking on the sloshing water.
“I won’t let you take anything else from us,” she hissed.
Priest was drowning in a putrid sewer of rot. I was the only one who could help him. There was nothing to think about—not the darkness or the depth or the murderous spirit.
I wound the rope around my arm and climbed over the side.
Jared’s fingers clamped down on my wrist, his blue eyes wild. “What are you doing?”
It wasn’t the same fear I saw when Priest hit the water. This fear was for me.
“He’s drowning. Just tell me how to stop her.” Bile rose in my throat as Priest gagged and thrashed below us.
Millicent looked up at me, a milky film coating her eyes like cataracts. “They took what was mine. Now I’ll take what is yours.”
The spirit flung her withered arm around Priest’s neck. Her nails dug into his skin as she forced him under with her.
“Jared, you have to let me do this.” I eased my hand from his grasp and started sliding down the rope.
“Wait.” Jared held out a long iron rod like the one Priest took with him. “If you stab her with this, it’ll destroy her.”
My hand closed over the metal, but he didn’t let go.
“Don’t get hurt.” It was a plea, not an order.
The well grew wider about halfway down. I lowered myself into the water carefully, aware that Priest was somewhere below me. There was no way to predict the depth—until the slimy liquid rose to my chin and my feet still hadn’t touched the bottom. I treaded water, reaching out blindly for Priest.
Something grabbed my waist.
Priest’s head burst through the surface again. He gagged and coughed up water, his skin blue.
I managed to pull him toward me without going under. “Priest? Can you hear me?”
He only nodded.
A cold hand touched my leg and brittle hair brushed against my neck.
“I can hear you,” Millicent whispered.
I thrust the rod behind me and it slid effortlessly through the water. How would I know if I hit her? Would she feel solid?
Millicent wound my hair around her arm, yanking hard. The rod slipped out of my hand. I tried to grab for it, but my head snapped back. Priest shouted something, but I couldn’t hear him over Millicent’s breath and the blood pounding in my ears.
Rancid water filled my mouth. The curtain of water closed above me. The world swayed with the ripples, shapes distorting and disappearing.
Until I ran out of air.
I fought the instinct to breathe, but it was impossible. Water filled my lungs, and the pressure hit me like a fist. Millicent slid one arm around my neck, pressing my head down with the other. My body bucked against her.
Voices echoed above me.
My thoughts tripped over themselves and my vision blurred….
Without warning, the vise grip released me.
I shot up to the surface, the light getting closer and closer until I broke through.
My body convulsed, the water forcing its way back out of my lungs in violent bursts. I gasped, desperate for air.
“Kennedy?” Priest held the collar of my T-shirt, trying to keep my head above water. He shoved me behind him, and I clung to the stones, my hands slipping down the sludge-covered walls.