Chapter 36
Okay, I should probably explain what happened a little bit better. The Water Faerie dropped to the floor, not my soul. It’s body hit the cement floor with a loud thump, along with every other faerie in the room, including the Queen herself.
There was this moment where Alex and I just looked at each other with wide eyes, and then Alex was running for me.
“What the heck happened?” I asked, as he worked to get the straps unfastened.
“I have no idea,” he said, slipping the buckle loose.
“Let’s go.”
I jumped to my feet, and we ran passed the lifeless bodies of the Water Faeries and out the door. To our shock, the Water Faeries, who had been in that room, had sank to the floor as well.
I stood there gaping at the scene in sheer and utter bewilderment.
One of the men strapped to a table begged me to free him. “Come on little girl,” he said. “Just undo the straps, okay. I promise I don’t bite.”
“Gemma.” Alex’s voice brought me back to reality.
“Come on.” His hand was extended out to me.
I glanced at the man, who was still begging me to let him go.
“They’re here for a reason,” Alex said. “Now come on. We have to go, before they…” he glanced at the faeries lifeless bodies scattered across the floor.
“Wake up, I guess?”
I nodded—he was right. I took his hand, and we sprinted down the tunnel.
“We have to find water,” Alex said as we ran toward where the cell doors were.
“Wait,” I said, pulling back. “We have to find my mom first?”
He shook his head, trying to drag me forward. “No, we have to go. We don’t know how long they’ll be out.”
“I’m not going without her,” I said sternly, refusing to budge. “I came down here to rescue her, and I’m not leaving until I do. Besides, this is our only chance to free her—we’ll never be able to come back.”
“We have no idea where she is,” he argued. “It could take forever.”
“Fine.” I slipped my hand free from his and dodged around him. “You go find water,” I called over my shoulder, heading for a cell door, “But I’m going to go find my mom.”
Alex let out a frustrated breath, but he followed after me. “Gemma, we need to go now.”
Ignoring him, I unlatched the first cell door I came across and opened it up. The room was empty. “We’ll never get answers if we don’t find her…” I hurried to the next cell door and opened it up. Empty again.
“Like you said, she knows things. That’s why she’s down here.” I unlocked a third door, starting to wonder if maybe I was on the wrong track with the cell doors.
“And if we don’t get some answers, the world’s going to end. I’ve seen….” I opened the third door and immediately trailed off, my jaw dropping at the sight of a woman, sitting on the bed, wearing ratted old clothes. Her brown hair trailed down her back, and her bright blue irises were as blank as my eyes had been before I experienced the prickle. But despite the blank look, I knew…she was my mother.
Her head slowly turned and she looked at me, but there was no recognition that she knew who I was.
“Mom,” I whispered. The word felt so strange coming out of my mouth.
She blinked at me, but that was it. There was nothing there—no life, no spark, no nothing.
“Jocelyn,” Alex said, from over my shoulder. “Are you alright?”
Still, my mother stared at us with nothing more than a look of emptiness.
I felt like I might start crying, but knew I couldn’t.
Now was not the time to shed tears.
“What should we do?” I asked Alex.
He considered this carefully. “Go over and take her hand, but move slowly—see if you can get her to come with us.”
I looked at him with terrified eyes. “Maybe you should do it?”
He shook his head. “No, this is something I think you have to do.”
Whether he was right or not, I took a deep breath and made my way cautiously into the room. My mother made no reaction, just sitting there, her hands resting on her lap.
“Mom,” I said, reaching my hand out toward her. “It’s Gemma…your daughter.”
She looked at me, and then suddenly, she was really looking at me. She got to her feet and moved in for a hug, but then pulled back quickly, cradling her arms across her chest.
“Gemma,” she said, not looking happy, but horrified. “What are you two doing down here.” Her voice was sharp and it made me cower back. “You shouldn’t be down here.”
“We came here to save you.” My voice wobbled.
“Well, you shouldn’t have,” she said sternly. “How did you even get down here?”
“With an…Ira.”
Her eyes didn’t widen in surprise. In fact, she acted as if she predicted me to say that. “Well you have to leave now.”
Easier said than done. “We would, but…my Foreseer power isn’t working at the moment.” She shook her head. “I was hoping that would skip you.”
What the heck was she talking about? “Huh?” She started to say something else, but a loud cry, like an angry cat, screeched from somewhere.
“We have to go.” She rubbed her forehead. “But how am I supposed to get you out of here?”
“We need to get to water,” Alex told her as he entered the room. “There’s supposed to be a place somewhere down here that will take us up through the lake. A water route, maybe? Do you know where it is?”
“We can’t go anywhere.” She frowned. “The Fey will make us suffer if we try.”
“The Water Faeries are out for the moment,” Alex told her in a gentle voice. “So they can’t make you suffer. But we have to hurry before they wake up.” She stared at us in confusion, and then suddenly her eyes lit up. “Oh my God, I completely forgot about that.” She brushed past Alex and I and ran out into the tunnel.
Alex and I gave each other a look, and then we chased after her.
“Mom,” I yelled. “Where are you going?” She kept running down the tunnel, her bare feet thumping against the dirt floor. Another cat-like screech rang out from somewhere, and Alex and I sped up our pace and caught up with my mother.
“You forget things sometimes!” she shouted at us as we ran. “Being down here, it messes with your mind and sometimes you just forget.”
Forget what? Where the exit was? “But do you remember where it is now?” I asked.
She nodded, and a burst of adrenaline soared through me. We ran deeper into the darkness, weaving and turning through the tunnel. I crossed my fingers that my mom really knew where she was going. The cries and screams seemed to be filling the air more and more, and I worried that the Water Faeries were waking up. My mother seemed unbothered by the screams. She just kept running, and didn’t stop until we entered into the cave with the rocked-shaped throne that twisted up to the quartz ceiling.
My mom sprinted over to the throne and circled around it as she stared up at the ceiling. “When I first came here, I was told that if you climbed up the back of the throne it would take you to a place where you could escape. The problem was, I never had a chance to get away. And after awhile, I just sort of forgot about trying.” She stepped up onto the throne and climbed up the back of it. The twisting shape was like a slide, which made it hard to climb. But, even though it was tricky, she managed to make it all the way up with only a few slips, and then she disappeared through a small hole in the ceiling.
I looked at Alex, stunned.
“Alright,” he said, hopping up onto the throne. “Let’s go.” He reached up and pulled himself onto the back of the throne. I followed him, but I moved less gracefully than he did. I even managed to scrape my knee of the rock more than once. But finally, I was pulling myself up into the hole where my mom had disappeared.
It was dark up there, but there was a faint light streaming from someplace. A narrow tunnel stretched out on each side. The floor was muddy and water ran from the ceiling in sporadic bursts that had already soaked into my clothes and hair.
“Which way do we go now?” Alex asked my mom.
She glanced to the left, and then to the right. “I think this way,” she said and stumbled off to the right.
Alex and I ran after her. She seemed sort of dizzy, weaving from side to side as we sprinted down the tunnel. The further we went, the brighter the light became, until finally we were blinded by it.
A second later we stepped out onto a rocky ledge, and my heart stopped. At the edge of the ledge was a drop off. The height alone was astonishing, but the waterfal spewing over the side of the drop off was what sent my pulse racing the most. Well that, and the pool of water with a severe looking undercurrent that the waterfal poured down into.
Never did it occur to me, during our talk of our water escape that I would have to dive off a ledge into water that was probably going to suck me under. Oh and let’s not forget to mention the most important part. I couldn’t swim.
“So, what are we supposed to do?” I asked, my eyes locked on the waterfall. “Just jump. Because I’m not sure if I can make it.”
“Yeah…” he stared down at the water and then back at me. “I think—”
A shriek blared down the tunnel and I could now see them—the Water Faeries. They were still a ways away, gliding down the shadowy tunnel like ghosts.
“Crap,” Alex said, grabbing my hand. “Jocelyn, we need to—”
Before he could finish, my mother, who had been standing on the ledge, suddenly jumped.
I gasped and ran for the ledge. “Mom!” I couldn’t see her, only the violent water whirling. “Mom…” I whispered.
“Gemma.” Alex’s voices yanked me back to him.
“Grab on to me.”
“What?” I shook my head. “No.”
Alex looked my straight in the eyes. “Wrap your arms around my neck and hang on.”
I wasn’t sure I could do this—jump into the midst of raging water, when I couldn’t swim.
“I don’t think…” I glanced at the Water Faeries, who were so close now I could see the bareness in their eyes. I took a deep breath, summoning every ounce of strength I had in me, and wrapped my arms around Alex’s neck, linking my fingers together tightly.
Alex put his arms around my waist and pushed me so far into him I swear the electricity was going to weld us together. “Close your eyes,” he said, and I did, but not before I caught a glimpse of the Water Faeries about to emerge from the tunnel.
Another loud shriek, and then we dove.