“So we jump?”
I liked that Aidan took it in stride. I personally wanted to bitch and moan for a little longer. Swimming in my boots sucks, but there was no way I’d leave them behind.
But I ran out of time. A roar ripped through the forest, and I looked back to see two trolls burst from the trees. They were well over fifteen feet tall and looked like they were made of stone. As if the mountain had come alive and spit them out. They each carried an enormous club.
“Jump!” I threw myself off the cliff, my stomach threatening to leap out of my mouth. Wind whipped by as I plummeted. I crashed into icy cold water.
Pain.
It was so cold my muscles froze up, and a pounding headache speared through my head. I kicked for the surface.
When I burst through, Aidan was beside me, his dark hair plastered to his head.
“Where to now?” he asked.
“Below. Swim down and look for a hole in the rock, probably. Then swim along until we get inside.” Inside what, I wasn’t sure. But I’d been in three tombs like this before, and I hoped this would be the same. My job didn’t involve a whole lot of certainty.
The trolls above roared and I flinched. I treaded water and glanced up. They leaned over the cliff, glowering at us. Their roar made the leaves on the trees tremble.
“We can—”
The trolls leapt, crashing to the ground beside the pool. They’d jumped! I knew they couldn’t swim—rock sinks, after all—but they had long enough arms that they could grab us.
“Now!” I sucked in a breath and dove, the icy water enveloping me. It was beautiful and blue as I swam down, kicking as hard as I could. A dark patch in the rock caught my eye, and I swam for it, praying the tunnel wasn’t too long.
I grabbed a rock near the tunnel entrance and pulled myself toward it. There was only blackness beyond. It led into the mountain. This was it.
Aidan swam beside me, but he let me go in first. I kicked forward, my lungs burning and my boots making me slow. I really needed to practice my breath-holding. For a treasure hunter, this was pathetic. Lara Croft would be ashamed of me.
The tunnel was only about four feet in diameter. Don’t think about the size. Tight spaces had never gotten me before. I hated them but I always won. I kicked and pulled myself along the rocks—anything to reach the end.
But the end wouldn’t come. It was still dark and closed in. My lungs were on fire. If I wasn’t halfway there by now, I was dead.
I scrambled around, ready to retreat. My number one rule in cave swimming—if you only have half your breath left but can’t see the end, abort. It’s your only chance at living.
I pushed at Aidan, expecting him to turn and swim back out. He didn’t move. Fear surged in my chest. I wanted to scream at him. Though I knew I could make him hear me through the water, I couldn’t let go of my air like that. I kicked myself forward, pushing. I couldn’t get around him—there wasn’t enough space. Didn’t he know my lungs were smaller than his?
Suddenly, he pushed me forward. Panic clawed at me. I fought him, but he pushed me faster. I was flying through the water, completely disoriented.
Was I going up? What was—?
I broke the surface and sucked air into my burning lungs. It was dark all around me. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, deafening in the dark. Where was Aidan? I fumbled in an inner pocket of my jacket and pulled out a charmed lightstone. I shoved the ring onto my finger. It was too clunky to wear as jewelry, but the addition of the ring band made it easy to carry in situations like this.
I relied a lot on charmed objects like these. When I held it up, its glow illuminated the giant cave. An underground lake with a domed ceiling of stone soared above.
I spun, then jerked back, splashing. A creature with a smooth head and narrow snout looked at me.
Holy crap, a sea lion. A haze of gray light obscured the sea lion’s head. When it faded, Aidan treaded water in its place.
“Seriously? A sea lion?” My voice echoed in the cavern.
“I don’t like becoming a fish.” He shuddered. “The gills.”
“For magic’s sake!” I shouted. “You weirdo. You scared the crap out of me!”
“We didn’t exactly have a chance to talk about our plan back there.”
“Yeah, I thought I was going to drown!” I splashed him, then kicked off for the ledge of rock at one side of the pool.
“There were trolls at the other end.”
“I’d rather fight a couple trolls than drown,” I wheezed as I pulled myself out of the water. “Then I could have gone and rented scuba tanks like a normal person. How did you even know there was an exit?”
“Once I changed, I could sense it.” He heaved himself gracefully out of the water and stood beside me. I ignored him as I stomped my feet and shook myself off. I patted the knives at my thighs, grateful to find them still there. Though I collected loads of weapons, these were my favorites. The others were more like art to me. These were my workhorses.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” he said.
I scowled at him. But he did look genuinely contrite. And we had made it down here.
“Fine. Just next time you’re going to push me deeper into an underwater cave, warn me first.” I shivered. “Freaking freezing in here.”
“I know how to warm you up,” he said. His gaze was hot enough to heat me to my core.
“If you’re going to say body heat, don’t even think it.” But he’d made me think it.