Chapter 24

24

Arya couldn’t move fast enough. Her blood-coated clothes sat discarded in a corner as she sponged off the grime and remaining blood from her body behind the changing screen. Dain , Yasmin , and Ravi sat on the other side as she condensed her story.

“ Fuck me,” Ravi muttered when she finished.

Arya toweled off, her gaze landing on the ruined clothes again. She couldn’t think about how close she had come to dying. She put her back to them and tugged on the clothes Dain had acquired from her home. The black pants clung to her legs and tucked into knee-high boots. The long-sleeved black shirt was made of the same body-hugging material. After it was tucked into her pants, she slipped her arms into a calf-length, midnight-colored coat.

She walked around the screen, and Yasmin handed her a brush. Arya worked the instrument through her tangled hair as she looked at the others. “ The problem is locating the ship.”

“ We have more than one problem,” Dain said.

Yasmin clenched her hands together. “ Get me to the river. I’ll find the ship.”

Arya exchanged a look with Dain . “ I don’t think either of you fully understands what the Lotus River is.”

“ It doesn’t matter,” Ravi said. “ Innocent lives are at stake. This is what we do, remember?”

Yasmin nodded to Arya . “ He’s right. Besides , if we’re going to find Jai , stop Priya and whoever else is behind this, and free the prisoners, you will need both of us.”

“ Then let’s go,” Arya urged.

Dain held up a hand. “ Hold up. We need a plan.”

“ We have to go now,” she argued. “ Too much time has already been wasted. I have no idea how long I was in your flat before you found me.”

Ravi shook his head. “ Dain’s right. We need a plan.”

Arya chafed at having to wait. It took everything she had to remain as the four of them threw out ideas until they had a strategy. Before they left, Dain handed her two daggers. Arya put one in the side of her boot and strapped the other to her thigh. She wasn’t the only one loaded up with weapons. Yasmin had a few of her own.

“ It’s going to be dark,” she warned Ravi and Yasmin . “ The water is lit from within, and there is bioluminescence along most of the walls and ceiling, but it won’t be enough for you to see clearly.”

“ Understood ,” Ravi said. He tenderly touched Yasmin’s cheek before moving closer to Dain .

Arya waited until Yasmin was next to her, the four of them huddled together. It was easier to travel as a group so no one got lost. Arya hesitated, thinking about how Priya had somehow intersected her shadows. Dain had said nothing about it, but she had noticed the tightening of his facial muscles. Then , they were off.

“ I had no idea the Below could be this beautiful,” Ravi said as he turned in a circle to survey the area after the shadows fell away.

Yasmin squatted near the closest rock and put her hand on it. Her gaze went distant as she listened to the stones. It still astonished Arya that a human had magic. And a kind that no elf did. Few knew about Yasmin’s ability, and it would remain that way. If word got out, some would want to study or kill her—much like Reva .

Arya looked down the river and hoped the human remained hidden on the ship. Where was the ship? Had Priya hurt Jai ? Or worse? Had they reached the last port? Each second of standing still was as painful as the dagger Priya had slid between her ribs.

“ Found them,” Yasmin declared.

Arya whirled back to her. “ Where ?”

Despite Yasmin’s detailed location of the waterfall, Arya had no idea where it was. To her surprise, Dain did.

“ Follow me,” he said.

Dain transported the four of them a short distance. Arya heard the roar of water before the shadows fell away.

“ Oh , wow,” Yasmin whispered.

Arya gaped at the sight before her. The river was double the size she had seen earlier. The waterfall itself fell in a V shape. Rocks carved into the shape of arms were on each shore, the palms lifted upward with manacles around the wrists. A thick chain hung between the two carvings. Arya spotted something hanging from the middle.

“ By the gods,” she whispered when she saw the crate and a foot hanging out the side. She knew it was Jai .

Yasmin put a hand on a rock. “ A group departed the ship after putting Jai …in a cage,” she finished softly, her eyes on Arya .

Even though Arya had already suspected it was Jai in the enclosure, hearing it made it too real. She had to get to him.

Dain grabbed her arm when she started to walk away. His gaze was on the ship moored to the opposite shore. “ Wait .”

“ Jai needs me.”

Dain looked at her. “ The ship appears as though everyone has departed. They could be waiting to attack.”

“ She thinks I’m dead, remember? Besides , Jai is hanging in the middle of the waterfall and slowly drowning. I’ll chance it.”

“ You might reach him, but you won’t get back,” Dain said before releasing her.

Arya looked at the cage. “ I don’t have a choice.”

“ It could be a trap,” Ravi added.

Arya shrugged. “ He released me, knowing he could get caught. I owe him.”

Dain’s yellow eyes scrutinized her for a long moment. “ We’ll go to the ship and check it out. Watch your back.”

“ You , too. If there’s a trap, it’ll be on the ship,” she warned, calling the shadows.

“ I don’t like this,” Ravi said.

Dain looked at the ship. It appeared abandoned, and the stones told Yasmin it was, but he still had a bad feeling. “ Me , neither.”

“ No one is near,” Yasmin said, her hand still on the rock. “ Go now.”

Dain brought Ravi to the ship. They wordlessly searched the vessel, level by level. Dain found the two rooms where Arya and Reva had been held. The human was nowhere on the ship. Was she dead, or had the elves taken her?

Arya went to the bottom of the waterfall and looked up. A column of rock protruded from the cascades, and while dangerous, the many boulders at the bottom troubled her more.

She had one shot to get to Jai , and she needed to be accurate. Arya took a deep breath and drew the shadows to her. She felt the water disintegrate them almost immediately. She reached out. Her hand closed around metal, and she held on for all she was worth. She found herself dangling from the cage while gasping for breath as the waterfall pounded her.

Her grip was slipping. She tried to shout Jai’s name, but each time she opened her mouth, water rushed in and threatened to drown her. The force of the falls pushed her down as she attempted to climb up. It would take magic to counteract the might of the cascade. If she fell, she would have to try everything again, and that would take more time than she had. If she didn’t get crushed during the fall.

She had nothing to put her feet on for leverage. All she had was her precarious hold on the round bars. Arya was screaming inside, but she didn’t give up. She tried to pull herself up and got her face even with Jai’s foot, but her arms gave out. Then she tried to kick her leg out to get it on the cage.

Her stomach dropped like a stone when she lost her grip on one of the bars. With her heart thudding, she dangled there, her head turned away from the water to catch her breath. She swung her arm up to grab again, causing the cage to sway.

A strong hand suddenly gripped hers.

Dain met Ravi on the upper deck. “ The ship’s empty.”

“ As Yaz told us. How many of these do you think they have?”

“ More than we could guess.”

Ravi grunted and jerked his chin toward the shore, where Yasmin was waving her hands at them. “ We need to get back.”

Dain took them immediately. Yasmin was talking before the shadows fell away.

“…been trying to get your attention. You need to hurry,” she blurted out.

Ravi frowned. “ What are you talking about?”

“ Reva . She’s not with those from the ship.” Yasmin pointed behind her. “ She’s out there.”

Dain looked toward the waterfall that tumbled in torrents over the cliff’s edge, to the ship, and then back at the couple. “ She’ll have to wait.”

“ She can’t,” Yasmin stated.

Ravi motioned with his head. “ Go after her. She’s a human in your world. She’ll never survive on her own. We’ll be fine,” he added when Dain opened his mouth to argue.

“ Go ,” Yasmin urged frantically.

Dain swallowed and looked at the falls once more. Then he faced Yasmin . “ Where is she?”

Arya found herself hanging onto the side of the enclosure, staring into Jai’s battered face. She wanted to cry at what they had done to him. He held his right arm against him, and his left still had a hold of her as though he feared she might fall. She worried about the same, especially with her precarious grip.

She opened her mouth to speak when Jai frantically shook his head. He motioned behind him. Arya couldn’t see anything past the thick cascade of water. She could barely see Jai . She had to keep turning her head and looking down just to breathe.

“ Leave .” Jai’s gurgled word reached her.

She shook her head and got one foot up onto the cage. She worked it between the bars and then hoisted the second up. She then tried to find the door. If there was a door, there was a lock she could break to free him. She tried to move around the cage, but Jai’s grip tightened, holding her in place.

Arya ran a hand up and down the bars near her, hoping to find the lock, but she wasn’t that lucky. She managed to move her foot over two spaces and then repeated the movement with the other foot. Jai’s fingers slipped off her wrist. Her coat was becoming a hindrance. She shook one arm out of it and then let it slide off to be crumpled by the power of the falls.

She checked more bars and was moving again, even while Jai tried to keep her still. Their struggle made the cage move, and a chilling noise came from her left. Arya saw a yawning hole behind the waterfall. Something was in there. And Jai had been trying to warn her about it.

Jai’s hand gripped hers and tugged it over, placing it on the lock. Arya expected a complicated mechanism. Why else would Jai still be in the cage? Something in the metal must be keeping him from getting out. So , when the bolt unlatched the first time Arya used magic, she was shocked.

She swung open the door, causing it to release a long squeal. The unnerving sound from the dark cavern came again. This time longer, louder. Her head jerked toward it. She thought she saw something move and immediately reached for Jai .

Arya tried to tug him toward her as she looked down. She couldn’t remember if the pillar of rock was to the right or her left. She was disoriented. If she chose wrong, they could land directly on it.

That sound came again. She chanced a look back and saw what looked like a tentacle emerging from the dark. There was no time to think. They had to go. Arya tugged on Jai again. He leaned toward her, making the cage swing and squeak. This time, she saw what she knew was a tentacle. It headed toward them, and she leaned back, her arms wrapped around Jai as they fell into the falls.