4. Tempi

CHAPTER 4

TEMPI

I barely have time to gather my bearings before I'm unceremoniously dumped from the blackhole, and I go tumbling through the air. My stomach flips as I spin end over end. Strands of my hair whip past my face, cutting my cheeks with the violence of it and leaving behind tiny little cuts. No sound comes out of my mouth as I fall. I'm so frazzled and caught off guard, I think my body just refuses to shriek at this point. I'm glad for that a moment later when I slam into a body of water and sink beneath the surface.

The water is cold and chills me to the bone immediately, soaking into my flesh and sucking out all warmth. I kick my feet, my boots weighing me down and making it difficult. I can feel the water pulling at me, as if this is the ocean rather than a pond or lake. I fight with everything inside me, swimming up, up, up, until I break the surface and gasp for air.

Just like I suspected, waves dance around me, telling me exactly what I feared; I've somehow been dropped in the middle of the fucking ocean. This time, I do scream, but it's more out of anger and frustration at the loss of my mind than fear.

What the literal fuck is happening to me?

When my scream dies, in the distance, somewhere very far away, I hear an answering scream, like some beast answering back to me. Following after it is only what I can call a bellow.

For the first time since I was sucked into the second blackhole, fear trickles into my heart.

Whatever made that sound is massive. It's certainly not a fucking whale. We don't have anything larger than a whale in New York. And sharks don't bellow, right? Oh god. Sharks. I haven't even thought of sharks until now.

I turn in the water, searching for any signs of life. No boats. No land. There's nothing except for a vast ocean. I don't know where I am. I don't know which direction to swim. I could very well swim away from land and not know it if I'm not careful. I've watched a million survival shows, but suddenly every fact about how to survive stranded in the middle of the ocean escapes me. What were the rules? Have I even seen a show about surviving in the ocean? Or was that the mountains?

I keep kicking my feet, trying to stay above the water despite the waves, and I know if something doesn't eat me first, my downfall will be exhaustion. I need to stop working so hard. Swimming won't cut it if I can't see a destination. I need to preserve my energy. Immediately, I lean back and start floating on my back, letting the saltwater support me no matter how terrifying it is to have my back to the dark depths below. I drag in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm my racing heart. I don't know what the hell is happening to me. I don't know what these blackholes are. But I can't die here. Not after everything.

Part of me, something dark and deep, whispers that I could just die here. That it would solve so many problems. No need to worry about an increase in rent if I'm not here to pay it. No need to worry about bills. But the moment I think it, shame fills me. Gilroy and Bella would be ashamed to hear me think these things. Bella used to tell me I'd fight my way out of a room full of demons if given the chance. She always saw her mother as a fighter. I can't dishonor her memory now and give up.

The bellow comes again, louder, closer, and panic seizes me. There's nowhere to go. I can't run. I can't hide.

I turn, searching for the source of the sound. If it's below the surface, I won't be able to see it coming at me. But if it breaks the surface. . .

In the distance, I see something ripple just beneath the waves. It's still too far away to see what it is, but it's coming closer. I tread water as I watch, waiting for any clue as to what I may be facing. It bellows again, and I try my best not to shit my pants. I'd like to think I do a damn good job, all things considered. A lesser person might just chum the water.

When it breaks the surface, I almost lose the battle, though. Is that. . . that was a fucking tentacle!

"What the fuck?" I rasp, fighting my flight mode right about now. It would be silly to waste my energy. There's literally nowhere to go.

It's massive. That much I know. I didn't realize I'd be dealing with a fucking kraken. When it bellows at me again, I scream back, if only to show it I'm not prey. But who am I kidding? That thing is the size of the subway. I doubt my little scream is going to ward it off.

I'm right. It goes nowhere. Just keeps coming. I get a good look at it as it swims closer. The skin is pale pink, spotted with darker shades, and large purple suckers line the tentacles that come up out of the water. When it crests the water with its bulbous head, I stop treading water for a split second and nearly sink.

I'm not a prayer kind of woman, but I start praying then. Just like my mama taught me on Sundays. Kneel when everyone else kneels. Tilt your head down. Say the prayer.

" Dios te salve, María, llena eres de gracia, el Se?or es contigo. Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres, y bendito es el fruto de tú vientre, Jesús. Santa María, Madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros, pecadores, ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte. Amen. "

It makes me feel a little better when I know I'm about to die. There will be no fighting that thing. There's no way. It's going to eat me and there's nothing I can do about it.

I stop breathing when it comes right up to me and a large tentacle comes splashing from the waves. It blocks out the sun in front of me, and water droplets rain down on me from above. I stare up at my death, prepared for it, knowing that there's nothing I can do to fight this monster. I'm nothing but a snack. I'll barely register as anything at all.

In the distance, that scream comes again, and the monster hesitates before it can snatch me up. That hesitation is what saves me.

The air sparkles in front of me for all of two seconds before a blackhole rips wide open again. The creature bellows so loud it feels like my ear drums might burst. I'm dragged inside the blackhole, cutting off the bellow as I start to tumble again. This time, I do scream, only because I'd been about to die and now I'm literally traveling through some goddamn portal again. What the fuck?

I'm spit out on the other side and drop to my feet clumsily as I manage to get them under me. I trip and have to brace myself against a bench. When I look up, it's to see the emergency room again. My rig is gone, Leo and Ben nowhere to be seen. It's nighttime now. I don't know how much time has passed. How long was I floating in that ocean? It couldn't have been more than an hour, right?

I look down at myself, at the water dripping off of my soaking wet clothing, and realize that maybe I really am losing my mind. Maybe I'm literally going insane.

"Snap out of it, Tempi," I tell myself, trying to rub my eyes. The salt from the water burns them. "Fuck."

There's nothing else to do. It feels like I'm one more thought away from the looney bin. There's no way I was taken through a portal, not once but twice now, only to come back. Something's wrong.

Without waiting long enough to second guess myself, I stumble inside the emergency room, my eyes wide and panicked. When a nurse comes rushing forward to steady me, I clutch at her shoulders.

"Ma'am! Can you hear me? I need you to sit down," she says, trying to push me toward a chair.

But my eyes are on a man sitting across the waiting room, on the strange glow he has on his skin, on the way he watches me with curiosity. His skin flashes blue and I blink to try and clear it. When I open my eyes again, he's gone.

"I think I'm going insane," I tell the nurse, choking out the words. "Help me. I think I'm losing my mind."