Aftermath (15 page)

He slipped his hand in
mine when we got in the car. He waited to back out, letting the line
of other students leaving pass us. I saw Bailey from class waving as
she walked by and waved back at her.

When I turned back to
Hayden, I found him looking at me thoughtfully. “This may seem like
a lot at the moment. But moments come and go. And pretty soon this
will all be past you and you will have the answers that you’re
looking for. When that time comes, this will all seem insignificant
and you will become stronger because of it. You already are.”

“Why do you always
know how to say just the right things? Are you ever less than
perfect?”

He laughed satirically.
“I am far from perfect, Ana. You should know that now. And the more
you come to know about my nature, the more you’ll see that. That’s
what I fear most.”

I gripped his hand
right back. “I’m sorry if I have given you any reason to doubt
the way I feel about you. But that is never going to change. Never.
Love is blind.”

“Love is also
arrogant and sometimes doesn’t see its true ways. But this isn’t
about me. This isn’t what I’m worried about. You’re concerned
with saving everyone’s soul but at what cost to you? I think you
should just take one thing at a time. Everything else will work out
itself.”

“Do you think that
I’m not supposed to be seeing the future? That no one can really
change the future, they can just try to mess with it and face the
repercussions?”

“Honestly, Ana, I
don’t know. Everything I thought I knew changed the moment I met
you. It opened my eyes to see that anything is possible.”

“That’s the hardest
for me. Not knowing.”

“It’s okay to not
have everything figured out. It took me a lifetime to learn about
Hunters. I hope for your sake, it won’t take that long to figure
out who you are.”

Was it really okay?
Would it be okay to let what was going on with Marie slide? Would it
be okay to just concentrate on stopping what was going to happen at
the ball and not think about the consequences of trying to change the
future? Did I even have that choice? I felt the need to have things
figured out. I had to understand them but maybe I couldn’t
understand everything. Not just yet.

I caught a glance at
the clock. “We'd better go. I don’t want to be reamed out by Zack
again.”

“You’re late.”

“I know, I’m sorry
but I came here straight from school.” I stuffed my backpack in my
dad’s locker and peeled off my jacket just as quickly.

“I get off of school
at the same time as you and you don’t see me coming in late.”
Zack didn’t look up from the sheet of paper he was reading over.
“Oh, that’s right. I don’t sit and gossip with my friends after
school. I actually need this job.”

“I wasn’t gossiping
with my friends,” I gasped, insulted.

“Your little
boyfriend, then.”

I laughed at the
thought of anyone thinking Hayden was little.

“Yeah, that’s what
I thought. Suit up. You got boat inspections you owe me.”

“I—,” but Zack
had left, leaving me alone to change in the locker room.

“Someone woke up on
the wrong side of the bed,” I mumbled.

“I heard that!”
Zack yelled from the other side of the door.

“Good!” and I
grabbed my things to change in the bathroom stall.

I had three boat
inspections to do before I could leave and it would mean I would be
staying a while. It wasn't as if I was in a hurry to go home. Hayden
was taking his parents out tonight.
The master of distraction,
I thought, as it was clear Christopher and Elizabeth’s moods were
anything but cheery under the current circumstances. Something told
me they weren’t going out for a night on the town and I longed to
tag along and know what Hunters did. This made me anxious and I
quickened my pace in the water.

The sun was slowly
setting as I entered the water to do my third and final dive. The
orange ball in the sky reflected onto the water making the water look
falsely warmer than it was. I would have to hurry before it got dark.
Something about the Mississippi at night scared me. It was already
hard enough to see through its muddy waters.

I ran out of air
halfway through and had to resurface. I quickly took a new tank, not
having the time to refill mine.
Just what I needed when I was
trying to get done quickly,
I thought resentfully. When I was
back underwater, I felt the day come to an end above me. My
flashlight was my only light source. I suddenly felt chillier than
the water around me.
Forget it, Zack, you’ll have to finish this
tomorrow.
I didn’t want to stay in the water another minute.
Everything felt wrong. I started my ascent to the surface when I felt
a spine-tingling chill. I started to panic; emotions attached to the
tingling came flooding back to me. Nausea took panic's place and I
wished I didn't have a mouthpiece in at forty feet under water; in
any other environment, I would have thrown up. I took a few deep
breaths through the mouthpiece and convinced myself I was just
scaring myself. I showed the flashlight all around me. Just to make
sure. Nothing but darkness was beside me, which wasn’t comforting
in the very least. I started my ascent again, more anxious to get out
of the water than ever.
It’s not like my ears are ringing,
I
told myself, remembering what happened the last time I felt the skin
tingling and nausea. It was almost as if it were a signal that
something, or someone, bad was coming. I continued to gradually kick
my feet as I released air from my vest when I was halted. I wasn’t
moving. I felt like I was in a nightmare as I tried to kick my feet
toward the surface again but wasn’t moving. Only one leg moved. I
was caught. Someone had my fin.

I was already panicking
when my ears started to ring. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to calm
myself down. I must have just caught it on something. There would be
no way someone was down there. I would have seen their light or their
bubbles. But they wouldn’t need light or bubbles if they weren’t
human. Suddenly, all the water around me felt claustrophobic. I was
still a good thirty feet from the surface but it could have been
inches or miles away. It was easy to die in water. Seconds trickled
by as I tried to work myself free from what I told myself was an old
fishing line. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to shine the
flashlight down by my feet. My hands shot to my ears as the ringing
became suddenly painful. Something wrapped around my body, pulling
the compressor from my mouth. My worst fears were confirmed. My leg
was freed but the hold around my body suit was tighter. My lungs
started to tighten with the breath I held and my heart beat wildly
against my ribcage. I could not even scream at the thing that was
trying to kill me. I was underwater and needed to save the air that
was left in my lungs. I tried to shine the flashlight at my feet but
saw nothing there.
That’s because it’s behind me.
I didn’t
have time to think about what
it
was or why it wanted me dead.
I needed air. And fast. I could ascend without risking my lungs
exploding from the pressure but I needed the thing to release me. I
fought wildly against it and tried to reach my arms back to grab my
emergency air compressor. A hold on my arms kept me from reaching
around. Even more unsettling, the restraint didn’t feel like human
hands. My lungs tightened even more and I was going to have to
release the breath or die. I tried to reach for my diving knife,
hoping a weapon would work. Zack was supposed to be monitoring me; I
held on as long as I could, hoping that he would notice something was
wrong. I even foolishly thought Hayden would come to my rescue again.
I struggled, feeling light-headed, trying in vain to reach my knife.
I moved the flashlight, trying to see where I was grabbing when I
felt something coming toward us. I didn’t know whether I should
feel relief or fear. Was it someone coming to save me or was it
someone coming to help kill me? With a deep inhale through my
mouthpiece, I prayed for the former. I aimed my light in its
direction, not waiting another second to find out which one. No. Way.
Alligator?
I fought the monster behind me even harder and it
suddenly let go. Shock momentarily came over me but I didn’t have
time to dwell; my lungs were dying. Two monsters were in the water
around me. Two very different predators. I stole one more look at the
alligator before unclipping myself from my vest and kicking with fury
until I broke the surface of the water. I didn’t stop swimming as I
gulped in air. I quickly made my way over to the boat and flew up the
ladder. I finally allowed myself to collapse on the boat deck when I
knew I had made it safely out of the water. I kept sucking in
breaths. I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs. I felt the
light-headedness return with a new symptom. And my eyes closed slowly
around my consciousness.

I opened them again
briefly when I felt the world drop beneath me. My eyes tried to
adjust to the light as I saw the ceiling of the warehouse. I was
inside and I was being carried. I fought to keep my eyes open, to see
who had me, but no matter how hard I fought, the numbness of
unconsciousness called to me and my eyes closed again.

I was forced to open
them again when my chest was pushed with such force I thought my ribs
were about to break. It was Zack, his hair dripping droplets of water
onto my face. He was giving me CPR, I realized.
I’m not dead, I
just want to sleep.
I groaned and tried to turn away but he
slapped my face.
Ow.

“Stay with me!” I
thought I heard him yell.

“Leave me alone,
Zack,” I groaned again. “You are always so mean to me,” I
babbled with as much coherence as I could manage. “You came to my
house and won’t even let me sleep. I’m not supposed to be working
today.”

“Come on. You have to
get up. You can’t fall asleep, now.”

My surroundings came
into focus and the warehouse was familiar. We were at Taylor Diving.
I was working. I had been underwater, doing a boat inspection when…

I shot up as the
memories came back. “Oh my god…”

“Shh,” Zack hushed
me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t get up so quickly.”

“Ow.” My hands
gripped my head at the sudden pain.

“Here, drink this.”
Zack handed me a cup of something hot. Drinking was the last thing I
thought about doing but I took it from him anyway and took a sip of
the coffee to help appease him.

“What the heck,
Zack?” I winced at the pain from my own yelling. “You were
supposed to be monitoring me. I almost died!”

“Don’t you start
with me. I was monitoring you. Why do you think you are here right
now? How exactly did you almost die anyway?”

“I—I was caught
on…something.” I tried to think of another way of explaining just
how exactly I almost died without sounding crazy by saying that there
was something down there that grabbed me. “I am never, ever, going
back in there again!”

“Just because you had
one accident?”

“No. Because there
are alligators.”

“Alligators by the
docks?” He sounded almost as nervous about the idea as I was. “You
sure you didn’t hit your head?”

Or not.
I pushed
him away from me as I tried to sit up but he stopped me. “You
should just rest until there is enough oxygen back in your blood. You
could have burst a lung ascending as fast as you did, ya know.”

“If I didn’t know
any better I’d think you actually cared. Now let me up.” I
finally managed to break free of him and headed towards the locker
room. “The only reason I didn’t burst a lung is because I was so
scared, I let out a scream the whole way up.”

“It looks like your
fear scared you,” he winked at me.

I scowled back at him.
“And how did you know how fast I surfaced, anyways?” I paused, my
hand on the locker room door.

He shifted, running a
hand through his hair. “You…you don’t remember what happened?”

“Actually, I remember
exactly what happened and I don’t remember you anywhere near the
water.” My hands were on both hips as I regarded him skeptically.

“I think you hit your
head, Ana.”

I grunted as I turned
on my heel and pushed the locker room door open.

It was late by the time
I emerged from the warehouse. The cool winter air blew into my damp
locks and I shivered. I inhaled deeply, offering gratitude to be
alive. Again. Then panic sunk in. My head whipped around to the
shell-covered parking lot outside our building. Hayden wasn’t
there. It was long past the time he usually picked me up. I wrapped
my arms around my body, suddenly feeling very vulnerable and alone.
After everything I just went through, I needed Hayden. I needed
someone to talk to. Why wasn’t he here, I wondered? And the hurt
immediately went to concern. More importantly, if whatever was
lurking at the bottom of the Mississippi was supernatural, why wasn’t
he called to Hunt? Why didn’t he save me? It felt like such a
childish thing to think. Hayden wouldn’t always be there to save
me, would he?