Read When He Found Her (#1) (The Fire Journal) Page 13

  Chapter 13

  Evie brushed the water out from her eyes. Her hair and clothes were soaked, clinging to her tightly. She couldn't believe she jumped into the river. After all the things she heard about, she figured she probably contracted some kind of water related disease already. He was bringing out the adventurous side to her. It felt exhilarating. “Okay, so what now?”

  “You're the one who jumped in.”

  “And you're the one who kills these things for a living.”

  She had a point. “Hold on to my hand and take a deep breath.” If these Reachers were anything like the ones he knew in his past, they already built an underground cavern to hold their ceremony. It would be located pretty deep underwater and he doubted she could hold her breath for that long and swim. He had the advantage.

  She grabbed his hand. He intertwined his fingers with hers, locking her into place. She closed her eyes, calming herself down. Her heart raced with excitement. With his attention on her, she took a deep breath. He dove down, pulling her along into the deep, cold water.

  The water rushed past them as they made their way towards what he hoped was the cavern entrance. He hoped he hadn't dragged her down here in vain. Maybe he should’ve checked it out himself before dragging her. His hand hit against a large archway underground. It was there. He felt thankful they were predictable. Any other one of the fiends would have at least tried covering it up, maybe having someone stand guard. He couldn't imagine who would be behind this. Someone desperate to escape, he thought. That made it more dangerous.

  When they reached the interior of the cave, he exhaled deeply when he hit the air. The air felt like a welcomed friend. It was deeper than he thought. He looked over at Evie. Her head rested on the water, her mouth slightly opened. Some of the water leaked from the corner back into the pool around them.

  “No, no, no,” he said dragging her onto the land, “Not yet. I've been working too hard for this happen now.” He laid her on the ground, pressing his head to her chest. He could hear a heartbeat. She wasn't dead yet. There was still time.

  He pressed his hands to her chest and pounded, tilting her to the side. He patted her back, hoping to push some of the water out of her lungs. He didn't need an innocent death on his hands again.

  As Harry put it, one wouldn't tilt him over either way. But it would put him in debt. The more deaths directly caused by him, as this one would be, the more he needed to work them off. He already had a long list and he could use with one small break right now. He should have left her back at her place when he had the chance. He hated himself for allowing his emotions to dictate what he wanted. It was human thing – something he shouldn’t be experiencing.

  He pounded onto her back once more, hoping that dislodged the water. “Come on Evie,” he said laying her on the ground. He'd need to do mouth to mouth on her. He never did it before. It couldn't be too hard. It was worth a shot.

  Before he placed his lips on hers, she coughed water out of her mouth onto his face. He smiled, helping tilt her to the side as it emptied out of her lungs and mouth. Being spit on was the best feeling in the world.

  “Good girl. Glad to know you're still with me,” he said patting her back as he helped get all of it out of her. He was incredibly thankful for avoiding her death. He would need to be more careful with her tagging along.

  She steadied herself on her hands. Her breathing remained ragged, taking in as much as she could. There was still water in her. “I didn't know it was going to be that deep. I didn't take enough air.” She thought it was maybe ten feet under the water. They went much deeper.

  “You're okay now,” he said helping her get back onto her feet. There was nothing else they could do in the moment but continue moving. Staying in place would make them an easy target.

  “Yeah. Yeah,” she said shaking off the memory of what she saw. She could only remember darkness when she drowned. She worried she was headed towards the world these creatures came from. She would never take swimming for granted again.

  Uriz moved away from her a few steps, checking out the extent of the visible cavern. He saw where the Reachers used their teeth to gnaw away at the rock. They were resourceful.

  Evie felt slightly better. She still wasn’t as perfect as before but it would do. “Where are we?” She figured they were in the lair of these creatures but she didn't remember this cavern always being under the river. Maybe it was but she assumed someone would’ve talked about it. No one she knew ever mentioned it. The entire place was lined with torches, seeming to give the place an eerie glow. The water didn't reflect the light back. That was disturbing and unnatural.

  He saw the concern on her face. She didn't know how far they traveled, having been blacked out for a portion of the trip. “We're not dead if that's what you're worried about.”

  “A little. Thanks for that.”

  “They built some kind of underground cave, very typical of them. Whoever wants to come over is certainly making this easy. Nothing extravagant, nothing overly complex. I doubt they worked on this more than a few days.” Someone was incredibly desperate.

  “Who do you think is coming over?” She hesitated at the notion. Earlier he stated clearly these Reachers were intent on bringing over someone else.

  He scanned the room, moving slowly against the side of the cavern with his hand continually touching the cool stone. “There’s a lot of lords over there who would want to come. Each one of them needing somewhere new to be the ruler.”

  She nodded and kept looking around as well. “Did you ever get summoned like this?”

  He abruptly stopped walking. There it was – one of his dark little secrets. “A few times. It’s the best way to take over a world. You get some underlings to summon you over and you don’t have to waste time with using your own energy.” Now was another one of those points in time where people ran away, screaming, threatening to kill him. He braced himself for her reaction.

  “I see. Thanks for clarifying that.” She took a few steps around, looking at the rocks around her. The cavern certainly did seem odd.

  She didn't run. He always expecting it and it never happened. He worried about that. “Now I have to ask – why aren't you running?”

  “Are they here?” She hadn't heard any other noises except for their voices and the occasional drip of water.

  He rolled his eyes. “No. But I just told I'm basically one of the big bad guys and you're standing here still. Why?” His suspicions about her were beginning to grow. She might be something beyond human.

  She shrugged. “Really, I don't know. It's been so crazy today I'm worried I'm still dreaming. I might wake up and find myself back in the library. I think it's because you told me you want to change. I really believe people can. I mean – look at me. I woke up this morning, did the same thing I've done every day of my life, and now I'm in an underground world about to fight some demons. That's a huge change for me.”

  He nodded. He understood that thinking. It was the same one he had when he left the infernal plane initially. Instead of dwelling on her statement, he continued back to their original topic. “And I sincerely doubt any of the upper lords want to come over here. Enzarri's busy with Iol, a planet that used to be peaceful and now there are wars every other week. He loves it there. He calls it his pet. As for the others, they don't like to come up too often. It's not fun without having people mortified of you.”

  “What about a bigger fiend I guess? You said these were lower so maybe just one of the big guys wants to come up.” She was beginning to get the hang of this. If she was right, there was probably a caste system of elementals below.

  “Astute guess and the same as mine. Now the only problem is determining who would be so desperate as to use these creatures to bring him up.”

  Even knowing it would take a desperate elemental to seek help from the Reachers, it still didn’t narrow down the choices. Most of them wanted to come to a planet at one point or another. It was easy wreaking havoc up here especially
since humans were barely able to put up any sort of resistance. It was impossible – just more of a last ditch effort than a planned intervention. He hadn't been to a true elemental plane in a while and it was possible things changed. The ones who wanted to leave when he was there might be comfortable in their surroundings now. This became a tough one to crack without any evidence.

  The water started rippling behind them, seeming to crest at certain places. “Hide again,” he said grabbing onto her hand and ducking behind a rock. As they hid in the shadows, a group of Reachers emerged from the water, their robes soaked around their body with the fish head visible. Their gills worked hard providing oxygen; the trip no doubt exhausting their reserves.

  “Seems like the party's about to start,” he muttered to her. They arrived with barely any time to spare.