The firewall hissed and roared behind us, a spinning inferno that threw twisted shadows along the cave walls. Its heat clawed at my back as I leaned on Kaylie and hobbled forward. With her support, I managed to pick up speed, limping faster than I had any right to.

  But the tunnel ended.

  We skidded to a stop at the edge of a flooded cavern. The ground dipped into still, black water that reflected the swirling firelight behind us in broken, rippling patterns.

  Kaylie turned her head. The fire still held, but it was starting to shrink. She looked from the flames to me, jaw tight.

  “Do you want to fight, or should I just burn the whole cave down behind us?” She said it like both weren’t suicide. Like either wasn’t a nightmare.

  If I had to choose a way to die, I was certain that being burned alive or eaten by spiders belonged at the very bottom of the list.

  I didn’t answer. I kept scanning the area, hoping for another path. Maybe the flooded tunnel could lead somewhere.

  My legs were still shaky, but I moved into the water anyway, teeth clenched. Cold gripped me instantly, sliding through the cracks in my armor. I pushed forward, letting the water rise to my chest, then dipped under, blinking to adjust. The slope continued for a few more feet and then dropped into black nothing.

  A dead end?

  No. It had to lead somewhere. I just couldn’t see far enough.

  Staying up here meant a slow, messy death. Burned. Torn apart. Or maybe both.

  I wasn’t ready to die. Not like that.

  That made the decision easy.

  I came up coughing. “The water goes down further. Come in!”

  Kaylie didn’t move. Her eyes glinted with firelight, locked on mine. She knew I had no solid plan. I could see it in her expression. She wanted to turn back and take them all out, even if it meant dying in the process.

  “Trust me,” I said, more softly this time. “Please. I can’t do this without you.”

  She turned her body toward me and waded into the water. She had just reached halfway when the light from her flames cut out behind us, plunging us into darkness.

  “Don’t stop. Keep coming. You’re in the clear,” I encouraged as she paused momentarily in the pitch black.

  I couldn’t necessarily see, but once the lights went out, Rabbit compensated by outlining everything he had previously seen in a blue light. It was akin to viewing the world in monochrome, but instead of white, there were blue silhouettes of everything we had seen in the cave. Kaylie’s shape was distinct until she began moving toward me through the water, her form shifting from a clear outline to a blue blur. Rabbit struggled to pinpoint her exact movements, projecting various possible positions based on her splashing and the sound of her uneven breathing, which was getting closer.

  When she neared, I reached toward where most of Rabbit’s projections suggested her hands might be. Given her height and his knowledge of the water’s depth, he had a reasonable guess of her approach. She moved more slowly than before, likely due to the darkness and the unknown depths of the water beneath her. My hand reached her forearm, and I quickly grasped it, pulling her close to me.

  “You need to take off your armor,” Rabbit instructed.

  “In here? We don’t have time for it,” I replied.

  “You don’t, so hurry. Feel around her as much and as fast as you can, and I’ll outline,” Rabbit replied.

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  With the flames extinguished, the silence was broken by the sound of approaching spiders. Their legs scratched faintly against the rough cave walls, the noise growing into a continuous, unsettling buzz that made my skin crawl.

  “Trust me,” I whispered. “We need to take off some of this armor. Stay still.” Uncomfortable as it was, I began to grope Kaylie. I needed to feel exactly how her body was positioned, so I had to run my hands across her body until Rabbit could become familiar with it. It only took a second, but it was an awkward moment. Apparently, my hands went directly to her chest, but at least there was a plate on it. From that, Rabbit could tell which direction she was facing, and when I touched her legs, he could even tell which rocks she was standing on.

  Rabbit provided a clear outline of Kaylie, though he couldn’t pinpoint whether the straps of her armor were floating. As I needed to pull them, I thought it would be important, but it apparently wasn’t. Rabbit had anticipated where the straps started, so I just grabbed from there. I pulled the first strap quickly.

  My coordination was off due to my numb hand, so I resorted to using a knife from my bag to slice through the straps hastily. Kaylie wriggled as I cut, likely from discomfort or pain. I might have nicked her a couple of times. There was no time for precision. I had to remove the heavy armor quickly, letting the pieces fall away.

  As I started to slice through the straps of my own armor, the spiders cautiously skirted the water’s edge, giving me more time. Their initial hesitation quickly gave way to boldness as they edged closer. Abruptly, one of the spiders leaped, striking me squarely in the face with unexpected force.

  The impact knocked me off-balance, and I stumbled back from the submerged rocks where we had been wading, into deeper waters where I couldn’t stand. With only my breastplate removed, the remaining armor dragged me down swiftly. Kaylie grabbed me as we both began to sink, the aggressive spider tumbling into the abyss with us. As we plummeted into the cavern’s depths, the last thing I saw was Rabbit’s blue outline of the world above, quickly fading as we descended into the murky unknown.

  The submerged spider instantly regretted its choice, and it tried to escape the water. I could feel its heavy armor working against it, sinking just as quickly as I was, with its legs occasionally brushing against me. As I descended, I wasn’t idle. Rabbit highlighted the crucial buckles, and I focused on cutting through them, tuning out the chaos from Kaylie and the spider. It took slightly longer to free myself than it had for Kaylie, but as I continued to sink, I eventually reached the bottom. I could feel the pressure build in my ears, but that was the least of my concerns.

  When I was finally free of the heavy bits of armor, I realized Kaylie was still holding on to me. I reached into my bag, stowed my knife, and summoned the light stick into my hand. I shook the stick, expecting it to light up, but nothing happened.

  Why wasn’t it working? It didn’t require any special words or electricity to operate. I did not have time for this. This was half of my plan. Without light, we were in serious trouble.

  The light stick was supposed to guide us through the darkness, but it was dead in my hands, and the plan was falling apart. Yet even as it crumbled, Rabbit was holding things together. Every time my hand brushed a wall or struck a surface, he tracked it, refining our shared mental map with startling precision. It wasn’t just helpful. It was the only thing keeping us from getting lost in the dark. If the light wasn’t going to work, then I would have to rely on Rabbit and feel my way forward.

  I hastily stowed the light stick back in my bag and started reaching out to any surface I could feel. With limited breaths remaining, my movements were haphazard and rapid. I extended my arms as far and fast as I could, propelling us forward through the darkness. At times, my hands sliced through the water, at others, they collided abruptly with the cave walls. The first time it happened, I broke at least one finger and jammed another. The pain was dulled, but the sensations were beginning to return to me, and I lost a little air out of surprise.

  The second time I encountered a wall, I braced for the impact and managed to conserve my precious breath. Without Rabbit’s spatial diagram highlighting each wall and every movement I made, I would have been hopelessly disoriented, unable to discern up from down. Desperate, I felt around frantically for any passage. I needed a route that might lead to fresh air, though I wasn’t even sure one existed. I could follow the way back to where we started because of what I could see, but that would lead to death.

  I eventually collided with the spider, and its limp form confirmed it had drowned. Realizing that the spider couldn’t hold its breath underwater as we could, I understood our lungs offered a significant advantage in this environment. Recognizing the potential of this advantage, I filed that insight away for future use.

  As my hands groped through the darkness, they became shredded and bloodied, yet my efforts began to paint a clearer picture. Eventually, I discovered the upward path I had been seeking. Kaylie’s grip on me was the only assurance I wasn’t alone in the oppressive darkness. Our pace was agonizingly slow, hindered by the drag of our sodden clothes and the remnants of our armor. My mind began to fog, thoughts fraying at the edges as my lungs burned for air. Dizziness crept in, slow and steady, and a chilling question came with it. Would this path lead to air before we died, or was I dragging Kaylie with me to a horrible death?