Fallen Angels///10

Water...

Sam opened the door and behind it... was water... blue, crystal clear, water. My mouth dropped at the simple fact that there was water just standing there, filling up the doorway, but not ever touching it. It was like looking into a tank at an aquarium, except, the water stayed in shape without a glass. Sam put his arm to the water and touched it. It rippled for a moment, but still retained its shape. He let his hand sink into it, and when he pulled it out, it was dry.

Carlos took a step closer and touched it himself. "Cool..."

Everyone soon began to gather around the mysterious barrier. Val couldn't contain her thoughts anymore. "So, what is this, we walk through the water and that's it? Some challenge..." she had a point. There had to be a catch somewhere... but where?

I clapped my hands together. "Well, it would seem that... um... we have a situation where... um... it seems as it doesn't seem... yeah..."

Carlos looked over to me. "You have no idea what to do, do you?"

I shook my head. "Not even close."

He sighed and sat down back in his corner. Everyone else began to do the same, talking about how the water could just simply stand there. I decided to do some investigating. Everyone used to tell me that curiosity killed the cat well, I refused to die. I walked over to the door and put my hand in the water. I pulled it out, and it was dry. I put my arm inside, and then pulled it out. At this point, you can say I gave up on thinking of a plan and just did what I thought was best... by not thinking at all. (I know, I confuse myself sometimes). I placed both of my hands to get a grip on the sides of the doorway, took a deep breath and...

"What the hell is she doing!?" Adrian came running towards me and my now submerged head at the door. I opened my eyes and looked into the water. It seemed to be a tank of some sort. There were concrete sidings, making the tank an oval shape. I looked up and there seemed to be a small air pocket. I looked down to see... nothing. The water must have been really deep because it all faded into black without an ending. I looked straight ahead to see a door, just like the one that led to the tank. I pulled my head from the water and moved the hair from my face. I took a breath of air. "It-it's a tank."

Carlos moved closer to the door and looked into the water. "Are you sure?"

I took another breath to slow my heart rate. "Positive. There's a door at the other end. All we have to do it swim across."

Lauren gave a disgruntled look. "Swim? How far?"

I closed my eyes as I tried to think. "Not that far... only about 50 meters."

Her eyes opened wide. "What?!"

"Oh come on, its not that far, you'll be there before you know it." I looked back at the water and then to the crowd. It wasn't far at least, for me it wasn't. I used to be on a swim team, so I could travel that distance five times over. But still Lauren gave me a concerned look. Oh come on... I guess that can only mean one thing. I sighed, "You can't swim, can you?"

She looked down at the ground and shook her head no. I sighed again. Ricky came over beside her. "Do you really expect for all of us to swim all the way over there at once?" Seriously, why did this guy always doubt my plans? Doesn't he have something better to do... like move a rock or something?

"Look," I took a step forward. "There is an air pocket only about 6 feet above us. If you run out of breath, you can swim up there to catch your breath and continue to the door. It's pretty bright in there, so you can't get lost. We have 2 water guardians and I'm sure I'm not the only one here who can swim, so anyone who needs help will have it."

Bam! Take that pebble boy! I actually did have a plan, and it didn't sound too bad if I may say so myself. He gave me a look. "You go first."

Adrian looked over to him in shock. "She doesn't have to-"

Oh come on people... just leave me alone... he doesn't think I can't make it, I'll show his ass... Before Adrian could finish her sentence, I took a few steps away from the door, and ran into the water.

Splash! (Don't you love the sound effects?) I felt the cold water all around my body. My hair shrouded my sight at first, but as I began to move forward, it moved out of my way and flowed against my back. I turned my head to see a few faces watching me as I swam to the other side. I kicked my feet and motioned my arms in a single motion. I waved my body up and down for better feel against the water and in no time, I had reached the door. I touched the handle and began to pull... Shit! It was stuck. Nice job.

I looked around and found nothing to help me. I swam up to the air pocket and started to think.

/What seems to be the problem, oh great one?!/ Ricky's voice rang in my head and I felt rage fill my body. I swear, I will kill him once I get this door open...

I answered back, /The door is stuck./

Carlos joined the conversation. /Use your sword./

Oh yeah... I swam back down and pulled my sword out of its strap. It shined bright in the water, and I stuck it in between the crack on the side of the door. I pushed against it, but it wouldn't budge. I was getting pissed. Who puts a door here that won't even open? I ought to sue somebody for this. I pulled the sword out of the door and swam back a bit. I looked around again and tried to think. Maybe... my mind began to race as I moved the sword to my side. I closed my eyes, and in one swift motion, I moved the sword across the water, a huge wave of air slicing through and hitting the door. I opened my eyes and did it again, this time, slicing the door in half. Yes! Victory shall be mine! I swam to the door and kicked it open. I swam inside and fell on the floor, gasping for air lying next to two pieces of the now broken door.

I called back to Ricky in a teasing voice. /Guess who's out of the fish tank.../

I heard Adrian's voice giggle. /Good job./

/Thanks.../

Logan interrupted. /Yeah yeah, now hurry up and get back here, there are a few NORMAL people here that can't swim that far./

Man I hope he drowns...

I took another breath and jumped back into the water, swimming back to the other door to be greeted by a smiling Adrian and a scowling Ricky.

"Ok, good job Carmen." Carlos came over with Mary and Terry by his side. "We've all decided how it should work. Since you are the only one that can swim that far naturally, and since these two can use their powers to breath underwater, you three will take one person at a time to the other end. Sound good to you?"

I thought it over for a minute. Maybe if I took Logan over, he could accidentally run out of air. "Good enough." I replied. "Good. Now, Mary will take Elle, Terry will take me, and you can take Adrian. Let's go."

Wow, someone really likes to take control, and I think he's wearing a black cloak. Oh well, I'm good with just following what he says, less work for me to think about. Him and Mary jumped into the water. Then Terry and Elle. I held Adrian by the waist and pulled her close to me. "If you need air, just point up, okay?"

She nodded her head and grabbed my arm tight. I lifted us a couple of inches off the ground. "Ready? One, two, three!"

We both took a deep breath as I flew into the water. She let go of me for a second as she tried to adjust to the water, but I held her waist with both arms now and she settled down as I began to swim to the other side. Not too long after, she tugged on my shirt and began to point up. I gave her a nod as I made my way to the air pocket. I moved the hair out of my eyes and looked to see Adrian taking in deep breaths of air.

"Are you okay?" I moved over to her and placed my hand on her back, helping her stay above the water. The air pocket was only big enough for our heads to fit, but that's all we needed. She took a few more breaths before answering. "Yeah, I'm ready, lets go."

I grabbed her by the waist again as we dove back into the water. We were more than half way there and when we came to the door, I let her go and flipped myself around to kick her out of the water. Once I saw that she was inside the room, I turned around to swim back to get someone else. As I reached the door, I saw Terry leaving with Sam and Mary following behind him with Val. I fell back onto the floor and stood up. Logan came over to me and helped me up. "What took you so long?"

I gave him a look. Now what is he going on about? "I didn't take long."

"Then how come they got back before you?"

I place my hand on my hip and just gave him a stupid look. "Well, they DID leave before me and your girlfriend couldn't hold her breath long enough, so I had to swim up for air. And I wasn't even that far behind them, they just left a second ago. Anymore questions?"

He looked around the room, but he didn't say anything. I lifted myself into the air and picked him up by his arms. "Now it's your turn."

He began to try to wiggle out of my grasp. "No, wait, I didn't mean-"

"One-two-three..." I took a breath and flew into the water. Apparently, Logan could swim, just not fast enough. I grabbed the back of his shirt and began to pull him along. He tugged at my shirt and pointed up for air, but we were only a couple of feet away, and I was mad. How dare he accuse me of... what was he accusing me of anyway? Fuck it, he gave me an attitude. I pushed him forward and kicked him hard through the doorway. I didn't even look to see if he had landed on his ass or his head. I just swam up for air, and back for another person. I got back to see Terry taking off with Alex and Mary fixing to swim off with Ricky. I took a few breaths before taking off with Ariel. Turns out she was a pretty good swimmer, so I just pulled her along to keep up the speed. We actually got there before Mary and Terry, so I decided to be the one to go back and get Lauren. Before I left, I saw Logan talking to Adrian. About what, I didn't know, and I really didn't feel like finding out. I took a breath and swam back. As I was swimming, I thought I saw something shining from the bottom. I stopped and looked around. I couldn't see anything there except for water. I thought I heard a thump, but just decided it was my ears popping. I reached the other end and took a few more breaths. Lauren stood there waiting as she strapped her staff onto her back like Mary had done.

"You ready?"

"Yeah... I guess..." She looked down at the ground.

"What's wrong?"

She looked up and just smiled. "Just a little nervous I guess..."

I looked back at her again before walking back towards the door. "Hey, do you happen to know why Logan was asking me all those questions?"

She smiled a bit and laughed to herself. "He's jealous."

"He's what?"

"Yup, he's jealous because Adrian is trusting you so much and it took him forever to get a sentence out of her."

Ok, now THIS was confusing. "But, we haven't even known each other for a day... how can he be jealous? Its not like I'm trying to steal her away from him or something."

She nodded her head. "I know, and so do the rest of us. He's just like that I guess."

"Well... I guess... oh well, he'll just have to get over it. Come on, let's go." I grabbed her by the waist and we jumped in. Turns out she wasn't lying when she said she couldn't swim. I decided to just drag her like I had done with Logan. About half way there she tugged at my pants and I headed up for air. She breathed in deep before allowing me to take her back down again. We were about 20 feet away when I saw something shining again. This time though, it was in a different spot at the bottom. I stopped and looked around. Nothing. Lauren gave me a confused look, but I just shook my head at her and kept going. Ten feet away, I felt her tug at my pants again. I turned to look, but she wasn't pointing up. Instead, she was pointing behind us. I turned and saw... well, it looked like some kind of deformed man-fish. No, not a mermaid, a fish who had a scaly body, and arms and... a spear? Crap...

I pushed hard at the water as I struggled to reach the door before the fish-man got us. I saw someone's hand reach out from the other side and I grabbed onto it. At the same time, the fish had gotten a hold of Lauren and was trying to pull her off of me. I pulled harder at the hand and finally fell onto the hard floor of the room. I stood up and took a breath, but Lauren wasn't there. Carlos was looking outside of the water. One of the girls screamed. I lifted up into the air and dived into the water. About 12 feet away, I saw the fish swimming away with Lauren. As I swam to catch up, I saw her try to form a flame, but the only thing that came from her hands was steam. I pulled out my sword and focused my powers to let the air guide me in the water through my feet, like an engine. I swam in front of them and stabbed it in its stomach. It immediately let go of Lauren as blood began oozing from its body. I pushed myself forward to grab onto an unconscious Lauren and moved back towards the door. I guess there were more creatures in the water because as the sinking fish began to bleed, I saw a huge shark come from the dark and eat it's body whole. I turned back towards the door and urged the air to move me faster. Unfortunately, the shark had finished his snack faster than I thought it would and was soon swimming fast in our direction. I moved fast against the water, but my energy was running out. I needed air. I began to slow down and the shark had caught up wit me. Luckily, the door was just a few feet away and I gave on final push against the water and threw Lauren into the room. I breathed in deep and laid on the floor, my foot inches from the water. I had my eyes closed and I tried to get my heart to slow down. I looked up to see everyone gathering around Lauren's unconscious body. Sam came over yelling at me. "What the hell did you do to her?!"

I started to protest, when a loud splash came from behind me and a sharp pair of teeth sank into my leg. "AH!!!" I turned to face the great shark right in the eye as he began to pull me back into the water. My sword lay next to me and I tried to reach for it, but I was soon pulled into the water and dragged to the bottom. Blood was covering my clothes and the water stung my leg, but I wasn't going to give up. I turned and kicked the shark with my other foot in his face. He let go with a wail of pain as I desperately began to swim back to the door. Again it began to chase after me. I reached for my sword, only to find my strap empty. I turned to face the shark, doing the only thing I could think of. I pressed my hands close to my chest with my palms closed. I waited for him to come closer... closer... closer... Swish! Three feet away, I threw my hands out away from my chest and opened them, as a rush of air sent him flying... or... tumbling backwards. Blood seeped from him slowly, but I didn't wait to see if it was dead or not, because I had already turned around and began to swim back to the door. I landing with a hard crash onto the floor, laying face down gasping for air. My leg began to sting again as my body began to shiver and grow weak from the extreme loss of blood. The only thing I remembered was hearing Adrian scream out and Mary rushing towards me... then everything went dark...