She thought of Verity and Alex. She should have taken their advice. Avoided the Blood Guard captain at all costs.
He hasn’t won yet.
She heard Gideon stumbling behind her, cursing as he closed in. So long as he didn’t catch her, she could still make it out of this.
But if he caught her, she’d go straight to the purge.
That thought made her run faster.
At the end of the illuminated tunnel was another ladder, this one leading to the level below. She didn’t want to go further down, wading deeper into his trap, but as she glanced over her shoulder and sighted a limping Gideon in the distance, neither could she go back.
So down she went.
It was even colder on the level below, and the floor was slick with water. Rune slipped multiple times and had to grope the wall to keep from falling. Without the lamp on the first level, she couldn’t see a thing. Several times she found the way blocked by cave-ins and had to double back.
The water deepened, too, the further in she went.
When Gideon’s boots thudded on the ladder behind her, adrenaline zipped through Rune. Stumbling through the water, she lurched down another tunnel, feeling along the walls, trying to put as much space as possible between herself and the witch hunter.
She stepped into a pool of water and nearly fell straight in. At the last second, she scrambled, throwing her weight back and slamming into the rock wall behind her.
This mine isn’t just caving in on itself, she thought, breathing hard as the damp seeped through her clothes. It’s being swallowed by the sea.
Water flooded this whole level.
In the dark, Rune tried to follow the walls around the flooded hole … and nearly fell in again. There was no lip or ledge. Just a watery, seemingly bottomless, pit. Behind her lay the tunnel she’d come down.
A dead end.
Light flashed, and Rune turned to see Gideon in the tunnel, headed straight for her. He had that flare in his hand, and the closer he came, the more the small cavern she stood in brightened.
Rune glanced around her, trying to think. Her spell was still intact, and since Gideon didn’t know for sure that she was in here, the spellmarks on her wrist would keep working their magic, pushing his attention away from her. Or so she hoped.
But even if it did hold, all Gideon had to do was continue walking and he’d bump right into Rune. There was nowhere for her to go. It was too cramped to dart around him.
Unless …
She eyed the dark pool. The top of a ladder poked up a few inches above the surface, suggesting this hole had once been the entrance to the mine’s third level.
The water was murky, the color of mud. Rune couldn’t see three feet down, never mind the bottom, even with Gideon’s light growing stronger.
Pulling her hood down toward her eyes, Rune stared at the water. It would be cold. Freezing cold. Could she hold her breath long enough to stay hidden? She didn’t know. But if she didn’t want Gideon to catch her, she only had one option. And it was this one.
Reaching down, she grabbed the slippery sides of the ladder and slowly lowered herself in, gasping at the icy temperature.
She descended slowly, not wanting to make too many ripples. As she did, her eyes locked with Gideon’s—or they would have, if he could see her. He glanced right past Rune, scanning the cavern’s shadows.
Relieved, Rune let out a breath.
Ghost Walker was still doing its job. Convincing him she wasn’t here.
He’ll be able to see me as soon as I come up for air, she realized, glancing at the bloody marks on her wrist, knowing the water would wash them away in moments. But what other choice did she have?
Before Gideon closed the gap, Rune sucked in a lungful of air and went under, using the ladder to pull herself as far down as she dared, out of his reach and into the murky water.
She felt the spell weaken the further down she went, then fade entirely.
Rune opened her eyes and looked up, half expecting to be confronted by Gideon’s dark and deadly gaze. Instead, she saw nothing but murk, and the dim glow of his flare in the cavern above.
Rune held herself still.
The cold water slowed her pulse. Soon, her lungs pinched, wanting air. But the glow overhead didn’t recede. He was still in this cavern with her.
Her lungs burned. Rune squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold on a little longer, knowing she only had seconds until her time ran out. When it felt like her chest would burst, she opened her eyes and looked up to find only blackness. Darkness everywhere.
Gideon had taken his flare and left.
She let go of the ladder and surged upward, gasping for breath when she hit the surface.