CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

A Trial of Water

Sam stared bug-eyed at the water pouring down the cracks. They were like three waterfalls filling up the space around him with a flood of fresh water. At least Sam hoped it was fresh water and not the city’s sewage. He preferred not to experience swimming in sewage again like that time underneath the Met.

He could also hear his heart pounding loudly in his chest, and Sam wondered if this was what it felt like to be deathly afraid of something. Because, even with everything he’d been through this past month, drowning had to be at the top of Sam’s list of most terrifying deaths.

Few people knew this about Sam, but he was afraid of large bodies of water. It was an irrational sort of fear, one born from his memories of watching way too many killer shark movies with his parents when he was younger. In the past, a sixteen-year-old Sam had once gone diving in the West Philippine Sea, and despite a moment’s delight of watching the tiny, colorful fish swimming around him, Sam became so frightened by the vast emptiness of the horizon that he’d swam right up without equalizing and caused his ears to bleed from the pressure.

Oh, gods…help! his mind screamed.

In that moment of irrational fear taking hold of him, Sam’s hero did come to his rescue. Thunder’s hand clamped on his arm, and with a reassuring smile that instantly restored calm to Sam’s mind, she pulled him toward the dome’s entrance.

“Come with me if you want to live,” she said.

They ran to the portal by the north end of the dome while their feet sloshed through the knee-deep water. However, once they got close enough to see the elevator’s entrance they realized it was no longer there. The door-shaped void had vanished. Farsight and Jackboot were standing shoulder to shoulder by that glass wall with expressions of anxiety flitting across their faces.

“Portal’s gone. We’re trapped,” Jackboot confirmed.

The water was past their knees now.

“Now what?” Thunder asked.

There was a brief moment of panicked silence before Farsight suggested the unthinkable. “We could always go up…”

“Up?” Sam’s eyes snapped up to the cracks above which were now just big gaping holes pouring even more water into the dome. “Are you serious?”

“There’s light filtering down to us, which probably means the surface isn’t so high up,” Farsight reasoned. “We can make it...unless anyone here can’t swim?”

Sam’s gaze was suddenly glued to the floor because he was afraid Farsight would notice the fear reflected in his eyes. He knew how to swim, of course, but swimming in a pool and swimming for your life underneath a lake were two entirely different things.

“Master,” Sam called in an undertone, “Can the system help me breathe underwater?”

Unless you suddenly grow gills or unlock a power related to it, then you’re going to have to just swim as fast as you can, kid. Chiron might have sensed the growing unease within Sam because he did add something that helped to lift the hero’s spirits. You’ve got the raw power to blast through the water like a rocket… Just don’t forget to equalize on your way up… And remember lesson number eight; courage isn’t the absence of fear—

“It’s the will to step forward despite the quaking in your boots,” Sam finished.

He’d repeated the whole lesson out loud as soon as Chiron mentioned it, so Jackboot, who’d heard him, said, “That was deep, Sam... Did you write that down first or was it all from the top of your head?”

“It’s something my master used to tell me,” Sam replied.

“You have a master?” Jackboot asked.

“He does. We all do.” Thunder jumped to Sam’s rescue. “Is that not a thing in the U.K.?”

Jackboot shook his head. “We’re usually done with mentors and training after we get our license since the whole process of becoming a hero is ridiculously challenging enough already.”

“I’m sure the intricacies of the British superhero experience are riveting”—the exasperation was dripping from Farsight’s voice—“but you’re all aware that the water’s up to our stomachs now, right? We need to get out of here!”

Sam was inclined to agree with her as the icy-cold water was much closer to their chests now for his liking.

“Jack, can you take Ash up there with you?” Sam asked.

“Sure, I can manage that.” Jackboot wrapped Farsight in an awkward embrace. “What about you and Thunder?”

Sam had already hooked his arms around Thunder’s waist, prompting her to remind him that she probably could escape this deathtrap on her own.

“I know, I know… You’re saving me this time,” he whispered into her ear.

That comment made her smile, prompting Sam to flash her a smile of his own.

“Hold on tight,” he suggested.

As an afterthought, Sam glanced over his shoulder to where the automaton stood and was surprised to discover that it had vanished too.

“Where in Hades did it—”

“One mystery at a time, Sam,” Thunder hissed into his ear.

The water was past their chests now.

“Right, right...” Sam took in a deep breath, and then he whispered, “Herculean.”

It was little more than a whisper, and yet the water around Sam began to recede momentarily as an aura of power burst out of his body.

[Herculean (Δ)] is now active. Based on probability and threat assessment calculations, your current Strength is temporarily doubled. [120].

“That’s all I get?” Sam sighed.

“Sam!” Thunder snapped.

Feeling sufficiently chided, Sam bent his knees, and with Herculean’s energy coursing through him, he lifted them both into the air like a rocket in flight. And, as the sudden gush of wind buffeted their faces, Thunder’s arms tightened around Sam’s neck—and the giddiness he felt from her proximity helped to curb the anxiety in his mind.

Get it together, idiot, his brain scolded. Now’s not the time for these kinds of thoughts.

Only seconds had passed from the ground to the dome’s glass surface. But in his rush to launch them upward, Sam had forgotten to aim for one of the three holes in the dome, meaning they were about to crash into what might have been the only part of the glass dome that remained intact.

Styx! Sam’s mind screamed. Just how unlucky am I?

“I’ve got it!” Thunder said.

“Wait, don’t—”

Sam didn’t think Thunder’s powers mixed well with water. He needn’t have worried though because Thunder didn’t summon the lightning. She just used her fist to punch an exit for them.

He had a second to look astonished by her physical prowess while Thunder gave him the ‘I used to have Triple-A too’ look before they plunged into the water from below like they’d dived into it upside down. Then all silly thoughts were drained from Sam’s mind as his entire being was focused on a single notion; survive!

They sped up like a bullet streaking through the water that did its utmost to drag them back down. Still, Sam managed to propel them up, up, and away until he saw the light above like Farsight said he would. That’s when their momentum slowed, however, and Sam found himself suddenly flailing in the depths.

Come on, kid! Chiron encouraged him. Just a little more!

With one arm tightening around Thunder’s waist, Sam swam on in desperation. Of course, Thunder was helping too, and it might have been her efforts that kept them going in the direction because Sam was a terrible swimmer.

Sam had begun to feel hopeful that they might just make it after all when something shiny flashed at the corner of his left eye, forcing his gaze to drift toward it.

It was far too dark under the depths to see anything clearly, but Sam thought he’d seen scales reflect what little light there was to see by. Even more worrying, those scales he imagined he’d seen were too large to belong to fish.

The thought of sharks and sea monsters flooded into Sam’s brain, causing his movements to get more erratic—prompting Thunder to whack him hard in the shoulder. It didn’t help much because Sam’s mind had already recalled another priestess story from his childhood. The one about Pan’s guardians—creatures of myth and legend— who were charged with protecting the last vestiges of the ‘Wilds’ that remained in this modern world.

Beneath him, Sam heard the sound of a muffled boom. A moment later, Jackboot and Farsight were zooming past him and Thunder in a hurry. And, just before they lost sight of her, they both saw Farsight pointing downward, forcing them both to look down.

There it was, a giant-sized yellow eye shining within the darkness of the depths. It blinked and vanished from their sights—and if Sam could utter words then and there, he would have screamed in fright.

In a fit of panic, Sam achieved something he’d never done before. He formed a fist with his free hand, and after channeling all his strength into it, he snapped his fingers outward. The pressure exploding out of his palm was like a rocket’s propulsion engines suddenly bursting to life, and then Sam and Thunder were zooming upward so fast that his ears hurt. Then, with a mighty splash, their heads cleared the water, and they found themselves staring up at a starry night sky that was so clear of obstruction they instinctively knew that they were nowhere close to the city.

“Where—”

Sam and Thunder were floating in the middle of a large body of water stretching for miles around them. In the far distance was a bank of dirt, trees, and wild grass.

“I think...” Thunder was still catching her breath. “...I think...we’re really in Lake Michigan...”

“Sam!” Jackboot called.

He and Farsight were waving at them from the small island in the very center of the lake.

“Swim toward us!” he yelled. “Hurry!”

Sam heard the splash of water bursting outward from behind them, and then a great wave crashed down on him and Thunder, forcing them back into the water where they held onto each other while they rolled underneath the waves. They managed to come up for breath a second time though, with both of them gasping for air.

“Swim, you fools! Swim!” Farsight screamed.

That’s when Sam and Thunder saw what had disrupted the lake’s surface. A fin appeared alarmingly close to where they floated. It was pale blue and over ten feet high.

“Oh, gods,” Thunder gasped.

“Hold on to me!” Sam ordered.

Sam would later claim that it was instinct that drove him on when he’d snapped his feet against the water, and suddenly, they were soaring up high into the air—like they were birds in flight—and then crash-landing onto the sand moments later with the grace of a cannonball.

“Yow,” Sam grunted, while Thunder joined in with, “Ugh…”

As they lay sprawled over each other in a mess of limbs and wet clothes, Jackboot’s head appeared over them. “Are you two alright?”

“Of course, they’re not alright,” Farsight said as her head popped over them too. “They nearly became fish food.”

“Yow,” Sam repeated.

Later, after they’d been helped to their feet, Sam, who’d been standing closest to the water, managed to catch one final look at that giant fin before it dipped back into the depths.

“Okay”—Sam’s brow creased—“Lake Michigan has its version of the Lockness Monster…that might be a good article to send Mr. Kim.”

“Is this actually Lake Michigan?” Thunder asked.

“Yes…and no,” Farsight answered.

They both gave her inquiring looks, to which Farsight replied by spreading her arms wide as if to emphasize where they were. “Somehow, we’ve stepped into the realm of the gods.”

“I’m sorry…but could you repeat that.” Jackboot raised a hand. “Because I could swear you said something ridiculous!”

Farsight rolled her eyes at him before explaining, “There are places in our world where the walls between mortal and immortal are so thin that they overlap with each other so that they become both and neither.”

Sam gave Jackboot a sideways glance. “Did you get that?”

“I reckon…no,” Jackboot replied.

“Ash,” even Thunder looked confused, “could you—”

Farsight began to draw a circle on the sand with her finger.

“This is the mortal realm,” she explained.

She drew another circle next to the first but had their edges overlap with each other.

“This second one is the immortal realm,” she said.

Then Farsight stabbed her finger into the space that overlapped between both circles.

“This spot here is what’s known as a celestial zone, a unique space that brings a god’s influence into the mortal plane.”

“Wait, you mean—”

“Yes, Sam, we are currently hanging out in the territory of a god,” Farsight finished.

“Assuming we believe you…” Jackboot crossed his arms over his chest. “Which god are we talking about, exactly?”

“Mine,” said a voice that sounded old and sad yet young and full of mirth all at the same time.

They all turned around to discover that the Achelous automaton was right behind them, but it was different somehow. This automaton’s eyes flared with golden light, the one true sign that a god had possessed this vessel.

“Welcome to my realm, heroes.” A brief smile quickly morphed into a deepening frown, “Now, tell me why you’ve wandered into my vacation home and disturbed my alone time… And it better be good, or I may just feed you to the fishes.”

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Sidenote: I'm reworking most of Iron Blood Arcanist as well. What do you guys think of me remaking everything to the ground up, including a new cover, which will mean deleting the previous version and making a new one here on RR. Let me know in the comments. XD