I cringed fearfully.

“Oh,” he added, “and unlike shifters, there’s no spell, potion, or exorcism that can save you if you do get infected.”

“Thanks, Darren.” Zora adjusted her sword hilt. “I love when teammates bolster each other’s confidence. I’ll remember it next time I put together a job.”

He shot an alarmed look over his shoulder.

“Let’s stay focused,” she called to the group. “Echoes carry far in here and we don’t want to tip off the nest—if there is one.”

I looked down at my blood tracker, but the faint red glow hadn’t brightened. No sign of trouble yet.

Our headlamps flickered and flashed across the tunnel in dizzying patterns as we sloshed downstream. Small pipes connected with the main tunnel at regular intervals, disgorging frothing spouts riddled with leaves, mud, and bits of garbage. The water level crept over my knees.

“Heads up,” Laetitia called back.

I looked up and my light beam hit the tunnel’s slimy ceiling. A swarm of two- and three-inch-long cockroaches scuttled away from the light. Shuddering, I sloshed faster.

The tunnel gradually widened as more pipes connected to it, dumping runoff into the system. My breath puffed from exertion and foul air coated my mouth. Was it my imagination, or was the current picking up?

“Okay!” Zora called just loud enough to grab everyone’s attention. We clustered around her. “A hundred yards farther along, this tunnel empties into the main channel, and that’s where we’ve found nests in the past. Laetitia, you have our safety line?”

The tall hydromage pulled a coil of climbing rope from under her overalls, the end clinking with a dozen heavy carabiner clips.

“Good. We’ll approach the end of this tunnel with caution. If our blood trackers light, that’s it, we’re done. We know they’re here. If they don’t light, we’ll have to descend into the main channel. It has a walkway along one side that should be above the water. We’ll start by—”

A foaming wave splashed into our group, almost throwing Zora and me off our feet. Drew grabbed my arm and Cameron supported Zora, the taller mythics bracing against the increased current. The water broke across my thighs.

“Zora!” Laetitia’s voice was sharp with warning. “The water is rising too fast. It must be raining upstream.”

“Get the safety line ready. There’s a drain access just ahead. Move!”

Laetitia and Darren rushed forward while Cameron and Drew held on to me and Zora, helping us stay grounded as the water rose up to my hips. I stuffed my blood tracker down the front of my shirt as we waded after them.

Metal ladder rungs protruded from the cement wall, and Laetitia clipped carabiners onto the lowest rung. She snapped one onto a sturdy loop built into her fitted combat vest, then tossed the rope to Darren. He clipped himself in, then slung the rope to Cameron.

A deep roar was growing louder, the cacophony rolling down the tunnel from somewhere upstream.

Cameron snapped a carabiner onto his vest, then clipped Zora in as the water broke over my waist. Drew caught another loop of rope, one arm hooked around me, and snapped himself in. He held a carabiner out to me.

I stared at it in terror.

His eyes widened as he realized what no one had noticed before: I wasn’t in combat gear like they were. I wasn’t wearing a fitted, secure, heavy-duty vest with loops that could be clipped onto the line.

The deafening roar boomed in warning.

Drew snapped the clip over the strap of my overalls, then grabbed me by the waist and heaved me toward the wall. Cameron and Darren gripped my arms, fingers biting down hard. Our headlamps flashed as we all looked up the tunnel.

A frothing wall of water charged toward us.

Laetitia thrust her hands out. The wave bent as though diverted by an invisible barrier, but the water level kept climbing.

“Get out!” Laetitia gasped, arms trembling.

Drew threw Zora up into the chute. He must’ve added a boost of telekinesis, because she flew upward and grabbed the ladder rungs. She climbed for the hatch, boots slipping on the rungs, and Drew caught me next. As Darren and Cameron released my arms, he heaved me out of the waist-deep water.

Laetitia’s sharp cry rang out as water smashed into her. Her invisible diversion vanished and the full force of the torrent hit us.

The impact slammed me into the concrete wall, my hard hat bouncing off a ladder rung. As the water struck them, Cameron and Darren made wild grabs for me, but the raging current swept us all off our feet.

The safety line snapped taut. The men jerked to a halt, water breaking over them. Hanging by my overalls’ strap, I flailed desperately as icy liquid hammered my head. I couldn’t see, could scarcely breathe.

“Robin!” a voice shouted urgently.

Water pounded over me, pulling hard on my overalls. They’d become an underwater parachute, the current dragging at them with inexorable force. I stretched my arm up, blindly searching for the rope. My fingers brushed the braided cord.

The plastic buckle on my overalls snapped.

Chapter Eleven

The violent torrent whipped me down the tunnel on a foaming wave, gaining speed by the second. My headlamp flashed across the concrete walls and illuminated a square opening ahead. The water echoed even louder.

The end of the tunnel. I sucked in a breath and clamped my hand over my nose.

I shot out of the tunnel like it was the world’s most terrifying waterslide and plunged into deeper water. My hard hat tore off my head, the light spinning away. I caught a glimpse of the cavernous new tunnel I’d fallen into. Water poured in on both sides from huge pipes, and a platform ran along the right side, with drains gushing down onto it.

My tumbling headlamp blinked out and darkness swept in.

As I spun in the deluge, I shoved the remaining strap of my overalls off. The water tore the garment away and I kicked, hands flailing in search of a solid surface. My bulky coat dragged me under.

I yanked the zipper down and my head dunked beneath the freezing water. As I was sucked into the spiraling turbulence where a pipe dumped into the main channel, I ripped my jacket off and let the water take it too. Freed of its weight, I kicked back to the surface.

When my head broke free, I gasped. Light! Dim light illuminated the channel and the platform speeding past me. I flung my hands out, reaching frantically for a handhold as the water carried me along. My fingers scraped across the rough concrete, then caught on a lip.

I jarred to a painful halt. The current pulled at me, splashing over my face and filling my mouth. I spat, coughed, and shook the water from my eyes. My handhold was a one-foot-diameter pipe. Hooking my arm into it, I felt upward with the other and found the edge of the platform.

Gasping for air, I dragged one leg up and stuck my foot into the hole. A terrified voice in the back of my head screamed I couldn’t do it, that I’d slip and fall and drown. I grabbed the ledge and launched myself upward as hard as I could. Arms grasping at the slick concrete, I heaved myself onto the solid platform. The water rushed by, dark as ink in the dim light.

Lying on my back, I panted harshly, my throat aching and limbs trembling. I was alive. Somehow.

The infernus under my drenched sweater pulsed, a brief flash of heat and vibration. With unsteady arms, I pushed myself into a sitting position and reached into my shirt. My numb fingers found a smooth stick. I tugged the blood tracker out and dropped it beside me, then slid the infernus out of my sweater.