I broke through the surface and kept going up, not realizing I was out, darkness still surrounding me.

Darkness.

I looked up. The hatch was gone. Then a huge chunk of plaster fell and light shimmered through.

“Adam?” I yelled. “Adam!”

Another crash. The house collapsing. More debris raining down. The hatch going dark again. Staying dark.

Silence.

A bomb. The final solution. Bring the house down. Destroy everything.

thirty-eight

“Adam!”

I floundered toward the wall screaming his name. My nails dug into the cement sides, scrabbling as if I could get up there, get to him, somehow get to him. Blood welled up, my fingers sliding in it.

“Savannah . . .” Bryce came up behind me.

I pounded the wall. Pounded it until my fists ached. Tears streamed down my face. My throated burned from screaming.

“Savannah . . .” He touched my shoulder.

I wheeled on him, bloody fists raised.

He started to shrink back, then stopped. “If that’ll make you feel better . . .”

I snarled and turned back to the wall, feeling along it now, desperately trying to find some fingerhold, some bumps and holes I could use to pull myself up.

“We need to get out of here,” Bryce said.

“Do we? Great idea.” I jabbed my finger up. “Our exit is gone. Buried under a few tons of rubble.”

And Adam. Adam is buried under there, too. Maybe Jeremy, too.

My stomach clenched and I doubled over, face hitting the water. I gasped. The filthy water filled my mouth and I didn’t care. Didn’t try to spit it out. Didn’t try to come up for air.

Adam was dead.

Dead.

Adam, and maybe Jeremy, and it was my fault. I’d brought them here and they’d died trying to get me out of that locked room. My fault. Just like all those deaths in Columbus. Just like my parents.

Bryce heaved me up to the surface. I fought him, but he kept me above water, even as he panted with the effort, his face now visible, a light ball glowing over our heads. Covering his mouth with one sodden sleeve, he hacked and coughed and gasped, and that was what stopped my struggles, remembering how sick he was, imagining myself dragging him underwater with me, killing him, another death on my conscience.

I pushed him away and started treading water.

“I don’t believe Anita drowned,” he said after a moment.

“Do you think I care—?”

“She knew there was a way out. There must be some kind of exit, maybe under the water.”

I said nothing. He went quiet and I thought he was going to console me. Instead, his eyes flashed.

“So that’s how it is?” he said. “Your boyfriend might be dead so you give up? I didn’t think you were that kind of—”

“Adam is not my boyfriend,” I said through clenched teeth. “He’s my friend, okay? The guy I’ve known since I was twelve. My coworker. My partner. My best friend.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, but you don’t know he’s dead—”

“The fucking building collapsed!”

“You don’t know for sure. And even if you did, are you going to just stay down here? Swim until you can’t stay above water and let yourself drown?”

I glowered at him.

“I take it that’s a no,” he said. “Good. Let’s get out of here.”

I made Bryce stay afloat while I dove. Otherwise, he was liable to go down and not come up. I could hear him coughing from under five feet of water.

I did a systematic search around the perimeter. I was about to repeat it when my hand reached out and didn’t touch concrete.

The drain was about two and a half feet wide. Completely submerged. I resurfaced and told Bryce.

“I’ll go,” I said. “It could be too far to hold your breath—”

“I’m fine.”

“Umm, no, from the sounds of it, you’re about to start hacking up lung tissue.”

“Anita wouldn’t have tried swimming out if she didn’t think she could make it.” He paddled over to the side. “She’s more than twice my age and not exactly an athlete. Anyway, at worst, we’ll find out whether their experiment works. A test of my immortality. You wait here.”

“I’m not—”

He dove before I could finish. I went after him, but his foot caught me in the gut. Accidentally? I’m not sure. It was enough of a blow to have me swallowing water again, which meant I shot back up, sputtering. I spat out, took a deep breath, and went under.

Bryce was already in the drain and out of reach. I kept going until my brain started screeching that I should turn back, that I’d barely make it back and—

I plowed into him. I rose into a dimly lit pocket of air to find him standing in front of me. A light ball hovered overhead.

“That was your spell back there?” I said.

“It wasn’t yours, that’s for sure. Mine you can actually see by.”

“I’m having some trouble.”

“So I saw.” He coughed. “That’s about the extent of my witch magic, though. Dad taught it to me. He learned it . . . he must have learned it from your—” Another cough. “Anyway, catch your breath here and follow me if you must. Just don’t get in my way.”

“Thanks a helluva—”

He went back under. I followed. We’d gone about ten feet when he stopped. He kicked and I thought he was in trouble, so I grabbed his ankle. He managed to reach back, grab my hand, and motion for me to retreat. When I hesitated, he put it into reverse himself.

There wasn’t room to turn around, so we had to back up. Slow going, and I was gasping when I surfaced. Bryce came up just behind me.

“It’s Anita,” he said. “She’s dead. Something blocked her way and she must have panicked, trying to clear it instead of retreating. I’m going back in. Stay here.”

“No, you’re half-dead yourself. If anything’s wedged in there, you’ll never get it out.”

He hesitated, but agreed and let me go. I was able to pull Anita’s body back past the air hole and went up for a breath, then down again.

The blockage was another corpse, this one bloated so badly it was like pulling a cork from a bottle. I managed to get it back to the breathing hole. I came up for air and told Bryce, and I couldn’t say another word before he dove and started out. I followed.