Page 148 of Kingmakers, Year One

I have no idea how long this air will last. There’s only a couple of inches—how much oxygen does a person need every minute, every hour? I haven’t saved myself, I’ve only delayed the inevitable. This air will run out and I’ll suffocate just as surely as I would underwater.

The salty seawater laps my face, colder than ever. I have to lift my chin higher to keep it out of the water.

Another cold burst hits my legs and I tilt my chin higher still.

The space is shrinking.

The tide is coming in.

32

DEAN

Iswim out of the caverns as fast as I can, looking carefully around to be sure that Mikhail Agapov is nowhere nearby.

No one can see me.

I wore gloves. I dropped Leo’s regulator in the passageway. It will look like it tore off while he was swimming through, and he panicked and drowned.

As I climb back out of the water, I see only the lantern standing next to the pool. No discarded tank or flippers—Mikhail isn’t out yet.

I hesitate, wondering if there’s any possibility of him finding Leo down there. No . . . Leo was almost out of air already. He must have drowned within minutes. Whether Mikhail finds him or not, he’s already dead.

I carry my own wetsuit, flippers, and tank out with me. I’ve got to smuggle them back up to the school, into the storage room next to the underground pool.

It’s essential to hide all the evidence. There can’t be any missing equipment, any hint that what happened to Leo wasn’t an accident.

I had Bram and Valon staked out at the shooting range and the river bottom. Those were our only chances to attack Leo in secret. If he’d gone to the Armory or the library or even the village there’d be too many witnesses around.

It was fate that he picked this part of the challenge. Fate that I found him down in the underwater caverns.

Finally, the stars are aligning for me.

He’s dead. Leo is dead.

I press my palm against my chest, expecting to find my heart beating a thousand miles a minute.

I can’t feel it. No pounding, no pulse.

I feel nothing at all. Just a dark, empty space where my heart used to be.

That’s better, I suppose.

I was tired of hurting.

33

ANNA

The start point and end point of my challenge are clearly marked on the map, so I know I have to scale this cliff.

As Leo noted, there are no ropes waiting for me. No anchors, no safety harness.

I don’t mind. I’ve never been afraid of heights.

I like being up in the air, be it dancing, climbing, or flying. The feeling of weightlessness is freeing.

It’s the opposite of scuba diving, where the water crushes you and holds you down. I never liked that class, and I’m glad it’s over.

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