Page 317 of The Spider Queen
As my heart thumped in frenzy, I kicked off my shoes and stepped into the fountain water, which was cool against my bare feet. My toes quickly grew numb, the water chillier than I’d anticipated.
I scrambled up to the fountain and lifted my arms over my head to try and reach for the pearl in the angel’s hand. But the fountain was massive and I couldn’t even get to the second tier above my head.
As I reached, arms outstretched, fountain water swirled around my ankles, causing me to look down in confusion. It was gentle, unobtrusive and magical, and I instinctively asked for its aid.
No sooner had the thought entered my mind than the water turned into one massive wave and lifted me into the air toward the glistening pearl, suspending me right next to it. But when I tried to grasp the gem, my fingers encountered nothing but air.
Frowning, I tried again, but there wasn’t anything there. A trick of light. An illusion.
Take me.
The voice was inside my head, and I whipped my gaze to the angel’s face. Its hand seemed to reach toward mine.
The pearl—the ball of glimmering light—winked.
As I reached toward the angel’s hand again, itmovedand shoved my shoulders.
I fell backwards, a cry of surprise escaping my mouth. My arms flailed as I instinctively grasped at the air around me. The fountain water that was holding me up disappeared, and then I was falling. I was going to hit the stone bottom of the fountain. But when I splashed into the shallow water below me, I didn’t meet stone. I was submerged, tumbling into an abyss as the angel’s face receded into the distance.
I’d fallen into a magical portal that existed beneath the Bethesda Fountain.
Starlight danced before my eyes and my lungs contracted with pain. My arms pushed through the water as I attempted to swim toward the surface. Or what had been the surface. But something was tugging me down.
I glanced at my legs, but there was nothing there.
Take a breath.
There was that voice again.
Was it the angel talking? The pearl?
You don’t need air the same way a human does. Take a breath and you’ll see.
The voice was gentle, sincere.
It went against everything I knew, but I couldn’t hold my breath any longer and I gave in. The last few air bubbles in my lungs gurgled out, and then the water was still.
I took a breath and water rushed into my lungs.
Then I took another.
And another.
The dancing spots in my eyes disappeared and the pain in my lungs began to ease.
I reached up to touch the sides of my neck. Nope. No gills. The tug on my ankles began again. I could take a hint—and now that I was no longer in danger of passing out from lack of oxygen I decided to follow.
I briefly checked to make sure the bag across my body was still closed. I kicked a few times and dove. As I swam deeper, I had to remind myself to breathe. The murky silver water grew colder, but at least there were no deep-water creatures hiding among the algae.
I swam for who knew how long and then I saw it. A glittering golden castle in the distance with a school of finned creatures circling it.
Fear beat at my heart. Was I about to find myself among mythical shark-like beasts that would devour me on sight?
As I drew closer, I could finally see them for what they were.
Merrows.
Hundreds of them, all with silver tails and long flowing hair of different shades of blonde, brown, and red. Some even look tinged with green.
