No.
I popped my eyes open, fighting.
No.
I shot my head back, hitting his nose with my skull and swimming out of his grasp as he let go.
He grabbed me, and I climbed for the surface, but I couldn’t get far as he held on tight. He clutched my arm, and I couldn’t shake him off, the surface there if I could just get to it.
He had to let me go.
Sweeping behind him, I grabbed his face, his hand still clutching my arm and refusing to release me.
Fuck.
I dug my fingers into his skin, hesitating only a moment, and then…I twisted, feeling the neck snap in my hands.
They shook as his body went limp and fell out of my grasp, sinking to the bottom of the ocean as bubbles left his mouth.
I watched him go for a moment, making sure he was dead, and then I swam hard, one arm after another as I shot through the surface and sucked in a lungful of air.
I coughed, every inch of my body aching as I caught my breath and looked up at Cold Point.
I closed my eyes. “I survived,” I panted, starting to laugh. “Holy shit.”
How the hell was I going to get back up there?
I swam hard for the rocks, trying to beat the wave coming in, and climbed up onto a boulder, pulling myself up with my weakened arms.
I fisted my hands and tensed every muscle, making sure I was in one piece.
Looking up at the cliff, I noticed dark figures and flashlights beaming down, but then I saw something trailing down the cliff wall toward me.
I hopped over the rocks, making my way to the edge, and spotted a rope with knots for climbing.
Where did they get that?
I didn’t wait, though. Glancing behind me and making sure Martin was still buried under the water, I started climbing, pinching each knot with my shoes and hands as I hiked myself up one rung after another.
Emmy.
Everything hurt, but nothing had ever felt better.
I smiled. It was over. God, it was over.
Nothing could stop me. Not my exhausted limbs or the cold or the bruises and cuts.
I won, and the first thing I was going to do with her when the weather warmed up was to take her out to sea on Pithom. I wanted to swim.
Reaching the top, Micah and Aydin pulled me over the edge and onto the ground, and I collapsed, trying to catch my breath.
The little girl from before—the one we caught here the other night—knelt beside me, smiling. I thought Lev had taken her out of here.
But I was glad she didn’t go, after all.
“Was that your rope?” I panted.
She nodded, and I noticed she had two different colored eyes. One blue, one brown. “There’s tons of caves down there that no one knows about. I explore sometimes.”