To his surprise, he found that the hallway overlooked a large bathing pool—one that was sloshing back and forth alarmingly. And Emilia was going with it. Her silver hair was plastered to her head and as Rarev watched, she slipped below the surface, out of his view.
He jumped in at once, aiming for the area where he had last seen her. The water was dark but thank the Goddess, her silver hair shone like a beacon. He found her and wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her up above the surface of the water so that she could breathe.
Emilia?” he shouted, above the sound of the pool sloshing and the water still coming down from overhead. “My l’eeja—are you all right?”
“Can’t…can’t swim very well,” she gasped, putting an arm around his neck. “Thank you for…coming. Must get to…buttons!”
“Buttons?” Rarev asked, frowning. What was she talking about?
Emilia put out an arm and pointed to the crystal mirror that covered one entire wall.
“Can’t…reach them…anymore,” she gasped. “Please—hurry.”
Rarev narrowed his eyes, searching for what she was talking about. At last, in the corner of the mirror wall, he saw a cluster of brightly colored buttons, though the sight was somewhat obscured by the water falling from the ceiling.
“I see them!” he said to Emilia, raising his voice to be heard over the drumming of the water and the sloshing of the waves. “Hang on to me, I’m going to get us there!”
They were in the opposite corner of the large room—which seemed as though it had expanded since he had entered it. But Rarev kept one arm around her waist and stroked against the currents with the other, kicking hard to get them across to the mirror wall.
When he reached it, he saw that there were four colored buttons just above his head. But which one should he push?
“Which color?” he roared, pointing at the cluster.
Emilia squinted up at the buttons as well, her long eyelashes wet and spiky.
“Try…try the red one,” she shouted, nodding at it. “Only one…I didn’t try.”
“All right.” Rarev reached for it…and fell short.
The button was only a few inches above his fingers, but it was definitely out of reach. Not only that, but it seemed to be getting even further away. What in the Seven Frozen Hells was he going to do?
Luckily, he had a resource not many other males possessed. Making a fist, he popped his claws. The long, shining daggers that retracted into his knuckles when he was at rest sprang free, easily giving him more length to work with.
Surging upward with the next wave, Rarev stabbed at the red button and hit it dead center with his claw.
At once, everything ceased.
The water stopped pouring down from overhead, the waves stopped sloshing, and—after a moment—he felt his feet touch the floor below, so he was able to stop swimming. Also, the water level began to drop quickly, being sucked away to the corners of the room where there were apparently large drains.
“Oh, thank God!” Emilia gasped, sagging against his chest as her feet also touched the floor. “I…I thought I would drown. I—”
But her words were interrupted by blasts of hot air that buffeted them from all directions.
“Goddess—what in the Seven Frozen Hells?” Rarev roared, trying to shelter Emilia with his own body.
But it was no use—the air seemed to be coming from cracks in the walls which had opened unexpectedly. It swirled around them like a hurricane, causing all the fur on his body to puff out as it dried and twisting Emilia’s hair into a silver whirlwind above her head.
“Oh!” she gasped, and clung to Rarev—clearly she was afraid she would fall if she let go.
Rarev had no intention of letting her go. He kept one arm firmly around her waist and shielded her as best he could—though he couldn’t do much, since the winds were coming from all directions.
“Maybe if I press another button?” he roared at Emilia, raising his voice to be heard above the winds.
But she shook her head, her eyes going wide with fear.
“No! No more buttons!” she shouted back. “Can’t we just get out of here?”
Rarev looked, but the door he had entered was shut now and appeared to have become a part of the silver metal wall. Still, maybe he could find it.
“We can try!” he shouted back. “Come on!”
Keeping an arm firmly around her waist to keep her from blowing away, he bent his head into the wind and began inching slowly towards the wall where the door had been. It was hard making headway—literally like trying to walk against the winds of a hurricane—but at last he reached the wall and put out a hand.
The moment his hand touched the wall, the winds ceased. Rarev, who had been leaning far forward, would have fallen if he hadn’t braced himself quickly, and he had to save Emilia from tumbling over as well.