Prologue
BAM!
The two bodies slammed into the metal gate as the icy cold water gushed through the corridor. Their breaths came out in panicked gasps, their waists already numb from the cold, and their eyes clouded with tears as the water pierced their skin.
BAM!
The action was repeated as they frantically tried to escape the bowels of the sinking ship. They had to face one horrifying realization: that the gate was locked, and there was no way of getting out.
"Help!" the girl screamed in terror. The water was approaching their shoulders now, menacingly rising above their elbows. "Someone help us!" She shook the bars, her ears so numb she could barely hear them clang. She could feel death approaching, and approaching fast.
The young man next to her shook the gate also. There has to be a way! he thought. I can't lose her! He desperately searched the flooding room, his fingers practically frozen into icicles on the bars. Their imminent fate was soon to become a reality if they didn't conceive a plan – and soon.
Their teeth chattered in their skulls, their bodies shivering with each breath. He reached the point where he felt like there was no hope, until an unthought-of idea sparked in his mind. Reaching urgently into his pocket with his numb fingers, he groped around for the thin stick of wood.
The freezing ocean was nearly covering their heads now. The girl next to him clung on to his arm to await their doom, but with a flick of his wrist, they had vanished.