A few hours passed by, and we were still walking. This time, it wasn't the same hallway as before. We found this one through a secret passage under neath the desk in our cell room. Xavier was now conscious, but he was limping. The guard had cut his foot, and it gave him a bit of pain if he put his weight on it for too long.
The ground was made of cobblestone, like the ones you see in old pictures. Torches lined the wall, smoke coming off of their tops. Water was leaking and dripping from the cracks in the walls, which made the floor a bit damp. There was an awful smell, like a mix of mildew and dirty dipers. I pulled my hand over my nose.
"What's that smell?" I asked.
InuYasha was over looking at a wall, and Xavier was sitting down. Neither one was paying attention to me.
"We're probably under a lake or some other large body of water," InuYasha said, as he stood up.
"So the smell is from the water, right?" I asked, just to make sure that I was right.
"Exactly, so if you want to get away from the smell, we gotta keep walking."
Xavier now was standing, and he walked over to us, not limping.
"Hey guys, I think my foot is better. It doesn't hurt when I step on it, so now we can go even faster," he said.
"Good, so let's keep walking. This tunnel, it just has to lead us to Jade. I can feel it in my bones," I said as I started walking behind Xavier. Behind me was InuYasha.
We kept trudging down the path, only to find that it got darker as we went along. The torches were getting dimmer and farther apart as we went on. I felt something move in front of my foot. I screeched.
"What?" InuYasha asked.
"Oh my gosh, there's bugs! I can not go on like this. I'm terrified of bugs, even ladybugs!" I exclaimed. I really did hate bugs, they grossed me out.
"Aw, relax Teal, they're just ants. They shouldn't hurt you," Xavier said.
"When you say shouldn't does that mean that they can if they wanted?" I asked.
"Nah, they won't. They're the non-blonde eating bugs," Xavier joked.
I glared at him. I hate blonde jokes, considering that I was a blonde. Xavier had highlighted the top of his hair blonde, but it wasn't natural like mine.
InuYasha walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. I jumped, because I thought it was a ghost.
"Relax, it's only me, Teal," he said in a voice that calmed me down.
I sighed. "Good, I thought you were one of the guards or a ghost or something."
Another bug crept by, and I shuddered.
"Can we just get moving already?" I asked, eager to get away from here, even if it was dark. At least I wouldn't be able to see the bugs, if they were there.
"Alright, let's hurry though." Xavier said.
The three of us started walking again, in the same line as before. Xavier first, me in the middle, and InuYasha at the end.
The cobble stones on the floor were getting damper as we went, and more water was leaking from the walls. We kept going, but cautiously. I was constantly turning my head, watching the walls, just in case. I had a feeling that the walls were going to cave in, so I was shuddering.
"What's the matter? Are you cold, because your shaking," InuYasha asked.
"No, I just got a feeling that these walls are gonna-" I was cut off. The stones in the walls were starting to break, and water was starting to pour in.
"What the heck!" Xavier yelled.
"This is what I was afriad of!" I screamed, terrified.
"Can both of you swim?" InuYasha said. He wasn't panicking, he was relitivly calm. But Xavier and I were panicking so bad, that we were shaking with fear. The water wasn't pouring in the tunnel too fast, but it was rising as the seconds ticked by.
"Can you guys swim!" InuYasha yelled over the roar of the water.
Xavier and I nodded. We had learned, especially since I had in a pool in my backyard.
"How well?"
"Uh I can doggie-paddle, that's about it. But I've never swam against a current," I said. I felt pathetic. I was 13 and I could only doggie-paddle.
"I can swim better than Teal, and I've been swimming in a river before, so I'll be fine," Xavier said, a bit proud of himself.
The water was up to my waist now, and I was loosing it. I started sobbing like there was no tomorrow. I threw my hands up on my face in shame.
"Teal, stop crying. We're gonna be fine, trust me," InuYasha said as he waded over to me.
I lifted my hands off of my face, and looked into his eyes. They had a soft glow to them. How was it that he's only been here for less than a week, but it felt like I had knew him my whole life? I wondered about this constantly.
"Well, Teal, do you trust me?" he asked me as he extended his hand.
"Yes, I trust you, InuYasha," I said. There was something about his voice that was calming. I grabbed his hand.
The water was now half-way up my stomach now.
"So, tell me, InuYasha, exactly how are gonna get out? There's no air hole in the ceiling, and the nearest one is probably 10-15 minutes away. I can't hold my breath that long, and neither can Teal," Xavier said,
"I'm working on that," InuYasha said.
"How am I going to swim, if I can barely doggie-paddle?" I asked. My voice was quavering.
"Who said that you were swimming? You can hold onto my neck, and I'll swim. We can go faster that way," InuYasha replied.
"Oh, I get it," I said.
The water was up to my shoulders now, and we were even standing on a rock. I was on InuYasha's back, holding on to his neck.
"Alright, you guys see that wall that's caving in?" he asked.
Me and Xavier nodded.
"Well, as soon as it caves, we'll go. Not a second sooner, alright?"
"Alright" me and Xavier said at the same time.
My face was trikling with water, and my hair was heavy. My clothes were soaked. Xavier's hair was spiked up because of the water, and InuYasha's hair was soaking wet, as well as his haori. We just waited impatiently for that wall to cave in. I was shaking, not only because I was scared, but because I was cold.
A terrible noise, that sounded like an explosion split the air. The wall had caved, and now the piece was rushing towards us. Xavier started to swim, but InuYasha grabbed the sleeve of his shirt.
"What are you doing?" Xavier asked, annoyed.
"Nevermind that, but when I say jump, you jump, alright Xavier?" he asked Xavier.
Xavier hesitated, but then finnaly said, "Alright, just make sure not to get us killed, my mom has a rule against that."
The piece was slowly but surely moving toward us. It started going faster as it went downstream.
"Jump!" InuYasha yelled. I was still holding on to his neck, and we must have been 10 feet in the air. Xavier was right below us, and we started falling down. We landed on the rock, and continued downstream.
"Sure beats swimming, eh Xavier?" InuYasha asked. I was sitting beside him.
"Heck yeah," Xavier said as he sprawled out on the rock.
I was sitting in the middle of them, but closer to InuYasha. I wasn't saying anything, because I was too scared. I had thought about the walls, and that had happened. I didn't want to think- or say for that matter anything that could make this any worse. I was shaking, because I was so cold. My teeth were clattering. I was staring off into the distance, only hearing bits and pieces of InuYasha's and Xavie's conversation.
The roar of the water seemed to dull as I got used to it. In no time, it seemed to disappear completly.
"Teal?" InuYasha said as he poked my shoulder.
"Huh?" I said blankly.
"You haven't said anything, or moved in a while, and you starting to shake even worse. You feeling alright?" he asked.
"I'm just cold, that's all," I said, denying the fact that I felt sick and scared.
"You sure that's all?" InuYasha asked. It seemed as if he could sense that I wasn't telling the truth.
My eyes started swelling with tears. I started crying, coughing in between sobs.
"No, it's not all. I think I'm sick with something, and I've been scared too many times in the past week, and I don't think I can handle this," I said.
I glanced over at Xavier, who was sleeping. He was all sprawled out on the rock, snoozing away. He didn't seem scared. Maybe it was because I was sick.
InuYasha crept closer to me, and put his arm around my shoulder. I kept on sobbing.
"Let me feel your head, I think you have fever," He said as he touched the back of his hand against my forehead.
"Dang, you're burning up," he said.
I started sobbing even harder. "Great, not that I'm scared, I have fever to go along with it," I complained in between sobs.
"Just relax, you'll be fine. I'll protect you with my life if I have to," he said.
I turned my head, and looked at his face. My vision was all blurry again, because of all the tears, but I could still make out his face.
"You mean it?" I asked. My voice was all shaky because of my crying session.
"Yeah, I mean it."
I sat next to him, and layed my head on his shoulder. I was still wondering why it felt like I knew him, but I let the thought slip out of my mind. It wasn't important now. The thing that was important was that all three of us were okay. I put my arm around his shoulder, and sighed. I was so happy to have him right here beside me.
No Cliffhanger again! Wait for Chapter 12: The Final Battle!