He made it knee-deep into the sea before a crevice opened under him. He fell, feet first, into the narrow tunnel. The wet sand closed around his legs and sucked his body down. He clawed at the edges. Digging his fingers into the sand, he used all his strength to pull his upper body from what had turned into quicksand while the battle between water and earth raged around him.
The pressure around his legs built. The suction was too strong. He wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to hold on. Armelle’s laugh echoed somewhere in the distance. He’d lost track of the women. Had she already won? Was it over so fast? A hand gripped his arm and hurled him from the hole. In the next instant, his body was flung forward, into the water, and his head held under.
Armelle was going to drown him. Bubbles escaped from his lips as he fought the hand on his neck. He turned his face and opened his eyes. The salt water stung. It took him a moment to focus. Dreadlocks floated next to him. Maya’s green eyes smiled at him as she put a finger to her red lips. He relaxed in her hold, allowing her to drag him deeper, past the reef, and then they dived down to the bottom. From the sandy floor, they could see the distorted profile of the island clearly through the turquoise water. The dust had settled.
Not able to hold his breath longer, he gave Maya’s shoulder a squeeze to let her know he was out of air and needed to surface. She shook her head and closed her eyes. The water spun gently around them until an air pocket formed. Soon, they were inside a bubble on the bottom of the sea. Sean inhaled the oxygen greedily. He’d never been a water person, always feeling safer on land. However, today, the tables were turned.
Maya dropped to her knees. Together, they watched from the water as a mountain pushed up from the soil, covering the entire surface of the island. Smoke and sparks spewed from the crater as it burst open at the top.
“Fuck.” His voice sounded hollow in the bubble under the water. “We’re dead.”
Maya only smiled.
The ocean bed trembled beneath them. Rocks tumbled from an underwater cliff. Coral broke. Their bubble detached from the ocean floor and floated into the tumbling foam of the water, a safe cocoon. Red lava boiled from the volcano and spilled over the sides, streaming down the hillside and heading straight for the water. Fumes billowed into the air. Smoke hovered like a mushroom over the land.
Whoever had been left on the island was dead long before the volcano had erupted. Nobody could’ve survived when the mountain had pushed itself from the soil.
Where was Armelle?
The water was milky now, their view obscured. They rolled, falling over and against each other as the ocean took the onslaught of the angry, boiling land. It was nothing short of an ecological disaster. How could Armelle do this? In all her life, Maddy had only fought fair. She never would’ve hurt the earth or the fragile ecological system. The planet would take millions of years to recover from this disaster.
Finally, the shaking settled. Inside their bubble, with the oxygen getting depleted, it was harder to breathe. They drifted down to a rocky part where they landed on their feet. Maya pointed at the surface. He nodded in understanding. She was going to break the bubble. It was a far way up. He’d have to swim with all his might.
Just as he dragged in a deep breath, a fist broke through the wall of water, punching him hard on the jaw. Armelle’s face appeared in his vision for a split-second before the water crashed on top of him and Maya. He kicked up, swimming blindly as hard as he could. Maya broke the surface first. As he followed, a hand clamped around his ankle. Dragging his lungs full of air, he looked down. Armelle had her fingers locked around his ankle. She reached for the knife strapped to her thigh, but he managed to get in a kick, connecting his heel with her skull.
Maya had already made it to the beach. He swam in that direction, seeing Armelle closing the distance between them from over his shoulder. The land rumbled. Destruction spread out in front of him. The buildings had been flattened. All that was left was the raging volcano. Armelle had disrespected the laws of nature, the very laws that ruled her art. She’d used something beautiful and powerful to kill close to fifty people and destroy a part of a planet already suffering under the strain of mismanagement and abuse.
He climbed out on a rocky ledge. Rage built inside him as he spotted the dead bodies floating on the water between fish with their bellies up and birds with burned feathers. A raw wound split the earth in two, lava running like blood from the open cut. The uncontrolled fury he’d always experienced when his and Maddy’s lives had been in danger suddenly turned into something different—a powerful feeling of intent. His organs trembled. Heat spread through his limbs. His vision turned hazy. The molecules of his body grated on his bones like sandpaper shaving wood into something artistic, something useful.