Before he could reprimand himself for his wayward thoughts, a freezing cold splash of water landed straight in the middle of his forehead. Confused, but not yet alarmed, he reached a hand up to wipe it off but as soon as he did it was replaced by two more.
Finally, he sat up, the sound of even more drips reaching his ears and jolted to turn on the small switch that turned on the electric lights in the ceiling like magic. When they had been imprisoned they had been able to see glimpses of the world as it changed and evolved but seeing them, touching them, still caught him off guard, as did the sight that greeted him once he turned the light on.
By now a steady small waterfall of cold water was streaming from the ceiling, especially from the the light fixtures and seams.
“What the hell?” He said softly, and a noise behind him had him turning.
“Jayce?” Nika’s voice reached him just as he reached the hallway outside his room, Nika standing in the doorway of his own room. They both turned to look towards the narrow staircase leading up to the attic as a rushing, pounding sort of sound barreled down towards them.
There was a heavy moment of quiet before a typhoon of water crashed down the stairs. They leapt out of the way just in time, both back into their respective rooms, but still a second later they were standing almost knee deep in the frigid blue liquid. It rose at such an alarming rate that it was almost mid thigh before they even had a chance to move.
They shared one panicked look, the same thought shouting through both of their minds at the same time. Hazel! With a giant leap they fought against the torrent of water that pummeled them, still streaming in massive amounts from the attic, washing through the rooms to continue downstairs. But the water was coming down so fast and so furiously that it continued to rise, trapped before it could find another place to go.
Finally, Jayce reached her bedroom at the other end of the hallway, Nika right behind him as he threw his entire body against the door, held tightly closed by the pressure of the water. Once more he jammed his shoulder against it, Nika right beside him now and it took both of their impressive strengths to heave the door from the frame. It finally splintered under the pressure, and they stumbled inside along with a flood of freezing cold water rushing in with them.
Jayce tripped a little as the water pulled at his feet but he made it to the bedside in a short moment to find Hazel still fast asleep but tossing and turning restlessly on her still dry mattress. He could see the tracks of tears streaming down her cheeks, the quiet sobs wrenched from her sleeping frame. The water level was almost at the top of the mattress now, though, and as he reached to wake her up she jerked violently, another crashing wave of water storming from the upstairs room to flood the lower levels.
Desperate now, he scooped her in his arms, turning to carry her out of the room and away from danger before they all drowned. Which was a real possibility now, he realized dimly, as the water level reached his chest and it took all of his strength and concentration to keep her unconscious form above the water. But the cold was numbing his thoughts and he knew his movements were become more sluggish.
He stumbled, his foot catching clumsily on the edge of the bed frame and went under water for a brief moment taking Hazel into the icy water with him. A moment later it was all gone. Gone as if it had never been, all the walls, the floors, all the furniture and drapes completely dry. He almost would have thought he was going mad except for the fact that Nika, him, and Hazel were both still soaked to the bone and dripping wetly onto the now dry floor.
“What…what happened?” Hazel asked weakly as she coughed up another bout of water from her lungs. She looked down at herself, and then blinked those big, gorgeous eyes at him and Nika before speaking again. “It was the nightmare again. It was him.” It wasn’t a question this time and he didn’t answer her, his thoughts whirling madly inside his head.
“Some nightmare,” Nika said softly, and Hazel looked at him oddly. He shook his head, picking his words carefully before he answered, for which Jayce was grateful. He didn’t want to make things harder for her than they already were. “There was water. A lot of water.”