We were instantly swallowed up by the endless black void. It was impossible to tell up from down. Only the trail of bubbles trickling from my mouth gave any direction as we moved through the freezing still water.
Diving downwards, I followed the roof of the cave as it angled deeper and deeper into the water, and we followed it all the way into the icy depths. The water flowed from the ocean into this small cave, but by what circuitous path? How many twists and turns before we reached the other end? How deep did we have to dive before we could rise again?
The rockface continued down.
That's when it occurred to me that I should have used my powers to aid us. My ability is controlling air. I'm an idiot! But Mister Brown's instructions didn't include underwater activities. Using my powers in such a way could have been doubly dangerous.
Besides, it was too late to worry now. There was only one direction, and that was down. Ferdy hung onto my belt ever more tightly as my eyes began to bulge from the pressure. The rockface angled away from me. It was starting to flatten out. Maybe it was about to angle back up again.
No.
It continued down. My chest was beginning to feel the pressure. My brain and millions of years of evolution told me I should breathe. Yet I had to hold my breath. My body was being denied oxygen, the one element over which I had complete control.
Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.
I swam harder.
Abruptly, like the edge of a knife, the downward thrusting rock ended. I pulled us around, and we started to ascend. Yes! We went up ten feet. Twenty feet. Thirty feet. A seed of worry took root in my stomach. Something was wrong. I was so focused on going forward that I hadn't realized that I was missing something vitally important: light.
Why can't I see any light?
I was almost out of air. My lungs were pounding, and my heart raced like a steam train. Where is the light? Only by finding it could I discover the way out, so I reached down to the torch in Ferdy's hand and snapped it off. I shut my eyes tightly and counted. One. Two. Three. Opening them again, I saw a single translucent column of light reaching out of the darkness.
I turned the torch back on. Our situation had moved to a place of desperation. Ferdy had to be feeling the need for air as keenly as me. It was probably only his autism that was stopping him from panicking. I swam as hard as I could towards the faint glow. A bubble of air involuntarily escaped from my mouth, and I snorted in a nose full of salty brine.
I pushed even harder now, and the water itself seemed to be pressing against my brain. We had to reach the air in the next few seconds.
Otherwise, we are bothgoing to drown.
We swam up the column of light.
Yes!
There was a gap in the rock.
We're going to make it—
The column of light cut through the water like sunlight carving a path through storm clouds. Like a lighthouse beacon, it drew me to the gap between the rocks. Beyond it lay the surface. My arm shot up through the gap, and the rest of me followed. My head banged against one of the rocks, and it was then, and only then, with one final stab of absolute horror that I realized what was wrong.
I was too large to fit through the gap; it was even too narrow for Ferdy.
NO! NO! NO!
I struggled to focus on using the air above to push the rocks aside, but I was too far gone for that. My lack of air was turning the world black around me. We were drowning, and there was nothing I could do. I had to draw the air down, create a wedge between the rocks, and expand the stones apart. With time and training, I would have been able to do it, but not now because black spots were filling my vision. I couldn't abandon Ferdy, and even if I did, I doubted I'd ever make it back to the cave we'd left.
Ferdy released my belt and pushed past my body. Everything was turning inky black as I watched his hand probe the gap between the rocks.
I've failed him and failed myself. But I couldn't give in to panic. I had to concentrate. Somehow bring air down from above into my mouth and lungs. But it was too late for that. All too late. The water rumbled around me. As the liquid pushed into my nose, I saw Ferdy shoving the two boulders aside. I raised an arm. Ferdy grabbed it and hauled me up after him. There was light. Air. The ceiling of a cave. Then I lay like a beached fish, coughing and spluttering and choking and spitting out salt water.
And breathing in air.
Glorious air.
My face pressed hard against the gritty rock face. We were inside a cave pointing out onto the ocean. I slowly became aware of briny seaweed. Tiny mollusks dotted the slimy rock face. A crab sidled out of sight as I vomited up saltwater. Closed my eyes.
Breathe, I thought. Breathe.
Finally, opening my eyes again, I saw the cave opened out onto a rock platform that followed the coast away into the distance. I rolled over to see Ferdy standing over me with a curious expression.
'Ferdy.' That got me nowhere. I spent the next minute vomiting up more seawater until I was able to speak again. 'Ferdy. Did you move the rock?'
'Rock?'
He picked up a boulder as large as a small cow and tossed it at the ocean beyond. It skipped fifty feet across the sea before sinking from sight. I staggered to my feet.
'An octopus has three hearts,' Ferdy said.
'Really?' I stared at where the boulder had disappeared beneath the waves. 'How interesting.'
Ferdy not only had a super brain but also super strength. I spent the next few minutes telling him I had to leave for a while, but I'd be back later. He seemed to understand me. I considered telling him to be careful and not to talk to strangers, but—
Well, I was pretty sure Ferdy could look after himself.