“Allie,” Dylan shook my arm, “are you okay?”
I did my best to blink back the tears threatening to overpower the rims of my eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine.” My voice cracked on the last word and I hated myself for the release of my anxiety. I didn’t want to burst out crying in front of Dylan and Dr. Wilcox.
Somehow, Dylan must have figured out what was truly bothering me. “We’ll find a way to contact your Gran. I’m not quite sure how, but we’ll figure it out.”
When I nodded, a couple of tears spilled over. I cursed them for their release as they continued falling down my cheeks. I hated crying, because it made me feel weak. “Thanks, Dylan.”
The door opened and a breathless Max crouched in our faces. “Hey, I’ve got the code, but we need to move fast. I have a bad feeling about something, but I don’t know what it is yet.”
We scrambled to our feet as Max hurriedly threw on a drysuit. With everything but our faces covered, we kept our heads down and hurried to the preparation room. From there, we went through a door that took us down a tunnel slanting farther into the ground. At the bottom was a flat area with a hatch at the center. Max squatted down and grasped the handle of the hatch. Dylan joined him and together they were able to twist it open to reveal a circular dive pool with a four-foot diameter.
“We need to dive to get to the training room. It’s about twenty feet down. It isn’t far. We can each easily hold our breath. The training room is quite large, so you guys won’t run out of air if you have to stay there for a week, but it is cold down there.”
“Don’t worry. We just need a safe place. We’ll manage,” said Dr. Wilcox.
Max nodded and stepped closer to the edge. “Follow me closely, there are lights down there, but there are other twists and turns that don’t lead to oxygen, so please be careful.”
Without another word, Max dove expertly into the water. Dylan was the first to follow, with me, and then Dr. Wilcox last. When the bubbles from our entering the water cleared, I took a quick look at our surroundings. We had entered into an expansive underwater cave system with some lights, but they were few and far in between. The dark water shimmered with blue only in the small recesses of light scattered around the cave system. Gazing down, the water seemed to go on forever with no end.
The black drysuits around me were hard to see in the dim light, but the moving figures of my friends made it easier. Max led us to the north side of the dive pool and towards what resembled a rocky outcropping. When he reached it, he dove underneath and into a short tunnel only about three feet long. A flicker of light at the end of the tunnel led us to an air pocket the size of Dylan’s living room.
With a desperate gulp of air, my lungs were once again filled with glorious oxygen. Wiping the drops of saltwater from my eyes, my vision cleared and I could see the tiny lights dotting the room.
Max solidly placed his hands on the edge of the pool, his muscles flexing as he lifted himself out. Spinning around and lowering a hand down to me, he grasped my outstretched arm and helped pull me up. Dylan climbed out and then helped Dr. Wilcox since the inventor was struggling to pull his older waterlogged body out of the water.
Once on dry rock, I shivered slightly, my teeth beginning to chatter involuntarily. Max wasn’t lying, it was cold down here. With slightly shaking fingers, I undid my drysuit to get the cold, wet water off my body. With the drysuit gone, the cold was easier to bear.
Max shoved his drysuit down to his waist and pulled something out of his pants pocket. “There wasn’t anything in the break room besides these.” Max handed each of us a protein bar. “It’ll have to do until I can find another way to get you some food down here. Don’t drink the water; it’s saltwater. I’ll find a way to return here tomorrow night. Just hang in there, you guys.”
Dylan nodded once and then grabbed Max’s arm, stopping him from diving into the water. “Find out what happened to Samantha. There’s gotta be something you can do. If she doesn’t show up at home, she probably won’t be missed. Her parents are never really home anyway.”
Max patted Dylan’s arm. “Don’t worry, Dylan. I’ll find her and ensure she’s safe before I come back to help you guys.”
“Good.” Dylan leaned against the wall, seemingly tired.
With barely a splash, Max reentered the water and was gone.
“I’m sorry, Dylan, my boy. I didn’t think your birthday would end up the way it has.”
Dylan snorted. “Some kind of 16th birthday. I’ve had concussions that were more fun than today.”
“It’ll be better next year. All of this will be over. I’ll be gone and this whole ordeal will be nothing but a memory.”
“Don’t be so convinced, Allie. I don’t think this is going to blow over, even with your escape.”
“What do you mean?”
“Remember when you told me about that man who’d been hanging around the restricted beach asking about a missing young couple? That was one of Mayor Aldridge’s men. They will hunt you down on land. Even
