Better than a Mortal.
Better than anyone else who ever tried to walk on water.
I had been right.
The rotting corpses were packed so tight that he ran right over their bodies until they started to move. Arms reached for him, the hundreds of bloated hands rising up out of the water. This was not like the river I had crossed to get here.
This river was alive.
An arm slithered over his neck, weighing him down.
“No!”
I shuddered as his voice echoed against the walls.
The corpses tore at his robe desperately, pulling him down into the abyss of loss and misery. The same souls he had tortured were drowning him.
His eyes locked on mine. “Help me!”
Why should I?
But there was nothing I could do, even if I’d wanted to. I knew those corpses would drown me. I was Mortal, just as Angelus was—at least part of him.
Nobody walks on water, not where I come from. Nobody except the guy in the picture frame in Sunday school class.
Too bad Angelus wasn’t from Gatlin; he would’ve known that.
His hands clawed at the surface of the water until there was nothing left but a sea of bodies again. The stench of death was everywhere. It was suffocating, and I tried to cover my mouth, but the distinct odor of rot and decay was too strong.
I knew what I’d done. I wasn’t innocent. Not in Sarafine’s death, and not in this one either. He was reading my mind and I had pushed him to this,
even if his hate and pride had propelled him into the pool.
It was too late.
A rotted arm slid around his neck, and within seconds he disappeared under the sea of bodies. It was a death I wouldn’t have wished on anyone.
Not even Angelus.
Maybe just him.
Within moments, the pool turned milky white again, though I knew what was lurking underneath.
I shrugged. “Wasn’t much of a challenge after all.”
I had to find the bridge, or something I could use to cross.
The splintering plank wasn’t well hidden. I found it in an alcove only a few yards from where Angelus stood moments ago. The wood was dry and cracked, which wasn’t reassuring, considering what I had just witnessed.
But the book was so close.
As I slid the plank over the surface of the water, I could practically feel Lena in my arms and hear Amma hollering at me. I couldn’t think straight. All I knew was I had to get across that water and get back to them.
Please. Let me cross. All I want is to go home.
With that thought, I took a breath.
Then a step.