Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

with him, under the waterfall, or better
     yet, in a soft bed . . .
    Hard bed , he corrected. The things I could do to you in a hard bed. Or on a hard floor.
    She swallowed, nearly stumbling at his sexy implication. The things he could do with
     his voice alone left her breathless; she couldn’t imagine what he had in mind on a
     hard bed. Her mouth went dry and the blood in her veins throbbed. The ground shifted
     beneath her feet.
    Riley glanced down to see water bubbling up around the soles of her boots. The ground
     appeared so saturated that the water had nowhere to go. It actually took a moment
     for her mind to assimilate what was happening. She looked around her. Water leaked
     from the moss-covered boulders and trickled between smaller rocks. She blinked and
     several small mudslides gave way to ribbons that swelled in volume.
    We have to get out of here. This is a natural basin and it will flood fast. The other side of the canyon looked a good distance away. More leaks were springing,
     the mountain too saturated to hold all the water. I should have been warned. I should have known.
    She felt as if the earth had betrayed her. Granted, she was diverted by her exchange
     with Dax, but still, she should have felt her connection with the earth was so strong,
     she should have been warned the water was rising all around them.
    Another trap ,Dax soothed softly. Mitro knows I can counter this, so why would he bother? It makes no sense. Can you
     feel anything beneath the water? Or perhaps in the sides of the canyon?
    Riley fought down panic. Miguel picked up the pace, clearly reading the danger. Both
     Jubal and Gary looked at Dax briefly and then at each other. They must have known
     Dax could stop the rising of the water, or at least delay it enough for them to get
     out, but neither said anything.
    She forced her mind to stretch, to see beyond the obvious danger of the moment. It
     was difficult to get past the urge to flee. Her brain told her flight was best, but
     she grabbed on to Dax’s calm and took a deep breath and let it out. She actually felt
     her mind unfurl, reaching for her connection to the earth. For a moment, she felt
     a little dizzy, disoriented, as if she was in two places at one time—aboveground and
     below.
    Sounds faded, the pounding footsteps, the splash as boots hit the water inching up
     on the trail, the roar of the falls, everything receded until she was left with the
     whispers of the earth. She went still inside, even though she continued forward, on
     automatic pilot, her eyes on the man in front of her.
    A river rushed beneath the canyon, fed now by the continual rain. Steam rose around
     them, curling through the boulders and reaching out like fingers toward them. Something
     moved, shifting continually, hiding in the vapor. She was aware of the movement just
     outside her vision. The sensation was dreamlike, as if she watched from a distance,
     seeing the steam drifting as the water table rose.
    There was something more . . . Something she just missed. It was there, lurking beneath
     the water, waiting for its moment. The thing waited, watched, radiating malevolent
     hunger. She had the impression of red eyes staring beneath the water, fangs dripping.
     No, not thing— things .
    Riley gasped and shook her head adamantly. No, Dax. Don’t.
    You control the water. Don’t try to stop it, that will trigger the attack. Just slow
     it down.
    Riley knew she had no choice. Dax was going to face the monsters below them. He trusted
     her to stop the rush of water pouring into the canyon from both sides as well as the
     water rising up beneath them. He was utterly calm and matter-of-fact. She took a breath
     and nodded her head, the terrible rolling in her stomach stilling. She would do this.
     If he could face those fangs and the single-minded purpose to kill them all, she could
     slow the rising of the water, but she’d have to get to it—the water was up to their
     ankles, slowing them down.
    Dax handed the professor off to Alejandro and Jubal, taking care to ensure Patton
     wouldn’t feel the jarring of the two men as they waded through the rising water. He
     waved his hands, weaving an intricate pattern, so that for a moment the air around
     them shimmered, cutting off the humans’ ability to see him, and he slipped beneath
     the soil to drop into the water below.
    Jubal’s brain had contained a wealth of information, and Gary was a walking data bank.
     His mind