⸻
"Why do I feel like there's a twist to this?"
"There is. There's always a twist."
"Well… fuck."
Later that night,
I stayed hidden in the trees, their shadows curling around me like silent sentinels. Below, the waterfall roared—a sound too loud for the stillness pressing against my chest. I could've stayed on the ground, but the thought of lying exposed out there made my skin crawl. I'd rather take my chances with a snake in the dark than risk whatever else was waiting.
Snow had fallen asleep at the base of the rocks, his breathing slow and even. I just stared into the distance, letting the night swallow me whole. Everything felt unreal—like I'd been dropped into some surreal movie scene, or one of those anime moments where you already know something is about to change forever.
Leaving my life behind had been one thing. Saying goodbye… had been another. I could already picture my squad—eyes red, faces tight—as they carried out the agent's burial rite. Kai would take it the hardest. He'd laugh at first, thinking it was some sick joke. Then, when the truth sank in, he'd retreat into that quiet place in his mind where only he could see me. The image of that—the weight of knowing I could shatter him—stung my own eyes.
Lost to you forever? I wonder if Skylar would even attend my funeral… if anything we felt for each other was ever real. I never really got an explanation. I just… went haywire.
I remember the last meaningful thing Kai ever said to me: "I'm with you through thick and thin." I guess death was too thick, and the way to me was too thin for him to make it to the other side. I touched my face and realized I was crying silent tears—the kind shed by someone who has lost not just a person, but their entire world. I guess I was now among those who had.
I'd always wished for freedom, but now… now I wished I had stayed with the organization.
⸻
The next day
I sat by the water, staring at my reflection. Snow had gone to hunt game for us. The world felt too quiet. I listened to the water spilling from… well, wherever the hell it was spilling from. Then—
I heard it.
A splash. Heavy. Like something had just fallen in.
I didn't want to bother about it, but it could've been anything—a rock… or a fucking anaconda. Who knows? Still, curiosity gnawed at me. I got up and spotted something floating. It looked like a body.
Stepping into the water, I pulled it ashore. It was heavier than I expected—weight that didn't feel right. The cloak clung to it, hiding its shape, until I saw movement… breathing. Whoever it was—man or woman—they were still alive.
Then I noticed it: an arrow buried deep in his shoulder. Not a normal arrow—this one was golden, faintly glowing. My instincts screamed at me to run. Whoever carried an arrow like that wasn't just dangerous—they were being hunted. And I didn't want to be next.
But there wasn't much my feminine, fragile frame could do. I started to back away, ready to leave, when a low groan escaped his lips.
"Ah, fuck…"
A sound in the distance made my blood run cold. Footsteps. Not Snow's.
I shoved the big log into the water and rolled him onto it, slipping in beside him.
"You better hold your breath," I whispered—just before submerging us both into the icy current.
The water swallowed us whole, cold enough to bite straight through skin. My lungs instantly protested, screaming for air, but I forced the instinct down. The current dragged at us, pulling my body in awkward jerks, slamming my hip into unseen rocks below.
Above, shadows rippled through the water—distorted figures moving along the bank. Whoever they were, they were fast.
I tightened my grip on the stranger's cloak, forcing him deeper with me. His body twitched—whether from pain, the cold, or the urge to breathe, I didn't know. The golden arrow in his shoulder caught a stray shaft of sunlight slicing through the water, glinting like a beacon. My gut clenched. If they were looking for him, that glow was practically a flare.
I shifted my body, curling over him, using myself as a shield. My chest burned. My ears roared. The pressure felt like it was squeezing my ribs inward.
A shadow knelt at the edge of the bank. Boots. Two pairs. One of them dipped something into the water—a spear? A hook? I didn't wait to find out.
I pushed us sideways, letting the current drag us toward a deeper, darker channel. Every muscle screamed for oxygen. The world narrowed to the pounding in my skull. I counted in my head—one… two… three…—anything to keep from breaking the surface.
⸻
Then I spotted it an underground cave I'd found. It was one of those rare caves untouched by the current, with a pocket of air trapped inside—physics or magic, I didn't care which, as long as it kept us alive.
I dragged him through the narrow tunnel, the cold squeezing into my bones. My lungs burned, each kick feeling heavier than the last. Then, the tunnel sloped upward, and faint light rippled above us.
But I didn't surface. Not yet.
Through the thin layer of water above, I saw shapes moving on the bank beyond the waterfall—figures cloaked and armed, their feet wrong in a way that made my skin crawl. Bows, swords, glinting metal… like they'd stepped out of some twisted medieval hunt.
I held us there, just below the surface, as they scanned the area. The stranger's breathing was ragged against my arm, but I tightened my grip, silently begging him to stay still.
Then, one of them jerked their head toward the forest. They moved out, their forms dissolving into mist.
Only when the last sound faded did I push us upward. We broke the surface inside the cave, gasping into the damp, echoing dark. My arms trembled from holding us under so long.
I hauled him onto a flat rock, water streaming from his cloak. The air in here was stale but safe, and for a moment, I let myself believe we'd made it.
I stayed still, barely breathing, waiting. One minute.
Only then did I allow myself a slow, careful breath.
"Are you okay, Agent?"
The voice came from nowhere, sharp and low. My whole body jolted. I spun around, heart pounding, scanning the shadows.
There was no one there.