Crossing through this pool is a death wish. The thought was a hard certainty in Dave's mind. He stared at the stagnant water, his mind racing through and discarding options one by one. How are we going to pass through this? There was no obvious path, no hidden bridge. Any attempt to wade through would end exactly like the stick, dissolved into nothingness by the ghostly creatures lurking within.
His eyes lifted, scanning the roof of the cave. He traced the lines of stone, searching for any anomaly, any hook or crevice that could support a rope, or any clue the Game Maker might have created. There had to be a trick. There was always a trick. His focus was so intent on the ceiling that he almost missed the change happening right in front of him.
"Dave, look…" Violet's voice was a hushed, urgent whisper. "The water is getting brighter."
His gaze snapped downward. The transformation was instant. The inky blackness was receding, fading like a bad dream. The water was now crystal clear, lit by a soft, internal luminescence. He could see straight to the bottom, a smooth floor of pale stone. The writhing, ghostly shapes were gone. The poisonous gas had vanished. It looked as safe and inviting as a mountain spring.
Dave felt a hope bloom within him, but he suppressed it as instant as it came. It may just be a trick to get us to step in. He couldn't afford to trust anything in this place. Without a word, he drew back his arm and threw the fire torch he was holding. It sailed through the air and hit the water with a sizzle.
The flame died instantly, but the stick itself didn't dissolve. It sank, landing on the stony bottom and resting there, just a piece of wet wood. It behaved exactly as normal water should.
"It's safe for now," he said aloud, his voice low. But for how long? The unspoken question hung between them.
"So… are we passing through now?" Violet asked, her timid blue eyes wide with hope.
Dave glanced at her and shook his head. "I'm not very sure, but… Let's wait for a moment. It might be a set of intervals, and we don't know how long it'll last. It may just switch back to being dangerous again."
Violet gave a quick, nervous nod, falling silent. Together, they watched the pool. The seconds stretched out, each one feeling longer than the last. And then, just as Dave had feared, the clear water began to cloud. The internal light dimmed, the blackness seeped back in, and the faint, ominous bubbles began to pop on the surface once more. The shallow, deadly pool had returned.
Dave let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he was holding. A cold sweat prickled on his skin. He was glad, profoundly glad, he had let suspicion override impulse.
"We just have to wait until it becomes bright again," he stated, the plan forming as he spoke. "But we'll have to hurry. I didn't calculate how long the safe period lasted."
"I did," Violet said, her voice quick and soft.
Dave turned to her, his brow furrowed in confusion.
Seeing his reaction, she clarified in a hurried mumble, "I… I mean, I calculated how long the safe pool lasted." She took a small breath, her voice gaining a sliver of confidence. "Forty-eight seconds."
Dave looked at her for a long moment, seeing not just the timid girl, but a person who, despite her fear, kept her head enough to count the seconds in the midst of everything that had happened. "Thanks," he said.
Violet nodded quickly, a faint blush touching her cheeks. "No problem."
After that, they waited in a silence broken only by the soft, wet pops of the deadly pool. The minutes stretched, each one a test of nerve. Then, as before, the transformation began. The inky darkness bled away, replaced by that soft, internal luminescence. The water became clear and inviting once more, revealing the harmless stone bottom.
Seeing this, a grim smile touched Dave's lips. He kept his eyes on the water as he spoke to Violet. "Let's get going." Without further hesitation, he stepped into the pool. The cold water soaked through his orange overalls instantly, sending a chill through his legs. The moment his second foot touched the stony bottom, a silent clock started ticking in his mind. Forty-eight seconds.
He took several swift strides, the water swirling around his knees. Then he stopped. The sound of footsteps he expected to hear behind him was absent. He turned.
Violet was still standing on the ledge, perfectly rigid. Her hands were clenched at her sides. Her eyes were wide in fear, fixed on the water.
Damnit, I almost forgot. The memory of her confession, her anxiety sickness, crashed back into him.
His internal clock still being calculated as he stood, [38] seconds.
There was no time to coax her, no time for gentle words. In one fluid motion, he sloshed back through the water, reached her side, and scooped her into his arms. She was surprisingly light. A small, startled gasp escaped her lips, and a deep flush of red spread across her cheeks at the suddenness of the action.
For Dave, the sensation was equally jarring. A strange, fluttering feeling erupted in his chest, a disorienting mix of urgency and something else entirely. This is my first time ever carrying a woman… The thought was absurd, out of place, and he shoved it aside. There was no room for it, not with the seconds bleeding away.
He turned and walked through. The water dragged at his legs, each step feeling heavier than the last. He could feel the frantic beat of Violet's heart against his chest, or maybe it was his own. He focused only on the far shore, on the dark mouth of the next tunnel.
He stumbled onto the dry stone of the opposite ledge, his boots splashing the last of the water. He set Violet down gently but quickly. Her face was still flushed, and she couldn't quite meet his eyes.
"Thank you," she mumbled the words with a quiet embarrassment.
An awkward silence hung between them for a breath, two. Both intensely aware of the moment that had just passed.
"Uhmm... Let's keep going," Dave said, breaking the tension.
Violet nodded quickly, her gaze fixed on the ground. She handed him the last fire torch, and he took it, turning to lead the way into the new tunnel.
Behind them, unnoticed, the clear, bright water of the pool began to cloud. The light within it died, and the darkness that returned was deeper, more profound than before. It became a ghostly black, a void that seemed to swallow the very air around it.
Then, a single, pale, ghostly hand broke the surface. Its fingers curled around nothing, as if pulling itself up from an unimaginable depth.
And slowly, a voice drifted through the cavern, a high, sweet, little girl's singing voice that was utterly devoid of warmth.
"Don't let me find you, find you, find you…
Don't let me find you, or you're nothing good but…
Dead!!"