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I nodded, my breath fogging up the helmet.

“Greer, repeat that. Jameson is going to get me out of here.”

“Jameson is going to get me out of here.”

“Good girl. Okay, I’m?—”

The monster lunged under the water again.

Oh, God. I tried to keep my breathing calm, listening to air hissing through the helmet. I pushed against the spongy, oily skin, trying to get it to loosen its hold.

Come on.

Then it shifted, and another tentacle reared into view. The end of a tentacle smacked into my face. The helmet cracked.

No. No.I stared at the spiderweb of cracks. My heart beat harder, thumping in my chest.

A thin trickle of water started pouring into the helmet. I clamped my mouth shut. The cracks widened.

It wasn’t long before the facemask filled. I couldn’t hold my breath forever. Panic hit and I tried desperately to fight it back.

I couldn’t hold my breath any longer.

My lips opened and water filled my mouth. I started thrashing. Black splotches filled my vision. I couldn’t breathe.

My movements slowed.

Jameson.

I wasn’t sure if I saw his face, or just imagined it, but then darkness bled in over everything and there was nothing.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Jameson

The monster rocketed to the surface.

Fuck. Now I knew what a chew toy felt like. Air hissed out of the breather on my helmet. I held on tight to the spongy tentacle.

Greer. Where was Greer?

I looked up and saw her slumped in the tentacle’s hold. She wasn’t moving.

“Greer!” I slid along the tentacle. One wrong move and I’d lose my grip. “Greer.”

No response. Dammit, was she breathing?

My chest squeezed.Hold on, baby.

The monster was starting to slow. So far, it had ignored us.What the hell did it want?

The bank lay ahead of us, with a flat, grassy area. I kept crawling along the tentacle, and finally touched Greer’s arm. Her skin was so cold.

“Greer?”

I lifted her head, and that’s when I saw that her helmet was shattered. Her face was pale and her chest wasn’t moving. Panic surged.

“Greer, baby,no.”