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For a moment I considered just letting go. Would it be so bad to fade away like this? To float into an abyss, free from my parents’ clutches and my own haunting memories? Perhaps the salt water could cleanse all my scars and wash away my mistakes.

But that would mean abandoning Ethan and Hadley. Giving up on Kendra. Cutting Zane, Kayden, Ace, and Noah from my soul… A soul that maybe, just maybe, with the help of these people, was beginning to patch back together again.

The thought was more painful than the steady numbing of my body.

So, no, Fallon. You can’t die at the hands of an insane Potential willing to self-sacrifice themselves in a rage.

My eyes snapped open, only to find my attacker grinning like someone from the loony bin. Punk thought I’d die so easily, huh? Not today.

That grin quickly wiped away as I looked into the guy’s brown eyes and smiled back. Right before I stuck my fingers in his eyes and pressed down hard. The hands around my neck disappeared instantly, the guy flailing as blood gushed from his sockets.

And, yeah, it might have been one of the grossest things I’d ever done, but he sure as shit deserved it. In my defence, it’s not like I squashed his eyeballs altogether. Moreso… firmly encouraged them to rest for a few days.

With one last kick of defiance, I knocked the remaining air from his lungs, and he spluttered, sucking in water.

He let go immediately. I swam up and broke the surface, choking and spluttering as I greedily sucked down air.

The others helped me onto the desk, where I leaned over and caught my breath. The guy never made it to the surface.

Kendra was speaking softly to Lou, keeping her girlfriend’s eyes glued on her as the water level became dangerously close to ending us all. Less than a minute until we’d all be under, and I'd have to start drowning all over again.

Dick looked at me, shaking his wet blond hair like a dog. “I put the books back correctly. I did everything right.” He ran his hands through his hair, clutching at the roots. “I don’t know what to do. I heard a click but there’s nothing, Fallon!”

“This is it,” the brown-haired girl said. “This room is the last thing we’ll see before we die.”

We all looked at each other, letting that sink in–drinking each other’s features in. I smiled sadly at Kendra, then Lou. Dick took my hand, lifting his chin bravely… and we waited silently in those last few seconds. Together, until the end.

“How symbolic,” Kendra said, giggling suddenly, “that we, Potentials fighting for the crown, should die in a room dedicated to past monarchs.”

“Symbolic…” I repeated, chewing over those words, searching for something just out of reach. “Oh my gods!” My eyes widened, memory kicking in. “The symbols! Everyone, hang tight. We’re getting out of here.”

I dove as fast as I could manage, slicing through the water down to the floor, right where a few suits glimmered at me from the white tiles. The body of my attacker floated by, bumping into me as I passed. Revulsion twisted my stomach, but I shoved it aside, focusing on my task.

My fingernails ran over the etched symbols, finding they were slightly raised from the plain tiles surrounding them. I knew which titles represented spade, heart, and club, but that left the diamond and crown. Shit, the two Potentials never said the symbols for Augustus and Renera.

I could have screamed, but this was it. A quick glance above told me the others were underwater. If I screwed up, my mistake would kill us all.

I did a mental stocktake of my clues. The book order was Hogan, Montague, Renera, then… Willow? Yes, Willow followed by Augustus. Spade, heart, something, club, then something else.

Think, Fallon, think! Yes, that was right. I was missing the diamond and crown. But surely the crown would be last, given it was the largest tile and centred, too. Maybe nothing happened if I got the order wrong, but shit, there were no takebacks. I just had to trust my gut.

I pressed the spade, then the heart, and hovered between the diamond and club. With no time to ponder, I slammed my fingers on the diamond, then club, and finally the crown.

The centre tile clicked, raising slightly. I dug my fingernails into the corner until a little push shifted the panel up. And within… An elegant brass key, perfectly sized for the padlock above our heads.

This was it. Freedom was so close. I swam up towards the cluster of my friends and the other Potentials.

Another body floated nearby, the face of the brown-haired girl staring lifelessly back at me.

Regret jolted through me. Had I been a little quicker, I might have saved another life today, but I’d been too late.

Guess she didn’t have a knack for holding her breath.

I reached my friends, moving them gently aside so I had room to slip the key into the lock. Excitement flitted through me as the key slid home and, together, we lifted the grate up, opening the way to safety.

One of the guys hoisted himself up easily, then reached down to help us up one by one, until we were coughing and spluttering, shaking like drenched rats in the cool, musty air of the next room.

“We made it,” Kendra said, a little lost for words. She shook her head, then looked at me with the biggest shit-eating grin I’d ever seen her give. “Bitch, have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“Never hurts to hear it again,” I wheezed.

She stared at me a moment longer, then burst into hysterical laughter. Maybe we were batshit crazy, but I couldn’t help joining in. Lou and Dick looked at us like veritable psychos, but they started giggling too. Dick was honking so hard as he laughed, it only made us cackle more.

Tears slid down my face as we bent over in our fit until the laughter began to die down.

Until I realised the tears weren’t those of laughter at all.