"What do you mean we're going to die?" Kyton asked.

Treading water, I jerked my chin at the glowing cave we were in. "This is some kind of monster's trap or mouth or something. It's swallowed us, and we can't get out."

"Of course we can get out." He dove beneath the water. When he rose a second later, his expression was grim. "The opening's closed. I can't talk to Nissa. Can you and Eva...?"

Eva? I tried, just in case.

No response.

"No, I can't." Ugh, I was so hungry I couldn't even think straight. "How are we supposed to get out of here?" On second thought, why should I leave? It smelled so good in here, like a giant fairy stew pot. I moved toward Kyton.

He was looking around the cave, completely ignoring me. All I had to do was move a little closer, and I'd be within striking distance.

He glanced my way and jerked back. "Whoah, what are you doing?"

"Nothing." I cocked my head. Why had he looked back? I was so close. "Keep looking for a way out."

Rolling his eyes, he stole my dagger and cut the back of his forearm. The smell of fresh blood billowed off him.

"Drink enough to take the edge off. You need to concentrate on escaping."

"You're no fun." It wasn't any challenge if he gave me his blood. Still, I wasn't one to turn up my nose at a free meal when I was starving. I drank as much as I could before he took his hand back.

"You can have more when we get out." He shook his finger in my face. "No biting."

I followed his finger with my eyes. There was a drop of blood on the knuckle.

"Stop that." He dunked his hand in the water. "What's that?"

"What's what?" But then I heard it. A low rumbling, like when the cave's mouth had opened or shut. Rushing water battered my legs, making it hard to tread water. I dunked my head under the surface.

The cave's mouth was open, but when I tried to swim through it, the rushing water slammed me against the far wall. Coughing, I surfaced again. The ceiling looked closer than it had been before, only a couple feet above me. The water's surface rippled as it crept up the walls.

"It's going to drown us," I said, all thoughts of hunger forgotten.

Kyton gave me a guilty look. "I won't let you drown. We just have to find a way out of here." He dove, staying under for longer than would've been humanly possible.

At least, it felt that way. Time had a way of dragging when you were slowly being drowned. While Kyton was under, I moved to the hole at the back of the cave. It was just big enough to fit me if I didn't lift my head too far. Unfortunately, the hole was already underwater.

I should probably wait for Kyton to finish with whatever he was doing so he could check out the hole himself. But we didn't have enough time for waiting. There was only a little more than a foot between the water and the roof. I ducked into the hole. The fake lobster and its flower were stuck on the end of a coiled tentacle. The end of the tentacle disappeared down a sharp incline in the tunnel.

If we tried escaping down the back end, we might be digested alive. Or we might escape. I moved down the tunnel toward the fake lobster. It wiggled its claws realistically, and the tentacle lifted it into my path. I moved closer. The lobster didn't budge.

A foot closer, and the lobster flew at me. It flew right past me. Twisting around to follow its path, I saw it as it looped the tentacle around me, pinning my arms to my sides. It squeezed out what little breath I'd been holding. Before I could even try to fight, it slammed me against the wall. Pain sliced through my temple. Dots flashed across my vision. I took a breath before I could stop myself.

My nose and lungs burned. Coughs shook my whole body, but the tentacle didn't loosen its grip. Something grabbed my ankle, and suddenly the tentacle flew off me.

A second later, Kyton grabbed me by the horns and hoisted my head above the water. Coughing and heaving, I threw up what felt like a gallon of seawater. By the time breathing was easy--but still painful--my horns were touching the ceiling, and the water was up to my chin.

"We're not getting out that way," Kyton said in a low, furious voice. "The hole closed after I stabbed its tongue. I need you to bite the wall near the opening we came in."

Still dazed by the near-drowning, I couldn't tell if it was just me or if he'd just said something crazy.

"You want me to bite a stone wall?"

Still holding my horns out of the water, he waved his free hand at the front of the cave. "Look, if this thing is a monster, then it has to have muscles or something like it. Your venom paralyzes. If you can get it to stop sucking in water, then at the very least, it'll buy us some time. If we're lucky, it'll get us out."

The last thing I wanted to do was go underwater again. My lungs burned at the thought of it. My heart pounded in my ears. If it hadn't been the only chance we had to get out of here, I wouldn't have even considered it.

"Okay, just stay close in case- well, in case of anything."

He moved behind me, and I felt him grab my tail. "Gotcha. Just aim for the gashes I made in the wall."

With a shudder, I dove. It wasn't hard to find the gashes he'd made right over the opening hole. He'd scraped away the bioluminescent stuff around them, so they were the darkest part of the wall. Unfortunately, the gashes weren't that deep, and the wall still looked suspiciously like stone. Biting a rock seemed like a bad idea. It had to be better than being drowned, though.

The gashes were vaguely bitemark-shaped and sized. My teeth sank into them easily enough. Injecting them with venom was another matter entirely. I'd never consciously injected anything with venom, especially not a rock. Biting down harder, I felt muscles squeeze in the top of my mouth. My fangs were definitely doing what they were supposed to.

The water wasn't slowing, though. The cave didn't seem to care that I'd bitten it. I kept my fangs locked on the wall for as long as I could, just in case, but nothing happened. When I drew my head back, Kyton dragged me to the surface.

I had to tilt my head sideways, cheek pressing against the ceiling, to take a breath.

Kyton surfaced in front of me. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, at least you had a plan. I didn't have a clue." Was the air getting stale, or was it just my imagination?

"I didn't-" His antennae curled and uncurled nervously. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this whole thing. You wouldn't even be here if-"

"Don't you dare blame yourself for this. I'm a grown woman, and I can make my own decisions. You didn't drag me anywhere." I took another breath, relishing it for as long as I could. The water rose up my cheek. I tilted my head back so my nose was pointing straight up.

This was it. I was going to drown in a cave with the only boy who'd ever given me the time of day after figuring out I had magic. If I had to die, there was one thing I really wanted to do first.

"Do me a favor and don't gag, okay?" Those were terrible last words, but I really didn't want my first real kiss to end up with the guy throwing up because of how unattractive I was as a giant lizard.

"What are you-"

Taking a deep breath, I turned to Kyton. I was pretty sure he knew what was about to happen, because his eyes got even bigger than usual, and his antennae turned into tightly-wound springs. He looked terrified.

As the water covered my head, I took his head in my hands and pressed my lips to his. His tail wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer. Even knowing I was about to drown, it was the most amazing thing I'd ever done. He wasn't running. He wasn't screaming or calling me a monster. He wanted me closer. If I was totally honest with myself, he probably just felt too bad about my imminent death to push me away, but I wasn't about to complain.

His lips were soft, even underwater. I closed my eyes. Ran my hands through his hair. Hooked his antennae between my fingers. They uncurled in my hands and laced through my fingers. His hands were at my head and back, holding me to him and stroking my scaly neck at the same time.

Even through the water, I sensed his magic, but I didn't care. I wasn't hungry. My lungs burned, but I didn't care. I felt too good to be drowning. The cave rumbled, but I didn't care. A little more water wouldn't make a difference.