Chapter 40: Against the Current

- VANESSA -

The water is so cold, I can't think about anything but getting out of it. Dominik only pushes me under, he doesn't hold me there. But I try to fight the urge to pop back up immediately and stay under, because as much as the cold takes over all feeling in my limbs, I can tell it's working. There are wisps of darkness that are being pulled out and washed away with the current. 

At some point, the cold doesn't even burn anymore. Everything goes numb, and I get lost instead in the feeling of Susan's strange power leaving. One by one, each of her fingers is pried off of the interior part of me that felt like it was being held hostage. When the last one goes, I pull myself out with a gasp.

"Good girl," Dominik says, helping to pull me back to the side. 

I'm moving against the current on legs I can't feel, waist still submerged, and I slip again when I'm almost out. 

"I got you," he groans, lifting me the rest of the way. "Are you hurt?"