ASHES OF HER MERCY
Pieces of burning debris rained down like falling meteors, sizzling as they hit the water.
My lungs burned. My strength was completely gone. I couldn't swim. I couldn't fight the heavy current pulling my dress toward the bottom.
As my eyes slowly drifted closed, floating in the dark sea beneath the burning sky, a single, solitary thought echoed in my fading mind:
Let them believe I died in the fire.
Suddenly, two powerful, gloved arms broke through the burning surface above, plunging into the dark water and locking tightly around my waist, dragging my sinking body toward an approaching shadow in the deep.