Silence

Chapter 20

Quiet laughter behind her broke her out of her thoughts about her twisted love life. She turned to find Lukas smirking at her, Ciel in his hold. His large Death Scythe was pressed against the boy's neck, daring him to make a noise.

"I've got to admit, I've never had so much trouble getting rid of humans before," the rogue Grim Reaper laughed. "I suppose if you want something done, you've gotta do it yourself."

Lukas knocked Ciel on the back of the head just hard enough for him to go slack in his arms.

"Catch me if you can!"

With no time to spare and definitely no time to get Sebastian whether she wanted to or not, Adalina swung herself up onto the horse's bare back and took off after the Reaper. With Ciel in his arms, he wasn't as fast as he normally was. She found that if she forced the horse on as fast as he could go, she could just barely keep up with him.

She kept her eyes on her unconscious master to make sure he stayed alive.

Lukas finally stopped on one of the tree branches resting above a very large pond.

Adalina slowed the horse, not caring about how extremely uncomfortable the ride had been.

Lukas smirked at her once again. "Don't think I haven't done my research, dear. You won't be able to save him this time. And if you try, you'll both die."

Before the head maid could stop him, Lukas dropped the unconscious Ciel right in the middle of the pond. Adalina jumped off the horse and ran towards the water as Lukas disappeared with another laugh.

She hesitated at the edge only for a second before wading into the water. She frantically went deeper and deeper, feeling around for Ciel. Her feet stuck in the mud the further she went.

With no other choice, she went under the water and forced her eyes open, feeling them sting upon contact with the dirty water. It hardly mattered because she could barely see anything in the murkiness.

She went up for air for a quick moment before plunging down again and resuming her search.

Ciel had gone down far enough to the point where she could not stand with her head above water and reach him. Desperate to save him, she clumsily waded towards him and hooked her arm around his waist. Then she frantically pushed for the surface. She took a deep inhale when her head came above the water, but it wasn't long before she fell back under again.

Still unable to swim, Adalina did everything in her power to make sure that Ciel's head stayed above the water. After frantic fighting to stay on the surface and move towards the bank, she finally felt ground beneath her and was able to pull Ciel to the edge.

He was still unconscious, and she had no doubt that water had to have gotten into his lungs.

She leaned over him and pressed her hands to his chest, trying to get the water to expel from his body. Then she pressed her mouth to his and gave him some breaths to see if that would help.

It still didn't work.

She once again pressed on his chest, fearing the worst.

Finally, Ciel lurched before turning and coughing out water. After taking a couple deep breaths, he turned back over so that he was lying on his back.

A wave of relief washed over Adalina. Completely exhausted, she collapsed on the grass next to him.

"What happened?" Ciel gasped. He looked at the pond in front of him and realized they were both soaking wet. "Did you jump in there after me?"

Adalina looked over at him and nodded.

"But you can't swim."

She nodded again.