Read Online Mechanical Hearts (Skeleton Key) by Nicole Blanchard, Skeleton Key - Free Book Online

myself closer to the door, ears straining, and heard plaintive shouts from the other side.
    The doors were thick, made from the same near-indestructible metal as the rest of the ship, which also meant they were astonishingly heavy. I wedged my icy hands underneath the lever to pry the door open, but I was no match for it. No amount of heaving and pushing and yanking could make the door budge.
    I grew desperate along with their cries. The water was to my thighs, and I knew if I waited any longer it would reach my waist, then my chest, then it would swallow me whole.
    I was really getting sick of nearly drowning.
    My vision blurred with a combination of sweat and tears. I shouted at them, telling them I was coming. Help was coming. Just hold on. Eventually, my throat grew so hoarse, I could barely speak let alone shout.
    Soon, my entire lower body was consumed by the rising water.
    I was beyond feeling. Beyond the cold.
    In fact, it felt rather nice. Warm, even.
    Eventually, the roar from the water drowned out the sound of their screams. Then a great lurch wrenched me away from the door and I floated for a while. Voices broke my stupor and I fought to a standing position, fought against the darkness that wanted to consume my vision.
    When I was on my feet, I found Ezra standing in front of me, his mechanical arm straining to pull back the lever. His mouth was open in a soundless feral shout. The veins in his temple and throat stood out in sharp relief. With a great crack, the door burst open and the water, ever opportunistic, flooded the room, sucking Ezra and me along with it.
    My arm caught the doorway as I went through, and I let out a cry, my mouth immediately filled with salt water, choking it off. I tumbled, churned by the water, until I managed to claw my way to the surface.
    It was complete chaos. Grown men were screaming, fighting each other to the door against the constant waves of water from the hall. I tried to move, tried to swim to the exit myself, but my body had given up. I told my brain to tell my arms to move, but they hung limply by my side. The only thing keeping me from going completely under was the table I managed to stand on to keep my head above water.
    Ezra was in front of me corralling the thrashing men with shouts and great heaves. One scrabbled up his back, panicked by the encroaching water, and Ezra gripped him by the scruff and threw him through the doorway. When they were all safely out and their voices started to recede, he came for me.
    “Go,” I said. “I’ll just slow you down.”
    “Don’t be an idiot,” he growled.
    “Just go!” My shout was hoarse, and I winced at the pain in my throat.
    Before I could protest, he swung me up in his arms and dove into the water. His powerful legs kicked behind and propelled us through the doorway. We broke the top, both of us gasping for air.
    The water was up to our necks then, and I could feel my body starting to shut down. If we didn’t get out of there, and quickly, I feared the submarine would become my tomb.
    “Hold on to me,” he shouted over the sound of the sea closing in around us.
    He slipped me around his back and positioned my arms around his neck. I was careful not to hold on too tight as he powered his way down the hall. He didn’t go to the control room like I expected, but to a door off the left.
    Inside, there were empty bays that reminded me of a car garage, but smaller.
    “Where are we going?” I knew the question could be pointless, as Ezra had an infuriating habit of leaving most of my questions unanswered, but the filter to my mouth had been washed away along with the submarine.
    “Escape pod,” he said. His neck swiveled back and forth as he strode down the walkway, checking each of the bays.
    There was one pod left in the last bay, but it looked like it had taken a hit from whatever had attacked us. It was a miniature submarine—as in, it could probably fit the both of us, but it would be cramped. It rested