Everything under the sea was magnified. So when the sea bed shook, the sand swirled like a thin veil around Kristina and the group of four men. With zero visibility around them, Kristina could only see their silhouettes because of the overhead flashlights they were all wearing.

Kristina's oxygen intake increased as her chest heaved. Bubbles escaping from her mask were now buried by the cloak of sand swirling around them as the trembles of the sea bed continued. 

Thousand-year-old statues started to shake while the surrounding light flickered as the wires connecting to the primary circuit were getting tangled by the falling debris of the ruins.

"Boss!"

"Señorina!"

"Is this a fucking earthquake?"

Sebastian, Bernardo, and Rogelio did everything to avoid the falling debris that could potentially crush them into a pulp. At the same time, their mouths screamed for the other two who were separated from the three.

Though they were separated not too long ago, the falling debris piled up. It acted as a wall separating them. With the visibility now down to zero, there was nothing but swirls of sand around them.

"We have to go back.," said Kristina. 

She was now the one who was clutching both of Lucas's arms. Her voice was loud in an attempt to surpass the roars of the falling debris. Her heart ached upon the thought that a thousand-year-old civilization would now be buried again. It was as if nature wanted the lost city of Mayan to remain buried forever.

"I can't leave my men alone out there! You told us yourself that this place is like a fucking maze, so no one is leaving, especially you, not until my men are here, woman." Lucas returned the favor by pushing her away, only to pull her again when debris was about to hit her shoulder.

The blue light inside his diving mask made it possible for Kristina to see the popping veins around his foreheads, yet she could not see a hint of distress from his charcoal black eyes piercing straight to her wavering ones.

"Fine. But let me remind you that every second we spend here is very crucial to the hundreds of lives in Poseidon Hotel, so let us do this quickly. We will do this my way, you understand?" Kristina pointed her index finger to Lucas and turned around where they came from.

One stroke, nice and slow. Two strokes, nice and quiet. And in Kristina's fourth stroke, Lucas's yelling voice was muted by the ringing noise, followed by the statue crashing down a hairbreadth away from her.

"Jesus, woman! Have you got no eyes? Are you sure that you work here? You could have died many times, and fuck it let me lead!" Lucas pushed the wide-eyed Kristina to his back. Now, their positions were totally flipped.

"I-I don't know that –"

"Shut up." Lucas cut him off. He was using his flashlight aside from the light produced by the overhead light. From time to time, he would look back at her as if he was making sure that she was still following him.

Kristina could only swallow the lump in her throat. She knew she was not the best when it came to disaster preparedness. But Kristina damn well knew the directions. As she said, she knew the catacombs like the back of her palm. And so, Kristina, who the brusque Russian godfather saved, dared to open up her lips again.

 "Watch out. You will hit a wall if you go straight up. Turn right."

Upon her sudden eagerness to help his cause, Kristina would not wonder why he gave her a pair of raised brows – though she did not miss the slight curl on his lips before he nodded his head and went on to follow her. "Looks like you made up your mind and decided to be useful, huh."

"To the right again." Kristina chose not to answer him and continued giving him instructions.

"I never realized that we went this far from them."

"We didn't. The corner that we swim past by? That's where we got separated by them."

By Kristina's calm statement, Lucas whipped back to face her. "Then why are you going further east? Are you fucking playing with me?" He was about to clutch her shoulders again, but Kristina saw it coming.

She swatted his hands. "We are following their trails. This part of the catacombs is the entrance; hence, the lighting is concentrated here. See that?" Kristina pointed ahead of them. It was a place where there was a thick veil of sand swirling around them.

She continued upon seeing that Lucas's gaze followed where she was pointing. "It is way thicker than those around us. It is almost the same as the level of density around us. I bet that there is a disturbance happening there, a movement produced by repetitive flailing or swimming."

"Then Miss Smarty-pants, let us go and meet with them before this fucking earthquake swallows us all. I am here to get richer, not to become a fucking corpse."

A gasp escaped from Kristina's lips when Lucas pulled her left wrist. Unlike his usual grip, it was softer yet firm. Somehow, at the back of her mind, she could almost feel the security it brought her.

If only the shaking did not turn to the worse, Kristina would have kept her hope of survival intact. It was funny how Mother Nature could fuck anyone up the next seconds of their lives. One moment Kristina was being pulled by Lucas as their gaze remained fixated on the thick swirl of sand a couple of meters ahead of them, but the next thing they knew, the catacombs turned upside down – or what Kristina felt like.

"Aaah!" Kristina could only scream when the earth-shattering roars of the ruins turning to bits were followed by a force that was sucking her body.

"Hold on!" Lucas, who was quick as ever, was able to hold onto a statue of a Mayan god while his right hand was holding Kristina's slipping left hand. The current wherein the direction was to the right where they were supposed to go also pulled him in. Had it not been for his knife that penetrated the statue's eyes, he was pretty sure that he would be sucked by the current as well.

Kristina's fingers started to slide down from Lucas's grip. He also failed to see that cracks began to appear on the statue he was holding onto. His eyes were only pinned on the woman before him, whose name he forgot.

'A current? Why here? And how?' 

Kristina's frantic mind kept her from crying in anguish.

She knew once the current would suck her, she would be brought to the deepest end of the hollow. But where was it? Kristina knew the ins and out of the excavation site, even the crevices beyond it, as long as it was beyond the premise of Poseidon Hotel. Yet, she could not remember any hollow place aside from the air pocket located in the other direction.

After all, currents appeared when there was an underwater cave with amass air pockets inside.

Kristina's attempt to stray her thoughts away was cut off when her palm got disconnected from Lucas's iron grip. "No!" On instinct, Kristina cried out. It was indeed human nature to fear death.

"Fuck," muttered Lucas. "Take off your tanks! It will reduce your weight!"

Kristina immediately shook her head. There was no way that she would part with her lifeline, not when they were situated fifty meters down the surface. "No, I can't! Ah!" 

Her little finger slipped away. Now, only four of her fingers remained from Lucas's deathly grip. His grip was so firm that she could feel her fingers turning numb.

"Do it now, or I will fucking let you go," he threatened, followed by a grunt.

On instinct, Kristina looked behind her. She saw the swirl of sand being sucked into the whirlpool of the current, followed by the pieces of debris from the shattered statues.

"Damn! Fine!" She took off the safety belt with her other hand, hugging her waist. This action of hers elicited a clicking sound before she nudged her shoulders to take the tanks off one by one.

"Draw a deep breath before you let go." Lucas saw the fear within the swirl of grays eyes. "Hey, hey. I got you, alright? So keep it cool and quick."

Cool and quick, the direct opposite of Kristina's nice and slow. 

Nevertheless, she followed his every instruction like the Holy Grail's map. Kristina focused on his deep dark eyes and got lost in their abyss.

"Okay, good. Now, let go."

Let go. 

The two words were seemingly complex for Kristina to follow. Hearing the words she grew to loathe, Kristina froze for a good moment until it was too late for Kristina to see it coming.

Lucas, who saw it all, felt the loss of heat from his fingertips. The sudden flash of gray and white clouded his widened eyes.

"Lucas!"

It was at this moment that he remembered her name. "Kristina!"

Without a second thought, he pulled the knife and let the current suck him in before he kicked the nearest statue with all his might.

"Kristina!" Lucas called once again, his right hand stretched to take hers – not minding the gigantic razor teeth of the apex predator that was now biting Kristina's tanks like a fucking chewing gum.

Before the shark could swallow Kristina, the jammed belt connecting to the tanks finally let go. With her mask now gone, Lucas's searing kiss was not bad at all.