Hiro’s voice was interrupted by a loud crack. Neil looked at the screen. Hiro’s eyes were wide with horror. A giant crack appeared in the screen, but it wasn’t the TV, it was the window of Hiro’s cockpit. Neil could see bubbles starting to escape from the cockpit, and then the crack grew suddenly larger.

Hiro immediately pulled back on his descent, but it was too late. The glass shattered. Hiro’s sub flew off into the darkness, spinning and quickly disappearing. “Ahhhhhh . . .”

Jones reached over and flicked off the speaker, then pulled back on the wheel. The sub began to rise, slowly toward the surface of the ocean. The sub stopped creaking.

No one said anything for a long time.

Koko finally let go of the pipes and slid down the wall to the floor. She sat there looking completely exhausted. “He was such a fool,” she said. “But he was my brother.” She gave a deep sigh.

Jones stared at the window, the last bubbles from Hiro’s sub rising up beside them. “I’d seen a tiny nick when the treasure crashed into the sub’s window. I knew it wouldn’t hold if we dove deep enough.”

Larry made his way over to Koko and hugged her. Then he sat down next to her and, for once, didn’t say a thing.

Nakamura turned around. “We should be able to surface soon. We’ll give Aki a call and figure out a rendezvous point. Then we’ll notify the coast guard and tell them where to search for Hiro’s sub.”

Jones turned the wheel to his right and the sub made its gradual way back toward Tokyo. “I hope for your sake that Isabella didn’t move a single inch in her bunk,” Jones said, turning to look at Neil.

“Another compete sentence,” Larry said. “I’d get moving, Neil.”

Neil nodded, backing away from Jones and out of the room. Then he went back and checked on Isabella. She was groggy, but awake.

“What happened?” she asked. “Are we safe?”

Neil nodded. Then he sat down next to her, took her hand, and kissed it.

He heard a loud whistle and remembered that Koko had been making tea. Could that conversation really have been just a few minutes ago? Neil felt like he’d aged ten years. He took a look into the kitchen. The teakettle was bolted to the counter and hadn’t spilled a drop in the battle with Hiro. Nori does have every gadget in the world, Neil thought.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” he asked Isabella. He untied the restraints.

Isabella nodded and sat up on her bunk. “Maybe everyone would like some?” she said softly. Her voice still sounded like music to Neil.

“I’ll go ask,” he said.

Neil walked to the bridge. “The water is boiling. Who could use a cup of tea?”

“I could,” they all answered.

Koko got to her feet. “You know what? I’ll make it,” she said.

Larry stood up. “I’ll help,” he said.

As they walked past Neil into the kitchen, Larry whispered to him. “Do you happen to know if Nori keeps any coffee on this boat?”

Neil thought back to the last crazy few days. “I’m sure he does, but I’d be very careful opening the container.”

Larry looked confused. “Um, cool . . . I’ll take your word for it.”

“You won’t regret it,” Neil said.

“Oh, one other thing,” Larry said, popping his head back through the doorway.

“What?”

“I think Isabella hurt her lips during our dive back there. You better go take care of that. You won’t regret it.” Then he winked and disappeared.