into the blue abyss, becoming a part of the current, a wave blended with other waves. The morning had broken bright and clear, the remnants of the storm gone. The angry lashing of the wind and rain had moved out much the way Grace’s bad mood had dissolved. She couldn’t deny that Alec’s touch held some kind of healing balm, her body calm and grounded after he’d satisfied her in ways she hadn’t thought possible.
Somehow, he lessened the anguish of losing her dad. Only her work had ever done that.
Albie Corcoran had returned first thing and was now in the starboard submersible with Alec, along with a tagging spear that Grace could retrieve if Bonnie appeared. Double D and Stephie were in place in the opposite cage, while Fowler and Brad had gone off in the outboard for another day of chumming and, with hope, tagging.
Corky didn’t have a rebreather, but Grace hoped the bubbles from his regulator wouldn’t be a deterrence.
Tony wasn’t feeling well and had decided to monitor the dive from onboard. Surprisingly, Missy had offered to take his place.
“I want to give it another try,” she had said last night while Grace was drifting off to sleep. “What do you think?” She’d leaned over the top bunk to look at Grace.
“I think it’s a great idea.” Grace had every confidence that Missy could manage the dives, and she was glad that her best friend was willing to face her fears.
It had made Grace think of her own fear of opening her heart to Alec. She could still smell him on her sheets. They hadn’t had much time together before he’d left for his room, but the wall around her heart was already losing its strength.
She supposed at the end of the day, she couldn’t be sorry about letting Alec into her life, regardless of how it might play out. While glad that he wanted to continue their relationship after the expedition ended, she also knew it could as easily go south once they were landlocked again. She really needed to prepare herself for that possible outcome. The demise of her relationship with Brad had blindsided her—she never wanted to be caught that unaware again.
When Grace and Mackenzie entered the water the next day with Missy, they did several practice dives first to get acclimated and to help Missy feel comfortable. Mackenzie had become stronger over the past several days and could now shadow Grace more closely.
Shadowing seems to be her forte.
But truthfully, if it weren’t for the fact that the young woman mooned over Alec, Grace would have welcomed a friendship with the girl.
Grace had descended to forty feet when suddenly Felix appeared, exhibiting high energy and erratic movements.
He hadn’t been spotted since the incident with the cage, not since the day Grace had drowned and come back to life thanks to Alec. While it was good to see that the shark hadn’t sustained any serious injury from his imprisonment, Felix’s behavior was immediately a red flag.
Grace spun around as he shot past her. Missy and Mackenzie turned in place as well, keeping him in their sights. He made a tight circle and came around for another pass.
He had fresh cuts on his head, but Grace didn’t think these were from his time in the cage with her. He must have scuffled with another shark.
He was so close that Grace could reach out and touch him, but she held back. Not so much because the guidelines of the Biosphere stated that touching the sharks wasn’t allowed, but it was probably a bad idea with this particular shark.
A school of mackerel scad danced in synchronized movements, avoiding Felix each time he slid effortlessly through the azure environment.
As he sped away, his pectoral fins were angled down, and Grace was pretty sure he was gaping.
Awfully aggressive, Felix, even for you.
They should probably exit the water, but Grace decided first to go on the offensive and began to swim after him. It was a technique her father had taught her. It basically told the shark not to mess with this particular human.
In an instant, her error was clear. Felix curled back, briefly looking like a shark donut, and headed straight toward her. She cut to the right and swam hard to avoid him. Out of nowhere Mackenzie’s fin slammed into her face, knocking her mask off. Stunned, Grace fumbled for it, but it sank quickly.
Getting her bearings, she pumped her legs to ascend when suddenly Felix bolted toward her and attacked her flipper, clamping down on her foot. An inky pool of blood mixed into the water. With a hard yank, he began to dive, dragging Grace with him.
Grace pinched her nose with one hand to prevent saltwater from blasting into her sinus cavities while trying to bring the other hand to her heel to free her fin, but Felix was towing her too fast. And her foot was locked in his mouth.
As she bumped up against his side, she pummeled his scaly skin with a fist, trying to get him to release her. Efforts to wiggle her foot free from the plastic fin failed, causing a flash of pain.
Then without warning, she was free. Disoriented, the pressure in her ears told her she had gone much deeper.
She needed to get to the surface. If she blacked out, she’d drown.
A feeling overcame her. A sixth sense. A knowing.
There was a shark in the vicinity.
In Grace’s narrowed and blurry vision, a shadow came close and a strong displacement of water pushed against her.
A big shark. A goliath submarine.
A sister.
As the mass neared, the girth grew in size with each passing second. And like a slow-motion sequence in a horror movie, the shark’s open mouth became visible in the murky depths.
My God.
The leviathan moved away.
Was it Bonnie? Mary Ann?
Grace couldn’t see beyond her hand, but her throbbing foot spoke volumes. Her blood was no doubt spilling into the salty abyss at this very moment, an offering that no shark could ignore.
Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.
Grace started to swim, but she’d lost her spatial reference. It was impossible to tell which way was up or down.
Panic began to rise in her chest.
The great white bumped into her, and they came eye to eye. Grace didn’t know how or why, but she didn’t feel threatened.
It was as if the great white were trying to help.
Impossible.
Grace’s lungs started to burn, and her awareness began to fade.
She was running out of time.
Without warning the nose of the shark slammed into Grace’s chest and carried her forward. The momentum propelled Grace onto the shark’s back, the sandpaper skin raking Grace’s hands raw, but the giant dorsal fin stopped her and kept her in place.
With her mind mired in a muddy confusion, Grace clung to the shark and prayed with a desperate diligence: please be moving upward and please, please don’t bite me in half once we get there.
The black void began to lighten, and shafts of sunlight angled down as if sent from the heavens.
Would she meet her dad on the other side?
With a violent thrust, Grace broke the surface and gasped desperately for air.