When I open my eyes, I’m lying in a hammock in sickbay in a private area surrounded by white cloth partitions. I’m not cold anymore, but my head hurts and my thigh and upper right arm burn. An IV and a sensor patch are connected to my left arm. As I lean forward to peer at my leg, Tobin swims through a gap in the partitions.
:Look who’s on sick duty.: I say, managing to smile.
:Look who landed in sickbay, again,: he scolds.
:Hey, you were a patient, too, the last time I was in here.: As we were escaping Atlantea, Wasp stung Tobin with the deadly sea wasp tentacles on her fingers and Whitey winged me with a spear dart. The moment I think of Whitey, I remember Dai telling me that he and Whitey are half brothers. I shove that awful idea to the back of my mind, for now.
:Yeah, but I haven’t been back as a patient,: Tobin is saying, :and here you are again with some serious healing to do. How do you feel?:
I wince as I lie back in my hammock. :Like I got mashed against the bottom by a giant wave.:
:That’s pretty much what the current did when it rolled you along that wall. You have contusions all over your body, and we had to soak some nasty sea urchin spines out of your leg and arm. Your head took a hard hit, too. Even though your thermal seasuit was shredded, it did protect you from coral cuts.:
:So, nothing’s broken or permanently damaged?:
:Nope. Looks like you’re going to live to train many more dolphins.:
:That’s good news,: I say, trying to match his light tone, but because he’s Tobin and he’s watching me so steadily in that understanding way he has, I admit the truth. :I-I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.:
:It must have been terrifying, being swept along through the dark like that.: Tobin’s eyes warm with sympathy.
:It was as scary as anything we faced at Atlantea, and I never thought I’d say that.:
:It’s a good thing the dolphins and Dai found you when they did. Your heartrate was down in the forties and your blood pressure was scary low when Rohan treated you out on the trawler. Speaking of Dai, he said he’d shoot me with his spear gun if I didn’t let him know the second you woke up. I almost think he meant it.:
:Can I have something for my head before you tell him that I’m awake?:
Tobin glances at my chart. :Yeah, you can.: He leaves and returns shortly with a syringe of some drug he adds to my IV. Almost at once, the pain in my head eases and I feel kind of floaty.
:That’s better,: I say with relief.
:I’m glad,: he replies. :I’ll let Dai know you’re awake, but here’s a heads-up that he’s been acting strange ever since he got back from rescuing you.:
:Dai always acts a little strange.:
:Well, even by his standards, he’s been weird and withdrawn. He has good shields, but he’s still leaking worry and anger all over the place.:
A few minutes later Dai appears at the entry to my curtained area of sickbay.
:She’s still tired. Don’t stay too long.: Tobin tells him curtly before he leaves.
Almost at once, I can tell Tobin’s right about Dai’s mental state. His face is impassive, but behind his shields, his emotions are churning like a stormy sea.
:You look better,: Dai declares after studying me. :I checked on your earlier, and you were so pale you looked dead.:
:Thank you for coming after me. I probably would be dead if it weren’t for you.:
:Going deep where there’s so much current is dangerous. You had no business being down there.:
Anger burns through me. :You arrogant, condescending rockhead. You’ve no right to say that to me.:
:I have every right, now that I know why you’ve truly been doing so much deep-water work.:
I draw in a breath. Could he possibly know the truth? I try to tighten my mental shields, but the med Tobin gave me is making my brain fuzzy and I’m so terribly tired.
:Yeah,: Dai says, clearly reading my surface thoughts, :I do know why all of the older kids in Safety Harbor have been tested to see how well they tolerate pressure and cold. I read your father’s mind when I handed you, concussed and half-dead with hypothermia, off to him because I wanted to know why he would take such stupid, careless risks with his own daughter.:
I stare at him in dismay. :Oh, Dai, you promised you wouldn’t read minds any more. You promised when you came to live with us.:
:That was before I saw your dad send you off to play in the Twilight Zone, and you got mashed doing it. You guys have no idea how dangerous it is down there in the deep. You almost died yesterday!: Dai’s generating so much psychic noise that Tobin dashes into my cubicle and swims between us.
:If you’re going to keep shouting at her, you’ll have to leave,: Tobin says.
Dai starts forward, his faced twisted in a mask of fury, but Tobin doesn’t budge. Then Dai catches himself and whirls away, breathing hard. When he turns back to face us, his body appears less tense, but his eyes still smolder.
:I won’t shout at her again,: he says coldly.
:Do you want him to stay?: Tobin asks me, his face pale.
I have a feeling that if Dai doesn’t finish what he needs to say to me, he might lash out at someone else and land himself in big trouble.
:I-I want him to stay.:
:All right, but I’ll be on the other side of these curtains if you need me.: The reproach and worry in Tobin’s eyes as he leaves send a pang of guilt through me.
:All this,: Dai gestures to my bandages and my IV, :is because you’re training to plunder my mother’s ship.:
:We don’t want to plunder it. We just need to find her notes so we can develop the right strain of c-plankton.:
:The right strain? You mean after all we went through, we brought the wrong stuff back? Well, that’s too bad because I’m sick of hearing about c-plankton.:
:Dai, we have to find it. The c-plankton your mother developed literally could save the planet and our seas and those corals you love so much.:
:You keep my mother out of this.: Even through his shields I sense his pain and guilt at the mention of his mother.
:I’m sorry, but that’s impossible.: Once again I wonder exactly how Idaine Kuron’s vessel sank on a calm day, but I’m afraid I’ll push Dai too far if I ask him now.
Dai crosses his arms and glares at me. :So, you did know what your dad is up to, and you didn’t tell me.:
:Because someone here in Safety Harbor is communicating with your father.:
:And you thought it might be me.: Underneath the simmering anger, I can sense his hurt.
:I can’t believe it’s any of you,: I blurt miserably. :I like you and Sunny and Shadow and Rad and Ocho so much, and you’ve all been working so hard to fit in here. I wanted to tell you about our new mission. I was afraid you’d find out and then you’d feel like we don’t trust you.:
:Which is obviously the case,: he says bitterly.
:I do trust you. I wanted to tell you the moment I found out about the mission.:
:But you didn’t. Nere, my father will never let you anywhere near that ship. He’s obsessed with protecting my mother’s memory and her legacy. You’ve got to give this up.:
:I can’t. We can’t. There’s too much at stake.:
:You know that Wasp and Whitey are still alive. Sham may be, too.:
:Yes, I know,: I say, swallowing hard.
:And my father is insane. I can’t protect you from them all a second time.:
:We’ll just have to make sure they don’t find out.:
:If someone from Atlantea is talking to my father, he probably already knows you’re planning to salvage the Storm Petrel. It’s hard to keep secrets in a colony full of telepaths.:
:Which is exactly what James and I tried to tell Dad,: I say with a sigh.
Dai looks away for a long moment, a muscle ticking in his jaw. :I thought I had a chance to build a new life here. I thought you and your father trusted me.:
:I’d trust you with my life. We do trust you.:
:Just not enough,: Dai says, meeting my gaze again, and even through his shields I can tell how badly we’ve wounded him.
:I’m so sorry,: I say, my eyes prickling with tears.
Dai stares at me as if he’s trying to memorize my face. :Nere, if you care about me at all, and if you care about your friends, don’t go anywhere near the Storm Petrel.:
He swims forward and touches my cheek gently, an echo of the way I touched him, and then, with a twist and a kick, he swims from my cubicle. I look after him, wondering if I should call him back. My head is throbbing, and I’m in no shape to win an argument with one of the most stubborn, clam-headed guys I’ve ever known. My heavy eyelids close, and I slide back down into sleep.
When I wake up the next morning, they tell me Dai is gone.