Page 38 of Blue in the Deep Blue Sea

“As long as there’s light in the dark, I’ll be fine.”

I nodded.

While I had been studying her face, she had been studying mine, as if she already knew what I was going to ask.

Maybe her fear of the dark wasn’t so different from my fear of the deep sea.

She needed light to push back the darkness. And I needed shallow water to keep the depths away. But no matter how bright the light or how shallow the water, fear stayed with you.

You don’t simply grow out of it.

It was almost ten at night when we lay down in bed. I looked around. Her bedroom was the size of my kitchen and living room put together. Three closets stretched from wall to wall, and where the last one met the wall, a bookshelf stood crammed with books. The walls were a pale white, and the wooden floor was light enough to creak beneath every step. Pictures of her and her family covered the walls, with one of her and Annie in a frame beside the bed. Pink glitter clung to both of them, and judging by what Annie was wearing, it had been taken at the Light Festival in 2001. A lump formed in my throat. I only had one picture with Annie, and it was still sitting in the apartment where my mother was.

We lay beside each other, staring at the ceiling while the fan above us turned in slow circles, cooling the air. Stars that glow in the dark were scattered across the ceiling, shining softly in the dim light from the lamp beside the bed. Outside the bedroom window, crickets chirped from the summer heat. Her house was close to the port, in the same neighborhood where we used to live, and I could hear distant sirens blending with the crash of waves against the dock.

I felt nauseous at the thought of tomorrow, but I tried to calm myself by remembering I’d be inside the yacht. I wouldn’t have to stand outside staring at the sea. I lost count of how many times I told myself it would be fine, but the words never untied the knot in my chest. My mother had already taken the money, so I had no choice but to work for them. It was the money Ineeded to leave, yet she still found a way to keep me chained to her and that house.

People would probably say,Just leave,as if it were that simple. It never was. Everyone had always left me, so being the one to leave came with its own kind of fear.

“I have something to tell you,” Isabella said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I turned onto my side, propping myself up on my elbow, my cheek resting against my palm.

She sat up, her feet dangling above the floor as she searched through the drawer of her white nightstand. When she turned back, she placed a worn piece of an old map on the white sheets between us. Written across it in faded red ink were the coordinates40.583° N, 14.429° E, along with the year 1809.

Only part of the island was visible, but near the top, a small letterXhad been marked.

“Gianni found this with Dante while he was diving near the cliffs,” she said. “It was hidden inside a plastic bag tucked into an amphora. He brought it back with him, and he said he’d read about a ship that sank in 1809 near the Siren Islands, Li Galli. It was carrying church treasures evacuated from Naples during the Napoleonic Wars.”

“Do you think this is what he was searching for?” I asked, taking the piece of the map between my fingers. The paper was worn and wrinkled beneath my fingertips.

“I think it was part of the job he was so excited about,” she said, lying back and looking up at the ceiling. She lifted a hand toward the glowing stars, trying to change the subject. “We put these up together the night Annie died. It’s Ursa Major.”

“The Great Bear.” I smiled as a tear rolled down my temple.

I lay back too, resting the piece of the map on my chest.

“The story says Ursa Major represents Callisto, a nymph and huntress whom Zeus, the god of the sky, fell in love with. Shebecame pregnant, and when she gave birth, Hera, Zeus’s wife, grew jealous and turned Callisto into a bear, forcing her to spend the rest of her life in the woods. Years later, her son was out hunting when he spotted a bear and chased her, not knowing it was his mother. Just before he threw his spear, Zeus stopped him. To protect Callisto, Zeus lifted her into the sky by her tail, stretching it until it became the constellation Ursa Major.”

I knew the story. My dad had told it to me once.

“Do you think Annie is one of the stars now?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “I think she’s right next to Callisto.” She pointed to the brightest star beside Ursa Major. “That one.”

I closed my eyes and thought about Annie. I imagined her watching over us, and when we boarded the yacht tomorrow, she’d be there with us.

I guess that’s how legends are born. People lose someone they can’t forget, so they keep them alive in stories instead.

1. Little one

10

BLUE

Thoughts of tomorrow were still far away yesterday, yet somehow the day came too quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to boardthe Deep Blue.

We packed in a rush after sleeping in. We hadn’t been given any more information, only that we had to be at the marina by ten in the morning. I wish I could say the anxious feeling from last night had disappeared, but it only worsened with every minute, making my heartbeat climb higher.