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“I’ll get us through,” Bryan promised.
But the choice was taken from them.
Something bumped them from below. Their ascent quickened. Phoebe leaned between her legs and stared under her. A huge polyp flared and whipped its tentacles below theCormorant. It was the size of an elephant. It propelled them upward.
“We’re going too fast,” Bryan warned. “At this speed, our thrusters won’t be able to finesse any course corrections or adjustments.”
“Then let’s hope that beast under us has good aim.” Adam looked up. “Because there’s no turning back now.”
Their pace steadily increased.
“Hold tight!” Adam called.
Lit by the shining river above, the rift swept down toward them. Then they were in it. Phoebe sucked in her breath, trying to squeeze herself tighter. The walls swept mere inches to either side.
The passing cliffs were festooned in swaths of waving anemone and thick mats of algae. From all the growth, this rift had to be old.
She understood what they must be traveling through.
One of the Aboriginalthinspots.
She imagined there must be a similar one in the seas near Mount Tambora, an ancient window between their two worlds.
A few minutes later, theCormorantshot out of the rift and into open water. Their caretaker gave them another hard push, then swept away. The luminous tide flowed in a glowing river through the black water, heading for Raoul Island.
“Looks like we’re on our own,” Adam said.
“No worries, mates.” Bryan pointed a finger up. “I know the way from here.”
Phoebe checked their depth. “Five thousand meters.”
“With the momentum we’ve got,” Bryan said, “we should be topside in twenty minutes.”
He was wrong.
It took only fifteen.
TheCormorantreached the surface and popped high, nearly clearing the water. The vehicle bobbed back down, then up again, until it finally floated atop the waves.
Bryan clambered over them to pop their hatch.
Adam dropped into the pilot’s seat, leaning shoulder to shoulder with Phoebe.
They stared across the waves to the smoldering remains of Raoul Island. The bright lights of theTitan Xglowed a mile off, anchored near the mouth of a bay. The waters there stirred and glowed in the hues of a rainbow.
“Did we do it?” Phoebe asked.
Adam touched her chin and turned her gaze farther west.
The black pall of clouds had dissipated enough to show a peak at the horizon, at the curve of a world that looked new to her eyes.
But one detail remained eternal and full of promise.
The evening sun blazed atop the sea, shining brightly.
She smiled.
Yes, we did it.
