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Understood why she adored this place. Why she had the nickname little fish.
She belonged here.
She was as much a part of this reef as the clownfish and the turtles.
Breaking off a piece of banana, she raised an eyebrow, and let it go.
Instantly, a rainbow swarmed us.
I jerked as my vision clotted with fins of every colour.
Fish that I’d studied and knew so intimately thanks to all the papers and research I’d helped Jack and Anna with. Angelfish, parrotfish, gobies, cardinalfish, butterflyfish, and damsels. They flitted and fought, moving like quicksilver as Neri broke off pieces of banana and let the fruit hover in the sea.
The sound of clicking and snapping filled my ears, giving noise to the feeding frenzy before us. The quick feathers of fins against my bare chest and legs made me flinch as more hungry fish mobbed us.
I struggled to breathe through the regulator as a giant grouper fish lumbered from the hazy distance, sailing through the manic crowd of colour, swallowing a piece of banana before ambling away again.
I suddenly knew what Jack meant.
What he’d warned me about this job.
It would always remain a job while I sat onboard and stuck to facts and figures. I could learn that there were one thousand, six hundred, and twenty-five known species of fish on the Great Barrier Reef, over six hundred corals, and three thousand molluscs but until I saw them with my own eyes...their wonder didn’t affect me.
It was just a job, not a calling.
A job I was grateful for as it kept me hidden and let me help those who saved me.
But this...
Fuck me...this was life-changing.
She was life-changing.
She made my chest burst, and my entire body tingled with energy as she took my hand, squeezed my fingers in farewell, then kicked toward the surface.
I stayed on the bottom, kneeling in my little sand shallow—the only bare piece of reef that wasn’t swallowed by vibrant purple and blue coral, two-toned swaying anemone, or blood-red seafans.
Neri swam lazy and strong above me, leaving a trail of bubbles as she broke the surface. She spent a few moments catching her breath, before descending to me with a powerful kick, a beaming smile, and her hair streaming wildly behind her.
My heart fisted as she reached for me.
I held out my hand.
Her cool fingers threaded through mine, and she tugged me to my feet. Pointing at a crowded boulder, overgrown with staghorn coral and anemones of neon green, she cocked her head. Clownfish darted in clouds of yellow poisonous fronds, glaring at me as Neri pulled me closer, then pointed at a shadowy crevice.
I grabbed her wrist as she went to insert her hand.
Cutting my fingers across my throat, I shook my head, willing her to see the dangers, trying to speak in a world where air and speech weren’t permitted. Don’t put your hand in there, are you crazy? There’s probably a damn sea-snake.
She grinned as if she’d heard me and untangled my fingers from her wrist with firm pressure. Slowly, she dipped her hand into the hole, sending my pulse skyrocketing.
I froze as she gracefully pulled her hand back out, revealing the tiniest gold seahorse bobbing in her palm, its tail looped tightly around her thumb.
A rush of bubbles escaped my regulator as I fell yet again.
I thought I’d reached the bottom of my love for her last night, but this...this was yet another level. A level of absolute enchantment and out-of-control obsession. A level that made Neri otherworldly to me.
The seahorse happily clung to her thumb. She didn’t offer it any banana but held it in a shimmering patch of seawater. I watched in absolute awe as the tiny thing ate something I couldn’t see.
