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But it wasn’t the sea that made my heart pound harder.
It wasn’t the memories swirling like spectres behind my eyes.
It was her.
Nerida.
Or at least, I thought it was her.
Quicksilver images flickered beneath the surface. Grey and sleek along with skin-flashes and chocolate streaks.
The grey wobble shot toward me, breaking the water with an elegant dive, blowing out and inhaling before it vanished back down again.
My mouth fell open.
A dolphin.
I’d never been so close.
Never been so near I could reach out and touch it.
Bending farther over the railing, I tried to see beneath the rocking waves. Another few grey blurs appeared, circling around the flashes of a sea-swallowed girl.
I frowned.
If Nerida was down there, where were her parents?
As quickly as the dolphin had broken the surface, the girl-shaped shadow grew more and more solid just as her head popped up, and she spat out her mouthpiece. With a lungful of fresh air, she ripped off her mask, then tipped her head back into the water, smoothing down her hair.
A dolphin circled her on its side.
Fear crawled through me.
I’d heard dolphins liked humans.
They weren’t killers, but nevertheless, watching Neri be circled by three of them sent my pulse skyrocketing.
“Get out of the water.” I gripped the hot railing with white fingers.
Neri gasped and looked up. Her innocent eyes wide and full of things she’d seen below. Things that still enraptured her and made her somehow even more pretty than usual.
My heart did that frustrating little kick, and I marched toward the staircase.
Neri swam beside me, blinking back saltwater. “Hi! How’s it going up there? Did you figure out the data? Dad used to make me do it, but I kept jumping overboard to join them.” She giggled as she reached the stairs. “That showed him.”
“It’s fine,” I muttered, planting my casted hand on the railing, and bracing myself across the open side of the boat. “It’s not hard to do.”
“Stinking hot, though, right?” She struggled with the buckles and straps of her scuba tank, wriggling in the water as an inquisitive dolphin nosed her legs. “I should’ve told Dad to set up the sail for you. It shades the table. Sorry I forgot.”
Nervous sweat ran down my back. “Neri. Get on the boat. Now.”
She stilled and cocked her head, her eyes seeing way too much of me. “It’s okay, Aslan. It’s only Bubbles, Rocky, and Seaweed.”
“I’m sure they’re your friends and you’ve swum with them countless times, but I really must insist.” I held out my hand, leaning as close to the water as I dared. “I’ll pull you up. Come on.”
Dropping beneath the surface, she reappeared with a grimace, holding up her tank. “Take this. It’s super heavy, and I’m over it.” Not letting me say no for an answer, she placed the straps of the heavy tank into my hand, followed by the belt with small weights on it. “You’re the best.” With a quick grin, she duck-dived, splaying me with seawater as her flippers pushed her deep.
The dolphins crested the surface, blew air in my face, then chased after her, their blurry grey forms becoming more and more ghost-like the farther they swam.
