Beneath These Waves

Chapter Eight

My eyes fly open.

I didn't go unconscious, but I pressed my eyes shut, bracing for impact- for the sub to be crushed like a tin can. But we've landed on something soft. Seaweed, maybe? It sounds like seaweed, as the submarine slides into place.

The light is shining as bright as ever, consuming the glass of all the windows with its glow. I shield my eyes, to get rid of the spots flashing in my vision. Ser and Cal are both on the floor, curled into balls, knees pressed to their foreheads. They've always been so flexible. A gene that had to go ahead and skip me. I'm almost out of my chair, my other hand white on its side, clinging tightly.

"Where are we?" Ser's voice cracks.

"I don't know. But at least it isn't like the ship graveyard. There's too much light around here, though. It's awful."

"You can say that again." Cal sits up, brushing off her shoulders. "We have to get out, don't we? It's just a bacterial or algae bloom, right? Like the one we saw a few months ago. Nothing to be afraid of." She lets out a nervous laugh, it sounds like old paper splitting.

"Nothing looks dangerous to me." Ser shrugs, then lets out a glare. "Yet. If we go out there and there's more shipwrecks or something, we're coming straight back, you hear me?"

"I didn't say you could make orders." It makes me feel insecure. Bossiness is one thing, but taking over my role as leader is another. I need to shove Ser away, so she's on the edges again. The promise gave her too much power, and now I need to sort through the consequences.

"Fine." Ser crosses her arms, then wobbles up. "Let's go to the wetsuit room. The faster we can get out of here, the better. I don't exactly feel comfortable bathing myself in a bunch of bacteria and algae and whatnot."

"It is beautiful though," I say. The light reflects off of their dark eyes, it makes it seem like their souls are shining. "But we don't have time to stop and look. The Pluto Disk fragment is waiting, and we need to take it."

"What makes you so sure?" Ser's being difficult, her retaliation.

"I just have a feeling." I reply. And it's true. Woven in with the threat of death and dread, there's this hope, warm and shining, like a single starfish on a black rock. I had the feeling back at the ship too, this connection.

"Whatever." Ser stands up too, and I copy her. We walk to the wetsuit room together, all three of us.

"Hey Cal," I say. "Make sure that you don't get hit with any more things in the head, okay? It's not going to be good for you."

"It's not like I can control that." Cal looks down at the floor while Ser struggles to open the door, the impact of the crash apparently giving her a delayed effect and turning her arms into jelly.

"Here, let me help." I push it open and Ser stumbles inside. When she gets back on her feet, she shoots me another look, muttering, "Unnecessary."

"You're welcome." I mutter back.

We slide into our wetsuits, going in reverse order from last time, me first. I don't bother to take the Pluto disk fragment off, it feels like a part of me, and it might just be because I'm used to it, but it feels deeper than that, like it transcends being a piece of jewelry. And it does- according to Dad's words. It's a key. One that's probably cursed, but a key nonetheless.

My faceplate makes me feel claustrophobic, the glass seems too close to my face. I have to close my eyes and count the beats of my heart, irregular but still calming.

I'm not sure this is a good idea. We're going out into glowing waters, our engine is stopped, we just crashed. But there's nothing else to do. And the fragment is calling. Even though there's no one else who probably even knows about the disk, I still feel this urgency to get to it first, to caress it with my callused hands, to build on Dad's secret and make it my own. It'll be Cal and Ser's too, but it'll stay within this family, trapped within our zippered mouths, the disk and the treasure seen by our eyes only.