Chapter 13
Maelis
It was good to be back in my own apartment.
Tyrone had scheduled a follow-up appointment for tomorrow, but for now, I was free to do whatever I pleased.
Paul had explicitly forbidden me from working for the rest of the week.
Enjoy the island, he’d said. But what I really wanted was to dive below the island once again.
The thought made my stomach twist. Every time I closed my eyes, I could still feel the crush of the cave walls, the rasp of stone against my tank, the hiss of dwindling air. Panic crept in like cold water seeping through a crack.
And yet, stronger than fear, was curiosity.
Those bubbles. The rhythm. The pattern that refused to leave me alone.
I’d seen plenty of strange things under the sea – schools of fish forming spirals, coral shifting with the current, even volcanic vents releasing bursts of steam – but nothing that precise.
I stretched out on the bed, staring at the ceiling fan as it lazily turned. The room smelled of salt and sun-baked wood. My wetsuit and fins leaned against the wall where I’d dropped them in a heap. For the first time in days, the space felt… mine. Safe.
But it was an illusion. Because somewhere across the resort, Cerban was locked away, punished for saving me. The memory of his hand brushing my cheek, the heat of his breath against mine – too close, too dangerous – burned fresh across my skin.
I pressed my palms to my face and groaned. What was I doing? He was an alien warrior. A guest, not a staff member. Someone I wasn’t supposed to look at for more than a few seconds, let alone…
Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about him. About the way his eyes had looked in the dimness, fierce and unyielding, but soft when they rested on me. About how my body had leaned toward his as if pulled by the tide itself.
I rolled onto my side, glaring at the crumpled camera housing on the nightstand. “Damn bubbles,” I muttered.
Because the mystery of the cave was the only excuse I had left. If I could focus on that, if I could convince myself this pull toward Cerban was about science, discovery, purpose – then maybe I could ignore the truth humming in my chest whenever I thought of him.
Maybe.
I pushed myself upright, restless energy prickling through me. I’d promised Tyrone and Paul I’d rest, but lying here only made me more aware of what I wasn’t doing. The cave was out there, waiting. The bubbles were out there.
And I wasn’t the type to sit around and wait for answers to fall into my lap.
Crossing the small room, I pulled my gear bag onto the bed and started sorting through it. My wetsuit was still damp from its hurried retrieval, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that I’d learned from last time.
One tank hadn’t been enough. I’d been careless, too eager to push deeper without accounting for the unknown. That mistake had nearly cost me my life.
So: spare cylinders. I jotted a quick mental checklist, the way I did when preparing dives for paying clients. Two primary tanks. One stage cylinder, clipped to my harness for emergencies. Backup lights. Redundant reels and line.
The routine of preparing for a dive steadied me, pushed away the dark memories. I could do this.
I had to do this.
And I wouldn’t go alone this time.
I swallowed hard, because I already knew who I wanted at my side. The same person who’d dragged me out alive, who’d held me against his chest when I thought the sea had claimed me. Cerban.
Even thinking his name made my pulse quicken. But I shook the distraction off and focused on the gear.
We'd never managed to continue our discussion about returning to the cave.
Rainse had interrupted us. And both Rainse and Tyrone had made it very clear that they would not be carrying messages back and forth between us again.
They were trying to protect us, I knew that, but I hated not being able to talk to Cerban.
Wait. I was an idiot. I almost slammed my head against my forehead at my sheer stupidity.
Of course I could talk to him, now that I was back in my own place.
This wasn't the eighteenth century where people had to rely on letters to talk to each other.
There was such a thing as a phone. And because this was a fancy resort, every room had not just a phone, but an entire videocall system - including staff apartments.
I smiled to myself and searched for the aliens' accommodation in the directory.
My finger hovered over the call button, my heart hammering.
This was ridiculous. I’d faced sharks with less nerves than I had for this.
Before I could chicken out, I tapped the screen. The ring tone pulsed softly in my little apartment, echoing like a sonar ping.
After three beats, the feed flickered to life. Cerban appeared, shoulders filling the frame, his face shadowed but unmistakably him. His gills fluttered once, then stilled.
“Maelis,” he said, low and rough.
“Hi,” I managed, trying to sound casual even as my heart leapt. “Sorry to… surprise you. I realised I could just call.”
For a moment he only looked at me, as though memorising my face. Then, softly: “I am glad you did.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. “I’m… back in my apartment. Tyrone says I’m fine. Paul gave me the week off.”
“I know,” he said. “Rainse told me.”
I fiddled with the edge of my wetsuit. “I can’t stop thinking about the bubbles.”
His expression darkened slightly. “Maelis–”
“No, listen.” I leaned closer to the screen, urgency creeping into my voice. “I’m not asking you to watch me nearly drown again. I’ve made a checklist. Spare cylinders, backup lights, emergency lines. I’ll be prepared this time. But I can’t do this without you.”
"It is not just danger. I'm not supposed to leave this building, let alone go for a dive with you. If we're discovered... it won't end well."
"I know," I said quietly. I knew what I was asking of him. "But... something is drawing me back to that cave. I can't explain it. I need to go back. I need to know what these bubbles mean. What causes them.
Don’t you want to know what made them?”
His gills fluttered once, his jaw tight.
“I want to know,” he admitted at last. “But I want you safe more.”
I hesitated, then pressed my hand to the screen as if I could reach through to him. “Then come with me. Help me make it safe. Together.”
For a long moment he didn’t move. Then his massive hand lifted, mirroring mine from the other side of the glass. “You are stubborn,” he murmured.
“Occupational hazard,” I said with a weak smile. “Dive instructor.”
The corner of his mouth twitched, quickly suppressed. “Very well. We will plan. Carefully. No one must know.”
Relief loosened something tight in my chest. “Thank you.”
He leaned closer, voice a low rumble that seemed to vibrate through the connection. “But if anything happens, Maelis… I will not forgive myself.”
I swallowed hard, pulse racing. “Then we’ll make sure nothing does.”
We stared at each other, the air between us charged even through a screen. The cave, the bubbles, the rules – all of it waited beneath the surface. But for the first time, it felt like something we’d face together.
“I’ll bring spare cylinders this time,” I said quickly when he didn't reply. “Backup lights, reels, everything. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
“You should not have made it once,” he countered, but there was no real anger in his voice – only the rasp of fear still lingering in him.
I lifted my chin. “That’s why you’ll be with me. We do this carefully. No risks we don’t account for.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, weighing me the way a commander weighs the readiness of a warrior. At last, he nodded. “Dawn. Fewer eyes watching then. Rainse can cover for us.”
Silence stretched between us again, heavy but not uncomfortable. My fingers itched to reach for him, though all I had was a screen.
“Maelis.” His voice was low, hesitant in a way I hadn’t heard before. “When you are with me under the water… stay close. Always. Promise me this.”
“I promise,” I whispered.
His shoulders lowered as though a weight had lifted, though his gaze was still fierce, still protective. “Then we will see what the sea is hiding.”
The line clicked softly, the call ending before I could say anything more.
I stared at my reflection on the darkened screen, heart pounding, gear still spread across the bed. Suddenly, I didn’t feel like the woman who had almost died in the dark deep.
I felt like someone about to discover something extraordinary.