Page 16 of Drenched

It wasn’t just the cold. Something about this place pressed in on me. Like the water itself was alive, coiling around me, trying to sink into my skin. Turning on the flashlight attached to my mask, a narrow beam cut through the inky darkness, illuminating the swirling particles drifting with the current. Ahead, I could make out the faint bobbing of the others' lights.

Kicking hard, I pushed myself to catch up. The heavy tank on my back pressed into my shoulders with every stroke. As I descended, a beautiful glow started to appear. It looked otherworldly. Like stars glowing on the bottom of the ocean. That was algae! The deeper I went, the stronger the glow became.

“Do you see that?” Jaime's voice crackled through the radio, his tone just as awestruck as I felt.

“It's incredible,” Kim replied, her light sweeping over the glowing algae. She moved closer, reaching out carefully with her gloved hand. When her fingers brushed against the pulsing organisms, the glow seemed to respond, brightening as if recognizing her touch.

Once I caught up with the others, I carefully brushed my fingers against one of the glowing patches. The glow intensified, pulsing brighter for a moment before settling back down. It was almost as if the algae was reacting to my touch, as if it could sense my presence.

“It's responding,” I said into the radio. “The algae, it's reacting when I touch it.”

Kim's voice crackled back, her tone filled with intrigue. “Incredible. It's almost like the algae can sense us, or our proximity to it. I wonder what that could mean.”

The idea that the algae might be aware of us was hard to wrap my head around. If they could sense and react to our presence, even in a basic way, it meant they were more complex than we thought. They weren’t just lifeless plants. There was something else going on, maybe even a kind of intelligence, that didn’t fit with what we usually understood about marine life.

I brushed my fingers over the glowing patches, watching the light flare and fade. The rhythm felt like a heartbeat, almost hypnotic. Just as I started to lose myself in it, a sharp voice snapped me back to reality.

“Stop admiring it and focus,” Jonathan snapped, his beam of light cut through the water like a blade. “We need more samples. Keep moving.”

Right, grab the samples and get out. That was the plan. But Jonathan’s brush-off of the algae’s strange glow bugged me. Couldn’t he see something unusual was happening here?

I kept going, following the trail of glowing algae. The deeper we went, the glow thickened, brighter and more intense. Then, out of nowhere, it hit me, a wave of dread. The water felt tighter, pressing in like a vice. My chest clenched, and a chill prickled along my spine.

Something was wrong.

I tore my eyes away from the algae and looked around. Darkness. Nothing moved.

Then I heard it. A faint sound, almost lost in the hiss of my breath. A whisper, just beyond reach.

My heart pounded. I wasn’t losing it, Kim had heard it too.

“I heard it,” Jaime said, his voice edged with tension.

Jonathan’s voice cut in, sharp and impatient. “It’s nothing. Focus. Keep moving.”

Easy for him to say. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something more sinister was at play. The sound wasn’t comingthrough the radio anymore, it was in my head, pressing against my thoughts, sending a chill racing through me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of movement and swung my flashlight toward it. Nothing. Just more swirling particles drifting in the current. My chest tightened, my mind filling the empty spaces with shapes that may or may not have been real.

“Stay close,” Kim's voice cut in, firm but laced with worry. “Don’t lose sight of each other.”

I tried to focus on Kim’s words, to stay grounded. But my flashlight caught it, a massive shape shifting just beyond the beam. It twisted, bending the light in ways that made my stomach knot.

Teeth. Rows of thin, needle-sharp points glinted faintly in the algae’s glow.

“Vurrax,” I whispered, the name escaping before I knew it.

Jonathan’s forced laugh crackled through the radio. “Vurrax? What’s that, Pearl?”

Kim’s voice came strained. “It’s the pressure. The depth can make you see things that aren’t there.”

I wanted to believe her. My hands shook too hard to pretend I wasn’t scared.

And just like that, it happened. Darkness exploded around us. A cloud of black ink swallowed Jonathan’s light in an instant. His scream tore through the radio, raw and guttural.

“Jonathan!” Jaime’s flashlight swept wildly through the water.

Bubbles surged. Shadows twisted. Jonathan thrashed, a flash of his dive knife slashing at nothing. The scene spun out of focus, a whirl of ink and confusion.

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