Page 1 of Drenched

Chapter One

The boat lurched. My gloved hands slipped on the wet railing as I scrambled to stay upright. The cold wasn't your normal kind of cold, this shit crept in and gnawed straight through to the bone. My boots kept sliding on the deck while fog swallowed everything except the slam of waves and the groan of steel.

Sarkivik emerged reluctantly, half-hidden by the fog. The cliffs shot up from the water like broken teeth over the churning ocean. Waves hammered the rocks below, clawing their way toward land. The air reeked of salt and rotting fish, making my stomach roll.

My anxiety had been mounting ever since we left the tiny village of Ittoqqortoormiit, where the ferry dropped us off days ago. The people there hadn’t been much help. They were tight-lipped about Sarkivik but offered one piece of advice: respect the customs and be wary of the locals.

As if that explained anything.

But something in the wind scraped at me, a chill that whispered of trouble ahead.

It’s just in your head, Pearl, I told myself and focused on the task at hand- we needed to secure the boat and get ashore.

“Trevor, tie us off!” I shouted over the howling wind.

Trevor, our logistics guy, was always first to tackle the grunt work. He climbed over the side, boots landing on the slick dock with a thud. Bracing against the wind, he looped the rope around a bollard, his movements quick and practiced. He gave the line a firm tug to check the knot before turning back.

“All set,” he muttered, shaking off his hands and wiping them on his jacket.

I stepped off next, and my boot sank straight into wet sand. Icy water crept in, stabbing at my toes like tiny needles. Perfect. Just what I needed.

Jaime landed behind me with a thud. “You good?” he murmured, quiet enough for only me to hear.

I nodded quickly. “Fine,” I lied, trying to keep my teeth from chattering.

“Bullshit,” he quipped, stepping closer.

It was hard to ignore Jaime, not just because he stood six feet tall, all broad shoulders and solid muscle. It was those blue eyes, sharp, always watching, like they could see right through the walls I put up. His red hair, curling damply under his hood from the mist, giving him a boyish charm. He was our dive specialist. The one who was supposed to keep us alive out in the freezing, unpredictable waters we came here to study.

He was also my biggest mistake. One I had to face on this trip.

Back when Jaime was my student in my marine biology class at Westmount University during his master’s program, we crossed a line we shouldn’t have. For a year, I told myself it meant nothing, just a distraction for both of us. Then he said he loved me and asked me to move in. That’s when simple thingsgot complicated. I ended it because I had to. Jaime deserved better than someone carrying the kind of emotional wreckage I couldn’t unload. He deserved someone like Kim.

She groaned, looping her arm through mine, trying to rub warmth back into her fingers. “Can you blame me? This place is trying to turn us into popsicles.” Her braid snapped in the wind as she grinned. “But you know what? I’m gonna make this work.”

Kim was good like that. Tall and lean, she had a grounded calm that made you believe things wouldn’t fall apart. She always found the silver lining when I couldn’t. She handled the data, the samples, and, like me, she was a professor at Westmount University. She knew about Jaime too. Never judged me. Never brought it up. Just smiled once and said, You trained him for me.

We both stared ahead at the village, the wind cutting through every layer. She leaned in, her voice low. “Ready?”

“Hell no,” I muttered.

She gave my arm a quick squeeze and let go. “We’ve got this,” she said, like she actually believed it.

I wished I could borrow some of that confidence, just for a second.

My fingers brushed over Mom’s locket, the last piece of her I still held.It was part of a set, a locket for me, a ring for her. Every time I touched the locket, it felt like she was still with me, like some part of her was just a heartbeat away.

Jonathan came off the boat last, his shoulders squared like he was ready to claim the whole island, snapping me out of mythoughts. At fifty, he still had that ex-Marine build: square jaw, piercing eyes, the kind of authority he didn't need to work for. As our security lead, he was here to handle permits and keep us breathing if things went sideways.

“Try not to wander off, Pearl,” Jonathan called, his smirk smug and biting. His gaze slid over me, sticking like oil. “Wouldn’t want you getting lost out here.”

Before I could answer, Trevor snorted. “She’s hard to lose,” he muttered, his grin curling up mean. “Takes up plenty of space.”

The insult landed like it always did. Familiar. Tiring. At 5'2“ and 200 pounds, I'd heard it all before. I straightened my back, lifted my chin, and let the words bounce off me.

“Cut that shit out,” Jaime growled, stepping between us.

Jonathan raised his hands, still smirking. “Relax, man. Just having fun.”

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