Page 48 of A Girl and HER Prince
She did and noticed that he made a signal with his hands that was unmistakably the symbol for “octopus.” He motioned for her to come closer, and feeling a rush of excitement, she swam over. He pointed, but she couldn’t see anything until the octopus shifted angrily out of its hiding spot. Its bumpy, coarse, black-and-white spotted body pulsated before the sly creature blended back into the reef.
Venice singled out certain shells too, and she ran her flashlight over them, impressed by the exotic colors… but was it bad that her attention was caught mostly by his hands? They were manly, but also belonged to an artist. Deedee had never delved into his interests in her videos and so Livvy had no idea what he liked to do with those hands.
She knew what she liked him doing with his hands.
Girl! Stop already. Get your mind off those kisses!
Pulling herself together, she scissor-kicked away from him. Orange-and white striped fish swept towards them, but immediately upon seeing her, the school turned as one, as if they were telecommunicating, and swam away.
She was charmed. The coral moved beneath them in a wave of color and spindly threadlike wisps. Nature was splendidly glorious in all its forms. They reached the reef’s edge, and Venice signaled for them to descend again. She let out more air in her vest, clearing her ears as she went down ten more meters.
Livvy checked what was left in her tank. She was at seventy-five percent capacity. Already! They’d barely left and she hadn’t seen the shipwreck yet. It was time to calm down and slow her breathing or she’d never get to see it. The more excited she was, the faster she took in air.
It was darker and murkier where they had gone. All she could see of Venice was his dark form and the bright flashlight that he swept over the shadows. Where had the others gone? It was only the two of them down here.
Her whole body was shaking with cold and tension. At these lower levels, she was terrified of finding something not so nice lurking below.
She did her best to calm her mind. Venice had told her there were no sharks, so they should be fine, right?
He signaled for her to follow him. They reached a cavern to their left, and she tensed, but Venice avoided it altogether, which put her mind at ease. Achilles had teased Deedee about getting her alone in one of those, but as far as she could see, there was nothing romantic about those cramped tunnels. She was afraid to tangle with whatever sea creature lurked inside.
Every time Venice found a new discovery, he made the sign of it with his fingers, which unsurprisingly, she couldn’t read. Then again, she didn’t recognize most of these Mediterranean fish either. Some were red. Those plucky little swimmers were perhaps the fish they’d eaten for lunch yesterday. A snapper, was it?
Venice signaled for her to stop as he reached another coral reef. He ran his light over the sea anemones’ brightly colored tentacles swaying through the current.
An eel popped out. Livvy jumped. If only she’d worn the wetsuit that she’d packed for their trip, then she’d feel more protected. Deedee had snorted at her this morning when she’d tried to take it along.“Believe me, no one will be dressed like that. These people live in the water.”
And Livvy didn’t. She’d hoped to feel like a mermaid visiting her caves down here, but the more she followed her muscular merman through the sea, the clearer it was that she was definitely the human in this relationship.
Venice swam back for her. He ran a soothing hand down her arm. She met his eyes through his facemask, and she noticed the dimple in his cheek as he tried to smile at her. He fit her fingers over the light she’d dropped and patted her arm.
Livvy glanced down at her air. She had fifty percent left. Time to go back the way they came. Feeling disappointed she’d missed the ship, but relieved to be alive, she pushed her thumb up.
He nodded. Venice was definitely no Deedee. No matter Livvy’s pleading, her friend would insist on staying down there until they found the shipwreck, but then again, Venice seemed to care about other… things.
Livvy began to put air into her vest. That’s when the barracuda came out of nowhere. She jerked and dropped her light to the murky bottom.
Feeling frozen, she watched the barracuda’s long, sinister form make a menacing shadow in the distance. She’d heard about barracudas. There was a whole rock song about them, after all. Deedee had been singing it on their way over to the dive, but that didn’t mean she wanted to tangle with one.
Livvy twisted around to Venice. It took her too long to remember the sign for danger, but as soon as she did, she waved her arm.
Venice pushed his palm out for her to stop. His chin lifted. He was staring at whatever was behind her.
Her skin prickled at the back of her neck. She swung back around. The barracuda was right in front of Livvy this time. Only five feet away. It was no longer a shadow, but a threatening, lumbering presence with a big toothy grin.
Somehow it had traveled warp speed to reach her. That wasn’t supposed to happen, right? They didn’t eat people.
Venice swam slowly in front of her. His hand went to his wrist and she realized that he was pointing to where she wore her charm bracelet. Deedee had told Livvy that they didn’t bother humans unless they mistook them for other fish. Was the glittering metal too much like silvery scales?
She worked off the bracelet and shoved it under her weight belt.
Venice covered her, running his light over them so that the creature could see they were not a juicy morsel from the sea. And then he started backing them into the cavern they’d passed earlier. A diver’s rope called a “line” ran through it, marking the way through. Were Achilles and Deedee in there already? They’d said the caverns led to a lagoon on the other side. Venice and Livvy could swim there and wait to get picked up.
Without hesitating a second longer, Livvy signaled Venice to follow her into the cavern. They swam through the stony maze while she tried to adjust the air in her vest to stay horizontal. Every part of her despised the claustrophobic feel of these caverns, and yet she could feel they were ascending higher. She forced her breathing to slow down so that she wouldn’t use up as much air. Who knew how much she’d lost when facing the barracuda?
The walls opened into a bigger area and the surface loomed above them. Livvy emerged from the water, running her light against the walls of a cave. Where were they? They hadn’t reached that lagoon yet. Her light scraped over the remains of an ancient ship, and she gasped.
Venice shot out of the water next to her in a loud splash. He ripped off his breathing apparatus and she hurriedly did the same. She’d almost forgotten about conserving air. Checking her gauge, her stomach clenched. She only had twenty-five percent left in her tank.
