Page 13 of Captured in Love
Raphaël appears in front of me with that supernatural speed of his, startling me. I jump back, and he holds out a hand to steady me, an apologetic wince twisting his lips.
“Sorry,” he says. “How far does your spell expand?”
I purse my lips, looking toward the horizon. The line between the sea and the heavy sky is blurred by the rain and the mist.
“A hundred feet, maybe?” I reply. “If the coordinates are correct, I don’t see how I could have missed the thing.”
“Hey, guys,” Nora calls.
We both turn toward her. She’s standing on the stern, balancing on the edge of the boat while holding on to the cabin roof.
“We’re thinking about this the wrong way,” she says.
I frown and open my mouth to ask what she means, but she continues.
“What if we’re notatthe mark butoverit?”
Raphaël and I exchange a glance, then move as one to peer down at the waves lapping at the boat. The water is nearly black, either from the depth and the gloomy light or from the dark bottom made from the same volcanic rock as the hills we left behind on the shore. It swirls against the boat, obscuring anything that might lie beneath us.
In that moment, I know she’s right.
We’re going to have to dive and search for our token under the waves.
Horror courses through my body. If the tomb in Egypt hid an ancient god and dozens of animal mummies, only gods know what monstrosities are hiding down there.
I look up at Nora to tell her that no, we’re not doing this.
But one glance at her determined face tells me that she’s already calculating how best to approach this new obstacle.
“Nora,” I say, half pleading, half exasperated.
She shoots me a dark smile. “I know what you’re going to say. And I don’t expect you two to follow me down there. This is something I can do on my own while you run point from above.”
Raphaël lets a deep sigh out through his nose, and I can imagine what he’s thinking, so I answer for the both of us.
“Hell, no,” I say. “But be glad I still have some of that whisky you bought me in Scotland. I’m going to need it after this.”
Five
Nora
All the wayback to the marina, Raphaël and Levi bicker over the steps we should take next.
“You don’t need an oxygen tank,” Levi argues. “You don’t even need to breathe!”
Raphaël pinches the bridge of his nose. “No, but I can carry one anyway, just in case something happens to one of you.”
He offered to jump right in at the site, but even if he found the place where the token is hidden, he couldn’t have grabbed it on his own. Only Levi and I can touch the magical marker without getting fried by some nasty curse. We need to do this together or not at all.
I crack my knuckles and try to block them out. We’re going to need more than scuba gear to do this. And even getting that might be an issue since this small town likely doesn’t have a shop for diving enthusiasts. If we were in Hawaii, that would be a different story. But only crazy people go diving in water that barely tops fifty degrees, even in the height of summer.
The Djúpivogur marina emerges from the mist ahead of us, and Levi expertly maneuvers the boat into its mooring space. I scramble up onto the rain-slicked pier and wait for the guys to tie the ropes.
“You two should grab the scuba gear for everyone,” I cut through their dispute. Then I lower my voice and add, “And I’ll prepare some spells and do a full power circle to charge myself up for whatever we’ll be facing.”
As expected, arguing starts immediately, especially from Levi.
“I’ll help you,” he says. “Raphaël can get the gear on his own.”
