Page 33 of Lair

I suck in a breath, rocketed into sudden terror. I am hyperventilating. My body is screaming for light, for release, for blasting up to the surface and into the pure air of the world above.

Adrian shifts in the dark, places a hand on the warm fat of my thigh. Wait.

And then I see it.

A light streaks by like a star, so sudden it jolts me. Then another. A bioluminescent particle, a streamer of electric blue light.

Very slowly, very calmly, Adrian begins to speak.

“I’ve found it is good for me to come down here,” he says. “As a reminder.” More lights outside our bubble now: fizzing rocket ships, explosions of sparks, squirts of what looks like eerie blue smoke. “Creatures of the dark—they reveal themselves to you in their own time.” Alien forms glide out of the abyss. Things that are nothing but luminous lures and bobbing mouths of hideous recurved fangs. Long ganglions of siphonophores that look like feather boas of purple and pink light. Shrimps that spew clouds of blue luminescence out of their mouths like fire-breathing dragons. “And when that happens—when you are lucky enough to see that happen—you are quite frequently overwhelmed by their beauty.” A jellyfish flashes a hypnotic, rotating pinwheel pattern around its body. Strange shapes pulse with yellow-green rows of bioluminescent organs. A structure of light, longer than a giant squid, trails by in a stately constellation of luminescence like an undersea galleon.

It is a light show, a fireworks show that rivals anything above water. It is overwhelming. Exhilarating. I am dizzy with awe.

But my skin prickles, the hairs on my arms have raised because of the person beside me. Because of what is happening.

Adrian Voper is trying to tell me something.

“They are underseen,” he continues. “Misunderstood. And for that reason they can be feared, or shunned.” He falls into silence and I do not turn to look at him, afraid he will stop talking, that the transformation that is occurring will cease as abruptly as it began. But he doesn’t. “It can be a lonely thing,” he adds at last, his voice low, “to live in the dark.”

And he reaches out, his cool hand slipping into mine, fingers entwining. A magical event, a shimmering touch that gives me goosebumps all over. What is happening to me? I am plumped up with self-esteem, rewarded and sweetly assured. I am packed full of happiness.

I have been given Adrian Voper’s secrets, here at the bottom of the world.

EIGHTEEN

The return to the Lair is a blur. I barely notice the submersible’s ascent, a brooding Jason taxiing us back to the swim platform. I am swept along in a dream as Adrian Voper escorts me to my cabin, the touch of his hand on the small of my back setting off in me a procession of sparks and chills.

I turn to face him at the door, my flats dangling from one hand. I am a mess of anticipation.

Does he know what I’m thinking? My mind is a deviant. I think of him pushing me inside and undressing me, trailing kisses down my neck, shoulders, breasts. Being seen, and honored, and set aglow.

What am I to do with myself? What will he do?

His expression melts into a slow smile as he watches me. “How was your night?”

I can barely speak. I drink in his vivid blue eyes, his satirical mouth, his slick but brambly hair. I want to run my hands through that hair. I want...

“It was... something,” I respond at last. We both laugh, and my voice lowers, becomes solemn. “It made me think of...”

“What?”

“Well... my name.”

“Your name?”

“Yeah. My father, he proposed to my mother under the Northern Lights. And so they named me after them.”

He smiles, amused. “Aurora.” God, I love hearing my name in his mouth.

“Yeah.” I go on before I can stop myself. “Those lights down there reminded me of them. I’ve always dreamt of seeing them one day.” I laugh, a glassy little sound. “I’ve never told anyone that.”

“Well,” he murmurs, his eyes fixed on mine. “I’m glad you felt you could.”

“Me too,” I barely manage back.

A silence falls between us. His eyes drop to my lips, and I bite them. His eyes trail down my skin, and I press my knees together.

I can feel the warmth spreading to my cheeks. I drop my eyes, smiling to myself, sparkling with stupid hope.

---