“I can hold my breath pretty long,” Tyson said. “The last dive wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.”
“Good,” Cyrus said, nodding his approval. “What about you, Katie?”
Katie shook her head, still blinking the burn out of her eyes from the salt water, “No, not too long. I almost drowned in the last dive.”
Cyrus nodded slowly in understanding. “Not to worry,” he said. “Tyson and I will go first to see what’s ahead. One of us will come back to get you and show you how to get through.”
“I don’t like it,” Katie said in a small voice.
“I’ll be fine,” Tyson said, grabbing her head and kissing the top of it. They looked at each other for a moment, then Katie nodded and Tyson dived under, following Cyrus.
Katie didn’t know how long she was waiting. It felt too long for her. What if they drowned? She wouldn’t know. What if they just got lost?
What if something happened to her while they were gone? Would she be able to escape? Would they go looking for her or think she was dead?
And then she thought that that thought was selfish and worried about Tyson and Cyrus again.
Cyrus wouldn’t let any of that happen. She knew he wouldn’t. Still, she felt like she was waiting for too long. Soon she began to shiver, the cold temperature of the sea cooling her unmoving body dramatically.
Water splashed her face as Cyrus resurfaced. He spat water and shook his hair. “All right, we think we’ve found the best way. It leads to another part of the ship which is much larger, and we can walk through it. Tyson is there waiting for us.”
Katie nodded, still shivering.
“Just stay close. Take a deep breath and follow me closely. We’ll just take a straight path.”
Katie was unsure of her ability to make it, but she didn’t really have a choice. She wanted to find her mother’s necklace, not only because someone else could misuse it, but because it was a reminder of her mother. It was a part of her.
Cyrus looked at Katie. She could tell that he was also worried. She nodded with all the determination she could muster.
“Deep breath,” Cyrus reminded her and then dove under. Katie inhaled deeply, filling her lungs as much as she could and dove under the water. When she opened her eyes, she saw Cyrus up ahead. He looked back to make sure she was there. He gave her a thumbs-up and swam forward.
Katie knew that she wasn’t a bad swimmer. She just wasn’t used to it. It had been a while since she last went swimming, and she had never tested how long she could hold her breath.
Nearly a minute passed. A minute, just a short period of time, but still, too long underwater. Katie pushed herself further, knowing that the only alternative was a painful, frightening death. Cyrus looked back to check on her and then swam faster. Katie sped up too.
Almost a minute and a half, Katie couldn’t take it much longer. Cyrus swam up towards the surface. Katie swam up towards him. She could see distorted rays of light, indicating that she was near air.
Before Cyrus had surfaced, Katie heard a loud noise. One of the wooden beams that had been part of the ship dislodged itself and fell towards them.
Katie almost screamed, opened her mouth slightly and choked a bit, but she didn’t open her mouth again. The wooden beam nearly hit Cyrus, but he steered himself out of harm’s way. The beam continued its slow descent, towards Katie. She panicked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cyrus flailing his hands, surely telling her urgently to move out of the way. He pointed up.
Katie gave up. This is where it would end; she was going to drown herself, as it was the obvious fate that awaited her. As the beam neared her, she screamed. Bubbles spewed out of her mouth. She felt water fill her mouth and let it go into her lungs. Air bubbles came out of her and a few more spilled from her mouth and then there was no more oxygen; just heavy water that her lungs refused to take in.
Her vision that was so quickly fading just moments earlier, leaving her in a blur of whiteness, slowly came back to her. The water in her lungs wasn’t so heavy anymore either, and Katie felt more energy flow through her body than ever before. She felt strong, powerful. Invincible, even.
She looked up and was greeted by the large wooden beam. She put her arms up to protect her face just in time. It pushed her down. Katie fought to escape from under its weight and barely managed. She floated there for a moment, looking down at the beam as it sunk far into the depths of the ocean. It hit the seafloor, sending up sand in a dust cloud and bits of seagrass and coral.
Katie inhaled more water, almost like a gulp, and swallowed it. She could feel the oxygen flood her lungs as she did so. She felt her neck; there wasn’t anything there to suggest that she had suddenly grown gills. With each gulp of water, air filled her lungs. That’s when she realized that she could breathe underwater.
Katie looked up again. She saw Cyrus swimming down towards her, frantically kicking his legs. She guessed that he had surfaced for air and then dove back down as quickly as he could. Tyson dove suddenly and he too was swimming quickly, both his arms and legs rushing to move him like a jet.
She smiled up at them and gave them two thumbs-up. “Hello,” she said, her voice clear as ever. “My name is Katie.”
Cheesy, she thought, but that was the first thing that she could think of saying. She laughed and spun around. She didn’t think she could speak underwater, so it was a joy when she found that she could.
Tyson and Cyrus stared at her, unbelieving, then they both swam back up to the surface. A couple of fish swam by. She greeted them, sort of hoping that she could speak with them, but only scared them away.
Katie swam up to the surface. Swimming itself was much easier now, and she was much faster than she had been before. It was like that water was just another part of her, obeying her every move.
When she surfaced, she saw Tyson and Cyrus waiting for her. They were both sitting on a large, dark gray chest. She looked around. They were definitely inside one of the main parts of the ship. The room was spacious and looked like a saloon. Before the crash, the room must have been filled with elaborate furniture and chandeliers. Now it was all a mess, everything was tossed to the side and broken.
“You can breathe underwater,” Tyson said. “How?”
Katie shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought I was going to drown, but when the water filled my lungs, I just felt, I don’t know, free. I was fine. I absorbed the oxygen somehow, and then I was breathing underwater.”
Cyrus laughed. “You had me scared there,” he said. “I thought for sure you would drown. Tyson shouted at me when he saw that I didn’t return with you and shoved me back under.”
Tyson laughed slightly and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, I just didn’t want you to be a goner.”
“Well, I thought I was,” Katie replied. “But I guess all it takes is a near-death experience to bring out my abilities.”
“Sometimes it does,” said Cyrus. “But not all the time, so I don’t want you nearly dying every time you want to learn something new.”
Katie laughed. “Of course.”
They stayed silent for a bit, releasing the last bits of fear-induced adrenaline that was stored within them.
“Let’s get moving again,” Cyrus said. “We have to find this necklace before someone else does.”
“Or something,” Tyson said.
Katie and Cyrus looked at him.
“What? Who knows what could be lurking around in here?”
Katie pulled herself out of the water. She felt warm, not cold, nor too hot. She looked at Cyrus and Tyson, who both were shivering slightly. Tyson, shirtless, looked fitter than Katie had remembered him being. Cyrus’s clothes were drenched, as were Katie’s, but she wasn’t shivering.
There was a door to the far right of the room. The door was sliced and hanging off its hinges. Tyson tried to move it, but it wouldn’t budge. Katie was able to slip through the small gap between the door and the frame, and Tyson and Cyrus followed, both o
f whom struggled to squeeze through.
The room they entered must have been some sort of kitchen, Katie thought, judging by the silver equipment and dishes and pots scattered on the floor. Carefully making their way through, they reached the door at the other end.
The dining room was large and elaborate, complete with a red carpet designed with floral patterns of green and black. The room must have had at least a hundred tables in it or more. Most of the chandeliers had fallen and crashed onto the floor, littering it with small pieces of glass. Some still hung from the ceiling, eerie and dangerous, and swinging only slightly.
“So this wasn’t only a cargo ship,” Tyson said.
“No, I do believe this was a luxury liner, carrying only the most of precious cargo if any at all,” Cyrus answered.
They made their way across the room, carefully stepping around shattered glass and fragments of broken tables and chairs.
Katie was looking ahead at one of the doors that led out of the dining room. They weren’t far from it. Beyond them was a hallway that went to either side. She was wondering which way they should go when she saw a shadow move beyond it.
She stopped dead in her tracks. “Did you see that?”
Cyrus and Tyson stopped too. “No,” said Cyrus.
Tyson moved closer to Katie. “I did,” he said. He slowly walked past Katie. He looked back at Cyrus, who nodded. Tyson walked towards the door. He slowly pushed it open. There was nothing there. He looked down the hallway both sides. There was nothing.
“Looks clear to me,” he called out.
Katie and Cyrus followed Tyson as he turned right down the hallway. The corridor was long and was lined with two more doors that led into the dining room. It wasn’t until they made another turn did they reach another door that led elsewhere.
There was a staircase that led down to the floor below. They walked down it. The light was dimmer as the sunlight couldn’t reach down this far.
“Be careful,” Cyrus said, taking the lead. “We have no clue what may be down here. Whether it’s nothing or something very dangerous.”
Katie and Tyson nodded. They reached another door and Cyrus pushed it open. It was just another hallway. There were several doors on the left side. To the right was a series of small round windows.
Katie gasped when she looked out one of the windows, but out of surprise, not fear. There was a small, yellowfish swimming lazily in the water all by itself. The part of the ship they were in was submerged underwater.
“How is it dry here?” Katie asked.
“This part of the ship must be secured and sealed tight enough not to let water in,” Cyrus answered.
They made their way down the hallway, opening each door as they passed it. Most of the doors led to smaller rooms, almost like closets, that were all left a mess with their contents all along the floor.
Katie grew impatient after the eighth door they opened only to discover that it was no different than the rest, but she was still determined to find something. They opened another door that led to a different room, larger than the others, and empty.
Katie was ready to turn back, but Tyson said, “Wait.”
Tyson walked into the room towards the other side. There was another door there. Katie and Cyrus followed him.
The door was open slightly and led to a dark hall. Tyson opened the door fully and found that the hall was just another staircase leading down.
“The ghost said your mother’s necklace was at the bottom of the ship, right?” Tyson asked.
“Yeah, of course,” Katie said, excitement growing.
“Then let’s go down below to the bottom,” answered Tyson.
Cyrus almost looked as if he were surprised and followed Tyson down the stairs, with Katie close behind.
The staircase turned around once, and they landed at the foot of another door. The ceiling was low and the walls were roughly made. The interior design down here wasn’t like the rest of the ship. Down here, they were in the hull, and everything was becoming difficult to see. The light didn’t want to make its way down into the depths of the ship. Large crates were piled up around the hall, some of them on top of each other. Slowly they made their way through the hall.
At the end of the hall, there was yet another door. This one looked inexpertly made. Tyson forced it open with some difficulty.
They entered the room and looked around. The walls were curved outwards and up and were all silver-gray.
“I think we’ve reached the bottom,” Katie said.
“That seems to be the case,” Cyrus said.
They walked deeper into the room. It was almost completely empty, save for some large broken crates that lined the walls.
The room was eerie and wasn’t well lit. Three small lamps were hanging from the ceiling that emitted the only light they had.
“Those are powered by sunlight,” Cyrus explained when he saw Tyson looking curiously at them.
“How?” Katie asked. “I don’t think they get any sun down here.”
“They don’t need direct sunlight,” Cyrus said. “They just need the smallest amount of radiation from the sunlight.”
“Katie,” Tyson called out. He walked towards her, “Is this it?”
He held out his hand. There was a golden chain with a small pendant on it. The ring was black. The uppermost star was a light blue and hanging in the middle was a smoky-like shape.
“Yes,” Katie breathed.
“Here,” Tyson said gently and placed the necklace in Katie’s hand. Katie looked at it curiously.
“Essence of Inspira,” Cyrus said. “That was the spirit essence that fed your mother’s powers. We all have one. Mine is the Griffin Pailath. Yours is the Dolphin of Alaysia.”
“What do these mean?” Katie asked.
Without warning, something hit the ship’s side. Cyrus was thrown off balance as the ship shook. There was a loud crash behind them. Without thinking, Katie stuffed the necklace deep into her shoe, the chain wrapped around her toe.
She looked back and saw that one of the crates was sticking through the doorway. She ran over to it. The crate was blocking their only way out. She tried to move it, but it wouldn’t budge.
The ship was hit again, and more crates toppled over, nearly hitting Katie.
“We’re trapped!” Katie shouted.
“Katie!” Tyson yelled. She looked at where he was pointing. The floor was wet. She looked to the side. There was a thin crack in the hull of the ship, allowing water to rapidly seep in. Within a minute, the water rose to her ankles.
Cyrus got up. “We have to find a way out of here. Quickly.”
Tyson and Cyrus ran over to the crates and attempted to move the wooden crates. Even with their combined strength, they couldn’t move them.
There was another blow to the ship from the other side. This one caused another long gash to break through the hull, spilling more water into the room.
“Hurry!” Tyson shouted. He let out a cry and exerted all his strength to break loose the fallen crates but succeeded only in falling into the now waist-deep water.
Cyrus stood in the water and looked around. He wasn’t sure what to do. He thought intently for a solution but knew that it would have to be up to Katie to save them.
“Katie!” he shouted at her. The water was now high enough that they were treading it. “Stop it!”
Palatinii Cycle Page 14
