The Neptune Promise

by Polly Holyoke

  :I don’t think Wasp, Sham or Whitey are very happy living with the bossman these days. He’s gotten so unstable, and he treats them worse than ever. They’re all terrified of the shredders, too.:

  :I wish she could come to Safety Harbor,: Ocho says, his brown eyes wistful. :I bet she could be different if your dad gave her a chance to start over here.:

  :Oh, Ocho, a part of me wishes that, too, but she’s too dangerous. I’m afraid she might lose her temper and hurt or kill a kid here. I mentioned her to my dad right after we got back, but he said his first responsibility was to keep the rest of us alive. I’m sorry.:

  :I’m sorry, too,: he says with unusual bitterness as he turns away from me. :She didn’t ask to be engineered with poisonous tentacles on her fingers, just like I didn’t ask to be created with six arms.:

  I wish I could make him understand how different he is from Wasp. Ocho has chosen to be kind, while Wasp almost seems to revel in being cruel and angry. But Ocho is already swimming away from me.

  As I tie myself into my hammock, I stop thinking about Wasp and Ocho and start worrying about the big lie I’ve told Dai. The first time he was alert enough to notice my splint and ask me how I got hurt, I didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. He was in too much pain and worrying so much about his arm, and I knew he’d blame himself for hurting me. He already thinks he’s a danger to me and the other kids at Safety Harbor. He didn’t need my broken arm as more proof.

  But as I drift off to sleep, I wonder how long I can keep the truth from him, and how he will feel about my lying to him when he does find out.

  ~~~

  :There has to be some place more interesting than here for you,: Dai says crossly, interrupting the chapter I’m reading to him.

  I glance up from my tablet. As Dai has gotten steadily better, he’s also gotten more restless. His shark genes make it hard for him to stay quiet and still, which is what Doc Iharu wants him to do while his arm heals after his final surgery three days ago.

  :Actually, there isn’t anything I’d rather be doing right now,: I say, setting my tablet aside.

  :Yeah, like reading to me is so much fun.:

  :We can go for a swim around sickbay again,: I suggest.

  :That sounds exciting,: he says, his black brows drawn together in a scowl.

  :The doc did say that tomorrow we can swim out to Dolphin Bay and you can see Ton.:

  :That’s tomorrow. I gotta do something right now or I’m going to go off the deep end.:

  :Do you want to play backgammon again? You seemed to enjoy creaming me yesterday.:

  :No,: he says and tosses his blanket back. :I don’t want to play any more stupid games.:

  :Well, there’s only one other way I can keep you in that hammock.: Taking a deep breath, I lean closer, and for the first time ever, I make the move and kiss him.

  His eyes widen in surprise. For one awful, long moment, he doesn’t kiss me back, and I think it truly is all over between us.

  Then his good arm comes around me, and he kisses me back enthusiastically. I’m a little clumsy at it, but Dai’s a natural. His lips are soft and his kisses make me tingle all over. He’s careful this time to not hold me too tightly.

  Suddenly, Rohan dashes into the cubicle. I glance up in time to see that he looks super worried. I try to move back from Dai, but he won’t let go of me.

  :Dai, your heart monitor is going cra—: Rohan says glancing up from Dai’s vitals screen, and then he gets a good look at us.

  :Well, if you’re going to do much more of that in here, I’m shutting your monitor off,: Rohan declares. He sounds irritated, but there’s a smile in his eyes as he slips out of the cubicle. My face burning, I decide I’m grateful that Rohan’s on duty this afternoon and not Tobin.

  When I turn back to Dai, he’s grinning. :I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you blush like that. You look redder than a cherry sponge right now.:

  :See if I ever kiss you again, Dai Kuron,: I huff.

  :So, does this mean you’ve rethought the whole we-shouldn’t-be-boyfriend-and-girlfriend situation?: he asks as his grin fades and his eyes watch me intently.

  :Yeah, I have,: I say. :There was a moment on our way up to the surface when I thought you’d died, and I realized how much you mean to me. I… don’t want us to waste any more time, but I’m still worried.: I glance down and fiddle with the cuff of my seasuit. :I don’t know if I can be a good girlfriend for you.:

  He reaches out and raises my chin gently until our gazes meet again. :Nere, I know you work hard to be perfect all of the time, but you don’t have to be a perfect girlfriend. There aren’t any rules. Just be you. That’s more than good enough for me. That kiss was almost worth getting my arm chewed up. I think you should come over here and distract me some more.: He tugs me toward him and sends me a smile that makes my insides melt.

  I end up curled up next to Dai in his hammock, and I keep him plenty distracted until he falls sound asleep an hour later. I slip out of the hammock and swim from his cubicle, planning to go help out at Dolphin Bay. My cheeks heat again as I swim past Rohan.

  :Um, Rohan, I hope you don’t mind—: I start to say, but Rohan cuts me off.

  :Nere, I’m happy for you guys and grateful, too. Dai’s the worst patient we’ve ever had here in sickbay. Anything you can do to keep him from yelling at the rest of us is appreciated.:

  :Please don’t tell Tobin,: I say because Rohan and Tobin are good friends. :I should tell him myself.:

  :I won’t tell him, but news has a way of traveling pretty fast through a colony of telepathic kids,: Rohan warns me.

  :I know,: I reply glumly.

  :I always kinda figured it would be you and Dai. Maybe Tobin will give Shadow a chance now.:

  :I thought she had a crush on him,: I say, trying to picture the two of them together. :She loves music, and he does, too.:

  :She’s been offering to give him lessons on the water organ. Maybe he’ll finally take her up on those now.:

  As I leave sickbay, I try to figure out where I’m most apt to find Tobin. I’m not looking forward to talking to him. After what he said to me when he had hypothermia on that training dive, I know I’m going to hurt him. But I have to be the one to tell Tobin that I’ve chosen to be with Dai. I owe him that.

  chapter nineteen

  I reach out to Tobin, and he says he’s at Dolphin Bay helping Bria work with her dolphins. The moment I arrive there, I’m mobbed by happy dolphins. As I greet and give rubs to Mariah’s family, I glance around me. Dolphin Bay is a busy place today, with Seth and his instructors helping several groups of Neptune kids practice their dolphin towing and handling skills. Densil insists on giving me a tow to the Schoolhouse, a shed where we store our training toys and equipment, while Tisi circles me upside down saying, :hi, hi, hi!:

  :Hi, Tisi. You are growing so fast. Soon you will be as big as your brother,: I tease him. Tisi won’t understand everything I say, but he’s learning new words every day, and our dolphin specialists think he will learn faster if we talk to him much the way we would talk to a human child.

  Bria smiles at me brightly and asks if I could help her and Tobin with some of her babies. As much as I need to talk to Tobin, I can’t turn down Bria or Tisi.

  Bria explains that she’s trying to teach three young dolphins to fetch different objects in a specific sequence, and in Tisi’s case, she’s trying to teach him to say the words for each of the objects, too. Tobin and I hover fifteen feet apart, and she sends the dolphins to find us, take the objects we hold and bring them back to her.

  Tisi cracks me up. :I swim to you, I pick up the ball, I swim to the boy, I take the ball to Bria,: he chatters as he swims to me and takes the ball from my hand. Clearly he is very proud of all the new words he knows.

  :Tisi, you can say so much now!: I smile and give him a rub. Tisi and the other young dolphins crowd around Bria to receive some fresh squid when they finish their lesson.

  I swim to her side. :Bria, I want
you to keep thinking words at all of your young ones along with the hand signals you’re teaching them. There’s a real chance you might teach some to talk to us, just like Mariah and her family do.:

  Mariah learned English when she was orphaned as a calf and spent most of her time around telepathic humans, which is pretty much how Tisi learned English, too. Up until now only certain members of Mariah’s pod have shown any interest in learning our language, but I keep hoping that some of the other dolphins in the much larger Safety Harbor pod will learn to communicate telepathically in human words the way Mariah, Densil, Sokya and Tisi can. That would be a breakthrough that would benefit our entire colony.

  I glance at Tobin and bite my lip when I remember the real reason why I came to Dolphin Bay this afternoon.

  :Hey, Bria, I think Nere and I are going to head back now,: Tobin says casually. :See you at dinner.:

  :Thanks for helping me today.: She smiles at us both before she starts playing keep away with the dolphins, their reward for a good training session.

  :You’re pretty wired,: Tobin comments as we leave the cove side by side. :What’s up?:

  I don’t know any easy way to say this. Tobin cares about me and I care about him, but even after all we’ve been through together, he still feels like a brother to me. I’m about to hurt him terribly, and Tobin is one of the last people I’d ever, ever want to hurt.

  I stop and take the plunge. :I-I wanted to tell you in person. Dai and I are going to try being together.:

  :I already heard you were spending a lot of time with him in sickbay,: Tobin says, his green eyes growing cool. :As your friend, I have to tell you I don’t think it’s a good idea. Dai’s trying to change, but he’s a dangerous guy. He broke your arm, and he’s quite capable of hurting you again.:

  :He broke my arm only because he was trying so hard to save me,: I argue.

  :Nere, every day Dai has to fight to control himself and his temper. It’s only a matter of time until he harms you or someone else at Safety Harbor even more seriously.:

  :I think you’re wrong.:

  :I hope I am wrong, for your sake and for the sake of everyone in this colony.:

  :D-do you think you and I can still be friends?: I ask, a large lump rising in the back of my throat.

  Tobin looks away from me, his face tight. :I’m going to need some time to come to terms with this. It’s not going to be fun for me to see the two of you together. If you do ever need to talk, I’ll be here for you. But right now, you gotta give me some space.: Despite his shields, I pick up the searing pain he’s trying to hide from me.

  :Tobin, I’m so sorry.:

  :Yeah? Well, I’m sorry, too,: he says with a harsh note I’ve never heard in his voice before.

  His dolphin partner Mali appears by his side. Tobin grabs her dorsal and the two of them flash away. Bowing my head, I let the tears come. I wonder if Tobin and I can ever get back to what we were before.

  ~~~

  Doc Iharu officially releases Dai from sickbay three days after I kissed him.

  “I’m afraid if I try to keep you in here any longer,” Doc Iharu says to Dai with a twinkle in his eyes, “you’re going to tear this place apart. Since I helped to build this sickbay and I value all the med equipment in here, I’m letting you go, but with orders to take it easy. And taking it easy means you can’t fight any sharks, shredders or giant squid for at least two weeks.”

  Yes, sir, Dai keys into his wrist pad as he darts out of his cubicle. And thank you for putting my arm back together.

  Sunny, Ocho, Rad and Shadow promptly hold a Finally-Out-of-Sickbay party for Dai after dinner that night. Keeping an arm around my shoulders much of the evening, Dai pretends not to like his party. I think, though, secretly he’s touched when all our Southern Sector friends, and even some new ones we’ve met at Safety Harbor, show up and give him a tough time about being such a slug this past month. Rad and Ocho even give him a sea slug they named The Flash.

  :It’s just the right pet for you,: Ocho says with a straight face. :You don’t have to feed or pet it. It will just crawl around under your hammock and eat any skin cells or toenail clippings you drop.:

  :Eweee,: the girls all cry out and the boys crack up.

  During the next few weeks, it feels a little weird being Dai’s girlfriend, but overall, my life doesn’t seem that much different. We still hang out during meals and we still argue a lot. But we hold hands more, which I like, and Dai often pulls me into quiet spots around the colony to kiss me, which we both like.

  I can’t help noticing that Tobin eats with our group less often now and spends more time with Rohan and the rest of their medic friends. I miss Tobin, but I try to do what he asked and give him space and time.

  Dai and I end up spending even more hours together when our physical therapy begins. We work with Reva, a young Indian therapist who loves to scuba dive. That’s a good thing because Dai can’t visit her topside therapy cabin like most Neptune kids can. But Reva is wonderful about finding ways to adapt her equipment to work under water.

  It’s difficult and painful for Dai as he pushes himself to rebuild the muscles in his mangled right arm. Still, most days Reva has to hold him back from doing too much as he lifts weights and pulls against her rubber cords. One afternoon she catches him trying to sneak in an extra set of shoulder exercises, and she stops our therapy session immediately.

  “That’s it for today,” she informs us, her arms crossed and her brown eyes snapping with annoyance. “Dai, if you do too much, too soon, you’ll tear those newly-healed muscles, and you’ll undo all the progress you’ve made.”

  I hurry over and help Reva back up her weights and cords. “See if you can make him listen to me before he injures himself,” she tells me.

  I promise I’ll try, I key into my wrist computer.

  As soon as she leaves the small cave we’ve been using for our therapy sessions, I turn to Dai. He hovers near the back wall, a stubborn set to his jaw. The tension in his body and face tells me that he’s hurting.

  :She’s right, you know,: I say as I swim closer to him. :You don’t have to push yourself this hard.:

  :But I do,: he says, his eyes shadowed with pain and worry. :It’s not over with my dad, Whitey and the others. You and I both know it.:

  I slip my arms around his waist and rest my head on his chest. :I do know it, but next time we won’t have to face them alone.:

  ~~~

  Dai keeps asking me to come help him check on his deep-water coral experiments just outside Safety Harbor, and I keep putting him off. Finally, he literally corners me in a crevice outside the mess cave, blocking my way with his good arm and his body.

  :Come with me today. It’s been so long since you’ve seen my corals, they’re going to think you don’t care about them anymore,: he says with a teasing glint in his brown gaze.

  :That’s a good line, but corals don’t think. I’m going to head out to Dolphin Bay and help Seth with his students.:

  The humorous light leaves Dai’s eyes. :You haven’t been down to the Twilight Zone since the night you towed me up from the Storm Petrel, have you?:

  I glance away from him. :No, I haven’t,: I admit uncomfortably.

  :You can’t avoid going deep forever. The ocean is full of dark and beautiful places, and you don’t want to be afraid of those for the rest of your life.:

  I force myself to meet his gaze again. :You’re right, but do we have to go today?: Just thinking about swimming down into the cold blackness again makes me sick to my stomach.

  :The longer you put this off, the harder it will be for you. Besides, you’re the bravest girl I’ve ever known. I think you can handle a little trip down into the Twilight Zone to look at some corals. Please, go get your spear gun and meet me at the bubble wall.:

  It’s hard to say no to Dai when he looks at me so earnestly, and when he actually says, “please.” Plus, I know he’s right.

  Reluctantly I swim to the Sea Rangers’ cave to get my spear
gun and check out with their officer in charge. Along the way, I contact Densil and ask if he’d like to come outside the wall with us. He’ll understand my fear and tease me less about it than Sokya would.

  :I will come with you. maybe I will find some of the crabs I like to eat,: he says.

  By the time I meet Dai and Densil at the bubble wall, it feels like a dozen minnows are racing around in my stomach. I didn’t realize until now just how scared I am of going deep again.

  The moment we cross the wall, Dai sends me a challenging smile. :Bet Ton and I can beat you to Guerin Island.:

  :You’re on,: I say, and I take a firmer grip on Densil’s dorsal. The dolphins take off, towing us just below the waves, enjoying the race just as much as we are. It’s a good match up because Ton is bigger and stronger, but I’m less weight for Densil to tow. We’re laughing and breathless by the time we reach the island in a dead heat.

  :Thanks, guys,: I say and give Densil a rub, grateful that our race distracted me from my fear.

  My whole body tenses, though, as Dai leads me down a steep wall just beyond the island. As the water grows darker and darker, it’s hard not to think about that awful night when we fought our way up from the Storm Petrel.

  I’m glad that Dai stays right beside me, and Densil and Ton do, too. I can’t help expecting that something is going to appear from out of the blackness below and try to kill us.

  :the waters are clear,: Densil reassures me, obviously sensing my growing anxiety.

  Dai sends me a sideways glance as we kick our way down past a brilliant array of sponges, anemones and corals.

  :You’ve had some tough trips down here recently,: he says, reaching out to take my hand.

  :Yeah, but I don’t want to be scared of any place in the sea. Y-you were right to make me come.:

  I start to relax a little as we check several beautiful white cloud sponges that Dai’s been monitoring to see if the warming temperatures in this region are impacting them. The sponges grow in flowing shapes that make them look like clouds or small mountains in the dark. Fuzzy red fur crabs hide in the sponges’ folds and tubes, and brilliant green and red rockfish dart between them.