The ocean didn't feel right.
It should've been peaceful this time of year. The waters around Katura Island usually
lay as smooth as glass in late summer, a shimmering expanse of silver-blue stretching
endlessly toward the horizon. But tonight was different. Not under this crimson sky.
Selene Kai perched on the edge of the weathered boat, her legs swinging over the
side, feeling the restless pulse of the waves against her skin. The wind felt off too —
thick and charged, as if the very air was bracing itself for something dreadful.In the
distance, thunder rumbled like a beast stirring from slumber.
"Five minutes to tide shift," Luka Voss called from the pilot's chair, his voice tight and
trying to sound casual. "If you're going down, it's now or never."
Selene didn't respond. She tightened the straps on her diving harness and checked
the oxygen gauge for the third time. It was a habit. She knew it was fine. She'd
tackled hundreds of dives in worse conditions, under darker skies. Yet, a knot of
unease lingered in her throat, a warning she couldn't quite place.
She reached into her pocket and rubbed her thumb over the old brass coin she
carried everywhere — the last gift from her father before he disappeared twelve
years ago in these very waters.
"Find what I couldn't," he'd told her.
Stubbornness was Selene's middle name.
"Stay sharp on comms," she called over her shoulder. "If you lose me, I'll be making
my way to shore alone."
Luka frowned. "And if you don't come back up at all?"
Selene flashed a grin. "Then you can finally say 'I told you so.'"Without waiting for a response, she plunged backward into the sea.
The water was colder than it should've been, wrapping around her like silk-gloved
fingers, thick and heavy. Visibility was poor — silt and strange currents swirled like
restless spirits in the depths. Selene switched on her wrist light. A thin beam of pale
blue sliced through the darkness, revealing little more than rock and sand.She
descended deeper.
Past reefs twisted into bizarre shapes. Past the rib bones of ancient shipwrecks.