Glancing up, I gulped audibly. How was my claustrophobia going to hold up in the little slide?
“Abbs and I will go down together.” Lucy reached out to hold my hand under the water. “Otherwise I know your butt will bail halfway,” she finished quietly.
I flashed her a look of gratitude.
“Alright then, move around to the front, and we’ll boost you up.” Samuel waved his hands; he trod water effortlessly.
I moved first, and Lucy followed as we made our way around.
Samuel gripped me on either side of my waist and without any strain lifted me up and into the small opening.
The moment I was resting on the angled tube I started to freak out. The sensations started. I felt like the space was closing in on me. I breathed deeply as my pulse raced and sweat broke out along my body. I closed my eyes, which helped immediately to quell some of the sensation. Using my hands, I felt the deep, almost ladder-like grooves along the base of the tube. There was no way you could accidentally slide down it. I started my descent slowly, going feet first with my eyes remaining closed.
“I’m right behind you, Abbs.” Lucy’s voice echoed near my ear.
Since I was already borderline having a panic attack, her voice didn’t scare me at all.
“You’ll be fine. Just keep moving along.”
Soaking up her comforting presence, I continued the slow plunge.
“Open your eyes.” Her command came after what felt like ten hours but must have only been minutes.
I shook my head vehemently. “No! Hell, no, Luce. I’ll freak out, and there’s no way for me to escape. I’m sure you don’t want a screaming, fighting, biting Abby on your hands.”
“Just trust me, weirdo. Open your eyes.”
“Well, when you put it like that ... No!”
She poked me in the back, and then continued for the next five minutes.
“Lucy!” I finally yelled, my eyes flying open. My body had decided I needed to see so I could punch her.
I froze.
“Holy sh ... crap in a bucket,” I trailed off.
We were about halfway down the tube, but I didn’t have to worry about my claustrophobia. I definitely didn’t feel enclosed. I was floating in an endless sea, as if we were part of the ocean, the clear plastic providing no visual barrier. It was well lit, even this far down. I felt as if I was sitting in the center of a fish tank. There were creatures everywhere, and even more fascinating were the many Spurns, mostly blue-haired ones, but a few of the other colors were present as well, racing through the waters. Others drifted lazily in the currents, their amazing hair flowing behind them in a graceful arc.
“Hey, what’s the holdup down there? Keep moving.” Samuel’s impatience jolted me.
Lucy turned around and yelled something back. I was pretty sure it had four letters. I began to move again, my eyes never leaving the beauty of the scene before me. The light started to wane the further we traversed from the surface. But there were these floating jelly blobs everywhere. They glowed, illuminating vast areas around them.
“This has got to be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” I said, my voice drifting behind me.
I was sad to see we were coming to the end. I wanted to sit there for at least another twenty hours. Sticking my legs out, I dropped a small distance to land in water. It was only calf-deep, like a moat, creating a barrier around the impressive construction before me.
The dome was large enough to just cover the Silver City, which was not really a city; it was more like one large building, combining wood for the structure and growths of coralline for texture. It wasn’t huge, probably about fifty square feet, and appeared to have two levels. The shape was square, with coralline formed turrets and huge towering wings off either side of the building. It had an open plan, no proper roof or covered-in walls. But considering there was a huge clear sphere protecting the entire city, there wouldn’t be much weather down here.
I turned to Raror. “What exactly is this bubble made of?”
It looked like plastic, but I wasn’t sure they had that on Spurn.
“It’s water. When it was created the monstrones formed molecular bonds between water and carbon molecules, creating a solidified structure. And that’s the secret to its survival: it’s water, and it exists in water. It cannot be destroyed easily.”
That was a relief.
Raror was better informed than I’d expected. I had to stop thinking they were less intelligent because of their animal halves. In fact they seemed able to create far more than humans had ever dreamed of.