“No.” Annie sighed and gathered up her diving gear. “I wish I knew what to do.”
“Just ask God. He’ll guide you all.”
That was Fawn’s answer for everything. But surely God expected his children to figure some things out on their own, though in this case, Annie was completely at a loss. She waved at the approaching boat. Jillian nudged the craft close to the dock, and they hopped aboard. Her cold was better, and Annie brought her up to speed on events.
“I still haven’t seen Noah,” Jillian said, taking them out to sea. “If he comes by, I’ll see if he’ll tell me more about this casino thing.”
The day was cloudy, and the scent of rain hung in the air. They rode rough swells out to Loihi seamount, about twenty miles from shore. No one had ever seen the volcano erupt, because it was so far under water. The USGS had put an undersea observatory called HUGO on the mount, but it hadn’t functioned since 1998. Gina and the rest of the team were hopeful that they might collect some data with Nani. The summit was about a thousand feet down, close to the depth limit that Nani could dive.
Annie decided she should try to enjoy the day. So much of their work was spent hunched over a computer analyzing seismographs, GPS receivers, air-quality testers, and gas composition. At least out here she could listen to the birds overhead and inhale the fresh scent of the sea.
“If we had Wilson with us, he’d call Nani,” Annie said, smiling at Fawn. Placing Kaia’s device into the water, she called the dolphin. Within a few minutes, a dorsal fin appeared. Slicing through the waves, the dolphin stopped a few feet from the boat, poked her nostrum above the water, and chattered to them.
“She seems eager to get to work,” Fawn said. She picked up the dolphin’s gear and sat on the edge of the boat. She attached it to Nani with an elastic belt that had been designed for the dolphin. The belt contained tubes that would take samples of the seawater, as well as temperature gauges.
“I’m going to miss her when she goes home.” Annie jumped overboard. The water was hot here near the surface. It was like jumping into a hot spa. She knew it would cool as they went down. She pulled on her mask and mouthpiece, then dove beneath the waves. The water was murky with suspended ash. The deeper they swam, the darker it got. The visibility eventually dropped to about five feet.
Nani came close and nudged her, and Annie grabbed the dolphin’s dorsal fin. Nani drew her down toward their target. When she was as deep as she dared go, she released the dolphin and fluttered her fingers to tell Nani to go on.
After the first trip to the Kilauea vent, the dolphin knew what to do. She swirled away, and the dark water swallowed her up. The sounds were disorienting—hissing and crashing. The water seemed warmer than she’d expected, and Annie wondered if the flow had increased. She took temperature readings and scooped up some water samples.
Annie glanced at her watch. They’d been down long enough. She signaled Fawn, and her coworker nodded. They began to surface, pausing occasionally to decompress. Annie’s head broke the surface of the water, and she spit out her mouthpiece. “That was incredible! I could hardly think with all the noise. I wonder if the swarms were going on while we were down.” She called the dolphin to her and removed Nani’s belt and equipment, then slung it aboard the boat.
Fawn nodded. “I almost forgot where I was. It was disorienting.”
“Let’s get back to the observatory and see what the seismograph says.”
“I have a feeling it’s going to show major activity,” Fawn said. “We may be gearing up for something as big as the 1996 event.”
Jillian dropped them off at the dock, where they got in Annie’s SUV and drove along Chain of Craters Road. Whether the road stayed open was an ongoing battle with the volcano. Twelve miles of the road were covered by lava from Mauna Ulu between 1969 and 1974, and five miles of the connecting road to the Puna area disappeared under lava from the Kupaianaha vent of the Pu’u O’o eruption from 1986 to 1991. Flows crossed the highway near Kamoamoa, closing another mile of road and coursing into the ocean. The park was never static.
They passed dozens of tourists walking the black pahoehoe lava. It was smooth and ropey and easier to walk on than the jagged a’a. A long line of lava seekers walked in single file along the trail leading to the current lava show. Annie glanced at her watch. It was a three-hour walk, and the tourists usually arrived in time to see the lava in the daylight, then hung around to see the nighttime show.
At the observatory, she pulled into the parking lot and parked beside Fawn’s car. “I’ve got an hour to figure out that computer model before I have to get ready for dinner.”
“I’ll come help you get ready,” Fawn told her.
“It’s not a big deal. I’m just going to change into a clean T-shirt and jeans.”