His answering smile was strained, and he dropped his hand. “I’ll be praying for you.”
“I’ll take all the prayers I can get.” She moved to the edge of the boat, held her mouthpiece, and jumped into the blue water. She grabbed the line attached to the cargo basket and brought it with her. The warm caress usually relaxed her, but every muscle tensed as she plunged down after Bane. The strange taste of the specially mixed air made her tongue tingle.
They’d called Nani as they were setting out, and the dolphin met her as she entered the water. Leia grabbed Nani’s dorsal fin and let her pull her down to where Bane floated. The drop-off grew closer, and she resisted the impulse to turn and swim back to the boat. Bane couldn’t do this alone. She flipped on her halogen light, and the bright illumination reassured her.
She let go of Nani, and the dolphin nosed rocks near the drop-off. Leia realized she was breathing too fast and made a conscious effort to control her air. It had to last. Bane saw her and motioned for her to come with him. He disappeared over the side into the blue hole. She kicked her fins and propelled herself after him, though every muscle in her body wanted to shoot for the surface. She hesitated at the edge and peered over. There was no floor in sight.
She moved downward. Nani kept up with her. When Leia paused, Nani bumped her hand with her nostrum. Leia rubbed the dolphin, and the action settled her excitement a bit. She checked her dive computer. She was at one hundred fifty feet. Another fifty feet to go. She could see Bane from here as he approached the cave where the boat sat.
Leia studied the cave. It was more of an overhang than a real cave, but they had to find the one that held the artifacts. While Bane searched the right side of the overhang where the fish hovered, she finned herself forward, toward the back of the cave. Her father hadn’t been certain where the cave was, because he’d never been down here. He’d only reported what Koma had told him. She swept her light over the wall and down to the floor. The hole sprang into relief, and before she could react, Nani shot through it. Leia turned around and looked for Bane. He was looking her direction, so she motioned to him and waved her light back and forth over the opening. He propelled himself toward her. Peering inside, he then stuck his head in, kicked his fins, and disappeared.
Her ears were ringing a bit, but she didn’t feel narced. The special mix of air was helping delay the effects. Exhaling a stream of bubbles, she put her head through the opening. The fit was tight, but she could make it if Bane could. Gritting her teeth, she kicked firmly with her fins. Maybe on the other end of this tunnel-like entrance, it would get bigger. She knew it was her imagination that her air tasted more stale and tight. The walls around her gradually expanded, then she found herself in a cave about twenty feet in diameter.
Bane was already swimming back toward her with a load in his hands. He pointed behind him, and she saw more floating boxes tethered by ropes that wrapped around a natural pillar of coral. She pulled out her knife and cut the ropes to the nearest box. It weighed practically nothing in the water. She moved back to the opening and joined Bane as he maneuvered the boxes into the basket. They secured the boxes, then swam back to the cave.
Leia was getting her stride back. She now noticed the fish zipping by her mask and admired the bright coral that grew along the bow of the ship. A moray eel zipped back into its hole, then poked out its head to watch them pass. She went first this time and swam to the last of the artifacts. There was only one more box, a small one. Bane’s eyes behind his mask were warm with approval as he took the box from her, and then turned to head out.
Nani bumped into them. She darted back and forth in a frenzied water dance. Leia paused to try to figure out what had upset the dolphin when she noticed rocks beginning to slide on the slopes of the cave around them. It seemed hotter all at once. She glanced at her dive computer and looked at the temperature gauge. At first she thought the temperature had remained the same, but then she realized it had skyrocketed ten degrees. That wasn’t possible. She showed the computer to Bane.