"Pity" Chapter Eighteen Excerpt

The captain took us a few miles from the San Andrés coastline and shut off the engine so we were drifting in the Caribbean, surrounded by sea, sky, and stillness.  One by one, all of us except Captain Joe took off our vests and jumped overboard.  Underwater, I saw Aaron swimming straight down from our boat and followed him, a muffled silence pressing in around me with each downward stroke.  Noticing the water growing colder, I turned to see how deep we were and realized with a shock if I didn’t turn back immediately I wouldn’t make it to the surface.  My lungs tightened and my heart raced as I kicked furiously toward the dim circle of light above me, wishing it could pull me upward.  Finally I burst out of the water, gasping for air.

“Isn’t this great, Josie?” Anna asked as she paddled around.  She hadn’t even noticed I was gone. 

I floated on the water until my heart stopped pounding, then dipped under to check on Aaron.  Something flashed nearby but when I looked toward it nothing was there.  “Has Aaron come up yet?” I asked after resurfacing.

“He was here a minute ago,” Anna answered.  She took a breath and plunged in, Isaac following her lead.

“Whoa!” Isaac shot up, swimming toward the boat.  “Barracuda!  There’s a barracuda underneath us!”