"Now I get it," Tamira murmured. "That's what Areana meant when she said that there was another way off this accursed island."
Tula nodded.
Once Okidu and Tony were swallowed by the darkness, the ladies inched away from the edge, and Yamanu put on his night vision goggles to monitor the descent. The Odu moved with perfect rhythm—controlled falls of ten to twenty feet, catching himself on the rope, repositioning, dropping again. Tony's face was pressed against Okidu's back, and Yamanu was willing to bet that his eyes were squeezed shut.
"Five minutes," Yamanu announced.
"Will he have to swim?" Liliat asked.
"Okidu will come back up as soon as Tony is off him. Tony will have to tread water or grab onto one of the rocks until the backup team arrives with diving equipment."
"I can't do this." Sarah shook her head. "I'll faint from fright."
"No, you won't." Tula got up and walked over to her. "I admit that it's scary, but you're hooked to a rope and strapped to someone who's very well trained and extremely strong. You just have to trust the system."
Thankfully, Tula was smart enough not to mention that she'd slipped and dangled in the harness the entire way down. The ladies would have freaked out completely.
"Easy for you to say," Raviki muttered. "You're brave and strong."
"I'm pregnant and terrified," Tula countered. "But I'm going down that cliff for the second time tonight because the alternative is staying here. Which would you choose?"
That silenced the objections.
"They're in the water," Yamanu reported, watching through the scope as Tony was detached from Okidu by one of the Guardians who'd remained below. As soon as the harness was back on the Odu's back, he immediately started his ascent again. "One down, eight to go," Yamanu said.
"Who's next?" Beulah asked, though she looked like she hoped it wouldn't be her.
Yamanu considered. The ladies were too frightened to go yet—they needed to see another success first. His eyes landed on Elias, who seemed the calmest of the bunch.
"Elias," he said. "You're next."
The man turned to Tamira, a silent question in his eyes.
She nodded. "I'll be right behind you," she promised.
Elias kissed her quickly, then stepped forward. "What do I need to do?"
"Exactly what Tony did. Nothing. Let Okidu do all the work."
Ten minutes later, Okidu's head appeared again over the cliff's edge.
"Next passenger," he said, his permanent goofy grin still in place.
The harnessing process was quicker this time because Elias had observed how it had been done with Tony and cooperated better with Okidu. Within minutes, they were descending.
"Elias is so brave," Liliat said with wonder in her voice. "How could he not be scared?"
"He's terrified," Tamira corrected Liliat's misconception. "He just doesn't let it control him."
"Your turn next," Yamanu told her.
She nodded. "I'm ready."
The pattern continued. Okidu would descend with a passenger and come back alone. The round trip took seventeen to twenty minutes, depending how quickly the passengers were harnessed and unharnessed once they reached the bottom. It took five minutes to go down, and ten minutes to climb back up.
By the time half the ladies were down, Yamanu spotted movement in the water below. The backup team had arrived.
"Thank the Fates," he muttered, taking off his goggles and turning to the group. "The other team is here. They'll be outfitting everyone with wetsuits and breathing apparatus."
