I shook my head.
“Neither of us will tell a soul,” Domingo assured him.“Now, can we stop jabbering about your cunt and have our swim?”
Squid rolled his eyes.“Bloody hell, Domingo.”
“Well, for once my own unusual assets aren’t the main subject of conversation.Which is difficult to get used to.”
“You mean, your questionable past?Selling yourself for profit?”I asked.He must know I wasn’t maligning him.
“Thank you for spelling it out, arsehole.”
I sent a huge splash of water into Domingo’s face and he sputtered with indignation.Then Squid splashed me, and well, the day got better.
We made our way out into the deeper water, which remained as clear and perfect as the shallows.It was lovely to stretch out and swim with long strokes, dunk my head under and shake off the water when I surfaced.The sun beat down and I remembered Dinesh’s references to this place as an ocean paradise.He wasn’t wrong.
Squid and Domingo had stayed a little closer to shore and were swimming and chatting whilst I floated, waving my arms out to either side and enjoying the familiar motion of the waves.
The thing about floating in the ocean, which I recalled from growing up in Jamaica, was the ease of it, and the sense of relaxation that took over after a few blissful moments.I listened absently to the sounds of Squid and Domingo as they splashed adorably together.They seemed to be having a lovely time and it pleased me to see them getting along so well.They were the latest to join theArrow’screw so perhaps that helped.And finding a friend in each other would cushion their adjustment to life with the rest of the crew.
I was floating there, mind drifting, completely fucking at ease for the first time in…well, a while…when an instinct made me turn and I saw a great black tentacle waving above the water beside me, just before it wrapped about my ankle and tugged me under.
It happened so fast and I tried to scream, but only got a mouthful of seawater.I struggled and kicked, fighting for my life, panicking, wondering if this was it and I was done for.A sacrifice to the mysterious depths.
I gazed beneath me and saw a cloud of black ink obscuring everything.I kicked again and felt the grip of the creature give as my wrist was grabbed by another.
Then I realized a human hand had wrapped around my arm and was pulling me up.I broke the surface, sputtered and screamed, struggling against the hold Squid had on my wrist.
“Simon!Simon, I’ve got you.We’ve got you!My God, are you all right?”Squid asked, fear in his eyes as he kicked his legs to keep us afloat.“Stop fighting me!You’ll drown us both.”
“Shh, Simon, you’re all right, you’re all right,” Domingo panted, helping Squid to hold me.
My heart was beating so rapidly and my breaths were gasps as I tried to see below me.
“The creature…the thing…it had me.It had me.It was trying to drown me.”
“What are you talking about?”Domingo asked as they pulled me toward the shore.“What creature?”
He exchanged a look with Squid.
“Didn’t you see it?”I asked.They must have seen it.
“We looked over and you weren’t there, and we figured you’d gone under.My God it was quite the fright,” Squid said.“You said you could swim!”
“I can swim,” I said, not sure whether to keep harping on about a monster they didn’t see and sound mad, or make some excuse for almost drowning.“I’m so sorry.I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right,” Domingo said.“Come on.Let’s get you on solid ground.”
They helped me get to the shallow water and then onto the beach.I kept glancing back to the waves in case the monster had surfaced and was coming after me.But perhaps it hadn’t been there at all.I was seriously beginning to question my own sanity now.
So I downplayed it to my rescuers.
“I’m so sorry for scaring you.”
“Fuck, Simon, you did scare us.What would the captain have said if we’d not brought you back?”Domingo asked.
“He’d probably have had us both killed,” Squid muttered.
I wondered myself.I couldn’t see him going to that much of an extreme, but he would surely be sorry I’d drowned.So thank God I hadn’t.
