“No one was guarding the Darkdeep,” Tyler whispered. “Then we showed up.”
Opal nodded grimly. “That’s why the houseboat was empty, and why this room is such a mess. There hasn’t been a caretaker.”
Logan huffed a frustrated sigh. “This is important, but it doesn’t help us. We still don’t know how to stop the Darkdeep now that it’s gone crazy.”
“Not true.” Emma’s jaw firmed in a determined line. “We have daggers now. Figments can’t stand against us. We can regain control of the island.”
Nico met Opal’s eye, saw his uneasiness mirrored there. “You think that’s it?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.” She chewed her bottom lip. “Could be. You saw what happened when Emma used one.” Nico gave a hesitant nod. Could it be that easy?
“That book has more pages,” Logan prodded. “Maybe we should read them?”
Nico shook free of his troubled thoughts. He turned the page, most of it disintegrating in his hand, but he could read the next chapter title. A whistle escaped his lips.
“ ‘Nature of the Deep,’ ” Opal blurted. “Jackpot!”
Nico stared at the slug-smeared words. This book might contain all the answers they’d been searching for, but it was literally falling to pieces.
Tyler nodded at the phrase carved into the table. “Accept to Overcome. I wonder what that’s about.”
The others stared at him in shock. It took Tyler a moment to notice. “What? What’d I do? It’s Latin.”
Emma shoved him with both hands. “Get out. You know Latin?”
“My dad studied it in college,” Tyler said defensively. “He made me learn some. I’m not great at it or anything.” Nico tried to flip forward in the book, but the next few pages werestuck together. Part of the binding came free in his hands. “Stupid slime.”
“It’s completely ruined.” Opal covered her face.
Nico kept leafing the crumbling pages. “This says something about … reading the spirit. Look, here.” He tapped a series of faded lines. “The Deepness … itprojects. Or maybe the word isinfects. Which, of course, is totally different.” He squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. A slug edged onto his hand and he flung it away with a yelp.
Tyler patted his shoulder. “Keep trying. Maybe we can dig something out of this mess.”
Nico sighed all the way down to his shoes, but he kept digging through the book, hunting for anything legible. Logan made as if to speak, but Nico shushed him. Finally, he found a clearer section of text. Everyone leaned in so they could read at the same time.
Tyler spoke first. “Well, that doesn’t sound good.”
“I think it’s saying the Darkdeep reads minds.” Opal tapped the page with her fingernail. “Listen:The Deepness explores the psyche and latches on, pulling an impression into being.”
“What’s the Deepness?” Logan asked.
“The Darkdeep.” Emma waved a dismissive hand. “Our name is better.”
Nico ignored them both, focusing on Opal. “But we knew that. The figments come from our imaginations.”
“I think it’s more,” she said. “I think this means the Darkdeep getsintoyou somehow, once you enter the pool. Here’s the next line:Subjects carry the Deepness beyond the vortex in a symbiosis that can, if unchecked, become parasitic.”
Tyler’s faced soured. “I do not like that sentence.”
“Nope,” Logan agreed.
“What if you stop doing it?” Emma asked nervously. “And don’t go in anymore?”
Tyler shook his head. “Not sure. But it’s saying figments spring from people, not the pool. The water is just the Darkdeep’s cage.”
“Cage?” Nico’s skin prickled.
Tyler crossed his arms peevishly. “Ithinkthat’s what it says, but the ink’s all run together and there’s slug juice everywhere.” He shivered. “If the Darkdeep stays inside you, that might explain why figments don’t show up on film. They’re projected from within.”
