They came around the hull with no difficulty. Toward the aft of the old ship, Percy paused again, making another expansive hand gesture in the water that they could all easily understand.
This one indicated that they go straight. Straight through the ship. They didn’t wander into the old cabins, seek the old cannons or any other such thing.
They stayed together.
They entered the ship.
There had been no arrangements made for lights, but on such a day, lights weren’t necessary. In fact, they might have detracted from the surreal feel within the wreck. The sunlight tore through the ancient timbers and created fascinating shadows and a murky gray darkness that still allowed—or perhaps more so allowed—them to see the interior of the old ship.
They didn’t need to seek out the galley; they went through it. Some shelving still stood; remnants of tables, secured to the floor when the ship was built, still remained. They passed through the old galley and past cabins that no longer had doors; they saw what remained of the wooden structures for bunks. It was eerie, fascinating...
Darlene was moving along easily with Percy in front of her and Wes following right behind, her ever-watchful dive buddy.
Behind her, Chloe heard a bit of commotion, thuds against the wood.
She turned and saw that Celia had gotten hung up... on something. An ancient nail protruding through a doorway?
Chloe turned back to help, but, of course, Percy had heard the strange and unusual clumping sound that carried through the water, as well.
He turned back, coming through, determined to detach Celia from whatever it was that she’d become stuck to.
Naturally, that stopped all the movement, and they wound up gathered close with first Jeff trying to free his wife, then Wes and Percy, who managed to disentangle her almost immediately from the strip of wood she’d gotten caught on.
Percy indicated that they move on through the ship.
As they started out again, Chloe saw that Darlene had gripped Wes’s arm. She was indicating her tank and hose and looking distressed.
Something was off.
But their determination on positioning had been good.
Wes took out his own mouthpiece, giving it to Darlene. He glanced at Chloe and she knew that he was going to bring Darlene immediately to the surface, something he indicated to Percy, as well.
How? How the hell had anything happened? They had all been there together, clumped up a bit, albeit everyone concerned about Celia!
This time, however, there was never a danger of death. Not when Darlene was with Wes. He would have no problem carefully rising the thirty-something feet to the surface while holding his breath.
But, of course, Bryan nodded at Chloe; he was naturally going after his daughter, assuring that she would be all right, with everyone curious about what had caused the problem.
Chloe and Bryan surfaced soon after Wes and Darlene. He’d been asking her if she was all right, but of course, she was since she’d had his air supply on the way up. The boat was near and the captain and Buddy were right there, calling out, throwing a float and helping their foursome out of the water.
The others, of course, were just minutes behind them.
They had been at the end of the dive when Celia had been in distress and then Darlene.
Chloe couldn’t help but wonder if Celia getting caught up had been part of a plan. Cause confusion, leave a gap in there where someone could easily put a little pinprick in an air hose, enough to cause a problem.
The way everything was done so meticulously...
It just seemed unlikely that she’d suddenly have a problem with a piece of equipment that had been so carefully checked.
The captain and Buddy were extremely helpful, asking, as did Chloe and Bryan, about what had happened.
“I don’t know!” Darlene said. “There was just suddenly no air coming through!”
Percy, when he’d helped the rest of the divers out of their tanks, hurried over to Darlene, anxious to ask the same question.
“I’m really fine, maybe I just panicked!” Darlene said. “And I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to ruin the tour—”
