Chapter 2

The water weighted on Derek. It had been so long that he had done any swimming that he had forgot how it felt to have that kind of weight over his head, how his movements slowed, and how he could feel slightly dazed by it all.

And how strange things looked down there. Not that the fish were strange, he had seen them before, in the day's catch. But here they moved, and water filtered their shapes and colors. It was not the same as seeing them safely in aquariums.

He kicked his fins and was surprised as to how fast he could advance. It was almost like a dream. Weightless, slow... it was not a bit unlike what he felt before, when he floated as mist, when he could still do it.

He could not anymore. He could not fly, and in a way it was a pity. He remembered the acrobatics he had engaged in as a bat, and he regretted losing that. But you can't have everything.

He went deeper into the water, the bottom coming a bit closer to him. He wondered how it would be, later on, if he had to go in real deep. The pressure was not a wholly pleasant sensation and he was out of training with it. Yet, if he were to spot the treasure all by himself... to see Patterson's face when he brought it up...

There was this big shadow under him. He had thought at first that it was a rock. But it moved.

And it was big.

He began to swim away, as fast as he could. A shark, he thought. Big White. Just like in the movies. And may look appetizing enough. He remembered to swim in steady strokes, not blindly in panic. Must not seem a wounded fish...

He reached the shore, feeling the huge mouth opening behind him. He got out of the water, raced on the firm ground, not stopping to take off his air mask.

"Found anything?" Patterson asked mockingly.

"There's a shark there."

Patterson guffawed. "Of course, you saw a big guppy and panicked."

"I saw it."

"And what did it ,look like? Big, with thousands of teeth, and a sing around its neck that said 'Jaws III'?"

"I tell you that I saw it. We have to tell the sheriff about it!"

"And what do you expect that pansy to do? Hit it with his purse?"

Derek looked at Patterson with hatred. Why had he taken this creeps' money?"

Patterson kept laughing behind him as he walked into George's office. He did not care. If there was shark, it was his duty to let the authorities know, so that they could discourage any swimming.

George listened to him with interest, but now wholly convinced.

"Are you sure it was a shark? It is easy to make a mistake."

George tried not to sound too skeptical. If Derek said that the he had seen something, then there was something out there. Whether or not it was truly a shark, specially of the man-eating kind (and very few sharks were man eaters) was a different question.

"I did not see it clearly. I saw a shadow. A big shadow under me. I just got out of there fast."

Well, you could understand that Derek was not in the mood to conduct a study of Marine Biology at that moment. But the question remained. Was it a shark at all? It could be a large clump of seaweed. Or even a large school of fish. Or even a Great White., looking for its usual diet of seals, and unable to tell them from divers in black suits.

Derek was calm now. He had said what he had seen, and it was up to George to take action. Maybe he had been in a bit of a hurry to call it a shark. But even so, he had done the right thing.

"Any moment now people are going to start swimming." George said. "as soon as the temperature goes up- a bit. "But by then the shark might have gone away. As for your expedition, do you have shark cages?"

"Yes. Jeff Thompson insisted that we bring them."

"That was smart. Use them. Luckily we don't have a seal colony nearby, or I'd be rather worried. I will keep a watch. And I will tell you what develops."

"Thank you."


"Can you help me so that I do not dream so much of the old man?" Urien asked Julia.

"You want to know if I can give you something that can make the dreams go away?"

'Yes. I don't want to have them again. Have you any idea of what it is like?"

"I do."

"Then you know what to take to stop it."

"Some pills, you mean?"

'Yes. you must know of something"

"There are several things that I could give you, but I don't think that it would be too smart to let you have them."

"Why not?"

"Among other things, you could become dependent on them."

"Only for a few nights."

Julia shook her head "No, if you are dreaming, there is a reason. Maybe you do need to dream of him."

"Why should I need that? If there is something I don't need it is to dream of him."

"He represents something that you don't want to face. You are trying to deny something, to lie to yourself.. It will not work. There is some part of you that knows the truth and won't let you forget it."

"But what could that be?"

"Something related to your former life in the streets."

"That part of my life is over and done for!"

"Yes, it is. And it is not. For as long as you can remember it is not over. It has left scars, and trying to deny them will make things worse. You just have to deal with it."

"I don't want to deal with it! I don't have to. Barnabas told me that it is only an aftereffect of what that hand did to me."

"That is very much possible. In which case it should wear off by itself."

'Only, it isn't wearing off."

"Then, if it is not wearing off, it might well be that by giving you drugs I am kaing it worse."

"Damn it!" Urien said without thinking.

"I can't give you drugs."

"What do you think I am? A junkie?"

"You are somebody who has been through a lot already and who does not need more complications."


A dark mass drifted through the sea. It was alive. It could think, sort of. It was mostly instincts with it, and yet, at moments...

At moments it was as if some sort of fog had cleared up, as if his eyes could see again.

It had not been always like this. It was not a thought, it was an awareness. There was something in the waters that awoke something..., some yearning, something that was not instinctive. It was a sensation of strangeness. And of somehow not being where he should be.

The small fishes darted in front of it. To small to be a threat. Too small even for a satisfying meal, each. But several... He gobbled them quickly, and for all they satisfied his hunger, they did not felt like the right food for him...

It was not what he was hungry for...


Peter rubbed the window pane. It was the right kind of weather for this.

The sun diffused its light through the pane. And there at the center there was more brightness...

There were five couples, dancing a slow waltz. The women wore gowns trailing over the floors, yet not truly touching it. And the men had white uniforms with shiny silver buttons. They had jewels too. Silver and diamonds. Icy cold jewelry, and it caught the light that filtered through silvery cobwebs.

He put his hand to touch it. So close...

And as he did, the scene vanished.

But a single cobweb strand remained in his hand.