by Maggie Marks
He swallowed hard. I have to try. With a strong kick, he took off, keeping his sights set on the blur of his brother’s green T-shirt ahead.
* * *
They had reached the ocean monument when Luna’s potion of swiftness ran out. She held the bottle upside down in the water and shrugged.
It could be worse, Mason knew. It could have been potion of water breathing—the one they couldn’t survive without down here.
But without potion of swiftness, his body felt so heavy. And slow.
Luna and Asher swam ahead, circling back now and then to check on Mason. He tried to smile to show them he was doing just fine. But I’m not! he wanted to cry. I’m tired, and my shoulder is on fire. And home still seems so far away.
Luna led them upward, high above the monument, as if she knew that Mason couldn’t survive a battle with a guardian right now. Or with a drowned.
But swimming straight up was a struggle. Mason’s body longed to go forward, to keep moving toward home instead of having to veer around the giant prismarine building below.
When he reached the surface, he popped his head out of the water for just a moment, savoring a breath of fresh air.
Luna surfaced beside him. “What is it?” she asked. “What can I do?”
Mason shook his head sadly. “Nothing,” he said. “I just don’t know … if I can make it.”
The words hung between them like a lingering potion. Luna turned her head side to side, looking for a place where they could rest.
Then Mason heard the chirps of a worried dolphin. The fins were coming back now, all five of them in a straight line. They began to circle him, squeaking and squealing, as if trying to encourage him.
“I can’t!” he said. “It’s too far!”
Happy surfaced beside him, leaping so close that Mason could see the dolphin’s smiling snout and feel the water droplets spraying off its side.
Then another leaped on Mason’s other side. Was it Simon, their fearless leader? Yes. His scarred fin cut through the water, a reminder to Mason that the dolphin had seen hard times too—and survived.
Mason suddenly felt a wave surge beneath him, as if a third dolphin were pushing him forward. But it wasn’t a dolphin. And it wasn’t a swell of water.
What is it? Mason wondered.
As his body soared forward through the waves, he suddenly knew.
Dolphin’s Grace. They gave me Dolphin’s Grace!
Finally, finally, finally the dolphins trusted him enough to invite him to swim with them. Mason’s strokes came easily now. He zoomed past Luna, watching the ocean monument slide beneath him.
A few seconds later, the effect wore off, but Mason had swum so far! When the effect wore off, Mason didn’t even care.
I can keep going, he knew now. Asher was right. The dolphins will help us get home!
* * *
When the light of the conduit finally came into view, Mason swam toward it with everything he had. He passed Luna, who had paused to say hello to Edward the Squid. When Mason reached Asher’s side, they swam together toward the beacon of light ahead.
The conduit was just how they’d left it—the blocks untouched, and the blue orb spinning round and round. Mason slid his hand across a smooth block of prismarine. Then he swam past the conduit toward the glass house beyond. Toward home.
Asher dove in front of him and waved his hand.
What? Mason studied his brother’s freckled face.
Asher reached deep into his pocket and pulled something out—a handful of prismarine crystals. He held them out toward Mason like an offering until one began to float away.
Are those from the treasure chest? Mason wondered. Asher left behind the diamond and the TNT, but he brought the crystals?
Mason shook his head in wonder. It looked as if Asher was going to make good on his promise to craft a sea lantern, a block that would help Mason complete that last ring around the conduit and make it even more powerful.
He grinned and gave his brother a thumbs-up.
As Asher held up one of the crystals, catching the light of the conduit, something squeaked overhead. Slugger dove low beside Asher and nudged the crystal with his square snout. Mason glanced up and saw the rest of the pod of dolphins swimming high above, too, enjoying the light and safety of the conduit.
As he left his brother behind, playing a game of catch with Slugger, Mason smiled. They would make the conduit bigger and better one day soon. Maybe the protective light would reach all the way to the bubble column.
But there’s an entire ocean beyond that column. And we can explore that, too, Mason thought. Now that we have a few finned friends to help us.
Squeaky chirped overhead as if to say, You do.