Marissa opened her arms and leaned closer, accepting the hug awkwardly. After all, it was a bit odd. Sure Darci Barington had been her father’s protégé at the state’s historical resources department for several years, learning intricacies about underwater excavation and retrieval from one of the best in the field, but Marissa could count the number of times they’d conversed on two hands. Even those had barely passed beyond a simple greeting. Darci was just one of those people who looked to have a lot more brewing below her outer facade. It was a feeling Marissa couldn’t shake.
She backed up to a more comfortable distance and nodded, eying Darci with a friendly smile. The years had changed Darci in a fair amount of ways. The skin around her gray eyes showed thin lines from the trials of life, but it made them look sharp instead of tired, like she’d grown accustomed to studying people more keenly.
Not waiting for a reply, Darci said, “Sorry I was unable to speak longer on the phone earlier this morning, but things have been busy in the private sector. That’s also why I couldn’t attend your mother’s funeral. I was very saddened to hear of her passing.”
Marissa shook her head lightly as memories of her mother’s battle with cancer flashed to mind. That battle had ended the month prior, offering more relief than grief. Her mother had finally found peace. “I definitely understand. Thank you for sending flowers. They were beautiful.”
“As was your mother. She was strong and priceless, Nick’s real treasure.”
Marissa bit her bottom lip with a nod, knowing her father had never found the peace her mother had in death. Even though Nick had been content with his family, the urge to find his truth had consumed him. More rain tapped on Marissa’s windbreaker, snapping her thoughts back. “Congratulations on the start of your own company. I can see leaving the state job has been a good move for you.” She glanced at the cruiser.
Darci shifted her stance wider as the waves rocked the boats and ran a palm across her forehead, wiping away a few drops of rain. “Thank you. I’m still based here in Florida, but I bounce around along the gulf and sometimes abroad. Far too much of it all is spent above the water, regrettably.” She grinned, flashing a quick, endearing wrinkle in her nose.
Marissa remembered her father saying how eager Darci had been when she’d first started working with him, never wanting to leave the water, always looking for the next find. Her passion had rivaled his own, which was exactly why he’d hired her.
Darci’s small grin disappeared, considering Marissa’s silence. “But you certainly didn’t travel all the way from Dallas to float out here and chat with me about my job. I take it you found something in your parents’ old place worth calling me out here for.”
“I apologize for taking up your time, and I definitely don’t want to waste it, but I thought out of anyone he used to associate with, you’d be the one who’d at least entertain my curiosity.”
The sides of Darci’s bright red lips lifted the tiniest bit and she turned toward the open water. “The Chevron artificial reef is just south of here. The USS Oriskany, too. Your father and I dove these waters countless times. He taught me so much.” She fell silent for a moment. Drops of rain tapped the boats faster as the clouds continued to steal the daylight. Darci glanced over her shoulder at Marissa. “I kept looking for him, you know? Even after they found the boat. I’m just sorry there wasn’t more I could do for him. If there had been, things might have been different.”
Marissa sighed. “I feel the same regret. He deserved much more from me, though. I was his daughter, and I brushed him aside like everyone else. I should have supported him no matter how crazy I thought …” She shoved her hands into her windbreaker pockets, one hand clenching the necklace’s pendant, the other clenching the cloth she’d found it wrapped in.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You were starting college, starting your own life. I’m sure he understood that. He just wasn’t making much sense then. He was paranoid and distant, and when he started talking about mermaids … things just went downhill.” Darci ran her fingers through her dampened hair. “Look, it’s not a good idea to dive in this storm. Let’s step inside my cabin and you can tell me what this is about. Then maybe we can go have that dinner.”
Marissa clenched the necklace one more time, worried, unsure of what she needed to do. Her father wasn’t one to hide things. There had to be a reason, but she would need help if she really wanted to find an answer. Darci was her only hope. Unfazed by the rain pelting her head and face harder, she yanked the pendant from her pocket and grabbed Darci’s arm before she could step over to the cruiser. “This,” she said, stretching her palm out close to Darci’s face. “This is what I found. A necklace, stashed inside a box of old pictures, wrapped in a cloth. The cloth is why we’re out here.” Marissa grabbed the cloth from her other pocket and held it up beside the pendant. The DMS coordinates 30°09′46.3″N 87°00′42.5″W were written in marker on the beige cloth.
Darci’s eyes widened and her lips parted. With soft fingers, she touched both the pendant and the cloth. “Nick never noted coordinates for personal stuff.”
“No,” Marissa confirmed. “He found more pleasure in dead reckoning, exploring without charts. He knew this area well enough to get around without them. That’s why I knew it had to be important. This could just be a starting point, but at least it’s a start.”
Darci’s eyes never left Marissa’s palms. “It’s definitely his writing.” The words trailed off into a whisper, drowned out easily by the patter of rain. She leaned closer to study the pendant. “He never mentioned finding a stone, and he always logged his work data. Why would he do this?”
“It has to be connected to what he was looking for,” Marissa stated as Darci lifted the necklace from her palm. “I mean, I’m not saying that mermaids are real, but maybe he saw something down there that he couldn’t explain despite all his years diving. He was a focused man, Darci. You know that as well as I do. What if he was telling the truth? What if he found something?” Marissa leaned over the side of the boat, staring down at the water, wondering what he could have seen.
“Oh, this is definitely something.” Darci dangled the pendant between her fingers and glanced past it to Marissa. “Did you mention this to anyone else?”
“No, just you. I didn’t think anyone else would even bother with me.”
Darci’s eyes darted back to the stone. “I knew he’d been hiding something. The mermaid thing just seemed far-fetched. He must have found an undocumented wreck. If this is what came from it, we need to keep this between—”
A bigger wave crashed against the far side of the boat, knocking both women off balance. As Darci tried to recover, the necklace flew from her grasp, over the side of the boat. Both women gasped in horror and scrambled to catch it as it sailed toward the water.
For Marissa, there was no hesitation, no delay. She dropped the cloth and dove overboard without concern. Her phone, her clothes—none of it mattered. This was her father’s life’s work, something she could possibly use to right his name. It was her only chance to find his truth. Without it, she would never really know what happened, why he’d disappeared those years ago.
With her arms fully extended, eyes focused on the pendant and its nylon cord trailing behind, she stretched her fingers and grazed its edge before closing her eyes and plunging into the ocean. The warmth of the salt water cocooned her, erasing the chill from the rain and wind above. Feeling the pendant in her palm, she squeezed her fingers closed, digging her nails into her flesh to the point of pain. There was no way she’d risk letting go. She mentally promised her father as much, feeling closer to him than she had in a very long time.
Marissa spun beneath the water and kicked back to the surface, breaking through the waves and opening her eyes to the stormy sky once again.
“Did you get it?” Darci yelled as lightning marbled the gray clouds above the boats.
Keeping her fist clenched, Marissa lifted her hand above the water. The cord d
angled past her wrist, but the stone was still safely imprisoned by her fingers. “Yeah, I got it!”
“Excellent.” Darci tipped her chin up and ran her hands back through her soaking hair, inhaling a relieved breath.
The roar of thunder ripped through the air, making Marissa kick more urgently toward the boat. Darci dropped the ladder and grabbed the wrist of Marissa’s clenched hand to help her aboard. “Sorry about that. I’m glad you have quick reflexes.”
“I am too.” Marissa stepped around the air tanks and glanced back at Darci, noticing Darci’s eyes were fixed on her clenched hand. She lifted her fist and immediately realized why: her hand was glowing. Light peeked through the cracks between her fingers. It wasn’t very bright, just visible enough to see in the dullness of the stormy day. Slowly, she twisted her wrist and lifted each finger, revealing the stone pendant.
The thin white swirls inside the green stone flickered. Marissa gaped at the light, confusion and wonder rendering her speechless. How was it even possible? Fat raindrops continued to fall, and after several hit the necklace, the light began to fade.
“That’s definitely not jade,” Darci murmured as she moved closer.
Marissa cradled the necklace between her hands and pulled it in toward her body. Her hair dripped more water onto the stone, but this time instead of fading, the light within the swirls glinted, like tiny little flares bursting inside. “What the …?” Marissa lifted her hands closer to her face.
After a few more drops, Darci’s eyes lit up as bright as the stone. “It’s the water.” She snatched the pendant from Marissa’s hands, spun around, and ducked toward the back of the boat.
“No!” Marissa lunged toward her.
“I won’t drop it,” Darci reassured, weaving the nylon cord through fingers on both hands as she bent toward the waves. “Didn’t you see it? The rain was dousing it, but the salt water from your hair … it was almost igniting it. Look!” she yelled over her shoulder as another crash of thunder boomed overhead.
A wave engulfed Darci’s hands and the stone flashed, lighting up the water around her skin with a soft halo.
“What is it?” Marissa asked. It was gorgeous, but it was like nothing she’d ever seen. Not in any textbooks or scientific studies. Not in any museum. Not from her father. She would have surely remembered something so marvelous.
Darci cupped water in her hands to keep the stone submerged then stood back up. Her head shook the slightest bit. “I … I honestly don’t know. I would guess it’s biological, some kind of microorganism living inside the porous stone—well, that’s what I’d guess if we’d just found it on a dive. But, since you said it’s been sitting in a box in your parents’ house, I’m not sure how that would be possible.” She shook her head again.
Marissa peeled her windbreaker over her head and dropped it in a soggy heap at her bare feet. Her phone spilled out of the pocket with a thud. Dead. There was no hope for it now. She squeezed some excess water from her shorts and tank top as she looked up to the sky, allowing the rain to massage her face with its unrelenting assault, considering the next step. As much as she wanted answers, she would have to wait. The storm was only getting worse. “We shouldn’t stay out here much longer. Maybe we can research things tonight then come back to dive tomorrow if you aren’t busy and if the weather cooperates.” She moved closer, watching the last bit of salt water trickle through Darci’s fingers.
With water streaming down her face, hair plastered to her cheeks, Darci finally tore her eyes from the dimming stone to acknowledge Marissa. “Yeah … that sounds like a good idea. I’ll clear everything I have tomorrow.”
Marissa smiled and lifted her hand to take the necklace, noticing Darci’s body react by shifting backward and dropping her hands a tad. It was as if she wasn’t willing to let it go. Marissa narrowed her eyes. “Something wrong?”
“No, sorry.” The edges of Darci’s lips quirked up and a few lines wrinkled her nose. “Work habits. Whenever I’m on the water, I’m usually the lead.” She tipped the necklace over, letting it dangle over Marissa’s palm.
Darci’s explanation was understandable, but Marissa couldn’t stifle a pang of doubt creeping up the back of her neck. She smiled anyway and reached up to take the necklace. Just as her fingers closed around the pendant, Darci’s body shifted again and her other fist smashed into Marissa’s cheek.
Marissa screamed as her body spun from the impact. Shaken and stunned from the hit, she staggered forward toward the dive gear. There was no time to shield her face before colliding with a tank. Everything disappeared with a flash.
***
Marissa winced as a rush of sensations awakened. Her forehead throbbed, pulsing a sharp pain outward, wrapping around her skull and traveling down her neck. Raindrops tapped all over her face, stinging a spot above her brow with each hit. There had to be a cut or gash there. She cracked her eyes open to the clouds above. They had taken over most of the sky with a shade of gray closer to black than white. Lightning ripped through them, making them flash like the pendant.
Darci, Marissa thought, remembering what had happened. How long had she been lying there?
She lifted her head just as Darci stepped back onto the rental boat from the cruiser. “Darci? What the hell?” When she attempted to move her feet, she heard the rattle of chain and felt its cool metal weighing on her bare ankles.
Darci didn’t look at her. “After all the years your father and I dove together, all the work we’d done, I knew he hadn’t just lost his mind. Like everyone else, I believed it possible for a mind to snap under heavy frustration, but I knew he was too composed for that to happen. Even when I confronted him, though, he refused to tell me the truth.” Darci lifted an anchor and positioned it at the back of the boat, moving a chain with it. “So thanks for contacting me. I’m sure I’ll be able to find whatever he was searching for a little easier now.” She patted her chest where the necklace hung.
“Don’t do this, Darci,” Marissa pleaded, realizing this wasn’t some petty disagreement that had accidentally escalated. It was dire, and it was intentional.
Darci glanced down. The lines around her eyes softened a moment, then she heaved the anchor and thick chain overboard.
Marissa shrieked when the slack ran out and yanked hard at her ankles. Darci grabbed the chain and dragged her body closer to the edge of the boat. Realizing what was about to happen, Marissa thrashed her arms and legs, trying to stop her movement. She hooked the tank separators, causing the tanks to clank together and fall over, spreading the rest of the gear across the deck.
“Darci, don’t!” Shock and desperation left her mouth through a strangled cry. “I don’t care about what’s down there. You can have it.”
“I know I can. I’ll most certainly find it, but that’s no longer your concern. Bye Marissa. Tell your father I said thanks.” She picked up the chains closer to Marissa’s feet, yanked one more time, then stepped out of Marissa’s reach.
Marissa tried to grab hold of anything that would help, only to slip past most of the gear. As she felt her feet leave the boat, she snagged a handheld bailout bottle of back-up air with an on-demand mouth regulator. Her other hand locked onto the edge of the boat, stopping her body from submerging. Even though it seemed like the end, she refused to give up.
Darci wasted no time. She moved closer and attempted to stomp Marissa’s hand. Marissa moved her hand to avoid the hit and latched onto Darci’s ankle, hoping to gain some leverage despite the heavy weight pulling her body down. She also swung the bailout bottle, hitting Darci’s leg repeatedly. Darci lurched away, stumbling and falling back onto the deck. More hope ran through Marissa as she dug her nails into Darci’s flesh, but it was short-lived. Darci drew her other foot back then slammed it into Marissa’s head, breaking her hold and knocking her into the ocean.
Marissa gasped for one last breath and shoved the bailout bottle’s regulator into her mouth as her face went under.
Two
By th
e age of ten, Marissa had won her weight in swimming medals. At eleven, she’d technically drowned.
“The ocean is unforgiving of egos and idiocy,” her father had said after he’d fished her from the gulf one turbulent day. “Being a strong swimmer means nothing if you don’t use your head.”
He was right. He was always right. She’d challenged a rip current and lost. It didn’t matter that she was practically a mermaid as a result of the amount of time she’d spent in the water, or that she’d already started dive training with him. What mattered was knowing and applying the solution, but she’d let her ego cloud her head that day instead.
With her ankles bound and dead weight dragging her under, she had to remind herself of that … and just about everything else he’d taught her.
Marissa opened her eyes, watching the light from the surface dim as the dark sea took its hold. Her eyes stung, less from the salt water and more from the tears that would never stain her cheeks. She quickly checked herself. No matter how much she wanted to dwell on what had happened, no matter how much hate stirred inside, time was her only enemy now. She clenched the regulator in her mouth and bent to check the chains at her feet as water rushed up around her. Pressure built behind her ears with the rapid descent. She swallowed, attempting to equalize, popping a little relief. Ear trauma was the least of her problems, though. At her location, the shelf’s floor was 100 feet. Compressed at that depth, with normal breaths, the bailout bottle would last less than a minute. That time would extend a bit when she managed to break loose from the anchor and started to ascend. She’d definitely need it on the way up—every bit of time, every bit of air, every bit of hope.
“Deep breath,” her father had instructed on her first dive. “Quick breaths are shallow, panicked. They don’t provide you with as much oxygen in the long run and you’ll certainly expend your tank faster, which could kill you.”
Falling in Deep Collection Box Set Page 27