Chapter 4

The dive boat was crowded. Mark fussed over Jessie, making sure her gear was perfect, her tank secure.

The dive master handed out waiver forms.

"Emergency contact?" Mark scribbled Jessie' s name and number instantly.

When he got to my form, he paused. "Uh, Sarah, what's your emergency contact again? Your mom?"

He fumbled for his phone, as if my information was buried deep, rarely accessed.

"It's fine, Mark. I've got it."

Jessie wore a new, brightly colored wetsuit, covered in shiny sequins, something the dive instructor had specifically warned against.

"It attracts sharks, miss. Best to wear something plain."

Jessie had just giggled. "Oh, but it's so pretty!"

Underwater, the kelp forests were beautiful, swaying gently.

Then, a shadow. A large one.

A shark, curious, drawn perhaps by Jessie' s glittering suit.

Jessie saw it and panicked. She thrashed, kicked, her movements erratic, provocative.

The shark, startled, turned towards her.

Mark reacted instantly.

He didn' t pull Jessie away. He didn' t try to distract the shark.

He shoved me. Hard. Directly into the shark' s path.

A shield for Jessie.

Then he grabbed Jessie' s arm and kicked frantically for the surface, shouting something about getting help.

Pain seared through my leg as teeth grazed my calf.

Adrenaline surged. My legal training was useless here, but years of watching Shark Week weren't. Gills, eyes.

I punched, kicked, aiming for its sensitive spots. It thrashed, disoriented for a moment, and I used that chance.

I kicked for the surface, my leg screaming, lungs burning.

I broke through, gasping for air.

The boat was a short distance away.

I saw them. Mark, hauling Jessie aboard, then pulling her into a tight, relieved embrace.

He didn't even look back for me.

The world tilted. Darkness closed in.

My last thought was of their embrace, framed against the blue sky.