Page 51 of Hot Summer's Prey

“Is that—gold?”

“Among other minerals,” I tell her. “The vents push them out and they settle in the area once they cool.”

“Ah!” she squeaks.

I pull her close in alarm, worried that she’s seen some predator I missed. Unlikely, considering I can see so much more down here than she can, but possible.

“Oh my god, look at them, they’re so small!” she says, her voice high but quiet.

I follow her finger to the octopus nursery that has been visible to me for quite some time. Countless mothers no bigger than Teresa’s hands burrow themselves in the crevices of rock encasing my garden. They look like tentacle-wrapped pearls.

“Why are they curled up like that?” she asks.

“They’re brooding. Protecting their embryos to make sure the eggs hatch well,” I tell her. “It’s actually why I chose this area for my garden. At first, I would help take care of the eggs that were abandoned, or keep predators away. Then every now and then I would find a hurt life form and nurse it back to health. I needed somewhere to keep it, and because the thermal vents act as a hot spring to this area, it makes for a perfect sanctuary. Or it did. The vent died out recently, and we lost a lot of the life here—until I made my deal with the Lantern Witch.”

“So this warmth…” she pauses. “That’s magic?”

I nod. “I’m not sure it’s enough. You can’t see it, but there’s not as many here as there were only a week ago. Though I collected what magic I could as fast as possible, it just wasn’t enough to fully restore the ecosystem. It’s why I still have to work for the witch.”

Teresa turns her head towards me. She can’t see me too well in these depths, but I can see her. Her expression is… awe-filled.

“You’re amazing, do you know that?” she says before pressing a kiss to my lips.

I close my eyes, let her lips sit against mine, marveling in the feel of her here, only just outside my favorite place in the whole world. Once again, words catch in my throat as I find myself unable to vocalize the way she makes me feel. Warmth and peace flood my veins, and I know nothing will ever feel more right than being with her.

I shake my head.

“All of them are amazing, look at them. The anemones, the shrimp, the coral, even the plants—every one of them working in concert with the beings around them. Even when they die, their lives go on to fuel the rest of the ecosystem. Everything has its place, here.”

“So cute,” she bubbles under her breath.

I flush, grip the rock at the entrance to the grotto, and pull her in.

“We can visit them later. I have to show you what I’ve been working on,” I tell her.

No longer needing to swim at faster speeds, there’s no reason to keep holding her at my front—except that I never want to stop touching her. Her body is much more relaxed now, her legs kicking in time with but not pressed closed to mine. Her hand rests on mine at her waist. I push us through the rocky entrance until we are at the center of the grotto. Small little gasps escape her as she catches sight of random colors as some of the fish swim across the entryway.

And then, finally we are in the center of the grotto, surrounded on all sides by exquisite bioluminescence. To see it thriving so quickly after the reinstallation of the magic that keeps it running fills me with peace.

At last, Teresa is so in awe that she pushes herself off of me to explore. She follows a vampire squid, mystified by the little glowing blue lines at the end of its red tentacles. I laugh to myself that this is the first animal she goes after, considering they are unlike most cephalopods. There’s a certain kinship between us, for vampire squids mate again and again. The pearl octopus scattered across the rock outside the grotto mate once, produce their eggs, protect them, and die. As do most cephalopods, which is why the vampire squid is so unique.

“Its eyes are so cute,” she says.

“Its eyes?” I repeat, looking it over.

“The little blue dots?”

I laugh. “No, those are just dots on its mantle. You don’t think it looks scary?”

She shakes her head, looks back at me in confusion.

“It’s supposed to look like eyes and teeth, I think,” I say.

To be honest, I also think it’s cute, but I can see the entire body, unlike her. She laughs, getting distracted by a brilliant bright blue cloud from against the wall.

“What is that!” she squeals.

“A grumpy flytrap anemone sending some mucus your way,” I laugh.

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