Page 16 of Fionn
I grinned. "So do I."
I scanned the rest of the schedule. After diving was a short break followed by lunch with the other women. Then there was an icebreaker activity with no further explanation before a blind date with the guys. Dinner would also be taken together, once again separated by screens.
"Will we get to explore the island at some point?" I asked Paul.
"Yes, although there is not much to explore beyond the resort. A few pretty beaches, but that's it. One of my colleagues will be happy to give you a tour after dinner, if you wish."
"That would be nice."
Maelis could have been a supermodel. With looks like hers, I almost expected her to be a bit haughty, but she couldn't have been nicer. On the way to the beach, she told me her life story. Born in Barbados but brought up in England by her grandfather before she'd moved to Canada to study. Now she was living her dream on the island, giving snorkelling and diving lessons when there were visitors and simply enjoying life when there weren't. It sounded like staff on the island had a lot of free time. Maybe I could get a job here, should this dating adventure not work out. I could imagine living here full-time. I certainly wouldn't miss the Scottish rain.
She gave me a brief introduction to the equipment as a refresher before we got ready. I'd expected to just wear my swimsuit in these warm waters, but Maelis made me put on a thin wetsuit in case we encountered stinging jellyfish or fire corals. I'd never liked the feeling of swimming with a wetsuit. It was too tight, too restrictive. I missed feeling the water against my skin.
Last night, I had been tempted to swim naked, but I'd been wary of other people using the beach, maybe even the four mysterious men. I'd been completely alone though, so I might risk it tonight. There was nothing more freeing than being completely surrounded by water.
Maelis set a brisk pace, her flippers moving as one with her legs. She looked like a neoprene mermaid. I followed close behind, the feeling of the regulator in my mouth both familiar and strange. It took a few moments to get used to breathing through my mouth only, but soon I was able to focus fully on my surroundings.
We didn't need to swim far to reach the edge of the coral reef, maybe twenty metres beneath the surface. Golden corals were swarmed by tiny fish of all colours, hundreds and hundreds of them. Maelis signalled me to stop and pointed at a group of clown fish. If I'd been able to talk, I would have made a childish remark about searching for Dory. We watched the fish for a while as they dipped in and out of the corals, completely unbothered of our presence.
This place really was a feast for the eyes. So many colours, textures, sizes. I was itching to reach out and touch everything, but I knew better. Corals could die from human contact and there was no way I'd risk this underwater paradise.
Maelis motioned to dive deeper, away from the corals. While getting ready, she'd promised to show me a cave, which was her personal favourite. The water cooled down markedly as we swam down, leaving the colours of the reef behind us. It was darker here, almost gloomy. I half expected a shark or large fish to burst from the shadows. I wasn't afraid of sharks as such, but that didn't mean I wanted to encounter one here.
I preferred the bright chaos of the corals over this gloomy world where every shadow seemed to move. But at the same time, I was intrigued to see the cave. I'd never been this deep before. It felt like an entirely different ocean from the reef and the surface.
Suddenly, something rushed me from my left. Before I could react, it wrapped around me and ripped me away from Maelis. I was pressed against it face first. I couldn't see anything. It was a miracle my regulator's mouthpiece hadn't become dislodged. I was propelled against the current at a speed much faster than I could ever hope to achieve. I struggled against the iron grip, but my arms were pinned to my sides.
There was no way of knowing what had grabbed me.
I wanted to scream. But there was no one who could hear me.
The thing holding me swam fast, so much faster then I ever could have, even with fins. I stopped struggling for a moment. It was pointless. The grip around my chest was so tight that I could barely breathe. What even could this be? A giant octopus? But the body I was pressed against was hard and solid. It couldn't be a person. Nobody could swim this fast. Dolphins or whales didn't have flippers long enough to wrap around me like that. Sea monsters didn't exist. They didn't. Did they?
Until now, I'd kept my fear in check. Now it was threatening to break the dams and overwhelm me. If my regulator got dislodged, or if the hose connecting it to the oxygen tank got punctured, I had no chance of survival. We were too deep. I wouldn't be able to swim to the surface in time.
Forget fear. I was fucking terrified.
Would Maelis get help? We'd been in the water for about an hour. She'd make it back faster than that, but by the time she got to the resort, she'd have no way of knowing where I was. She'd had an emergency GPS attached to her wetsuit, but neither of us had expected to be separated. I was alone.
We rose slightly and it felt as if we were slowing down. Was my captor getting tired?
I struggled against the grip again, pouring all my strength into the fight. But no, fight was too strong a word. I could have just as well punched a rock. Nothing happened. No reaction whatsoever. It was as if it didn't even notice my struggles. I lost one of my fins. My only victory was being able to move my head slightly until I could see through the very edge of my mask.
Sunlight filtered through the ocean's surface. Tiny plankton drifted all around us, sparkling whenever the light hit them. A log floated high above, covered in algae and barnacles. I couldn't see the island, but my field of view was limited. I didn't want to lose hope that the island was right behind me, a refuge from whatever this beast had planned for me. We'd swam so fast that I doubted I'd be able to swim back by myself. I had stamina from decades of training, but swimming in the ocean was very different from swimming in a pool. If the current was going in the wrong direction, I could swim until my strength had drained away and I'd still not be any closer to safety.
We got slower and slower. The surface was only a few metres above us. Then the thing released me without warning. I flayed, trying to get my balance. My vision blurred for a moment as I adjusted to being still in the water, no longer dragged at breakneck speed.
The shape in front of me sharpened into something I recognised.
If I'd been on land, I would have gasped in shock.
It was a man. Almost.
He was larger than average, completely naked, and his skin was painted in shades of green, blending into the water around us. He'd attached seaweed to his arms, legs and hips as if to camouflage himself. He wore no regulator or diving mask, no oxygen tank, no flippers. But there was something between his toes, webbing, like a frog. It had to be some kind of advanced diving sock, even though I couldn't see where the sock ended. On his neck were indentations that reminded me of gills. But again, that was impossible. It had to be a trick of the light. His face was smooth, no beard, just like there was no body hair anywhere on him except for short black hair. His eyes glowed faintly in the water.
He floated in place without moving his limbs, only the seaweed shivered gently in the current.
I was even more scared now that I could see my captor. His eyes held no warmth, no mercy.
