Cal raced through the water using all her Delphine skill to navigate at speed through unfamiliar terrain. She beat her tail frantically. Jake's panic had electrified the water. Why had he left the salty of the trench? How could she have slept so deeply? His fear had woken her - had it also signaled his whereabouts to the Bloodfin?
Then she heard Jake's scream. Too late! However, to her relief he appeared, moments later, swimming desperately towards her.
"Where have you been? What happened?" Jake threw himself at her, shaking and pail. They dived down and collapsed on the sand, scattering spider crabs into the weed. At first he couldn't speak. Cal shook him. "What happened?" she repeated. "I saw something - something wonderful," he gasped at last. "All this tiny things, floating down like snowflake..." "Snowflake?" Cal looked anxiously around. "What's snowflakes?"
Jake laughed. "There were tiny creatures, all swirling down through the water. It was beautiful." "Oh," Cal sighed with relief, "the Dawn Falling." She let go her grip of him.
"What was it?" asked Jake. "It happens every night. When darkness comes, small creatures rise to feed near the surface - we call that the Dusk Rising," Cal explained. "Then just before the Golden Eye opens they sink down again - that's the Dawn Falling." Jake had hardly noticed morning arrive. He looked about now. Veils of light, the color of spring woodland, slanted through the water. A shoal of hungry mackerel shot swiftly overhead hunting for breakfast, their bellies flashing like bright blades. Three pearly jellyfish ballooned towards the surface, trailing their tentacles behind them. Exotic turquoise sea slugs ambled over pillows of puffball sponges and anemones opened and stretched their arms. Everywhere creatures were stirring. Cal handed him a burster. It tasted good.
"The Dawn Falling is beautiful," Cal continued. "You should have woken me. But what frightened you? What made you scream?"
Jake rubbed his arms. "I was lost," he said. "It was dark." "You could have called," said Cal. "I'll always hear you." "I didn't want to," Jake hesitated, "in case the Bloodfin heard - but then I did call anyway, didn't I? I couldn't stop myself."
Cal saw he was afraid. "Will they find us now?" She tried to muster a reassuring smile. "Let's go up to the Overbreath," she said. "You need some air." Jake welcome the chance to swim toward the light. Grabbing a fistful of red seaweed to chew, they made their way to the surface. As they swam Jake told Cal about his attempt to read the water.
"That's what send you back to me!" said Cal. "You were feeling your own fear in the water. It must have been terrifying."
"It was painful." Jake winced. His skin was still sore. "The Sea Spirit used your fear to direct you." "What's the Sea Spirit?"
"She's our creator, the pulse of our life flow - and yours too. Everything comes from the Sea Spirit..." Before Jake had time to ask more they both surfaced, breaching the crisp, blue morning in an explosion of sun-shot spray. Jake floated in the water, blinking at the bright light and gulping down the brisk air. Cal immediately arched her back, dived down again and re-emerged, fast this time, leaping in a long lower across the glimmering sea. A curtain of water cascaded from her body, shimmering with tiny rainbows. Down she plunged, then up once more, trailing wisps of spindrift. Cal loved the freedom she felt when she leapt out of the sea, the lightness as the water fell from her limbs - it was like flying out of her own skin. Then she loved the shock on impact as she dived from air to ocean at rapid speed. Best of all was one after the other, over and over, water and air, water and air... Jake watched her jealously, but with some pride that such an astonishing creature should be his own sister. He could still hardly believe it.
A before, the fresh, invigorating breath made him lightheaded for a while. This time they were far from shore. A tiny white sail moved slowly towards the horizon but the land was nothing more than a smudge of grey beyond it. He saw the moon still hanging around in the morning sky as if reluctant to pass on.
"Where do all those creatures in the dawn Falling go?" asked Jake when Cal returned, bright-eyed, to his side. "They hide deep down where it's dark," she replied. Jake and Cal looked at each other with the same instant thought.
"That's it!" Cal smashed both her arms down on the water, showering Jake.
"Hey!"
"That's it! In the dark - that's where you'd hide something. Listen," she said excitedly, "Tarian said Sylla was very weak when she left him, so she must have needed to find a hiding place close by. There's a deep undersea cavern called the Serpent's Throat - not far from Tarian's place. It's very dangerous. If my father knew about it Sylla might have known it too. When I was young I begged him to take me. he always refused. But when he saw how determined I was he finally agreed. I think he was afraid I'd go looking for it myself." Cal realized with shame her father could not trust her.
"What's it like?" asked Jake. "Well, I didn't go right into the Serpent's Throat itself," said Cal. "First we passed through a maze of rocks called Fang Gully - a big anglerfish led us through. The we came to Gaping Craw, a huge cave, the biggest I've ever seen, and there, at the far end, was a black hole - that was the entrance to the Serpent's Throat.
Jake shuddered. The thought of the Serpent's Throat filled him with dread. And how could they find anything in the dark?
A wheeling gull caught the sun on its white breast. A wisp of cloys drifted across the empty blue sky. "All right." He breath deeply, wishing he could take the light into his body as well as air. "We've no other idea pf where to look. Let's go."
Far below them a dark shape shadowed their sun-bathed silhouettes...