A knock vibrated along the wall. When she looked over her shoulder, Knigh waited by the door, pointing up. She nodded and waved for him to surface. Her lungs didn’t burn yet, and this might be something interesting.

Now she’d disturbed the fine layer of silt, the top of the box gleamed—some sort of pretty, varnished wood. Decent quality. It was a foot long and less than half that wide. And it was firmly wedged in place.

The desk had been nailed to the deck, so she couldn’t move it to free the box. Instead, she floated above it, braced her feet on the leather writing surface and heaved.

At first, nothing, just the strain of her muscles, warming, then a creak and she shot up, back slamming against the ceiling, blasting the air from her in a stream of bubbles.

Bollocks, that bloody hurt and now her lungs did burn, but she had the box. She pushed off the desk towards the door, shoving her prize into the net bag. With a quick twist, she was out the door and kicking for the surface.

They caught their breaths, and she showed him the box. It was locked, but they’d be able to open it back at camp. Later, they could bring helpers and the ship’s boat back with ropes to haul up the sea chest and perhaps some of the cannons. Those could be cleaned up and sold off for a tidy profit.

“Now”—she glanced at the sun, still high in the sky—“I’d say we still have some time to explore the reef if you like?”

His teeth flashed in a smile. “Oh, yes, there must still be more you can show me.”

She chuckled. “Oh, the things I could show you, Knigh.” She winked and swam away from the wreck towards a part of the reef they hadn’t yet explored.

He followed and as they dived again, something massive cut through the water, pulling on her awareness. She blinked out towards the open sea. A huge dark shape glided along the deep water just beyond the shallows, its course running parallel to the reef, coming closer.

Wonder

Vice squinted into the depths—if it was an archelon turtle, they’d be fine. If it was a bony-headed dunkleosteus or a tylo …

She swallowed, ears popping.

Beyond the reef’s shelter, a powerful current ran south, sweeping out to sea. Whatever this creature was, it was strong enough to swim against the current.

She held up a hand of warning to Knigh. Perhaps they could take shelter in the reef, between the rocks. The wreck was probably too far away. The shore certainly was.

Slow-moving. That was a good start.

The creature drew closer. A wide, spotted head. The mouth opened, toothless, and some sixty feet further back, an upright, V-shaped tail swept side to side slowly.

A whale shark.