The huge machine lifted off immediately. Cate lent back in her seat, and found Jack’s hand. She squeezed it and looked up at his ruggedly handsome face, now streaked with dirt, the eyes blood-shot, and his lips split and flaking. She felt the tears well up, and she gave him a brief watery smile, before looking away.

“I should have known better,” she said, too softly for them to hear over the engine noise. “I followed a legend, and also my grandfather, down into a dark hidden sea and met a monster.”

She rested her head on the seat. An old Shakespeare quote jumped into her head: ‘Fishes live in the sea, as men on land; the great ones eat up the little ones.’ She, Jack and Abby just came face to face with one of the great ones.

The pilot turned in his seat, lifting an ear cup, and yelling back at them, “First stop, Vancouver, Professor Granger, and then on home?”

Cate nodded. “Just got one stop on the way. Someone’s been waiting three quarters of a century for this.” She closed her eyes then, her hands resting on the crusted helmet of her grandfather.

*   *   *

Sonya Borashev watched Cate Granger’s helicopter leave. She felt happy for the woman, but inside Sonya was dead.

She turned to yell more instructions to clean the site, and then reseal the bottom of the Heceta Island cave. She tried to calm her breathing, but could not ease the surge of blood that rushed past her ears like the drums of war.

They thought they’d won, killed Valery, and condemned his body to the dark depths. She opened her eyes to slits. There is no action without an equal and opposite reaction.

She turned away to her waiting helicopter, pulling her phone to speak careful instructions to a waiting team she had hand picked. In another few hours she would be on route to Russia.

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 23

Cate hugged her mother, and hung on tight – partly due to love and relief, but also because her legs were still weak. She had seen her mom’s face when she’d opened the door. Cate knew how bad she looked, and now was not the time for a parental scolding.

“I’m fine, Mom, really, just very tired.” She kissed her and stepped back. “Is Granma Violet awake?”

“She was before. I told her you were coming.” Rebecca Granger smiled sadly. “But be patient, she… forgets things. And don’t be alarmed if she doesn’t recognize you at first.”

“Are we losing her?” Cate asked.

Rebecca shrugged. “They’ve been saying she could go any day for the last ten years. But she’s a strong old bird. They certainly don’t make them like that anymore.”

“Not for years.” Cate turned to the stairs. “Okay to go up?”

Her mother nodded, and Cate headed up, walking almost reverentially, for some reason feeling the need to stay silent.