Nobody spoke as our boat chugged along. A nervous tension hung in the air and the charged atmosphere only intensified the closer we got to the dive site where a slight wind whipped the sea’s surface into a light foam. Cristof, sitting opposite me, next to Nico, removed his glasses and pulled on his scuba mask, then placed the spectacles securely in a case and tucked it under the seat. I gazed back the way we’d come. From afar, Texel looked small and insignificant. It had felt big when I arrived almost a week ago, but I knew it again now, was becoming refamiliar with its cliffs and paths. Shrieking terns circled the sandbanks and I could see the lighthouse standing straight and slim as a needle, towering over the dunes on the western side of the island.

Bram and Sem stood at the helm, going over the coordinates again. I heard Bram say he wanted the coordinates to line up with the GPS so they’d know where to drop the granny line when the time came. Secured to the stern of the boat, the granny line’s cordage would enable us to find the boat again while we were underwater, if visibility suddenly worsened.

Bram’s voice boomed out over the slapping of waves. ‘Nico, come over here!’

I watched Nico join Bram at the helm.

There was a low, muttered conference and after a minute or so, Nico nodded as if in agreement before returning to sit beside me.

‘What was that about?’ I asked. He opened his mouth, then closed it and began clipping on his fins. When we reached the dive site, Bram cut the boat’s engine and Emerens eased the State boat to a stop some distance away. Walking out to the bow, he raised his hand in Bram’s direction, beckoning us closer. Bram steered Proteus alongside the State vessel, until the two boats were nearly touching.

From the stern, Bram lowered the dive platform and we all scrambled onto it, moving clumsily, our fins turning us from capable land mammals into awkward amphibians. There came the sound of splashing bodies entering the water. I saw Cristof edge to the side of the boat then disappear in a backwards roll, his flippers vanishing in a fountain of bubbles, like a whale’s flukes beneath the surface of the waves. Bram quickly followed, his grin visible through the glass diving mask. Nico helped me to the edge of the boat. We dangled for a moment and I felt a surge of adrenaline swoop up my chest into my throat. Then Nico let go of my hand and I dropped backwards into the ocean.