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I nodded stiffly, my gaze drifting to the island’s shores.
Here I thought that returning to Dusk would only mean dealing with the feud. Now I had to solve a murder with no evidence whatsoever.
As I slipped on my wet suit in one of the changing rooms of Dusk Diving, Dad’s scuba diving company, I couldn’t help but notice the sombre looks on the faces of the staff members who had volunteered to help.
They clambered into their gear, their faces a mixture of disgust and horror, eyes glazed over.
I recognised the look. Lots of new divers had worn the same look during my time at Nexus.
Death wasn’t something most encountered on a day-to-day basis, and seeing a dead body was a stark reminder that one day, death would come for us all.
When we were all suited up, I led the way out into the staff room where Dad waited, already in his wet suit, studying a map on the table.
“Everyone take a potion and a talisman.” He gestured to a smaller table against the wall without looking up.
Potion vials and talismans lay on the table, neatly arranged. Everyone grabbed one of each, downing the potion and holding on to the talisman in their gloved hands.
I only grabbed a talisman.
The potion allowed us to see underwater without the use of goggles and stop the water from irritating our eyes. I had to take them while at Nexus, as a matter of policy, which they took seriously in the capital.
But I had never found it difficult to see underwater, even in the murkiest waters. If anything, my eyesight was better underwater than above the surface.
With no threat of disciplinary action from my higher-ups, I preferred to skip taking the potion altogether.
The talisman would allow us to breathe above or below the surface. Even without testing it, I was certain I couldn’t breathe underwater.
“If anyone wants to back out, now is the time.” Dad straightened up, but kept his fingertips pressed to the table. “Are we all set?”
A series of stiff nods rippled throughout the handful of volunteers.
“Excellent. Maeve, you’re up,” he said.
I tossed the talisman up into the air and caught it again as I walked up to the table and pulled the map toward me to give it a cursory look.
The rocks would be the biggest threat to us out there, but the sea wasn’t choppy today, and we were all qualified to help each other out in a jam.
As it stood, this would be a pretty low-risk operation.
“This is a pretty straightforward dive,” I said, my gaze roaming over the rows of pale faces. “We stick close to the shore to get to the body. Do we all have our gloves?”
Another series of nods rippled throughout them.
Unlike our normal diving gloves, these gloves that I had snaffled from the police stores had a magical advantage. Imbued with tiny crystals, the gloves, once activated, would hover the body in the air. Manoeuvring the body across rocks and water would be tricky, but we needn’t worry about breaking off limbs if nobody had to touch it.
At least if anyone hurled, we would be in the ocean.
“We’re going to levitate the body along the shoreline. Some of us will be in the water, some of us on the rocks,” I said. “This will ensure the body doesn’t go back into the water. We don’t want to lose him.”
I put my hands on my hips.
The body probably wouldn’t be in a pleasant state, but no amount of warning them would prepare them for the reality.
“Unless anyone has questions, we should head out,” I said.
Everyone remained statue-still.
That was that, then.
