Her Light

XXII

"Get down!"

It's a murmured shout from Ally, and Camila immediately buckles down into a crouch. She's kneeling beside the other women, keeping her head below the side so she's out of sight. Lauren is squatting exceptionally close to her—their knees and arms brushing.

The ship comes to a stop several feet away from where they're hiding—Camila is peeking through a little hole in the side of the ship where rope is usually strung through.

"I just know we look so suspicious." Dinah whispers, crouching near Normani. Everyone shushes her, urgent expressions written in hard lines on their faces. "Okay, okay. Jeez."

A rope ladder is throw over the side of the ship, and a scrawny brunette boy scurries down it. When he reaches the end, he hangs on and looks down nervously at the water.

"What if there's sharks?" He yells up loudly, the rope swaying from side to side as he shifts uncomfortably.

Commotion ensues aboard and a deep voice shouts down, "just go see what's in there, Shawn! Let's go!"

Clearly reluctant, the boy, Shawn, jumps off the ladder into the water. He resurfaces fairly quickly and swims himself onto the nearest sunken ship. It can't be very deep out here, or it is really deep and there's just a huge mass of sunken ships under this water. Camila's guessing it's not too deep, but just deep enough to where Lauren's vessel won't scrape the ocean floor.

Shawn climbs atop the boat, wobbling as he straightens out his legs. "I think I'm going to die out here!"

An argument begins loudly between the crew on the ship and the matey off the ship. Dinah turns to Lauren and Camila, then over to Ally and Normani.

"So what's the game plan now?" She asks, keeping her voice hushed. Normani rolls her eyes in response.

"We have to get to that ladder." Lauren tells her, creeping a peek over the ledge and pointing at the rope ladder still hanging down. The edges hover a foot or so above the water.

Narrowing her eyes at it, Dinah nods her head in acknowledgement. "I see it. But how are we supposed to get over there unnoticed?"

Lauren goes quiet, placing her thumb and index finger upon her chin as she ponders the question. She keeps her eyes focused on Shawn and his foolery.

"Okay, so we are all going to carefully get into the water—try not to make any splashes—and swim over to climb up the ladder." Lauren decides, placing her hand open against the floorboard. "Once we reach a certain proximity to the boat, it's basically impossible to see us from main deck."

"What about him?" Normani asks, gesturing to Shawn who is still scouring over the ships in fear.

Inhaling a deep breath, she shrugs, "we'll just have to hope he doesn't notice. It's scary enough out there, right? Enough distractions to keep his eyes off of us?"

God, Camila hopes so. There's not many either options. So she pays close attention, keeping close tabs on how Lauren creeps up and pulls herself over the ledge, dropping into the water quietly. Then Ally goes, followed by Normani and Dinah.

"Come on, Camz." Lauren whispers, treading water silently and slowly. Camila can't help but think about all of the sharks and creatures swimming below their feet as she lowers herself into the cold water.