Chapter 11

“Welcome to the Labuan Marine Park, or as we call it locally, Taman Laut Labuan,” said our tour guide, shouting to be heard over the boat’s motor. Zack and I had taken a larger vessel over from the main island, before setting out with a smaller tour group. Some preferred to go ashore to the visitor centers, but Zack had insisted that seeing the coral reef up close and personally was the whole reason to make the trip.

“It’s so empty,” I said to Zack. The three islands of the park had only been a short trip from the Labuan proper, but it was like we were on another planet.

“What do you mean? There’s a town right over there.”

“Yes, but it’s mostly forest and sea. How have they not built a whole city out here?”

Zack shrugged. “You’ve got to keep some nature around, yeah? Gives you a place to go fishing. Besides, you wouldn’t be able to house a lot of people out here.”

I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that; there had been plenty of refugees on the mainland who had been turned away as the Horde rolled in. A few hundred would have been happy to have lived out here.

I pinched my leg. No, Rose! This isn’t the time to think about the Horde! You’re out here to relax.

“Let’s go over the rules,” the guide continued, continuing to shout even as the pilot shut off the engine. “Stay with your group. Do not stand on the coral. Do not touch the coral. Give the coral reefs a wide berth.”

“Do not look at the coral too closely,” whispered Zack in my ear.

“Do not flirt with the coral,” I whispered back.

“If the coral becomes aggressive, raise your arms to look as large as possible.”

I couldn’t help but giggle, which earned me a dirty look from the guide.

“If I may continue?” snapped the guide. “Do not touch the animals, or let them touch you. Do not leave any litter. These reefs have been through a lot, and we want them around for a long time to come. Are there any questions?”

A mousy-looking woman on the other side of the boat stood and raised her hand, rocking the narrow craft. “D-do we have to worry about sharks?”

“Yes,” said the pilot, an older, weather-bitten man wearing a United States naval cap, without looking up from his instruments. “The whole sea’s swarming with ‘em.”

“What my friend meant to say,” said the main guide, glaring at his partner, “is that there are some species of sharks out here that can pose a threat, but attacks are rare.”

That didn’t do much to calm down the other tourist, who peered apprehensively at the ocean around us. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“If you throw up, not in my boat, alright?” said the pilot, looking over his shoulder. “Though that might attract sharks, too.”

“Bob’s such a kidder,” said the main guide, laughing nervously. “Alright, let’s all get going! We’re only out here for an hour, after all!”

We had already changed into our wetsuits on the main boat, so it was a matter of putting on our flippers and snorkels. I helped out the poor woman from before, since she seemed to be alone and not fond of letting the guides touch her.

“You’ll be fine,” I said, trying to sound comforting.

“I-I’m sure,” she said. “My therapist said I needed to get up and close with some nature, but maybe this is too much? I should have asked her; I just went with the first thing I found online.”

“You can follow Zack and I,” I said. The guide gave Zack a strange look at the English nickname, confirming what he had said before. Zack didn’t look happy about it, but he kept quiet.

“S-sure, thank you,” she said, showing me a shaky smile.

For as hot as the air was, the sea was shockingly cold. I nearly spat out my snorkel’s mouthpiece in surprise, though I recovered quickly. I had been ordered no to litter, after all.

I wished there was a way I could have spoken through the snorkel; I’d have started gushing and never stopped. I had thought the park was lovely from above water, but everything was so bright and colorful! A dazzling array of fish I had no names for darted about every which way, their scales glittering in all the colors of the rainbow. A dozen species of coral were like the trees of this underground forest. I even saw a sea turtle in the distance. The green creature flapped through the water, reminding me of a soaring eagle, in a strange way.

I couldn’t resist diving deeper to get a closer look, though I kept my hands well clear. Zack and the woman… I had forgotten to get her name, hadn’t I? I made a note to fix that once we were back in the air. I didn’t want to be rude. Anyway, they followed behind, even as we ventured into a deeper part of the reef. Now I could see the white sand clearly, though there were patches of sea grass here and there, and a few lonely bunches of coral. It was nothing like the sheer abundance closer to shore.

The water grew noticeably colder, and I decided we had gone out far enough. Zack tapped my shoulder, and I turned and nodded. He had reached the same conclusion. It was too bad, though. The turtle was nowhere to be seen.

A burst of bubbles filled the water next to me, and the woman was in a full-blown panic. Zack had to drag her to the surface, but she kept fighting him.

“Shark! Giant shark!” she shrieked, spitting out her mouthpiece.

“Oh, don’t be silly,” I said. “Zack and I didn’t see any…” I trailed off. A pair of seagulls had landed a hundred feet away, and I could just make out they were floating near something red.

Our training took over, though apparently we’d had different lessons. Zack beat a quick retreat back the way we came, while I twisted my fingers into a spellcasting pose. I had more options than him, after all.

How did that one go? Spellcasting Position Nineteen, or was it Seventeen? It wasn’t a spell I had ever used outside of class, though it had been on my written exam. You should know this, Rose! I settled on Nineteen, spreading my fingers wide as I imagined a circle about half again the diameter of my head. The golden runes swirled in rings around my hands as they altered the code of reality.

“Brilliant Bathysphere!” I had guessed right, and the world went fuzzy as an airtight envelope of magic surrounded my head and throat. I could faintly hear Zack shouting something, but I ignored him as I dove back underwater to investigate.

Well, I saw my turtle, or at least, what was left of it. The unfortunate creature had been snapped clean in two.

My magical air pocket fogged over as my breathing intensified. Our diving partner hadn’t been quite right. She hadn’t seen a shark.

The rest of the turtle vanished into the snapping jaws of one of the creatures from Uncle Ahmad’s book. Looking like something out of the age of dinosaurs was one of the Horde’s tame monsters: the infamous meridraken, Sea Dragon in their language. Its enormous eyes, as wide as dinner plates and with soulless, reptilian pupils, settled on me.

I guess that turtle was just the first course.