"Kajsa," Val breathed. She'd named the shark after amountain in Sweden that she had climbed with her sister after graduation. Valstill had another year of schooling left at the time and no idea that it would lead her to the ocean years later,filming sharks with her husband and a team of fanatics and camera jockeys.
They'd tagged Kajsa on their first trip to this spot and took notice ofher every season since. She was big, and she knew it. She liked to push the cages around. Last year she'd even gnawedone of the floaties to pieces. Felix loved herbecause unpredictable sharks made for thrilling footage and exciting dives. Valwasn't as enthusiastic about the big brute.
"I was wondering whenwe'd see her." Felix laughed over the comm, andit crackled in her ear.
Valwatched the shark drift away, back down into the dark. Her heartbeatpicked up the moment she lost sight of Kajsa, but bythen the male had circled around and was bumping Felix's cage, giving the othercage a close encounter and Terrance some great footage.
For a few more minutes,everything went smoothly. Just enough excitement to keepeveryone laughing and grinning on adrenaline. A chill ran up her spine,making her shake out her shoulders and turnher head to the side, expecting to see something stalking her in thedeep. Instead, she saw Felix in his cage across the blue. Everything was a sortof slow-motion underwater. She exhaled, and bubbles rolled up toward thesurface.
And then Kajsahit her cage full force. Not from the side, but from the bottom. Slamming hard against the gate at their feet and pushing with such force that the whole thing launchedupward. The cage broke the surface, and for a horrible second, gravitywas upon them, pulling Val and Terrance against the bars. The bright morningsun glared down at them before the cage tipped forward.
Val slammed against the barsof the half wall, grabbing at them to hangon when the floaties smacked against thesurface of the ocean. She expected the cage to swing back down into the usual upright position, but Kajsa was still under them. Stillpushing. Still thrashing.
Valcouldn't hear anything when everyone started shouting over the comm system at the same time. Their voices became a tangledmess that blared through the earpiece to rival her ownpulse. With that massive, toothed fish beneath, she couldn't be sure if she was even breathing. Her fingersclutched so tightly at the bars thatthe bones in her arms strained and shook. Her legs kicked, trying topull up under herself for fear of popping out of the cage through the viewinghole now beneath her.
Somewhere in the flurry ofsounds and panic, she heard Felix's voice shouting "babe" in thatsharp tone he always said that particular pet name in. It was something he saidwhen she was close to danger—or in thiscase, teeth. It wasn't creative or cute or even all that endearing, likethe plethora of nicknames he'd made up for her over the years. It was the tone and the word he used when he was afraid, and itset her nerves on fire. She sucked in a breath that made her lungs acheto scream or curse.
She had forgotten Terranceentirely until his camera sunk into the blue in her line of sight. It hadfallen out of the cage through the large viewing frame set in the bars. Shetasted bile when Terrance sank into the deep after it.
For a sickly half-second, Valclung to the bars, leaning out that gap in the cage. She stared past thethrashing of Kajsa's tail and the glint of teeth,through the bubbles of the foaming surface at Terrance's body sinking, falling.His arms stretched to grab at the camerahe'd dropped before he twisted around entirelyto look up at her, up at the cage he was no longer tucked inside of, and up at the great white violentlyattacking the metal that was the only promise of safety. He let thecamera fall, kicking weakly to keep himself from sinking farther but withnowhere to go.
Val watched another shadow ofa shark roll through the darker water beneath him, circling the scene.
She let go of the bars andslipped out of the cage, diving down afterTerrance, and heard Felix shouting through the earpiece. He wasn't speaking English anymore, but sherecognized the Spanish as a flurry of curses and prayers all merged into onebig sacrilegious plea. She kicked the cage to launch herself out and down justas Kajsa abandoned her metal prey, bumping it onelast time before swimming off to circle around.
When Kajsa moved away, the curious male sharkreturned, teeth bared and moving right for Terrance. Val kicked harder, heartslamming in her chest as she swam toward the scene. The shark grew larger thecloser it swam, and just before she reachedTerrance, she saw that black eye roll back and vanish. She grabbed ontohis arm and pulled hard enough that, had this been any other situation, shemight have worried about his shoulder.
Terrancebumped into her, and the shark bumped into him, pushing them roughly tothe side and spinning them both. Val caught a glimpse of their cage, empty andright-side up. And beyond it, she saw the second cage with Felix and the othercameraman, Gary, fighting. He was probably trying to keep Felix in the cage.
The commsystem continued to crackle violently with too many voices. The captain on deckcalled her name repeatedly. Gary tried to give updates to the boat about whatwas going on while grappling with Felix. Felix cursed a lot of people and triedto get out into the open water.
Val pushed Terrance up, aheadof herself and back toward their cage. The swim felt like a sprint, her heartpounding and her muscles burning. From the corner of her eye, Val saw anothershark. She
