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In the open water, the spires’ protrusion was bizarre, suggesting a cavernous cathedral of the deep Luce wondered how long ago the church had sunk, how deep it sat below
The thought of diving down there in ridiculous goggles and ht underwear e," she said She meant I don’t think I can do this I can’t breathe underwater How are we going to find one small halo sunk in the middle of the sea?
"I can take you down as far as the chapel itself, but only that far So long as you hold on to my hand" Daniel extended a war will not be a problem But the church will still be sanctified, whichit out to me"
Daniel yanked his T-shirt off over his head, dropping it to the bench of the gondola He stepped out of his pants quickly, perfectly balanced in the boat, then kicked off his tennis shoes Luce watched, feeling so stir inside her until she realized she was supposed to be strip-ping down, too She kicked off her boots, tugged off her socks, stepped out of her jeans as modestly as she could
Daniel held her hand to help her balance; he atching her but not the way she would have expected He orried about her, the goose bu on her skin He rubbed her ar in her sensible underwear in the gondola in the ain she shivered, cold and fear and indecipherable ed the goggles, which pinched, down over her eyes and said, "Okay, let’s swim"
They held hands, just like they had the last tiether at Sword & Cross As their feet lifted off the varnished floor of the gondola, Daniel’s hand tugged her upward, higher than she ever could have jumped herself--and then they dove
Her body broke the surface of the sea, which wasn’t as cold as she’d expected In fact, the closer she swarew
He was glowing
Of course he was She hadn’t wanted to voice her fears about how dark and impassible the church would be underwater, and now she realized, as ever, that Daniel was always looking out for her Daniel would light her way to the halo with the same shimmery incandescence Luce had seen in low played off theas a rainbow arching boldly in a black night sky
They swaht The water was silky, silent as an empty tomb
Within a dozen feet, the sea becaht still illuminated the ocean for several feet around them A dozen feet more and the façade of the church came into view
It was beautiful The ocean had preserved it, and the glow of Daniel’s glory cast a haunting violet sheen on its quiet old stones The pair of spires above the surface punctuated a flat roof lined with stone sculptures of saints There were panels of half-decayedwas thick withinto and out of alcoves, sea ane out fro out of crannies where ancient Venetian bodies used to be Daniel stayed beside her, following her whiht side of the church, peering through busted stained-glass s, always eyeing the distance back up to the surface, to air
At about the point that she’d expected, Luce’s lungs began to strain But she wasn’t ready to go up yet They’d only just made it down to where they could see what looked like the altar She gritted her teeth and bore the burn a little longer
Holding his hand, she peeked inside one of the s near the church’s transept Her head and shoulders ventured in and Daniel flattened as ht the inside for her
She saw nothing but rotting pews, a stone altar split in two The rest was shadowed, and Daniel couldn’t get any closer to give her s and she panicked--but then, somehow, it released, and she felt as if she had a luxurious expanse of time before the tension and panic would return It was as if there were breathing thresholds, and Luce could pass through a few of theet really dire Daniel watched her, nodding, as if he understood that she could go on a little longer
She swaleamed in a sunken corner of the church
Daniel saw it, too He swam to her side, careful not to press inside the church He took her hand and pointed at it Only the tip of the halo was visible The statue itself looked as if it had sunk through a collapsed portion of the floor Luce swa the air before her with bubbles, unsure horest it free She couldn’t wait any longer Her lungs blazed She gave Daniel the sign to go up
He shook his head
When she flinched in surprise, he pulled her fully outside the church and took her in his arood, but--
But no, he wasn’t just kissing her He was breathing air into her lungs She gasped in his kisses, felt the pure air flow into her, sustaining her lungs just when they felt like they would burst It was as if he had an endless supply and Luce was greedy for as et
Their hands searched each other’s almost naked bodies, as filled with passion as if they were kissing purely for pleasure Luce didn’t want to stop But they only had eight days When at last she nodded that she was sati-ated, Daniel grinned and pulled away
They returned to the tiny opening where theused to be Daniel swa so his gloould shine in to light her way She squir instantly cold and senselessly claustrophobic inside the church That was strange, because the cathedral was huge: Its ceilings were a hundred feet high, and Luce had the place all to herself
Maybe that was the problem On the other side of theDaniel seeel up ahead--and Daniel’s glow just outside She swaripped it in her hands She remembered Daniel’s instructions, and she turned the halo as if she were steering a Grey-hound bus
It didn’t budge
Luce gripped the slick halo harder She rocked it back and forth, putting all the strength she had into it
Ever so slowly, the halo creaked and shifted a centie, sending out bubbles of exasperation Just as she began to feel exhausted, the halo loosened, turned Daniel’s face filled with pride as he watched her and she watched hi about her breath as she strained to unscrew the halo
It caht and admired its impressive heft But when she looked up at Daniel, he wasn’t looking at her any upward, far in the distance
A second later, he was gone
FOUR
BARGAINING BLIND