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illuminated the face of the white cliffs that dropped
dramatically into the water. When they got to the bay, Terra could
hear the sounds of the island before she saw it. She remembered it
from the last time—a nighttime chorus of birds and animals. The
sound instantly brought her back to last summer. As the boat got
closer to the island, Nik turned on a second light, illuminating
the shore and the line of trees set back on the beach. The sounds
got louder, as if welcoming the two of them back. “I guess they’ve
been expecting us,” Nik said.
    They anchored in the calm water just off
shore. Nik pulled out the water lights and some masks from the
hull’s storage. Without a word, they both took off their clothes
and dove in.
    While Nik dove down to set up the lights,
Terra floated on her back in the dark water, looking up at the
stars. Her naked body felt the welcome caress of the warm saltwater
supporting her. It was hard to believe that it was just yesterday
that Vicki drove her to the airport, through the sweltering, urban
streets of Detroit. Terra smiled, remembering Vicky’s admonishments
as she swerved her truck through traffic.
    “Call me when you land. And
every other day. At least. No, every day.”
    “I’ll be fine.”
    “You better be or I’ll come there and drag
you home. Don’t do anything stupid. Use your common sense.”
    “I thought you always said ‘normal rules
don’t apply’ when you’re on vacation.”
    “That’s only when I’m with you. I’m a badass
from the streets of Detroit. You’re a prissy white girl from the
suburbs of Ann Arbor, so all the rules apply to you. You hear me?
Every goddamn rule applies to you. And rule number one is, don’t
get hurt. And that includes your heart.”
    “I won’t,” Terra said softly, not sounding
too sure.
    “I’ve got a few years on you, you know? I’ve
been to the love rodeo a few times. I’m just sayin’ be careful. I
don’t want you living on saltines and soda water again.”
    The water around Terra suddenly lit up,
pulling her from her daydream. Another light went on, then another.
She rolled over, looking into the brightly lit water. Swirls of
fish in vivid, rainbow colors fanned along the bottom. Nik was down
on the reef. He looked up at her and kicked for the surface. When
he broke the surface, he took her hand and stroked a few yards
closer to shore where they could stand in the shallower water. He
held her diving mask. “This reminds me of the first time we met,”
he said. “The girl with no spit.” He handed her the mask.
    “Um. When I first saw you, I honestly thought
you were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.” She spit in the
mask, swirling water to clear it. He spit in his own mask, doing
the same. “Do you remember?” she asked, tentative.
    He nodded as he slid his mask on. “Oh, I
remember. I remember every second of every moment we spent
together.” He rolled over and dove down. She took a deep breath and
followed him.
    They dove off the reef. He showed her some
free-diving techniques. He seemed capable of holding his breath for
as long as he wanted, like he was half fish. He showed her how to
walk the reef to go deeper, which reminded her of a kind of
underwater rock climbing.
    Eventually they went back to the boat and sat
on the bow, drying off. Nik made birdcalls, getting the island
birds to answer him back. He went back and forth with them, like
they were having a complex conversation of squawks and screeches.
“They be used to it,” he said. “I tell them all my hopes and
plans.”
    “Hopes and plans?” she asked, feeling the
warm night air drying her skin.
    “Yes. You know, my dreams.”
    He turned and looked at her
with that same expression. One of the birds squawked again, left
hanging in the middle of their conversation. Say it, she thought as she looked at
him, her stomach tightening into a fist. What is it? What do you want to tell me? After a moment, he called back to the bird. The bird