I looked back at Wyatt and thought for a second I should tell him that Rusty never needed any reason to act the way he did. You never knew what you might get with him. But he had already taken his bag over to where Sam was, and they were laughing together as he unzipped it and began pulling out equipment. I looked around. Even in the dark I could tell the Blue Hole was big. Bigger than any swimming pool I’d been in. I pulled off my boots and let my toes press into the cool stone that lined the edge.
“So, this is natural? Nobody put it here?”
“Nope.” Corrie stepped next to me. “All natural. Crazy that it’s here in the middle of the desert, huh? Wait till you see it in the light. It’s the most perfect shade of blue you’ve ever seen.” She handed me a thin shirt. “Here. Put this on over your bathing suit. It’s a rash guard. The water’s pretty warm, but this’ll help a little bit to keep your heat.”
I set it down and glanced around for a place to change.
“Don’t worry, it’s dark. They won’t see you from over there.”
“True.” I nodded and stepped back into the wall—as much as I could, anyway, while Corrie put on what looked like a backpack with the scuba tank attached to it. “I’ll see you over there,” she said. “You’re going to love this.”
A wave of nervousness went through me. “Okay.”
In the dark, I changed into my bathing suit beneath my dress without too much trouble. Once it was tied, I pulled the dress over my head and replaced it with Corrie’s rash guard, which fit smooth and tight.
“Hey.” Wyatt came back over, wearing just his trunks. “Here,” he said. “I’m gonna give you just a little bit of weight to help you sink when we get in.”
“Sink?” That just sounded bad. I preferred to swim, or float, like Lilah and I and whatever boys she rounded up did on the river on hot summer days. “I don’t know . . .”
“You’ll be fine,” Wyatt said, holding up a belt with two pouches on it. “Put your arms up.” I did, and he slid the belt around my waist. I kept my eyes down, trying not to smile as his hands brushed my stomach and cinched it tight. “That feel all right?”
He was looking at me, close, and smiling just as cute as he had the night before.
“Yeah.” I dropped my eyes back to the belt that hung heavy on my hips and forced back the fluttery smile that crept over me. “That’s, um . . . that’s good.” He stepped back, and I rolled my eyes in the dark at the sudden nervousness that tingled in my stomach.
Sam came over, already wearing his air tank on his back. “We don’t have any extra fins, but you’ll be hooked up with Wyatt anyhow.” There was a smile in his voice as he said it, and my cheeks burned despite the cool morning air. He turned to Wyatt. “You guys can just follow the line down. That way, you’ll know how deep you are. Don’t take her any deeper than twenty or so, okay?”
Wyatt nodded.
“Corrie and I need to get in so we can make it to the bottom in time for the sunrise.” He turned back to me, his voice reassuring. “Wyatt’ll take you through what to do, but really, you just have to breathe nice and slow, and stay relaxed. He’ll do the rest.”
Wyatt nudged me with his shoulder. “Remember, good hands.”
I looked at the black water and took a deep breath. “I don’t know why, but I trust you.”
Sam gave my shoulder a squeeze, then walked over to a ramp at the edge of the hole, where Corrie was waiting. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him before their silhouettes disappeared with a splash into the water. A light flicked on below the surface and illuminated them in the center of a cloud of bubbles, ringed by a blue-green circle of light.
As they started to sink, the light grew dimmer, creating a deep green glow in the middle of the large pool. Aside from the soft gurgle of air bubbles breaking the water’s surface, the morning was perfectly still, and in that moment it seemed so beautifully fragile that neither one of us spoke. There, in the quiet space between the stars above us and the fading light below, everything in me seemed to soften just a little.
We stayed there like that, so quiet, until Wyatt spoke—reluctant, I imagined, to break the silence. “Worth it to wake up at dark thirty, right?” He was watching the same circle of light as it faded.
I stared at it, trying to etch the image in my mind before turning to him. “Yeah. This is beautiful. Thank you for getting me.”
He held my eyes for a long moment. “Wait till you see it from under the water.” He pointed to the pool, now only faintly lit. “Come on. I’ll show you what to do.”
It was a strange sensation, continuing to take in a breath, even as I dipped below the surface of the water. I concentrated on breathing slow and steady like Sam and Wyatt had both said, and the sound of the air moving through the hose made it easy to stay focused on that. My legs brushed against Wyatt’s in the dark of the water, and I was conscious of how close we were at that moment, literally breathing the same air. It sent a little zing through me, and I shivered despite the surprising warmth of the water. He clicked on his small dive light and pointed to his ears, indicating for me to pop mine. Then he smiled beneath his mask and flashed the okay sign. When I answered with my own, he grabbed the rope I already had a hold on, and then pointed down, to where it disappeared into darkness.
I took another exaggerated breath, and we began to walk our hands down the rope, alternating one after another, down through the water. Our bubbles danced around each other, then sailed upward, leaving a sparkling trail back to the surface. I hadn’t expected the water to be so still or clear, but it was, and our tiny light bounced off the limestone walls of the hole, throwing wavy shadows all around us. I didn’t feel the pull of the weight belt, didn’t notice the pressure I had been nervous about. I was floating downward without the sensation of falling. Sinking, even though I felt weightless.