The water grew heavy, filled with suspended plankton and darting fish. Shadows overlapped until even the brightest coral seemed muted. Nathaniel adjusted his mask, straining to make sense of it. His pulse quickened. Whales weren’t interested in humans as prey. He was incidental to their plans—a trespasser caught in the theater of something greater unfolding.
Then came the surge. One whale pivoted sharply, throat pleats ballooning as its mouth gaped open. The force dragged water like a current, sweeping schools of fish and Nathaniel into its path. He kicked frantically, but too late. Darkness slammed around him, and the world shrank to the whale’s cavernous mouth.