Spotters called out every surfacing animal. “Whale at two o’clock!” “Another one behind it!” Each time a back appeared, Elena raised her binoculars. “Look for his fins,” she said. “Anything yellow. Anything that doesn’t belong on the whale.”
Nathaniel felt the animal rise and fall beneath the waves. Whenever the water became rough, the tongue tightened around him. When things calmed, it loosened again. He was beginning to understand that the whale was not simply holding him. It was adjusting its grip.