Moonglass

stood there looking at the water, the more anxious I felt. I tried to tell myself it was because Tyler was there, or that it was my first night dive in a long time, but it wasn’t the excited anticipation kind of nervous. It was pit-in-your-stomach disquiet.
    My dad ignored my tone and motioned at my fins. “You check your straps after the last dive? They were looking a little worn.”
    “Dad, I got it,” I said impatiently. “I’ll be fine. Besides”—I tried to sound nicer—”I’m with three lifeguards.”
    “All right. Once we’re out there, keep your eyes on the crevices and rocks. The lobsters will be hanging out there. Tyler, you gone out for lobsters before?”
    “No, sir, but I can’t wait to bring a few home.”
    “Well, the easiest way to do it is to pin ‘em down.” He demonstrated with a quick hand motion. “Then, once you have a good hold, measure ‘em and get ‘em into your bag. They’ll fight you, though, so be ready.” Tyler nodded, and I could tell he was looking forward to it.
    “Okay. Let’s go.” My dad pulled his mask down over his face, flicked on his light, and walked out into the water, stopping chest-deep to put his fins on. I watched as the light went under with him and became the center of an illuminated green patch of water that slowly moved away from the shore.
    Tyler spit into his mask and rubbed it around with his thumbs. “So you really go out there and grab at those things, huh?” I scoffed. “Uh … no. They scare the crap out of me. Truly. They’re like giant bugs. I just like to go along for the dive.” I pulled on my gloves, then stretched my mask over my forehead. “But I do eat them. Tacos are the best way. I bought all the stuff for them today, so hopefully you guys will come through.” I forced a smile, then stuck my regulator into my mouth and tested it out.
    “All right, then,” he said, and smiled. “Tacos it is.”
    I popped my ears all the way down to the bottom, then looked at my depth gauge. Thirty-six feet. Our lights cut bright beams through the water and illuminated the tiny particles that hung suspended in liquid green. Tyler checked his compass and pointed in the direction of the rocks. I nodded, motioning for him to lead. He pushed off with the tip of his fin, and we cruised along the bottom, which was barren and sandy. Up ahead I could see the beginning of the rocks, silhouetted in the moonlight.
    I kicked easily next to Tyler as we hovered over the sand. He looked at me through his mask and nodded, which I returned, and I enjoyed not having to think of something to say. When quiet moments fell over us above the water, it was awkward, and I almost always made a wiseass remark to cover that. But down here I didn’t have to.
    We reached the edge of the rocks just as a stream of bubbles danced up from behind them, and my dad came into view holding a good-size lobster in the beam of his light. He stuffed it into his net bag and gave us an okay sign, checking to make sure that we were all right. We answered by returning the sign. He nodded and then pointed down at the rocks and swept his hands wide, indicating that this was the area to be looking around in. Tyler shined his light below us into a crevice and illuminated several lobsters, all waving their antennae and backing up at the same time.
    Not interested in trying for them, I surveyed the rocky area around us. Some distance away, buried in the rocks, I could see the faint glow of another light.
    An image from the dream I’d had flashed in my mind: my mom, searching endlessly for something she’d lost. For a split second my stomach lurched, before logic told me it was Andy. Even so, my breaths came a little quicker and I had to make an effort to slow down and keep them even. Night dives were always a little eerie for me, but the last one had been unsettling.
    Tyler was just ahead of me, pulling himself along the bottom edge of the rocky reef, with my dad in front of him a little ways. While they were absorbed in searching out lobsters, I hung back a bit and tried to occupy my mind with Tyler, and running, and school. Whatever might hold off images of my mom. But the images twisted and swirled around me in the water, rising like the smoke of a just-extinguished candle.
    Up ahead Tyler’s light went still, and I saw him make a grab. The lobster escaped and shot around him, doing zigzags before disappearing into the dark water beyond us. My dad turned to him and flashed him