The Reef

mine.”
    “Oh no, it’s still hers. It always will be. That’s thesecret, VanDyke, that’s the magic and the power. The ones who didn’t understand that, and coveted it for their own ends are the ones who brought the curse on their own heads. If you take it,” she said softly and with sudden certainty, “you’re damned.”
    “It’s mine,” he repeated. “I’m the only one it was meant for. I’ve spent a fortune to find it.”
    “But I found it. You’re only stealing it.” She was nearly at the rail now. Was that a motor? she wondered. Or just her wishing? If she shouted now, would she save the people she loved, or kill them?
    VanDyke’s eyes snapped back to hers, and her heart sank like a stone in the sea. Those eyes were clear again, calm again, without that thin glaze of madness.
    “You think I don’t know what you’re doing? Stalling for time until your broad-shouldered hero charges to your aid. A pity he hasn’t so you could die together, romantically. Now I’ve indulged you long enough, Tate. Take off the amulet and give it to me or I’ll put the first bullet in your gut instead of your heart.”
    “All right.” Her fingers were oddly light and steady as she drew the chain from around her neck. It was almost as if they weren’t her own, as if she were floating somewhere beyond her own flesh. “If you want it so desperately. Get it, and pay the price.”
    Braced for the bullet, she tossed it high and far over the sea.
    He howled. The sound was inhuman, like a beast tasting blood. And like a beast he shambled to the rail and plunged into the dark water. Before he’d disappeared beneath, she was after him.
    As she cut through the water, part of her brain registered the dangerous folly of the act. Yet she was compelled, driven to fill her lungs with air and dive blind.
    Reason told her he would never find the amulet in the night sea without mask or tanks or time. Nor would she find him or the treasure she’d flung away.
    Even as logic began to balance impulse, she saw the shadow of movement. Rage she hadn’t even known had rooted inside her burst free. She was on him like a shark.
    Here, in the airless world, his superior strength was countered by her youth and skill. His blind greed by her fury. There was no gun now, only hands and teeth. She used hers viciously.
    He clawed at her, desperate to reach the surface and breathe again. With her own lungs aching, she dragged him back, until a kick sent her spinning away.
    Up again through the dark water she rose, nearly despairing that she would reach the surface.
    He waited for her there, lashing out wildly, and she fought to fill her empty lungs. His face was distorted by the water and salt in her eyes, obscenely feral as he struck out. They fought in a terrible silence broken only by gasping breaths and swirling water.
    His eyes rolled white as he pulled her under. The sea embraced them greedily.
    She swallowed water, choked. The salt stung her eyes as he held her down and gulped air for himself. Fumbling, her hands lost purchase on his slick wet suit. The buzzing in her ears became a roar. There were lights glowing, bursting in her head, in front of her eyes.
    No, she thought, fighting free. A light. A single light shining against the sand. He was racing toward it, diving, diving through the glassy black water to white sand where the amulet lay like a bloody star.
    She watched him lift it, saw his hand close around it greedily. The soft red glow shone luminescently through his fingers, and deepened, darkened. Bled.
    He turned his head, looked at her in triumph. Their eyes met, held.
    Then surely he screamed.
     
    “She’s coming around. That’s it, Red, cough it up.”
    Through the harsh sounds of her own racking heaves, she heard Matthew’s voice, the tremor in it. She could feel the solid wood of the deck beneath her, his big hands cradling her head, the damp rain of water leaking onto her skin.
    “Matthew.”
    “Don’t try to talk. Christ, where’s the damn blanket?”
    “Here, right here.” With calm efficiency, Marla covered her daughter. “You’re all right, honey, just lie still now.”
    “VanDyke—”
    “It’s all right.” Matthew glanced around to where the man sat huddled under LaRue’s ready bangstick. He was half drowned and quietly chuckling to himself.
    “The amulet.”
    “Jesus, it’s still around her neck.” Matthew slipped it off with an unsteady hand. “I didn’t even notice.”
    “You were a