The air in the Blue Grotto didn't just smell of salt; it smelled of ancient, cold ozone. As the sound of the Commission’s helicopter roared overhead, Seraphina and Gia scrambled down the jagged limestone cliffs toward the waterline. Below them, the sea wasn't black—it was a glowing, ethereal sapphire, lit by a bioluminescent phenomenon that made the cavern look like the belly of a dying star.
"Into the water, Gia! Now!" Seraphina commanded.
They dived as the first spray of machine-gun fire from the chopper chewed into the rocks where they had stood a second before. The water was shockingly cold, a visceral reset to Seraphina’s racing heart. She surfaced inside the grotto’s inner chamber, a cathedral of stone where the only sound was the rhythmic slap-slap of the waves against the walls.
