A Bay of Angry Fae by S.C. Stokes

Author:S.C. Stokes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: magical midlife, paranormal, paranormal women's fiction, paranormal womens fiction, magical, magic, wizard, witch, midlife crisis, midlife magic, witch pi, bounty hunter, vampire, werewolf, witch thriller, witch mystery, fae, sidhe, winter court, nora byrne, s.c. stokes
Publisher: S.C. Stokes
Published: 2023-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The cool water was heaven on my skin as I powered across the surface of the bay. Here, the waves were almost non-existent due to the man-made barrier created by the sunken ships I was swimming toward. Some of them had settled, and become submerged in their entirety. Others loomed up out of the water, their rusting superstructure towering over the waves.

In time they would gradually sink into the soft sand, their steel hulls rusting and giving way to the relentless salt and sea. The water here was clear, and the snorkeling mask allowed me to see everything. The soft sand sloped gradually down to deeper depths. Schools of vibrant-colored fish darted about the bay.

It was always a relief to be able to see what was around you. While only a few people died from shark attacks each year, the statistic was poor comfort should you be the unfortunate soul who did come face-to-face with a great white shark. I certainly wasn’t willing to bet on it, as luck had not been on my side this week. So snorkeling alone as I was, I tried to be vigilant and remain wary of my surroundings, all the while powering toward the wrecks with slow steady kicks as my flippers did their job to perfection.

It had been a good two or three years since my last snorkel, so I took the time on the journey out to acclimatize myself once more. I was in no particular hurry, though I was driven by a curiosity for what might lie amid the rusting wrecks. For practice I dived down beneath the surface, closing my mouth as water filled my snorkel and pushing myself deeper with steady kicks. As my oxygen reserves grew low, and my lungs started to protest, I kicked back to the surface. No sooner had my snorkel broken through the water than I exhaled, the plume of breath forcing the water out of the tube in a burst of salty sea spray.

My lifeline clear once more, I swam along the surface, breathing through the snorkel as I searched the depths.

Some things were just like riding a bike, you never really forgot how to do them. I passed the first boat at anchor. Pausing, I checked its deck but couldn’t see any people moving about the ship. It was a modest vessel, perhaps thirty feet in length, with an enclosed cabin. I swam on toward the first of the wrecks, at the southernmost point of the man-made barrier.

The submerged ship had become home to a dozen varieties of fish, some I recognized. Others I had no idea about. I passed schools of bream swarming about the wreck. There were also trevally and yellowtail kingfish. All in all they were spectacular. If I didn’t have work to do, I might have dawdled here enjoying the sight of them darting in and out, through the rusted holes in the ship’s hull.

Coral and other marine vegetation was growing all over the vessel, turning the rusty wreck into a vibrant reef swarming with life.

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