I drank the strange potion, and my eyes widened as the cool liquid slid down my throat. It tasted salty, like the ocean, but also sweet like a berry.

I could feel the coolness flow all the way down to my stomach, but I wasn’t prepared for the way my lungs suddenly seemed to expand and change. It was a sensation like nothing I’d ever experienced. For a moment, fear gripped my heart. What if this potion changed me forever? What if it didn’t work? Or what if it stopped working before we could get back to the surface?

But the moment I looked up into Nik’s clear blue eyes, I knew that he would never do anything that would put me in danger.

He held his hand out to me.

“You ready?” he asked.

I laughed, nerves bubbling up inside me. I didn’t think I was ready for this, but when would I ever get another chance like this again? All my life, I’d longed to see the ocean, and this man was handing me the opportunity to see it in a way most people could only dream about.

I took a deep breath and put my hand in his.

“I’m ready,” I said.

“On three?” he asked, and I nodded. “One. Two. Three.”

We slid together off the steps on the back of the boat, our bodies splashing into the warm water near the cave.

“Okay, so now we’re going to dive just a little beneath the water like we did earlier, so you can get used to the sensation of breathing the water,” he said. “It might feel a little bit strange at first, but just like the swim fins, it will start to feel like second nature. Just try to relax and breathe normally.”

Easy for him to say. He’d done this before. I was terrified.

Every instinct in my body told me not to breathe the water, so as we went under the surface, I had to try to fight against my own instincts. It was a strange sensation.

Nik held tight to my hands as we swam deeper underwater, and once we got far enough down, he held still and opened his mouth, taking in a deep breath. Water rushed into his mouth, but he didn’t panic at all. He simply started to breathe normally.

I, on the other hand, was starting to completely freak out. My lungs burned, and I wanted to kick free of him and swim toward the surface, but Nik held my hands and shook his head. His eyes stayed on mine the entire time, silently encouraging me.

My heart raced, and I knew if I didn’t take a breath soon, I would be in real trouble. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been under the water, but it was long enough that I was starting to feel lightheaded. Still, I couldn’t force myself to take a breath. Even if my mind knew that it would be okay, I couldn’t get my body to relax.

In a panic, I yanked my hands free and kicked toward the surface, gulping for air the moment my head broke free. Nik joined me a second later, and I expected him to look annoyed, but instead, he was patient and kind.

“I’m sorry,” I said, swimming over to hold onto the edge of the boat while I caught my breath.

“It’s a strange thing to get used to,” he said. “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” I said. “I’m just not sure I can do this.”

“You can do it, Eva,” he said. “Look, earlier by the tree, you were talking about freedom and wanting to try new things. I don’t know your past or what you’ve been through, but I can promise you nothing you’ve ever felt could compare to the freedom of swimming deep below the surface of the sea. If you want to taste true freedom, you should give this a real shot. I promise, you won’t regret it.”

He was right. I longed for freedom and adventure. I’d been held captive for so long, I’d never even had the opportunity to face down my fears or make decisions for myself. I’d never been allowed to have adventures and try new things without someone else telling me when I could or where I could go.

I knew that somewhere, right now, Dominic was looking for me. And when he found me, he would lock me away in a tower somewhere and throw away the key. This was my chance, and I was going to make the most of whatever time I had.

“I’m going to try again,” I said. “I want to do this.”

Nik smiled and reached for my hand again. “I’m with you the whole way,” he said. “If you need to come back up, just do it, but if you can, relax and breathe. Trust.”

Trust. Something I’d never had with anyone or anything since my mother died.

Maybe it was time I started trusting someone other than myself.

I placed my hand in Nik’s and dove under the water with him a second time. The same familiar panic rose inside me, telling me to run, to get away, but I resisted it. I kept my eyes on Nik’s and opened my mouth.

I finally breathed in, letting the saltwater flow into my mouth and lungs. There was a brief moment of panic and fear, but then, miraculously, there was air.

The sensation brought tears to my eyes, and I realized he was right. There was a sense of freedom to breathing underwater I never would have known if I hadn’t taken a chance.

I took several more breaths, keeping my eyes locked on Nik’s the whole time.

And there, in the quiet solitude of that place, I found the first real connection I’d had to another person in more than a decade.