The words stunned them both for a moment. Then cold fear settled in Dara’s gut.

“I think you should stop talking to Raffie,” Dara ordered.

“No.” Karo hugged her sock doll tight. “He’s my friend.”

“Not really. He’s getting you to do bad things like run off when we’re supposed to stick together.”

“Raffie says—”

“I don’t care what he says. I’m your mother!” Dara snapped.

Karo’s lips pressed into a stubborn line, and Dara waited for the outburst.

Kobrah stepped between them. “Tell Raffie we’re going to look for a way to get to the ship.”

“He says if you come close enough he can open a door.”

“If he can open a door, then why not get out of the water?” Dara asked with a bit of rancor. The whole situation didn’t sit well with her. It was one thing to encounter a ship running on auto, another to run into something that claimed to be family.

I have no family. Annie said so.

“He says he’s been asleep too long and that he needs someone with the right…” Karo’s nose scrunched. “Right jeannies to activate him.”

“Do you mean genetics?” Kobrah asked.

Karo shrugged.

With a finger pointing, Dara ordered Karo, “Move away from the water. Sit over there where I can see you.”

“But—”

Dara jabbed her digit again, and feet dragging, Karo went.

One eye on her daughter, she muttered to Kobrah, “There’s something not right here. We need to leave.”

“You think? About time you realized it. I’ve been saying that for a while.”

“And I’m saying you might have been right.” She’d let this thing with Karo and Raffie go on for much too long. But at least before it was simply warnings to protect them. This, getting Karo to act in defiance and then expect them to essentially head into the foulest-looking water to supposedly find him?

No way. It was a suicide mission.

“Right or not, let me ask you something. Do you think there’s a ship in there?” Kobrah glanced out over the lake.

“Honestly?” She nodded. “Yes. I do. Not that it does us any good. You are right. If it was viable, it wouldn’t be under water.”

“Unless someone hid it.”

“Which is getting far-fetched. Why would someone hide it? And why contact Karo about it?”

“How the fuck would I know? I don’t even know why the Rhomanii are chasing you.”

Neither did she. But every time they got close, she panicked. The reminder made her frown.

She’d always panicked for as long as she could remember. Even when she lived with her teacher, Annie.

“Here’s the thing. Let’s say there is a ship in the lake. How do you propose getting to it?” She gestured to the scummy body of water. “Are you really going to strip down and go for a swim in that?”

“Let’s find out how bad it is.” He first hovered his arm over the surface, checking for acidity levels, and waited for the all clear before actually submerging his wrist unit. “Dirty but not harmful,” was the verdict.

“Not harmful.” Dara snorted. “You tested the water. What about what lives in it?”

He eyed the calm surface. “We don’t know there’s anything dangerous in there. Thus far, we’ve only seen the one critter with sharp teeth, and it was seriously underwhelming.”

Rather than reply, she bent and grabbed a rock. She flung it, watched it arc over the water before descending and hitting the water with a loud splash. Ripples spreads outward, weakening the farther they reached from the point of impact until they faded.

For a moment after, nothing. Then a bulging hump as something rose and undulated above the water line.

A big something.

“Might be an herbivore,” he claimed.

She slapped him and walked away to stand watching the lake while Kobrah returned to Karo’s side.

“Sprout, any idea how deep the ship is?”

“Don’t tell him, Karo.”

Because she didn’t need him doing something so foolish as swimming in that water.

But of course, he wouldn’t do the smart thing. He was, after all, alpha.

“Don’t worry, Mommy. Daddy can find it.”

“He’s being an idiot if he goes in, and you shouldn’t be asking him, Karo.”

“But…” Karo’s lower lip trembled.

“Don’t cry, Sprout. Your mom is just scared for me. Heck, I’m a little freaked out, too, but sometimes you gotta face your fears and do things you don’t want to do. Right, Dara?”

She knew he didn’t speak of here and now. It didn’t mean she wanted him to go on a suicide mission. “You don’t have to do this. We’ll find another way.”

“What other way? We can’t get off this planet without a ship or at least a communicator to send for help.”

“Don’t you dare go swimming in that lake.”

He’d already begun stripping, his bared upper body a thrilling reminder her memories hadn’t played her false, whereas the marks on his skin were a stark slap that he’d experienced things without her since she last stroked him. When did he get that strange green-hued tattoo over his chest and arm? What did those thick and bold lines mean? And what was that purple scar down his thigh?

His body was a thing of strength, but also fragile beauty. How could he think of going into the water? What if he died? She’d just gotten used to the fact she might have a chance again with him.

He dug into his sack and pulled out a silver cylinder. A device used to pull oxygen from whatever medium it was used in. In this case, under water.

He really was going through with this.

“Sprout, I need you to help me out,” he stated as he handed over his pistol to Karo, even though it would work in the water.

Dara’s lips compressed. She knew the reason he handed it over was so it wouldn’t get lost if he failed.

Hugging the weapon to her chest, Karo stared solemnly at him. “I can help, Daddy.”

“I know you can, Sprout, which is why you have the important job of distracting that thing in the water.”

“Throwing more rocks?”

“Exactly. Let’s confuse it so I can sneak by and find that ship.”

“Sneak by a sea monster?” Dara hissed as she followed him to the water’s edge.

“I’ve done it before, surprisingly enough.” He winked. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back. Sprout needs me.”

What about the fact that she needed him? More than she’d realized. “Don’t get eaten.”

“I’ll do my best.” He gave her a hard kiss on the lips, and then he was gone, wading into the water, deeper and deeper until he dove under.

Dara hurried to grab a handful of rocks, throwing them as far as she could, drawing anything lurking away from his body. Karo helped by finding her the best rocks for making a splash. It became a game. Karo handing her the perfect stone, Dara tossing it in a wide arc, then watching as the hump appeared soon after.

But the trick didn’t work for long.

Soon the plop of rocks didn’t attract any movement. The circles from her last toss flattened, and nothing marred the surface.

It meant her gaze was drawn to where she’d last seen Kobrah. With his mechanism that filtered air into his mouth, he could stay under there awhile.

Or he could also be dead.

She waited and waited.

He didn’t reappear.

Karo said nothing, just stared.

“I’m sure he’s fine.” Said to reassure her daughter, and yet she wished she believed it.

It appeared Karo had more faith than Dara. “Daddy will be okay. Raffie says the monster won’t eat him.”

The statement startled Dara, but before she could question it, Kobrah’s head pierced the surface, and he exclaimed, “Damn this is some nasty shit.” He spat to the side. “Like seriously, don’t swallow it.”

She almost sighed in relief. “You idiot. Get back to shore so we can dope you with anti-bacterial meds.” And before he got eaten.

“Not yet. I need to figure out how to get aboard the ship.”

“Wait, you mean you found it?”

His white teeth gleamed. “Karo was right. It’s just under the surface.”

“It’s probably a derelict.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. The outer hull feels sound. It’s a big sucker, too. Stuck in the mud, I think. I’m going back down to look for a hatch.”

He’d barely put the mouthpiece in than he disappeared abruptly underwater. Her heart froze as the hump appeared in his place.

“Koby!” She shouted his name, knowing it wouldn’t do any good. She pulled both a pistol and a knife but had no target. Not until a coil humped above the water line. She took aim and fired, blasting a hole right through it. Which, in turn, caused the whole lake to shiver and shake.

More and more coils humped into view, and she shot at them all until there were none.

The lake returned to its calmness, and she waited again.

Not for long.

Kobrah emerged with a shake of his head. Even with the filter in his mouth she could see his grin.

Idiot.

“Get out of there.”

He shook his head and pulled the mouthpiece free. “Don’t worry. It’s dead. Massive bastard. Looks like this entire lake was its home and the ship was its toy. Now that it’s not hugging it, I’m going back down to look at it again.”

With words she’d surely regret, she began to strip. “I’ll come give you a hand looking.”