Chapter 1

Two hundred feet beneath the surface, I shoved my last backup regulator into Veronica’s mouth.

To save my mother’s favorite protege, I skipped two vital decompression stops.

When they hauled me onto the research vessel, the ship’s doctor warned that I needed to get into the only decompression chamber immediately, or I’d be permanently paralyzed.

Instead, right in front of millions watching the expedition livestream, my mother pushed Veronica into the chamber.

"Chloe is my daughter," she announced to the cameras, soaking in the praise. "That’s exactly why I won’t let her receive special treatment."

Three hours later, I lost all feeling below my waist.

Veronica, the girl I had just dragged from the brink of death, stole my dive log and was hailed across the country as a deep-sea hero.

Three days later, my mother walked into my hospital room.

I thought she was finally there to apologize.

Instead, she handed me an official incident report.

"Just sign this," she said softly. "Admit you dove past your limit and threw a tantrum over medical resources. If you sign, we can all put this behind us."

I looked down at my limp, lifeless legs and let out a cold, bitter laugh.

My life had never been as important to her as her pristine public image.

"Chloe, Veronica is taking the lead camera for this dive."

We were twenty minutes from dive time.

The Leviathan was anchored near Triton Reef. I was kneeling on the deck, running diagnostics on the underwater sensors.

Hearing my mother’s voice, my hands froze.

On the mission clipboard, my name under Lead Diver had been aggressively crossed out with a black marker. In its place: Veronica Stone.

"I designed those sensors," I said, looking up. "I spent four months calculating the telemetry for Point Three. Veronica has never even completed an installation at two hundred feet."

My mother, Director Evelyn Vance, finally tore her eyes away from her tablet.

"If she doesn't have experience, when will she ever get it?" she scolded. "You’re my daughter, Chloe. You should know how to be graceful and step aside."

Step aside.

It was always the same excuse.

Three years ago, I graduated top of my class, but she gave the rookie-of-the-year grant to the runner-up. Last year, when I scored the highest overall in the national deep-sea program trials, she handed the sole spot to Veronica.

Her reasoning? Veronica was an orphan. Her father had been my mother’s diving partner a decade ago, and he died saving my mother’s life.

Ever since, my mother had turned her guilt into an obsession.

And I was the one footing the bill for her redemption.

A few feet away, Veronica stood in brand-new custom gear, smiling brightly for the camera crew.

"With Director Vance guiding me, I’m not scared at all!" she chirped.

My mother walked over, affectionately adjusting Veronica’s shoulder straps. "Just don't push yourself, sweetheart. Stick strictly to protocol."

I hadn’t heard that tender tone directed at me in years.

Ten minutes later, we broke the surface and descended into the abyss.

Two hundred feet down, the coral loomed like a haunted forest.

The moment we reached the target depth, Veronica kept kicking deeper.

Two hundred and five feet.

Two hundred and fifteen.

Two hundred and twenty-five.

I hit the push-to-talk button on my comms, my voice sharp. "Stone, abort descent. Return to the planned depth immediately."

She let out a breathy laugh over the radio. "What's the rush, Chloe? The live feed just caught a rare crimson gorgonian deeper down. I’m just going to bag a quick sample and come back up."

She wanted the glory shot.

I had no choice but to kick hard and dive after her.

At two hundred and thirty feet, she suddenly seized up.

Her air gauge was flickering dangerously low—under thirty bar.

"Chloe," she whimpered, panic trembling in her voice. "I... I’m out of air."

"Drop the sample container!" I ordered. "Grab my octopus rig and follow my ascent. Now!"

She clutched the heavy titanium specimen box to her chest like a newborn child. "No! Millions of people are watching! I can't drop it!"

I lunged forward to rip it out of her hands.

In her blind panic, she snatched my chest-mounted backup regulator, thrashing her fins so violently that she kicked off my safety tether.

A sudden undertow caught me, dragging me into the black trench below.

By the time I clawed my way onto a rock ledge, she was already rocketing toward the surface in a full-blown uncontrolled ascent.

I kicked with everything I had, caught up to her, and locked my arm around her vest.

"Stop kicking!" I barked into her faceplate. "Breathe with my rhythm!"

One hundred and sixty feet.

One hundred and thirty feet.

Our first decompression stop arrived on my dive computer.

Her tank was bone dry. And my primary tank didn't have enough gas for two people to complete the required safety stops.

My mother’s voice crackled through the comms from the surface.

"How is Veronica?"

Not a word about me.

"Critically low gas," I gasped. "We’re executing an emergency ascent."

A brief pause on the line.

"Prioritize Veronica's safety," my mother commanded.

I didn't have time to argue. I shoved my own primary regulator into Veronica’s mouth.

The second decompression ceiling flashed red on my dive computer and vanished behind us.

When we finally broke the surface, the ocean was spinning, and my vision was fading to black.

The crew hauled Veronica onto the deck first.

My mother dropped to her knees beside her, holding her face, murmuring, "You’re safe now. You’re okay."

My hands slipped on the icy ladder. Nobody even looked my way.

Until the dive medic, Julian, yelled at the top of his lungs, "There’s another diver in the water!"

They dragged me onto the deck, and I collapsed against the metal grating.

My lungs burned like they were full of crushed glass.

Suddenly, the dive computer strapped to my wrist shrieked with an ear-splitting alarm:

[CRITICAL ERROR: DECOMPRESSION STOPS MISSED.]

[SPINAL DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS RISK: 92%.]

[IMMEDIATE HYPERBARIC RECOMPRESSION REQUIRED.]