Page 12

Eight

Stella

Teddy and I left Huck’s cabin and drove to Thingvellir National Park, where the Silfra fissure and our diving guides were waiting.

When we’d planned the trip, this was the one thing I had wanted to do, other than search for Gunnarsson’s treasure.

The fissure was the meeting place for the North American and Eurasian continental plates, so we would be able to touch two continents at once while we dove.

There was something epic about the idea of placing our hands on something so ancient and to cross the divide between the place we were from and the one we were in.

When I had found the tour website during my research, I immediately knew I needed this experience.

“You’re awfully smiley this morning,” Teddy observed.

I thought back to the admission Huck had made in the kitchen about wanting to spend more time with me and how I’d felt excited and completely aligned with him in that moment.

“Oh, I’m just feeling renewed after finally experiencing a full night of sleep without being awakened by some sort of coitus taking place in my vicinity. ”

“Tell me about it. I slept like a baby in Sully’s bed.

I stretched out my arms and legs like a starfish in a luxury robe.

But I don’t know if I buy that as your answer…

You’re in a good mood because you slept well?

Well-rested or not, you’re generally borderline petulant after we go on a search and come up empty.

You’ve been taking it suspiciously well. ”

I shrugged. “I guess it has been kind of neat getting to know Huck. Who gets to meet their favorite author and hang out at his place? And he said we could keep staying there.”

“You’re happy about that?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Oh, I’m delighted. Did I just miss our turn?”

On site, we quickly joined the group and donned our dry suits while the guide shared the obligatory warnings—don’t go off alone, respect the surroundings, don’t underestimate Silfra, make sure we don’t accidentally go out into the glacial lake, and, most importantly, don’t pee in our dry suits.

Then we made our way down the metal stairs in our flippers, into the clear, cold, glacial-spring-fed water.

Beneath the surface, we could see for what felt like forever.

Teddy swam beside me. We’d been diving partners for so long that we easily anticipated each other’s movements.

Some of the other people around us twisted and writhed, making sure they could see their partners in the water, but we didn’t have to do that.

I glanced over and Teddy gave me an OK sign.

The area we were diving was pretty shallow, nothing like some of the wrecks we’d been on, and we didn’t need to worry about sharks, so we were able to relax and just enjoy ourselves.

Our first stop was Big Crack, which Teddy thought was absolutely hilarious.

Despite the laughable moniker, this spot was where the two tectonic plates were nearest to each other and the water was the deepest, though we didn’t approach full depth.

We snapped pictures of each other touching both rocky walls before moving on to other parts of the fissure.

I found myself thinking about Huck while we meandered between the rock walls, fingertips hovering just over the surface—wondering how he’d describe this, planning how I could put it into words for him.

He’d stayed at the cabin, where he would be warmer than us, surely, but missing this incredible experience.

And bigger than that, and more surprising, I found myself missing him .

I didn’t do this.

I didn’t get attached or miss people that I’d just met.

Still, Teddy was filming with his underwater camera, memorializing the adventure as he always had, and instead of absorbing the walls of rock or the one hundred meters of visibility, I was worrying that the video wouldn’t do this experience and the sights justice when we shared it with Huck later.

Teddy and I spent about forty minutes in the water, and then our tour leaders let us know that it was time to come out.

Our guide Anna had hot chocolate prepared, and we sipped, relishing the heat and sweetness.

While we drank to warm up, the other guide, Einar, gave us a brief geo-history lesson.

We listened in silence. A light rain started to fall.

When Einar’s presentation ended, Teddy leaned over and said, “Stell, send the picture of me in the fissure to Sully, will you? Let’s caption it: I touched Big Crack and I liked it.”

I made a face. “You’re going to have to send that one yourself, bud. Hey, I meant to ask you, what were you and Huck talking about this morning when I came in the kitchen?”

Teddy lifted his shoulders. “Nothing major.”

“It seemed important,” I pressed.

“Since when are you so interested in non-treasure-related conversations?” Teddy teased. He took a long draw of his drink. “Anna, this cocoa is incredible. Is there more?”

She returned his grin and walked over to us with another cup.

They had a moment of extended eye contact, in which I recognized all of Teddy’s tells of an impending hookup—the slight lift of his eyebrows, the slow movement of his thumb tracing the rim of his cup—and her response, a slow flutter of her lashes, pale and rain-speckled, against her cheeks.

“I know a place nearby where there’s better hot chocolate,” she said.

Teddy nodded. “Sounds amazing.”

Trying my best to be a good wing woman, I took my cue to step away and take a few pictures of the landscape before we had to leave. Einar was busy stowing the scuba gear and dry suits away in preparation of our departure. Teddy jogged over.

“So Anna invited me to join her and some of her friends for a bit of climbing and dinner after this. I guess she knows the chef at this restaurant in Reykjavík that I really wanted to try and she says she can get us in after.”

“Sounds great.”

“You don’t mind if I ride back to the city with her? You know how to get back to the cabin, right?”

I nodded. “Sure. I’m pretty beat anyway. I’m good to head back on my own.”

I was well accustomed to Teddy’s desertions by now.

He would meet someone intriguing and go off with them for a while, but he always came back.

That was all that mattered. Sometimes his crow-like nature of being constantly attracted by shiny things irritated me, but I got it.

He wanted to suck the marrow out of life, one climb or conquest at a time.

His bailing had little impact on me today, though.

I planned to make the most of my time alone on the drive back to think more about Gunnarsson’s treasure—I knew there was something there that I just hadn’t seen yet.

And then back at the cabin…I’d be on my own with Huck.

Only the two of us.

And just the idea of it gave me a little thrill.