Page 8

Six

Huck

The air was sharply cool at the Blue Lagoon.

Steam wafted up from the milky surface of the water, curling like smoke over the black rocks.

This place wasn’t exactly what I’d pictured—in the distance I made out the outline of the power plant that created these pools, but somehow it only added to the otherworldly quality and didn’t detract from the beauty of the scene.

My mind wandered. A lagoon like this, so ethereal and eerie, would be a good setting for some kind of murder.

You’d never be able to see a body under the surface.

Was there a body under the surface? I wondered, as I stepped into the waters.

The spare trunks Ted had lent me were not a mankini, thank god, but they did fit a bit more snugly than I would’ve liked, so I was relieved that Stella and Zoe hadn’t emerged from the locker room yet.

The heat of the water was a welcome change after the brisk walk through the frigid air from the building housing the locker rooms to the edge of the lagoon.

I tried to push the curiosity about what might be hidden in the opaque liquid out of my mind as I made my way deeper into the pool.

At least the lack of water clarity meant that no one outside of the men’s changing room had any idea of the degree of nut hugging I was enduring with these borrowed shorts.

The guys and I found a nook in the side of the pool, where I sunk into the warm water up to my neck.

A family drifted by us—mom, dad, a middle school–aged girl, and a younger boy—in a tight pack. “I saw a lot of butts,” the boy said.

“Oh my gosh, same,” the girl replied. “It was giving middle-aged nudist-colony reunion. Thank god Mom lent me her robe. No one’s seeing my butt.”

Ted laughed. “Those kids aren’t wrong.” The locker room had been decidedly uninhibited, and everyone seemed to take the naked, full-body soap-up requirement seriously.

“You were in your element,” I said, chuckling.

“Both valid points,” Gus added.

“Okay, I would fit in nicely in Europe.”

“Or a nudist colony.”

“Maybe that should be my next venture if we ever give up treasure hunting,” Ted said. “Preston Plains, where you are free to let it all hang out. You want to invest, Huck? You’ve got that book money, right?”

“Hey, there they are,” Gus said, saving me from answering. “Zoe, over here.” He waved a hand over his head.

I followed his gaze to the racks where Stella and Zoe were removing their bathrobes and hanging them on hooks.

Stella’s blond hair was darker, slicked to her head and tied in a tight bun at the nape of her neck.

Against the black fabric of her sport-cut two-piece, her bare skin was creamy.

Zoe’s skin was shades darker than Stella’s, a rich light brown complemented by a shiny fuchsia string bikini.

She waved back at Gus, and together the women strode toward the ramp into the water.

Zoe took careful steps, but Stella raced in.

There was something about the way that she simply forged ahead in every situation—no fear, no hesitation—that I admired, even as the curves of her body disappeared beneath the milky teal water.

“So, Huck, how’s your love life these days? Seeing anyone special?” Ted asked, diverting my attention.

“Not at the moment,” I said. Not for a long time. Not since Vanessa had moved on to better things than a failed writer, leaving behind a closet full of empty hangers and the ring I’d given her on the bathroom counter.

“Weren’t you dating that actress? What’s her name…?” Gus trailed off.

“Scarlett Johansson?” Ted filled in. “Most beautiful woman alive. What I’d give to go out with her.”

“That was a rumor.” One that was better than the quiet, sad truth.

“To be honest, I don’t date much.” That was true.

“I’m sort of a homebody—I think sometimes people have this idea of a writer’s life as being glamorous, but I spend most of my days staring at my computer screen, thinking.

Kind of a letdown for potential partners,” I said.

Vanessa never let me forget the disappointment she’d felt when she realized how boring my life actually was. She’d signed up for a hero, like in my books, and the reality of me wasn’t even close, and when I started to struggle…she couldn’t get away from me fast enough.

“You weren’t that boring in school,” Teddy said with a laugh. “What happened? Did you go downhill and return to your former state once you stopped hanging out with me full-time?”

“Ouch,” Gus said.

“What’s a letdown?” Stella asked.

I flushed. I hadn’t wanted her to hear that. In fact, I’m not sure why I admitted it in the first place. “Nothing,” I said.

“Oh good, for a second there, I thought you were talking about this place, and if that was the case I was going to have to stop liking you since you clearly can’t appreciate the divine.” She swished her arms in the water like a washing machine agitator. She was enchanting.

I surveyed the lagoon again. “Not at all. It’s ethereal,” I told her. I considered whether I should share my thoughts of using it as a setting for an action scene.

“It is. You know, your eyes are the same color as this water.”

My core tightened at these words, contracting at the implication, under the weight of her eye contact. I swallowed. “Oh yeah?”

She nodded, but then she was off again, moving.

“Let’s get face masks, Zoe.” She grabbed her friend’s hand and waded toward the mask station at the water’s edge on the left.

There, a woman in a Blue Lagoon polo shirt doled out scoops of various mud masks.

I couldn’t help but follow them. Ted and Gus joined too.

We smeared the white silica mud over our cheeks and foreheads, except for Gus, who applied a pale green algae mask to his dark skin. He flexed.

“Babe, does this make me look like the Incredible Hulk?” he asked.

Zoe eyed him. “Yeah, it’s kind of doing it for me actually.”

“She’s clearly biased, Gus. You look ridiculous.

Now, I make this shit look good,” Teddy said.

“They could put me on the brochure to advertise this stuff. Isn’t it miraculous?

I feel it working already. I’m going to swim over to the bar to get my complimentary drink while it works its magic. Stell, you coming?”

Stella had her eyes closed and was leaning back against a rocky outcropping. “I think I’m going to chill here.”

“I’ll stay with you,” I said.

“I’m in for drinks,” Zoe said, and she wrapped her arms around Gus’s shoulders to hitch a ride. “C’mon, Bruce Banner, carry me across this lagoon.”

Stella and I sat quietly against the rock wall as I tried and failed to not think about our proximity and the occasional brush of her bare thigh against mine.

“Would it be cliché if I asked what you were thinking about?” I said.

“Not at all. I’ve never understood why people are so anti-cliché, to be honest. I love them.

” She scooped a handful of water and let it trickle through her fingers.

“I’m a simple girl. I’m thinking about treasure.

I really was hopeful last night at the waterfall.

I wanted the gang to finally see that I hadn’t dragged them all over Iceland for nothing.

They’re good sports, and we have a great time together, but last night at the bar, Zoe and Gus had been expressing some mild irritation at the fact that we’d been hunting and nothing else, especially since I’d sort of framed this late-fall trip as a departure from our usual summer voyage and sunken-treasure-search routine.

I may not have told them that the main reason I wanted to come to Iceland was to find Gunnarsson’s gold and finally locate the missing connection that we need to figure out where to search for the red diamond Teddy mentioned to you.

Zoe had been envisioning nightlife and lagoons, not hiking and being cold and soaking wet ninety-nine percent of the time.

I rationalized it by thinking we’d definitely find it and all the work and missing the fun and hot springs would be worth it.

I guess I feel like I’ve let them down since we didn’t find it.

Not that me failing to lead us to treasure is anything new.

We started searching when we turned eighteen—ten summers—and we’ve turned up a few cool finds but nothing life-changing.

I’m waiting for them to all realize one day that they’ve wasted a decade because of me. ”

“I doubt they see it that way,” I said. I know I didn’t. Last night was one of the most exciting nights of my life. “I can’t imagine anyone feeling anything other than electric spending time with you.”

She lifted her shoulders out of the water. “Really? I don’t know about that.”

“What’s this legendary, probably-not-cursed diamond called?”

“The Elephant’s Heart. It’s a rare red diamond from Africa that is supposedly massive, hence the name. It was part of a stolen treasure from the world’s first pirates.”

“Sounds like it’ll be worth the wait.”

“I hope so. I just want to find it for them so bad. They’ve always been there for me, so I guess I want to return the favor with something equally monumental. I know I get obsessive sometimes.”

I got the feeling that there was more to this than Stella was saying but didn’t push. We took turns rinsing the masks from our faces at a freshwater tap. She reached up and smoothed her hand over my jaw. Her touch was gentle but it made me hungry for more.

“There’s a bit of residue in your stubble,” she said.

“Oh. These masks are persistent,” I said, rubbing the last of the residue off. “You’ve got a little left too.” I reached out to brush a small smear of white on her cheek. “There. Got it.”

“Thanks. Teddy would’ve let me walk around with stuff on my face all day while giggling about it like a child. You’re a rare gentleman.”