One of the locals had directed her to the spot—a secluded cove you had to hike through a dense swath of palm scrub to reach. Anika was sweating a little as she crested the last hill and broke past the line of the trees. Her thin tank top clung to her like a second skin.

As the minutes ticked by with no more sightings, Anika’s adrenaline rush began to subside. She was just thinking of giving up and turning back when she glimpsed it again—not just one glowing tendril, but several. Smoothly they coalesced into a banded length of shimmering blue, before vanishing altogether into the shadowy depths beyond. Anika