Read Online The Neptune Project by Polly Holyoke - Free Book Online

see him one more time.:
    Robry stops exploring. Instead he swims quietly beside me, his face set. We reach the entrance to Tyler’s Cove at four thirty a.m., according to my marine watch, which means we have over an hour until sunrise. I’m tired, but I don’t feel the least bit sleepy. I’m too worried about whether or not Cam made it past the Marine Guard.
    My mother sends the dolphins ahead of us to check for boats. They report back that there’s just one small dinghy drawn up on the cove’s only beach. Gillian insists that we leave our fins, seapacks, and spearguns at the bottom of the cove, where we can retrieve them safely, just in case we have to leave here in a hurry.
    After we surface at the entrance to the cove, I look toward the beach. A shadow detaches itself from the rocks beside it. Even from this distance I can tell it’s Cam. I tense when I realize there are two more people with him. Lena’s parents have come as well.
    â€œI told them it was dangerous for everyone,” Cam says to Gillian the instant she beaches the zode, “but they insisted on coming.”
    Lena hurriedly splashes out of the water. For all her talk of being angry with her parents, she throws herself into her mother’s arms. I follow her out of the water more slowly. I’m trying to get used to breathing air again. My mother was right: I can breathe it, but it feels dry and strange, and there’s not nearly enough oxygen in it.
    Lena and her mother are crying now, and Lena is speaking angrily to her father. I turn away to give them privacy.
    Cam is talking with Gillian. I hear the tension in his voice. “I don’t think we were followed, but I can’t be sure. There’re soldiers everywhere now.”
    â€œWe have to make this quick, then,” my mother declares, even as she scans the steep hillsides around the cove.
    â€œRobry, you can say good-bye first,” I say thickly. I need more time to pull myself together. Now that I’m here with Cam, I don’t want to cry all over his shirt.
    Robry looks at me and nods. I retreat back toward the surf so that they can be alone. Cam talks urgently to him, his hand on Robry’s shoulder.
    I think I’ll always remember them that way: Robry standing there in a wash of moonlight, trying to be brave and looking like a smaller version of his big brother. Then Cam gives Robry a long hug. It’s as if he’s trying to pass on the love and caring of their entire family.
    Robry splashes past me into the water, staring down at his feet, his face wet with tears. Suddenly, I’m facing Cam all by myself. I walk out of the surf to be closer to him.
    All at once there’s such a big lump in my throat that I have to struggle to speak. “What are you going to do?”
    â€œI’m sailing south once I drop off Lena’s parents. I might try to start a sail-making business with some of my cousins on the other side of the border.”
    I frown, thinking of the armed patrol boats he must pass in his tiny sailboat.
    â€œPromise me that you’ll be careful,” is all I can think to say. I feel tears well up in my eyes. Gillian altered my body in so many other ways; why didn’t she plug up my stupid tear ducts while she was at it?
    â€œNere, there’s a chance I will see you again,” Cam says, his dark eyes intent. “If you ever need help, get word to me through the smugglers. I’ll come.”
    I can only nod, afraid to trust my voice. I must look miserable, though, because moments later, he hugs me. I bury my face in his shoulder, his arms tighten around me, and finally I feel safe.
    â€œNo matter what happens, I’ll always love you,” he whispers in my ear. I close my eyes. Do I love him back? I just know Cam is more important to me than any friend I’ve ever had. I open my eyes and raise my face to him, and then he kisses me. I realize I’ve been waiting forever for