The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 213

Sloane walked up to the edge of the ice hole. It was pitch black, looking like a massive, vertical pupil staring into the abyss. A thin layer of ice had already formed over the water they had just chopped open, its edges as jagged as broken glass. The professor walked over, crouching by the edge, and shined his flashlight into the water. The beam pierced the surface, revealing a deep, bottomless expanse of phantom blue.

"If your body feels off, come straight back up," the professor said, his voice low. "Don't try to be a hero."

Sloane nodded.

She began putting on her gear. The wetsuit was brand new, pitch black, and tightly hugged her curves, the zipper running all the way from her lower back to the base of her skull. Oxygen tank, weight belt, depth gauge, headlamp—Josh crouched beside her, running his hands over every strap and buckle, double-checking by touch to ensure everything was perfectly secured.

"I'm going in." She gave Josh a final nod and stepped up to the edge.

Her flippers crunched against the ice. Just as she leaned forward to jump—

"Sloane."

Garrison's voice rang out from behind her. She turned to see him approaching, holding a small silver disc in his hand—a biometric sensor patch.

He stepped up to her and pressed the patch against the bare skin just below her collarbone. It was freezing, stinging like an insect bite the second the adhesive made contact.

"Heart rate, blood oxygen, temperature." Garrison's fingers lingered over the patch, refusing to pull away immediately. "The data streams live to my tablet. The second a single metric drops—"

"I know," Sloane cut him off. "I abort immediately."

Garrison stared into her eyes. She stood there in her sleek black wetsuit, the light from her headlamp casting sharp shadows upward across her face, sculpting her features into something fierce and statuesque. Her lips were still pale, but her eyes were dark and piercing, shining like solitary stars against the endless night.

"Be safe," Garrison told her, knowing how utterly useless the words were.

Sloane offered a faint smile.

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