Saavira Gungali-pramod Maravanthe-joe Costa-pri... -

She gestured to her camera, then pointed upward. I have what I came for.

“Then let’s go home,” she said. “All of us.”

Saavira’s hand clamped over Pri’s wrist. For a long moment, they hung there, eye to eye through their masks. Then Pri smiled—a strange, sad smile—and pulled back.

Pri pointed at the conch. “That ship wasn’t lost in a storm. It was scuttled. Your great-grandfather sank it on purpose to keep the conch from being smuggled out by a corrupt temple priest. He died a thief in the records, but he died honest.” Saavira Gungali-Pramod Maravanthe-Joe Costa-Pri...

And then he saw it: a broken mast, encrusted with barnacles, leaning like a cross. The Nossa Senhora .

“If we’re doing this,” Pri said, her voice low, “we do it my way. No shouting. No heroics. The currents shift every fifteen minutes.”

Inside, the darkness was absolute. Joe’s light found wooden ribs, shattered barrels, and a small, iron-bound chest wedged beneath a collapsed beam. Pri was already prying it open. Inside, nestled in blackened velvet, lay the conch—pale as bone, its silver scrollwork tarnished but intact. It was smaller than Joe had imagined. More fragile. She gestured to her camera, then pointed upward

Joe shook his head, and handed it to Saavira. “No. It was always meant for the temple. You finish the journey.”

The waves slapped the rocks. Pramod placed the conch in Joe’s hands. “Then it’s yours,” he said. “Family honor.”

They descended in borrowed gear, the green water closing over them like a memory. Visibility was poor—shifting curtains of silt and plankton. Saavira led, her hand signals sharp and economical. Pramod followed, a knife strapped to his calf, more for cutting nets than defense. Joe’s heart hammered as his flashlight cut through the murk. “All of us

“It’s not just about finding it,” she said, tapping a weathered map. “It’s about not drowning before we do.”

Pri darted ahead, her camera rolling. Joe grabbed her fin. Wait, he signaled. But she shook him off and slipped through a gap in the hull.