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     In the other boat, Annie Taylor suddenly put her hand on Chad Pederson’s arm. She said, “Chad, look,” and they all followed her gaze. The seal had actually come between the two boats, putting herself so close that any one of them could have touched her.

     Becca was astonished by the seal’s strange beauty, every part of her black. Her sleek skin, her eyes, her nose, her whiskers…The only thing about her that wasn’t black was her teeth, and these became visible when she barked a greeting.

     That prompted Ivar, who said, “Back away. Your boat’ll crush her,” to Chad.

     At the same moment, Annie said, “Wait a minute! She’s got a transmitter on!”

To Becca it looked like an old garage door opener fastened to the black seal’s skin. She squinted at it and heard Annie saying, “It looks glued to her neck. Glued, Chad, glued!”

     Nera finally dove beneath the water, disappearing from view. She resurfaced some two hundred yards away. She was heading at that point back out into the passage.

     Annie Taylor looked from the seal to Ivar. She said, “You know something about that transmitter, don’t you? You know why she has it on. And you know why she hasn’t lost it, don’t you?”

     Ivar’s reply was “I don’t know nothing.”

     But Becca could tell that he was lying.