The Third Breath, page 2 of 12

Pip touches the pale sand at the bottom of a clear shallow pool with a folded leaf held over his head, small and methodical.

The pool let him practise in its shallowest corner.

One breath down, touch the sand, up.

He wrote the numbers on a dry leaf: how long a breath is, how far down is.

© 2026 A.J.Sharpe