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I turned back to see Bellamy, harpoon in hand and hunting rifle strapped to his back. Thankfully the yacht’s armory was stocked with at least that. I stepped up onto the edge of the hull and climbed over, holding onto the rim while I leaned over the water’s surface. I was about to dive in, bracing myself for the brief sting in my lungs right before I transformed. But a hand steadied my shoulder. I glanced back at Bellamy, whose forehead was creased with a worry I knew he’d rather not show. “Be careful down there, lass. Don’t get too close to that thing.”
I gave a firm nod, and then let go, dropping forward and leaning headfirst into the water. Its icy pierce swallowed me whole, and I fought my way through the chill of my body, forcing myself to ignore it until my other side gained control. Once in that form, I no longer felt the glacial temperature of the water on my skin. Everything was as it should be. Me, immersed, one with the water and sinking deeper, deeper…
I forced myself to stay focused and keep the siren voice at bay. Though I wondered if I might need some of her brash fierceness to face this creature of the deep. If I ever found it, that is. I searched, looking for any sign of the sea monster’s presence. But as I dove the depths, sea life became more and more scarce.
It was only when I spotted a large school of fish swimming frantically upwards that I guessed they might be a clue to my next direction. With a powerful flick of my tail, I surged forward through the water to where the fish had just passed, and then I turned downward to make my descent to the depths.
As I swam, heavy groans echoed from the ocean floor, creating rippling vibrations strong enough to rattle my bones. Any human would have long succumbed to the pressure. I had to be miles down by now, but there was still no sign of the Kraken. I suddenly feared if I went deep enough to find it, I wouldn’t stand a chance against it in its own territory. I had to bring it to the surface.
I wished I had my siren song, because it seemed it might’ve been the perfect tool for summoning a sea beast. But at least I still had my other power. I wondered if I could create some sort of commotion, maybe I could get its attention. I’d never quite controlled the water from underneath like this. I wasn’t sure if it was even possible. But to me it made sense. If my tears connected my power to the ocean’s, how much more would it work when I was already submerged in it?
I blinked back the ache behind my eyes. My siren didn’t like to cry, of course, but Katrina had mastered the art of feeling her broken heart enough to draw out some sorrows. And if I couldn’t find sadness, there always seemed to be some burning anger readily available in this form. I bit down on my lip until it bled, a tiny drop of red blossoming into the dark water around me, only visible to my inhuman eyes this deep. The bit of pain made me wince, and even underwater I could feel the sting in my eyes drawing out a tear from reaction.
Suddenly I felt the water swirl at my fingertips, like energy flowing from me and to me both at the same time. I spun the water around me, creating light currents the same way I might glide a paintbrush along a canvas. Careful, but freeing movements, up, then down. I drew the water around me like a cloak, sending it whirring around in streams of bubbles, and then channeling it all back down.
Another groan reverberated up through the water. It had to be close. It had to be seeing and feeling all this. I twisted more water around me, bending it in ribbons that flowed like paint trails down paper. I dove just a bit lower, sending a few more powerful currents down to the bottom, where I waited, staring into the black abyss that became even too dark for me to see into.
I waited, letting the water around me settle a moment. The silence down here was almost tangible, and once the last few bubbles popped and faded, there was nothing left to fill it. Suspended in the water by my tail, I watched the depths below, my heart now pounding in my ears. The siren in me told me—begged me to swim up, to escape and preserve myself. But none of this was about myself.
When a massive tentacle shot upwards from the darkness, I found myself right in its path. I whipped my tail sideways and darted out of the way, but the tentacle seemed adamant that I was its target. It retreated for a moment, only briefly, before a low quaking sent me swimming back up. I had awoken the Kraken.
The ascent was a blur, as my determination to reach the surface blocked out the memory of the tentacles shooting up around me like weeds. I broke through the water, a desperate gasp on my lips to warn Bellamy of the creature right on my tail.
“It’s behind me! Get ready!” I called.
Bellamy rushed to the edge of the boat, leaning as far over as he could, waiting to see the monster we were about to face. For a moment it was quiet, and only a lone bubble surfaced. I dove back down for a quick look, but all signs of the Kraken had disappeared. As I resurfaced, before I could say a word to Bellamy, something broke forth out of the water on the other side of the boat. With a crash that sent the yacht reeling, the great sea beast showed itself in all its glory.
The tips of its tentacles that had attacked me were nothing compared to the entire thing. Each one must’ve been at least one hundred feet long, the width of massive columns that could easily snap a boat in half. The purplish gray hue of its body shone glossy white in the light as it emerged partly from the water, revealing its brutish form. An octopus-like creature of colossal proportions, it dwarfed our yacht, making it look as fragile as a toy sailboat in a child’s bathtub.
The creature raised up from the water. With a deafening roar, it revealed rings of razor teeth waiting to suck down its next victim with ease. I gasped, a sense of fear washing over me at the thought of being trapped in the water with this thing. But I doubted legs would do me any more good than fins. I glanced at Bellamy, who was at the mercy of the beast sizing up our boat. Suddenly tentacles flew up around the sides of the boat, climbing up like vines and taking hold of the hull.
“She’ll snap this thing in two and pull it under!” Bellamy called, pulling out the rifle on his sling and firing. The Kraken growled in anguish or surprise at the hot bullet lodging itself in her tentacle. I wondered how Bellamy had any way of possibly knowing it was a “she,” but I went along with it. She recoiled, her tentacles sliding down the boat’s edges in a momentary retreat. Bellamy aimed at the water below, using the scope to help him hone in on his target. He fired once more, this time into the animal’s head. But a bullet from a rifle was probably no more than an ant bite to this creature. She merely reared back as if to attack, unfazed by the pebble-sized chunk taken from her flesh.
“I think you’re just making her mad!” I yelled to Bellamy. As if on cue, the Kraken pulled her grip from the boat. She turned her attention to me, lifting a colossal tentacle and sending it crashing back down like a falling building. I dodged it by ducking under the water and using my tail as a rudder to help me dart off to the side. I gathered my courage and swam underneath the monster, looking desperately for any sort of weak spot or injury I could use to my advantage.
Dammit. Nothing.
I summoned some water and balled it up into an orb of energy, sending it hurtling toward the belly of the beast. It was enough to make her take pause and lurch up as the force made impact with her body. But she no more than rocked back into position with ease and continued her attack on the yacht. The boat’s shadow moved off, and a trail of bubbles churned out quickly from the propeller. Bellamy circled the yacht around her, and I watched from beneath, still trying to think of how I could weaken her with her own element.
I swam back up to the surface, desperate. Bellamy reeled the boat around the backside of the Kraken. Her size certainly made her slow, which seemed to be the only advantage we had. He left the helm and rushed to the side of the boat, shooting the thing with a flare gun and then a few rounds of the rifle. The flare seemed to stun her, and it allowed for him to get a few shots in, but the bullets nearly bounced off her skin. Nothing was working.
“Still feel sorry for it?” Bellamy shouted over the roar of water splashing and the sea beast groaning. I rolled my eyes, then dove back under to look once more for weak spots.
As I swam, I began to question everything. Could we really kill this thing? No wonder Bellamy was so mad at me when I accepted Bastian’s deal to do this. What if he was right? What if this really was a suicide mission. If I couldn’t bring Milo back, that was one thing, but I should never have asked this of Bellamy.
Crackling reverberated through the dense water as the monster reached for the boat once more. Her tentacles squeezed it like an eggshell. It would either break in half or be pulled down in seconds. I motioned for the water and created a swell big enough to push her off the boat, but I couldn’t hold it for long.
Letting go of the wave, I burst back up to the surface, my eyes meeting a panicked Bellamy’s. “The harpoon!” I shouted. I knew Bellamy was saving that for a one-and-only shot, but I was beginning to think it might be time to take the chance. With the Kraken right up on the boat, he would at least have an easy shot.
He rushed to the creature, fighting the swaying of the boat as the tentacles secured their grip around it once more like a spider going for the kill. With a grunt, he stabbed the side of the monstrous thing, right by its massive beady eye. It shrieked in pain, a shrill sound deafening to the ears.
“We need more harpoons! It would probably take hundreds of them!” Bellamy screamed over the animal’s agonizing roar.
My thoughts raced. Even with more harpoons, her underside was armored by the thickest hide I’d ever seen, probably impossible to pierce with anything that wasn’t…magic. Then an idea struck me. I recalled the icy bite of this water when I was human. The sharp stab of cold water was worse than any blade. Ice.
I had no idea if my power could manage such a feat, but now was as good as any time to find out. I painted scenes of frozen water in my mind, dreaming of how I’d shape the crisp, sharp form of ice in hues of white and blue. I felt the water around me, forming crystals at my fingertips and drawing the water to me in a way I’d never before. It hardened, forming a staff of ice shards with a tip sharper than a sword—ice harpoons. I formed a dozen or so of them, and with every ounce of concentration in me, I harnessed the small army of ice spikes surrounding me in the water, turning them on the Kraken and sending them forward with all the speed and force possible. They shot forward, their icy tips driving into various spots on the beast. She wailed in pain and dipped down into the water to face me. Her blood stained the water around her, creating an eerie sight of cool blue and swirling scarlet. She lunged at me, showing that terrifying ring of teeth and sending her tentacles at me. Instinctively, I put up my hand, inadvertently forming an ice shield between us. Her tentacle hit the clear ice wall, cracking it before it dissolved into the rest of the water.
Ice was the answer. At least for now. I could slow her down enough with it while Bellamy used the ice harpoons. We could do this. I swam back up to the surface, an artillery of ice spikes forming alongside me as I emerged.
