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“Use these!” I cried, sending a wave up and over the yacht’s edge to carry the harpoons to Bellamy. He grabbed one, not even pausing to question it, and launched it toward the roaring beast before us. It released another roar and lunged forward, going for the boat, but I caught the water just in time and blocked her with an icy wave. I wasn’t strong enough to freeze large amounts of water at once, so my ice walls were thin, and shattered like glass when the Kraken so much as touched them. But it was a decent distraction while Bellamy bloodied the creature with his skillful precision.
I couldn’t believe we’d gotten this far. Weakening the Kraken was one thing. But taking her down would still prove to be another. I frantically swam to the boat’s edge creating more ice harpoons from the water around me and sending them shooting upwards at the Kraken all at once. Some of them pierced her skin and stayed there until they melted from the heat of her blood. A small few of the rest shattered on impact with her body.
She ducked below the surface in an effort to escape the ice spike barrage. I dove under, watching her speed toward the boat from underneath. Thinking on my feet—or rather my fins—I shot a hand forward to move the yacht forward with a current from underneath, fast enough to push it right out of her path as she burst forth above the water, angered by missing her target. She plunged back down, and this time her attention wasn’t on the boat. Her black eyes darted back and forth, and her tentacles swirled around her chaotically. She was looking for me.
I did my best to swim amongst the shadows, but the clear water made it difficult to hide. When she saw me, she swatted at me with those massive trunk-like tentacles. She could move much more quickly down here, and the force of her limb swooping past me caught me in an undertow even I could hardly manage to swim out of. I tumbled and swirled in the water, fighting to regain my equilibrium. She overshadowed me, trapping me beneath her as her razor teeth closed in. I swam for my life, and she snatched me with a tentacle, wrapping me in her grip like a python. She carried me along as she refocused on the boat above. I could hear Bellamy screaming my name from above, no doubt wondering what kind of underwater battle was ensuing.
As I squirmed in her grasp, she squeezed my waist and hips so hard I thought I might faint. My tail was immobilized, but one hand was free. As she charged back up to attack the boat, I gave one last ditch effort to call on the water, begging it to crystallize fast and create a barrier between the Kraken and the yacht. But in her unstoppable rage, the beast crashed up through a thin sheet of ice I’d just barely started to form, slamming the whole of her body into the yacht. It nearly tipped, and Bellamy was soaked as he held on for dear life. Reaching for the rifle, he fired more shots, but the unfazed Kraken moved into the bullets like they were no more than snowflakes.
She slid a tentacle into the water, wrapping it around the underside of the boat.
“Bellamy! Look out!” I shouted in warning. Her grip tightened on me and subsequently the yacht. Creaking split the air for a few seconds, and just as Bellamy leapt overboard, the hull snapped in half from the pressure of the Kraken’s squeeze. She submerged herself again, taking me with her as she sought out Bellamy drifting in the water. He was fighting the suction of the sinking boat pieces, nearing the surface when she grabbed him with another tentacle. My eyes widened in horror as she dragged him along, heading downward into the depths with both of us in her clutches.
25
Drowning
Bellamy
Diving into that chilled water felt like a kick in the gut, but I hardly had time to register it as the slime of that monster slid across my body. It dragged me down, suction cups holding me in place as I fought to preserve the last breath I took before leaping off the boat. Under here, I couldn’t see Katrina’s face, but I knew despite my blurry vision she could see me perfectly. I could feel her watching me, and I knew she was hating herself right then.
Some part of me did wish I could have one more moment on the surface with her just for the satisfaction of being right. I wasn’t above being the type to say “I told you so, lass.” But I knew she didn’t need me to say it. And for that, I was sorry.
I didn’t blame her for any of it. Hell, I’d almost killed her before because I wanted to bring back Serena so badly. I wasn’t one to talk. But when you’re drowning in the clutches of a Kraken, maybe it wasn’t abnormal to feel some resentment. But even then, I knew what I was risking by trying to bring back Milo—my brother at sea. And some time back I had already decided that if he would be lost at sea, it was only fair that I should be, too. So, this was fine. I’d die…again. At least this time it was sort of worth something.
26
A Mermaid’s Kiss
Katrina
Ishould’ve listened to Bellamy. Killing the Kraken truly was an impossible task. I could only imagine what he might’ve been thinking if he wasn’t struggling to breathe right now. I couldn’t blame him for hating me. I didn’t care if trying to save Milo meant being eaten by the Kraken. But Bellamy shouldn’t have been facing the same fate. I couldn’t bear to live with myself as I watched him drown. I wished there was some way—any way—I could at least save him.
I watched him struggle against the tentacles binding him, knowing he wouldn’t last much longer submerged as we were pulled to the depths. Down, down, darker and colder. It was too deep for a human. The pressure and the cold would be too much, if he hadn’t drowned already. I couldn’t bear it, and I cried underwater. I cried so much that I fought the Kraken with all the strength in my tears. I found the might to push back against her, trying to sweep us back up to the surface with the water I controlled. But even I couldn’t hold back a Kraken. And finally, I saw the light dim from Bellamy’s bright blue eyes as his head rolled back in the water. Like a rag doll, the monstrous creature carried him, and I wondered what fate awaited us when she finally reached the bottom.
The Kraken sank to a sandy floor with a thud, where a dark cove awaited in the shadows. She’d take us there and chew us up with that garbage disposal of a mouth I was sure. Along the ocean floor she slunk, sliding along by her tentacles, which grew tighter and tighter around us. I’d given up my voice for this.
I’m sorry, Milo. Maybe I’ll find you again in death.
As I braced myself to become a meal, I was startled at the impossible sound of a voice, clear as a bell, ringing out from the dark cave.
“Cala, finish them off! Show them what happens to those mortals who defy their place on land. Show them what happens to those who try to hurt us.”
I blinked, trying to recognize whose voice I was hearing. It reached my ears like cool velvet, a strange power and beauty in it, almost like a siren’s, but less soft and seductive…it was stronger to the ear and drenched with authority. It had come from the ominous shadows of the cave.
The Kraken groaned softly, drawing a limp Bellamy and me closer and opening its terrifying jaws wide. At least Bellamy would be unconscious for this part. I recoiled at the sight of the teeth so close to shredding me open as it pulled me near to its mouth. I wriggled my tail with the last of my strength, to no avail.
Just as I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the pain of those knife-like teeth to tear into my skin, the voice called out again, this time with an urgency I might’ve even mistaken for panic.
“Wait!”
The Kraken froze, still carefully restraining us in its clutches.
The great beast lowered Bellamy down, still holding me tight as I watched onward. His body drifted to the sand below and I couldn’t help but notice the peace in his face. I almost envied him. I still searched for the voice. Then I saw her. Somehow in this darkness beneath the sea, I could see her clearly, as if some light radiated from her and illuminated this bit of sea floor. My gaze followed the flow of a current swirling towards a womanly figure, wrapping her in a dress made from the very water around her. Like a veil, the current obscured her face as she walked with slow steps on the sand. She was no siren or mermaid. She moved as though she was one with the water, but her body looked fully human. I couldn’t die like this, without my curiosity quenched. I had to know who she was and how she walked down here, commanding deadly giant squids with just her words.
The ocean woman neared Bellamy, and I couldn’t keep from calling out to her. “Please don’t hurt him! Can you send him back to the surface? Kill me, but give him a chance to live! It was my idea to come here, not his!”
She ignored me, seeming completely fixated on Bellamy’s lifeless body. I wished I could see her face, but the water kept a blurry shield whirling around her. I could make out her movements with ease, though. She knelt down to him; touched his hair with her fingers. She felt his face and neck and chest, as if she’d never seen another human before. And then, she leaned over, putting her face to his as the glassy wall of water surrounded them both. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like she kissed him on the lips.
