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Chapter 30 – Kalina
In the shadows lurked new sharks, all species, coming in droves to get a piece of the action. This was a war they weren’t a part of, but they craved the spoils anyway. They wanted to clean up the debris, and Kalina had never felt panic in the ocean the way she felt it now. Rafe was hurt badly, Cobalt was barely alive. Beanie was dead. Penny was broken, and now on a warpath. Sylvia…she was down there somewhere going after Evelyn.
“They’re coming,” Kalina warned them all.
“Who’s coming?” Thane asked.
“All of them,” she replied.
Thane turned to look, finally taking his focus off Penny, and he saw what she had. Sharks were moving in from all directions. A 360-degree circle of terror was closing in on them. It was nothing personal. They meant nothing to these sharks. This was a Christmas dinner feast, and for the first time, Kalina wondered if other sharks knew about them. If they were secretly despised for their powers and their skills and their healing abilities. Did these sharks have something against them or did they not even know the difference? She and the others could only communicate with their kind. Other sharks were off-limits. She’d swam by their side many times and had never given it thought before. Yet, right now, they seemed too eager to feast. She imagined they were excited to finally get their chance at finishing off a great tribe of shifters who’d dared desecrate their world with their half-human ways.
“Stay with Cobalt and Rafe,” Thane ordered. “They’ll be coming after them.”
“Holy shit, bra,” Hightail whined. “This is the end, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not,” Rafe said, and Kalina admired his bravery.
He was wrong, but she loved how he always stayed on the positive side, always believing there was a way out. There was, of course, but it would mean leaving him and Cobalt behind. If they tried to make a run for their island, the other sharks would follow. The blood was too thick. If they didn’t bleed out first, they’d be picked off piece by piece as they made their way for dry land.
“You should all go,” Rafe said.
“Yes,” Cobalt agreed, even his mental voice so weak he could barely make out the words. “We will hold them off.”
“Shut up,” Faith ordered. “We’ve already lost one of your friends. We’re not losing you or any of the others.”
“Get them home,” Penny ordered. “I’m going after Evelyn. The sharks won’t bother me. I’m not bleeding.”
“Yet,” Kalina said. “You’re not bleeding yet.”
“With Sylvia by my side, I can beat Evelyn. Don’t worry about me,” Penny replied.
“About us,” Thane said. “Go. Get them back. Everyone involved. All of you need to make sure they make it back to the island. Surround them as you head back. Guard their front, back, sides, top, and below them. Don’t show fear. Don’t flinch. Just go home. The rest of you stay close behind them to ward off any attacks from below or above.”
“We need to get to Horace,” Kalina said. “He can help them.”
“We won’t make it,” Cobalt said. “Please, find Sylvia and make sure she’s okay. That’s more important than me.”
“Shut up,” Faith said again. “Just swim. Let’s go home.”
Cobalt reluctantly turned and slowly made his way to the front of their pack. A shark shot into view from deep below them and bit into Cobalt. He howled, and Faith was on him immediately, taking a much larger chunk out of it than it had from Cobalt. The shark swam away badly injured and Faith pushed them on.
“Like I said, we’re going home,” she said.
Where is Kane? Oh, brother. Tell me you didn’t pussy out and go home.
Kalina scanned everywhere around them and didn’t see any sight of her brother. Having an extra great white by their side would have been helpful. He might have scared off some of the sharks enough that they wouldn’t try to attack. With Sylvia racing after Evelyn somewhere and Penny and Thane now gone, their numbers had dwindled considerably. Only Kalina, Squid, Hightail, Faith, Jagger, Oliver, Kino, Hailey, and Paisley remained to watch over Rafe and Cobalt. Eleven sharks to fight off the entire ocean, and only nine of them were able to put up a serious fight.
Cobalt and Rafe swam side by side, their blood trailing behind them like gasoline leaking from damaged cars. All it would take was a small flame to set their world ablaze. If one shark got through them and showed their vulnerability, hundreds of others would join the feeding frenzy. Kino and Faith led them all with Oliver and Hailey watching their flanks. Jagger was above with Squid and Hightail below. Kalina stayed a few paces back to watch deep down below and all around them. She was their warning bell.
Kalina looked back and saw that most of the sharks had headed toward the boat where all the leftover remains of the battle had coated the water red. It was shark soup up near the surface, and the new sharks were ravenous. An entire school of hammerheads and their tiger shark friends, those that hadn’t fled, had been obliterated.
Good riddance.
Suddenly, it seemed the sharks behind them had finished off the remainder of their meal and wanted dessert. It was as if they’d all suddenly communicated their hunger and had noticed the injured sharks fleeing the scene. Slow at first, and then off like a bullet, the sharks came at them, most from the rear, but plenty from the sides and above and below.
Dear God. Help me get them to Horace. Help me save them. Save us.
She hadn’t prayed to God in a long time. Not like this. Not treating him as if he actually existed. Islanders had so many gods. Horace had taught her about a number of them from so many different tribes and of course, even a belief he’d found amusing about the world beginning on a turtle’s back. It didn’t matter if it were the one Christian God she’d heard about as a child or Allah or the Sumerian Enki, the Egyptian Ra, or even Thor the Thunder God. If any of them could hear her prayers, she would gladly accept their help. Cobalt was too slow. He was hurt too badly to outswim them. They had no choice but to stand their ground and fight.
