Page 111 of Dragon Me Through Space

I was going to die.

“Xoe!” the princes’ voices rang out and Scout screamed just before the water closed over my head.

With long, firm strokes, I headed towards the wall, surfacing and drawing in a deep breath.

The luscas hadn’t noticed me yet, too busy feeding on the others who had already fallen in, which gave me time to put distance between us.

The wall of the arena was too slick and completely vertical, making it impossible for me to climb out. No matter how hard I tried to dig my fingers into the side or shove the toe of my boot into a crevice, I couldn’t get purchase.

Scout appeared above me in her large drone body.

“Scout!” I screamed.

She lowered herself until I could reach her, but just as I gripped her spherical shape, a tentacle wrapped around my waist and pulled me down.

Zeke leaned over the wall, his hand reaching out towards me, but our fingertips just barely missed as the lusca pulled me under the water.

Pulling out the small blade I’d hidden in my boot, I stabbed the lusca’s tentacle, but it refused to let go as it dragged me away from the wall.

Looking behind me, I quickly realized where it was taking me … to the other luscas to feed.

With a hard slash of my knife, I cut through the tentacle and freed myself. Instead of surfacing, I swam away in the opposite direction, trying to put as much space between me and the lusca as possible.

A tentacle slid around my side, but I stabbed it before it could fully latch onto me.

My head broke the surface of the water just long enough for me to draw in a breath and hear screaming before I was pulled back down.

Think, Xoe. What did the folktales say about the lusca? Aside from them being monsters …

They had a weakness. What was it? It was something I’d laughed about and others had said was impossible to accomplish. Maybe it was real. It might be my only chance of surviving the water with them. It was something basic and simple, but …

Their eyes! That was it! They had small eyes on each side of their head that put you right by their mouth, but if you hurt their eye, they would give up and leave you alone to find easier prey.

One of the lusca sped towards me and I gripped my knife tightly, preparing to attack it. The mouth opened and two tentacles rushed forward to try to grab me.

I let the tentacle wrap around my waist and pull me towards its mouth, but before it could bite me, I kicked off the side of its mouth and spun myself around it. Once at the side of its face, I stabbed my knife into the eye of the lusca as hard as I could and twisted.

The lusca thrashed about and flung me away as it turned in the opposite direction to flee.

I didn’t have time to celebrate as another lusca moved forward to attack me in the first one’s place.

Again and again, I stabbed the eyes of the luscas, cut their tentacles, and slashed at their bodies. My lungs burned for air, but I knew the moment I looked away, the moment I tried to surface, I would lose.

One of the lusca that I’d stabbed darted around me in the water, churning it up and making it hard for me to follow its movements.

Pain erupted in my right leg and I had to bite down on my lip to keep from screaming and losing the air in my lungs. I hoped it hadn’t severed my leg, but so much red filled the water around me that I knew the damage had to be severe. Despite that, I couldn’t focus on my injury yet. The lusca had to die first.

The adrenaline in my body was surging faster, giving me a moment of clarity and clear view of the predator as it swam straight at me, jaws opened wide and ready to devour me whole.

Although it would be against the rules, I activated the dagger in the boot of my uninjured leg. When the lusca’s snout got within my reach, I kicked as hard as I could, sinking the blade into the sensitive skin of its snout.

The lusca recoiled, but my boot’s dagger was still stuck in it and it dragged me along with it. Using my arms to propel myself forward, I got up next to its head and stabbed the other eye once … twice … three times.

Finally, the lusca stopped moving, I removed my boot dagger from its snout, and it floated to the surface.

There was a strange stillness around me and it took me a moment to realize that none of the lusca were attacking … or moving.

Hazarding a chance to get air, I kicked my way to the surface and gasped in a deep, satisfying breath as I raised one of my hands in the air. As soon as I surfaced, a cheer erupted from the crowd and the announcer.