Chapter 23 #2
In the distance, another enormous black shape lifts from the water. Great rivulets of water are sloughing from it into the water as it hovers menacingly over the side of the ship.
“What’s happening?” Someone beside me asks.
My newly improved vision allows me to see everything in minute detail.
I see the moment the men recoil back from the side of the ship.
The weapons being discharged, their purple zig-zagging light hitting their mark.
Then the moment Finch brings his tentacle down onto the ship with enough force to level a building.
A deafening CRACK sounds as the ship is smashed in two with enough force to send the different parts flying.
A chorus of yelps, mixed with raucous jeers ring out around me. And in the distance, there’s a desperate whistle sounding over and over, until it stops entirely.
“Holy shit.”
The tentacle closest to us reaches the shoreline and pauses there, writhing slowly from side to side.
Come on, he wants us all to climb on, Noush says. Even she sounds more subdued than she did earlier. It’ll be quicker to get back to the ship that way.
He what? I yelp back at her.
Hurry up. He wants you all to get on the ship before more come.
I want to question how she can know that, but decide to save that question for later.
Fine.
“We need to climb on,” I call over the rabble of crewmembers. “The captain’s giving us a quick way to transport to the ship.”
Unsurprisingly, they all look at me like I’m insane. But there’s not time to argue, not when I can already see another three ships already breaching the horizon.
“We need to get moving. Now.”
I launch myself at Finch’s closest tentacle, scrambling over the strangely velvety appendage. I keep on crawling, making space for Aster and for the next dozen crew members before turning back to shoot them an expectant look.
“Hop on, or don’t. But if you stay here, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get arrested or wind up dead.”
I spot someone tall and green forcing their way through the crowd of gawpers.
Frannie.
She’s looking more disheveled than usual, her hair loose around her shoulders and her black dress only half buttoned.
But she’s got a sack in either hand and approaches Finch’s tentacle with seemingly no fear.
With a level of grace I’m jealous of, she makes her way over to Aster and me with a grim look on her face.
I don’t know how many others join us before we set off, moving through the water at breakneck speed.
The wind whips my hair against my face and I cling on tight, clutching Frannie’s arm and Aster’s thigh with either hand as I straddle the tentacle with my thighs.
The ship has to be miles from the island, but we’re traveling so quickly we reach it startlingly fast.
Hold on tight.
I cling on, tightening my thigh muscles with all my might until I’m shaking with the strain of it. Finch’s tentacle slowly rises up through the water, hovering over the top of the ship and letting us drop off onto the deck with a thump.
The deck is a hive of panicked activity as all around me, people are tumbling from the unusual transportation and scrambling to their feet, clutching our supplies.
I grab the nearest barrel with Aster and we heft it back below deck where it belongs.
There’s also the highly disconcerting sight of objects being moved without anyone seeming attached to them, which tells me that Torin made it onto the ship.
Back on the deck, the column of blinding light is still just visible to our left. It shoots up right into the sky as far as I can see, acting like a beacon that must be seen for miles.
I can just about make out the shapes of Finch’s tentacles smashing into more ships as they come, although we’re now too far to hear the screams over the sound of the elements.
More rays of purple light fill the air with the telltale light and sound of weapons designed not to miss. Finch’s tentacles are faster than they should be, considering their gigantic size, but it seems even they can’t avoid the onslaught.
A terrible shrieking reverberates through the miles that separate us, and I fight the urge to clap my hands over my ears. What follows is a terrible sound of pure fury as the kraken thrashes and flails in the water, turning ships into barely more than toothpicks within moments.
A few minutes later, our ship is rolling around, battered by the monstrous aftershock of Finch’s movements. I cower below deck with the others, clutching the wall so we’re not thrown overboard. It’s cramped and sweaty down here, with the ship’s movement battering us against the walls and floor.
Where is Kit? He’s wracked with seasickness at the best of times, and I can’t imagine he’s coping too well with this onslaught.
Although... I don’t remember seeing him up on the deck. Don’t remember seeing him on the beach either. In fact, I haven’t seen him since right before the alarm was sounded.
By now, the sails are hoisted and we’re travelling east, further and further from the king’s ships and from the island that had become our temporary home. Despite all its faults, I find I’m going to miss the grotty mansion.
AFTER A FEW HOURS, the movement on deck has slowed and some of the crew have retreated to their beds.
But there’s still plenty to do and no way I’m sleeping tonight considering that I’m absolutely buzzing with energy.
I bustle around, helping to tidy the stores and sweeping seafoam from the deck, all while keeping an eye out for Kit.
And every so often, I shoot a long look out at the horizon, trying to see if I can catch a glimpse of massive tentacles heading our way.
“He won’t be back until he’s destroyed them all,” Torin tells me, wrapping a strong arm around my waist to anchor me in place. “And even then, he might not come straight back to the ship.”
“He can’t let them get away,” I murmur.
If word was to get out about Finch’s monster roaming the waters, I have no doubt that people would try to destroy him.
“How do you think they found us?” I ask. “Or were they just in the wrong place at the wrong time?”
“Who can say?” Torin replies.
I’m about to say something else, leaning my head against his chest with a heavy sigh. But then I’m hit with a rogue feeling. One that doesn’t belong to me.
It’s a gut punch of the purest, deepest regret.
The feeling is strong enough to make my knees buckle and I’d fall over if Torin wasn’t holding me up.
“Reva? Are you all right?”
“Did you... feel that?” I ask, unsure how to describe exactly what I just experienced.
Or whose emotions I just experienced.
Who is feeling gut-wrenching regret right now? And why?