Page 170 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
For a terrifying heartbeat, I wondered if I was still alive.
If the wails around me were from the people aboard the ship, or the souls trapped in this glaring afterlife.
But color returned. Slowly. Spilling back into the world one tendril at a time.
I saw the black of Onyx’s hair as it billowed in the wind. And then the soft, ivory curve of her cheek, and the deep jade green of the dress she wore.
Around us, other people began to take shape and color as they sorted themselves out. Several of them had fallen—as I would’ve, if I hadn’t already been sitting.
“What—”
SLOOSHHH!
A wall of water plumed into the air, rocketing well above the tallest sail onValiant.
The frightened screams swelled.
I gaped, silently.
The water was…No.
Surely not.
This was terror making my vision funny, right?
That funnel of water wasnotreally a shimmery periwinkle.
Right?
I blinked.
The colorful cyclone remained glistening periwinkle as it bashed against the sides of the ship, flecking off several layers of old, splintered wood.
My heart hammered against my ribs. “What’s happening?” I yelled.
“The curse is breakin’,” Onyx said.
I whipped my head to her. “Therewasa way to break it?”
“Aye. Ye canna lock a door without a key,” she said. “Curses need to have a way to be broken. It’s the nature of magic. And I made this key meself.”
The water twister roared and whipped the fog into a frenzy.
Movement fluttered across the ship deck as people ran and then panicked when they realized there was nowhere to runto.
Their fear mingled with my own terror frothed into a noxious vat of hot, sour milk.
We’re going to die!
The undulating periwinkle tornado swarmed the ship.
Wood shuddered beneath our feet. Boards came loose. Anything that wasn’t bolted down went flying—and some of the bolted stuff did too, when the watery typhoon ripped the nails up.
Onyx and I ducked when half a bench careened past us.
The water funnel slurped it up.
The wet, viscid air grappled for body parts next, clamping on to legs and arms, and hauling people bodily across the deck.
