Page 163 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
I swam, fighting the tears, the exhaustion, thefear. My heart still stuttered if I let my eyes wander too far around the ocean’s scope.
So I didn’t let my eyes wander.
The waves rolled me up and down. The undercurrent dragged at my feet, making it feel like I was trying to carry a boulder through a swamp with every paddle. Fatigue dragged its nails over me, making my muscles quiver, and my joints scream with pain. White curled around the edges of my vision, and little color bursts speckled the front.
I ground my teeth against my tongue and lips, using the sting of pain and the washes of blood, to keep myself focused.
The floater gave a sudden, violent shake, nearly bucking me off.
I grappled to keep a hold of it.
It bounced. Hummed. And abruptly shot forward, zipping across the ocean.
Oh, stars.
This wasfast.
Whywas it so fast?
My lungs heaved as the floater rode up the crest of a wave and caught some air, popping me out of the water for a terrifying heartbeat, before slamming my bottom straight into the next wave. The impact stung.
But the throbbing welt on my rump vanished when I glanced forward.
Burly shadows smudged the murky horizon.
Alistair was close, his emotions so thick, they were almost tangible.
Confusion.
Worry.
Anger.
Sorrow.
They all wrapped their thorny vines around my heart and pulled.
Yells punched through the fog’s muffling veil.
“What did you do with the girl, Alistair?”
Rune Bloodworth.
But this was notthe same boisterous, happy-go-lucky Rune who’d declared a gazillion toasts and regaled stories to a captivated crowd. This version of him was cutting. Cruel. A silken slip covering a bushel of thorns.
The curtains of fog parted as my floater scuttled through. And my heart turned ice, ice cold.
The two ships were parallel to each other: the smallerLegacyclosest to me,Valianton the other side. And my floater picked up speed as it headed for the center ofLegacy.
“Oh—shit.”I squeaked and whisked my hands off the floater and bailed. The sea snapped at my feet, keen on ripping me under, but the life jacket snagged around my armpits, keeping me afloat.
The floater skipped merrily forward andTHWACKEDinto the broadside ofLegacy.
That was theworstsafety device ever. My goodness.
I’d almost been pancaked.
“Alistair,” Rune called again, “what did you do with the girl?”
