Page 21 of Rainse
“Rainse?” I called, then cursed myself for doing it. My voice carried out across the stillness and vanished into the blue.
The waves whispered back in a language I didn’t speak. Every few seconds, the surface of a patch of water maybe twenty metres from the shore flickered — tiny bursts of light like lightning trapped under glass. Bioluminescence. I’d seen it before, just never this bright.
Then the light pulsed again, stronger. And another. The whole patch of water shimmered like a living constellation.
"Rainse?"
No answer. But something was wrong with the pattern. The glow wasn't rhythmic or steady — it flared in short, violent bursts. I'd seen that once, on a research trip to Fiji, when a jellyfish bloom got tangled in a propeller. They flashed like that when disturbed or attacked.
I walked into the shallows, shielding my eyes from the sun. The glow in front of me brightened, then fractured. For a heartbeat, I thought it was just reflection — until I saw him. His body twisted beneath the surface, the greenskin along his ribs thrashing with frantic light. Around him, jellyfish. So many of them.
"Rainse!"
My feet moved before my brain caught up. I took three steps into deeper water before logic slammed into me like a physical force.
Stop. Think.
Diving straight into that swarm would be suicide. I'd be stung within seconds, paralyzed, drowning beside him. And then we'd both be dead.
My hands were shaking. My ribs throbbed with every panicked breath.
Think like a scientist. Observe. Assess. Act.
The jellyfish were concentrated around him, drawn to something—the electrical pulses of his greenskin, maybe, or the thrashing of his body. They pulsed with each movement, releasing more venom with each contact.
I needed to disperse them. Get them away from him before I could pull him out.
I turned and ran.
My feet slipped on wet sand, my injured ribs screaming in protest, but I didn't stop. Driftwood. I needed something long, something to keep distance between me and those translucent bells of death.
There—a thick branch, sun-bleached and solid, half-buried in sand near the tree line. I yanked it free, testing its weight. Heavy, but I could manage. Long enough.
When I splashed back into the water, my heart was hammering so hard I could feel it in my throat.
What if I'm too late?
No. Not an option.
The jellyfish had drifted closer to shore, still clustered around that spot where I'd last seen him. I waded in up to my thighs, then my waist, forcing myself to move slowly despite every instinct screaming at me to rush.
The first jellyfish brushed my leg.
Fire. Pure, searing fire spreading across my calf.
I bit down on a scream and kept moving.
Using the branch, I swept through the water in wide arcs, pushing the jellyfish away from the centre of the swarm. They drifted, their bells pulsing indignantly, but they moved. The bioluminescence scattered, breaking apart into individual sparks of light.
Another sting on my arm. Then my hip.
Keep going. Keep moving.
I could see him now—really see him. He floated face-down, motionless, his greenskin still spasming with erratic light. Too many stings. His body wasn't responding anymore.
"Come on, Rainse. Stay with me."
I swept the branch one more time, clearing a path, then dropped it and lunged forward.
