Jack turns to me and Reva, keeping his voice low. “Right now, I need you both to stay calm. The three of us are going to scout the area for Kit while Cap and Torin do their thing. Do not freak out, or we’re going to have bigger problems on our hands.”
“What kind of bigger problems?” Reva asks. When Jack doesn’t respond, she turns to me, shaking her head. “Doesn’t he realise that telling people not to freak out is the best way to cause them anxiety?”
I’m distracted from answering by a scent that carries on the wind. It’s twisted and terrible and filled with rot and mould. It fills me with the sense of desperately sucking on bone to get the last bit of meat off, of being trapped, and feeling this overwhelming hollow of despondency. This isit, my life forever. Stuck in darkness and only brought out to feel pain and have more of the life sucked right out of me. It’s—
“You’d better hurry,” Captain Finch says. “I’m not sure I can hold it in much longer.”
There’s an odd tone to his voice I haven’t heard before, like he’s trying not to cough. Torin then approaches, giving Reva a swift, hard kiss on the lips before slapping me and Jack on the shoulder.
“You take care of her, all right? I want everyone back here safe.”
That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do since the moment her sunshine lit up my dark, dank life. But his words are enough to break me out of my panic. I nod, and Torin gives me another bone-shattering backslap.
“Now, go. Off the ship and get as far from it as you can.”
There’s an odd groaning of the wood close to where the captain’s standing, and Torin glances over before shooting us a panicked look.
“Go. Now.”
We scramble off the ship into water that hits us at calf level. Jack charges ahead while Reva and I hurry to catch up, both of us unnerved by the nervous glances he keeps aiming over our shoulders.
We reach the beach and don’t pause, gaining speed now that we’re not slowed down by the water.
“Over the sea wall. Up. Up!” Jack throws himself against it, scrambling over the wall. I boost Reva up so she can do the same while I heave myself up. I’ve gained a lot of strength over the past few weeks, building myself back together piece by piece. But I’m still panting by the time we’re up and over the wall, away from the beach.
Jack steadies himself against the wall, his chest heaving as he stares back the way we came.
“Just in time,” he mutters.
“For wha—” Reva doesn’t even get the word out before the distant figure of the captain transforms. His body elongates, his hat going flying as he widens, growing taller so rapidly my eyes can barely keep track. He morphs into a gigantic black form with tentacles longer than the ship spreading across the deck. The ship groans audibly, tilting at a dangerous angle, as it struggles to cope with his massive bulk.
“Cap,” Torin yells.
With a bestial roar that freezes the blood in my veins, Finch throws himself off the side of the boat into the shallow water. When he lands, there’s an almighty splash, and a sheet of water and wet sand splatters in a huge arc.
The water and land around the ship are now entirely black from the captain’s massive body. And then he slams one massive tentacle downward, sending more sand and water flying in all directions.
Reva’s voice is strangled as she stares out at him. “He’s a—”
Not an octopus or a squid. He’s like a leviathan of ancient legend, a creature that’s whispered about because people get superstitious when it comes to monsters that are the size of buildings.
“Kraken,” Jack replies. “One that’s feeling particularly pissy at the moment. Now, we need to make a move before he starts smashing shit up.”
One enormous tentacle reaches out and plucks Torin from the deck, sending his metal spikes shooting out of his spine, tearing his skin into shreds.
“Why is Torin staying with him?” Reva’s voice comes out higher-pitched than usual.
“Without Kit, he’s the only one who has half a chance of controlling Finch when he’s in this form.”
Reva’s eyes are wide as she stares at the two of them where they’re making their way over the beach, in the opposite direction to us. Finch lets out a devastating roar that has my insides turning to ice, and Jack nudges us both.
“Come on, we need to get moving.” He peers around.
“Is that... what they did to him?” Reva asks. “The experiment he mentioned. Is that what—”
Jack nods. “Pretty sure they didn’t know what they were creating. He never transformed while he was here, or the place would have been destroyed a long time ago. The kraken came... after. Thankfully, it means even the king himself doesn’t know what kind of weapon he created. Not that Finch would ever do his bidding. He’s a little... unpredictable in this state.”
Right on cue, there’s an almighty crash and the ground shudders beneath our feet, sending me stumbling to the side. The pavement beneath us cracks, and we dodge potholes to follow Jack’s lead as he continues up the street.
