I wouldnotlet that happen.
Not after she saved me from those two men who tried to kidnap me only a week ago.
I sprinted to unanchor my boat, revving the engine as I slammed myself down in the captain’s chair. I scanned the water out of the windshield to find my friend. But the monster wasgone; the normal, gentle waves of the ocean crashed against the harbor barrier behind me.
Oh no.
The sound of a sudden splash made me turn to follow the noise, because breaking through the surface was the scaly, yellow-eyed head of the beast that I had seen before.
It was justa lotcloser now. My boat almost tipped over from the size and speed of the creature breaking through the surface.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I gasped, as I steered the boat away, deciding to stay out of its line of sight. However, on the snout of the dragon-or-lizard-or-whatever-the-hell, was Audrey.
“Aud!” Liam shouted, as he emerged from the ocean, clinging to the monster’s long, serpent-like neck. He emphasized his shout by stabbing his sword into the neck of the beast, eliciting a sharp cry, showing narrow and razor-sharp teeth that looked to be the length of my legs.
“Audrey!” I shouted over the piercing noise that came from the monster’s mouth—that Audrey seemed to be trying to tie shut.
Once the beast was restrained with more seaweed that Audrey was conducting with her hands, she shouted back to Liam.
“We don’t need to kill it!” Audrey cried as the beast swung its head, successfully knocking her off and into the ocean a few yards from my boat. The beast dove back under the waves, and I grabbed my comm while flipping on the external speakers.
“Audrey!” I shouted, catching her attention as her head resurfaced from the ocean, gasping for air. “Get on!”
She swung her head toward me, her eyes widening in horror as she started swimming toward the boat.
Swimmingreallyfucking fast.
“Van! Get out of here!” Audrey gasped while spitting ocean water out of her mouth at the same time. Obviously, I ignoredher as I ditched my captain’s seat to run to the edge of the boat and pull her up.
Right when Audrey clasped my hands, the beast broke through the surface of the water again, and a loud, wetthunkcrashed onto the outer deck.
Audrey scrambled onto my boat, screaming at whatever landed behind us.
I followed her gaze to see the unmoving body of Liam, who had a large gash in his core that was bleeding rapidly.
“Shit—fuck—” I muttered as Audrey ran toward Liam, her hands glowing hot again. She knelt and slapped her palms onto his unmoving body, and within seconds, the blood started to stop.
“What do we do?” I asked, running over to grab the first-aid kit I kept under one of the exterior seats. I always kept several on board, always wanting to be prepared.
Even though no one on planet Earth could have prepared me for something like this.
“…Aud,” Liam groaned, before clasping her wrists with his hands. “You have to stop it. Before it gets to shore.”
“I can’t,” Audrey shook her head. “It won’t stop?—”
A sharp bellow erupted from the beast, and while it was facing the docks of our town moments before, it quickly turned its sharp head toward my vessel, before tipping its head back and crying out a pained screech again.
“His sword is in its nose,” I gasped. Liam’s large blade was pierced through the top of the dragon-like snout, keeping it from closing its mouth completely, because the blade had already pierced its tongue.
“Stop it, Aud,” Liam groaned, inhaling a deep breath. His bleeding was completely stopped now, and when Aud lifted his shirt to check the wound, all that was left was a light pink scar. “Go.”
“I—” a large, scaly tail broke the surface of the water, and heavy dread sank in my stomach at the sight of it closing in on us.
“Do it!” Liam shouted.
“Shit!” Audrey cried in feral anger before standing up and screaming at the beast. It snarled back at her, hissing its foul breath down at us as it rose higher and higher. I was frozen, completely useless, as I stayed in a kneeling position at Liam’s side, watching Audrey flex her hands.
More seaweed and oceanic foliage erupted out of the Pacific, aggressively wrapping itself around the beast. With a flick of her wrist, more and more sprouted from the sea, successfully detaining and holding the monster back as it cried and bellowed.
