Our hands are still entwined, something I hadn’t even realized until he squeezes my fingers gently. The fear in the pit of my stomach eases somewhat.
I take a deep breath.
“All right.”
“Let’s look out the window first. I have raincoats if you want to stylishly put on bright yellow rubber and go look outside,” he suggests.
“I don’t know that we want to go outside until we figure out what that was,” I tell him. “I don’t have a good feeling about this and one thing that I’ve learned is that I have to trust my gut when it comes to magic.”
A troubled expression crosses his face and it’s the first time I’ve seen him look worried all night. And I realize that maybe I’ve scared him a little bit.
“Sorry,” I say. “Whatever it is is probably fine. I just feel safer inside the lighthouse until we know.”
I swallow hard and his eyes dart to the column of my throat.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” he says matter of factly.
“Well,” I hedge and then take a deep breath, “I have a sneaking suspicion about what that might have been and we really don’t want to go outside if it’s what I think it was.”
“Ivy,” he says. “Tell me.”
I blow out a breath, pursing my lips.
Gunner sits up from where he’s still sleeping then pads over to us.
“She’s pretty sure it’s a kraken.”
“Thanks, Gunner,” I say. “That was really excellent delivery.”
“You were just going to talk around it and take too much time and whatever that thing is out there you need to deal with it. We don’t have that kind of time right now, Ivy.”
“Is he for real?” Caleb asks.
“I’m for real,” Gunner says. “We’ve established that.”
“I don’t think that’s what he was asking.”
“Stop stalling,” Gunner says. “Get up and go look outside. Whatever that thing is, you need to fix it.”
I huff out a breath and stand up. My hands immediately feel cold without Caleb’s touch and I make my feet move over to the window that overlooks the harbor. I know what I’m going to see. That doesn’t mean I’m prepared for it.
“Holy ****** sheet,” I murmur.
Sure enough a massive eye, bioluminescent, glows in the darkness. Rain making the entire water line ripple. Staring up at the lighthouse.
Something slides against the window. Little round suckers trailing across the glass.
“Oh, I don’t like this at all,” I say.
“A kraken?” Caleb repeats. “Like a giant squid? Like the mythological giant squid?”
“Yep,” I say shortly, my voice way too high-pitched and unnatural. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”
Gunner rests his front paws on the wall so that he too can see out the window.
“Oh yeah, she’s out there. I don’t think this is good,” Gunner says matter of factly.
“Definitely not good,” I say.
