“Of course you do,” she says, understanding in her voice.
I break the surface to find Rose calling for the kraken, her voice frantic. When she spots me, relief floods her features. Leaning over the side of her kayak, Rose tries using her hands to paddle over to me.
I glide close and check her over, searching for any sign of injury. She catches the tip of my tentacle in her tiny hands, gently kissing it. “I was so scared,” she whispers against my skin. “I was so worried about you.”
Before I can respond, Malachar’s massive form rises from the sea a hundred yards away, water cascading from his tentacles. I stare, awestruck – Koko just lifted a hundred-foot kraken like he weighed nothing. Such casual display of power from someone who’s probably frosting cupcakes at her bakery right now, miles away… sometimes I forget what she truly is: a love goddess with powers beyond mortal comprehension.
“Oh my god!” Rose yelps, staring at the injured kraken suspended above the waves – Malachar’s form dwarfing a city bus, his limp tentacles dangling in the water. Before Rose can say more, Malachar is pitched through the air like a shotput. Koko’s throw is so powerful that no splash reaches our ears; Malachar simply disappears over the horizon. My tentacles coil in instinctive respect. Mental note: never cross a love goddess.
“What. The. Hell,” Rose utters. Then her eyes lock onto the blood seeping from my side. “Oh no, oh no – you’re hurt! What can I do? How can I help?” Tears stream down her face as she dives into the sea, swimming toward me for a better look.
I immediately pluck her from the water, setting her gently back on her kayak. Then I turn, allowing her to examine the injury. After she’s had a chance to look, I stroke her softly with my tentacles, trying to convey through touch that I’m okay.
“Are you going to be alright?” she asks, her voice trembling.
I tap her arm once.
“Are you sure?”
In response, I caress her cheek with my tentacle again before wrapping it securely around her kayak and begin towing her back to the marina. The water is calm now, almost unnaturally so after the violence we witnessed.
“I was so scared,” Rose confesses as we glide across the bay. “When I first saw that other kraken, I thought it was you. My heart just stopped.” She shivers despite the warm air. “Was that you who threw him? Like, just now?”
I tap her thigh twice for ‘no.’
“That is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” she says, shaking her head. “I mean… I don’t even know what I just saw. Was that magic?”
One tap: ‘yes.’
“Are you sure?” she whispers, her voice filled with awe and a hint of fear as she gazes across the now-peaceful waters.
I tickle her sides with my tentacles, making her squeal despite her worry. The rest of our journey passes in silence, broken only by the gentle lapping of waves against the kayak.
Once we reach the marina, I help guide her vessel alongside her houseboat. Rose clambers aboard with shaky legs, still processing everything that happened. As I begin to sink beneath the surface, her voice stops me.
“Wait!” Rose calls out. I pause, turning back to her. She kneels at the edge of her deck, reaching out to run both hands over my kraken head with such gentleness it makes my hearts ache. “Thank you for saving me,” she whispers. “And thank youfor being my friend. You don’t know how much getting to know you has meant to me.”
The words make something twist in my chest. I wrap a tentacle around each of her hands, giving them a gentle squeeze, letting my suckers softly grasp her skin in the closest thing to handholding I can manage in this form.
Then I slip away to my houseboat, hauling myself onto the deck. I find my waterproof bag on the kitchen table with a small note: “You lost this in the fight. Just returning it. – Koko”
In the bathroom, I examine my injuries. The gash on my hip is ugly but not life-threatening. I clean and bandage it carefully, then grab my phone from the recovered bag. I send Rose a text:Still working on the engine. Don’t know when we’ll make it back to the marina. Need to cancel our date tonight. Sorry.
I feel terrible about telling Rose a lie, but I can’t see her like this. I have no way to explain it. Thanks to my kraken shifter nature, it should be little more than a scar by tomorrow evening. But today’s events have made one thing crystal clear – I can’t go on like this. I must tell Rose the truth. My very existence in her life put her in danger today. She deserves to know everything. I need time for my injury to heal and to figure out exactly how to explain that the man she’s been dating is also the kraken she’s befriended.
CHAPTER 25
Rose
Once the kraken leaves, I stagger into the living room just before my legs give out. I collapse onto my couch, soaking wet and trembling. I almost lost him. He could have died, and there was nothing I could have done to save him. But something did. Something plucked that enemy kraken from the water and slung it out of sight.
Magic. I just witnessed actual magic. Though, really, should I be surprised? I’ve been spending time with a kraken who understands English. And there’s been other things I’ve noticed in town that?—
My phone chimes, making me jump so violently I nearly fall off the couch. My hands shake as I fumble with the device, almost dropping it twice before I can focus on the screen. It’s a text from Levi, canceling our date.
The disappointment hits harder than it should. I’d been holding myself together, barely, but something about this simple cancellation breaks the dam. Tears blur my vision as I curl into myself, my whole body trembling. I need someone to hold me,to tell me I’m not crazy, to help me make sense of what just happened. But the one person I want to run to isn’t here – he’s stuck out on a fishing boat somewhere beyond the harbor. A sob escapes my throat, then another, until I’m crying so hard I can barely breathe. It’s everything at once – the terror of almost being taken by that monster, the heart-stopping fear of watching my kraken fight, the impossible magic I witnessed, and now this crushing loneliness. By the time I’m cried out, my body feels like it’s been wrung out, exhaustion seeping into every muscle as the adrenaline finally drains away.
I don’t remember closing my eyes. One moment, I’m gasping through tears, and the next, I’m jerking awake, my teeth chattering and my still-damp clothes clinging to my skin. I groan as I force myself upright, my neck punishing me for falling asleep like some awkward marionette with its strings cut. I must have been out for hours, twisted in the same uncomfortable position.
