Page 17 of The Kraken Games

“Sure.”

“Let’s go, then.”

A hover cab was waiting outside the house to take them to the Pod. As they flew upward over Motham Bay, Kai marveled at his life right now. From plumbing the depths of the ocean in his kraken form, to flying up to meet the heavens, with the panorama of Motham City below. Gods of the sea and sky, this was amazing.

As they got closer to the Pod, the new venue for concerts and events in Motham, he could see the marquee was up over the games arena in Motham Bay. The posters would be plastered all over the city by now.

The date would be announced tonight.

Sign-ups would open tomorrow.

From the hover cab windows, he could see crowds spilling out around the venue. Suddenly Kai felt himself shrinking back into the kid who’d been so shy he’d hide in his rocky grotto for hours. Who got teased with jeers of “Squib boy. Squib boy,” as he dragged his two damaged tentacles along the sea floor.

He’d had so much therapy to get movement back into those tentacles. In the end, magic had been needed. When the medicos in Thedaka couldn’t help him, his parents had turned to a mage in Motham, communicating through intermediaries and then via secret visits for potions and strength building exercises. Using the magic of a land-based mage was deeply frowned on. In centuries past, kraken had always fixed their own kindwith medicines made from sea kelp and the healing secretions of sea cucumbers, but their expertise didn’t extend to the new explosives humans had used against them.

As Kai progressed, Waldo the warlock had tailored the treatments to fit. It had been a desperate move, hushed up in Thedaka. But it had worked. Life had finally sparked back into his tentacles. Nerves had regrown. Strength had returned. And when he’d finally started to train for the games, the adversity he’d suffered had given him an edge of determination. Even though Kai still experienced pain most days, he could live with it.

“Ready, Kai.” Shen turned his brilliant azure eyes to him. “Telka di kraka vitoro.”Let the kraken be victorious.

They locked arms in the ancient kraken salute of strength and unity. Inside his torso, Kai felt his tentacles vibrating to the wisdom of his ocean home. Then the chauffeur opened the doors, and he stood in the entrance of the hover cab and waved at the crowd, who cheered and booed in equal measure.

It was always the way. This love-hate with the kraken. It had been this way every season for the past two decades.

On one level it was a game, sure, but beneath the veneer it was a serious display of strength. News of the event would get back to the humans at the Tween Council of Towns. Everyone knew they would have their media covering the event, even if they didn’t admit to it.

As his gaze slid over the crowd, he realized with a jolt that he was searching for a sleek bob of honey blonde hair, framing a human face.

When there was no sign of her, he swore silently to himself. Gods damn it, what did it matter if she was here? Let’s face it, she’d shown as much interest in him as if he was a piece of debris on the ocean floor. Kai widened his shoulders and tilted his head back, letting his eyes gleam bright as the crowds parted to let him stride through.

On the stage, and strategically around the venue, the screens were up. Pictures of the ring itself, contestants battling in the mud from past championships, hung everywhere. There were no shots of last year’s games—for good reason. Kai followed Shen to the stage where seats were arranged in front of the largest screen. A drum roll sounded, and Kai had to hide his surprise as his smiling face flashed large on screens around the venue. Booming out of the loudspeakers came the words.

“Kai Ganlan, CONTESTANT for the KRAKEN GAMES, and his trainer, Shen Broca, welcome you to an evening to celebrate the opening of the twentieth Kraken Games. This year we will have more parties, more fun. The prize money will be raised. The Golden cup is up for grabs. Will you dare get tangled up in tentacles?”

Kai was quaking inwardly as he stood to make his opening speech. Bracing himself, he breathed deeply as he took the mic.

“Good Motham people, I am honored to be your Kraken contestant. And I’m here to tell you things are going to be very different from last year. I’m a quiet guy by nature, but like still waters, I run deep, and I hold my secrets close. Be warned. You won’t find me boasting about my accomplishments. But stay and watch this video. And then decide… Will you dare challenge me?”

Heckling, jeering, cheering, and wolf whistles ensued.

Kai felt strangely detached as he stood back and watched his story flash up. It had been heavily doctored to make him look perfect. There were clips that made him want to die of embarrassment, following him around as he trained. A few shots from last year, partying. A video clip of him with a whole bevy of succubi and gelfin and fae draped over him, laughing.

Then came some carefully curated shots of him as a baby, a youngling, before the bomb blew him up and mangled him.

His mom, smiling proudly. “Kai was always so determined, even as a youngling. We knew he was a warrior through and through.”

His father, standing proudly at her side, saying, “Wrestling’s in his blood.” That made Kai stifle a snort. His dad was a quiet scientist, his mom a stay home mother, as were all kraken women. There wasn’t a wrestling bone in either of them.

Oh gods! Now Torqua was on the screen. “He’ll tackle anything. He has no fear.”

And a shot of them tumbling, play wrestling near the caves.

There were interviews with school friends. That had been hard to manufacture—he’d had very few friends apart from Torqua. As a disabled youngling, other krakens had shunned him.

There was nothing mentioned about his injuries. Of course not.

It was agreed his weaknesses should never be divulged. The whole reel was designed to be daunting for would-be contestants.

And there was nothing about last year. No pictures of Acha. No mention of Marrick winning.