Page 101 of Treasure of the Abyss

She drew her other leg up, knee to her chest, and struggled to get a hold of the gun. When she finally pulled it from the holster, the razorback changed the direction of itsswing.

Screaming through clenched teeth, she slammed her free foot into its snout repeatedly. Her heel connected with its eye and the beast released her abruptly and swam away, snapping its head from side to side. It wheeledaround.

She didn’t waste a moment; she aimed and squeezed the trigger several times in quick succession as she sank toward the bottom. The sound of the gun firing was strangely muted in the water — she felt its power, more than heardit.

The razorback twisted and thrashed as its blood clouded the water. It reared back, opening itsjaws.

Macy fired until the gun was empty. Her feet touched the rocky seafloor; it was strangely comforting to have solid ground beneath her, despite the flaring pain in herleg.

As the razorback charged again, Macy released the gun and drew her knife. The beast’s movements were slower now, but seemed no lesspowerful.

Just before the razorback reached her, she pushed off the bottom. The razorback’s snout missed her by centimeters. Macy used her momentum to spin, swinging her arm around and slamming the knife into the beast’s eye. She held on as it flipped and tumbled through the water, grabbing hold of one of its spines with her otherhand.

The beast twisted its head to the side and snapped his jaws over her injured leg and swamforward.

Macy screamed, but she didn’t let go. Tightening her grip on the knife, she tore it free and slammed it into razorback’s head again and again. She looked over her shoulder to see the large rock just before the razorback slammed her intoit.

Jax swamhigher above the bottom than he normally would, granting him a wider view of the area. Melaina wasn’t likely to have gone far, but if she’d changed her skin to hide, it would be incredibly difficult to spother.

He led his party in a wide arc around the front of the Facility, slowly expanding their search area; despite the danger of attracting predators, the kraken kept their skin glowing, creating a beacon for the youngling to swimtoward.

Movement to the right caught his attention. He halted and turned toward it, altering his grip on his harpoon gun, and his party fell in around him. Something was fast approaching them. Jax tensed, preparing to defendhimself.

As the creature neared, its features grew clear — it was a kraken, skin pulsing with warningflashes.

Melaina!

Jax slung the harpoon over his shoulder and rushed forward to meet her. The youngling nearly collided with him. Her eyes were wide, and her skin flashed frantically. She hastily signed, but her movements were difficult to understand, made imprecise by her fear. He signaled for her to slowdown.

Danger. Go help. Needhelp.

He scanned the water for any signs of danger, for a razorback or a sandseeker, but sawnothing.

Melaina grabbed his hand and tugged, waving for him to follow. Before he could react, she swam off, back in the direction from which she’dcome.

Despite his confusion, Jax set off after her; the rush of water behind meant his party had done the same. He caught up to Melaina and sped alongside her, gaze darting between the youngling and the seafloorahead.

His hearts skipped when he saw it;there, where distance made everything murky, loomed the shape of a huge razorback. The water surrounding it was clouded withblood.

Jax increased his pace, surpassing Melaina, and swung the harpoon gun into his hands. There was something wrong with the scene ahead; the razorback was moving, but only barely, its long tail and fins swaying gently. He’d never seen one sostill.

The other kraken spread out, weapons in hand, and encircled the beast. But Jax knew there’d be no need for weapons as he came around the razorback’sfront.

Its head was a mangled mess. One eyeball protruded from its socket, and the other was missing entirely. The handle of a knife jutted from its ruined skull. The spines protruding from the creature’s head had snagged on the rocks below, anchoring it in place, and its body — twisted at an odd angle — moved in with thecurrent.

The kraken remained cautious as they closed their circle, until one of the others flashed his light and gestured toward thebottom.

The alarm on the other kraken’s face urged Jax forward. His veins filled with ice as his position afforded him a clearer view; pinned beneath the razorback’s shoulder was a figure in a blacksuit.

Macy turned her head toward Jax when he arrived. Her skin was pale and beaded with sweat in the glow of her mask, her features strained. She mouthed hisname.

For a moment, terror froze him in place. In all their time together, through all her bouts of illness, he’d never seen her look so worn, so pained…so close to death. He shook it off and signed to the party. They rushed to the razorback, and — moving quickly but carefully — broke the spines that held it inplace.

Macy squeezed her eyes shut, bared her teeth, and arched her back as the kraken shifted thecreature.

Jax dropped to Macy’s side the instant the beast was free. He swept his eyes over her; they were drawn immediately to the wisps of blood flowing from her leg where her suit — and her calf beneath — had been torn toshreds.

He leaned forward and gathered her in his arms. She clung to him with surprising, desperate strength. Their eyes met; he pressed his forehead against her mask and held her gaze as he wound a tentacle around her leg to stop herbleeding.

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