Page 40 of Heart of the Deep

His female was teasing him. He’d learned from the humans in the Facility that such could be a sign of affection.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, looking her over.

“No. You came in time. Any later and I might’ve been prixxir food.” She jumped down from the rock.

Dracchus followed her down. Prixxir preyed on small creatures — fish and hard-shells, mostly — but they were capable of inflicting significant damage when provoked. “They would have left when they got your catch,” he said.

“I went through a lot of trouble catching those fish, and I have a kraken to feed. They could have caught their own.”

He glanced at her as they moved toward the jungle.

I have a kraken to feed.

It was still a strange thing to Dracchus. He’d been a provider since he was old enough to go on his first hunt; it had been his duty to feed everyone else. And now this little human was attempting to provide for him. Kraken females did not hunt. A tangled mess of emotions rose in him, too chaotic, too raw, for him to sort. Should it hurt his pride, or make him proud of her?

He dismissed the question as more foolishness. His pride in her only increased with each passing moment. She put others before herself, and that was a quality Dracchus admired.

“I brought food, as well,” he said, bringing the spinefish forward. “I have a human to feed.”

Larkin grinned at him over her shoulder. “Looks like we’ll have full bellies tonight.”

Chapter 11

On his third day of searching, Dracchus finally found what he’d sought — a distinct, recognizable feature on the sea floor, a place heknew.

Here, the coastal cliffs sloped gradually at their bases until they eventually leveled out, and the bottom was mostly exposed rock with sand and vegetation gathered in countless crevices. It was a common enough underwater seascape, but one thing made this area stand out.

The Ring.

It was a huge circle of sand amidst the stone. Tall, thin rocks stood at random intervals and conflicting angles around and within it, and the sand was broken by sparse clumps of vegetation. Many of the smaller stones were undoubtedly sandseekers, buried in the sand as they awaited the passage of prey overhead. Coral growths and clusters of sea creatures surrounded the ring with vibrancy and color, enhancing its contrast with the dark stone even further.

Dracchus knew the place well; it was one of several locations where the kraken regularly hunted sandseekers, and he’d been here more times than he could count.

His first instinct was to swim to the Facility immediately. He needed to ensure his friends were safe, and the sooner he obtained a diving suit for Larkin, the sooner he could bring her to Randall.

The sooner he could share a den with her.

But it had taken him nearly half a day’s swim to get here from their encampment, and it would take just as long to reach the Facility from the Ring. By the time he returned to her, he’d have been gone all day and an entire night.

After their encounter with the vorix and her stand-off with the prixxir, he was hesitant to leave her alone for so long without a word.

Was informing her of his intention worth losing a day to unnecessary travel time?

Dracchus turned toward the Facility and swam, pushing himself hard. Water rushed past him, stone and sand sped by, and his hearts thumped rapidly.

He was growing used to feeling conflicted; ever since he’d discovered Jax with Macy, Dracchus had started questioning everything he’d known. Few things were as simple as he’d once believed. But he didn’t have the luxury of prolonged consideration every time he was presented with a complicated matter. His internal conflicts couldn’t be allowed to prevent him from making necessary decisions.

Larkin was practical. She would understand his choice.

He kept low, gliding just above the bottom, avoiding the likeliest places for sandseekers and other predators to lurk. The seafloor was a blur, its familiar features reduced to indistinct shapes and blotches of color by his haste. His alertness was instinctual, fueled by a lifetime of experience.

For all Dracchus’s speed, the journey felt too long. Part of his mind remained with Larkin, back on land, imagining all manner of terrifying beast stalking her through the dense jungle. Another part had shifted ahead to anticipate the worst back at the Facility — that Neo and Kronus had made a move and harmed Dracchus’s family.

The dark shapes of the Facility’s clustered buildings were a relief when they finally came into sight, but the feeling was short-lived. He’d rarely been so aware of the passage of time, even when dealing with other urgent matters. Every moment felt essential, important, valuable, and though they passed with agonizing slowness, they seemed only increasingly inadequate in number.

He swept his gaze across the front of the Facility as he approached. No net hung from the exterior light posts, meaning no hunt had been organized. That was as troubling as it was fortunate — it meant less chance of encountering Kronus’s followers inside the main building, but it also signaled a potential disruption to the kraken’s lives.

Obtaining food had always been dangerous work, but the humans had presented a new threat, one beyond the understanding of most kraken — technology.

---