Page 21 of Hunter of the Tide

Visual information flooded Randall’s mind over a fraction of a second. The creature was easily five meters long, its body shaped like a cylinder with two sides pressed in. Pale scars crisscrossed its mottled purple-and-green hide. Its mouth was on the underside of its wedge-shaped head, a pair of mandibles drawing aside to reveal a ring of jagged, uneven teeth.

Ikaros darted aside, avoiding the charging creature. The thing’s mouth looked nasty, but it was disproportionately small compared to its body. A predator, but one that hunted small prey despite its impressive size. Randall recognized the green of its skin as the same color Dracchus had shown him.

Without further thought, Randall aimed the harpoon gun and squeezed the trigger. The gun thumped. The harpoon sped forward amidst a cloud of angry bubbles. Gleaming in the filtered sunlight, the head of the harpoon punched into the creature’s mouth and burst out the top of its head.

The creature’s body convulsed and thrashed, and it veered to Randall’s right. The line connecting the harpoon to the gun went taut. Digging his heels into the sand, Randall held tight. The weight and momentum of the creature threatened to tear his arms out of their sockets, and sharp pain radiated from his bad shoulder. The strap tightened around his wrist.

“Physical indicators of distress detected,” Sam said. “Do you require assistance?”

The creature’s thrashing diminished, but it continued to drag Randall along. His feet plowed through loose sediment until they finally struck solid rock. The muscles of his thighs and calves screamed with exertion. Something coiled around his leg again. He glanced down to see Ikaros there, paws braced against the rock as though helping Randall hold firm.

A powerful hand settled on Randall’s shoulder.

Dracchus entered Randall’s peripheral vision and reached forward with his free hand to grasp the harpoon tether. Spreading his tentacles over the rock, he pulled, reclaiming a bit of slack on the line.

The monster renewed its struggles, clouding the water with crimson.

The hand on Randall’s shoulder moved up, tapping him at the base of the skull before Dracchus extended his arm and pointed at the impaled creature.

Randall nodded. Removing his wrist from the loop, he handed the harpoon gun to Dracchus and drew his knife from its sheath on his thigh. He forced his breathing to steady. Without pausing long enough to overthink it, he pulled himself along the tether, avoiding the creature’s waving tail. Before he reached the small, toothy mouth, he released the line and swam over its head.

Dropping onto its back, he wrapped his legs around the creature’s body to anchor himself in place. Its thrashing strengthened. Gritting his teeth, he raised the knife and slammed it down. The blade punched into the creature’s hide just behind its skull.

The monster convulsed and abruptly halted its struggles, turning slowly onto its side.

Randall tugged his knife free and returned to Dracchus as the kraken pulled the carcass closer. A wispy trail of red flowed in the monster’s wake, reminding Randall of campfire smoke drifting away on the breeze.

Releasing the spool from the underside of the gun, Dracchus handed the weapon to Randall and wound the line around his hand several times. The kraken nodded, pushed himself up from the bottom, and swam toward the Facility. Randall fell into place beside him. Ikaros swam between them, paws paddling frantically as he banked and spun in a display of underwater acrobatics.

Randall cast a glance back at the dead creature.So much for fish and bottom feeders.

The Facility’s buildings were dark shapes at the edge of Randall’s vision, distinguished more by the lights glowing on their exteriors than by their own forms. Randall doubted he and Dracchus had gone more than half a kilometer to reach the seaweed forest. That meant potential prey — and other predators — lurked within eyeshot of the kraken’s home. It was an oddly comforting realization. As different as things were down here, some of the fundamentals — the beauty, the bounty, and the ceaseless danger — were much the same as on land.

Randall’s stomach lurched as they proceeded straight off the rise. The bottom fell away below them, and for an instant, his body tensed in anticipation of the downward pull of gravity. It didn’t come.

Ikaros settled his paws on Randall’s back and rode with him to the Facility.

Two figures floated before the entry door, growing more distinct as Randall neared. Melaina and Rhea, both smiling. The child mimicked Randall’s wave.

Rhea caught his gaze and flashed maroon over her skin.

Heat flowed outward from Randall’s chest, rippling along his limbs. He knew what that color meant.

“Elevated heartrate detected,” Sam said. “Would you—”

“No, Sam. Be quiet.”

Randallwantedwhat that color meant.

Chapter 7

Pride welled within Rhea as the males swam back toward the Facility. Dracchus was the one hauling their kill, but it was Randall who drew her attention.

Melaina surged past Rhea, and Ikaros pushed off Randall’s back to meet the youngling. They swirled around one another, two children at play, producing a cloud of bubbles.

Rhea moved away from the pressurization chamber door, stopping in front of Randall. His body was encased in one of the skin-tight diving suits, accenting his pleasing form. Her eyes paused briefly on his growing erection.

She grinned and met his gaze.

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