Page 87 of Fallen from the Stars

Theo gestured to the fresh rubble at the base of the door. Vasil dropped to it and began scooping it away as she opened a hidden panel beside the door markings. Dracchus helped him; they made short work of the task.

Once they’d finished, Theo gestured for them to move back. They obeyed, and Vasil kept his eyes on her as she worked at the controls, his chest tight and skin hot despite the chill of the water. After all they’d been through, he couldn’t bear the thought of her coming to harm, and he did not trust thissubmarineany more than he trusted anything else in the fickle, dangerous sea.

He wished he could talk to her, wished he could know what she was thinking.

A deep rumble came from the submarine. Theo swam backward toward Vasil, eyes locked on the door, as loose sand drifted off the top of the vessel’s hull. He took gentle hold of her arms and guided her away, shielding her with his body and giving the sub his back. She turned in his grasp to peer around him, and he looked over his shoulder to watch along with her. Unease pooled in his gut.

With a resonatingclang, the door slid upward, opening a crack. A torrent of bubbles burst from the opening, temporarily obscuring the door. Vasil instinctively turned his face away and shifted his body to protect Theo.

There came no deafening boom, no searing pain across his back, no wave of super-heated displaced water. All he felt was a hand on his cheek. Theo’s hand.

He looked down into her eyes. She smiled and dipped her head, indicating something behind him. Vasil turned to see the door rising. It opened on a brightly lit room similar to the entry chamber at the Facility, though smaller in scale. He stared in wonder as Theo slipped out of his arms and swam toward it.

She waved for him to follow.

Vasil clenched his jaw and obeyed, stooping to collect the container with her tools before following her inside.

He had a sense of what this sub was, what it meant — and what had happened to the humans on board. Thanks to holograms uncovered by Arkon and Aymee, Vasil knew the Facility hadn’t been the only place where kraken had killed humans. This had to be the submarine from which fleeing IDC soldiers had sent a final, desperate distress call.

He only hoped the evidence of what had happened within had long since rotted away.

Chapter 17

The chamber’s vibrations as the water inside drained were more pronounced than those of the pressurization chamber at the Facility. Though Theo knew the potential causes for the difference — the foremost being centuries of disuse and neglect — it was still disconcerting. Whatever Kane’s analysis said, they were still entering the unknown here. Anything could go wrong.

“What about the others?” she asked. Vasil, Larkin, and Dracchus had accompanied her into the chamber, and once Dracchus had entered, there’d been no room for anyone else. “They’re going to come in behind us, right?”

“Dracchus told them to wait and hide,” Larkin replied. “They’ll keep watch in case another one of those creatures shows up.”

The kraken had survived the seas for over three hundred years, and their camouflage was amazing, but Theo couldn’t help thinking about the monster that had attacked them. Would Calix, Donis, Orin, and Pythas be able to hold off another such beast on their own?

I just need to trust them to do their job and focus on doing mine.

She nodded and turned her attention to the information streaming through her retinal display. As Kane had mentioned earlier, the submarine seemed to be operating normally; there were no posted alerts save for a few blocked intakes, no recorded errors in any of its systems. The low power state it had shifted to after coming to rest here had kept everything in working order for centuries.

“At least we know the part we need is functioning,” Theo said. “Just need to grab it and get back to the surface without getting eaten.”

Larkin chuckled. “You killed one sea monster today, you should be good to take a few more.”

Something brushed over Theo’s calf, calling her attention to Vasil. Her eyes dropped to his ravaged tentacle. Blood oozed from the wound, misting the descending water. She clenched her jaw against the fresh wave of worry, fear, and fury that surged inside.

As though sensing her turbulent emotions, Vasil lifted a hand and cupped her jaw, turning her face up toward his. Once the water had fallen below her mask, he said, “I will be fine, Theo. It will heal.”

“Thatthingalmost tore your tentacle off! What would you have done then?”

He shrugged. “Grow a new one.”

Theo glared at him. “Not funny.”

“But itisaccurate, according to the research data,” said Kane through the comms.

“What?”

Larkin lifted her hands and removed her mask. “It is true. They can regrow limbs.”

Theo pressed her lips together and glanced at Vasil’s tentacle again. With the water almost fully drained, the wounded limb lay on the floor unmoving. “I’d still prefer they remain intact.”

“It will befine, Theo,” Vasil repeated gently. “You need not worry.”

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