“Miles,” Emma says. “I think they get it.”
Ma finishes bandaging her head and Emma manages to stand. “Everyone has been good to me, considering I’m an outsider. Except for the crates in the seat thing, everything is fine.”
He wants to tell her differently. That everything is not fine and everyone is giving her an odd sort of hazing. Instead he lowers his head and says, “I’ll be in the cockpit if anyone needs me.”
He starts in that direction, when Geri says, “If you see her, let me know. I will ready myself for deflection.”
Miles smiles, nods, and enters the cockpit. He plops down in his seat.
“Everyone okay back there?” Jenna asks.
“Mike strapped crates into the spare seats so Emma couldn’t get secured before that thing hit us.”
“What?”
“Yup. She hit her head, got a big cut on her forehead.”
Jenna frowns. “I knew Mike was an asshole, but I never thought he’d be that kind of an asshole.”
“Yeah. But anyway,” Miles says, wanting to change the subject. “We need to keep an eye out for that Jor – um, the serpent thing so Geri can cast whatever spell she has going on in that black bag of hers to deflect it.”
“I see. Well, so far there’s been nothing larger than a Great White.”
He nods. “Well, if she does show up.”
Jenna’s eyes widen. “You think it will?”
“Yeah. She’s pissed.”
“Lovely. And why do you keep calling it a she?”
“That’s what Geri calls it. The daughter of Loki.”
Jenna shakes her head, staring at the monitor. “Whatever it is, it damaged us with that hit.”
Miles frowns, gaze straying to the curved windshield. “Great. Damage report.”
“Well, according to the sensors, our right high thruster is crushed. There’s a large dent near the side hatch, which might make it difficult to open. And there’s the crack…”
He blinks and looks at her. “Crack?”
Jenna points to the far-right side curve of the windshield. He has to squint a bit, but it’s there. A tiny, silvery crack snaking from the window molding. Not even an inch long, but a tiny crack can turn into a big one in the open ocean. And—
“We can’t deep dive,” Jenna says. “Six hundred feet might be our max.”
“Yeah,” he says.
“And if it hits us that hard again…”
Blowing out a heavy sigh, he nods. “Yeah. How long now before we’re able to move?”
“Less than five minutes. I disabled the right high thruster, so we only have the four if we get into trouble again. But I’d, like, not want to use them again.” She waves a hand. “Hopefully that old woman really can do what she says she can do.”
Five minutes comes and goes and Jenna starts up the STAV. In less than ten minutes, they’re speeding through the ocean, aimed back toward the mainland.
The scans reveal nothing following them.
CHAPTER 18
The pain is deeper than the cut in her forehead. A throbbing ache pounding at the walls of her skull. But she doesn’t tell Ma this. Although the woman did mention she might have a concussion, which Emma thinks is very likely considering she remembers nothing from the second the monster hit the vessel until Miles woke her up. She doesn’t even know what she hit her head on.
Mike has already apologized a dozen times for the prank and she knows he’s sincere, but still. It was a dick move and she’s not quite totally sure she wants to forgive him yet, even if she says she has to his face. In all reality, she wants to hit him. But hitting him would spark more chaos in the small vessel. And the way things are, she’d probably end up dead.
So, she decides to let her anger go in tiny streams. Purging them slowly.
She takes her seat between Ma and Geri. The old woman has a couple long crystals in her lap. One blue, the other black.
She carefully tucks the bag between her and Emma and gives a wan smile. “I may need you when Jörmungandr attacks again.”
Emma frowns. “You think she will?”
“Oh, yes. She is an angry, vengeful bitch.”
Unable to stop herself from laughing a little, Emma manages, “Sounds like my sister.”
Geri pats Emma’s leg. “More than likely a good assumption.”
“So, what are the crystals for?”
Geri lowers her eyes, looking at the blue and black sticks in her lap. “They are Venus and Hel. The two tapped together create a song. This song frightens Jörmungandr.”
“I know what Venus is, but what’s Hel? You mean Hell, as in the Christian religion, or…”
“No. It is Old Norse, though their meanings are about the same. Hel is an underworld where the dead dwell, and it is also a goddess.” Geri holds up the black crystal. “This contains the final droplet of her blood.”
“Wait,” Jakob says, leaning forward a bit. “Gods bleed?”
Geri bursts into cackling laughter and Emma is once more reminded of one of those old witch caricatures. Those old, hunched wretches with the warts on their nose and shrouded in a black, tattered cloak.
Once the cackling eases, Geri breathes, and points a crooked finger at Jakob. “No. A god must fall into our realm in order to bleed.” She waggles the black crystal. “These drops were collected during her death. The last living thing from a god or goddess ever known to exist.”
When no one says anything for a moment, Geri nods. “It is her that exudes the most power when I bring the crystals together.”
“So,” Mike says, pointing at the blue crystal (Venus) and grinning. “What’s in that one? Dirt?”
Geri lowers the black crystal, cutting a look at Mike Emma can only describe as piercing. “You lack the tact and poise of your brother. Your arrogance is your weakness which will soon unravel your very soul.”
Emma’s jaw drops just a bit and she turns her sight on Mike. His mouth opens a bit, then clears his throat, rolls his eyes and taps Jakob on the shoulder. “So, how are the Packers doing this season?”
Jakob shakes his head and stands. “Alright, man. What’s your deal? Miles always boasted about you. Told us funny and heroic stories of you.” Again, Jakob shakes his head. “But what I’m seeing right now…I think that bastard lied to us.”
Mike straightens a bit, eyes narrowing. “Do you want your ass kicked? Because that’s how you get your ass kicked.”
There’s this second or two of pure pause from Jakob before bursting into wild laughter. The younger man doubles over, bellowing laughter and slapping his knee.
Guether places a hand on Jakob’s back and glares at Mike. “Now, see what you did? You turned him into a goddamn lunatic. Again. I just got him back to being only an idiot too, you bastard.”
Jakob laughs harder, dropping to his knees on the floor. Howling.
Through all the laughter, Mike says, “I don’t see what’s so funny.”
Sylvi sits beside him, smiles a bit. “Well…let me see. Oh! You’re a dumbass.”
“What the—”
Guether pats Jakob’s back. “You just insulted a former Dagger Point, kid. The Navy’s most elite team. And Jakob here, he’s sniper, but don’t let that get to you as much as he is one of the most highly trained killing machines on the fuckin’ planet.” Guether clears his throat. “Besides myself, of course.”
Sylvi chuckles. “Dream on, mongoloid.”
Now it’s Guether’s turn to laugh. Not the full out gales Jakob is belting out, but close.
“Guys,” Emma says. “Let’s just calm down. Miles said—”
“And who are you again?” Mike spouts.
Emma opens her mouth, but it’s Sylvi who speaks. “The one woman you shouldn’t fuck with, asshole.”
Emma glances at Sylvi and catches a smirk before the other woman turns to Mike again. “Because, Miles said she’s part of our team now. But…he never said shit about you being on the team. The one we came all the way out here to s
ave and frankly, I don’t think you’re worth the risk.”
Mike flashes her a sneer. “Fuck off, bitch.”
Jakob coughs, straightens, face suddenly drawn. Guether’s posture changes from hunched to squared. His large hand lowers to the handle of the knife on his hip. Ma stiffens next to Emma. Sylvi shifts, practically perching on the seat instead of sitting. Her face is something caught between hate and amusement. Not a good combination in Emma’s opinion. Especially what she’s gathered from Sylvi. And to think, she thought the woman hated her.
Still…
“We need to all just calm down,” Emma says and Sylvi actually slouches a bit.
Mike stands, eyes darting in their sockets. “I need some fresh air.”
“Sit,” Ma says. “We’re below the surface now.”
“How do you know?”
Ma sighs, looks up from her tablet. “The pressure inside the STAV increased. Simple indication we are in a dive.”
Mike opens his mouth and shuts it.
Emma stifles a laugh. It’s almost comical how they all tore the arrogant man apart. Not funny when Sylvi tried with her, but still…
“Yeah,” Jakob says, all sense of humor and laughter gone. His face is cold…eyes stony. “Sit down…Mike.”
Mike looks at everyone, a deep frown cutting into his face, and finally sits.
“Atta boy,” Guether says.
Jakob sits too, though makes sure there’s a seat between Mike and him. Guether plops down between them, grinning.
Geri begins to say something when Miles opens the door and says, “She’s coming in hot. Strap in!”
Emma buckles the harness over her, already trembling. Everyone buckles.
Geri pats Emma’s knee. “Watch.”
The old woman hums and lifts both crystal sticks above her head. Venus and Hel.
Mike snorts and Guether smacks him on the arm. Just enough to make the other man jump. Mike’s smile withers on his face.
Geri doesn’t stop humming. She rubs the crystal sticks together and sways back and forth in her seat, eyes closed.
Then…she begins tapping the crystals together. They ring, echoing through the STAV.
The tiny hairs on Emma’s arms stiffen. The smell of ozone shimmers through the air.
Emma closes her eyes, waiting for another massive hit that might very well be their last.
CHAPTER 19
“This is it,” Miles says, sitting in his seat and buckling in. “Can we turn in time to shift off the rigged laser burst?”
Jenna quickly shakes her head. “No. It’s almost on us now. No time to maneuver for an attack.”
“Then get us out of her path.”
“Working on it. Missing a thruster really messes with our capabilities. I just need to move the smallest bit to get out of her path. It’ll decrease her impact a little.”
“I get that,” he says. He points at the crack. “But will that take much impact?”
“No,” Jenna says. “I have a trick up my sleeve.”
He hopes so but – why does the air feel more electric? Why are all the tiny hairs stiffening on the back of his neck? Why is there a faint whiff of ozone?
Something weird is happening, though he’s not exactly sure what.
Shaking it all off, he focuses on the monitor as the sea serpent takes up most of the screen. There’s only three hundred meters until impact.
The STAV rises. Now four hundred and forty. Now four-hundred. Before he realizes it, they’re at two hundred feet and turning sharply right.
The serpent shoots out below them about fifty meters, swings off in their direction and Miles hopes the scans are in real time and not on a couple seconds delay, otherwise…
But Jenna swerves the STAV to the left and says, “Hold on to your shit.”
He’s opening his mouth to ask why when all at once it’s like his stomach slams into his chest. His feet lift from the floor. All the air seeps from his lungs. And his brain is screaming, WE’RE FALLING, over and over. And I’M GONNA THROW UP AGAIN.
Before his brain can finish any more thoughts, the falling sensation floats to a halt. He gags, head thrumming, and swallows down a hard lump in his throat.
When everything is back to normal inside him, he manages, “Wh – Okay what just happened?”
“Shutdown buoyancy bursts. Reversed thrusters. We dropped from two hundred feet to five like a rock.”
Miles swallows again. “Yup. Sure did.”
A series of beeps draws both of their attentions to the monitors.
“It’s still after us,” Jenna mutters and sets the speed to three hundred knots, swerving to the left.
Miles watches, heart stammering, as the monstrous serpent shape on the monitor bolts closer and closer to them. It begins filling up the screen.
“Spin us around,” Miles says, eyes narrowing. The familiar chill of battle sheaths his veins.
“What?” Jenna rips her gaze away from the monitor and windshield long enough to shoot him a frown. “Miles, we—”
He curls his hands around his throttle/wheel, fingers finding the triggers with slick ease.
Jenna opens her mouth, closes it, then returns her attention to the controls. She jacks the STAV to the right. The motion is like being on one of those old carnival rides. Tilt-O-Whirl, perhaps. He’s pressed into the seat as the STAV spins around and—
“Holy fucknuts,” Jenna shouts. “Miles!”
For a breath, Miles freezes, eyes widening.
It emerges through the dark waters, a massive, triangular head dwarfing the STAV. Yellow eyes flash like sunbursts. The head occupies the entire view through the windshield. But then, it does a peculiar thing. The monstrosity stops. A thin curtain of bubbles warble between them and it.
“Miles,” Jenna says, pretty much breathless.
“Shh,” he manages through the terror gripping him.
Those large, yellow eyes flash again as its head moves left to right, then cocking a bit, as if hearing something only it can hear. To Miles, it doesn’t look like a snake, exactly. Similar features, like the triangular head and overall shape, but…it’s stouter. Long, bony spikes protrude from the top of its snout. And when its thin lips part in something like a sneer, he blinks at hundreds of long, curved, pointy teeth. No fangs, like a viper, though nothing as subtle as a python. All those teeth, they remind him of a tiger shark.
His finger begins to squeeze the laser burst trigger, as he tilts the throttle and aims for an eye, when the serpent rears. It flashes all those teeth at him, then spans away. Miles’ finger relaxes as its body, gleaming green scales, runs by the STAV. It takes almost two minutes before the monster disappears into the dark.
Trembling a bit, Miles lowers his hands from the wheel.
“H-Holy shit,” Jenna says. “No one told me how fucking big it is!”
“I did,” he says, forcing himself to calm down and think. “I thought you saw that video too. With it swimming? Shit, I didn’t think it was that big though.”
“Big?” Jenna turns to him, eyes huge. “That’s not big, that’s fucking huge, dude.”
“Yup.”
“But…why did it just leave us alone?”
Miles cocks a thumb over his shoulder. “Geri.”
A frown creases her bronzed face. “The old lady? How—”
“Look, I don’t know. She has a black bag and says she has ways to deflect the thing.”
Jenna doesn’t say anything more and turns back to the controls. She turns the STAV back toward land and increases the speed to four hundred knots. They cruise swiftly through two hundred and sixty feet of water.
There’s no sign of the serpent now.
Miles stands and says, “I’m going to check on the team. You doing okay?”
Jenna huffs out a stale laugh. “Yeah. Sure.” She sighs. “Miles, that thing can swallow us whole.”
He kneels beside her. “I know. But we also know Geri’s charms or whatever the hell she’s got going on, works.�
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“Are we even sure that’s why it left?”
All Miles can do is shrug.
“We need to haul ass to the mainland,” Jenna says. “That’s all I’m going to focus on right now.”
“Good,” Miles says. “Maybe she scared it off for good.”
“If she did, then yeah, I hope so too because that shit is bananas.”
He chuckles, squeezes her shoulder and stands. “We’ll make it through this. We’ve made it out of worse.”
After a moment, she nods. “Like Romania.”
He almost shudders at the thought of Romania. Talk about a shitstorm. A week straight of trying to survive in a forest teeming with beasts. Beasts said to be conjured by an insane vampire in the early sixteenth century. Beast confined to the forest. Ravenous things his team barely escaped from, losing two along the way. If not for the mechs, they would have never made it at all. Those mechanical suits weren’t completely safe, but they were better than being exposed to the beasts without. It had been hell, but they made it.
This is bad, but at least they have an entire ocean to maneuver in and ways to stop the monster.
In Romania, they had nothing but the mechs and their wits.
He gives Jenna a hug and she whispers in his ear, “I really missed you.” Her warm breath tingles his very soul, yet, he kisses her cheek and hurries out of the cockpit. She’s never acted like this before. Usually she’s so damned strong willed she rarely shows such emotions. Humorous talk and jokes, but rarely anything as serious as she’d been since his return. He thinks on this briefly, not sure what to make of it, then enters the body of the STAV.
The first thing he notices is Geri holding black and blue crystals crossed over her head and humming some strange tune. Her eyes are shut, but everyone is focused on her. Even Mike.
He clears his throat and they all blink and turn their attention to him. All except for Geri, who still hums and holds the crystals up.
“How’s everyone doing back here?”
Emma is the only one who perks up a bit. She tentatively touches the bandages wrapped around her head. “Good. Thirsty, though.”
God, why does she always have to be so damn cute?
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