A Fork of Paths

Horror rushed through me. I knew what these were. These were the legendary Great Sea Arachnids. Some called them water spiders, while others called them crabs, but they were rumored to live in these parts of the ocean. I shouldn’t have been surprised at their arrival. They would have scented the dead bodies in the water.

Four more crabs scrambled up over the side of the ship. As their feet landed, a couple of them lodged through the bodies of Bloodless, skewering them on their long legs just as one had done to Uma. As they began to stomp down on anyone near them—ogres, Bloodless and humans—I realized that piling up bodies on each of their legs like barbecue sticks was how they caught their prey.

Even Aisha appeared to be frozen in shock. One of them lurched forward in our direction, extending its menacing pincers. Taking advantage of the precarious moment and the fact that Aisha was still in her physical form, I gripped her hands and sank my claws in them, forcing her to let go. I tumbled down to the deck amidst the chaos and threw myself beneath a pile of barrels.

I have to get away from this jinni.

Careful to stay close to the ground, and obscured by barrels and upturned tables, I scrambled toward the edge of the boat—keeping myself hidden behind a high pile of rope—and looked downward. My breath hitched. The waves were swarming with the monsters, their bright red heads bobbing above the waves.

I glanced anxiously back over my shoulder in search of the jinni. I spotted her flitting about over the center of the deck. It wouldn’t be long until she’d found me.

As my gaze fell back on the nightmarish arthropods, I had only two choices before me.

Get skewered alive by a hulking crab, or get caught by Aisha.

It actually wasn’t such a hard decision to make.

Julie

I tried to choose a spot to dive in that wasn’t infested with the monsters. Crashing down into the waves, I prayed that I wouldn’t collide headfirst with one of the crabs. I forced my eyes open, even as the salt stung. At least the daylight was more tolerable down here.

Chills ran through me as I spied several monsters just a dozen feet away, and many more rising up from the darkest depths of the ocean for their luncheon. My only ray of hope was that most of them seemed to be approaching the boat from its starboard side, while the area directly beneath the vessel, and also to the port, was less densely populated.

I swam directly beneath the shadow of the vessel, through the gap between the keel and the rudder. So far, no crabs were making a show of moving toward me. All their focus seemed to be on the deck of the ship.

I drifted down deeper, at the same time backing away from the stream of crabs to my right. I had to get away from these waters as fast as I could. Aisha would no doubt check the surrounding waves once she’d verified I was no longer on the deck. Perhaps she’d started scouring the ocean’s surface already.

As I descended, I continued eyeing the arthropods, terrified that one would suddenly take interest in me as an appetizer.

Streams of bubbles and a muffled scream escaped from my mouth as something sharp clamped around my right leg. My eyes shot down to see the jaws of a shark closing around my shin. My claws extended, I slashed at the shark’s eyes, causing it to let go of me and back away in pain. It had reins attached to it. It was one of the sharks that pulled the ogres’ ship. I had drifted too close to the vessel’s bow.

The shark had cut two nasty gashes in my leg. They hurt like hell, but I was grateful at least that he hadn’t torn my entire leg off.

A mad jinni, giant crabs, lethal sharks… I wondered how many more obstacles life could throw my way.

Haven’t I suffered my fair share already? Wasn’t losing Hans and his siblings enough?

I didn’t think my heart could take any more nasty surprises.

Even as my right leg ached, I forced both of my legs into action, propelling me deeper. Keeping an eye on the stream of crabs rising to the surface, eventually I reached the last of the horde. There must have been at least fifty of them in total attacking the ship now.

I moved further away from the boat, maintaining my depth. I’d swum so deep by now, I was beginning to feel the pressure on my lungs. I’d need to resurface sometime soon, but not until I felt a safe distance away.

Constantly glancing over my shoulder as I swam, I sped forward for miles before finally allowing myself to surface for breath. The sun’s rays touched me uninhibited. Wincing, I kept my head down low as I took in deep, steady breaths. I gazed back at the ship. In my panic, I’d swum further than I had expected. It was just a small fleck on the waves now. I couldn’t spot the jinni, but I couldn’t afford to become complacent either. As soon as I’d renewed my body with oxygen, I submerged myself in the ocean again and continued swimming away.

I wasn’t sure what would happen to all those Bloodless who’d been on the ogres’ ship. It seemed that the spider crabs weren’t exactly discriminatory about whom or what they caught. Maybe those creepy arthropods would do the job Uma, Aisha and I had set out to do—wipe the Bloodless out.

But I couldn’t pay any thought to that now.

There was only one thing on my mind as I raced away:

Braithe.

* * *

I wasn’t even sure how I managed it, but I did. I found my way back to Uma’s island alive. As I entered shallow waters and crawled out of the waves and onto the beach, a surge of relief rushed through me, despite the sun digging into me once again.

Barely taking a moment to catch my breath, I hurried away from the beach and raced up the hill to Uma’s castle. This time, I didn’t knock. Uma had already said that her sister was away visiting relatives. There would in theory be nobody at home… except for Hans’ brother.