Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
What you want is me, still, isn’t it? I want to ask.
I just put my hand at her lower back and she leans into me, falling over slightly.
“Are you alright, luv?” I ask, peering down at her. She still looks pale and when I glance at the bandage around her arm, I can see a hint of red peeking through. The sight of blood stirs a primal hunger in me, which I bury deep for now.
She nods and makes a faint noise of agreement. “I’m fine.”
God almighty, she didn’t do what I think she did…
“Maren,” I say, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to look at me. “Look me in the eyes.”
She slowly opens them, swaying. They color of them is the pale blue of a shallow shoal, barely any pigment in it left.
She’s been drained.
My jaw tightens. “You didn’t give them blood did you?”
She gives me a tired smile. “It’s all in a bottle. Thane has hidden it. Please don’t be mad.”
“Mad?!” I explode, livid. I quickly look around for Thane. I’m going to kill the bastard. “Thane!” I yell. “Where are you?! Where’s the bottle?”
But when I spot Thane he’s standing by the helm on the aft deck now, staring down at the water.
I let go of Maren and march over to the steps to the aft deck, running up them until I’m at his side.
I push at his shoulder to get him to look at me. “Thane,” I growl.
But he just stares down at the water with horror in his eyes. It’s a look that makes my own blood run cold.
“What?” I ask and I peer over to see what he’s staring at.
At first the ocean looks normal, a deep blue, richer than it’s seemed all voyage since we’re getting closer to land now. Then I realize there’s something moving under the surface. Something dark, very dark, and impossibly large.
A hint of yellow eyes.
I suck in my breath and yell like I’ve never yelled before.
“It’s the Kraken!”
CHAPTER 37
Maren
“It’s the fucking Kraken!” Ramsay yells again, and panic spreads across the deck like a virus.
“Get the bottle of blood!” Cruz yells at Thane from the forecastle.
Ramsay shoots me a look of terror that I feel from across the deck, though I’m not sure if it’s because of the Kraken or because now my blood is being called into use.
But then he yells at Thane. “Aye, get Maren’s blood! Pass it around to everyone! One shot will do ya!” And I now I know that he’s on board with the idea, finally.
This morning I got up early, emboldened by Nerissa’s idea that I ignore Ramsay’s possessiveness and just give the blood to the crew anyway. So I snuck into the kitchen and she joined me, then I asked Sedge to cut into my vein to bleed me. He hesitated, of course, but he also understood, and soon my blood was draining out of me and into a cup, which was then tipped into an empty bottle of wine.
Now that bottle of wine is verily coming in handy.
But while it’s being passed around so that the crew can fortify themselves, I don’t know what to do. My blood doesn’t have that effect on me.
“Stay away from the sides!” Ramsay yells. “You all know how far those tentacles reach!”
“Maren!” Sam yells at me, holding up a cutlass. “Avast!”
She chucks the sword my way and it’s only luck that I manage to catch it by the handle. “You’re a true pirate now, lass!” she calls out. “You’re going to need to hack away at those tentacles, unless you think your teeth and claws might do.”
“I reckon I’ll try all three!” I tell her, gripping the sword tight. My experience with the Kraken has been shallow, so to speak, but I saw what those tentacles tried to do to Nill.
But then of course, if the Kraken is beneath the ship right now, wouldn’t that mean Edonia is controlling it?
Blast, I swear. Where is Nerissa?
I don’t want to leave the top deck in case the Kraken strikes and an extra sword is needed in defense, not to mention there could be more than one of them. But Nerissa should be up here with us. If she can somehow talk to her sister or the Kraken, then perhaps we need not fight at all, least not the whole ship.
I decide to chance it and run down the stairs to the main deck, looking around for Nerissa.
“Have you seen Nerissa?” I ask Sedge as I burst into the galley.
He shakes his head.
“Alright, well we have company in the form of the Kraken, and I don’t know where the best place is for you and the boys. I know it’s asking a lot to get you to step back into the captain’s quarters again, but in the event the ship starts to sink, at least you can escape through the balcony.”