Island of Dragons (Unwanteds #7)(19)

“The sea is not too strong for the one who rules it,” Pan said. She angled and pulled up alongside one of the twin reefs made by Karkinos’s claws.

Florence and Henry exchanged a worried look. Simber, Spike, and the squirrelicorns pulling the ship’s ropes couldn’t stop their ship from tumbling over the waterfall at the edge of the world. How were the four of them supposed to save an entire island? They were dangerously close to disaster.

Florence reached down to help Henry stand so that as soon as Pan was close enough to the claw reef, he could jump off and run to Karkinos’s head with the medicine. “Ready?” she asked.

Henry nodded. “Ready!” he said. And when Pan slowed and unfurled her tail, Henry ran down the length of it, slipping a bit but catching himself, all the way to the reef. He jumped off the dragon’s tail when it grew too thin and sped up the claw to the mainland.

As he ran, he fumbled with his vest pocket, whispering the secret word that would unlock it. He pulled out the tin and held it tightly in his hand as he rounded the shell and came up to the crab’s enormous eyeballs, perched on their eyestalks. A thin, sickly film covered them.

Florence was not far behind. “Talon!” she shouted. “Lhasa! Are you here?” There was no answer. “They must be trying to secure the others to the island,” she said, worried. She walked to the edge of the wooded area and peered down a path.

Henry knelt near the crab’s face. Karkinos’s mouth was under water. “Karkinos, it’s Henry from Artimé. I have medicine that can help you. Can you lift your head?”

The crab didn’t move.

Henry turned to look over his shoulder. “Florence, we have a problem!” he called out. “He doesn’t understand me. Pan, can you help?” And then he spotted Spike arriving. “Spike!” he cried. But Pan and Spike had other plans as they called for the help of Issie the sea monster and began to push against the moving island.

The rushing of the waterfall grew louder. Henry could see clouds of mist rising from it and feel its dampness on his skin. Florence hadn’t heard him. She disappeared among the trees.

“Spike!” Henry called again.

The whale looked up.

“Can you talk to Karkinos? See if he can lift his mouth out of the water so the medicine doesn’t wash away!”

Spike left Pan’s side and disappeared under the water. A moment later Spike surfaced. “He is not responding,” she said.

“But I need to ask him a very important question!” Henry shouted, beginning to panic. What was he to do if Karkinos wasn’t able to respond? Forego the medicine and plunge over the waterfall with all the others? He thought about Ishibashi and the injured turtle on the Island of Shipwrecks. Ishibashi hadn’t asked permission of the turtle. Was that because it was an animal? If so, did that mean Henry could administer the seaweed to Karkinos the crab for the same reason? Hadn’t Ishibashi mentioned only needing permission from humans? He was quite sure that was the case. But Karkinos seemed almost human compared to the turtle.

Henry looked at the mist rising from the waterfall. He didn’t know what to do—all he knew was that they were all counting on him. “Can you pry open his mouth?”

Spike nodded and turned around in the water, then tipped to one side and aimed her spike at the crab’s mouth just under the surface of the water. Slowly she moved forward, her eyes nearly rolling back in her head as she strained to see what she was doing.

“That’s it,” said Henry. “Just a little more. Wiggle it a bit. Now angle your spike upward to pry his mouth open so I can climb in. Careful not to pierce him.”

The whale obliged.

As the crab’s jaws opened, Henry looked inside. Water flooded into the mouth. “How am I going to do this?” he muttered.

“We must hurry!” Pan called out. She strained against the crab’s shell, her tail spinning like a propeller in the water. Issie pushed alongside her, but the two together could only slow down the island’s progress—they needed to reverse it.

Henry looked inside the crab’s mouth again. “Hold it open, Spike. I’m going inside.”

Without another word, Henry slipped into the churning water, hanging on tightly to the edge of the crab’s shell so the current wouldn’t wash him away. He reached out and grabbed the bottom of Karkinos’s mouth, trying to avoid cutting himself on the various chewing appendages. With a splash, he swung himself inside. But with the crab’s mouth propped open, water washed in and out. It could take the magic seaweed with it.

Henry’s heart thundered inside his chest. He knew what he had to do.

“Let go, Spike,” he said. “Let his mouth close. He won’t swallow me. . . . I don’t think so anyway. And when I yell, pry it open again. Okay?”

Spike didn’t ask questions. “I will do that, Henry.”

Before Henry knew it, the crab’s mouth was closing around him. He sucked in a breath as his world grew dark, and when the jaw clamped shut, Henry sat inside, trying to get his bearings. The water sloshed around his shoulders, and the briny smell of impending death inside was horrid. Despite the bubble of air above the water, Henry began to panic.

Just take it easy, Henry told himself. Get the job done. He forced himself to stay calm. After a moment, he began feeling around the pod he was in, wondering if there was a way for him to get Karkinos to swallow some of the water so he could press the seaweed into the side of the crab’s mouth. Cautiously he pushed down, half scooting, half swimming, toward the back of the crab’s mouth, then pounded on his palate, trying to stimulate the swallowing mechanism. With one particularly sharp blow, Karkinos’s head reared back, sending Henry tumbling and splashing toward his throat.