An End of Night (A Shade of Vampire #16)(8)

Once the wolf had bounded away, Mona and Matteo turned to us. “Okay,” Mona said. “Let’s get out of here before there are any more distractions.”

Chapter 6: Rose

A strong sea wind whipped against my skin when our feet hit solid ground again. When I looked around, we were all standing on a small rock formation. Its surface was covered with a slimy moss-like substance and was uneven, dipping now and then to form shallow pools. My stomach churned as I caught sight of a massive spider crab about a foot away from where I was standing. I clutched Caleb’s arm and squeezed it.

“Gross,” I breathed, pointing to the creature.

Caleb looked amused by my reaction. “There are plenty more where that came from.” He gestured toward a mound about a hundred yards to our left. It was swarming with crabs scuttling in and out, carrying what looked like oysters and small fish between their razor-sharp pincers.

“Those things are fierce,” I said.

“Hunter crabs,” Caleb replied.

“Well I don’t want them hunting me,” I muttered.

“You had better toughen up, Rose,” Mona said darkly. “Those crabs are the prettiest things you are going to see while we’re here in The Cove. I promise you that.”

I shuddered.

After everything I had been through, all the horrors I had seen, one would have thought that I would have overcome my fear of spidery creatures. Now I wasn’t sure I would ever overcome it.

Ashley gripped Landis’ arm none too gently as she eyed a couple of crabs near her. She stumbled out of the way as they started scuttling straight for her.

At least I’m not the only one.

I’d been too occupied with the crabs until now and hadn’t looked properly at our surroundings. Beyond the small rock formation we were standing on was ocean, and further still, all around us were clusters of countless more islets, spreading out as far as we could see. The Cove, it seemed, was one massive, sprawling archipelago. Still gripping Caleb tightly in case I slipped, I moved toward the edge of the rocks and stared down. The water was dark and murky, and was tinged a dark green from the dense sea flora growing within it.

“Okay,” Mona said. “Listen up, everyone. We need to tread very carefully. We can’t afford to have anyone slipping into these waters.”

“What would happen if one of us did fall?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Just don’t. Inside the archipelago, these waters are the merfolk’s private property. It’s simply not done. We’re going to have to try to get someone’s attention while we are up on these rocks. Merfolk are hostile enough as it is. We need to try to extract information from them about Magnus, and any of us falling in might prove to be a fatal blow to any chance we have. So just… watch your step.”

“So what now?” Micah asked. His claws were extended, digging into the moss to keep his hold on the ground, and his paws were sopping wet.

“We’re going to travel from islet to islet, using magic of course,” Mona said. “And we all need to scan the waters surrounding us. Tell me if you see anything.”

With that, we all cautiously began spreading out toward the edge of the islet. I could still see nothing but murky green as Caleb and I made our way around the islet. It didn’t take long for all of us to finish scoping out the rocks. Mona magicked us to the next rock formation and we continued our search.

Perhaps it was just my imagination, but there seemed to be even more crabs on this island. It was hard to concentrate on the waters when I was constantly checking my feet to see if one was scuttling over me. I ended up admitting defeat and climbing onto Caleb’s back.

“Whoa,” my mother said behind us. Caleb hurried over to her with me. She was pointing toward the waves. The water churned violently, and as I strained my eyes, I could make out an enormous black shape.

“It’s a shark,” Corrine said.

“If you’re right, that is one long-ass shark,” Ashley murmured.

Corrine was right. A shiny fin protruded above the surface before sinking back down again seconds later.

“Just another reason why nobody should go slipping into these waters,” Mona said.

Once we had finished that second islet, we moved on to a third. This time it was Caleb and I who spotted something strange in the water. At first I thought it was some kind of long red stringy flora, but then it began to move and swirl. Caleb caught sight of a pulsating oblong object the same color as the stringy things, which turned out to be giant tentacles. The creature moved backward in one sudden motion.

“A squid?” I gasped.

“Looks like it,” Caleb said.

The others came over to look at what we had spotted.

“Yes, a squid,” Matteo said.

“Everything here is supersized,” Ashley said.

“Let’s keep moving,” Mona said.

We reached the fourth islet. Here we spotted black-striped sea serpents gliding through the water. I looked around at the seemingly never-ending archipelago. “How long is it going to take us?” I said, more to myself than to anyone else.

“We’re going to have to hope that we spot some merfolk sooner rather than later,” Mona said.

We were about to move on to the fifth islet when a shrill scream broke through the calm. I turned in time to see Helina flying backward, a bright red tentacle wrapped around her waist. She was pulled off the rocks and out of sight. There was a splash.