Nikita and Siena paddle furiously, the boat zigzagging erratically because they’re so out of time. Gust has his hands on his head, his focus totally on the silent, deadly predator coming their way.
The one that's found its prey.
Mercy grips the side of the boat, only to jerk her hands back. The ocean around them has suddenly become far more dangerous than just the acid water. “Breathe, guys. You need to row together.”
Nikita and Siena pause, glancing at each other. As if they’ve made a silent agreement, they plunge their oars into the water simultaneously.
Luca lifts his oar. “Get ready,” he mutters to Hawk. “When the shark gets close, we want to make sure it regrets it.”
Hawk nods once, his jaw set. “Damn right it will.”
A quick glance at the other boat shows them only a few feet away. “Hurry!” Luca calls. “We need to join the two boats—it’ll make us look bigger.”
And less like prey-sized afternoon tea.
Gust tears at his hair. “Paddle faster!”
Siena and Nikita’s faces are pale with terror, their brows low with determination. The gap closes, their boats bumping together only to bounce back before anyone can grab a hold.
The leatherskin seems to know what they’re planning, because it aims for the space between the two vessels. It slices forward, unrelenting in its speed. Before they can come any closer, it spears between them.
The side of its massive body hits Luca’s boat, slamming into it with the force of a battering ram. Sam screams as the boat tilts wildly, water sloshing over the side in waves. The second boat careens to the side, lurching back and forth, too.
The shark’s gone before Luca can take a swing at it.
“Hurry!” screams Gust, reaching toward them desperately. The shark has pushed them further apart, meaning there’s lost ground to recover.
The leatherskin continues to swim away, but Luca knows it’s just getting a run up. As he expected, it spins around a few yards away. Shooting forward, it slices toward them again.
The second boat bumps against their side and Mercy scrabbles over to it. “Pass me one of your oars!”
Siena jabs the wooden paddle toward Mercy, who grabs it with both hands and digs her feet into the side, bracing herself. Sam joins her, wrapping her own hands around it. On the other side, Siena and Nikita do the same. Gust is more preoccupied with yanking out his own hair and staring at the fast approaching predator.
“Sit down!” Luca shouts.
But it’s too late. The shark plows into the place where the two boats join, rocking both with the power of thousands of pounds of weight. Mercy and Sam’s arms strain as they fight to keep the boats joined.
Gust is knocked sideways, his arms waving like windmills. He stumbles backward and trips on a stack of supplies. His eyes widen with terror as he realizes he’s about to fall into the water.
With the bloodthirsty shark.
Siena releases the end of the oar she was holding and leaps forward, grabbing Gust by the shirt. For a split second, he seesaws, teetering between the safety of the boat and the danger of the sea.
Between life and death.
But a hard tug from Siena and Gust stumbles back into the boat. He falls onto all fours, drawing in lungfuls of breath like he’s realized how precious the act itself is.
The next slam from the leatherskin rocks both boats. Nikita grimaces as her hands strain to hold her end of the oar. The boat sways violently and more water splashes over the side, sinking it even further.
“Lose some of the weight,” Hawk calls.
“Are you okay with this?” Sam shouts to Mercy.
Mercy nods, her face resolute. She doesn’t plan on releasing the oar if she can help it.
Sam throws back a hemp cover to find a stack of clay urns. Gust must’ve done the same in their boat, because he starts frantically throwing them into the ocean.
The leatherskin doesn’t swim as far away this time. It twists in the water, barreling back at them. Luca braces himself, pressing his feet into the bottom of the boat as he lifts his oar.
The moment the shark hits them, he pummels it, slamming the oar over and over, Hawk doing the same beside him. Sometimes, he punches through nothing but frothing water. A few of the hits thud as they strike hard flesh.
“Their eyes and gill areas are the most sensitive,” shouts Sam.
Suddenly, an urn flings past Luca’s head, landing in the water with a splash.
“Yes, Sam!” calls Mercy.
Sam’s throwing the urns at the shark like rocks. Luca turns back to the shark, knowing it’s probably not going to do much. Especially when most of them are going wide of their mark.
This time, the shark doesn’t leave. It slams into the boats again and again.
As timber creaks and splinters, Luca realizes the boats aren’t going to hold up against this assault much longer. Nor are Mercy, Siena and Nikita going to be able to keep the two boats together. Once the shark separates them, it’s only a matter of time before one of them tips.
On the next attack, the shark rears out of the water, its cavernous mouth wide open and exposing rows upon rows of dagger-like teeth.
Gust screams. Nikita tumbles backward with the force and releases her end of the oar. Siena cries out as it’s yanked from her hands. The boats split apart, rocking wildly and taking on more water despite some of the supplies being thrown overboard.
It’s Luca’s boat that the shark decides to target. Again, it thrashes as it leaps, mouth open and ready to clamp onto anything it can find.
Three things happen simultaneously.
Mercy grabs one of the urns now that she’s free, throwing it at the shark. It sails into its mouth as if it was a black hole sucking it in and lodges it in the leatherskin’s throat.
Hawk leaps forward and spears his oar in straight after it, jamming it between the razor sharp teeth.
And Luca’s oar slams into the side of the shark’s head, rupturing the beady eye that had pinned them with its hungry gaze.
The shark jerks and thrashes, but the damage has been done. It can’t close its mouth. It’s choking. And it’s lost an eye.
It sinks, a ribbon of blood trailing after it into the depths of the ocean.
Luca looks around, shock and relief coursing through him. “Is everyone okay?”
Three mute nods answer him from Sam, Hawk, and Mercy. Gust has collapsed into a heap, his eyes wide with shock. Siena and Nikita are pale as they each whisper “yes.”
Hawk slides over to Sam. “Good thinking with the urns.”
She smiles shakily at him. “Nice job jamming an oar into a shark’s mouth.” She lifts a trembling hand but before she can touch Hawk, he’s hauled her into his arms. They hold each other silently, their breathing slowly becoming one.
Luca sinks onto the bench seat, his heart rate still a rapid fire staccato in his chest. That was a close one.
There’s a rustle and he finds Mercy slipping in beside him. “Are you okay?”
Luca almost tells her he’s fine. That he doesn’t need anyone to look out for him. But he doesn’t. In fact, right now he wants to kiss Mercy. Feel her warmth, her pulse, her sweet, intoxicating energy. As if that’s the only thing that could really assure him that anything’s okay.
He swallows. Then nods. “I’m just glad no one was hurt.”
Or killed.