“Wait, you’re what?” Bethany stared at him. “You mean you’re going out searching for a giant squid? Why the hell would you do that?” She lowered her voice when a few heads swiveled in their direction. “Please don’t tell me that you actually believe it’s a kraken, like you told Duke. I figured you were just looking for an excuse to get into a fight.”
She wasn’t wrong there. Too bad she was wrong about the kraken. A giant squid would have been a piece of cake, comparatively speaking. Or a piece of sushi.
“Beka is kind of a monster hunter,” he said more or less honestly, avoiding the second part of Bethany’s question. “I’m just helping her out. That’s why she came here from California.”
“And you two think you’re going to find some mythological sea creature that eats ships?” Bethany shook her head. “The insurance company told Robbie they had documented one other case of an attack from a giant squid, off the coast of Japan, so they paid on his claim. It’s pretty freaky, but they think it must have been attracted by something on the boat that reminded it of prey. The oceanographers from Woods Hole are having a field day, but neither they nor anyone else has caught a glimpse of the thing. It has probably headed back out to deeper waters.”
“So you’re not worried about being out there? Bringing your poor defenseless father?” Alexei was running out of ways to talk her out of it. Crap.
“Oh, please,” Bethany said. “I’d like to see a giant squid try and take on my father, wheelchair or not. We’re coming out with you tomorrow, and that’s all there is to it. If it is safe enough for your friend Beka, it is safe enough for us. Monsters. Ha.” She went down to the other end of the bar to fill a drink order for three craggy old men sitting together and playing cards.
Well, SHIT. That was going to pose a bit of a problem, wasn’t it?
*
“I can’t believe you let them come along,” Beka said out of the corner of her mouth as she guided the boat out to sea. Bethany and her father were sitting toward the front of the boat, and Alexei and Beka were in the small cabin, but Beka still kept her voice down, just in case. The ocean breeze could play funny tricks with sound, snatching it away and carrying it where you least expected it. “What were you thinking?”
Alexei scowled at her. He’d been in a crabby mood since they’d all arrived at the docks that morning. Probably because he’d lost an argument. He hated that.
“I was thinking it is their boat and I couldn’t exactly keep them from coming if they wanted to,” he said, glaring out at the innocent waves. “Besides, I tried to talk her out of it. She wouldn’t listen to me.”
“No wonder you’re so grumpy,” Beka said with a grin. “You always used to pout like this when one of your brothers got the better of you.”
“I am not pouting,” Alexei muttered. “Grown men do not pout.”
“Could have fooled me,” Beka said. “Are you really worried we’ll run into the kraken while they’re onboard?” She fingered the spell pouch she’d tucked into her waterproof jacket. In theory, the magic she’d worked up would pack enough of a punch to scare off a kraken, although she doubted it would kill one. And she’d just as soon not have to test the theory out one way or the other, thank you very much. Besides, it was her job to protect Paranormal creatures, not kill them, if at all possible.
Alexei shook his head. He’d pulled his shoulder-length hair back with a leather strip so the wind wouldn’t constantly blow it in his face. Beka thought it was a good look for him, and she was pretty sure Bethany thought so too, from the glances she kept sneaking at Alexei when she thought no one was watching. But there didn’t seem to be much point in mentioning it, since they were both so set on ignoring their obvious attraction to each other. Idiots.
“I doubt it. We probably won’t get that lucky.”
Beka shuddered, but he sounded quite cheerful about the prospect of encountering a gigantic legendary monster. The Riders had always been a little more adventurous than was probably wise, but that was when they were immortal. She wasn’t sure if Alexei had really processed what a difference this meant to how he should approach risk. Or maybe the problem was that he had, and didn’t care.
“I know we need to track it down,” she said. “But I don’t really want to do it with innocent bystanders around. Especially ones who don’t know about magic and the paranormal.”
“It’s not exactly optimum for my plan of trying to talk to the sharks that were at the site of Henry’s wreck, either. Assuming we can even find them,” he added glumly.
“Ah, that I think I can help with,” Beka said, a little smug at finally being able to do something. “This isn’t the time of year when there are many sharks in the area. They mostly show up in the summer when the seal population is larger. So I got one of my Selkie scouts to ask our dolphin friends from the other day to meet us out here. If anyone knows where the sharks are, it is them. If only so they can avoid that area, if nothing else.”
“Great,” Alexei said. “Now all we have to do is figure out how I’m going to talk to them without Bethany and her father figuring out there is something strange going on. Hopefully they will stay at the front of the ship. I’ve got Calum set up with a fishing pole and bait, so with any luck that will keep both of them occupied.”
“I guess we’re going to find out,” Beka said, spotting something off the port side. “Because I think we’ve got company.”
She slowed down to a crawl and put the ship on autopilot after double checking that there were no other vessels in the area, and the two of them hurried down to the stern. The scar-faced dolphin Alexei had talked to the other day waited for them impatiently, whistling a rapid series of tones when they finally came into view over the edge of the boat.
“He doesn’t like being out here,” Alexei said, although she didn’t really need the translation. The dolphin swam back and forth restlessly, occasionally peering back over its shoulder. “His pod is staying in closer to land than usual as long as the big scary thing is out here. But they’re hungry, because the fish are gone.”
Alexei’s brows drew together, concern written across his open face. “He says they’re afraid of Humans, but more afraid of the big scary thing. Their little ones are starving. We need to find the big scary soon and kill it.” He shook his head. “Sorry, I added that last bit myself.”
“Oh, I don’t disagree,” Beka said. “Ask him if he knows how to find the sharks that were nearby when the fisherman’s boat got attacked.”
Alexei relayed her question and got more agitated whistles in return. “He thinks we’re crazy for wanting to talk to sharks, but they were spotted not long ago off an island to our south. So I guess we head there.” He hesitated. “Do you think there is anything we can do to help his pod in the meanwhile?”