The Shell and the Star - Part 20

Happy Fourth of July!!!!!

Being that Monday is my blog day, I seem to hit a lot of the holidays. :) Here's hoping you are celebrating the birth of our nation almost 250 years ago with lots of fun stuff -- barbecues, fireworks, get-togethers, and, of course, a three-day weekend! (Don't you love it when the 4th falls on a Monday or a Friday?)

If you're just discovering this serialized "aquatic SFR" story now, you can catch up on everything posted to date at this link:  The Shell and the Star

For those reading along each week, we left Jinn and Trey last week about to have a serious talk after a  skinny dip together in the secluded cove. And then a ruckus from the direction of the Boggy Ball courts drew his attention--and him--away, leaving Jinn all alone and unsettled on a rock in the middle of the deserted cove. 

Today's episode has a few "fireworks" of it's own (so to speak). Make sure your seat belts are fastened and your tray is in the upright and locked position. Things could get bumpy. 

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jinn watched Trey’s agile form slide through the blue water until he disappeared out the mouth of the cove. She adjusted her dress, pulling at the wet fabric where it molded to her skin. His discarded fins floated at the edge of the cove, bumping against the rocks with each small wave. Kneeling on the ledge, her fingers curled tight around a handhold that jutted from the rock. Why had he left her? What was wrong?

Too frightened to swim after him, too terrified to remain stranded alone on this small table of rock, she pulled her legs up and hugged them to her chest, feeling vulnerable and alone. Casting her gaze to the far end of the desolate bay, she longed for the security of her bubble. For the safety of Talstar.

She didn’t belong here, abandoned and alone, on a rock in an alien sea.

Jinn anxiously fixed her eyes on the entrance to the cove watching for Trey’s return, her heart drumming in her chest. What if he didn’t return? What would she do? Try to swim to her bubble? Would she drown without Trey at her side to support her? He’d told her to wait but never said he’d come back. Could she know in her heart that he would?

Jinn spied a dark shape snaking into the cove, coming toward her beneath the surface—a monstrous form and so not Trey. She froze in place on the small slab of rock.

Far beneath the water, a twisting, red-tipped black tentacle found the base of her perch and began to probe its way upward, as if it could taste her scent on the stone. What was this horrible beast? And what would it do when it found her?

Something strong and wet wrapped around her ankle. She started, twisting to find Trey behind her with his hand encircling her leg, tugging her gently off her perch.

“Come with me, now,” he whispered.

Jinn slipped into the water without question and Trey towed her in the direction of the rocks at the side of the cove. What was he doing? The creature would trap them here! Wasn’t their only chance of escape to make for the open water? Or to make for the safety of her bubble?

Trey stopped at the wall and pulled her up beside him, placing her hands on the stone. “Climb!” he ordered.

She eyed the uneven surface before staring at Trey in confusion. “What do you mean?”

His face set in a determination scowl, and he braced both hands on the rock, hoisting his body out of the water. Sliding his feet up under him on the flat rock, he straightened, his body rising vertically into the air. Jinn stared, dumbstruck. The strength it must take to do such a thing!

He bent at the waist, leaning toward her. Jinn was afraid he’d tumble back into the sea, but instead he extended his hands to her. “Grab hold. It’s coming!”

Jinn thrust her hands into his and Trey hauled her from the waves, her feet still kicking. Her ankles scraped against the sharp rocks, and once her feet were on the solid surface, her legs did little to support her against the crush of full gravity.

Trey pulled her arm around his shoulders while he slid his own behind her back and urged her forward. She took two faltering steps and her legs buckled from the strain, muscles burning. Her long, wet hair felt like a heavy weight on her shoulders. Jinn glanced over her shoulder, fear flaring in her chest when she saw the giant creature lurking in the waters just below.

“Keep moving,” Trey ordered in an urgent whispered. “Lean on me. And try to keep your feet under you.”

She tried. She just didn’t have the strength to support her weight as he did. Even though she spent that required time in the half-gravity spinners  on  Talstar to strengthen muscle and bone density, her body couldn’t adjust to the unrelenting burden of the planet’s surface gravity.

Jinn stumbled and fell. “I can’t!” she gasped.

He scooped her up in his arms and Jenn clung to his neck as he picked a path up the tumbled surface of smooth, black rocks, each movement of his feet taking them away from the waters, higher and further from danger.

How could he do this? Not only move his own body, upright, but carry her weight as well? She’d never believed such a thing possible.

A rumbling sounded from the sea below and Jinn gasped in terror when the creature emerged from the water with a frothing hiss. “It’s right behind us!”

“I know.”

The path grew steeper and Trey lowered her to her feet, pulling her tight to his side. “Can’t carry you…any higher,” he panted. “Hold tight and keep moving.”

Jinn tried again to make her sluggish legs work like his, but even when she managed to take a few steps, her muscles soon faltered. Trey threw an apprehensive glance back, and strained to prop her up while he climbed higher onto the rocks.

With a sudden shout, Trey pitched forward, bracing his free hand against a boulder while tightening his grip on her to keep her from the falling. She turned to see a long length of black tentacle extending up from the sea to ensnare his ankle in the flame-red tip.

“Trey!”

“Go!” He pushed her ahead, out of the tentacle’s reach and she sprawled on a flat outcropping as the creature started to reel him in, pulling him down to the next rocky shelf, closer to where it waited in the waters below.

“Trey!” she screamed again, clinging to him with one hand. She couldn’t let the monster take him. Not Trey!

He grabbed the top of one large stone, gaining a handhold, and twisted to wedge his body into a tight V between two boulders, kicking at the tentacle and working to pry it off his ankle with his other foot. His leg muscles bulged and strained as he thrashed, fighting with an inhuman strength no ordinary Perling could possess. The monster began flailing its tentacle, wrenching Trey from the security of the rocks. It raised its horrible head above the water, flashing a circular row of gleaming, pointed teeth.

Jinn hauled back on his hand with all the strength she could muster, but the creature only tightened its hold and gnashed its pointed teeth.

Trey looked up at her, his gaze sought hers and he whispered, “Jinn.” Everything he held inside filled his eyes and went straight to her heart. This was his goodbye. Trey knew the beast would take him.

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Thanks for reading this week's excerpt. Hope you come back to find out if there's any hope for Trey! 

Have a great week.