A wall of water rose over the ship.

  “SHIELDWALL!” Ether moved in front of us, planting her shield on the deck. Golden light wrapped around the six of us, creating a dome as the giant wave crashed on the ship.

  Ether strained against the force of the water, but she managed to hold the barrier in place until the water drained away off the deck.

  We barely had time to register what was coming for us when a tail that was thicker than I was tall slammed into the dome.

  The golden light shattered like glass.

  Nakten threw me out of the way as she, Ether and Fray were knocked against the rail. Aelin had managed to pull Justia facedown on the deck, so the tail had gone over them. Fray got her sword up in front of her, which left a gash in the monster’s tail and was probably why it pulled its tail back into the water instead of slapping it all the way over the side of the ship.

  I rolled into a crouch and looked over at the trio. “Are you okay?”

  “We’re fine!” Ether had to scream for me to hear her over the storm.

  My heart sped up as I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes snap towards her.

  Ether got her shield up in front of the teeth, but the part of the railing that had caught them vanished as the huge monster bit it off.

  Fray sliced at the eye on her side, but her blade scraped against a closed eyelid. Nakten vanished in a puff of smoke. I couldn’t see where she went with all the rain, but I assumed she was on the monster somewhere.

  The head itself was as big as the RV. Each scale was bigger than my hand and given the minimal damage that Fray appeared to be doing, they were going to be tough to cut through. I sighted the other eye and fired off the rest of my clip.

  The monster pulled its head back and roared, shaking the whole ship.

  Pink arrows shot into its mouth, cutting the sonic attack short and driving the head back under the water.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  A puff of smoke dropped Naken next to me.

  “ETHER, GET AWAY FROM THE EDGE!” I scanned the sides of the ship, looking for where the clouds around us were darker. “FRAY, GET HER OVER HERE!” I turned to the Anubis. “You okay?”

  “I’m healing.” She rubbed her right shoulder. “It’s like getting hit by a truck.”

  “It’s bigger than one.” I looked up and down the ship. It was around 450 feet long and 50 feet wide. Judging by how big the monster was, I was guessing that it was at least half the length of the ship. I knew that if it wanted to, it could wrap itself around the ship width-wise at least once and the prospect of it trying to flip the ship unsettled me. The whole ship shook as the monster rammed into the side.

  “Where is it!” Aelin backed over to us, keeping Justia behind her.

  “I can’t see it!” Ether limped over to us.

  “You’re hurt!” I lowered my pistol as I moved to check on her.

  Justia caught my arm to stop me. “I’ve got them.” Her blue eyes bored into me. “Focus on killing that thing.”

  I nodded and made the I-love-you sign with my fingers towards Ether, then turned my attention back to water. As long as the monster was underwater, it was going to be impossible to tell where the next attack was coming from.

  “THERE!” Nakten pointed at the front of the ship.

  A jet of water shot towards us. Ether moved in between it and us with her shield up. The golden light from her Shieldwall spread out from the sides of her shield, but before it could wrap around us, the veined fin of the tip of the tail slapped across the deck from behind her.

  “TAIL!” Fray brought her sword down, holding the tip towards the incoming appendage.

  Nakten moved behind me and crossed her daggers in front of her. I felt trapped between the two attacks, but there was nowhere for me to run.

  I turned back to the spewing head and changed tactics.

  “FREEZE!”

  The jet of water crystallized against the golden barrier. Water sprayed off in every direction as the ice grew out of the middle of the cold stream of water, working its way back to the source.

  The monster stopped spewing water at us and roared, pulling its tail back into the water before it connected with Fray’s blade.

  Aelin launched a few pink arrows at it, but the Sea Dragon was too far away from the ship for them to reach the head. Most landed in the water, but one managed to bounce off the scales just above the water line.

  It roared at us again, then dove back underwater.

  Scratching alerted us to the next wave of the blue-scaled lizards that climbed onto the deck. I swallowed as I stopped counting at ten. There were a lot more than that.

  “Stay close.” I typed out a message to Miel. “We’ve got this.”

  Rating, Review, Follow, Favorite, or Comment does wonders to boost my morale. If you want to help support my writing or check out advanced chapters, head over to my .

  RR Writer's Guild