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He glowed silver, much like Kona did But while Kona’s phosphorescence had a multicolored shimmer to it that was beautiful, the Leviathan’s looked cold as ice I had the feeling that if I reached out and touched it, even without laying a hand on him, I would be frozen to the spot

And then, in as a surprise of epic proportions--but then, not really, because Mahina and I had already figured out that shefor the sea witch--Sabrina came out from behind the doors as well Down here, she had a tail reen as my mother’s had been And while her physical characteristics were much like those she had out of water, in the ocean there was a sinister look to her that was lacking on land Ornext to the Leviathan thatfor, she told o after my family and help Mark findwe all do She gestured to the sea creatures beside her Freedoets old fast and we’ve been doing it for centuries

As I looked at Tiamat’s lineup of monsters, I was terrified Not necessarily forthat I probably wouldn’t make it out alive But Mark, Mahina, Kona … they didn’t deserve to die down here at the hands of creatures that most people believed were justMark and Mahina into the middle of this battle, but that didn’t et hiht on our terain, that probably wouldn’t have happened, nothis shon for a long time, and after the debacle that had happened last suency plan or twelve up her sleeves

Okay This was it This was the confrontation that had been brewing from the moment Tiamat had tried to lure me into the water in Hahen I was ten This hy o and why I had done the same just weeks before

I took a deep breath, thought of my father Of Rio Of Moku Of one, because she’d tried to keep me safe Tried to keep us all safe That job was mine now, and I couldn’t afford to fail Not this time Not when the lives of everyone I cared about were on the line

I knew I couldn’t wait for her to strike Usually, I liked to be on the defense, but this tis in the Pacific Waiting for theain, going after theroup of them, Sabrina and the Leviathan were the only two I hadn’t seen in action--whichwith the with them And while I was prepared to die, I needed to take as ive Kona and Mahina and Mark, htlanced around Tried to see what there was that I could use Not h But I did find Mahina’s backpack, loaded with grenades, sitting only a hundred feet or so away fro every ounce of power I could h to do what needed to be done The grenades were all tucked in the front pocket of the backpack, pins secured If I could just get the pins out, I had a weapon of ht not kill any of them, but it would ive e

Well, don’t just float there! Tia

Shit My ti my eyes for one second--that was all I could afford--I threw everything I had at the backpack Pins that I had been loosening, one after the other, sprang frorenades Thank God I picked the backpack up with ht at theroup of shark-men, streaked toward roup head-on, seconds before it exploded Pieces of shark- to the ground The Leviathan barely seemed to notice the blast, however, and I soh the place where I had been swi nored her I couldn’t letloose

There was no chance I could fight theet to Tiaer to continue the fight She was the glue, the one who held theether I’d seen froht be here now because he couldn’t hold Coral Straits alone, without me, but that didn’t mean he really wanted to ith Tiamat Didn’t mean any of them did If I could shatter the loyalties between the out of here alive

The bunyip raced at ht at theh, spears raised detered to avoid ht ht across my biceps Blood leaked into the water

It whipped the always high-strung shark-rippedat theelse entirely

I zipped away, picking up the second backpack as I did and slinging it over my shoulders My hope was that they’d had control of Kona’s palace for only a couple of weeks If I was lucky, that es and hideouts that I knew about fro the place with Kona

I turned back, shot bolts of electricity straight at the shark-men on my tail I zapped a few of the fast when I zooht here I knew there was Kona had shown it toIt was covered by a huge, red rock that--

There it was I moved the rock withfaster than I’d knoas possible thanks to the adrenalineout in massive quantities I slaot there, then sped through the narrow corridor The sharks were strong and I kneould be only seconds before they moved the rock and followedoff the main tunnel was a series of minor ones that led to all sorts of different rooms This area had been built as a kind of selkie boo, and I knew if I could reach the s that I couldn’t otherwise I took the second-to-last tunnel on the left just as the water aroundwith God only knehat else

I swah the h the tunnel that connected it to the palace At the very end of the tunnel was a bed of oysters, abalone, and clams that was cultivated to feed the royal fa me every cool trick in the castle, I slammed open the trapdoor and disappeared inside only seconds before the shark-h the tunnel I knew this because the room was equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment that showed nearly every corner of the palace