He burned through every spell he had: shields, heals, speed buffs. He surged upward with everything he could muster, breaking through the surface in a desperate sprint for the nearest ship.
But just as one boot cleared the water, his body snapped back down, yanked into the sea faster than he had risen.
Something unseen had dragged him.
There was something in the water.
The sapphire sea looked clear enough to glimpse schools of tiny fish, but the predator that had seized the boy was hidden, shrouded deep below.
Every student who saw it instinctively stepped back from the rails.
And those on other ships? They began hammering on their own hulls, trying to scuttle their vessels rather than risk being pulled under.
The fight on Rita's yacht wasn't over yet, but the clouds at the edge of the world stirred again. The black cudgel of storm rolled low across the sea, its tip pointing toward the eight-ball ship.
And its angle… aimed straight for them.
