All the Stars and Teeth (All the Stars and Teeth Duology) by Adalyn Grace

Author:Adalyn Grace [Grace, Adalyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781250307781
Publisher: Imprint
Published: 2020-02-03T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

The beast that bursts from the water is the color of ink and moonlight. The stars catch its scales, turning them silver as it roars. I double over, covering my ears from the shriek of what sounds like metal grating against metal. Even in the worst of my nightmares, I’d never be able to imagine such a wretched sound.

The Lusca. The legends of this beast have traveled through word of mouth, told to scare disobedient children. But no one has ever been able to prove its existence.

Probably because no one has survived to tell the tale.

The creature has eight inky tentacles with sharp, jagged hooks. Its body is that of a leech, giant and round, with a permanently open mouth it whines from. Several rows of bloodstained teeth fill that mouth, with bits of fish and squid dangling from them. I imagine our bodies will be the ones dangling there, soon.

“Where are the others?” Bastian gasps. The question hitches in his throat.

“Vataea fell into the water.” My voice shakes as I remember the horrible crack of her head hitting the figurehead. But given her gills, it’s not her drowning that I’m worried about. “We need to get her out of there before the Lusca sees her! Ferrick and I tried to—” I make a motion toward Ferrick, but he’s no longer in my periphery. My heartbeat triples as I spin around, but he’s gone. Only when I lean over the bow do I spot his red hair in the sea below as he struggles to break out of the shrinking whirlpool.

“You idiot,” I hiss at the water.

Bastian presses a hand to his chest as he watches the beast. He’s shaky, body swaying as Keel Haul makes a final push to break from the water imprisoning her. Only when she steadies does Bastian suck in a relieved breath and draw his sword. It looks useless against this giant beast. Laughable.

“You want to fight it?”

“What else are we supposed to do?” he rasps. “Keel Haul’s fast, but there’s no way we’re going to outrun this … thing.”

“The Lusca,” I say. I know in my bones this is the creature of the legends.

Bastian’s face hardens, but he doesn’t disagree. Everyone knows the stories.

“Ferrick jumped in?” he asks.

I nod, chest tightening when I hear the words aloud. Ferrick’s a selfless fool for jumping after Vataea, and he’s a selfish fool if he thinks he can die when our last words to each other were so cruel.

But I won’t let him die. Not tonight.

“If we can’t run, we need to drop anchor so they can get back up.” The ship rocks too fiercely, jerking as though it’s stuck in the eye of a storm. We need to steady it.

“Drop it, then,” Bastian says. “I’ll keep the beast busy.”

Without a second glance, I dash to the cathead. There’s no time to drop the two bower anchors, and they’ll take too long to haul up if we need to make a quick escape. Instead, I unfasten the stopper and let the main anchor drop.

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