Tiger's Voyage (61 page)

I touched his arm and said, “I’ll go next.”

Nodding, Ren stepped out of way as the tentacles reached for me. He watched as the creature slowly enfolded me. He seemed so sad, and he looked at me as if he was never going to see me again.

As the jellyfish began to tug me slowly toward the window, Ren took my arm, pressed his lips to my ear, and quoted, “‘Like as the waves make toward the pebbl’d shore, so do our minutes, hasten to their end.’” He softly kissed my temple and whispered, “Remember, I love you,
priyatama
.”

I was about to respond when the creature sucked me through the window and into the freezing ocean. I was only cold for a moment, because as soon as the animal pulled me into its feathery embrace, the temperature changed. My head was drawn up into the hood and was nestled against a warm rubbery pillow that glowed softly in the darkness like a flickering candle.

From my shoulders up, I was suspended above the jellyfish’s interior water line and heard a rush of air like a bellows. I laughed as I realized the animal was making oxygen for me. The rest of my body hung in a sort of hammock created by the tentacles and a surge of warmth cycled around my body. It felt like I was lounging in a hot spa and, as if the jellyfish could read my mind, its body began to hum and vibrate. I sighed and relaxed in the capable “hands” of my abyssal-plain masseur.

When I cracked open my eyes a moment later, I saw Ren had joined us. I could easily make him out through his transparent balloon, and slightly behind and above me was Kishan. The lights dimmed to a faint glow, and I felt the great pumping of my jellyfish as it began to move upward in the dark water. The Seventh Pagoda disappeared beneath us in a swirl of shadow and then was gone.

Our couriers moved steadily if not quickly, and I didn’t feel the pressure of the surrounding ocean or even see any deep-sea creatures, though I kept my eyes peeled. The jellyfish gracefully swirled around each other in an ocean ballet. When mine rose slightly above the others, I felt like a lady with full lacy petticoats and a parasol swinging above a stage oblivious to all except the men who came to see the show and who watched me from below with hungry eyes.

I could sense when we left the abyssal plain and moved upward through the bathypelagic zone and into Jīnsèlóng’s realm. I began to see fish. At first, they were the scary long-toothed type, but then the water brightened slightly, and I saw a sperm whale. As we rose higher still, the first shark appeared. I panicked, but it was only a hammerhead that ignored us. A school of tuna with flashing scales passed us, and I took a deep breath, relieved. We were going to make it. I estimated we had roughly a thousand feet to go. More animals swam by us, some curious, but the jellyfish continued to make their way upward.

Excitedly, I was pointing out the first cluster of plants to Kishan when I felt a disturbance in the water. Kishan’s eyes widened, and I searched for what had caused him alarm. I trembled and prayed that it wasn’t what I feared. I pressed my hands against the flexible skin of the jellyfish hood and looked into the ocean. At first I saw nothing, but then the jellyfish spun, and I saw the fearsome shape of the giant shark from the Seventh Pagoda. It moved lazily along, patrolling the water.

The shark swam with its mouth slightly open, and, even from a distance I could see its rows of sharp teeth. Other sharks, probing, approached and then rapidly sped off. Even a pod of dolphins swam quickly away from it while screeching a warning in the water. I watched them disappear and wished I could do the same, but I knew this shark wouldn’t bother the surrounding sea life. It didn’t eat. It didn’t sleep. There was only one purpose it had been created for—preventing the Necklace from reaching the surface … and the Necklace was on me. The good news was that it still hadn’t seen us. The bad news was that we still had around five hundred feet more to go.

The shark swam parallel to us for a while and then passed out of our visual range, but it soon returned and swam around us in a wide circle. At about that time, the sun came out from behind a cloud and the water turned from gray to a bright blue. My jellyfish shifted, and the gold belt I was wearing cast a sparkling reflection in the water.

Though the shark was below us, it rolled slightly and peered up with a giant black eye. It swam in and made a close pass. I could almost see the spark of recognition in its cold eye as it looked me over. In a flash of speed, it was gone. I searched the ocean frantically and soon saw with horror that it was surging up from the black ocean below. I screamed as I saw it open its jaws and head, not for me, but for Ren. I put my hand over the pearls at my throat and whispered, “Pearl Necklace, please move him.”

A surge of water shifted Ren’s jellyfish, and the shark rushed past him, biting off only a few tentacles. The shark circled for another attempt, and I clutched the pearls again. “We’re almost to the surface. We’ll need something to rest on.”

The Necklace gleamed, and the shadow of a small watercraft appeared on the surface of the ocean. The shark swam closer. It was like a semitruck with teeth. Its jaw unhinged as it extended it for a bite. Taking its time, the giant shark approached Kishan’s jellyfish and, like a snobbish gourmet, bit almost delicately into the hood of the creature just as I was whispering for the Necklace to move Kishan. I was too late.

Some kind of jellyfish fluid squirted out and clouded the area around them. The tentacles began to flail against the shark’s body, and Kishan jerked in the water as the jellyfish quickly expelled him. He took a moment to look at me. The shark hadn’t seen him yet. I pointed to the shadow on the surface, and Kishan started to swim. The giant fish chomped messily through the delicate jellyfish until all that remained was a long tentacle hanging from one of the shark’s teeth. Its eyes rolled forward, and it scanned the water. With a great swish of its crescent tail, it disappeared.

Ren had disengaged himself from his jellyfish and patted it on the hood. It began moving off. Terrified, I peered through the shadowy water. A formidable shape materialized in the dark ocean behind Ren. I screamed and bucked against the wall of my jellyfish as I frantically pointed.

Ren spun in the water, pulled out his trident, and shot a succession of spear darts at the shark. One dart lodged in its mouth, some glanced off its tough skin, and some pierced its side. Unfortunately, it probably felt like acupuncture to a creature of that size, annoying, but not life threatening. Still, it bothered the shark enough for it to veer away from Ren. It dove, and Ren rose to the surface for air. He threw his backpack onto the boat the Necklace had created for us, and then I was alone in the water.

My body shook, and I twisted every which way in a turbulent panic. I could feel my vulnerability to my very core. I bemoaned several things at once—the fragility and transparency of my jellyfish, the darkness of the water, the sparkle of my costume. All of these things made me an easy target. I was practically a bull’s-eye, a tasty morsel holding a sign that said, “Eat me!”

The shark had moved into the darker water below and was most likely preparing another assault. I knew that the longer I hovered in the ocean, the more danger I’d be in. Using the Pearl Necklace, I asked the jellyfish to take me to the surface faster. We rose higher, but it was taking too long. The shark was still somewhere out there. I hoped that Ren’s dart would bother it enough to leave me alone as I neared the boat.

Ren and Kishan swam down to meet me. Suddenly, I saw the shark rushing toward them. They clasped hands and pushed off each other, kicking so the shark passed between them. As it did, Kishan drew the
chakram
and Ren the trident. Ren shot spear darts all along one side, while Kishan sliced open a long gash on the other. The shark swam off in a cloud of blood.

I wiped the rubbery wall of the jellyfish hood, but the water was too agitated and the area too bloody for me to make out much. Shapes darted quickly past the jellyfish, and I realized they were other smaller sharks that were looking for lunch. They’d obviously been attracted by the mighty struggle and caught the scent of blood in the water.

In a full panic, dreading to leave but too petrified to stay, I asked the jellyfish to release me. I thought perhaps in the confusion I could make a break for the surface, but instead of expelling me like Kishan’s had done, the jellyfish drew my body closer inside itself and jerked back and forth. That’s when I felt a sharp pain and a tug on my leg. The jellyfish and I were yanked through the water at a frightening speed. At first, we moved horizontally in the ocean. Then we started descending.

Hot knives jabbed into my skin. I looked down at my leg and screamed. Desperately, I kicked my other leg and flailed my arms, but I knew I couldn’t escape. The huge shark had returned and now had my left leg in the side of its jaws. A part of my brain registered that it didn’t sever the limb. In fact, it seemed intent only on dragging me back down to the bottom of the ocean.

When I managed to kick its side, the shark slowed down and whipped the jellyfish and me from side to side. I thought the bite on my leg was bad enough, but when it jerked me around, my body experienced a level of agony I didn’t think was possible. Its serrated teeth had not only pierced my leg but also were slowly shredding it. I felt a snap as my tibia broke, and my sharp scream tapered off into a horrified whimpering noise. A bright red cloud rose around the hood of the jellyfish, dimming my vision. Realizing it was my blood this time rather than the shark’s, bile rose in my throat, and I almost passed out.

I saw the flash of the trident in the water. Then, suddenly, my leg was free. The jellyfish pumped wildly to get us away, but it was injured. It quivered on one side and water filled the interior of the hood. A surge of adrenaline swept through my body and cleared my petrified mind. Touching the hood, I thanked the dying animal and sucked in a breath. It expelled me, shuddered, and began twirling in a slow descent as it died.

Slick torpedo-shaped bodies gave chase, and I soon lost sight of the gentle creature. I swam using only my arms, dragging the dead weight of my injured leg behind me. I had no idea if my leg was still attached or how bad the damage was. I knew I was bleeding and only had a few moments, if that long, to reach the surface. I couldn’t see anything around me and hoped I was swimming in the right direction. Lungs on fire and getting nowhere, I tried kicking with my good leg too. That helped some, but I made little progress. Something touched me, and I jerked back but I quickly realized the touch was human. Kishan.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and swam with me to the surface. Water rushed into my lungs. Somehow he pulled us up onto the watercraft created by the Pearl Necklace. He pounded my back violently. I choked and vomited over the side. I heard him tear the backpack open and murmur words to the Divine Scarf. Hearing the whisper of threads was somehow comforting, and I felt them bind what was left of my

leg in a tight tourniquet. Ren scrambled aboard, breathing heavily and dripping blood from a long gash on his arm.

“How is she?” he asked.

“She’s …” Kishan hesitated. “She’s bad.”

“I have to go back,” I heard Ren say. “I have to kill it. It will just come after us.”

Ren looked at me, and though I could have mistaken his expression, dazed as I was through the loss of blood, I imagined I could see his heart break. He picked up my hand.
At least I think it was my hand.
I couldn’t feel anything. My body was numb. My eyes closed though I tried to keep them open. He clutched his trident and whispered, “Take care of her.”

“I will. I love her, you know,” Kishan said.

“I know,” Ren replied softly and dove into the sea.

Kishan’s body shook, and when I cracked open an eye, I saw him dash tears away. He lifted my head onto his lap and stroked my wet hair away from my face. I could hear the splash and the displacement of water as the shark moved past. The giant fin broke the surface and circled our craft widely.

Alarmed, I managed to shove aside the darkness threatening to engulf me and watched the gray sail the size of a windsurfing rig angle toward us as it came to finish us off. It dipped under us, and we rose into the air on its back before slipping with a splash onto the ocean. Somehow, our little boat remained upright. Then the waves stilled, and I heard nothing. I closed my eyes and focused, but not even the splash of a small fish could be heard.

Suddenly the shark breached the surface twenty feet away like a giant submarine. More than half its body rose out of the water, and I twisted to see it, screaming as I knocked my leg painfully against the side of the watercraft. High in the air, on the back of the shark’s head, Ren hung from his trident, which was deeply embedded in the gray flesh. With water streaming from his body, he looked like Poseidon riding the back of a sea monster. I whimpered in pain. I was dying. I knew I didn’t have much time left, but my mind screamed that I could help him. My last act could be saving Ren.

I raised my hand, used the other one to hold it still, and concentrated. Kishan quickly figured out what I wanted to do and lifted me higher against his chest. White light burst from my palm and hit the giant shark in the belly as it turned to the side. Though I was weak, it would have been impossible for me to miss a target that big.

Blackened flesh melted like hot wax before a flame. The skin split widely, and the contents of the shark’s belly spilled into the ocean. The shark snapped its jaws shut and shook violently as it started to descend, trying to dislodge the man and escape the pain. I noticed other, smaller fins rushing past our boat toward the dying shark. As Ren and the monster shark sank under the water, my eyes rolled back, and I collapsed.

Voices. Whispers of sound roused me.
So thirsty.
The sun beat down on my body.
Pain. Throbbing pain.
A cool hand stroked my forehead, and I wished whoever it was would give me water. I heard the desperate words, “You’re not the only one who loves her,” but I couldn’t tell who had said it. My cracked lips parted, and a cup was pressed to them. Cold,
ice
cold liquid dripped into my mouth. It was delicious and seemed to spread coolness through my limbs.
Not enough. More. I need more.