Chapter 26

Eddie plunged into the water, began to shove himself through it with everything he could manage, and he tried to drown out the scanning sound with splashes and sharp breaths. His heart pumped faster, his lungs screamed at him to slow down, and while the demands of his body should have sharpened his focus, Eddie grew more confused. He forgot the pattern of his arm movement, he had to struggle to remember which side to lift next, or which way to move his head to draw air. He breathed in when he should have breathed out, and inhaled salt water. A small, hard, knuckle-like form bumped his fist when Eddie reached for the next stroke and while primitive instinct forced him to swat at it, to push it away, a slick, wet tendril came from nowhere and wound itself around Eddie’s left ankle. Even though he knew without doubt that the idea was ludicrous, his entire body lurched when fiction reminded him of a term: Kraken