The journey back to the mer pod started in silence. Marlow could not keep from brooding on her thoughts and Nix’s swimming had slowed a bit from her usual travelling pace. Marlow was starting to feel really guilty about that. Nix had been selfish in her choices, but it was done in fear, not malice, and she had come through in the end, even encouraging Marlow to stay at her own expense more than once. She was a good friend, just conflicted, and she did not deserve to suffer the pains of her injuries more than necessary like this.

“You have a heavy heart,” Nix observed.

Marlow glanced at her friend and shrugged. “It has been kind of a long day. But are you alright? I am starting to worry. You were meant to be resting today, not trekking through the ocean with me. How far are we?”

“We should reach the iluna soon. And you need not worry over me, Marlow. I will be fine. It was my choice to accompany you and while I am eager for a nest and a long rest, I will recuperate.”

“Will you at least let me hold your spear for you?”

It had to be hard for Nix to keep a grip on the bulky weapon with only one good hand and pain in her eyes. But Nix shook her head. “And leave me unarmed with my untrained friend as my anguyagta, my warrior? It is sweet of you, but I think not. I will keep my weapon for now.”

“Are you saying that you can fight better one-handed and injured than I could?”

“Yes.”

Marlow couldn’t contain a snort of amusement at the blunt statement and she shook her head. “You are probably right,” she yielded. “Still, I will feel better when we get you back and lying down.”

“You and I both,” Nix agreed.

It did not seem like there was too much further to go. In the distance, Marlow could see the gaping scar of the trench in the ocean floor. “Thank you for bringing me to the surface today, Nix. It was hard, but I needed to go and I am grateful that you were willing to-”

“Hush.” Nix cut her off and stopped swimming. They were low enough to the seafloor that when Nix straightened up, her fin dredged up sand.

Marlow frowned. “Is something wr-”

“Emairte! Marlow, stop talking,” Nix hissed in a low whisper. The black and white mer waved a hand aggressively in Marlow’s direction, so Marlow pressed her lips together and stared anxiously at her friend.

Nix’s posture was ramrod straight and her gaze kept swivelling around. Her lips were parted and her gills were flaring widely. It almost seemed as if she were taking in the entirety of their surroundings all at once. Marlow swallowed the lump in her throat. It was not a behaviour she had witnessed from Nix before.

“Do you see the outcropping over there?”

When Nix posed the question in a hushed whisper, Marlow glanced around and saw what she was referring to. Several large rocks were piled up against one another, creating various nooks and crannies, and the mass was overrun with algae and stunted fronds of kelp waving languidly back and forth in the subtle current. “Yes.”

“When I tell you, dive for the opening near the bottom. Get as far inside as you can.”

Before Marlow could even ask why, Nix twitched her tail and turned her attention away from Marlow once more. It would probably be a bad idea to interrupt her focus, so Marlow remained where she was with her heart lodged in her throat. She had never seen Nix look spooked before.

When the quiet “go,” ghosted from Nix’s lips, Marlow hesitated. She was not even entirely sure that she heard it. Then Nix’s voice turned urgent. “Ayag! Marlow, go. Move!” She spun towards Marlow and shoved her forward with her bad arm. Her functioning one had a grip like iron on the spear clenched between her fingers, her eyes were wide with unease, and her expression pinched into a grimace.

It spurred Marlow into action and she twisted around, lashed her tail, and flung herself into the dark opening in the rocks that Nix had indicated. It was a small space and the movement stirred up a bunch of silt as Marlow wedged herself inside with Nix following behind her. They wound up pressed close together with Marlow’s spear across Nix’s lap and the butt of Nix’s digging into the side of Marlow’s ribs.

A sharp thrumming sound, not unlike a freshly plucked bowstring echoed through the water and rang in Marlow’s ears, and Nix had barely pulled her tailfin into the protective confines of the nook before a massive maw blocked out the entrance and plunged them into semi-darkness. It couldn’t get inside with them, so sharp needly teeth gnawed at the rocks and a lashing tongue reached towards them. They both cringed back and Marlow felt like her heart was going to burst in her chest. She could barely breathe.

There was some more thrashing as the creature rammed the rocks and produced a horrible screeching sound. Then it backed off enough to twist an arrow-shaped head sideways and peer at them with an ominous yellow eye the size of Marlow’s fist. It leered openly at them with more growling and screeching. When it moved again, it kept it’s maw shut and instead tried to shove its snout through the gap. It could get the tip of its scaled snout in, but the entrance was too narrow for it to open its mouth, so the best it could do was bump them and blast them with breath that filled the nook with the scent of rotten fish. It made Marlow gag.

“What is that?”

“Ulurrugnaq,” Nix breathed. Her voice was wavering and that did nothing to ease Marlow’s own terror. She had known the answer before Nix had given it, but the confirmation was the opposite of comforting.

“What do we do? We are safe in here, right? Do we just wait for it to give up?”

“Safe?” Nix echoed with a shake of her head. “No, Marlow, we are not valrumia. It will not give up. It can dig and shift rocks. Given the time and determination, it will get at us. Two prizes barely armed? We are a delicacy in its diet and it will not pass up the treat no matter the effort.”

Marlow swallowed the thick lump lodged in her throat. Her chest had tightened further and she could hardly breathe. “Are we going to die?” She hated how pinched her voice sounded. Nix, for all the tension in her body, still had a handle on herself and seemed rather calm.

Nix touched Marlow’s shoulder and her gaze hardened. “Not without a fight at least,” she declared.

“Do you have a plan?”

A muscle clenched in Nix’s jaw. “Yes. But it is not a great plan. Delthor would call me a cellaite for even thinking it and he would be right. Take my arm.”

As soon as Marlow had a grip on Nix’s arm, Nix slumped practically onto her back and shot her tail out from its coiled position so that her fin slapped against the pointed snout of their attacker. The nose jerked and ridged nostrils flared, shooting a jettison of foul-smelling bubbles into the cranny they were crammed into. Now Marlow understood why Nix had her take her arm. With her injury, she would not be able to pull herself back up into a sitting position, so Marlow hauled on her to pull her back from the nose of the predator, that was now nosing at the entrance more insistently.

Nix nodded her appreciation for the assistance, but then immediately jerked back the same way she had and slapped the creature again.

“I think the spear would probably do more damage,” Marlow whispered as she pulled her friend back up once more.

Nix shook her head. “I am not trying to wound it,” she explained. “I am trying to dennga, anger it. They are capable predators but have limited patience. If you anger them, they get impulsive and stupid.”

After the third time smacking the beast with her tail, Nix was rewarded with an angry rawr as the snout pulled back and a little light was able to flood into the nook.

It was too much to hope that it might leave, and a moment later Marlow got an excellent look down its throat as its maw closed over the entrance once more, biting at the rocks and snarling in frustration. It had a row of pointy, needle-sharp teeth lining the jaw, but further in the throat was ridged and crammed full of more dagger-like protrusions that pointed downwards. Marlow had seen fish traps that were similar, designed so that if something went in, it would be torn to shreds if it tried to get back out. She shivered at the thought of what being swallowed by this thing would be like.

The creature pulled away again and that’s when Nix spoke. “You have more arm strength than me right now,” she murmured. “And your spear will be easier to maneuver. When it bites like that again, you need to move quickly. Plunge the tip into the roof of its mouth. Try not to let your hands actually pass inside though, just in case. That should distract it enough to back off for a moment. As soon as it does, you need to flee to the trench. Go as fast as you can. Do not hesitate or look back, Marlow, not even for a second. It cannot follow you into the iluna. Go fetch haama, help.”

“Wait, you are not coming with me?” Marlow checked with a growing sense of dread. Surely Nix did not intend to stay behind?

Nix set her jaw and shook her head. Her grip loosened on Marlow so that she could grip her spear tightly. “You cannot outswim it. It will pursue you when you flee unless there is a wuamaqun. A distraction.”

“You do not mean to fight it? Nix, you are hurt! You will be killed!”

There was a grim determination sparked in Nix’s vivid blue eyes and she leaned her forehead against Marlow’s. “Perhaps. If that is my fate, then so be it. We will both die if we stay here or if we both flee. There is no other option. I will fend it off as best that I can. Just…be swift?”

“I do not want to leave you.”

“You must. Marlow, if you hesitate, we both die. The situation is not ideal but if at all possible, I would like us both to survive it. Can you do this?”

Marlow hesitated and clenched her jaw. Her heart was racing. This was her fault and she could not stand the idea of Nix putting herself in further danger because of it.

“Marlow? Can you do this?” Nix pressed.

Marlow took a shuddering breath and nodded. Nix was about to take a life-threatening risk, but they were both doomed if Marlow did not go and the risk would end in disaster if she was not quick about it too. “Yes,” she finally managed. “Just…be okay.”

Instead of offering reassurances, Nix set her jaw and returned her gaze to the entrance. Their assailant had clearly grown frustrated because there was a furious snarl and then the light vanished once more. “Get ready,” Nix warned.

A moment later, the bottom jaw dug into the sand while the top crunched down on the rocks above them hard enough to rattle them and send sand spilling down on Marlow and Nix’s heads. The teeth produced an awful screech against the stone. It made Marlow cringe, but as much as she wanted to curl into a fetal position and cover her ears, she knew that she could not. Ever since her change, she had been wallowing and frightened and helpless. She had used her phobias of the water and the ocean as a crutch and allowed the other mer to do for her. But Marlow was not raised to be idle or totally dependent on others. Accepting help was perfectly normal, but not when she was not doing things for herself as well. And that behaviour had helped put her and Nix in this situation. She was not going to allow it to exacerbate the situation any further.

So she gathered her feeble courage and lurched towards the gaping maw of their attacker. She was so close to the teeth that her arms quaked and she squeezed her eyes shut as she drove the tip of her spear up into its mouth. She expected resistance, but the point sunk into the fleshy roof with surprising ease.

The beast accosted them with an ear-splitting shriek. The tiny cave shuddered as it reared back and then Marlow had Nix pushing at her back. She knew that she could not hesitate, so she dove through the opening, skimming low to the sand as she took off towards the trench. She had her jaw clenched and her heart was hammering in her chest. She hated that she was abandoning Nix to deal with a dangerous situation, but she knew that there was not much of a choice. Even injured, Nix was an experienced hunter and Marlow knew that she was better equipped to handle the situation.

The urge to turn back and at least check on Nix was choking her, but Nix’s urgency weighed heavily on her. She was capable, but even if she was not injured, it did not seem like mer were equipped to battle their predator alone or it probably would not be considered a predator. Marlow had to be as quick as possible or Nix did not stand a chance.

“Marlow! Go! Swim faster!”

Nix barely had time to warn her before a shadow fell over Marlow and her heart jumped into her throat. She had caught the monster’s attention more than Nix had. Lashing her tail, Marlow spurred herself faster until she was able to dive sharply into the trench. The beast’s head pursued her down a ways before stopping abruptly with a roar of frustration. Marlow hoped that being the object of its focus would give Nix a chance to hide again before it turned back on her.

Marlow’s gills were flaring and her chest was heaving, but she knew she could not slow down as she shot off in the direction of the mer cavern. When she found enough breath to do so, she began calling out as loudly as she could for help, hoping that they might hear her and be ready before she even reached the cave.

As she swam, Marlow could not stop picturing Nix alone in the open ocean with a sea monster that wanted to eat her. Her fingers felt numb and her arms trembled at the knowledge that she could arrive too late with help. She could not fathom how things had gone so wrong so quickly. It was not fair that going to see her family had put her friend in so much danger. Marlow had not meant for it to happen, but she had backed Nix into a corner in her blind fury earlier that morning and knew that any consequences of their outing would fall squarely on her shoulders.

Thankfully, she did not have to swim even halfway back before she ran into aid. It looked like a hunting party was also returning, and they paused and turned when she called out.

Delthor was with them and Marlow had picked up enough momentum that he had to drop his spear and put his hands out to catch her before she crashed headlong into him. “Marlow? What is wrong? Where is Nix?”

Marlow’s chest was heaving, but there was no time to catch her breath. “Back…open water…help…got cornered by that…thing…Nix sent…me for help. No time…have to go back,” she wheezed between gasps.

“Nix is alone with an apex?!”

Marlow nodded. Nix had not called it that, but she assumed Delthor was referring to the same thing. It made sense that there would be another name for it. She found Nix’s language fascinating, but her term for that beast was unpronounceable.

That was enough information for Delthor and the others, though, because the fruits of their hunt were abandoned and grips on spears and knives were tightened. “Take us,” Delthor urged.

Marlow turned and took off back the way she had come. She did not want to waste any more time. Her tail was beginning to ache and tighten up, but she gritted her teeth and pressed forward. The muscles were still new and she had never pushed them like this yet, so they burned with protest. But Nix was more important than the physical pain, so Marlow was determined to persevere and get to her friend.

As they swam, Marlow angled up so that they were gradually getting to the top of the trench. She could not remember exactly where she had ducked down, but she did not need to. As they got closer, she could hear the sounds of the apex, snarling and growling noisily through the water.

Just as they were getting to the top of the trench, the beast fell silent, and the silence was then broken by a huge boom that shook the waters. Another moment of silence, and then a shrill, agonized scream that definitely did not belong to the apex ripped through the otherwise quiet area.

“Nix!” Delthor shouted. He shoved past Marlow and up over the lip of the trench with the others following. Marlow’s heart dropped like a stone in her gut. She was almost afraid to crest the top of the trench, but she had to. She would not leave others to fight the battle and save her friend while she hid like a coward, so she lashed her tail and shot up into the fray.

The cluster of rocks Marlow and Nix had originally holed up in were now strewn about. The beast’s head was still lowered among them, but it spun around when the hunting party converged on it.

Marlow’s jaw dropped open in horror at the sight. The monster had the serpentine head of an eel, with a long snout and sharp teeth. Its neck was long too, leading down into a winding body with a rippling, spiked fin that ran from the crest of its skull down to its long, whip-like tail. It was coated in gray-green scales and two massive flippers jutted out from either side of the body. These were more of a sickly yellow-green hue and were composed of sharp spines stitched together with a thick membrane that shone and looked razor sharp, as though it had been cut from marble and had a cruel edge to slice through stone. Its back fins were much shorter, rounded paddles, and it had three sets of them that waved in the water and helped it orient itself. From head to rear, it was probably the length of four of the mer, maybe five.

But the most horrific part of the sight before her was Nix, who was caught in the side of the beast’s jaws. Her torso and the upper part of her tail hung limply from its lips, waving like a ragdoll as the apex moved its head, but the lower half of her tail and her fin disappeared between the teeth, and blood was pluming in the water around her. Nix’s spear lay discarded in the sand and though the black and white mer was straining against the jaws whenever she could, it was clear that her strength was outmatched and fading fast.

She had been too slow. All that thing had to do was angle its head and flick its tongue and her friend was likely to disappear down its gullet. “Nix!” she cried desperately. This was her fault and she couldn’t allow Nix to suffer the consequences of it. She lashed her tail and dove for the spear Nix had dropped. She did not know where hers was, but it did not matter, all that mattered was helping where she could.

When she had it in her hands, Marlow turned back to the fight that was breaking out. The hunting party tumbled over and under the thing in tight, calculated movements, steering clear of the massive front fins to stab at the tail and back fins. A few went for the face, poking at the eyes and nostrils. But every time the beast lashed its head or whipped its body around, they were forced to retreat, and Nix would cry out again as she was dragged through the water. Each call was fainter and fainter, and Nix was barely struggling anymore.

Guilt and rage surged in Marlow’s throat and she shot towards the monster, heedless to the danger. This was her fault. Nix had only been out here because of Marlow. How dare this monster attack the mer who had only ever tried her best to be Marlow’s friend and protect her and keep her safe? Nix may have lied and it may have only been earlier that day that Marlow had been furious enough to consider renouncing their friendship, but she did not deserve this gruesome, awful fate. Marlow had to fix it.

Heedless to the warnings shouted at her from the other mer, Marlow swam right up to the monster’s face. It twisted one massive eye to stare her down and she bared her fangs at it. “Let her go,” she hissed. She had no idea if the apex had a language or if it could comprehend, but she would get her message across however she needed to. “I am the one you want,” she assured it. She looped back around and stabbed the tip of the spear up one of its nostrils. It reared back with a screech and its jaws opened. It shook its head and Nix fell from its lips, but Marlow had no chance to look as it lurched forward with an open maw, now completely focused on her.