Chapter 39

  Kaysi-

  Once we'd gotten on the top deck, we knew we weren't going to be able to get back down. The boat was whipping and swaying too hard to make it down the stairs safely.

  One of the staff members came over and told us to take refuge at the flybridge. This is a room on the top of the ferry, an open space on the upper deck. The steering station was located here, and it was a rexing space for the crew and the passengers.

  Looking out the window at the ocean, you could see the waves tearing up high, their white foamy yers rolling over themselves, cascading and crashing upon the deck of the boat and its surroundings. We shifted and swayed with the ship as we attempted to hold on.

  The entire upper deck was yered with rails for people to hold on to if they felt unsteady, but even still, the jolting of the churning waves violently tossing us with immense force was too much to handle.

  "I think I need to sit down. "I'm starting to feel dizzy," I said to Evan.

  "No, that's fine. "There's a seat right here," he said as he scooted it over.

  The window was very open and rge, and I could still see out at the chaos.

  "Hey, look over there. Our friends made it back to the bus," I said, breathing a sigh of relief. Thank goodness they were able to get down before this storm hit."

  "Yeah, I think it would be best that we go ahead and call them and let him know. Now that they're back on the bus, they should be able to access their phones."

  Even sitting inside the flybridge, you could hear the deafening roar of the waves and the thunderous booms of the storm. What should have been a short ride from shore to shore was now taking quite some time.

  The storm surge and the high winds kept pushing us around, and we were unable to continue our journey. We just had to sit there and wait out the storm.

  "Oh my Lord!" I said, speaking to Evan as I grabbed the side of his coat. "Look there!"

  Somehow, the boat being tossed misdirected our path and caused us to head towards a whirlpool.

  Something massive inside the whirlpool began to breach the surface. The water surface churned and foamed around it as its enormous head began to swell with jagged, bone-like protrusions.

  The gigantic serpent-like creature, with its scales of obsidian, began to break through the water slowly. You could see its glowing eyes. This primal, monstrous beast was lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth and a thin, mane-like wrap around the crown of its head.

  As it slithered its muscur body through the waters, it left a trail that disturbed the water.

  Standing there, I was haunted by its presence, staring at it in all fear and its wake. The sheer size of this sea monster overwhelmingly made our ship look as though it were a mere toy, given its size.

  But it was strange. No one else screamed or hollered or seemed even to notice the creature.

  "It's a leviathan!" Evan said in a cold, airless, raspy voice. I could tell he was barely able to speak; he sounded as low as his throat was closing.

  "Is there anything that we can do?" I asked him.

  "Though we've done a lot of training as waymakers, there is no way to defeat that thing. Even combined with all our strengths, we seem to be at the mercy of that dragon!"

  "Nobody else seems to notice it. Nobody's screaming or hollering or having any reaction at all." It seemed to be both scary and sickeningly eerie, but no one could see the monster that may soon end our lives."

  "I agree some people are born with the ability to see the demons and the spiritual realm, and others are not."

  "Even though you may have lost your memory, you somehow still withhold your ability to see them. The only expnation I could come up with is that you must have been born with your gifts. Some people can't see until they are much older in their teens. Occasionally, small children can as well."

  "I know, maybe we can talk Captain into staying away from it. Of course, they're going to be trying to steer away from the whirlpool. But the serpent is coming through the waters and leaving it behind."

  "Let's go then. We can't sit around and let this beast end us without trying."

  I ran behind Evan, trying to keep my bance as the hall to the steering room shifted back and forth with the boat. The walls moved back and forth as I bumped my shoulder into the window.

  "Kaysi, are you going to be okay?" He said as he looked back, he heard the thud; my elbow and shoulder had made contact with the window.

  "Yeah, I might have a little bump or a bruise. I'll make it. "We've got to go," I said. We had finally reached the front of the vessel. I flung the door open to the control center.

  Something bashed into the side of the boat. The hard sm knocked me off my feet. Evan grabbed around my shoulders, catching me before I could fall and bringing me back to my feet.

  "Ouch! I winced.

  "Oh, your shoulder, sorry." Evan pouted.

  "No, you saved me because I could have taken on much worse damage if I had fallen. So thank you very much for saving me again."

  "Captain, you need to steer the boat in the other direction," Evan yelled.

  "Hey, you can't be in here," one of the crew members said as he walked towards us, getting ready to shove us out the door.

  "Hold on!" I said, shutting the door behind the crew member and addressing the captain. We're about to head towards a rge rock. You can't see it because of the storm surge, but you will crash into it soon if you don't turn.

  Evan caught on to my bluff: "Yeah, that is why we had that big jolt. He had just started to tip it.

  "I'm going to take the kid's word for it. Our eyes are down right now, the captain said. The storm has disrupted our navigation systems, and we can't see the hazards like we normally do because the song on maps is all out for us."

  "Turn the boat, Leeward. We will ride against the winds that are taking us, and that should pull us away from the rocks."

  Just then, we got a ring on our phone.

  "Hey, bub, it's Josh. Baby, Duke, and I have decided we're going to try to distract the creature a little bit so that the boat can get away. You had to have seen that creature, too.

  "It's huge. How could I not? But why does it have to be you and our Guardians?"

  "We are the only ones who can fly. And the Guardians will keep me protected and protect us; there's not much we can do."

  "Right now, we're in the control center. Evan spoke. It was thanks to our persuasion that we convinced the captain to turn the boat away from the Leviathan. If you're going to have to go, be careful.

  I stood by and watched helplessly as Josh battled with the Guardians against the Leviathan. Both Baby and Duke had their wings out, flying in the sky. Somehow, they were undetectable to anyone else. Only those with the gift of a seer could see them.

  They made rounds, hacking and sshing at the dragon, but it did no good. If anything, it angered him. They were but mere flies compared to the colossal size of this creature. Baby, you could make a couple of cuts, hacking away some of the scales around its head.

  Duke fired a few shots on its face without even a flinch of pain. We only needed to travel a couple more miles, and we would be far enough away that it would be safe for them to return. They only had to hold off for a little while longer.

  Josh sends it into the air up high. I think I know what he was doing. He was winding up for an attack.

  Ascending miles over the dragon's head. Josh aimed his body downward, and with his wings tucked in, he soared through the air like an arrow piercing the sound barrier. With his beak sharp and his body as a straight projectile, he used all of his strength to pierce the leviathan's eye.

  Leviathan screamed, shaking its head back and forth. He fired a bst of ice across the ocean, and the waves shattered the line of ice.

  Blood poured out from the monster's eye as it slid down the leviathan's face. Josh pced his cws at the bottom of the eyelid and pulled his beak out, and the motion of the leviathan thrashing his head caused Josh to go soaring backward in the sky.

  He smmed into the side of a rock and then fell into the ocean.

  "JOSH!" Evan yelled as he watched his brother disappear underneath the crashing waves. "

  Duke went under the water and grabbed him just as quickly as he had fallen in. He still looked conscious but sore. Baby and Duke came carrying him back to the boat, where he took his human form.

  The Leviathan retreated into the whirlpool. And the clouds were slowly starting to dissipate. The sun peeked through as small beings of light penetrated the clouds.

  Evan sighed in relief. "The storm seems to be calming down now that we've gotten away from that monster."

  "I think it's safe enough. Maybe we can start to descend downstairs and meet up with the rest of our group."

  Once the storm had calmed down, we could see that we were a few miles out from the shore. We were soon to dock and continue our voyage.

  When we got back on the bus, Evan ran over to his brother Josh.

  "Are you good, bro? Do we need to take you to a hospital?"

  "No, I'm fine. Just one heck of a bruise is going to form on my shoulder by tomorrow."

  "Well, that's good, and you did good work!" Evan said as he gave his brother a high five, pulled him close, and patted him on the back.

  The captain announced it was time to depart for the isnd of Keetoowah. We docked on the shores of the isnd and drove the bus off the ferry.

  I was surprised to see that we were the only ones getting off at the stop. But the isnd seemed almost uninhabited until I saw a small girl peeking out from behind one of the pine trees.