The thing dragging Mamta downward did not move like an animal.
It moved like the sea itself had decided to keep her.
Cold pressure crushed around her ankle as she was pulled deeper beneath black water. The surface above fractured into distorted silver light growing farther away by the second.
Mamta kicked violently.
Nothing.
The grip tightened harder.
Panic surged hot and ugly through her chest as seawater burned into her lungs.
Not now.
Not like this.
Her hand struck instinctively toward her waist.
The dagger.
Still there.
Thank God.
Mamta ripped it free underwater, movements clumsy from cold and lack of oxygen. She twisted sharply and slashed downward toward whatever held her.
The blade hit something thick and fibrous.
Not flesh.
A violent shudder pulsed through the water around her.
Then the grip released.
Mamta shot upward immediately.
Hard.
Every muscle screamed.
Her lungs felt seconds from collapse by the time she finally broke surface.
Air crashed into her chest in ragged, painful gasps.
The night sky above looked unreal.
Too open.
Too alive.
Mamta coughed seawater violently from her mouth while waves slammed against her shoulders. Her ankle burned where the thing had wrapped around it.
Seaweed.
No.
Not seaweed.
The thought came instantly.
Too deliberate.
Too fast.
A shape shifted briefly several feet away beneath the waterline.
Long strands drifting upward through black water like floating hair.
Mamta's pulse lurched.
Then she saw it.
Not fully.
Just enough.
A pale face hidden among the thick underwater weeds.
Human-looking from a distance.
Until the eyes.
Too wide.
Too still.
Watching her from beneath the surface.
Mamta froze.
The creature moved suddenly.
Fast.
The water around her exploded as something wrapped around her leg again and yanked downward violently.
Mamta's eyes widened.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me—"
The sea swallowed the rest of the sentence whole.
She vanished beneath the surface again.
The creature dragged her deeper this time with terrifying strength. Long weed-like appendages twisted around her calf and ankle, blending almost perfectly with the black drifting vegetation beneath Thornmere's cliffs.
An ambush predator.
It hid inside the sea growth.
Waited.
Mamta slashed wildly again with the dagger underwater.
The blade cut through several thick strands. A sharp vibration rippled through the water like something shrieking without sound.
The grip loosened.
Mamta tore free immediately and kicked upward again, chest convulsing violently from lack of oxygen.
Her vision blurred by the time she surfaced.
She barely caught air before another wave crashed over her head.
The cliff walls of Thornmere towered above her now, distant and impossible to climb. Lanterns flickered faintly high overhead like another world entirely.
Mamta spun frantically in the water, dagger clenched tightly.
Nothing visible.
Only dark sea.
Only waves.
Only floating weeds drifting near the rocks.
Then one moved against the current.
Mamta's stomach dropped.
The creature surfaced briefly several feet away.
Tall.
Too thin.
Its body looked almost wrapped in hanging sea plants that shifted with unnatural fluidity. Pale skin flashed between the strands for only a second before it submerged again silently.
Mamta's heartbeat slammed against her ribs.
Not a merrow.
Not what the sailors described.
Something else.
Something smaller.
Lower.
A scavenger.
The realization came instinctively.
This thing hunted whatever fell into the water first.
Mamta forced herself to stay moving despite exhaustion clawing at her limbs. If she stopped floating naturally for even a second, it would know weakness.
Another ripple.
Closer now.
Mamta gripped the dagger tighter.
"Come here then," she muttered through ragged breathing.
The water beneath her shifted.
Then suddenly stilled.
That scared her more.
Because predators stopped moving right before striking.
---
Far above the cliffs, Skyler kept running.
His breathing remained controlled.
His footsteps silent.
Three turns back he had already confirmed the last pursuer abandoned chase.
Smart choice.
Nobody caught Skyler in narrow terrain once he committed fully to escape.
Which meant he was alone now.
Safe.
Technically.
Skyler slowed only after reaching the upper district overlooking Thornmere's eastern walls. The harbor bells still rang below the city in violent uneven bursts.
But farther now.
Muted by distance.
He stepped into shadow between two stone buildings automatically, listening for pursuit.
Nothing.
No footsteps.
No voices.
No pursuit pattern.
Clean escape.
His pulse should have settled.
It didn't.
Skyler leaned briefly against the cold stone wall and shut his eyes once.
Mamta's face flashed instantly through his mind.
Not frightened.
Never frightened.
Annoyed.
Sharp-eyed.
Standing on an injured ankle while still arguing strategy.
"I might. But that was the deal, wasn't it?"
His jaw tightened.
He hated that she had been right.
Splitting increased survival odds.
Cold logic.
Correct logic.
Their kind of logic.
Then why did it feel wrong now?
Skyler exhaled slowly.
'Because she trusted you.'
The thought arrived immediately.
Unwanted.
Accurate.
Below the city, another bell rang sharply.
Then another.
Skyler opened his eyes again.
Move.
He should keep moving.
Change districts.
Disappear before dawn.
That was survival.
Instead, he found himself staring back toward the harbor cliffs.
Toward the sea.
Toward where she had run.
His chest tightened unexpectedly.
Not romance.
Worse.
Attachment.
Dangerous thing.
Deadly thing.
Skyler pushed away from the wall abruptly and resumed moving across the upper streets, but slower now.
Thinking.
Remembering.
Her expression when he called her friend.
That brief stunned blink like the word itself made no sense coming from him.
And honestly?
It barely made sense to Skyler either.
He couldn't remember the last time he had called someone that without expecting betrayal afterward.
But Mamta—
Mamta had jumped into danger beside him repeatedly while still calculating survival with terrifying clarity.
She adapted too fast.
Learned too fast.
And worst of all:
She understood him.
Not emotionally.
Operationally.
That was rarer.
Far rarer.
Skyler rubbed a hand once across his face as he moved through the sleeping upper district.
The kiss replayed next.
Brief.
Instinctive.
He almost winced afterward remembering her expression.
Completely blindsided.
For half a second she had looked younger.
Not weaker.
Just startled enough to forget control.
And somehow that image lingered harder than the rest.
Skyler stopped walking again.
Damn it.
Below Thornmere, something enormous moved beneath the harbor water.
Even from this height he saw it briefly.
A pale shape gliding beneath black waves before vanishing again.
The harbor bells reacted instantly.
Faster.
Louder.
Skyler stared toward the sea.
Then toward the lower cliff districts.
Probability calculations turned vicious inside his head.
Mamta injured.
Night tide active.
Unknown sea activity.
Cold water.
Pursuit behind her.
The odds were terrible.
Skyler shut his eyes once more.
And remembered her hand touching her cheek after he kissed her on her left cheek.
Tiny movement.
Absent-minded.
Almost disbelieving.
A friend, huh?
He could practically hear her saying it.
Something twisted sharply beneath his ribs.
Skyler swore softly under his breath.
Then turned back toward the harbor.