“It’s okay,” I yelled. “Nobody panic.”

Of course, that’s what you say at the same time that everyone actually panics. I was trying my best to keep the boat right side up and the women inside it from passing out with fear.

The water snake was aggressive and thrashing its huge, thick tail against our water sled. I feared it would make us capsize, but I wasn’t willing to project that extra stress on the girls. If we did go under, I didn’t yet have a plan to get us out of the situation.

“What are we going to do?” Georgia cried. Meanwhile, Katie clung to the side of the boat and screamed. That girl certainly had a sizeable pair of lungs on her, and she wasn’t afraid of using them.

“Please, Katie, calm down.” I gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Your distress will only send the Honkfish into a tailspin, and it makes the water snake even more furious than it already is.”

“I don’t care!” Katie wailed up at the sky. She wasn’t interested in compromise.

Shit, she was going to get us all killed unless I interjected and came up with a rescue mission plan quickly. I had to remain calm. I was our only chance for survival.

I ran to my backpack filled with supplies. I had a knife with a sturdy, sharp blade, but I was afraid it wouldn’t be nearly big enough against a battle with a water snake. The beast was a monstrous threat, and it was going to take more than one slice through its body to take it down.

The wild beast pushed itself out of the water and loomed its ugly, leering head over our boat. Georgia gasped, and Katie screamed. Even I became briefly immobilized by its size and menacing dark eyes.

I froze in fear momentarily but then snapped out of it once I realized that the three of us would die on this boat unless I did something quickly. It was up to me to take the mighty snake down.

I tried to move my legs, but they were immobilized in shock. My mind brainstormed a million scenarios of us either being drowned or ripped apart limb from limb by this monster.

I stared up at its wild, manic red eyes as it towered over us, soaking us to the bone with ocean water. I tasted the salt of the sea and spat it from my mouth. I wiped the wetness from my eyes and blinked. We were losing this battle, but we weren’t dead yet.

I glanced back at the island where the Dolarian villagers probably slept peacefully in their beds, none the wiser of our impending doom out here on the treacherous open waters.

The island behind us that was once our safe haven was now nothing more than a tiny speck, a dot on the map of the moon, and there was nobody here to save us besides me.

Katie would be utterly useless, but I might be able to gain some helpful leads from Georgia. She was a strong, brave, resilient girl, and I knew I could count on her in a situation as dire as this.

If not, we were surely in for a nightmare. I was breathing heavily and trying not to let ripe and raw panic consume me.

“Georgia,” I called out. “Grab my pack.” I pointed at the black bag that I had originally slung at the edge of the water sled. “Can you reach it?”

I held my breath as water dripped down my face. I was afraid that if I moved a single muscle, the water snake would pierce me with its venomous razor-sharp teeth or worse, swallow me whole.

“I think . . . I can do it.” Georgia said with wary caution at first. She began to nod with more confidence as her facial expression shifted to determination. She was my girl, through and through.

“Yes, I have faith in you,” I coaxed her and smiled with vigor. “You can do it.”

“What are you guys going to do?” Katie’s wandering eyes darted left and right between us. Her face was as white as a sheet. She didn’t offer up any assistance, nor did I expect it out of her.

My breath clung to my throat and my body trembled with the fear of the unknown. We were at the mercy of this untamable water beast. We were all on guard, even the beast. It was just waiting for us to make a mistake so it could devour us in the clamp of its aggressive jaws.

“When should I do it?” Georgia’s voice was a crumbling mess, but I knew she would step up to the plate and go for it. I could sense her fear, and it was alive in me too. We had to come together and tear this animal apart.

“On the count of three,” I said. “On my command, run for the bag and toss it to me. Don’t come any closer. Stay back where you are.”

“Okay,” Georgia mumbled meekly. She knew there was a lot riding on this, but I trusted her.

“What are you trying to do, get us killed?” Katie’s defiant and argumentative voice rang through the night sky as shrill as a hawk’s cry.

I glanced up at the water snake. It was no longer thrashing in the water, which gave me an ominous feeling. It must have been either contemplating its next move or ready to strike in the next second.

Most aggressive animals such as this one became still and quiet right before they plunged in for the kill. It was a snake, after all, and snakes were mysterious and vicious. There was no telling what move it would make next.

“I have a knife in my pack,” I explained to Georgia and Katie. “It might not be enough to kill the water snake, but it will injure it enough to where it will probably back off.”

I was saying the words more to convince the two girls than myself. I wasn’t sure what was going to work at this point, but we would have to take the chance.

“Probably? Probably?” Katie shrieked. “So, we are hanging on to the microscopic hope that this idea works?” She was back to shrieking again as Georgia did her best to calm and silence her with hushing noises.

“It’s all I have,” I roared back at her as the waters began to churn again from the movement of the water snake. In my anger, spittle expelled from my lips.

“Shut up, Katie!” Georgia bellowed. I could tell by her tone of voice that her nerves were fraying patience for Katie’s constant antics and spirited complaints. She didn’t want to die any more than I did. It was a concept that Katie apparently couldn’t grasp.

“Fuck you!” Katie lashed back as her cheeks flushed bright red.

She was starring daggers at Georgia. I wasn’t certain whether one of the two of them was ready to throw the other overboard, but the hatred and fury were raw.

“What do you expect us to do, just sit here and allow the beast to kill us? I don’t want to die on this boat! If we can at least allow Kylin the chance to try, we might have the potential to survive this ordeal!”

Georgia’s face was beet red with her screams aimed at Katie. She was firing away now, no time left to hold back any emotions. She was forgetting that her screaming mixed with Katie’s was not helping the Honkfishs’ moods that were becoming more frantic by the second. I tried to make eye contact with Georgia to help her calm down, but she wouldn’t look in my direction.

“Well, what about them?” Katie was the one who pointed begrudgingly to the Honkfish in the moment of tension. Before then, I’d completely forgotten about them.

I glanced in the direction of the water pets who had halted their efforts to tow our sled and were turning violent shades of blood red in their anger. I was afraid they would try to shimmy away from the ropes and abandon us to save themselves.

“They can help us.” I nodded to Georgia, addressing her directly because I was fed up with Katie for the moment. I had an idea.

“Okay, how?” Georgia asked. Her voice was high with hopefulness. She hadn’t given up yet. I could see her will to live sparkling in her eyes.

“We need to tap on their shells,” I explained. “It will let them know that we need their help, and they will try to bite at the water snake.

“What if they die in the process?” Georgia asked. “How will we get to the capital with no Honkfish left to tow us?”

I saw the fear and alarm in her eyes and knew I had to be the stable resolution that stunted the growth of her agony. I would die to protect her, and I needed her to understand that.

Even if I couldn’t verbally formulate the way to tell her that. Actions spoke louder than words. I had to swoop in and become the hero. It was now or never.

“We can’t think that way,” I told her as I breathed heavily. “We have to focus on positivity here.”

At that moment, the wild beast hit the side of our sled and we all went tumbling over like dominos. I hit my head against the side of the sled and my bones vibrated. It took a moment of reeling, but I got up again.

Katie screamed and gripped the sides. Water was plunging into the sled at warp speed. I stared up at the mighty animal’s head and its gray body was quivering with taunting provocation. I was frightened for what its next plan of attack might be.

I began violently scooping the water out of the sled, working vigorously so that we wouldn’t sink. There seemed to be more water spilling in than going out.

“Here, let me help you!” Georgia cried as her damp red hair dripped down her face. Even in the face of danger, she was intoxicatingly beautiful.

We both continued to throw water out of the sled with both our hands and a bucket we brought with us to hold supplies that had now been emptied out and cast to the sea. If it hadn’t been for Georgia, my efforts would have been no match for the water.

Georgia and I worked in unison, tirelessly as the fighting instinct to stay alive kicked in and provided us with the fuel and motivation of adrenaline. The muscles in my arms and legs screamed in pain and protest, but I couldn’t give up the fight yet.

“I think it’s working!” Georgia shouted hopefully. “Katie, can you give us a hand?”

I glanced behind me at Katie, who shivered in a ball on the other side of the sled. “I . . . I can’t.”

She trembled as her body shook. She just sat there, pathetically white-knuckling the side of the sled as if she was afraid to move.

I got close enough to the Honkfish to where I could give them little pats on their hard shells.

My gesture was all the power they needed, and as soon as I withdrew my hand from their bodies, they went into full-out attack mode on the water snake, biting at it and thrashing their webbed little claws with all their might.

“They are doing what they are trained to do,” I called out to Georgia. “Look, it might be working.”

I had just enough time to retrieve the bag from Georgia while the water snake was distracted by the Honkfish.

“I hope they don’t die!” Georgia exclaimed. Even in these dire moments of peril, Georgia was thinking about the animals.

“I’m getting ready to move in and aid them in their efforts,” I yelled to her as the water on the bottom of the sled sloshed beneath my feet.

“How much longer to the capital?” She asked with dread as if she didn’t believe for a single second that we would actually make it there.

“We have a fairly long way to go still,” I told her because I had to be honest. “We will just have to hope for the best.” My tone was grave and somber, and even I was having trouble believing it.

“The odds are stacked against us,” Katie yelled from behind us. I didn’t expect her to be anything other than negative.

“No thanks to you,” Georgia spat her direction with an accusatory glare.

“I’m useless when I’m scared, okay?” Katie cried defensively.

“Yeah, that much is extremely clear,” Georgia stated bitterly as she continued to scoop water out of the sled.

“Georgia, watch out!” I called to her and pointed to where the water snake loomed behind her like a demonic fiend of death. It was probably my imagination, but it looked like it was snarling.

Georgia shrieked and naturally jumped across the sled, her survival instinct kicking into full gear now. She threw the bucket of water and it landed on top of Katie.

Her eyes fumed with anger, and I knew she wasn’t going to allow herself or any of us on this sled to die in vain. Her cheeks were flushed with the heat of what I recognized in my own self. Power and domination.

The Honkfish squeaked their air bladders fanatically, and if we weren’t in this wretched situation, it might have sounded quite comical.

I was just thankful for their ability to understand our need for help in taking down the mighty water snake. Without them, we would surely die.

“The Dolarians tricked us,” Katie yelled. “These waters are explicitly hazardous and filled with creatures to destroy us.”

“They did warn us to be careful, and that’s part of the reason they allowed us to take their Honkfish pets with us on our journey,” Georgia reminded her.

I smiled at Georgia and her profound depth of kindness. She really took a liking to the Dolarians, and for whatever unknown reason, had a way with them to where she could bond with them and earn their trust.  

I unzipped the pouch containing my knife and pulled it from its protective encasement. It was now or never. I had to be swift, mighty, and stealthy.

“Okay, wish me luck,” I said more to Georgia than to Katie. My eyes trailed back to Georgia and lingered there for a few seconds. If I died, I wanted her face to be the last thing I ever saw.

“Good luck. I’m right behind you if you need help,” Georgia said, and I knew I could trust her to always have my back.

I was hoping to not have to involve her any more than I already had. With jerky, swift movements, I swiped at the water snake and managed to gouge a substantially deep cut into the middle of its body.

It roared in pain, continuing to thrash menacingly, but now I was its intended target.

Yes, the beast only had eyes for me as it narrowed in on me. I took a few steps backward and roughly pounced on it, continuing to stab it as many times as I could before it ate me whole.

The Honkfish continued to work on the water snake from the back, ripping its skin apart. It was becoming more and more injured by the second. If they did the majority of the work, I could finish it off.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the water snake relinquished its efforts to eat us and retreated. Its long body curled under the water in defeat.

Its thick, murky blood looked like oil as it collected on the top of the water. There was a ton of it and it was slimy as it created a film on the top of the water.

“Do you think it’s dead?” Katie cried out with uncertainty. She dared to crane her head over the side and check out the water.

“I’m not sure.” I panted and wiped the water and sweat from my eyes. “It may be injured enough to withdraw its efforts against us though.” I wasn’t ready to let down my guard yet.

Georgia collapsed against the side of the sled, breathing hard. “I’m shaking,” she admitted.

“You were very brave.” I gently squeezed her hand. “Thank you for your help.” It had been a brutal attack, but she’d held her own.

“Yeah. Thanks,” Katie murmured sheepishly.

The three of us sat there, shell-shocked as we tried to regain composure. Luckily, the Honkfish remained tied up to the sled even through their struggle to attack the water snake.

After several minutes, we determined that the snake wasn’t going to make a frightening return appearance. If it was coming back for a second wind attack, it would have done so already.

“Nobody is hurt?” I looked at them to make sure.

Georgia tried to make a little joke. “Just emotionally.”

“Good.” I nodded. “Let’s press on.”

We rode away from the area mainly in silence, too unnerved and exhausted to make mindless conversation after the attack. The ocean felt and sounded eerily quiet now that we were safely on our way once again.

After a while, Georgia sat up straight. “I see land!” she shouted.

I raised up on my knees. “That’s the capital. We are almost there.”

All three of us expelled an audible sigh of relief.

“I can’t wait to get out of this water,” Katie confessed with a timid chuckle.

For once, I knew Georgia and I were silently agreeing with Katie.