rose from the wall nearest us, racing to the surface that was very far away now.
Kerka grabbed my arm, and I stopped swimming immediately.
âDo you see all the eyes?â Kerka whispered in my ear.
I grabbed her hand when I saw what she was talking about. Those were eyes, sure enough, looking out through what must be crevices in the rocks: tiny glowing yellow eyes, lots of them!
âLetâs catch up to the river maidens,â I whispered. âAnd fast!â
âI knew I didnât like the water for a reason,â Kerka whispered.
I gave a limp grin that no one could see. Then I squeezed Kerkaâs hand, and she squeezed back. Together we kicked like mad and shot downward. I couldnât see the maidens at all, but with the rock wallso close, there was only one direction they could have gone.
All at once the tunnel was filled with an eerie orange light. I glanced back. The glowing eyes had separated from the wall. They
all
belonged to a huge eel-like creature. A glowing orange ball dangled in front of the creatureâs wide-open mouth like a lantern. I couldnât tell if the ball was connected to its back or head or if it was some kind of monster magic.
At least we can see whatâs going to eat us
, I thought.
Thankfully, the eel thing wasnât moving very fast. But its mouth was full of what looked like extremely sharp teeth.
Kerka turned to me, saying, âWhy are you slowing down?â
âI just want to get a good look at it,â I replied. âAnd it is moving pretty slowly.â
âThe only kind of predator that moves slowly is one that knows it will be catching its dinner,â said Kerka.
I gulped, and decided we needed help, just as the eel shot some kind of light dart at us. I didnât wait to find out what it was. âCome on Kerka, letâs book.â
We both put on speed, kicking our flippers as fast as we could. While more of the eelâs light darts shot at us, I screamed to the river maidens ahead ofus, my voice echoing through the tunnel. âHey! Thereâs a giant river monster back here!â
As soon as they heard me, the maidens spun around and shot back through the water. They circled around Kerka and me, moving in a watery blur of protection. Through their protective circle, we could see glowing darts shooting from the giant eelâs many eyes. They looked electrical somehowâlike they would stun or shock you, and then the monster would gobble you up.
One of the river maidens gave a high-pitched shriek. A dart must have gotten her! The other two maidens immediately gathered up their limp companion and swam off quickly, the injured maidenâs hair flowing behind them. We didnât even have a chance to say good-bye, and, honestly, I didnât even think about it, because now we had this big monster to deal withâalone!
Kerka and I swam and dodged darts as if we were in a living video game. Luckily, the creature was not exactly aiming. In a particularly bright blast of darts, I saw what looked like a small opening in the tunnel wall.
âCave in the wall,â I told Kerka breathlessly.
She looked hastily. âI think I see it. Letâs work our way over there.â
Crazily dodging the light darts, we finally made it to the little cave and squeezed in together. We barely fit. The darts were whizzing past us. Now I noticed that they made a weird whistling sound in the water. We waited until there was a lot less of the whistling going past us. Finally, the lights petered out altogether, and we were left in the dark.
âI donât think itâs very smart,â whispered Kerka. âPredators for whom game is plentiful donât have to be clever.â
I shuddered, thinking of Kerka and me as âgame,â but I saw what she meant. âLetâs wait a little longer,â I whispered back.
The wait felt like a long one, but it was probably only five minutes. Everything was silent. We