1Chapter 17

"Wake up miss, it's morning. The captain says there's a disturbance in the water. It would be wisest if you were at full attention." Catherine opened her eyes to see the crystal blue eyes and orange hair of Sonny or Rodney, she didn't know which. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and thanked the boy. He retreated towards the railing where he leaned over and stared into the deep blue waters. No shores were in sight. No boats were in sight. They were all alone in the empty ocean. If something happened, nobody would be there to save them.
Megan was at her captain's wheel, observing the waters ahead of her with a keen eye. Amelia was standing at the bow of the ship, watching the waves roll by. Catherine didn't understand what was going on. There didn't seem to be any disturbance. Sonny, or Rodney, came up from below decks with a weapon in hand, that looked like a harpoon. Catherine was shocked. Van Helsing was nowhere to be seen. A call from above signalled that he was in the crows nest with a telescope. He had yelled down something that sounded like "It's winding around below us!" What was winding around them? Catherine couldn't see anything.
"Rodney, look!" Sonny called from the railing. He was pointing down into the water to something that was unseen to Catherine. She was leaning over the boat too, and so was the rest of the crew and passengers. Rodney ran over, harpoon at the ready. He pointed it down into the depths of the water, waiting. It was silent. Nothing was heard.
An unusual looking ripple in the water caught their attention. It spread around widely. Everyone watched the centre of it. Rodney aimed the harpoon at the heart of the rings.
The wait was unbearable. They didn't know what they were looking at. Suddenly the boat swayed violently. Something was bumping up against it. Something big, and strong. A green scaled tail broke the surface of the water, splashing water all over the deck of the boat. The water soaked through their clothes, weighing them all down. A yell once more came from above.
They all looked up and saw that the sway of the boat had knocked Van Helsing out of the crows nest. He was holding onto the roped ladder that was leading up to the top of the ship from the deck. He appeared to be okay and was able to haul himself onto the ropes where he was secure enough if another violent attacked occurred.
Rodney focused his attention on the tail. He aimed and fired the harpoon before the tail was able to disappear beneath the cover of the water. A giant spear stuck out from the tail. The sudden pain in the monster sent the tail flailing around. It splashed the surface frantically, making waves knock up against the side of the boat. Once again it swayed violently and made the crew and passengers hold on tightly to whatever was sturdy enough. Sonny hugged Rodney tight, thinking he was sturdy. And apparently he was. Sonny held to him like a frightened child. Rodney held still, holding on to his harpoon and the railing. Sonny hid his face in his brother's white tunic. The thrashing stopped, the tail disappeared and once again it was silence.
Sonny showed his face and looked into the waters. Tears were coming into his eyes. He was clearly not the bravest sort. He sobbed and finally it appeared to Rodney that he had a frightened brother clinging to him. He didn't seem to mind at all. Rodney, harpoon still in hand, hugged his brother back. It appeared to Catherine that they were very close. She never saw two brothers care so much about each other.
The waters were calm, but it was unlikely to stay that way long.
"Back away from the railings!" yelled Van Helsing from above. Everyone back up and looked all around them, waiting for the monster to return. Then the ship shook violently. Everyone grabbed onto something, this time Sonny grabbed hold of one of the ropes holding the sails. Rodney lifted his harpoon and waited for the monster to reveal itself. They were facing the northern side of the boat, while the monster crept it's heavily green scaled head from the waters behind them. It's head was as large as a horse, it's teeth as long as daggers. The eyes burnt with red fury, matched only by that of flame. It made no noise as it opened it's mouth and approached.
"Behind you!" yelled Sonny. He had felt a steady rocking of the boat from behind them. He had turned and gasped when he saw the monster looming over them. Everyone turned as the monster let out a ferocious ear-splitting roar that shattered the silence. Rodney aimed his harpoon and fired once again. The spear dug into the monster's neck, but it wasn't a life-threatening wound and the monster didn't appear any less dangerous.
The sea monster continued to from the waters until it's eyes were even with Van Helsing, who was way up top in the crows nest. The eyes were watching him hungrily. Van Helsing drew his sword and Catherine wondered if he was really serious that he could destroy the monster with just a sword.
The monster lunged and missed, hitting the post behind it's target. The post snapped and fell away to the deck below, where it missed Megan by just a few inches to her left. Rodney meanwhile continued to fire his harpoon, but the monster was refusing to give in. It continued to lunge, and Van Helsing was dodging the attacks with difficulty. There wasn't much room to manoeuvre, and the planks of wood holding him up were slowing shattering with every attack.
The boat was swaying and water was splashing aboard. Amelia and Megan were now trying to help Van Helsing by using their own swords and slicing at the monster's long throat. Though blood was streaming out heavily, the sea creature refused to show any weakening in it's harsh attacks.
When almost all the planks of wood of the crows nest were scattered along the decks below, Van Helsing stood his ground and waited for the monster to do a final lunge. When it came forwards with it's mouth full of dagger teeth wide open, Van Helsing jumped in the air high enough to aim his sword downwards into his opponent's skull. The monster shrieked, Van Helsing holding on to the handle of his sword. His feet were off the ground and he was dangling right in front of the creature's cavernous mouth. It was thrashing its head around blindly in pain.
Those on the deck below looked up in bewilderment as the monster began to fall back into the water, Van Helsing still clinging on for dear life. The head disappeared into the dark depths in a huge splash of water. Everyone ran to the deck and waited for Van Helsing to recover from the water.
"Van Helsing!" cried Amelia. She couldn't loose him now. She was hopeless in her search without him. Everyone held their breath and waited. Just when they almost gave up all hope, a head broke the surface. Van Helsing had his long brown hair covering his face. He floated there for a while and then swam his way towards the boat. Rodney had dropped his harpoon and threw out a rope to the lost passenger. Van Helsing grabbed it before it sunk away below the waters and he was hauled back aboard the ship. He sat there gasping for breath for a few moments.
Catherine and Amelia were gathered around him. Sonny came up with a dry towel and Amelia draped it around her friend's soaked shoulders. He thanked her and knelt there. It was a while later that they finally noticed a wound on his left calf. The pant leg was ripped there and soaked in blood and water. The wound was made of two deep cuts made by the monster's dagger like teeth. Megan had noticed it first and went to get a roll of cloth. She wrapped up the wound tight and tied it off in a knot that wouldn't come off easily.

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