"Hey, Zoe!" Kalimba called, running down the hallway after seeing Zoe pressed against the wall.

  When he got closer, he skidded to a stop a few feet away. He grimaced, hitting an invisible wall of stench—like a rotting fish in the sun mixed with a sweet honey. "Oh, goodness!" he gagged, covering his nose with the crook of his arm.

  Zoe jumped to her feet, pointing shakily toward her room. Her voice trembled but was urgent., "He's in there! Trapped! Something has him!"

  "Wait, wh-"

  "Mitani! The bathtub!"

  Kalimba's eyes shot toward her open doorway. He stepped toward it, peering inside, and moved back. In a flash, he studied the entire room—the dim lamp on the bedside table, the perfectly made queen-sized bed, the light seeping through the gap in the bathroom door, and the splintered wood that covered the red carpeted floor.

  Zoe turned, hearing a hum, one that overpowered the buzz of the engine below their feet.

  A leafy green glow shimmered along Kalimba's frame. "Watch out," he warned, stepping cautiously into the room.

  Zoe took a deep breath, steadying her breathing, blinking rapidly to steel herself. She stepped into the room after Kalimba, hearing what sounded like him talking to himself. Zoe followed, clutching the wall for support. Her legs felt like jelly, but she forced herself to move. Her heart pounded as she glanced at the bathroom, where the light flickered ominously.

  She cautiously stepped around the sharp splinters sticking up from the carpet, walking into the bathroom after him.

  The smell was about ten times stronger as they entered the bathroom, making her stomach churn. A thin layer of water covered the slick tiles, reflecting the dim light overhead. The bathtub stood empty, its surface rippling slightly as though disturbed moments ago.

  "He was just here," she mumbled, looking at the bathtub. "I don't know where he went. I'm not making this up!"

  "Yeah," Kalimba muttered, his green aura casting faint shadows across the room. "She said he was just here. Her door is broken, and there's some weird smell. Whatever is happening, it seems to have left moments before I got here."

  "What?" Zoe turned, looking at him, "What are you talking about?"

  "Oh, sorry," Kalimba said, "Was talking to Asher." He looked around the bathroom, studying the puddles of slime on the floor.

  Zoe looked at him but didn't see any phone or any type of device in his hands or around his ears.

  Meanwhile, on the deck, Yahd sat by the hot tub, his feet submerged in the warm water. The deck's slowly changing purple, yellow, orange, and red lights gave him an odd sense of calm, more than the warm salty ocean breeze or the light rocking of the boat could ever give him.

  He looked up at the starry night sky—trying to connect all the different constellations in his head.

  He felt the tickle of bubbles run along his feet. He glanced down, seeing the water churn and spin.

  "Hm," he muttered. Watching as the hot water seemed almost boiling, the bubbles rose with an unnatural frenzy.

  He watched, mouth agape, as something slowly materialized inside the hot tub. Reaching out with his foot, his toe rubbing against it. "Am I touching a jellyfish?" He thought aloud.

  His voice caught in his throat, and all his hair stood on end. His chest tightened as a pale, translucent figure began to materialize in the water. "Mitani!" He screamed hoarsely, leaning closer. The boy’s face appeared, twisted in pain, his features barely visible through the gelatinous mass surrounding him. A faint purple aura pulsed around his body. "What the-" he scooted back, getting to his feet. 'What the hell is surrounding him? Something is wrong!'

  Yahd’s instincts kicked in. He scrambled backward, reaching for the pink pistol tucked into his waistband. He leveled it at the creature. "Stay back!" he yelled, firing a shot into the tub. The bullet ripped through the creature and Mitani’s arm, leaving a scorch mark on its translucent skin.

  Mitani's face contorted as the bullet ripped through his forearm—an inaudible scream came from his mouth.

  "Dang it!" He yelled. "Asher or Kalimba, I'm on the deck. I found Mitani!" he screamed.

  He squinted, staring at the thing as it grew, taking up the hot tub. It was hard to tell in the colored light, but he could see it. A scorch mark the size of a bullet in its translucent skin.

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  Behind Yahd, the door swung open, and Kalimba and Zoe, who still only had a towel wrapped around her, ran out onto the deck.

  "That's the thing!" Zoe said, pointing to the hot tub.

  'It takes about four to five seconds to heal an injury, it seems,' Yahd thought, watching the bullet hole fade and disappear.

  Seeing the pistol in Yahd's hand, "Shoot that thing!" Kalimba screamed.

  "No! Look at Mitani's arm!" Yahd said. "I already tried. Went right through."

  Kalimba cursed under his breath, "What do we do then?" His green aura flickering brighter as he prepared to act.

  Zoe pointed a shaky finger, "He's stopped breathing."

  They both looked at Mitani. His energy field had faded, and his face was slowly turning blue.

  "His energy was most likely the only thing keeping him from suffocating inside it," Zoe guessed.

  The creature’s eyestalk rose from the water, its dark orb swiveling toward them, swaying back and forth as if mocking their indecision.

  "I know what we can do," Yahd said after a long silence.

  "I'm willing to try about anything at this point," Kalimba said.

  "When it takes puncture damage, it takes about five seconds for it to heal!"

  "It can heal itself? Great!"

  "Um," Zoe started, "I think it can teleport as well."

  "Huh?" They both turned to her with confused expressions.

  "I can't be sure, but I know I saw energy around it at one point, and then it disappeared." She turned to Yahd, "It just appeared in the water, right?"

  Yahd nodded, "Yeah, it just... kinda materialized."

  Zoe looked down, her mind racing, "Okay, so it probably has some kind of ability to teleport to different bodies of water; I'm thinking that's how it got on this boat to begin with."

  "Okay, okay," Kalimba said, thinking, "So, instead of shooting it, we can just cut it open! Zoe, you have knives, right?"

  "Yeah, but I don't have them," she muttered.

  "What!" Yahd whirled around, "Why didn't you bring 'em!"

  Zoe held up a black and gold box of cards, "I have these," she offered.

  Yahd gave her an incredulous look. "The hell are some useless cards gonna-"

  "Watch out!" Kalimba tackled Yahd, as a tendril from the thing shot out at them, grazing Yahd and leaving a dark red mark on his ankle.

  "Kalimba," Zoe said, opening the box of cards and pulling one out. She took a deep breathe, "I'm gonna cut it open. One of you will need to be quick and pull him out."

  "Okay," he said. As he got to his feet, green energy surrounded his body.

  Zoe held the card with her middle and pointer finger. There was a hum as the yacht deck was bathed in the evening orange aura that billowed around Zoe's body and the card.

  A tentacle quickly wrapped itself tightly around one of her legs, pulling her toward itself. In under a second, Zoe's head was dunked under the water as it attempted to push her inside it. She sliced upward with the card with a swift movement, cutting the front of the creature open.

  Kalimba was right behind her, reaching inside the open wound, and wrapped his arms around Mitani in a big bear hug. There was a squelching sound as he pulled him out of the translucent creature.

  The thing's skin turned from clear to a dark red once it realized what had happened. It tried to shove Zoe inside itself, but with another swift movement, the tendril was severed with her card.

  Its red eye-stock glared at her as it tried once more to grab onto her. Before she could do anything, she saw a fist fly over her head, connecting with the creature. Yahd stepped over her as she scrambled out of the hot tub, her towel coming loose and falling to the ground. A jagged pink aura rippled around him.

  "Dammit!" Yahd screamed at the thing. "That freakin' hurt!" He wrapped both his hands around its eye, pulling as hard as he could, putting his foot on it for leverage.

  A light blue aura surrounded the creature as it began to submerge. Yahd didn't let go and smiled as he felt the eye give way as he yanked one last time. The sound was like a tearing bedsheet as it cut through the night.

  The thing flailed briefly below him, then went still—its red skin returned to its usual crystal.

  "Ha!" Yahd held up the eye, pointing it at each of them with a devilish grin.