The Eighth Sea

Chapter 16

Wren

Wren felt pretty important leading the group through the maze, even though he really had no idea which way to go, or where the maze even led them to. The last time he visited Scylla's lair—well, more like broke into Scylla's lair—the only thing standing between Wren and Scylla was the Kraken. Now it seemed like the sea witch was paranoid about him coming back.

As she should be.

After all, Wren was the greatest, the most handsome, the most fantastic, bravest, and the most humble pirate the world had ever seen.

So when a hand reached out of the wall and grabbed Wren's arm, he justified his loud squeal as him trying to seem relatable to his crew. Definitely not because he was absolutely terrified by a living wall.

"Wren? What happened?" Levi asked quietly, his face paler than Wren had ever seen before.

"The wall has arms," Wren answered, staring at the now-empty wall with a mix of fear and awe.

"What are you talking about?" Hector asked, examining the wall closely. "I don't see anything."

"Just touch it!" Wren suggested. "It grabbed me!"

"You must be drunk or something," Patricia slurred. "Hector, he's drunk, let's just keep walking." She hiccoughed loudly as if trying to emphasise her point.

"Or maybe it's Charlotte in the walls, trying to find me!" Pierre shoved Hector and Wren aside, practically throwing himself onto the wall. At that moment, two boney arms, skin hanging loosely off, reached out, grasping him tightly.

"What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?" Gerald ran and hid behind Levi, his eyes wide as he stared at the arms that now held Pierre as he spouted love poetry at them. Patricia put her moonshine down, rubbing her eyes, as if in shock at what she was seeing.

"I'm too drunk for this," she muttered under her breath.

"Pierre, get away from there!" Hector shouted, grabbing the back of Pierre's shirt and pulling, hard.

Pierre, however, had no interest in moving away from the walls. "My poor darling! You've lost so much weight! And your skin is in terrible condition! We need to get you to a doctor! Or a cosmetic surgeon!"

The creature in the walls was so offended by that, it dropped Pierre roughly on the ground.

"How are we supposed to get through this maze with that thing here?" Francis asked. "We don't have food or water, and we can't touch the walls."

"I can't see it," Levi noted. "It must be still alive."

"Or it's part of the wall and never was alive to begin with," Hector offered as he stepped forward to get a closer look.

"Either way, we're screwed unless we manage to find a way to get rid of that thing," Gerald said from where he was hiding behind Levi.

"Well, does anyone have any ideas?" Wren asked.

They all stood there in painfully awkward silence for a few minutes. Finally, Hector sighed.

"I have an idea, but it's dumb and will probably result in total failure."

Wren clapped joyously. "I love dumb ideas! Let's hear it!" Everyone else expressed similar sentiments, and Hector relented.

"So, obviously this thing—"

"—I'm sure it has a name," Wren interrupted. "Let's give it the respect it deserves and call it by its name."

"What's its name then?" Francis asked, and Wren shrugged.