~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

Shrimpzilla

{Leo}

Sammy Valdez kept talking to the baby, while Leo's mother, Esperanza, looked on with a pained smile—perhaps a little worried that Leo's bisabuelo was rambling, a little sad that he was speaking nonsense.

   "That lady, Doña Callida, she warned me." Sammy shook his head sadly. "She said Hazel's great danger would not happen in my lifetime. But I promised I would be there for her. You will have to tell her I'm sorry, Leo. Help her if you can."

   "Bisabeulo," Esperanza said, "you must be tired."

   She extended her arms to take the baby, but the old man cuddled him a moment longer. Baby Leo seemed perfectly fine with it.

   "Tell her I'm sorry I sold the diamond, eh?" Sammy said. "I broke my promise. When she disappeared in Alaska... ah, so long ago, I finally used that diamond, moved to Texas as I always dreamed. I started my machine shop. Started my family! It was a good life, but Hazel was right. The diamond came with a curse. I never saw her again."

   "Oh, Sammy," Hazel said. "No, a curse didn't keep me away. I wanted to come back. I died!"

   The old man didn't seem to hear. He smiled down at the baby, and kissed him on the head. "I give you my blessing, Leo. First male great-grandchild! I have a feeling you are special, like Hazel was. You are more than a regular baby, eh? You will carry on for me. You will see her someday. Tell her hello for me."

   "Bisabuelo," Esperanza said, a little more insistently.

   "Yes, yes." Sammy chuckled. "El viejo loco rambles on. I am tired, Esperanza. You are right. But I'll rest soon. It's been a good life. Raise him well, nieta."

   The scene faded.

   Leo was standing on the deck of the

   Argo II, holding Hazel's hand. The sun had gone down, and the ship was lit only by bronze lanterns. Hazel's eyes were puffy from crying.

   What they'd seen was too much. The whole ocean heaved under them, and now for the first time Leo felt as if they were totally adrift.

   "Hello, Hazel Levesque," he said, his voice gravelly.

   Her chin trembled. She turned away and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the ship lurched to one side.

   "Leo!" Coach Hedge yelled.

   Festus whirred in alarm and blew flames into the night sky. The ship's bell rang.

   "Those monsters you were worried about?" Hedge shouted. "One of 'em found us!"

   Leo deserved a dunce cap.

   If he'd been thinking straight, he would've switched the ship's detection system from radar to sonar as soon as they left Charleston Harbor. That's what he had forgotten. He'd designed the hull to resonate every few seconds, sending waves through the Mist and alerting Festus to any nearby monsters, but it only worked in one mode at a time: water or air.

   He'd been so rattled by the Romans, then the storm, then Hazel, that he had completely forgotten. Now, a monster was right underneath them.

   The ship tilted to starboard. Hazel gripped the rigging. Hedge yelled, "Valdez, which button blows up monsters? Take the helm!"

   Leo climbed the tilting deck and managed to grab the port rail. He started clambering sideways toward the helm, but when he saw the monster surface, he forgot how to move.

   The thing was the length of their ship. In the moonlight, it looked like a cross between a giant shrimp and a cockroach, with a pink chitinous shell, a flat crayfish tail, and millipede-type legs undulating hypnotically as the monster scraped against the hull of the Argo II.