Sarah squeezed her eyes shut.
Waiting for teeth.
Waiting for pain.
Waiting for the end.
But the bite never came.
Instead, something slammed upward from beneath the shark.
The predator twisted violently.
For one impossible second, Sarah saw the whole shark lifted from the water.
Then it was pulled down.
Hard.
The fin vanished.
The sea went silent.
That was the first twist.
The shark had not been the hunter.
It had been prey.
Sarah opened her eyes.
The baby was still crying.
The water around them churned with bubbles.
Then a shadow moved below.
Huge.
Far larger than the shark.
It passed beneath the broken houses and sunken boats like a mountain under water.
Timbers shifted.
Debris rolled aside.
A deep vibration traveled through the sea.
Not a roar.
Not thunder.
Something older.
Sarah’s blood turned cold.
That was the second twist.
Whatever lived beneath the drowned village had awakened during the storm.
And it was still there.
Watching.
Sarah kicked toward the shore.
Her arms burned.
Her lungs hurt.
But she held her baby higher.
One wave pushed her back.
Another nearly turned her over.
Still she moved.
Yard by yard.
Breath by breath.
Finally her knees struck sand.
She crawled into the shallows and collapsed around her daughter.
Behind her, the ocean rumbled.
Sarah turned slowly.
Out beyond the wreckage, the water bulged once.
Then became calm again.
Too calm.
The storm had destroyed the village.
The shark had brought fear.
But the thing beneath the waves had brought a truth far worse.