They were closing in on the river bank, about to make it to safety, when suddenly, their raft rocked violently. Kyra looked down, confused, not comprehending what had happened—there were no boulders she could see below.

It happened again, and this time Kyra stumbled and fell down to the raft as it rocked from side to side. She knelt there and looked down at the waters, wondering—when her heart plummeted to see a yellow tentacle rise up out of the waters and latch onto the raft. There emerged another tentacle—then another—and Kyra watched with horror as an enormous squid-like creature emerged, its tentacles reaching out and spreading across their boat. Bright yellow, luminescent, it opened its jaws right for her.

Kyra and Dierdre rowed frantically, trying to get away, but the creature was too strong, pulling them right toward it. Kyra realized they would never make it to shore, even though it was only feet away. They would die at the hands of this beast.

Worse, they were now back in the current, drifting closer to the falls, hardly ten yards away.

Desperate, Kyra reached back, grabbed her staff, released it into two parts, and raised it high. She brought down its sharp blades on the creature’s tentacles as hard as she could.

The creature screeched, an awful noise, as green pus emerged from it. Yet still, it did not release their boat. It raised its jaws higher, and Kyra knew that in moments it would swallow them whole.

Kyra knew they had no choice—and she had to make a quick decision.

“Drop the oars!” she cried to Dierdre, who was still frantically try to row away. “We have to jump!”

“Jump!?” Dierdre called back, frantic, her voice barely audible over the deafening roar of the falls.

“Now!” Kyra shrieked, as the beast’s jaws were but feet away and closing in.

Kyra grabbed Leo and grabbed Dierdre’s hand, and she turned and jumped, pulling them both overboard and into the rapids.

A moment later they were all submerged in the icy waters of the Tanis, the currents pulling them for the falls. Kyra saw the squid, glowing beneath the water, too and turned and saw the falls but feet away. The fall might kill them—but that creature certainly would.

Water gushing, Kyra felt herself propelled downriver and she braced herself as she began to go over the falls. Beside her, she saw Leo and then Dierdre go over, airborne, shrieking—when suddenly something wrapped around her leg, keeping her back. She looked upriver to see a glowing tentacle wrapped around her leg, pulling her back.