“This is it,” he said excitedly. “This has to be it. Tadg, didn’t you say there’s a region full of whirlpools? It was on your dad’s map.”

“Shipwreck Stretch.” And it was just as Tadg spoke those words that Barclay tore his gaze away from the whirlpools and the stones and actually took in the seafloor around them.

They were in a boat graveyard. Dozens—maybe hundreds—of shipwrecks surrounded them, each vessel in a different eerie stage of decay. Their decks were broken and crusted with grime. Fraying, shredded masts rippled in the ocean currents.

Shivers crept down Barclay’s back. He had never seen anything so haunting.

“The Isle of Roane must’ve been at the center of Shipwreck Stretch this whole time,” Tadg said. “That’s why no sailor could ever reach it—the whirlpools sank all their ships before they could.”

“And the whirlpools explain why a swirl is the island’s symbol,” Barclay said. “They look just like— Where are you going?”

Tadg took off swimming toward the surface.

“Tadg! Wait!” Viola called, climbing out of the river to follow after him. “Shouldn’t we go back now? We can tell Runa—”

“But we’re here,” Tadg said. “Why shouldn’t we find the way to Lochmordra ourselves?”

“I don’t know… maybe because he’s a giant kraken who could kill us? Is that what you want?”

Tadg didn’t answer, and Barclay suspected Tadg was, in fact, eager for a fight. Lochmordra had killed his father. He’d destroyed his home. It wasn’t surprising that Tadg wanted revenge, but Lochmordra—like Gravaldor—wasn’t just a Beast. He was a force of nature, the very essence of the Sea, and Tadg couldn’t slay him any more than he could slay a monsoon. He would only end up hurting himself instead.

“Tadg!” Barclay called, swimming after him. He didn’t like being slower in the water than on land.

Suddenly a shadow slinked to their right amid a shipwreck.

“What was that?” Viola asked sharply.

To their left, another dark shape shifted. It was massive, and a sharp fin jutted from the top of its head in the curve of a hook.

Barclay swallowed. “What does a Hookshark look like again?”

“Something like that,” Viola squeaked, pointing to a third shadow behind them. This one hovered by the gaping hole in the belly of a ship, watching them with glowing yellow eyes.

Then it advanced toward them.

“Tadg!” Barclay screamed.

The Hookshark loomed into view. Its scales were brown like rotted wood, and it had tiny eyes and a blunt snout. It was also huge, easily large enough to swallow Barclay whole. When it opened its mouth, Barclay counted at least a dozen rows of razor-sharp teeth.

He screamed, bubbles bursting from his Polypop. The water around him suddenly felt a tiny bit warmer.

Then Mar-Mar slammed into the Hookshark’s side, Tadg riding on Mar-Mar’s back.