There is something in the water!

That was the cry that rang out over the ship. Stora was just about to fall asleep when the call went out. Almost immdiately, everyone sleeping in the lower levels of the ship were shaken awake. The first mate, and the captain were doing it shaking. Captain Jon's face was pale despite his tan. His arm was shaking as he held the lantern abouve his white bearded face, the white glow of the flame making him seem like a ghost.

"Everyone up!" He yelled out, using his other hand to hit the wooden floor of the deck with his sword. "Some of the watch as seen something in the water. Everyone get up."

"So, people see odd stuff all the time. Just last week Old Mieck said he saw a naked women swimming in the water."One of the younger crew members complained. It was true, people said that they saw strange things in the ocean waters all the time. So why did this sighting require everyone to get up? Another two or three soldiers muttered their agreement.

"Well, boy," Captain Jon said, "the pretty naked mermaid did not kill second mate Malcolm. This one did." This got everyone into a panic. There was yelling everyway. By the time that Stora had gotten his boots on, most of the crew were up above deck scanning the waters. Only two others were behind Stora has he got onto the deck, the cold night air making him shiver.

It was a full moon, and the night light cast mystical rays of moonlight across the ocean floor. It was strangely calm with hardly any waves. The Blue raven was a regular cargo ship on the atlantic. It was currently carrying spices and sugar back to England from Cuba. However, it had been stranded on the ocean for the last few days because the wind had stopped. Some of the crew were saying it was badluck, and that most likely everyone was going to die onboard. The midnight waking would certainly not help everyone's mood.

Stora held his rifle and aimed it at the water, the gun was huge for Stora's small size, and it was old. Stora had won it in a card game, when they were last at shore in Cuba. The rifle was longer than Stora was tall and the size made it hard to hold.

Stora continued to scan the calm waters, everyone else was too. There was no movement.

Stora continued to scan for movement, but again, nothing. It was than that Stora realized that he had never loaded the gun, he actually had never even shot it. He didn't even know if it worked.

He pulled the rifle away from the pointless scanning. Pointing it up, he leaned it against the side of the ship as he got the gunpowder and bullet ready for the gun. He was just about to grab his rifle again when he stopped, he breath catching in his mouth. There was a small greenish tentacle that was wrapping itself around the rifle.

For second he only watched as more and more of the tentcacle came over the side of the ship and circled itself around the rifle. Finally, finding his voice, he screamed a wordless call for help. In that instant, the tentcacle pulled away from him. It pulled the rifle over the side without, the wooden handle of the gun hitting Stora in the head. This hit had enough force to push him back causing his feet to slip on the wet deck and him to hit the back of his head on the wooden deck. The hit made him see spots.

After a moment, he turned his head and saw Mieck looking at him with a fearful look. Moments later, the rifle came back. The tentacle holding the rifle rammed it into the side of Mieck's head while another tentacle, nearly three times the size of the orginal one, grabbed him and pulled him over the side. As Stora screamed in terror, the whole ship tilted to the side as more tentacles came over the side.