The Five Evolution

Chapter 35: Counting Stars.

『"Down this ocean, every turn. Hope is our four letter word..."』

The second Sophia vanished under the water, panic spread like wild fire across the group.

"Sophia!" Amara shouted.

Hiro flailed in the water, his voice rising in pitch. "Oh God, something took her! What the hell was that thing?!"

"Stay here! I’ll go!" Amara raised one hand toward Hiro, who was already moving toward the spot where Sophia had disappeared. "Ethan needs you... and you’re a terrible swimmer anyway!"

"Hey, I’m not that—" Hiro started to protest.

But Amara had already dove, cutting through the water with powerful strokes. The ocean swallowed her, starlight fading rapidly as she descended into blue-green darkness.

Her legs kicked hard, arms pulling water as she moved deeper and faster. Her Awakener physiology let her hold her breath far longer than normal humans, but even that had limits.

Where is she? Where—

Bubbles.

There was a trail of them, ascending from somewhere below. Amara followed them urgently, pushing herself to move faster through the crushing pressure.

Then she saw it. Sophia’s Halohelm glowing like a beacon in the dark water.

Amara... Sophia’s telepathic voice reached her. It was strained but clear enough to be perceived in her head.

Yellow light surrounded Sophia’s entire body. A telekinetic barrier, which was the only thing keeping her from being crushed by whatever held her underwater.

Amara got close enough to finally get a better look. Tentacle covered in suckers the size of plates had wrapped around Sophia’s waist, squeezing and pulling her deeper into the black.

Angel’s Bane manifested in Amara’s hand, the blade’s constellation patterns illuminating the dark as she pushed downward with everything she had, streamlining her body and moving like a torpedo.

Once Amara was in range, she swung. The blade cut clean through, severing the appendage in one strike, and dark ichor bloomed in the water like ink.

She grabbed Sophia’s arm, yanking her free of the twitching tentacle segment and Sophia’s eyes were wide with fear as her telekinetic barrier flickered.

Together, they kicked for the surface. Seconds later, both ladies broke the surface, gasping for air, coughing.

"You—" Sophia couldn’t finish, there was water still in her lungs. She coughed violently, expelling seawater from her nose and mouth while Amara held her steady. "Are you okay?"

"It had me," she whispered. "I thought—I thought I was a goner."

"You’re not." Amara’s grip tightened. "You’re here."

"What the hell—was that?!" Sophia rasped between coughs.

Still leaning heavily on Hiro and breathing hard, Ethan managed to answer. "That must’ve been a Kraken... probably."

Hiro’s head turned around so fast he nearly dropped Ethan. "Come again? Like, mythological sea monster Kraken?"

Ethan gave a weak nod, too exhausted for a longer explanation.

Raj scratched his head, doubt clear in his voice. "How come we’ve never heard of a Kraken before?"

Ethan raised one eyebrow without saying a word and Raj sighed. "Right. Dumb question."

Another tentacle exploded from the water without warning, wrapping around Hana before anyone could react. It lifted her high into the air, water streaming from her uniform.

"Finally!" Hana declared with arms spread wide even as the tentacle squeezed. "The eldritch demon of the deep has come to claim me! I knew this day would—"

"Is she for real right now?" Sophia asked flatly.

Amara was already moving, manifesting Angel’s Bane mid-swing. The blade caught the tentacle at its thickest point, cutting through muscle and cartilage, freeing Hana.

Hana dropped like a stone, hitting the water with a loud splash. "—arrive," she finished weakly, surfacing and spitting out water. "Not quite how I envisioned it."

More tentacles were rising now, breaking the surface in a ring around them. The Kraken was angry. It was also getting smarter, attacking from multiple angles simultaneously.

"We need to get out of the water!" Tova shouted, stating the obvious while paddling frantically with his one good hand.

"No shit!" Naomi yelled back.

Then she closed her eyes, taking a breath and channeling her Awakener energy to create pressure and resistance against the water surface.

When she opened them, her feet had found a stable platform. She was now literally standing on the surface of the water like it was solid ground.

"What—how are you doing that?" Hiro sputtered.

Naomi looked down at them, exasperated. "Basic leverage creation. You channel power into—" She paused. "Wait. You guys didn’t know you could do this?"

Amara, Hiro, Sophia, Raj and Tova blinked as five wet, exhausted faces stared back at her blankly.

With Ethan being the exception in their clique, they had no idea that was even possible. And Ethan, already drained from maintaining the shield earlier, could barely stay afloat, let alone channel energy.

"Oh my God." Naomi pinched the bridge of her nose as she watched Hiro flail around the water in an attempt to pull himself up while supporting Ethan.

Weesil channeled his energy next with a smug look on his face and stood atop the ocean. "Well, it’s not something they teach first years, after all," he muttered.

Another tentacle suddenly lashed out and wrapped around Raj.

With a thunderous roar, he grabbed the appendage with both hands and ripped it apart. "Not today, Kraken!"

The Kraken’s screeched, letting out a vibration through the water and Raj threw the torn tentacle away with disgust, breathing hard. "Any other ideas for getting out of here that don’t involve standing on water?"

Amara nodded, treading the freezing cold water while scanning their surroundings. "We need to move. Now." She looked at Naomi. "We can’t just learn to create our own leverage now and we’re in no condition to fight a Kraken."

Andre, who was already standing on the surface next to Hana, agreed. "True. But where exactly is here?" He asked, gesturing at the endless ocean surrounding them in all directions.

Amara looked up at the night sky. She spotted Venus, then the brightest constellations: Orion’s belt, Polaris, and the Summer Triangle.

"Think..." she whispered to herself. "Stars don’t lie." Her eyes stayed locked onto the Polaris. "Give me a second..." she muttered.

She raised one hand just above the water’s rippling surface, using it as a makeshift reference point as her eyes moved between stars, calculating angles and measuring distances.

"The North Star is there," she said, pointing. "About forty-seven degrees above the horizon." Her hand shifted. "And that’s Arcturus. Which means we’re somewhere around..." She closed her eyes, running calculations. "Forty-two degrees north latitude. Give or take."

"Okay, that’s impressive," Hiro said from the water, still secretly trying to stand on its surface and failing. "But latitude doesn’t tell us which direction to go."

"No," Amara agreed. "But the current does." She pressed her palm flat against the water’s surface, feeling for the flow and current.

"We need to head west-southwest," she said with certainty. "The Machine is approximately two hundred nautical miles in that direction."

"Two hundred miles," Hiro repeated weakly. "We have to swim two hundred miles."

Raj cracked his neck and grinned. "I don’t mind swimming two hundred miles."

"We’re not swimming," Andre said.

Ice crystallized in his palms, spreading outward across the water’s surface and shaped itself into a long, narrow vessel.

It wasn’t quite a boat, but more like a frozen raft with raised edges to prevent people from sliding off.

"Everybody on," he said, already stepping onto his creation.

They climbed aboard carefully, the ice creaking. Ethan practically collapsed onto it, finally letting himself show how close to unconsciousness he actually was.

Amara knelt beside him, checking his pulse, and it was weak.

Hiro grabbed the edge of the ice boat, planting his feet on the water’s surface outside it as red lightning crackled around his boots.

"Everybody ready?" He didn’t wait for an answer. "Because I am very motivated to get away from the tentacle monster."

His legs blurred, and the ice boat shot forward like it had been fired from a railgun, spray kicking up on both sides.

A massive shadow surged beneath the surface, keeping pace. "It’s still following us!" Tova screamed.

A tentacle slammed into the water beside them, sending a wave crashing over the ice raft. But this only motivated Hiro to kick even harder, propelling them faster.

Behind them, one last tentacle broke the surface, grasping at empty water where they’d been seconds before. They were already gone, racing across the Atlantic toward the Machine.

***

An hour into the journey, Hiro’s legs were shaking with exhaustion. "Can’t—" he gasped, slowing down. "Need to—rest—"

The ice boat drifted to a stop, carried only by current and Hiro collapsed onto the ice beside Ethan, breathing hard. "How much farther?"

Amara checked the stars. "About a hundred nautical miles."

"A hundred," Hiro repeated. "Just a hundred huh?"

"You’re doing great buddy," Raj said encouragingly.

"Yeah, yeah," Hiro shrugged.

"Stop your bitching," Naomi said from across the boat. "You can get a five minutes break. Then we keep going."

"How generous." Hiro rolled his eyes.

During this break, Amara kept checking the stars, adjusting their course when they drifted too far north or south.

Her navigation remained precise and every correction brought them closer to their destination.

"You know," Sophia said during one of the quiet moments, water dripping from her hair, "I didn’t thank you. For the whole... saving my life thing."

Amara glanced at her. "You would’ve done the same."

"Yeah, but still." Sophia wrung out her uniform sleeve. "Thanks."

Naomi, sitting with her back against the ice boat’s edge, watched Raj who was staring out at the dark ocean and when he turned, she looked away.

However, he managed to catch that and seized the opportunity.

"Hey," he said as he walked over to her.

"Hey," she responded without looking.

Raj took a seat next to her and inhaled loudly. "So we went from corrupt agents with guns and grenades, to crazy, old, knitting lady, to almost getting blown up by our teacher, to almost eaten by a clam, to almost crushed underwater, to fighting a kraken."

He exhaled. "Am I missing anything else?"

"Welcome to being an Awakener," Naomi said with a shrug.

"Uh-huh..." Raj scratched the back of his neck.

Then her eyes widened slightly like she remembered something and she turned to face him. "Don’t forget almost getting piano’d and, or turned into frogs."

Raj started laughing, taking her by surprise. And before she knew it, she was laughing as well.

Meanwhile, Weesil sat in the corner, very quiet, very small. Nobody had said anything directly to him about the prison break yet. But everyone knew.

Ethan remained unconscious, breathing shallow.

Amara kept one hand on his wrist, monitoring his pulse, and every few minutes she checked his wounds. "He’s getting worse," she said quietly.

"Yeah, he needs medical attention," Andre said. "Soon."

"I know." Amara pressed her palm to his forehead. He was too cold and his skin was clammy. She pulled him closer, trying to share body heat. "Just hang on. We’re almost there."

"Hey, leg for brains. Your five minutes are up," Naomi announced from across the boat to Hiro.

He groaned but stood, legs still trembling. "Let’s get this over with."

***

Two hours had gone by since the beginning of their journey, and dawn was finally beginning to break on the eastern horizon.

"There," Amara pointed, looking at Ethan, then at Hiro. "Can you go any faster? Please..."

He was already moving before she said another word, legs pumping one final time. "Hold on," he said as he pushed every last bit of speed his exhausted body could manage.

The ice boat accelerated faster than ever as it flew across the final stretch of ocean until they hit the Machine’s dock access hard, shattering the ice vessel on impact.

Everyone tumbled onto the blessed, solid ground. And for several long seconds, nobody moved. They simply laid scattered across the dock like shipwreck survivors, breathing hard.

Then Sophia started laughing hysterically. "We..." she gasped between laughs, "we just travelled... two hundred miles... away from a Kraken... in a boat made of ice..."

"Pushed by Hiro’s magic feet," Raj added, and suddenly he was laughing too.

Then Hana. Then Andre. Then everyone except Ethan who was unconscious and Weesil who looked too shell-shocked to process anything.

The early morning sun began to rise, its warmth slowly evaporating water from their uniforms in rising steam.

The laughter died down as Amara lay on her back, staring up at the sky with her chest heaving.

After a long silence, she rested on her elbow and pushed aside Ethan’s wet hair from his face. Then spoke softly. "I never want to do that again."

In the distance, alarm bells began to ring. Someone had spotted them. That meant medical teams would be coming. Questions would follow. Then investigations and debriefings.

But right now, in this moment, Amara was just grateful to be breathing air instead of water.