Hennessey, Part Nine
Escape
On the surface, Hennessey rocketed toward the deadly ring of chum and guns, made oblivious to the danger to her and her pups by the brain-numbing smell. The sea steamed with offal. The surface reeked with the death of her kind.
As Hennessey hurtled forward, other sharks gave way. Her bulk reduced them to wash and her maternal fury set their terror to an even higher pitch. She was almost to the center of the deadly ring. Then different type of human engine sound came from seaward, high pitched and insistent. First the sound moved quickly toward her, and then sluiced around to be directly in front. The new sound growled loudly to signal the roil of an engine reversing and a hard-turning rudder, as the same small boat Hennessey had seen at the beach days before came hurtling in front of her and stopped.
The boat blocked her path. Hennessey turned away. The boat followed, keeping itself between Hennessey and the melee, serving to break the chain of frenzy that had consumed Hennessey’s actions. Of course, Hennessey could dive under this boat and resume her attack. She was a split second from doing this when she felt her pups lurching.
She stopped, and the red-tinted water around her cleared for a minute. The currents had shifted, and a clean and teeming sea reached up to embrace her with its long cool fingers.
Hennessey turned towards the warm shoreline bays without the slightest hesitation. She forgot the frenzy, now behind her, and remembered her pups. They were ready – they were large enough and grown enough to leave her warm protection. Hennessey abandoned her attack and headed south.
One small boat shadowed her. It puttered slowly behind, and then pulled alongside when Hennessey’s destination became clear. Hennessey and the boat headed for a tiny bay on the south shore surrounded by marshes that promised a warm embrace. They made the crossing together, Hennessey quietly accepting the slow churn of the low throttled engine as a steady and unthreatening presence.
Near the mouth of the bay, Hennessey paused, circling a few times, tasting the bay waters for fresh danger, practically expecting it given what she’d lately survived. The small boat pulled ahead, and Hennessey heard a splash.
In front of her suddenly appeared a thin figure, long limbed like a seal, but without a seal’s scent. And unlike seals that panicked and ran the second they saw her, this creature floated still and curious, looking at her intently, calmly. Hennessey calmly looked back.
One thing was a universal among all hunters in the sea – the ability to focus attention on something, usually prey. This creature could focus as intently as Hennessey could, could focus on her the way she focused on it. Floating, watching, curious. Observing cautiously. Waiting. Absorbing the moment.
This creature had odd eyes, she observed while sweeping closer: one large crystalline eye with what looked to her like two small eyes underneath. Those strange eyes were compelling, fixed as they were directly on Hennessey, still as they were in their regal regard. Hennessey’s eyes looked back.
Both figures floated motionless. Shark and human watching, learning. The moment held, stretched.
Then Hennessey flicked a fin, turned, and powered into a deep glide towards her bay. Leaving the apparition alone in a green ocean.