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Mona swooped down and lifted up Helina from the waves She rushed up to us and laid her down on the rock before returning for the three athered over Helina Her face scrunched up in pain, she was gripping her abdoht just be the squid’s blood, but as Corrine bent down and loosened Helina’s hands around her waist, there was a nasty-looking gash near her navel

"I would rather useat her husband "It will be faster than waiting for Helina’s natural healing capabilities to kick in This is a deep gash"

Ibrahi the vampire Mona appeared on the rocks moments later with Erik, Matteo, and Kiev

"Is she okay?" Matteo panted

"She will be okay," Corrine said "Just… don’t co us as we stared down at the waters The waves were settling and the corpse of the giant squid had bobbed up to the surface

"Well, I’m sure we’ve attracted the merpeople’s attention now," Mona said, her forehead creased orry "Just not the type of attention ant…"

Chapter 7: Rose

"What do you mean?" my father asked Mona

"We just killed one of their pets," the witch replied "We ca that fro whether we should just leave I have a bad feeling about staying in this place even a er"

"We can’t just leave,"up The Cove is the only thread we have to cling to"

Mona looked toward Matteo "What are your thoughts?"

Matteo didn’t look any less worried than Mona He shrugged "I’m not sure we have a choice but to take this risk As Sofia said, if we leave now, then what?"

Mona gulped as all eyes turned to her again

"Okay" She walked back over to the edge of the islet The corpse of the squid was still floating above the waves, lapping against the rocks Outstretching her palms, she uttered a spell The monster’s body vanished in an instant "Let’s hope nobody witnessed what just happened"

We gathered around the witches and traveled to the next islet

"We should get down on the ground this time," my father said "It will make it harder for squids to take ai with the others Crawling to the edge and looking down at the water, I was surprised to see that it was tinged with a darker reddish color "The squid’s ink," Caleb said, following h the waves"