White Fangs by Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden Page A

closing her eyes. Jack glanced around to find that several passengers had gathered further along the railing and were watching them with wary curiosity. He ignored them.
    "It's so . . . cold," Sabine whispered, her lips pressing together in a thin white line.
    "You feel it?" Jack asked, glancing at Vukovich and the Reverend.
    A small sound escaped Sabine's lips and then her head snapped back, her body jerking as her hands gripped Jack's painfully tight. Her eyes flew open wide and she began to shake.
    "Sabine!" Jack shouted as her legs gave out beneath her and she collapsed to the deck, sliding partway beneath the railing so that her left arm dangled out over the churning river.
    "It's . . ." she mumbled.
    Jack knelt by her and pushed the hair away from her face, his heart racing with worry and fear, but all for her. "It's what, my love?"
    Her eyes had been wide and unfocused. Now, though her body continued to be wracked with the spasms of seizure, she locked gazes with him.
    "Hungry," she whispered.
    Jack twisted around to shoot a hard look at Vukovich and the Reverend. "Go. Find Maurilio and Louis and get back here! Something terrible is going to — "
    With a loud thump, something struck the hull of the Fort McGurry hard enough to rock the steamship in the water. Whatever was down there, filling that dark, lifeless void, it was strong.
    And ravenous.
     

 
Chapter Four - Blood by Moonlight
     
    Jack had never been afraid of water. He had lived close to it all his life, and it had always been a part of his world, whether sailing on it, fishing it, or using it as a means to travel. But now, looking down into that dark, fast-flowing river, with something below the surface that was darker than night, he was chilled to the core.
    We need to keep out of the water , he thought. Whatever happens, we have to —
    Another impact, and this one sent Jack and Sabine staggering against the bulkhead. Passengers were shouting and crying out in alarm. The Reverend and Vukovich were crouched down against the vessel's movements. Jack could see their confusion — they were ready for a battle, but there was nothing for them to fight.
    "A sandbank," the Reverend called out. "Submerged logs. A sunken boat."
    "I don't think so," Jack replied.
    "Why not?" Vukovich asked.
    "Because if it was something immobile, we wouldn't have hit it twice," Sabine said, climbing to her feet. As if in response there was another impact, but this was different. Jack felt the shock through his legs, and heard the unmistakable sound of splintering timbers.
    "Both sides that time," he said. "The boat's being struck beneath the waterline." But by what? He was glad that no one asked, because there was no sane answer.
    Maurilio and Louis burst through a bulkhead door and onto the deck, looking around frantically until they spied Jack and the others. Joined again, the men and Sabine seemed to take some comfort from being together. Jack realized that they had properly become a crew, and he felt a tinge of pride.
    "Panic down below," Louis informed them. "Crew are running like rats."
    "There's something in the water," the Reverend said. "Jack and Sabine sensed it, and then — "
    "What is it?" Louis asked.
    "I don't know," Jack said, "but we stay together."
    "I agree," the Reverend said. "On deck. Ready to fight if we need to. Or jump."
    No way I'm jumping in there , Jack thought, and as he shared a look with Sabine, he knew that she was of like mind. They had both touched on the alienness of the thing beneath the surface, and they had no desire to enter the water with it.
    There came another impact from the stern, and a slapping, snapping sound. In the half-light Jack could see broken timber boards powering skyward, scattering across the rear half of the ship and splashing into the water.
    "Paddle's gone," Vukovich said. "Now we're helpless."
    The steamer started drifting. People were gathering on deck, some of them forming short lines as some half-hearted safety drills