Beneath the water, the full size of the crab becomes clearer. Water distorts anything that's below its surface, shrinking and exaggerating sizes, blurring the lines. What looked big from a perspective above the surface is massive below the surface. Like how they say you can see only the tip of an iceberg, or a rock, or what shows of a reef when the tide is low. Jointed legs the size of small tree-trunks; a broad round abdomen and shell as large as a cart. The pincers would stand as tall as a full-grown man, jagged-edged and dangerous.

As Alex ducks beneath the water, the crab shrinks back, stirring up the water. Its eye stalks retract, pulling in. One of those great claws swipes out at her. The other is hauled above the surface of the water, snapping madly.

Darras, in Korrin's renewed barrier, swears and grabs firmer hold of his knife. The claw doesn't get near to him. It butts up against the barrier, furious.

"Behind it, beneath, where it's soft--that's where we hit it, to stop it from bloody moving--it's an old trick, unless it can be electrocuted without frying Alex--"