𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃𝐒 ━ 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐛 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝

vii. many states of the mind

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

━

"you always find my sore spots"

▬▬▬▬▬𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐎𝐁 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 panted softly, his hands working to try and strike some flint to light the lantern he had found in the small wooden boat. A warm flame flickered, and Jacob raised the light source around to illuminate his surroundings.

Not that he wasn't glad, but why hadn't the damn sea beast actually swallow them? The boat was just sitting on its tongue in its mouth, surrounded by a large array of sharp teeth. Each as big as himself.

He glanced at Angelique, whom Maisie was clinging tightly to. Angelique's unfathomable eyes met his, her dark irises reflecting the glow of the lantern.

"Are you two alright?" he asked gruffly.

Angelique nodded, her gaze darting around to take a look at their unfortunate situation herself.

By the seas. The fact hit Jacob again. He was in the fucking body of a sea beast, that had swallowed them, but somehow not really, and was probably saving them for breakfast or some other complete sick reason—

The beast growled, the sound rumbling, extra loud as they were inside the bloody thing. Maisie jumped, her lip trembling. "Are we... gonna die in here?" she whimpered.

"No," Angelique said, her voice the calm, almost soothing, beacon Maisie needed.

The girl looked reassured for a split moment before the beast growled again, making them all jolt uneasily.

"Change that answer to maybe," Jacob muttered, getting up to raise the lantern toward its throat, shaped like a cave entrance made out of sea beast tissue. Red, as the rest of its body of course, but for some reason emitting a hazy glow of dark blue, if one looked further.

Maisie's eyes followed where he was looking. Then she slumped down on the boat, hugging her knees tightly. "Is it gonna chew us, or will we get digested slowly with acids?" she whispered, her voice clear with shock.

"I don't know, Maisie. This is all new territory for me, for all of us," Jacob answered truthfully.

"Well, haven't you guys hunted these things?" Maisie said, her voice slowly becoming a squeak.

"We kill 'em, lass. We don't study 'em," he said, turning back to the two, but focusing on Angelique. "Haven't you though? Aren't you some academic weapon the castle keeps showing off?"

He couldn't resist making a snarky comment, even with everything happening. He knew for sure she probably had read all the books in existence about beasts, and many others too. He knew exactly how intelligent she was. 

Hah. The things she was capable of with all that knowledge too.

Jacob watched her, half expecting a reply even snarkier.

But she just stared at him blankly. "I don't know much of its inner anatomy, if that's what you're looking for. And besides, what better way to know than to find out?"

Jacob's brows shot up. She was talking about him going down there. Whatever was down the thing's throat, she wanted him to find out.

"Unless of course," Angelique murmured, "your heroic, daring courage, ends at venturing down a creature's throat."