The next chapter of the story written by  Baristdeer, thank you so much for this wonderful gift! This story features my sharkess Osiris Atlantic.

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The passage was dark and damp. Max heard drops drips off the ceiling, and he stepped into puddles that turned his legs into ice cubes. Those two things put together made Max’s panic swell back up like a balloon in his chest.

There was a breeze blowing through from somewhere far off, ruffling his shirt and hair. He crossed his arms, and he became aware of the salty water that still dripped down his forehead. Osiris was right. It was getting colder. He started to worry he might catch a cold.

There was another wind too, right at his side. This one was slow and rhythmic. It followed the massive sharkess’ stroll, bounced off the walls and echoed with a sound Max could only compare to large trees fighting not to timber in a hurricane. He could hear the rocks crumble and slide under Osiris’s heft as she ploughed forward. Orange sparks lit up her toes when their claws scraped the ground.

When the sparks were out and the dark space returned, Max would feel his worry fester in his head. Could she see in the dark? Would she forget he was beside her? A thought rolled through his head where she slipped and a foot that could turn cars into metal pancakes fell right on top of him.

Before the anxiety could burst through his ribcage, however, the passage swelled to a spacious oval cave where natural light flooded inside from a collapsed patch of dirt in the ceiling.

Osiris stopped in her tracks, dropped her boots, and took a deep breath. She revolved for a moment in the earthy aroma of the room, her sanctuary. Max stopped too. He rested alongside her ankle and caught his breath.

“Home sweet home. That’s what you little folks call places like this, right?” she asked.

She looked down and that trademark smirk was back. For the first time Max found comfort from her cockiness. It was much better when it was there than when it wasn’t. “Hmm? Oh! Yeah, we do. Do you big folks have any sayings?”

Osiris stretched her elbows back, then leaned down till her fingertips touched the ground, her face was hidden under a hair waterfall. A few pops and a groan rang out.

“Can’t tell you that, Max. I don’t know them. Us giants don’t show up in these parts if you can believe it. Those that do. . .well. . .they aren’t here to make a ‘sweet home’ if you understand my meaning.”

Once again, before Max could say yes or no, she moved away. Now she gripped her ankle and pulled it up to her hip. She waited for a knee pop before she let go and moved to the other leg.

Max was mesmerized by how vast Osiris’ home was. Around the hole in the ceiling were long ivy vines swaying haphazardly in the wind. He looked around like he was an adventurer looking out over a new unexplored valley. Along the leftmost wall was a desk and chair the size of office buildings, made of wood splintered in a million directions at the legs and held together with thick braided rope coils like those Max and his father used to tie down boats at the docks.
And with boats on his mind, he was shocked to shift his head and see ships - some towboats, others small cargo vessels - marooned near Osiris. Scattered about were metal sheets and shrapnel like a mountainous scrapyard. One bow had three slashes in its hull, each as long as a telephone pole.

Osiris finished her stretches, looked at Max’s face then at the claw marks and back at Max. “Don’t worry about those. I didn’t make them. That’s the handiwork of the less friendly giants I was talking about. It’s my job to fix them.”

“Oh. Alright.”

“I told you, Max. You’re safe here. Probably the safest place you can be from them. Climb up onto my desk. You need to dry off.”

Max watched as Osiris sat in her rickety chair which loudly complained under her bulk. He walked up, noticed a shallow slope in the rocks, and climbed his way up till he reached the wooden desktop. Even then it only went up to Osiris’s stomach. She was dangling a tarp and plucked out a small square chunk.

“Here, this will help,” she said, and lowered her fingers down to Max.

He took the makeshift towel and wrapped it around his shoulders like a cloak. “Thanks.” He wiped off his face.

“This will help, too.”

“What will help?” Max moved the towel just in time to see Osiris leaning over him. Two quakes followed and his world was encased in white leathery walls that were her palms, his sky replaced with her muzzle. Her smirking muzzle. Her lips puckered.

“Wait! -” was all Max could get out before a powerful wind washed over him. It was like a category-five tornado, and he was Dorothy. He clung to the towel, squinted his eyes, and fell backwards. It was warm and, after a second, oddly pleasant, like he was in a gigantic hair dryer.

Another second and it was over. He opened his eyes, and that smirk was still there, only wider. Osiris moved her hands away.

“Don’t be such a worrywart. It was just some hot air.”

“I think you misused the word ‘some.’”

“Oh hush. You’re dry, right?”

“Well, I mean, yeah.” He ran his fingers through his hair. Dry and puffed. Even his clothes were still warm like they were fresh out of the laundry.

Osiris rested her chin in one palm and moved her other hand up to her lips. She tried to hold back a laugh. Max looked up in time to see this, and for a moment he saw a genuine smile on her face. He thought of his mother and how she would smile like that after he came home from classes.

Another thought rolled through his head, and he pictured Osiris on a toothpaste billboard in the big city, and he laughed too. Not at her, but with her.

Osiris stopped first. She regained her composure, cleared her throat. Her smile melted away back to its icy pose.

She reached across the desk and plucked up a bucket from a pile. Then she lowered (much to her chair’s disdain while it creaked and groaned under her posterior) and scoops up a bucketful from a small pool in the rocks. She set it down in front of Max with a splash.

“Here. Don’t worry, it’s fresh water. All the water in here is. There are some hot springs in an adjacent cavern. You can get a proper wash-up there later. Right now, you need to drink. You must be parched.”

And he was. Max gazed into the bucket at his own reflection. It was him all right, no cuts, or gashes, just a lot of dirt. He wiped his lips and remembered just how rough they were. Dry as a desert. The lump in his throat returned, itchier and more irritated. He remembered his screams while he flailed helplessly down to the water below. It felt like days ago now, but he knew it wasn’t, because his voice was raw and raspy.

He gripped the pail with both hands and gulped mouthful after mouthful, not caring when the water trickled down his chin and onto his dry shirt. He only stopped when he gasped for air.

“Better?”

“Much better,” he said. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. Now if you don’t mind, I must take care of this ship. It’s an order I need to deliver soon, and I lost a good bit of time. A light snack turned into a rescue mission. You know how those things go.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Hey now, none of that. Things happen. And if I had to choose between a little guy who needs rescuing and a big hunk of metal sinking into the depths, I’d choose the little guy every time.”

“Really?”

“I’m not a liar, Max. No hesitation. None.” She stopped. Her right hand was a clenched fist.

She took a deep breath. “Sorry if I sound bit heated. I just hate when people insinuate that a giant wouldn’t save someone smaller than themself. It insinuates we’re just big brutes. Half of us are. I’m not denying that. They’re why my clients seek me out after all, but the other half are just trying to get by and find work in a world without much space for us. Not to mention the panic that would cause if our secret got out. You’ve never seen a giant before, right?”

Max shook his head. “Only in movies.”

“Exactly. We lay low so people don’t think we’re Godzilla coming to destroy their cities. Bit of sad irony because we’re the ones stopping the real Godzillas from running amuck.” She paused.

“But I’m rambling. This ship should be an easy job, just don’t get too close to the edge.”

Max sat and watched Osiris work.

While this whole situation was unbelievable, it was how this giantess worked that fascinated him now. On the desk he felt like Gulliver, far too small to use anything and did not have a dollhouse to be his sanctuary. Despite knowing the roles were reversed, he couldn’t shake the thought that he was the oddity.

Everything was Osiris-sized, and his village was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he did wash up in a new world.

But now Osiris was moving away from him (thoom-thoom-thoom), and she looked smaller and smaller. It was a trick of the eye but now she was human-sized. He could ignore the debris clouds swirling her tail while she swished up rocks, dirt, and sand.

She knelt beside the ship and gripped something propped up by the wall. Max had mistaken it for a tower with a broken antenna until Osiris turned a valve and blue flames shot out the nozzle.

Osiris held the blowtorch nonchalantly, and she whistled a tone under her breath. Then she reached into the scrap pile beside her. He could hear the metal groan between her fingers as she squeezed with the force of a car crusher. It was like dough that she kneaded into a thin plate. She pressed it up to the hull and it was a perfect fit for one of the slash marks. She welded it in place.

One of the discarded pieces was a drill pipe. Osiris grabbed it and let it rest between her lips, stuck out like a cigarette. It gave her teeth something to gnaw on while she worked. Her leathery skin made her hands their own gloves though they had the scars and burn marks to show their experience. The scorching hot ship glowed red then cooled to a silvery gray. She wiped the hull clean, smoothed it out with her clawed fingertips.

A job that would have taken a month with a crew of hundreds and she did it in minutes like she was patching up a flat tire. Now Max was reminded of his father, a man who’d be more mistaken for a lumberjack than a repair man.

Osiris wiped her brow. “Done.”

Static then a beep emanated from the ship. Osiris sighed. They weren’t pulling her tail when they said it was urgent. She reached into the cargo bay of the ship and grabbed her buzzing earpiece, set it firmly in place, and pushed the call button.

The voice on the other end was grizzled. “Status?”

“Back in working order, over.”

“Good. Can always rely on you to be timely, Osiris. We should be in at the site in t-minus five minutes.”

“Roger that.” The buzzing stopped and she cursed under her breath. She got up and walked back to her desk, obviously frustrated from her snarling snout and roaring steps.

Max picked up on it too and went rigid. “What’s wrong?”

Osiris raked through her hair, pulled it back, and let it fall. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her elastic hair band, tried up her long locks into a shabby ponytail. Need to be somewhat presentable, she told herself.

“Nothing you or I could control. Look, human officials are going to be stopping by to pick up this ship. But I need to keep an eye on you too. I don’t want you getting hurt when I’m not around.”

“Why don’t I just leave with them? They can take me back home.”

“That probably won’t happen, I’m afraid. I told you, giants are top secret, Max. Top secret. I’ve never been spotted before so I don’t know what would happen, but I doubt it’s anything pleasant.”

“Oh.”

“You’re a good kid, Max. I don’t want to take the chance you get hurt. I swear I’ll get you home myself.”

“Promise?”

Osiris held a fist over her heart. “I am duty bound. Now -” She stood by the desk, her right hip hitting against it like a boat coming into port. She held open her pocket. “- hop in. We don’t have much time.”

Max peered over the edge into the chasm. He gulped and carefully lowered himself down off the table. The fall was short, like going down a waterslide made of carpet, and he sprawled out, eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness.

Osiris straightened herself. She could feel Max squirming around in her pocket, trying to find the right position. She stopped in her tracks. Max never saw, but her eyes lowered to her pant pocket and Osiris’ icy lips melted down to a small frown.

He’s frightened. This is all so strange to him. He needs comfort.

Then: Isn’t that what you wanted when you were a rookie?

Max crossed her arms and curled up in a ball when a massive shadow darkened the sky. The world wobbled and something smooth and warm swept against his feet. Osiris’ fingers curled and lifted him up against her palm. Then her thumb laid on top of him, secured him, protected him. It wasn’t the crushing weight he saw in her work. It was gentle, firm, like an oversized lapdog resting across his chest and legs.

Max rested his hands on the massive digit, and he could feel her hard claw, her tough skin, and the divots that were her many scars.

His shoulders slumped. His head sunk into his chest. Maybe she is my guardian angel after all, he thought.

The sharkess walked back to the ship, with a smile.

~ ~ ~

The chief was a man with a face as grizzled as his voice. His eyes scanned the coastline, hands clenched the railing while the tugboat swayed and broke through the clashing waves.

The chief pushed the call button on his earpiece as they neared the cavern, told her they were in position. A soldier with binoculars hollered out over the deck. O.A. walked out with one hand in her pocket, the other gripped around a rope which was lassoed around their ship. Its bulk scraped across the rocks, then slashed into the churning water.

One of the soldiers, a private freshly ordained into the project, fought to keep his composure. It was like she was pulling a wagon, not a high tech marvel of human engineering. Or at least it had been a day ago, before it was sliced up like a hot knife through butter.

O.A. wadded through the waves like it was a pond and created some of her own. Soon she in range. She handed the rope down to two soldiers who fed it into a specialized steel clamp.

She turned to the chief. “Did command find the one that did this, sir?”

“Negative. They disappeared off the radar before we could track them down. Half the compartments were already flooded in a matter of minutes. I tried but it was no use. I needed to call an evacuation. I could hear my men over the intercom.” The chief’s wrinkled jowls began to quiver.

“I had to get the ones I could save out of there.”

“I understand, sir. I would have done the same thing were I in your shoes. I swear, when we find this monster again, I’ll be sure he doesn’t get away with this.”

“Thank you, O.A. Your conviction soothed this old heart. I know we’re in safe hands.”

One of you is, at least, Osiris mused. Her fingers instinctively pressed tighter around Max.

“In the meantime, we’ll need to ramp up security here. Be on the lookout, O.A. No telling if the monster will attack the mainland.”

“Copy that.”

Osiris saluted as the tugboat roared to life and carried her handiwork away. She watched as it and her human comrades disappeared into the distance, shrouded within a cloud of fog.

~ ~ ~

When she returned to the safety of the rocks, Osiris fished Max out and set him down to the floor. She sat at her desk, face in her hands.

“That monster you were talking about,” Max said, “that was one of those other giants?”

“Yes.” Osiris sighed, her hands clenched, one over the other. “In a perfect world they would be hulking, mindless beasts, but they’re not. They blend in with the rest of us giants.”

The sharkess fell silent while she grit her teeth and blew out her nose. Max thought she would punch something, but instead she slumped, like a grizzled man at the bar after a long day.

“They’re deranged and they’re psychotic. They think they’re on some noble directive to take back the world. They see you humans as bugs. It all just makes me sick to my stomach.”

Max lowered his head. Bugs. That’s what he thought Osiris saw him as, at first. Now the thought “And it’s your job to stop them?” Max asked.

“Yes, every time there’s an attack it’s either me or another from our force that’s sent out.”

“Another? There are more?”

“Yup. Not many, but there are more of us. But we can’t be too reckless, unlike our enemies. Your nation’s army helps us with strategies.” She put on a weak smile because she found something to lighten her mood. “Even help with conjuring up cover stories when someone finds a grove of uprooted trees right next to a mud patch smooshed into huge footprints. It reminds me of a cryptid I’ve heard you humans made up. You call it Bigfoot, right?”

The question seemed ridiculous after everything Max just found out. “Oh yeah, Bigfoot.

That’s the one. Wait, are you saying that he was inspired by one of you guys?”

Osiris peered down and winked. “Can’t rule it out.”

That got a chuckle out of him, and Osiris’ smile beamed brighter.

Max backed up as his own Bigfoot sighting landed next to him, and Osiris stood back up with a stretch. “Aaaaah. Alright, let me show you to the springs.”

~ ~ ~

They walked across the circular room to another, much smaller cave. Osiris crouched to fit her head under the stalactites.

They heard the roar of the waterfall before they saw it. It was twenty meters tall and poured into a theater-sized pool, flowed out through a hidden river in the rocks and out to the ocean. The springs sparkled from light that crept through the ceiling. Max tested the warm water as Osiris put his makeshift towel on the ground.

“Alright, you wash yourself up. Don’t worry about the water, it’s not too deep by the shore, even for you. Just stay away from the waterfall and you should be fine.”

She rested her hand in the pool and slurped a few mouthfuls, then left to give Max some much needed privacy.

Max slid his towel onto the rocks and slowly lowered himself down. There must have been a geyser in the deeper end as it felt like sinking into a hot bath. The water was crystal clear, and he saw his own dirty face staring back while he cupped his hands and drenched his cheeks, his nose, then his hair.

The moment he felt his back hit the smooth stones, he groaned. He became aware of his sore back and aching legs from his tumble as they were smoothened out by the water.

He spent the next few minutes taking in all that he just learned.

It felt like static between his ears that solidified into thoughts. Osiris might have tried to brush it off with conspiracy jargon, but this was something a lot heavier than finding Bigfoot. For all he knew there was a real life kaiju out there in the depths and it made him glad he didn’t swim that often.

But the ocean wasn’t his biggest fear now, but the army. He thought about the chief’s grizzled voice and what Osiris said about not taking the chance he got hurt. He knew that if a secret like this one got out, there would be mass hysteria. The government wasn’t going to let that happen, and he didn’t want to be the one they needed to “silence.”

He trusted Osiris to protect him. She did save him. Not just him, but maybe others too. How many attacks with these “monsters” had she been involved in? He remembered the coarse scars and Osiris’ gentle touch that betrayed her size. It could have been more than she wanted to admit.

Max sank himself down till the water reached his chin. He closed his eyes, swelled up in the warm embrace.

~ ~ ~

Osiris stepped out into the open air again. She untied the anchor on her tail and put it on the beach with a clank and thump. Then she wiped her palms together, dug her claws into the rocks, and began to scale the cliffside.

Eventually her hands dung into dirt and she heaved herself up onto the pasture. The few wild deer that grazed the area scattered as she stood, the bushes and
tall grass like a soft, mushy carpet under her feet.

Nearby was the grove she looked over. She got the idea after she learned about Bonsai trees and how humans found it relaxing to care for them. Of course, a real Bonsai tree would fit on her fingertip, so she had to make do with the ankle-height fruit trees.

She knelt beside the closest one that was briming with tiny sparkling dots. With a finger she shook the branches while apples fell into her awaiting palm. She was a carnivore, but she knew humans were omnivores and some were vegetarians. Better safe than sorry.

A wild deer approached out of the corner of her eye. It tilted its head and craned its neck. Osiris plucked a few apples and dropped them a few meters from the curious animal. The deer sniffed and bit into its afternoon snack. She smiled, then reached over and plucked several oaks like they were twigs.

Suddenly, Osiris’ ear flicked, and she turned around, surprised. Her tail swished into a massive S, and the wind startled the deer. It fled back into the woods.
She swore she heard splashing down below, but when she scanned the area there was nothing but open ocean and the foam of crashing waves. She put her hand against her chest to try and stop her racing heart.

It must have been my imagination, she thought. I’m being paranoid.

Either way, she needed to get back. She tightened her fists full of apples and trees, and slid back down the cliff, out of sight.

~ ~ ~

When Max dried off and walked back, Osiris was sitting crisscrossed in the center of the room, on the stone slab the size of a football field that she used as a bed. She stoked a massive bonfire over which sat her homemade pan. Max caught a whiff of something delectable under the smoke.

“How was the pool?” She asked while she set the pan down to cool.

“Oh man, it was great. Felt like all my stress just washed away.”

“Glad to hear it. Fried fish and apples. Didn’t know if you were a seafood fan.”

“Oh, I definitely am!” Max reached over the edge of the pan and picked up one of the golden brown salmon chunks. He juggled it like a hot potato before it was cool enough for him to take a bite. “My father is big on fishing by the docks. Who knows, maybe he got in the way of your catch one day.”

Osiris playfully scoffed. “Oh please, my competition is with all those deep sea fishing vessels out there stealing all my tuna. Every time I see a school ready for my picking, a big net just scoops it up. You’re all lucky I haven’t lost my temper and gobbled up those ships for such injustice.”

“Totally.”

Max ate his full of apples and fish, slouched and content. He had barely put a dent in it, but Osiris downed the rest in a single gulp. It was her afternoon snack.
She wished she had stockpiled more fish, but she hadn’t expected her daily feeding to be interrupted with a falling human.

The sky peering in through the hole in the ceiling began to turn orange. “Alright. I think it’s time we both rest up. I’ll need to move you by nightfall, so try and get some shut eye.”

Osiris laid down onto her bed. She made herself comfortable – well, as comfortable as she could get on a cold flat rock – and looked down at Max.

“Well?” She laid her hand down parallel with her hip, right beside Max. “Hop up.”

“Wait what?” Her command quickly brushed away his post-meal sleepiness.

“Well? I doubt you’d want to sleep on hard stone. I’m used to it.”

“Well, just a bit surprised.”

“What? You were expecting my boot?” She smirked.

Max simply smiled and climbed onto her awaiting palm, then clambered up onto her stomach. The skin was as warm and soft as her hand, but much firmer. Max could see the faint outline of abs. He curled up on his side.

“Thanks Osiris.”

“Don’t mention it, Max. I promised to keep you safe.” Her thumb laid on Max’s chest again. She felt him hug it.

Both stared up at the darkening sky before they drifted off to get some sleep.
~ ~ ~