Chapter 86: Loner Beast (2)
Yoa crouched low behind a driftwood log, eyes narrowed with determination. Beside him, Atia bounced with barely-contained energy, his fingers twitching in anticipation. Aiyana stood with her hands on her hips, already regretting the decision to let the boys talk her into this.
"It’s called tactical herding," Atia whispered.
Yoa nodded solemnly, as if crab herding were a sacred duty. Dozens of palm-sized crustaceans clicked and scuttled along the beach, zig-zagging unpredictably.
"Why do they need herding?" Aiyana yelped, lifting her foot up, and watched the crabs many legs with a look of disgust.
"Because they’re taking up too much space on this beach," Yoa narrowed his eyes on them like they were a problem.
Aiyana hopped over a few others until she stood on a stone the crabs weaved around.
"Wait... Are you scared of one of these little shellfish?" Atia snickered as he held one of the crabs up by his claw. "Ah!" It pinched his hand, and he accidentally flicked it back into the sea.
"I’m not scared!" Aiyana snapped, and to prove she wasn’t making disgusted faces at the little critters, she initiated the start of this herding game.
With a sharp whistle, Aiyana waved her arms wide as she tried to guide the swarm toward the designated coral pen Atia and Yoa had already laid out in the sand. However, the crabs didn’t agree with where Aiyana was trying to lead them. With a unified jolt, the horde veered hard left—right into the jungle path that curved directly to the caves.
"Why are they going that way?" Aiyana yelled, sprinting after them.
"Maybe we should have left them to it?" Atia suggested unhelpfully, paling as he watched Aiyana trying to herd them back but they just clicked past her, and gave warning jabs of their claws. She yelped and tried to get ahead again.