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"Weird," his sister said next to him.

"Interesting," he replied.

Ahead, the tangled mass of spiny seaweed extended as far as they could see. The wavespeeder continued automatically across the undulating surface of the water, and the foul smell grew stronger.

The thick stems and fronds of weed twitched, as if moving by themselves, although Jacen decided it must be caused by swirling currents in the water underneath.

Some of the large eye-flowers rose on their stalks and turned in their direction, as if studying them.

Jacen shivered and glanced at Jaina. "Uh, then again... maybe 'weird' is a better word for it," he agreed.

Lowie looked around, moaning uneasily. Jaina met the Wookiee's gaze and bit her lower lip.

"Yeah, I've got a bad feeling about where this boat is taking us. I don't know if I want to go any deeper into this seaweed desert."

"But we're stuck with the autopilot, aren't we?"

Jacen said. "If you shut it off, how'll we get back?"

The young Wookiee barked an answer at the same time as Jaina replied, "Been keeping an eye on the course. Lowie and I could probably find our way back home. Ought to be pretty easy."

Tenel Ka stood up, scanning the seaweed, as if trying to remember something. "Jaina is right," she said. "We should return now. To remain here would be unwise."

Jaina and Lowie took over the controls, throttling back while they disengaged the autopilot. As they eased the craft around to head back out of the seaweed, the engine sputtered to a stop.

Since he loved to investigate strange plants and animals, Jacen took the opportunity to lean over the side of the speeder again. He reached down to touch the rubbery, interesting-looking seaweed.

Suddenly, every red eye-flower swiveled to stare at him.

"Whoa!" Jacen said. He waved his hand experimentally, and the flowers turned, attracted by the motion.

Intrigued, he reached for the closest blossomand a slick tentacle of seaweed whipped up to wrap around his wrist, capturing him in its barbed embrace.

"Hey!" he shouted. Thorns stung his arm. The seaweed began to pull. "Help!"

He grabbed the railing of the wavespeeder with his free hand to keep from being yanked into the mass of ravenous seaweed. The tentacles thrashed wildly now... hungrily. Other fronds reached up to slap the side of the boat, twining themselves about the rail.

Lowbacca leaped from the nearby pilot station and grabbed his friend's legs just as the tentacle, redoubling its efforts, gave a sharp jerk and pulled Jacen over the railing. He dangled over the water, struggling to free his arm from the seaweed.

Tenel Ka suddenly appeared beside them. Wrapping her legs around the deck rail, one of her throwing knives gripped tightly in her hand, she bent to slash at the tentacle that grasped Jacen's arm. The seaweed cut free with a snap, and in the recoil Lowbacca managed to yank Jacen back onto the deck.

"Blaster bolts!" Jacen cried, wiping blood from the oozing wounds on his hand. "That was close."

But it was just the beginning. With dread, he looked at the water all around them. The seaweed rolled angrily in every direction, as far as the eye could see. Large fronds thrashed into the air, grab LIGHTSABERS

^ bing the deck rails, as if intending to heave the wavespeeder down. The monster had tasted Jacen's blood, and now it had decided that Jedi Knights were exactly what it wanted for lunch.

Another writhing tentacle rose above the boat's side, searching for a target t ' o skewer with its thorns.

Tenel Ka leaped in front of the deadly frond, wielding her throwing dagger. She stabbed into the thick stem of seaweed, and a syrupy green ooze gushed out.

The seaweed recoiled, then lashed back, slapping Tenel Ka across the side of the head. A trickle of blood traced a scarlet line down her cheek. Rather than cry out in pain, Tenel Ka chose to respond with her knife, slashing through the coiled weed-and another fat tentacle thumped to the deck.

Jacen shook his injured arm to restore the feeling then grasped