Wheeling Gull Isle I've got crabs

crabs -- perhaps the oldest extant order on this planet. all things came from crab, all things descend to crab.

accipitra -- no, ava -- was too young to know of this universal truth. but what she did know was things that scuttled and lurked bore meat on their backs, their legs, their bones -- if they could be caught.

screams outside the den brought her to the den's threshold. she winced as the glittering glare from the sea assaulted her senses, but as her eyes adjusted she watched in transfixed awe as an army of decapods stormed the beach in rank-and-file segments.

chaos broke out among their ranks. ava's eyes fixed upon judah, who now bucked and whirled like a panicked pony as little bodies climbed up his frame.