Back on the surface, the four tentacles plummeted into the water and disappeared from view. The fifth, meanwhile, was still straining to crush the Night Garden in its terrible embrace.
The living ship refused to shatter, though.
Instead, at the points where the colossal tentacle was wrapped around its hull, Old Tom's flesh seemed to boil, and torrents of oily blood flowed down the surface of the weathered wood, painting it black.
But soon enough, the coating of black blood was absorbed into the Night Garden, as well, and it regained its original color.
The titanic struggle continued for some time, and then, the dark tentacle shuddered. It tried to extricate itself from the living ship, but the hull of the Night Garden would not let it go.
In an eerie change of pace, the previous situation seemed to have been reversed — instead of trying to crush the ancient vessel, the gargantuan tentacle was now straining in an attempt to escape.
