Silver Waves

Seven

Nami sank fast. The cannonball tied to the rope around her feet dragged her down, and, very quickly, the lighter, wave-tossed waters of the surface shifted into an inky blue, and then a deep black stillness. The pressure of the deepening water squeezed her chest, and her lungs began to burn.

Finally, Nami stopped sinking and felt the sea floor beneath her toes. The weight of the bindings and the ball around her ankles tugged her to her knees, and the soft, pillowy sand cradled her body as she collapsed to the ocean floor. The black water impeded her vision, so she couldn't see her friends, but she felt the barely-there vibrations across the sand when they stopped sinking, and counted the landings.

Eight... nine... ten... She wondered, momentarily, where the eleventh girl was, and a short burst of hope fluttered in her chest that one of her friends had escaped, before she remembered Fae's blank blue eyes, staring emptily from the deck.

She could barely string a thought together; the intense pressure of the water was crushing, and she could feel the blood pounding in her head. Her lungs ached for a breath of air. Nami turned her head with great difficulty, and stared up, thinking that maybe, maybe, she could just see a glimmer of light from the surface. Her head began to swim, and, unable to hold her breath any longer, she opened her mouth, and sucked in a lungful of dark, salty water. The harshness of it scraped her throat, and she choked, trying unsuccessfully to cough up the intrusive liquid.

Her coughing fit demanded another breath, regardless of the lack of oxygen. Nami inhaled the ocean again, and strangled once more as she fought to clear her lungs. Her efforts were futile; all was water, and there was no air to be had. Slowly, her mind went blank, and she ceased her struggling, lying limply in the fathomless black.

-

Nami opened her eyes again, her mind no longer foggy.

Her vision was tinted green, as though she was looking through viridescent sea glass. It wasn't clear by any means, but she could make out the most basic shapes of the seafloor around her. She turned her head slowly, aware of the weight of the water she sat under, but not oppressed by it.

She watched a strange, ghostly white crab scuttle over the sand beside her still-bound hands. She felt the urge to breathe, but not nearly so acutely as she had. Somehow, she knew instinctively that she could stay down in the depths for a while longer. The pressure of the water was no longer so crushing. She sat up, confused, in the greenish darkness, and brought her hands close to her face, testing her vision.

Her slim, tanned fingers were connected with fragile, translucent sections of flesh. Nami thought she must be hallucinating, conjuring impossible images with her dying brain. The rope around her wrists swayed slowly as she moved, the ends drifting languidly in the dark water. It had constricted in the cold water, tightening uncomfortably.

She lowered her head to her hands and attempted to use her teeth to loosen the knots of the rope. She caught the rough material in her jaws and tugged, and, much more easily than she had expected, the bindings tumbled from her wrists, shredded at the ends. She picked it up and studied the frayed edges, and, hesitantly, warily, ran her tongue over her teeth.

She nearly gasped, and brought her fingers to her lips. She carefully prodded her mouth with her index finger.

Her teeth were pointed.

They sat in her mouth as they always had, with no difference to their placement or shape, other than their new sharpness. Gods, what has happened to me?

Nami looked upward, searching the inky water overhead for an answer. None came.

Wait until Kaia sees- Nami's thought cut off as a jolt of panic tore through her body. She remembered all at once being thrown overboard, weights attached to her ankles, the forms of her friends sinking beneath the waves, the cold sea closing over her own head.