The Heart of the Sea

Five

The sun had just barely broken over the horizon when a mermaid was pulled from the water. The first light of dawn bled across the sky, casting a golden sheen over the waves, and the ship's deck gleamed beneath it as if kissed by the gods. Where sea met wood, the scales of the captured creature shimmered like polished gemstones, a cascade of droplets falling from her form, catching the sunlight in shades of molten amber.

"Captain!" A shout sliced through the stillness of morning as someone--Reed--wrestled with the thrashing creature once she hit the deck. His hands, calloused and blistered, strained against the power of the mermaid's tail, her scaled limb crashing down with the force of a storm-driven wave.

Sweat gleamed on his sunburnt face as his grip tightened, veins bulging along his forearms as he fought to keep her pinned. The air around him crackled with tension, tired deckhands crowding in to witness the scene, their whispers filled with awe and trepidation.

Her tail lashed out wildly, and the few sailors who dared approach were swiftly sent retreating with bruised shins and rattled bones. Every smack of her tail against the wooden deck resounded like the thunder of last night's storm, and the crew, once curious, began backing away with murmurs of fear. But I, drawn by the commotion and a strange tug in my chest, leapt down from my usual perch atop the railing just as the heavy doors to Captain Blackhart's quarters creaked open.

"There better be a damn good reason to wake me at—" The Captain's growl of irritation died in his throat, his words hanging in the air like an unfinished spell as his dark eyes landed on the writhing figure. His expression changed instantly. A cruel smile spread across his weather-beaten face, his teeth glinting yellow in the morning light. The sight of her—this impossible, myth-made-real—lit something predatory in him, something dangerous. He stroked his greying beard with deliberate slowness, his eyes narrowing as he observed the creature struggling beneath Reed's hold.

The rest of the crew edged closer again, forming a circle around the mermaid as though their presence alone could snuff out whatever magic clung to her. Their eyes gleamed with something between greed and reverence, muttering to one another in voices filled with superstition.

Impossible. She was real. Baxian would never believe it...if he ever woke up. He rested in Blackhart's cabin, wrapped in dry, thread-bare blankets in hopes to draw the cold out of his bones. I hadn't slept since being brought back onboard, staring down the length of that rope into the sea until the first orange rays of sun kissed the surface. I had only made my way to the bow in hopes to dry beneath the rising sun.

I shook away my thoughts and pushed forward, elbowing my way through the throng of onlookers, ignoring the curses and sharp glares. My heart hammered in my chest, a sense of disbelief thick in my throat. A creature of legend, of whispered songs and sailors' drunken tales, lay before us, flesh and scales a stark contrast to the drenched wood beneath her. And I had been to one to capture her.

Captain Blackhart stepped closer, the sound of his heavy boots on the sodden deck punctuating the silence, his voice booming as he turned to face his crew. "Sailors!" He stretched out his arms wide, as though embracing the very sky above. "We have been blessed by the gods this morning!" His voice echoed against the creaking masts, stirring the hearts of the men around him. "Not only have we survived a great storm," his grey eyes locked onto the mermaid, "but the sea has given us one of its daughters!" He threw back his head, his eyes wild with triumph as a few sailors let out whoops and cheers.

I barely registered their celebration. I couldn't look away from her. Her eyes found mine, piercing through the noise and chaos. They were a striking shade of jade, deep and clear, like the gemstone set in the ring I wore. Familiar, yet so foreign. Her gaze was wide, filled with terror, her chest rising and falling as she struggled for breath. Her skin, pale and speckled with delicate freckles across her nose and cheeks, was like moonlight on the surface of the sea, as though she had never known sunlight except in fleeting glimpses. A cascade of golden hair clung to her shoulders, glistening wetly like spun gold as droplets dripped down, tracing her form