"Curiosity is a double-edged sword, both beautiful, and deadly. There's no telling which side you'll get."
A night of innocent exploration turns lethal as Sorcha's sister is captured by human sailors. In her search, Sorcha rescues one of the humans...
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Dyvon was merely a memory now, a mere speck on the horizon. Tears streamed down Sorcha's already salty cheeks, joining the rolling sea. It had taken hours for her tail to ultimately give out, until all she could do was stare after the receding form of the ship that abducted her sister. How was she meant to go home without her? She didn't even know where home was anymore. She hadn't paid any mind to where she was headed and none of her surroundings were even remotely familiar. All she'd cared about was getting Dyvon back. The first rays of morning light illuminated the sky, staining the horizon red as blood.
Red skies at night, sailors delight. Red skies in morning, sailors warning.
She remembered Adrian explaining the saying to her and the other merlings when they were young, so they would always be prepared for any flash storms that could sweep them up and carry them away from the pod. A storm was coming.
Sorcha may have found the sight of such a vibrant sky mesmerizing at any other time, but her heart was consumed by her loss and dread of what would happen to Dyvon. She knew what came after such a pretty sunrise. She had to do something, she couldn't just leave without fighting to get her sister back. But she was all alone out here. One little mermaid searching for a sister who may already be dead. If she had any hope of finding Dyvon, she had to stay focused. She needed to follow them, save her sister, and get back to the pod.
A splash sounded from behind her and on instinct, Sorcha sank into the water so that only her eyes pierced the surface. A few yards away, a tiny rowboat labored along through the choppy sea, manned by a single sailor. Sorcha scanned the rest of her surroundings, expecting to find an identical looming ship to the one that abducted Dyvon. No such thing existed. How peculiar it was to see such a small boat so far out from land without an accompanying ship. From what she had been told, the massive ships were built for being out this far, but these were only for shallow waters or emergencies. They were close enough to the mainland that she could make out the trees and rocks, but much too far away for this to be a safe mode of transportation.
