by S. M. Welles
Okay, must stop thinking about Tethys’s boat. It’s not helping.
She heard a man say something, and then another spoke. She ignored them both. Suddenly, the smell of coffee and nutmeg filled her nose. She breathed in the lovely scent. A man’s voice spoke again. She wasn’t sure what he was saying but his tone was soothing and unthreatening. And the coffee smelled wonderful.
“Jessie, come back to us.”
“You’re okay, Jessie. Just keep breathing.”
She blinked and the world around her came back into focus. Her tin of coffee was right under her nose. She relaxed her death grip and took the cup with shaking hands. Right from Mido’s hand. Her fingers brushed his.
“There you go, Jessie,” he said, beaming.
“Why’d you hold my coffee right under my nose?”
“I told him to,” Cancer said. “It was the only thing I could think of to snap you out of it. A positive smell linked to a positive experience. I’m not much of a psychologist but I do know our sense of smell is our strongest link to memories.”
“So give her a positive smell to interrupt a bad memory?” Mido ventured.
“That was the idea. And it seems to have worked. Her pupils aren’t dilated anymore.”
“Is it safe to feed her?”
“Certainly.”
“I’m not hungry anymore.” She set her coffee on the table, but held onto it for comfort.
Mido put his fists on his hips, showcasing how big his arms were. “Are we going to have this discussion again?”
Jessie hunched her shoulders. “No.”
“Good.” He went to the griddle, then returned with a plate of Canadian bacon and golden brown toast.
The food looked and smelled great, but she felt as interested in eating it as much as she wanted to eat her plate. However, yesterday had already proved Mido wasn’t going to let her walk away unfed. She snatched a piece of toast and bit off a corner. Like everything else he’d fed her so far, this simple piece of toast tasted great. She took a bigger bite.
“And your reward for listening to me,” Mido said softly. He ran a gentle hand through her hair, petting her like a loved sibling, then backed up.
Once again, his touch got a smile out of her and helped her feel calmer. “You really are magic.”
“And you’re a beauty who’s a pleasure to serve,” he said with a bow.
“Does this mean I get breakfast in bed?” she teased.
“Once we get to shore, sure!” He returned to his pile of vegetables.
Jessie couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. If it was a joke, it was no big deal. She hadn’t been serious herself. But now that he’d said that, it sounded really nice. “Sounds great. I’m holding you to it.” She popped a smile, then went back to her breakfast. The knife slipped out of Mido’s hand as he looked at her like he was the one trying to figure out if she was serious or not. He chased his knife to the floor, then rinsed it off under the faucet and went back to work. Jessie wasn’t sure herself. At least she had a week to figure it out.
Sam chuckled.
“What?”
Sam glanced at Mido’s back and grinned broadly. “Nothing.”
She let it drop and finished her breakfast in silence. By the time her food was gone, along with the rest of her magic coffee, she chanced a question she’d been wanting to ask since yesterday. “Where’s Dyne resting? I tried looking for him before I came here, to see if he was feeling any better, but he wasn’t in any of the cabins.” Yes, it was a lie, but at least it was a lie for a lie, and she already knew where he was hiding.
Mido stopped chopping and the three men looked at each other. Cancer lowered his gaze to his ledger. “He’s in quarantine until he gets better. Just leave the poor man in peace.”
She decided against pressing for more answers for the moment. She knew Dyne would explain things sooner or later, but so many strange things were going on that she craved answers sooner. She was a part of this strangeness somehow.
She set her dishes in the sink, thanked Mido for the food and coffee lesson while watching his arm muscles flex with his chopping.
“Where you off to?” He asked innocently enough, but she could see it in his face that he didn’t want her to leave.
“Just explore. Maybe try to get to know more of your crew, or just beat up the punching bag a little more.” She waved and headed for the hallway. Cancer’s eyes followed her, unhappiness all over his face. She stopped. “What?”
“Don’t go looking for Dyne.”
Jessie held up her hands. “If you’ve got him in quarantine, I don’t want whatever he has.” She walked off.
In truth, she had no intention of bothering him in his container. Sure, she was curious. What was it about his curse that required locking him up for five days a month?
Maybe she should sneak in and find out…
The idea gave her the same thrill as breaking a rule when no one was looking. Except this bit of rule breaking seemed a bit too dangerous. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what was in there.
What was she thinking? Sneaking into a double-padlocked iron container? It was stupid.
She shook her head at herself as she climbed a set of stairs that led to the main deck. Maybe this was what it was like to be called by a mythical Siren, being lured to danger, knowing it was dangerous, yet feeling powerless to resist the call. Ever since she’d asked the question pertaining to Dyne’s whereabouts, she kept picturing herself sneaking inside.
There was heavy fog blanketing the ocean. It was too early in the day for sun. Jessie meandered along the deck and took the long way to the wheelhouse so she could walk past Dyne’s container. She needed to see Rammus, ask him a few questions and see if he always carried the key to the padlocks at all times.
It was already muggy out, low wind and calm seas. Jessie came upon Dyne’s container and stopped at the door leading in. Two rotate-able bars were locked in place. She lifted a padlock. The keyhole was just a normal lock. Nothing fancy. Still, she knew nothing about lock picking. She released the lock, letting it thunk against the door, the sound making her flinch. It wasn’t a loud thunk, but would Dyne come to the door, expecting to be let out? Had it sounded louder on the inside?
She walked the length of of the container, passing a knuckle along the vertical ridges, making a soft ping on each one. The more she stayed near the container, the more she wanted to know what was on the inside.
Something banged against the container from the inside. Jessie jumped back and almost screamed. The blank side of the container stared back at her and she heard no further sound. She tentatively held up a hand, paused, then gently rapped against the container. Seconds later, she felt someone splash a cup of water on her back. She sucked in a deep breath and cringed, then turned around to snap at her splasher, only to find that there was nothing but open deck and ocean surrounding her. She bounced her gaze between the container and calm ocean. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out who or what just splashed her. She had a sneaking suspicious it might’ve been Dyne, but that was ridiculous. There was no hole in the container.
Keeping an eye on the ocean, Jessie took one tentative step, then another. No water magically rose up to splash her. A few more steps and she cleared the container. She relaxed her arms and headed for the wheelhouse in earnest.
Chapter 12
The Demon in the Darkness
Rammus was bent over some maps when Jessie knocked on wheelhouse door. He did a double-take, then waved for her to enter. Thank goodness whatever had splashed her had gotten only her back. The water was soaking into her pants, but that was no big deal. So long as she kept her back to everyone until she dried, no one would ever know about her supernatural experience.
“You wouldn’t happen to have any thoughts of taking this boat elsewhere now would you, miss Jessie?” he asked with a smile.
She shook her head and stood just inside the door.
“Then to what do I owe the pleasure of yo
ur company? And by the way, it’s good to see you awake again.”
“Thank you. I just have some questions. I was hoping you were the person to ask since I can’t seem to find Dyne anywhere.”
“He’s sick. Just leave him be,” he said a little too quickly.
“I know. Cancer told me.”
“Okay, good. What’s on your mind?”
“The funeral,” she said, testing the waters. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Rammus sat up. “Oh, yeah. We never did take the time to give the three of you a heads up. Don’t let the water show spook you. But anyway, you’ll find that every boat has its own way to say farewell to lost crew mates. Back in the day, whole fleets knew each other. Nowadays we just know who our enemies are depending on the location. Too few good guys roaming the sea now. But anyway, I’m digressing.’”
Jessie forced herself to stay quiet until Rammus gave her a chance to speak. Maybe the more polite she was, the more she could weasel out of him. He did have a circle of keys tied to his belt.
She shook her head. Why was she still thinking of sneaking in there? It was clearly dangerous, not to mention stupid. If it wasn’t serious, he wouldn’t be in a sixty-foot iron container. She just needed to forget about it.
“I imagine you’re wondering about that water stuff. Dyne’s the one who can explain it best but, seeing how he’s down for a bit, I’ll explain what I know as best I can.” He took a bit of driftwood from his jacket and began whittling at it with a small knife. “Captain don’t like me doin’ this in here, but oh well.” He grinned slyly. “I’ll clean up later. Anyway. As you know, sailors are a good bit superstitious. A lot of it’s a buncha nonsense, but there’s truth in every tall tale. Sometimes it gets hard to see the truth in it all, so we do and don’t do certain things just to be safe. We do our drumming to make sure the sea comes to take the souls it’s snared in life. You follow me so far?”
“Yeah. So what’s with the fish that ate my sneakers?”
“That was a koi fish. Good luck for you. Symbol of strength and courage to overcome obstacles. Means the sea’s supporting you through this tough time in your life. Wants you to let go of your fears, so it sent you a symbol of strength. Kois are freshwater fish but I guess that doesn’t matter to the souls that live beneath the surface.”
“How much of all that mythical stuff is real?”
Rammus shrugged and made a face. “Beats me. I wish I knew. All I can tell you is that the ocean’s full of surprises. Always respect it and always err on the side of caution.”
“Is that why my given name’s forbidden?”
“That’s a question to ask Captain.” He spoke carefully, like he was trying to hide something.
“Can you tell me what you know?”
Rammus gave her a studious frown. “Save those questions for him. It’s not my place to say anything, okay?”
“May I ask why?”
“You may, but I won’t answer. Just be patient and wait for him to get better.”
This visit wasn’t yielding many answers. As much as she wanted to nose around for more information, it looked like she was going to have to suffer through waiting. Her mind wandered back to the container.
“Did you have any other questions?”
She thought a moment. “Yes, but it looks like I’m just going to have to wait.”
“Alright. Away with you, then. Stay out of trouble.”
“I’ll try.”
Rammus grunted, then set his driftwood aside and bent over the charts.
Frustrated, Jessie decided to head back to the punching back to vent.
* * *
The next few days were agonizingly devoid of answers. On top of that, the nightmares returned. Sometimes she’d wake up covered in sweat and start crying. She was reliving her nightmare on Tethys’s ship. Ed and Ted would soothe her back to sleep, only to be woken up by another nightmare. After the third nightmare, Mido came in and gave her a kiss on top of her head. The other men teased him for trying such a thing, but for some reason it worked. On the fourth night of Dyne’s lockdown, he gave her a good night kiss and she slept wonderfully. She didn’t question how or why it worked. She didn’t care. The nightmares were making it hard to progress during waking hours.
On the fifth and final night of lockdown, Mido gave her another goodnight kiss on top of her head, and Ed and Ted announced they were gonna start calling him “Lover Boy” from now on. Cancer manned the wheel and the rest of the crew turned in for the night. Once again, Jessie was spared of a single nightmare, but not a strange, vivid dream that caused her to wake up sweating while everyone else was still sound asleep.
She sat up in her bunk for a minute to bring her brain fully into the waking world. The dream had been so real. When she woke up in her own bunk, instead of in Dyne’s container, she’d been terribly confused. She’d dreamed of a beautiful lady standing on water, with fish circling below her bare feet. The lady had called Jessie “Amphitrite” and had told where to find the keys to her answers.
Jessie took a deep breath and slipped out of her bunk and into her boots. She always slept fully clothed for her own sanity.
She snuck into Rammus’s cabin, which he shared with Cancer and Scully. Her heart was pounding—not so much out of fear, but more from an adrenaline rush. Cancer was still in the wheelhouse, so the little room wasn’t as scary for the moment. She kneeled on the floor and reached inside the leftmost-placed boot of six. The keys were in there just like in the dream. She almost gasped when her fingertips brushed them. This was too unreal.
With aid of the noise machine giving her auditory cover, she reached in with both hands and lifted out the keys without making a sound, just as instructed in the dream. She wrapped them in a fist, then headed down the hall and grabbed a lantern by a flight of stairs leading to the main deck. The lantern had been in the dream too, and the lady had expressed particular importance to take it. She didn’t question it; she just took it and snuck out onto the deck.
The wind and waves were moderate, only strong enough to make someone without their sea legs sick. Jessie worked with the swells to reach the container door. She picked the small key the dream had pointed out to her, undid both padlocks, and slipped inside. She closed the door behind her with little noise, another detail the lady had stressed, and turned on the battery-powered lantern. Its light temporarily blinded her, then she lifted it above her head and looked around the container. It was mostly empty, except for something lying on the far end. Now all she had to do was wake the sleeper and she would get her answers.
A tiny voice in her head warned her that this was a very bad idea. However, that rational voice was drowned out by the lady’s eager instruction. She also insisted the answers were worth the danger. Jessie crossed to the far end. The container was definitely empty, except for her and a sleeping Dyne, who lay on a cot in a t-shirt and shorts. He lay with his back to her. His trench coat, boots, and whatnot were set by the foot of the cot. Everything looked perfectly ordinary, so why—?
Jessie squinted and brought the lantern closer to Dyne’s arm. Were here eyes playing tricks or was his skin turning a greyish blue? It had to be. Either that or the lighting was messing with his skin tone. She looked at her own arms to double check. She looked quite normal. She brought the lantern near his feet, which were the same greyish blue, and they were inching off the cot.
She took a step back, fearing she’d woken him with the light. Thankfully he slept on. Apparently he was just moving in his sleep a little, even though it didn’t look like he’d straightened his knees at all. But his feet were most certainly sliding off the bed. She went back to his torso and his shoulder looked higher off the cot than before, yet his other shoulder was still on it, and she could’ve sworn his t-shirt fit loosely. Now it looked uncomfortably tight around his arm… which was supposed to be smaller than Mido’s
Jessie looked back at his feet, which had both slid off the bed while his legs were still bent. They l
ooked bigger, too. She took another step back. This was really strange.
A dorsal sail burst through Dyne’s shirt, almost hitting her in the face. A matching fin sprouted from the back of his forearm, which she swore was bigger as well. Was she still dreaming? Dyne’s shirt ripped in several places and fell in shreds on the cot, which was bowing under his increasing size. Jessie took another step back, not quite believing what she was seeing. She knew she should get out, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the transformation.
Dyne groaned and rubbed his eyes. “Time’s up already? Ugh, I ache all over this time.” He rolled onto his back and onto his dorsal sail. He stopped moving but continued growing. “What the hell?” His torso was now as long as the cot. He set his feet on the floor, then sat up and looked at Jessie.
Her eyes were level with his sternum. She backed up even more.
“Jessie! What are—put the light out!”
A scream got stuck in her throat. She gaped at the monster glaring at her.
Dyne doubled over and his shorts ripped at the seams. He rolled to his hands and knees and reached for her. “Put that thing out!”
The last thing she saw was a webbed hand big enough to crush her head before it swiped the lantern out of her hand. It crashed against the wall and fell to pieces in the sudden darkness. She groped behind her and backed all the way to the other end.
“Don’t you dare open the door. You’re—” he groaned, then spoke in a strained voice. “—stuck with me until dawn. Now don’t move until I say you can.” He sucked in a breath and held it. There was a moment of silence, followed by two huge bangs against the container, the first against the ceiling, and the second against the sides. The metal shook and vibrated. “Ow.”
Dyne’s voice sounded a little deeper and much more resonant, and from somewhere higher than her head. Jessie sank to the floor and hugged her knees.
“Great. Now it feels like I’m back in my own bunk, but without any blankets or mattress.” Something meaty thumped in front of where the door should be. “What the hell went through your mind to come sneaking in here? Wait. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know the extent of your stupidity. I’m so beyond pissed that I can barely speak right now.”