Page 3 of Lured By the Siren

Merrit snorts, “Ain’t no way I’m goin’ back to that part of the sea, boy. It’s cursed.”

“Name your price, any number.”

The man narrows his eyes, tilting his head slightly before he says, “Ten thousand silver pieces.”

“Done.”

Merrit’s eyes go wide.

“We leave tonight. You’ll get half now and half once we've made it to the destination you last saw the ship. After that, you can choose to leave. We’ll have a small boat just for you to travel back here with your silver.”

“Seas, I should have asked for more,” he laughs heartily, bringing his tankard up for me to cheer with him. I oblige, ale sloshing from both our glasses before Merrit downs the rest of his pint in one big gulp. “Let’s sail, Cap’n.”

The sea has never been my friend. In all the years I have spent sailing with my father as a young boy, learning the ropes of his business beside my brother, I never got used to the rolling waves and unpredictable nature of the ocean. My stomach roils as I empty its contents over the starboard railing, clinging onto the damp wood for dear life.

Why did I want to do this again? Oh yeah, so that I can live a quiet, comfortable, stress-free life.

Merrit laughs heartily, smacking me on the back, “Aye, boy. Sea life ain’t for everyone. I hope we do find Master Dru for yer sake.”

He continues to laugh as he walks away, and I vomit again into the sparkling blue waves below. We have to find Dru. There is no other option for me.

With a sigh, I push away from the ship’s railing and stumble my way to where the Captain of the vessel is up at the helm. Merrit stands next to him, working as the navigator, taking us directly to the spot where he had last seen my brother’s ship.

“How much farther out is it?” I ask. It’s day three at sea, and I’m not sure my stomach can handle much more of this. Not a single thing I’ve eaten during this time has stayed down, and I am starting to see double from the lack of sustenance.

“There!” Merrit calls, pointing over the portside railing to a part of the ocean that is much darker than its surroundings, almost black. “We sailed ‘cross those inky waters, that’s when the storms hit us.”

A shiver travels through my body. This is where Dru’s ship, theGolden Serpent,was lost, and we are about to sail right into it.

“This is as far as I’ll go, boy,” Merrit says, handing me the map and compass he used to navigate. “I hope you make it back.”

A solemness in his eyes causes me to squirm under his stare. He knows this is a suicide mission, and he’s just taking my money and running.Wonderful.

I watch as two crew members begin to lower the small boat I made sure was ready for Merrit, filled with his earnings, down into the calm waters. He turns to me and frowns before climbing down the rope ladder and rowing away, back toward home.

Clearing my throat, I turn to the gray-haired man who is Captain of the ship and say, “Head for those black waters, please, Captain.”

The man raises a busy brow at me, but does as he’s told. He’s being paid handsomely to listen to me after all.

The tension on the deck heightens as we sail closer to the strange waters, but everything stays perfectly calm.

No sign of a storm, no change in the sea’s currents.

Everything is perfectly normal.

I half run, half stumble to the bow of the ship, leaning over the front far enough to look straight down where the sea's darkness meets the cerulean blue.

It's as if the ocean has swallowed all the color. The stark contrast from crystal clear blue to pitch black is startling. It’s like a disease bleeding into its filth into the sea.

Merrit was right. This place is cursed.

I hold my breath as the ship cuts through the water into the black, and chaos erupts.

Lighting strikes behind me, and I spin just in time to see the main mast of the ship splinter before it falls into the sea. The Captain is yelling commands at the helm, turning the wheel in a desperate attempt to escape the storm. Waves crash from all sides, spraying salty water onto my face. I wipe at my spectacles, unable to see clearly, squinting into the stormy haze before the ship. Something is out there, large and imposing in the distance, but I can’t quite make it out.

I lean slightly further over the bow, straining my eyes to see, when a large gust of wind comes from nowhere, and suddenly the peaked waves are coming closer.

With a final shout, I plunge into the inky waters. I flail my arms and feet, anything to try and get above the water's surface, but I don't know how to swim, and even if I did, my body is being pulled down by the forceful current of the sea.

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