Page 16 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster

---

Orb…

Sun.

When thesunrises. And when it sets.

This image, which I can see, but can’t find the word for, has color. Lots of color.

The colors come from…

The ground?

A feeling scratches my insides.

Restlessness?

Is that the feeling?

Or is that what the feeling causes?

It’s deeper, though, this feeling. It grips me.Burnsme. Makes me billow and snort, in ways that scare the remaining water creatures. Theyhidewhen they hear me approaching.

And that hurts me.

I hate that I’m losing my words.

Hate that I’m so…restlessat losing my words.

The waters around me stir, as though also restless with this unnamed emotion.

And the…

Dark thing…

Shadow.

The shadow floats overhead, stealing the sun.

It carries sound with it—human sounds.

Speaking.

They’ve passed over me before. The shadow and the speaking. Normally, I don’t notice them unless I am called to visit the humans. Then I have no choice but to leave the depths of my water and surface to…

Amuse?

I surface toamusethe humans.

But no such call tugs at me today. The rune above my eye, which burns and pulls when I must amuse the humans, is cool and still.

But my restlessness drives me to follow the shadow. The speaking.

Perhaps, as humans speak their words, I will find the one I am aching for.

The colorful thing. A soft, soft, colorful thing.

It grows from the ground. On the warm days. After the ice leaves.

It is plucked from that ground. So it can be shared.

---