All I could see in any direction was a vast cauldron of boiling, churning seas. There was no rhythm or organization, as if the gods were fighting, each one throwing a different set of currents, winds, and wave directions into the pot, each one trying to claim superiority over the others as they toyed with the mortals below. A few waves were splashing over the railing, sending a skim of foamy seawater scuttling across the deck, like dozens of scurrying crabs trying to find purchase before being sucked back over the side into the boiling ocean once more.
I decided I could make a run for it. Just fifty feet on the outside deck, I figured. Once I was through the door to the dining room I could take the inside stairs down a deck to Dr. Carson’s surgery. The whole trip would only take a few minutes. As I stood there, still-larger waves began breaking and some washed up against the door to our cabin. I turned to have one last look at Hari, then stepped outside. I slammed the door behind me and ran.
I gripped the handrail with all my might just as a giant wave hit me with shocking force. Fear numbed my limbs and kept me frozen there for a moment. A series of waves washed over me, threatening to whip my feet out from under me and send me skidding across the deck, but I held on to the railing for dear life, advancing forwards hand over hand.
After what seemed like an age, I finally reached the dining room door, but with the wind billowing against me, I couldn’t open the heavy oak door with my one free hand. Taking a breath, I let go of the handrail completely and pulled with all my might on the door. When a breaker hit with what felt like the strength of the entire ocean, I lost my grip. I screamed for help as I fell through the air and the cold black water.
Trapped in the churning wave I tumbled head over feet and flailed with both arms, trying desperately to find something, anything to stop me from being washed over the side. A sharp, intense pain rippled through my back as I struck something hard. My lungs demanded air as the wave began its retreat over the side of the ship, pulling me with it.
Another huge wave hit. The urgent protest from my lungs became a silent scream. I tried to swim through the swirling water, kicking with my feet in the direction I thought was up. I snagged on something, or at least something powerful had me in a grip, and then I was being dragged. Gasping, I broke through the surface and opened my eyes to the angry face of John Crossman.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? You were to stay in your cabin,” he bellowed at me.
“My sister needs help!”
Between coughing and crying, I said no more. My strength was gone. I could barely stand as he tethered us to the safety line. Then he threw me over his shoulder and, gripping the inside handrail, slowly inched his way along the row of cabins. He opened the door of one and unceremoniously dumped me on the floor of the darkened chamber, all the time cursing my idiocy in one long string of blasphemy.
I cut him off. “My sister has taken an overdose of her medicine. She needs Dr. Carson now.”
He stopped his berating and turned back to the door. “I’ll fetch him. Do not go anywhere.”
Exhausted from my fight with the sea and from the fear of losing Harriet, I remained in a damp heap on the floor, whispering desperate prayers for all of us. The minutes dragged by. Where was John? Had he been lost? Finally, the door creaked open and I jumped to my feet and rushed over to him.
“How is she?”
“Carson’s with her now,” he said, running his hands through his dripping hair. He had a weary look in his eyes. “He’s given her something. She’s awake and breathing normally. He’ll stay with her until it’s safe for you to go back to your cabin.”
“Thank God,” I said, my teeth chattering. “And thank you, John.”
He threw me a fur-lined robe. “Get yourself out of those wet things and wrap up in this.”
He pointed to the adjoining servant’s room, and I retreated there without another word. It felt wonderful to shed my sodden, seaweed-smelling clothes and wrap the plush fur robe around me. My red-chafed skin responded to its warm caress with instant pleasure, and my shivering ceased as warmth found its way to my extremities.
Bracing myself against an extreme roll of the ship, I opened the door to the main room a crack. I peered out and found John wrapped in a blanket sitting on the edge of his bed. He had poured two whiskies. He took a sip of one and held out the other for me. Stepping with some hesitancy from the privacy of the servant’s nook, I moved into the room, accepted the glass of golden liquid, and took a sip. The alcohol sent warmth spreading through my chest, but it didn’t erase the shock I still felt at how close I had come to death. If John hadn’t found me…
“How did you know I was there?”
He shrugged. “I was checking on the animals and heard a scream.”
Neither of us spoke for several minutes until John broke the ice. “All I can say is you’re the strangest-looking mermaid I’ve ever plucked from the sea.”
He pointed to the wall-mounted mirror. I gasped, then began to giggle at the sight. My hair had dried into an odd cone shape, sweeping across my forehead and spiralling up into a knot at the top of my head with a crown of broken coral protruding at the apex. My attempts to fix it only made it worse. The coral crumbled into
