Ed said, “I am liking that man less and less.”
Ted said, “Me, too, sadly. He’s usually so cool.”
“Everyone clear the deck,” Rammus said. The techies started leading the way down, and Rammus started heading for the wheelhouse, but not before kissing Jessie on the forehead. “Thanks for bringing him back, kiddo. We owe you big time.”
Mido said, “How about some private time in the cabins?”
Rammus looked at the two, then smirked. “After a feat like that? Deal. But only today. Ed and Ted can make lunch for us.” He left for the wheelhouse.
Jessie and Mido followed everyone else. Once they reached the hatch, Jessie tugged Mido aside. He pulled up beside her.
“What?”
“Why didn’t you let me hurt him?”
He cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead. “Besides the fact that you obviously would’ve ended up worse off than him?”
“It would’ve been worth it.”
“You have better things to do than listen to the crap he says.” He leaned into her, massaging her hips with his hands.
And that’s when Jessie noticed the hunger in his eyes, and that he was trembling. She finally came down enough from her angry outburst to let the private time request sink in.
“I need you so bad right now,” he whispered in her ear. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you back in one piece.” His hands rubbed up and down her sides.
She grazed her fingers through his hair and admired his lips and the contours of his face. What a wonderful sight after all that craziness. Yes, this sort of thing was way better than dealing with stupid. “Oh, I think I have an idea.” She ground her hips against him, making him inhale deeply. To be honest, she was in dire need of a pleasant distraction. “Let’s go take a shower.”
“I don’t think I can wait.” He kissed her once on the lips, then undid her pants button and zipper and kneeled.
Jessie grabbed the sides of head and forced him to look up. “I was stuck inside the mouth of a sea monster for who knows how long. I think you’ll want to wait.”
Mido filed through his memories, then zipped her back up. “I think you’re right.” He scooped her into his strong arms and carried her to the showers.
I sat in the wheelhouse, piloting my ship. For the life of me I couldn’t seem to find land. I could’ve sworn Brazil had been right there before lockdown, but there was only water surrounding me. I started going in circles, hoping to spot land wherever I’d missed, but the horizon remained flat and featureless. I was lost and I couldn’t find my charts. They weren’t in their drawers or anywhere in the wheelhouse. I stuck the ship in neutral and tried to think of where I’d gone wrong, instead of continuing to waste fuel.
The second I shifted out of gear, the ship began to disintegrate. Flakes of metal broke off like it was one big crumbling iceberg. The ship disintegrated from the outside inwards. I watched helplessly as every last square food of deck broke away and the wheelhouse fell apart last, leaving a pocket of air between me and the ocean. Why wasn’t I falling? The ocean rose up and swallowed me, and my ears filled with the rumble of roiling water.
I opened my eyes yet felt no sting from the salt content. The ocean pulled me deeper and deeper. I didn’t bother flailing. I just let it take me all the way to the bottom, where Newport in all its patched-up glory rose to meet me. I landed on my feet on what I recognized as the small beach south of Castle Hill Cove. Flat terrain splayed out before me, along with overgrown fields, and huge houses in the distance that looked part castle. Those houses were older than me. The ocean turned to air and waves crashed at my feet, soaking my pants and trench coat. The town came into sharp focus, and then I realized I was dreaming.
And I wasn’t alone in this specially-concocted nightmare.
I slowly turned around, reluctant to face my company after all that’d taken place. Amphitrite sat astride one of Poseidon’s kelpies, a white water horse with a golden mane and huge golden hooves. The rolling waves parted to crash around her and the kelpie. It pawed the retreating surf.
“Welcome home, Dyne Lavere,” Amphitrite said in her sensual voice. “You have bent. My punishment I’ve prepared will break you, that I promise.”
“Leave my crew alone! Keep my curse between you and me. You’ve take so many lives already. Please.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I am the sea. I spare and claim lives as I see fit. Never forget your place in my domain for a second. I give up so many creatures so you humans may eat of them. You’ve no place to tell me when to take back. Now,” she said in a calmer voice, gesturing to Newport. I faced it, dread filling my chest with ice. “You try to hide how much you care about your birth home with detachment, but you can’t deceive me. What better way to break you than to raze your last link to the days before your curse?”
I spun to face her again. “You wouldn’t!” Her air of superiority didn’t waver in the least. “How can you even think of doing such a thing? All the people who live here are innocent!”
“I would.”
Sea monsters began marching and slithering out of the surf and heading inland, ignoring me. They kicked up sand, shook off water and eyed the historic town with destruction on their minds. I didn’t recognize a few types of monsters but they had to be from one myth or legend or another. One of the things marching out of the water was… Tethys. He walked right by me, fixing me with a smug grin before continuing inland. I watched helplessly as they tore down the nearest castle-like homes and continued northward, dragging any and all unfortunate locals into the sea, Tethys working right alongside the monsters. My home was farther north, closer to the dock I moored at every visit, yet farther inland.
“Not all monsters are covered in scales. I’ve churned up the bottom of the sea for some of the nastiest. Don’t take too long to get home,” she said in a tone that didn’t care how long I took. “And if you go alone to defend your home, I can assure you a storm will claim your ship and your crew, hurricane season or not. Heed my advice and I just might show a little mercy and spare them.”
The kelpie stomped a hoof and a huge wave rose behind it and Amphitrite. I wanted to run but all I could do was stand there and watch with morbid fascination. The wave crested high overhead as the sunlight shined through it and more monsters kept marching ashore.
“Don’t forget to hurry.”
She and her mount melded with the wave as it crashed and sent me somersaulting backwards, until my back hit something hard and flat. Might’ve been the road. But when I realized I no longer heard water roiling around, I opened my eyes. I could see nothing but black. I felt around and found the edges of a cot. The smell of metal, sea water, and anti-septic fluids filled my nose. So I was awake. I patted down my torso and felt no pain or sutures. I was whole again. The relief was bittersweet. I also had an IV attached to my arm, but the needle was no longer under my skin. I peeled off the tape, then got up and blindly felt my way to one corner of the container, the far one opposite the door. That was where I had plates of food sent up to me. I could smell bread and melted cheese when I got close. I wasn’t hungry but I needed every ounce of strength I could gather, so I sat on the floor and wolfed down cold meat-lover’s pizza and guzzled the electrolyte mixture Mido had left me, then, with a flip of two levers, sent the empty plate down so they’d know I was awake and well enough to eat.
Amphitrite was right about Newport. I’d watched over my home for almost three hundred years, finding solace in the place every time I visited. Even though the locals hated me, Newport would always be home. I didn’t want anything to happen to it. It was the only un-erasable link to my pure human past. Now Amphitrite was threatening to destroy that as well? That was a real low blow.