were distances of forty miles or more, but she could cover them in a night of swimming, especially if she took advantage of the tides and the normal currents.
On the fifth night after she had crossed over she became aware of a slightly altered quality in the water on either side of her. It was as if there were pockets of air, voids in the water. At first she thought they were large bubbles of some sort, but they had no contours. She was most acutely aware of these spaces that flanked her body when she swam, but she had begun to sense them on land as well. She longed for these voids to be filled, to reveal themselves.
If she understood the tracks of the sea, she might be able to determine where the
Resolute’s
wreckage could be found, even fifteen years after it went down. Had there been another sea chest? Three mermaids were carved on the one that Gar had pulled from the sea. Could that mean that there were two others beside herself? That she had sisters?
There was one place her swimming had not yet taken her: The Bones, where the schooner had wrecked. She was afraid to go there, afraid of what she might see—dead men, their unseeing eyes staring dumbly into a watery eternity, their bones. Perhaps fish had scavenged their flesh. The idea was unnerving. And yet she knew that she must dive this wreck. She needed to understand how the currents might have disturbed it; how the fractured timbers from the ship could have been swirled away.
One evening, a week after her transformation, May determined she would go. As she was approaching The Bones, she could see that rigging lines were still tangled around some of the rocks. She gasped when she saw a baby seal thrashing about in an eddy. He had been snagged by rigging and was now crying, his mother barking desperately.
She swam close to the seal pup. His eyes were rolled back in his head. He was so exhausted when she approached that he didn’t even put up a fight when she tried to lift his snagged flipper. She treaded water with her tail, and sang a water songthat seemed to come to her while stroking the pup’s head:
“Hssshong goorahn lathem
Prishamg lohrrinn nasquit
Amara Blarring Blarrin”
It was the watery language that she seemed to know without even realizing that she knew it. The words seemed to hearken to an old memory from the very beginning of her life, and she felt those spaces on either side of her begin to tremble. The seal pup grew calm, and May was able to free his flipper so he could swim back to his mother, who greeted him with yips and whimpers of relief. The mother seal tossed May a fish, but May was not hungry. Still she felt it wouldn’t be right to refuse it. She took a bite and giggled when she realized she was actually eating raw fish. It didn’t taste bad at all. Very fresh, but not bloody like rare meat.
On her first dive down to the wreck she spotted the rudder stuck firmly into the sea bottom. But shestill couldn’t see the hull, and the churning water kicked up screens of sand and mud. The currents were confused here, and there were more eddies than May could count. But she was patient. She anchored herself beside the rudder and decided to wait and watch. She had found that she could stay underwater for great lengths of time and only needed to surface for a few quick gulps of air. May knew that if she waited long enough, she would find a pattern to the seemingly confused currents.
A large school of smelt arrived on the back eddy of one current she had been watching. Almost immediately she noticed them caught by another, stronger current that sucked them straight out from The Bones. She swam in that direction.
It wasn’t long before she saw the hull of the ship rearing from the seafloor. It was half the hull, for as she recalled it had split in two just before it was raked off The Bones. The currents swirled in a counterclockwise direction, so the rest of the ship and its debris might have been carried south and west from this point.
On the fifth night after she had crossed over she became aware of a slightly altered quality in the water on either side of her. It was as if there were pockets of air, voids in the water. At first she thought they were large bubbles of some sort, but they had no contours. She was most acutely aware of these spaces that flanked her body when she swam, but she had begun to sense them on land as well. She longed for these voids to be filled, to reveal themselves.
If she understood the tracks of the sea, she might be able to determine where the
Resolute’s
wreckage could be found, even fifteen years after it went down. Had there been another sea chest? Three mermaids were carved on the one that Gar had pulled from the sea. Could that mean that there were two others beside herself? That she had sisters?
There was one place her swimming had not yet taken her: The Bones, where the schooner had wrecked. She was afraid to go there, afraid of what she might see—dead men, their unseeing eyes staring dumbly into a watery eternity, their bones. Perhaps fish had scavenged their flesh. The idea was unnerving. And yet she knew that she must dive this wreck. She needed to understand how the currents might have disturbed it; how the fractured timbers from the ship could have been swirled away.
One evening, a week after her transformation, May determined she would go. As she was approaching The Bones, she could see that rigging lines were still tangled around some of the rocks. She gasped when she saw a baby seal thrashing about in an eddy. He had been snagged by rigging and was now crying, his mother barking desperately.
She swam close to the seal pup. His eyes were rolled back in his head. He was so exhausted when she approached that he didn’t even put up a fight when she tried to lift his snagged flipper. She treaded water with her tail, and sang a water songthat seemed to come to her while stroking the pup’s head:
“Hssshong goorahn lathem
Prishamg lohrrinn nasquit
Amara Blarring Blarrin”
It was the watery language that she seemed to know without even realizing that she knew it. The words seemed to hearken to an old memory from the very beginning of her life, and she felt those spaces on either side of her begin to tremble. The seal pup grew calm, and May was able to free his flipper so he could swim back to his mother, who greeted him with yips and whimpers of relief. The mother seal tossed May a fish, but May was not hungry. Still she felt it wouldn’t be right to refuse it. She took a bite and giggled when she realized she was actually eating raw fish. It didn’t taste bad at all. Very fresh, but not bloody like rare meat.
On her first dive down to the wreck she spotted the rudder stuck firmly into the sea bottom. But shestill couldn’t see the hull, and the churning water kicked up screens of sand and mud. The currents were confused here, and there were more eddies than May could count. But she was patient. She anchored herself beside the rudder and decided to wait and watch. She had found that she could stay underwater for great lengths of time and only needed to surface for a few quick gulps of air. May knew that if she waited long enough, she would find a pattern to the seemingly confused currents.
A large school of smelt arrived on the back eddy of one current she had been watching. Almost immediately she noticed them caught by another, stronger current that sucked them straight out from The Bones. She swam in that direction.
It wasn’t long before she saw the hull of the ship rearing from the seafloor. It was half the hull, for as she recalled it had split in two just before it was raked off The Bones. The currents swirled in a counterclockwise direction, so the rest of the ship and its debris might have been carried south and west from this point.
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