tail beating against the sea.
Teal didn’t notice the differences in outline between the mysterious figure and her missing friend—or if she did, in that moment, she didn’t care. She dove after the other woman, swimming as hard as she had ever swum in her life. She cut through the water with a speed and grace that would have made her a legend in the world of professional mermaids if she’d been doing it on camera, in some well-lit aquarium a hundred miles from the coast. But she did it alone, in dark water, and there was no one to see her.
When the hand reached up from below to hook her arm and pull her under, there was no one there to see that, either.
Several minutes passed before any of the other mermaids noticed she was gone. “Teal?” said Kim, turning around in the water. “Has anyone seen Teal? This isn’t a good time for hide-and-seek, Teal! Come out now, okay? Come out n—” She was cut off mid-word as something jerked her under the waves. Faced with the proof that something was in the water with them, that the disappearances hadn’t been natural, the mermaids did the natural thing.
They panicked.
The screaming from the water attracted the attention of the crewmen on the decks above. Heads appeared above the rail, their eyes going wide with shock and dismay as they stared down at the roiling carnage in the water. Shrieking mermaids were disappearing into the waves, only to pop back up again bleeding from wounds that had mysteriously opened on their chests or bodies. The crewmen shoved themselves away from the rail, running for the stairs that would take them close enough to be of aid.
Sunnie felt hands grab her waist and pull her under. She responded with a mighty kick of her neoprene tail, knocking her assailant away. She resurfaced, and found herself face to face with Kim, who was no longer screaming, because she no longer had a face to scream with. Sunnie did the screaming for her, and when the hands from below grabbed her again, her shock was too profound to let her fight.
Kevin came pelting down the deck, drawn by the sound of screams. He arrived a few seconds before the descending crewmen, and had time to capture footage of the sea alive with thrashing bodies and stained red by arterial spray before those same crewmen knocked him aside, throwing life preservers and ropes down into the blue. None of them dove in to help the women in the water. They were brave—Captain Seghers had always insisted that the people who worked for her be brave—but they weren’t stupid. The sea looked like something out of a horror movie, and no one who entered it would have any hope of getting out alive.
All too soon, the thrashing ended. The body of one of the Blue Seas mermaids floated atop the water, facedown, her tail too covered with blood for its original color to be seen. It could have been almost any of them. Then, slowly, a gray-skinned creature reached up from below the body and pulled itself onto the makeshift raft. The glowing points in its hair twinkled like stars as it raised its head and hissed at the crewmen gathered at the rail.
“My God…” one of them breathed.
“Teal?” said the mermaid. “Has anyone seen Teal?” The voice wasn’t quite Kim’s—it was deeper and throatier, with a soft lisp around the sibilants, thanks to the creature’s many knife-like teeth—but it was close enough, and the words that it spoke were distinctly English.
“It can talk,” said Kevin, feeling sick. He kept his camera trained on the mermaid.
“Teal?” it said again. “Come out now, okay? Okay? Okay?” Then it launched itself from the body back into the water. With a flip of its fins, it was gone, and a second later, so was the floating body of the last of the Blue Seas mermaids.
Silence reigned.
On behalf of the Imagine Network, we wish to apologize for the graphic nature of the images which you have just seen. As we stated before, they will be removed from all future airings of this
Teal didn’t notice the differences in outline between the mysterious figure and her missing friend—or if she did, in that moment, she didn’t care. She dove after the other woman, swimming as hard as she had ever swum in her life. She cut through the water with a speed and grace that would have made her a legend in the world of professional mermaids if she’d been doing it on camera, in some well-lit aquarium a hundred miles from the coast. But she did it alone, in dark water, and there was no one to see her.
When the hand reached up from below to hook her arm and pull her under, there was no one there to see that, either.
Several minutes passed before any of the other mermaids noticed she was gone. “Teal?” said Kim, turning around in the water. “Has anyone seen Teal? This isn’t a good time for hide-and-seek, Teal! Come out now, okay? Come out n—” She was cut off mid-word as something jerked her under the waves. Faced with the proof that something was in the water with them, that the disappearances hadn’t been natural, the mermaids did the natural thing.
They panicked.
The screaming from the water attracted the attention of the crewmen on the decks above. Heads appeared above the rail, their eyes going wide with shock and dismay as they stared down at the roiling carnage in the water. Shrieking mermaids were disappearing into the waves, only to pop back up again bleeding from wounds that had mysteriously opened on their chests or bodies. The crewmen shoved themselves away from the rail, running for the stairs that would take them close enough to be of aid.
Sunnie felt hands grab her waist and pull her under. She responded with a mighty kick of her neoprene tail, knocking her assailant away. She resurfaced, and found herself face to face with Kim, who was no longer screaming, because she no longer had a face to scream with. Sunnie did the screaming for her, and when the hands from below grabbed her again, her shock was too profound to let her fight.
Kevin came pelting down the deck, drawn by the sound of screams. He arrived a few seconds before the descending crewmen, and had time to capture footage of the sea alive with thrashing bodies and stained red by arterial spray before those same crewmen knocked him aside, throwing life preservers and ropes down into the blue. None of them dove in to help the women in the water. They were brave—Captain Seghers had always insisted that the people who worked for her be brave—but they weren’t stupid. The sea looked like something out of a horror movie, and no one who entered it would have any hope of getting out alive.
All too soon, the thrashing ended. The body of one of the Blue Seas mermaids floated atop the water, facedown, her tail too covered with blood for its original color to be seen. It could have been almost any of them. Then, slowly, a gray-skinned creature reached up from below the body and pulled itself onto the makeshift raft. The glowing points in its hair twinkled like stars as it raised its head and hissed at the crewmen gathered at the rail.
“My God…” one of them breathed.
“Teal?” said the mermaid. “Has anyone seen Teal?” The voice wasn’t quite Kim’s—it was deeper and throatier, with a soft lisp around the sibilants, thanks to the creature’s many knife-like teeth—but it was close enough, and the words that it spoke were distinctly English.
“It can talk,” said Kevin, feeling sick. He kept his camera trained on the mermaid.
“Teal?” it said again. “Come out now, okay? Okay? Okay?” Then it launched itself from the body back into the water. With a flip of its fins, it was gone, and a second later, so was the floating body of the last of the Blue Seas mermaids.
Silence reigned.
On behalf of the Imagine Network, we wish to apologize for the graphic nature of the images which you have just seen. As we stated before, they will be removed from all future airings of this
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