The waters here are calm. The yacht glides across the deep blue effortlessly. The passage opens to a great ocean and Mina watches from the stern of the yacht. The Antarctic passage fades from view along with the towering ice sentinels. They soon become specks, pieces of what they are. The sun is indicating midday and the waters are so calm that it becomes downright eerie to her.
The sun dips behind a puffy white cloud that looks like something out of an old Mickey Mouse cartoon. A cool breeze sends a shiver down her spine. Despite the oversized knit sweater she’s wearing with her most comfortable Juicy Couture lounge pants, she shudders. She shakes the feeling off as she traces her hand along the railing and leans over to gaze into the ocean.
It isn’t clear but it is the bluest blue she’s ever seen. So dark is the blue that the more she stares at it, the darker it becomes. Her eyes focus on the deep until shadows mix and become shapes of something moving alongside the yacht. She blinks in disbelief. Could be a dolphin or a shark unless she didn’t see anything at all and her eyes are playing tricks on her.
It collides with the hull of the yacht and gives it a nudge. It’s a movement felt on the deck where she’s standing and now she knows she isn’t seeing things. This isn’t her imagination playing tricks. She stares down with intensity, willing whatever it is to reveal itself. She hopes it's only a playful dolphin or maybe even a shark.
The shadow moves out of sight. It’s not that it shifts from one side of the yacht to the other but seems to have dipped deeper into the ocean. Her eyes search for it but it is gone.
Footsteps click against the wood planks and Mina doesn’t have to look up to know that Yvette is approaching. She knows her sister’s gait.
“Well most of the glassware in the bar is destroyed,” she says as she makes her way to Mina. “But we did manage to save a few bottles of wine along with the mixers. Anything in plastic is still intact and surprisingly the kitchen is clean. Hardly anything fell due to those safety locks on all the cabinets.”
Mina lets out a breath, “sounds like I saved a few hundred dollars there then. And the fridge and freezer? Still good?”
Yvette nods. “Gas lines okay. The electrical is still working. The only thing out of wack is the satellite. So much for that Starlink. It was good while it lasted, I guess. Rodrigo busted out with some old pirate-looking maps. He and Fisher are going over them like their life depends on them or something."
Mina’s eyes glance at the water again. “It's possible that it’s our only lifeline out here if we can’t use the navigation system.”
Yvette shrugs, “He said they’re looking for where to dock. Andres is out there with binoculars too. This feels so weird, doesn’t it?” She shivers as she says it as if the thought gives her the heebie jeebies.
“Yeah.”
Seconds later, Marcel appears refreshed in a change of clothes. His hair is damp like he just had a shower but the stubble along his jaw is still there. He holds his cell phone up and says, “Can’t get a signal out here. How about you?”
“No satellite, no signal,” Mina says. She’s still holding onto the rail but she releases her grip. Her eyes travel over him. Even in a plain black sweater and jeans, Marcel looks thrilling to her.
“Oh wow, look,” Yvette says. Her eyes are wide as she points out to the ocean. “Was that a dolphin or one of those white whales? I just saw a white tail pop out.”
Mina’s eyes follow where Yvette is pointing and now they’re all trying to catch a glimpse of whatever animal Yvette saw in the distance. But all Mina can see, far and wide is the blue ocean. Whatever it is, it’s bound to come up for air again if it’s a mammal. Moments later, another flicker of a tail is spotted near the same spot Yvette pointed out.
“There it is again. It’s like a white, translucent-like tail.” Yvette frowns. She looks confused. “Maybe a deep sea creature coming up to the surface for some reason?”
“Could be,” Mina says as she wonders if the white tail belongs to the shadow that bumped the yacht minutes earlier.
Just then Andres’ voice is heard loudly from the other side of the deck, “Land ho.” It sounds foreign in Mina’s ears, having only heard him speak Spanish the whole time.
“I’m going to go have a look,” Yvette says as she hurries to the front of the yacht.
Marcel is tapping his phone again, pacing the floor as he searches for a signal that isn’t there. He’s still hopeful for a bar or two but Mina knows he won’t find one. There might be service at the island, but then again, she wasn't sure. Either way, she’ll need to call Evelyn and check in on business. Make sure everything is still running smoothly even though she just spoke to her the day before. Before the storm and the sea monster that tried to kill them. Her heart races at the thought of nearly sinking and drowning.
She feels the nudge against the yacht again and it diverts her attention back to the ocean. She looks down into the deep and the shadow is there again. A small smile creeps on her lips and she says under her breath, “Hello, old friend.”
The shadow glides alongside becoming darker and fainter then closer again and lighter. The color fades from a blackish oblong shape to that of something resembling that of a slender fish. It dips back down and then comes closer again. Only now Mina can make out the outline of the creature and its long whitish body. Her voice catches in her throat and she cannot speak as she’s gripped in her disbelief.
It glides effortlessly. She’s trying to process what it is she is seeing. The top of the creature seems to have long, white hair to match its white body and tail. But she can only see the backside of it. It looks like a plump-bodied human with a fishtail. Then without warning it leaps above the water like it’s coming up for air only that it turns its head toward her.
A scream lodges in Mina’s throat as two black eyes peer back at her. Its skin is pale like that of a dead body and it bears sharp white teeth at her. Its hands reach out and its long nails scratch at the hull before dipping back into the water. It’s merely seconds but Mina flinches, sensing the creature is dangerous.
Its tail is the last to return to the water. As white as snow, the sun bounces off the scales creating a rainbow of color that runs to the end of its large fluke. Then, splash. The water reaches Mina’s face and some gets into her eye. She wipes at them with the back of her sleeve. The burn reminds her just how salty the ocean is.
“Dammit.”
Marcel is at her side in seconds. “What’s wrong?”
“I got water in my eye and it burns.”
He chuckles, “Yeah, the ocean water will do that. What did you do, get too close?”
She blinks until the sting subsides, “No I was just looking over the side and I saw this thing swimming next to us.”
“What, like a fish?” He frowns.
She shakes her head, “No, like something else.” She realizes that saying what is on the tip of her tongue may sound stupid. Did she really see what she thought she saw? Now she’s double-guessing herself.
“A jellyfish, maybe?”
“Maybe,” she says looking at him, but it was nothing like a jellyfish. Solid-bodied, too large, and with an actual head of hair. A shiver runs through her as she replays the encounter in her mind and now she’s wrapping her arms around herself like she’s cold. The large black eyes, the big toothy grin, the sharp clawlike nails of its webbed hands. It even had finlike white ears poking out between straggly strands of hair, if that was even a thing.
Marcel rubs her arm as he seems to sense her discomfort and searches her face for the answer. Then he places a thoughtful kiss on her forehead. “Well, it’s gone now, whatever it is.”
His words are meant to comfort her. She searches his eyes, but she knows he’s the kind of guy who needs to see it for himself to believe. It’s not that they spent any time theorizing ghosts or other dimensions. He’s too practical, too focused on the here and now to be caught up in the speculations of fringe sciences or after-death theories. It's one of the reasons Mina is drawn to him, because when he’s around, life isn’t about world philosophies, it’s about enjoying life as it is.
“You guys, come quick. It’s the island. We’ve made it.” Yvette waves them over to follow her. Marcel and Mina make their way to the bow where Andres is peering through the binoculars. In the distance is land. Rocky cliffs greet them with waves crashing against them. As they get closer, specks of green grass peak from the top with the promise of lush land.
It doesn’t resemble the tropical islands of the Caribbean but is more like England, closer to the shores of a European country. There is no dense canopy of green on the rocky shoreline and only a few trees dare to grow there. Their shade is lacking under their long bare branches. The yacht turns so that they are now coasting alongside the island. Moments later, a harbor comes into view with a few ships tied to the piers. They are unlike any ship Mina has ever seen, a cross between something of military purpose and elaborate enough for royalty.
The hulls are like a shiny white crystal that the water seems to merge with rather than splash against. Ornate designs along the railing differ between the ships but they flow like an intentional design to mimic the waves. She can see windows that she images are for cabins but there are no balconies present so she assumes they aren’t for leisure. The absence of sails indicates they must have engines and stationed on various locations of the deck are huge cannons. They look like updated pirate ships made of some kind of stone rather than wood.
“I wonder who owns those,” Marcel says. He’s as captivated by their beauty and intricacy as Mina is.
The harbor is eerily silent and void of life. They steer toward an empty pier and when they get close enough, Andres leaps out of the yacht to secure them to the pier. Mina wonders if all that is necessary when they have an anchor that will hold them in place. As Marcel assists Fisher with preparing for departure, a faint crackle is heard past the trees. The sound comes in bursts and Mina listens harder to decipher what it is.