A Change In Tides

Chapter 5: A Whole New World

My back touches the ocean floor and suddenly I begin to feel again.

I'm... still alive?

I slowly open my eyes, I am still surrounded by the darkness of the sea, but everything looks clearer.

I see a fish swim just shy of my forehead and a reach to touch it, it curls around my fingers and swims away without fear.

I sit myself up and notice my legs... they're gone. In their place a long tail with red scales that have a magnificent multichome shift, shining yellow and purple with my movement. It had beautiful cascading fins on the bottom and sides like that of a beta fish.

I am both stunned and amazed at the same time... I remember father telling me I was a descendant of Amphitrite, but I would have never imagined a moment like this.

I lay a hand on my chest, I could breath as clearly now as I could on the surface. I notice that the scales of my tail covered my entire torso, fading back into human skin just below my arms.

The dress I once wore lay tattered beside me. The knife that I wore on my thigh had wedged itself into a rock. How do I get it?

I kick, the only movement I feel I can do, and to my shock it effortlessly propels me through the water. I can swim!

I feel like king Arthur as I tug the knife from the stone. Then start to swim upward toward the surface.

Everyone has probably already left without me. The pirate code states they any man that falls behind is to be left behind. In this case, that man was me.

...

As I swim closer to the light I notice that the pearl had not moved, I sigh in relief and swim up to the side of the ship, my head finally above water.

How am I supposed to get up? They hadn't let down the ladder.

I attempt to call for help but quickly stop as I am interrupted by voices that can be heard on the ship.

"What are your plans now, Captain? The key to our treasure is gone. We no longer have a reason to travel."

"I don't know..." I hear Jack reply.

"It's been a whole day Captain, we can't just stay here, we need a heading!"

A Day...!? Had I really been down there that long?

"She's not coming back, mate." I hear Gibbs' sorry voice.

"HEY!" I decide to intervene. "I'M DOWN HERE!"

"I can't... her voice still haunts me." Jack shivers.

"Why I can hear her too?" Gibbs questions.

"You can!?" Jack exclaims. "She is back! But she is not of the living! She has come to torment me for my sins!"

"IF I WHERE DEAD, I WOULD HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO THEN SPEND ETERNITY TORMENTING YOU!" I retort.

Jack shouts at the sound of my voice again, and I see Gibbs' head hang over the side of the ship.

"Lads! We have our heading!" He yells happily, tossing me down a ladder.

"WHAT? HOW?" Jack's head peak out over the rail as he hollers.

I hold onto the ladder tightly and use my arms to haul my body weight out of the water, then sit myself on one of its rungs. I don't have the strength to pull myself up.

"Lend me a hand!?" I look up at the men, Gibbs begins to pull me up on the ladder with the help of a couple of crewsmen, Jack still gawks at me, flabbergasted. His face pale and his eyes wide.