A Mermaid's Tale

Chapter 8

It was a miracle that I didn't trip down the spiral stairs as I ran out of Ojigwa's tree hut. I still wasn't the most confident on my feet, but I did manage to make it to the ground without taking a spill. Leaves and small ferns were crushed beneath my feet as I came to a stop. I had no idea which direction Arthur went, and there weren't any clear paths to indicate which way the beach was.

"A-Arthur," I called out quietly. There was no response, but I didn't expect there to be.

Waiting around wasn't an option, so I picked a direction at random and began to walk. The jungle around me didn't seem to thin or thicken as I went on my way. I tried not to let the silence faze me, but the only sound was my feet stepping through the brush, and that was starting to become unnerving. Everything looked so similar that I was starting to wonder if I was just going in a circle. That's when an object in my peripheral vision caught my attention.

Something bright and yellow was twitching behind a tree not too far from me, and I took a few tentative steps closer. The thing didn't seem to notice my presence at all, so I slowly continued to approach it. I stepped around the tree and saw something unexpected. It was a plant. Sure, the whole jungle was full of plants, but I had never seen a moving plant before. Sometimes plants sway in the ocean as if they have a mind of their own, but I knew it was actually the sea currents

This plant, on the other hand, seemed to be moving on its own. It was a short tree about the same height as me with wiggling yellow blossoms. The branches would curl and uncurl like the tree was beckoning me while the flowers danced happily. I was completely entranced. There almost seemed to be a hum coming from the plant as it enticed me forward, and I complied. My hand seemed to move on its own as it reached out for a flower. The yellow blossom started to wiggle a little more excitedly than the others. It stretched its petals out toward me to embrace my fingertips, and I smiled blissfully.

Just then, something grabbed my wrist and snapped me out of whatever trance I was in. "I told you not to touch anything."

I gasped and took a step back. Arthur stood next to the tree with a blank expression on his face. His grip on my wrist didn't loosen as I tried to pull away.

"Yeah well, why should I listen to you?" I tugged at my wrist again.

"Because I know your name, (y/n)."

His words made me quit struggling, and my eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

An amused smirk pulled up the corner of Arthur's lips. "Don't act so surprised, love. You can't fool the great pirate captain Arthur Kirkland. I know all about your powers with names."

"H-how?"

He let go of me and shrugged. "I started to piece it together when we rescued you from that ugly frog Francis. You seemed to do whatever I told you to as long as I said your name. Granted, it was just conjecture then. I didn't know for sure until Ojigwa mentioned something about it."

"So you knew she was telling the truth," I said.

"She usually is." He folded his arms like this was just a pleasant talk between friends.

"But you still won't help me." I clenched my fists in frustration. "You know she was telling the truth, and you still won't help me."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "I kept you from being killed by this tree. I'd call that helping."

"The tree?" My anger was pushed aside by curiosity.

"Yes, this tree, which you so willingly blundered into, is one of the most deadly things in this jungle." He unsheathed his curved blade and deftly cut a single blossom from the tree. The whole plant writhed and shrieked as if in pain. "The flowers excrete some kind of numbing agent. If you had touched it, you wouldn't have been able to feel any part of you faster than it takes you to suck in a breath." He bent over to pick up the flower, and then slid his cutlass back in its scabbard. "The branches would have strangled you while you were paralyzed, and your dead body would have dropped to the ground to nourish the roots of the tree."

"What a pleasant thought."

He chuckled softly and smirked. "The only reason that old bat lets these grow here are because the flowers make for an excellent painkiller. Obviously, they don't do anything to you once they've been cut." He approached me with the yellow blossom and tucked it behind my ear. A soft smile replaced his cocky smirk. "There. A pretty flower for a pretty lady."

I didn't know whether to be flattered or upset. A blush rose to my cheeks as I stepped away from the pirate. "Stop playing games with me! I don't have time for someone who won't help me."

"Who said I wouldn't help you?"

"You did! In the tree hut."

"Hmmm, I suppose so." He waved it off. "That old bat always infuriates me with the way she talks, as if she knows everything, which of course she does. I just wanted to disagree with her. Have her be wrong just once." His eyebrows knit together in irritation. "It would seem she's right again, that old bat."

"So...you will help me?" I asked hopefully.

He sighed. "It would be ungentlemanly of me to ignore a lady in need. But if this turns out to be some kind of joke..." He fixed his gaze on me, and I knew what he was about to say would be the undeniable truth. "I will kill you myself."