Tails of the Deep [Major Editing]

Chapter 6: The Capture

Captain Hail opened his mouth, ready to protest. But Bod cut him off, "Don't fight me on this one, son." The rest of the crew could do nothing but watch as Patrick handed him a lamp.

Sirens were attracted to light. Light meant humans and humans meant food. One-Eye approached Bod and offered to help lure the sirens. The two sailors climbed into the dinghy and the crewmen began to carefully lower it. Once the boat hit the water, One-Eye rowed it away from the ship. Bod held the lamp and scanned the waters. As long as there was light, a siren was bound to appear. It was only a matter of time.

Once they were a safe distance away from the ship, they waited. Two hours passed and One-Eye was getting restless. However, Bod remained vigilant. To him, it was like fishing. You could wait all day and still get nothing.

Dawn was quickly approaching and Bod knew when the sun rose, they would have to try again the next night. He was about to tell One-Eye to return to the ship when he noticed something very odd. The water was still. Eerily still.

Suddenly, Bod heard a hiss before he saw something throw itself at him. He used his arm to shield himself. He felt slimy webbed fingers grab him, followed by an ear-piercing scream, shattering the silent night, and then a loud splash. Bod felt a stinging on his arm and saw that he had been scratched. The wound was thankfully, not too deep. He leaned forward and spotted his attacker thrashing in a pool of blood. Those light blue skin, hair and fins. It was no doubt a siren. One-eye had stabbed the siren's arm when it jumped from the water.

The siren looked up, her eyes were glazed with hatred. She was indeed beautiful and it puzzled Bod, that such a beautiful creature could be so deadly.

The crew had witnessed the scene and William shouted, "Throw the net, now!" Two sailors threw the net over the siren, trapping her. "We've got her now! Pull her up! Pull!" William exclaimed as he began to pull the net with all his strength.

The siren hissed and bared her teeth as she was dragged nearer to the ship. They hauled the net up and the siren continued to hiss, desperately trying to claw her way out of the net. When she realized it was futile, she stopped.

"Come, we go back now," Bod said to One-Eye. He grabbed the oar and started rowing back to the ship. As he rowed, he kept an eye on the men, making sure that everything went smoothly.

William leaned over the ship as the net was reaching the deck. He stretched his hand out and grabbed the net. At that instant, the siren grabbed his arm, sinking her nails into his flesh, pulling him overboard. Bod watched in horror as his captain fell over with a loud splash.

"Captain Hail!" The crew shouted. They have just witnessed their captain disappear into the dark ocean. They released the net in shock and gathered around the edge as they searched for any sign of their captain.

The siren freed herself and hissed as she propelled herself through the water.

A moment later, William surfaced from the water. "Will, get away from there! She's on to you!" Bod shouted from the dinghy and rowed faster towards him, his arm still stinging. William looked behind but it was too late. The siren hooked her arm around his neck and plunged into the depths of the ocean.

William could only take a deep breath before he was pulled under. He thought of his life thus far, how he had been unsuccessful in what he promised to do. He thought about Bod and how he would make a fine captain. And lastly, he thought about his mother and how much her heart would break to learn that he would never be coming back.

"No!" Bod shouted as he watched the siren's tail vanish into the ocean. "Will! Will!" he shouted desperately. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to One-Eye. The old sailor shook his head and Bod knew William was no more.

.·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·.

The waves slapped lightly against the ship. The cold tendrils of wind howled across the night sky as if they were sharing their sympathy and grievance. The atmosphere on board was heavy. Sadness clung onto many of the crewmen as they grieved for their captain.

Bod gulped. There was no way that siren would have allowed William to live. He was gone, just like how Jupiter was gone. Both Father and son–great captains–taken by sirens as prey. Bod dare not imagine the look on Madeline's face when he brings this news to her. It would smash the other half of her heart into bits just like when he brought the news about Jupiter.

"Tonight," Bod began solemnly. "We've lost a great captain. We shall set sail for Port Archibald and bring this news to Mrs. Hail," he ended as he took off his hat.

"I should have never brought him on this," Bod said under his breath. Guilt and regret pierced his heart.

The crew went about with their duties with heads hung low.

.·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·.

It was dark underwater. William could barely see anything with the saltwater stinging his eyes. He felt the siren's arm wrapped around his neck as the creature swam deeper through the water. William's lungs begged for oxygen. He felt his head begin to spin as he was on the brink of losing consciousness. This was probably how his father's last moments ended.

"Sref'ina!" the siren spun around as she heard her name being called.

"Stef'ny!" she greeted her elder sister with glee.

Her sister swam up to Sref'ina. "Where are you heading to?" she asked. Her eyes shone with curiosity.

"Hunting," the younger siren replied. "I'm famished."

"All right, dear sister," Stef'ny nodded. "Be careful."

Every siren was warier when hunting now. There have been a few reports over the years that sirens are being taken and killed by a band of sailors. No one knows why they were doing it. Many speculated that it was to skin the sirens and sell their parts because it was known that siren parts were worth a lot of money on land.

Sref'ina smiled at her sister. They were so close with one another that they did almost everything together, except for hunting. Sirens preferred not to hunt together for fear of attracting attention.

Stef'ny and Sref'ina are almost like identical sisters, except that one was older than the other by three years. They have the same tone of blue on their tails and skin, and Stef'ny's eyes were turquoise while Sref'ina's were teal blue.

Sref'ina made her way past the palace gates and the guards bowed to her. "Good evening, Princess Sref'ina," they greeted politely.

The princess groaned internally. Being a princess was too formal for her liking. Everyone bows down and one has to put on this regal act as long as they're in the presence of another fellow siren. Sometimes, she wished she could just be like one of those regular sirens. There was simply no freedom in being a princess. She sighed and pushed the thoughts away.

The water was cold. The corals and aquatic plants swayed and danced at the bottom of the seabed. Sref'ina spotted several manta rays in the distance, but she wasn't interested in hunting them tonight. She was craving for something else – Humans.

She swam further up, almost reaching the surface of the water to check for any sign of light when the scent of blood entered her gills. Not just any blood. It was the blood scent belonging to a siren. She knew something bad had happened. Sirens do not shed blood easily unless in battle. She thought that it could be another capture. She needed to investigate what exactly was going on. The princess followed the scent of the blood and spied a fellow siren pulling another figure in her arms. She advanced towards the siren and saw that she was badly injured and choking a human man.

William's eyes were closing. Thesaltwater was getting too hurtful for his eyes. But before he closed them, hesaw a figure advancing towards them. It was another siren. His captor stoppedswimming to address the other siren. He was only conscious enough to hear theother siren say, "You're hurt. Go back to S'cria and get yourself checked. I'llhandle it." With that, he passed out.

Seems a bit unprofessional to phrase it this way. Is there another way to show a transition to a different setting?