The ocean enveloped him like the Reaper's embrace: cold and followed by death.
His head fills with panic. Images break through the suppressed corners of his mind. He feels himself bobbing in the water, gripping his life vest, cold, starving, and scared.
He cried until he dehydrated himself. The boat rocked violently. Angry gray waves thrusted themselves onto the deck, pushing the rounded edge of the boat with every crash.
Uncle Joey and Mr. Kork tried to steady the boat while Mrs. Kork shouted into three different cell phones, none working. Rain pelted them all like hail, blurring the world like a TV image with bad reception. It all happened so fast.
Mr. Kork slipped and hit his head on the side of the deck. The waves sucked him under and capsized the boat while the others were off guard.
Luca was thrown into the salty liquid and was tumbled around, hardly allowed to breathe.
That same fear seizes him as he feels the sea drag him down, this time, nothing to pull him back up. His eyes open against his will, arms flail, desperate to head towards the dwindling light above. Panic swells in his lungs.
Something grabs his arm. His face turns to the side. Bubbles explode from his mouth in surprise.
Sebastian's ghostly face stares at Luca's. His body floats horizontally, his copper-gold tale reflecting the meager lighting above.
Luca doesn't know why he's here, nor how he got here, but he doesn't care.
He frantically points upward, hoping the mute merman will understand what's going on.
Sebastian looks up, back at Luca, and shakes his head "no." He pulls Luca back, under the shade of the boat.
No! Luca writhes, kicking his legs, trying to get up and out of Sebastian's grasp. He feels light headed. His lungs feels like they've shrunken into socks.
Sebastian's palm engulf's Luca's head.
The connection shocks him enough to forget he's drowning for a moment. His brain is alight with information. Images, feelings, things that aren't Luca's but feel as if they are.
Sebastian's head arcs forward and presses his mouth to Luca's. Air flows into his lungs. Luca feels his cheeks redden as Sebastian pulls away, staring at him with that blank expression of his.
Luca looks up, noticing for the first time, the two other finned figures lurking under the boat.