The boy seemed so real. He had been right there. He wore tattered green pants that ended just below his knees. His shirt was green, like the rest of his apparel. He wore a crown of leaves on his head, dotted with berries. His sly grin seemed all too realistic… and all too menacing.

James shook his head. It was just a dream. The boy wasn't real.

The ship rocked back and forth, but James had no trouble getting out of bed and getting dressed. He looked at the clock. His father would be waiting for him. It was nearly breakfast.

He left his cabin, and climbed the ladder to the deck of the ship, the Roger. It was his father's ship, and he hoped to one day captain it. James didn't think he was ready though. He was only ten, which was not old enough to captain a ship.

"Morning!" His father called from the forecastle, a part of the ship near the foremast that was raised higher than the main deck.

James hopped up the stair to join his father, who was eating bread off a silver platter.

"Hackshank!" the captain called to one of the cabin boys, who had been trying to sneak past unnoticed. "Fetch my boy some bread!"

The cabin boy scowled, but hurried to obey his orders.

Once Hackshank returned with the bread, James dug in. He was used to very little amounts of food. He had spent his whole life sailing, where there wasn't much to go around.

"Excuse me sir," one of the crewmembers said, "A mermaid has arrived with news from the inland."

"Great," the captain said. He turned to James. "Finish up boy. Just leave the plate on the deck. Hackshank will clean it up."

James stuffed the last bit of bread into his mouth, and followed his father down the ladder to the hold, where there was a glass square, like a cage, specifically made so mermaids could enter the ship without water getting in.

A mermaid was floating on the other side of the glass. She had short-cropped brown hair, which stuck up like a porcupine's quills. Her scales were an orangey color, with tads of pink and blue. As her tail whipped back and forth to keep her floating, it shimmered and shifted. James had seen many mermaids, but this one was especially beautiful.

Her frown was the only thing ruining her otherwise flawless face. Once she was sure she had the captain's attention, she began speaking.

"Ahead, many kilometers, there is an island. You must bear port soon in order to avoid it. There are rumors of mysterious shipwrecks and stolen rations around that island. It is best to stay away."

The mermaid's voice had a musical ring to it, like a piano playing words.

"If I am to make it to Shendale before our rations run out, my only choice is to go straight ahead. Our rations are low enough as it is, and that would delay us two, maybe three days," James' father said.

"I have seen the wreckage myself!" the mermaid said in a last desperate attempt, "It's a boy! A flying boy who never grows up! He wears a crown of leaves and calls himself Pan!"