Chapter 14

Never again, Skiff promised himself, would he drink. Having spent the entire morning feeling sorry for himself in bed, he tried desperately to piece back the events of the night before. He knew he'd been careful with what he said in the first half, but after becoming almost black out drunk, much of it disappeared. He seemed to recall everyone else in the room in the same state of intoxication, so he figured nobody would remember either. Consoled by this thought, Skiff resolved to spend the day sorting out how to expose Pescecorp and get them out of Brigodston – and preferably in jail – for good. He drunk several glasses of water that morning, and by midday felt well enough to leave his room, even if he was still a little dizzy.

He walked into the meeting room and found that breakfast had been served by the council staff, and that the room was quite empty. Grateful for the food and solitude, Skiff took a croissant from what was left in the basket and sat himself by the window. Sun shone directly through the glass, highlighting the little smears left by squeegees. The ocean in the distance rolled gently back and forth, looking so perfectly ordinary Skiff wondered if he'd imagined it all along. As he leant forwards, he felt something dig into his thigh. He dug out the small silver fish hook from his pocket, and sighed. It was all real, including his stupid mistake to berate his merfriend. Skiff would give up everything he currently owned; just to be able to tell Captain he was sorry.

The sailor was so lost in thought that he didn't even hear a second set of footsteps approaching, and only noticed he wasn't alone any more when Nelly Blair sat besides him.

"That was quite some night huh?" She smiled, tossing hair out of her eyes.

Skiff returned the gesture with a polite twitch of his lips.

"So how did you really survive that crash?"

"Crash?" Skiff asked, bemused.

"Y'now" The woman gestured to her scalp "When you hit your head off the rocks. Marco said it was quite the ... accident. He seemed ever so distraught when they came back with the bad news"

"I bet he did" Skiff muttered, biting into his pastry at the same time to muffle this. "Uh, actually there's quite a lot to tell ... I just have to get my ... thoughts in order"

And figure out how I'm going to explain being alive without mentioning merfolk He added, mentally.

"Well, I'm sure it's quite the story"

"You could say that" Skiff nodded, and then he burst into tears. This seemed to shock both of them, and the shock of it caused him to cry harder. Why was everything so darn DIFFICULT? Why did his parents have to die, why did the fish population have to go down, why did Pescecorp exist, why did they try to murder him, why did he ruin the only true friendship he'd ever had? If there was a hole that lead to another world somewhere, Skiff very much wanted to crawl inside it.

"There there ..." Nelly said, patting him awkwardly on the back and pressing one of the table napkins into his hand.

Skiff wiped his eyes gratefully, his sobs controlled at last.

"I'm sorry ... you probably think I'm a mess"

"Not at all" Nelly promised, but didn't sound completely sincere.

"Truth is I just keep ... losing things. Important things – important people!" He sighed and rested his head on his elbows. "I'm not sure how much more I can take"

"You could always talk to my brother" Nelly smiled. "I think he's on the hunt"

Skiff turned his laughter into a fake cough, wondering why on earth the Blair siblings were so determined to set him up with each other. Still, it wasn't an entirely laughing matter. Skiff wondered if perhaps that's what he needed to fill the void in his heart. He wondered why the void had only existed since yesterday.

Try as he might, Skiff could not find Pescecorp anywhere. He mulled over the possibility that they'd fled, which would have pleased him. This theory was debunked by the fact their large shiny boat was still in the harbour. Perhaps they were avoiding him intentionally for fear of being exposed. Skiff liked this idea, because it gave him power over them. But having asked around town, no one else had seen them since the previous night. One fruit seller mentioned seeing a small motorboat out on the ocean when he woke up in the middle of the night, but Skiff thought little of this. Pescecorp were into big game fishing, if they were doing that they'd have taken the big boat.

It wasn't until mid evening that Skiff saw them. He was just finishing a rather tasty quiche Lorraine when the three of them piled sheepishly into the room, eyes shining with an uncharacteristic level of excitement. Dave, for having only one eye, managed to look the most jubilant. He tapped Mayor Blair on the shoulder and crouched down to chair level, whispering so that only she could hear. Her eyes lit up in excitement, and she beamed. Skiff watched through his fringe, keeping his eyes on the last smear of salad cream that on his plate. For some reason he could sense Zak's eyes on him throughout the whole exchange between his boss and the mayor. A foreboding feeling of complete dread was settling into Skiff's stomach. He wasn't sure what. Somehow he knew it was nothing good – if Pescecorp sneaking around wasn't enough of a clue already.

Lucy Blair whispered something back to Dave, who shook his head. Skiff managed to catch the tiniest slip of his next words.

"Not yet"

Not yet what? That could mean almost anything. Surprises were often fun, but the sailor doubted that even a birthday party thrown by Pescecorp could be a joyous occasion. He decided to get back to his room as quickly as possible, lest he himself was to fall victim to the 'not yet' that his rivals were planning. He passed his plate and cutlery quickly to the kitchen staff and then retreated back to his room to finish the final chapter of his book.

It was rather sad really, the ending. Despite doing everything in her power to save the man she loved, the heroine's hero still fell victim to the evils of the dark world. Skiff noticed a little preview for book 2, but decided to leave it there for the night. He hoped they'd be a happy ending in the second, but for now he needed to allow the events of the first to sink in. He rubbed his palms over his face, feeling physically and mentally exhausted. Closing his eyes, he waited for the wave of sleep to overtake him. He was almost there when there was a soft knock on his door. Quiet, ever so quiet. Almost accidental, but just hard enough to be an actual knock.

"Who's there?" Skiff asked, but after receiving no reply, he opened the door.

Somewhere at the end of the corridor, a shady figure turned the corner. With that same sense of foreboding as earlier, the fisherman stepped into the corridor, and crept silently down the hallway. He peered around the corner, and saw the same figure at the other end. As soon as Skiff emerged, it darted away. He gave chase, but soon lost it behind a set of thick doors that lead to the backstage of the main hall, where all the important announcements were made. There was a tiny crack in the door, and an eerie blue light was emanating from behind it.

Skiff stepped closer still, feeling a slight chill in a draft from the room. As he approached, he heard his name. He gulped, resolving to stay quiet. Getting onto his knees on the carpet, he peered through the crack. It took a little reshuffling, but eventually he saw what was going on. Dave, Zak and Marco stood around a large glass tank, which was the source of the eerie blue light. It was filled almost to the brim with water, and the bottom had several stones and even one or two fish swimming about. Skiff was puzzled. Surely they weren't planning on opening an aquarium? He licked his lips, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind.

"Ey so uh, what then?" Zak asked, hopping from one foot to the other.

"Then, we become rich! Richer than that silly little pearl" Dave smirked.

Oh no. Had they found a merpearl? Skiff leant forwards to get a closer look, trying desperately to see behind Dave, who was blocking the centre of the tank.

"Rich" Zak repeated gleefully, testing the word on his tongue.

"Richest men in the world" Dave smirked "But first we gotta get the darn thing set up"

He finally took a step to the left, observing from another angle. At last, the sailor could see the middle. His heart sank and it was all he could do not to cry out in shock. In the middle of the tank was something Skiff hoped he was imagining. But here it was as clear as the nose on Skiff's face. That something was a someone. That someone was Captain, bound in chains.