Miranda Shepherd sat on the side as the boat sped across the sea. Drops of salty water from the speeding boat splattered across her face, like different levels of sprays of water. Out of the corner of her eye, her team were quietly talking and laughing to themselves, with a few others eating some snacks or drinking.

The team were marine biologists. They were here to perform a few surveys in this part of the sea, just off the coast of Norway in one of the remoter fjords. Miranda had never been to this part of Europe before. She had already watched a few storms in the area and they looked beyond rough, but she knew once beneath the surface it would be as gentle as a pond. They had already practiced, getting on their diving suits and spending time underwater to give them the time to get used to the conditions. Miranda might have learnt how to dive off Australia, but she knew in different parts of the world, there were different conditions.

Miranda frowned as she glanced over at the crew they'd hired for the job. She was used to the superstitious quirks of locals, but these people had taken the cake. The people she had to deal with had been fishing folk for generations, they were so wrapped up in their superstitions they could barely imagine life beyond the bows of their boats. For the last week, she and her crew had been delayed getting out on the water by the hostility of the locals. They had constantly warned her and her crew not to go out, and they had babbled about stories of reckless Vikings and fishermen of times past who went missing.

Miranda had taught herself to be patient when it came to these quirks. She had learnt how to master her impatience, but these people had thrown up one roadblock after another and she had begun losing patience. But eventually, she had managed to get one man to help, except he had done it to just get them off of their backs.

That hadn't stopped the man and his crew from protesting; when they had left, they had seen several priests even blessing them, while a few people who looked like undertakers seemed to be taking their measurements. Weird and ominous. Miranda had made up her mind after that, they would just get in the water a few times, and then head home. She'd just about had enough. And some of the others agreed with her. But what she didn't like was how the Norwegians running the boat seemed to have settled down, but now some of them were chanting in the dead of night; their captain had told them it was a prayer, but it didn't sound like it.

Finally, when they arrived, Miranda took three of her team aside. "I don't trust the crew or their captain. I want you three to stay up here, make sure nothing happens."

"You don't think they'd go that far?" Kate asked, worriedly.

"I hope not, but I don't trust these people."

"Neither do I, Miranda," Corey replied with a grim look on his face. "They were chanting again last night, just outside our inn; when we told them to quit it, they lashed out at us. I thought we'd get into a fight."

Miranda nodded grimly. "We're not going to be here long. We'll just collect a few photos and some samples, specimens, and then we're going. That's it. I've had more than enough."

"That's for the best, I think," Corey agreed while Naomi looked out at the oceans. She was tall and lithe, and her dark skin attracted many looks of hostility from the locals as if nobody had heard the news black people had gotten equal rights in America.

"I think that's a better idea than hanging around. But don't be down there too long," Naomi said.

"We won't," Miranda promised, knowing her friend was more worried about the way she was perceived by the locals.

Miranda usually liked diving, and she had adapted herself to diving in colder waters, and she was used to the murkiness of water. But as she dove under the sea here, she was struck by how diverse life was down here. After checking on her team, they quickly dove downwards, getting over the coldness of the water which made them feel as if they'd just dived into an icy bath.

With a signal wave from her hand, Miranda twisted her body as gracefully as a ballerina; she had always found it more natural diving underwater than living on land; she always equated this to being in a space station. With such weightlessness, she was able to perform moves that would have her flat on her face. Swimming towards the bottom, Miranda wasn't bothered by how murky the water was.

Miranda gently breathed in the air from her rebreather, thankful they were not deep enough to require a helium blend or a decompression chamber.

Her team knew their jobs and they began swimming in different directions, but remaining in close sight of each other as they began collecting samples. They were quite close to a shipwreck. Judging from the fact it had barely broken down, Miranda estimated it had been here within the last 20 years. But she wasn't an expert.

After she'd snagged a crab and put it into a container, Miranda thought she saw something in the corner of her eye. Instinctively she turned her head, assuming one of the diving party had swam past her, but when she turned she thought she saw a part of a leg and a flipper that she knew weren't on any of the feet of her friends.

Miranda almost leapt out of her skin and wetsuit, and a flurry of bubbles escaped from her mouth but she didn't drop her rebreather when she felt something on her shoulder. She turned around quickly and found herself looking at Vicki, who had her hands up in a 'surrender' pose. Looking closer, Miranda saw that Vicki's eyes looked spooked, even scared. Had she seen the same thing? Judging from her expression, then yes.

What the fuck, Vicki? What's wrong? Miranda signed to her.

American sign language was a language she had learnt as a child when her little brother was diagnosed as deaf. Their parents had wisely decided to not rely on tech to help since it could malfunction or something, and they'd learnt sign. Miranda had seen the benefits especially underwater since it was almost impossible to communicate, and since divers had to rely on body language and gestures to communicate anyway, she thought it was a good way of getting the point across.

She had worked long and hard to make sure the teams she partnered up with learnt it, too, and its success rate had even inspired others.

There's something down here, did you see that? I thought it was one of the others, but it wasn't.

Did you get a good look? Miranda was instantly intrigued.

No, but I know it wasn't one of us.

Alarmed and even concerned there were other divers down here, though that made no sense unless there was a sub nearby, Miranda turned her head around to see if there was a thing like that nearby.

But there was nothing.

Vicki touched her again to get her attention. Miranda, I saw something else, or I thought I did. Remember those Crocs we swam with in Africa?

I try to forget it, Miranda signed back, wondering what would make her friend bring something like that up.

It's weird, but I'm sure I saw something long and dark behind the legs, it was moving from side to side, like a tail.

A tail? Okay, now I'm freaked out. quickly seeing the lights of some of the others.

Come on, she said, pulling Vicki along with her, Miranda swam towards them quickly but without wearing herself out. She wanted to get to them and return to the surface so they could talk, and find out if they'd seen anything strange before coming back down to mount a proper investigation. Not for the first time, she wished they had masks that allowed them to speak underwater.

Quickly they found them. Miranda had taken a team of 14 with her; the team might be quite large, but when mounting this kind of job, it was a good move to cover more than enough ground. Naomi, Kate, and Corey had been left behind on the boat before the dive even began, but Miranda, Vicki, John, Ashley, Madison, Matt, Helena, Thomas, Jonathan, Dan, Dee, and Rose had come down with her. Miranda knew it could take time to find the others, but as long as they hadn't gone too far, they could find them and get back to the surface.

They found one of the lights and found Dan working with Rose and Matt. Their arrival stunned them, but Miranda signed to them.

Someone else is down here with us, Miranda signed.

We just saw something down here, it had legs like us, but it wasn't us, and we didn't see a torch, Vicki added, but she didn't mention this tail thing.

The others were confused. While they were in their late teens, and early 20s, they knew how to take this seriously. They weren't sorority or frat kids, and they didn't play stupid games often.

Have you guys been drinking? Matt signed awkwardly. He had never truly gotten the hang of some of the characters.

No, we fucking haven't!

Look, you guys know us, when have we ever pranked you down on a dive? The logic of Vicki's question stopped them from thinking it was a joke, but before they had a chance to go on, someone holding a waving torch as they swam fast, leaving a trail of bubbles in their wake. Miranda's eyes widened in her mask, recognising the signs of a diver who was panicking but was smart enough not to rise to the surface too fast, but she didn't know who it was.

And then something slammed into the diver.

Miranda saw the others react, but her eyes were strictly on the thing itself. It was like a human, but longer and it was covered with overlapping plates, with massive webbed, clawed hands. Its tail reminded her of an eel, and yet it used its massive webbed feet to propel itself; there was something in the way it moved its hands and feet alike that reminded her of fish she had seen swimming in ponds, reefs, or fish tanks.

The creature's head was the most alien thing she had ever seen. It was like a massive ball, with a dome-shaped scalp, the mouth was thick-lipped, and the eyes were bulging, while there were gills in the neck.

Miranda's eyes widened in shock, but before she could think of anything, do something that made sense, a large block of concrete sank to the bottom with a chain pulling something down. To the horror of the humans, it was Kate's body. Her throat had been cut open, framing a face perpetually frozen in shock and pain, blood streaming from the wound.

'Oh my god!' Miranda thought to herself, spotting Corey and Naomi's own bodies dropping to the sea bed; Naomi's neck was broken which went with the slash wound to her throat, but Corey must have put up a fight as well since there were deep lacerations along his body. The creatures rushed to the bodies, like a pack of blood-hungry sharks, and they used their long, strong limbs to tear into the bodies.

Miranda turned to the others, realising what was happening, and she signalled for them all to surface as quickly as they could. She hoped now they knew the crew of the boat were dangerous, they would be prepared for anything.

Dark masses flew into Miranda, and all she could feel was blinding pain as blood mixed with a flurry of bubbles she felt a terrible pain in her chest; she tried to struggle, but strong, clawed hands grabbed her and held her arms at such a painful angle before she felt strong hands wrap around her throat and head, and squeeze tightly.

As she tried to struggle with what was left of her waning strength, Miranda's mind thought about her sister, and how she was going to live….