S. Welles - To Ocean's End

On the fifth and final night of lockdown, Mido gave her another goodnight kiss on top of her head, and Ed and Ted announced they were gonna start calling him “Lover Boy” from now on. Cancer manned the wheel and the rest of the crew turned in for the night. Once again, Jessie was spared of a single nightmare, but not a strange, vivid dream that caused her to wake up sweating while everyone else was still sound asleep.

She sat up in her bunk for a minute to bring her brain fully into the waking world. The dream had been so real. When she woke up in her own bunk, instead of in Dyne’s container, she’d been terribly confused. She’d dreamed of a beautiful lady standing on water, with fish circling below her bare feet. The lady had called Jessie “Amphitrite” and had told where to find the keys to her answers.

Jessie took a deep breath and slipped out of her bunk and into her boots. She always slept fully clothed for her own sanity.

She snuck into Rammus’s cabin, which he shared with Cancer and Scully. Her heart was pounding—not so much out of fear, but more from an adrenaline rush. Cancer was still in the wheelhouse, so the little room wasn’t as scary for the moment. She kneeled on the floor and reached inside the leftmost-placed boot of six. The keys were in there just like in the dream. She almost gasped when her fingertips brushed them. This was too unreal.

With aid of the noise machine giving her auditory cover, she reached in with both hands and lifted out the keys without making a sound, just as instructed in the dream. She wrapped them in a fist, then headed down the hall and grabbed a lantern by a flight of stairs leading to the main deck. The lantern had been in the dream too, and the lady had expressed particular importance to take it. She didn’t question it; she just took it and snuck out onto the deck.

The wind and waves were moderate, only strong enough to make someone without their sea legs sick. Jessie worked with the swells to reach the container door. She picked the small key the dream had pointed out to her, undid both padlocks, and slipped inside. She closed the door behind her with little noise, another detail the lady had stressed, and turned on the battery-powered lantern. Its light temporarily blinded her, then she lifted it above her head and looked around the container. It was mostly empty, except for something lying on the far end. Now all she had to do was wake the sleeper and she would get her answers.

A tiny voice in her head warned her that this was a very bad idea. However, that rational voice was drowned out by the lady’s eager instruction. She also insisted the answers were worth the danger. Jessie crossed to the far end. The container was definitely empty, except for her and a sleeping Dyne, who lay on a cot in a t-shirt and shorts. He lay with his back to her. His trench coat, boots, and whatnot were set by the foot of the cot. Everything looked perfectly ordinary, so why—?

Jessie squinted and brought the lantern closer to Dyne’s arm. Were here eyes playing tricks or was his skin turning a greyish blue? It had to be. Either that or the lighting was messing with his skin tone. She looked at her own arms to double check. She looked quite normal. She brought the lantern near his feet, which were the same greyish blue, and they were inching off the cot.

She took a step back, fearing she’d woken him with the light. Thankfully he slept on. Apparently he was just moving in his sleep a little, even though it didn’t look like he’d straightened his knees at all. But his feet were most certainly sliding off the bed. She went back to his torso and his shoulder looked higher off the cot than before, yet his other shoulder was still on it, and she could’ve sworn his t-shirt fit loosely. Now it looked uncomfortably tight around his arm… which was supposed to be smaller than Mido’s

Jessie looked back at his feet, which had both slid off the bed while his legs were still bent. They looked bigger, too. She took another step back. This was really strange.

A dorsal sail burst through Dyne’s shirt, almost hitting her in the face. A matching fin sprouted from the back of his forearm, which she swore was bigger as well. Was she still dreaming? Dyne’s shirt ripped in several places and fell in shreds on the cot, which was bowing under his increasing size. Jessie took another step back, not quite believing what she was seeing. She knew she should get out, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the transformation.

Dyne groaned and rubbed his eyes. “Time’s up already? Ugh, I ache all over this time.” He rolled onto his back and onto his dorsal sail. He stopped moving but continued growing. “What the hell?” His torso was now as long as the cot. He set his feet on the floor, then sat up and looked at Jessie.

Her eyes were level with his sternum. She backed up even more.

“Jessie! What are—put the light out!”

A scream got stuck in her throat. She gaped at the monster glaring at her.

Dyne doubled over and his shorts ripped at the seams. He rolled to his hands and knees and reached for her. “Put that thing out!”

The last thing she saw was a webbed hand big enough to crush her head before it swiped the lantern out of her hand. It crashed against the wall and fell to pieces in the sudden darkness. She groped behind her and backed all the way to the other end.

“Don’t you dare open the door. You’re—” he groaned, then spoke in a strained voice. “—stuck with me until dawn. Now don’t move until I say you can.” He sucked in a breath and held it. There was a moment of silence, followed by two huge bangs against the container, the first against the ceiling, and the second against the sides. The metal shook and vibrated. “Ow.”

Dyne’s voice sounded a little deeper and much more resonant, and from somewhere higher than her head. Jessie sank to the floor and hugged her knees.

“Great. Now it feels like I’m back in my own bunk, but without any blankets or mattress.” Something meaty thumped in front of where the door should be. “What the hell went through your mind to come sneaking in here? Wait. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know the extent of your stupidity. I’m so beyond pissed that I can barely speak right now.”

Something told her that things would get worse come morning if she didn’t tell him the truth. She swallowed. “Amphitrite told me to come in here.”

“And you just listened ?”

“I—it was—I couldn’t help it. As soon as I figured out where you were hiding, I became obsessed with getting in here, even though I knew I shouldn’t.”

“Oh, that was you tapping my container. Damn it, I thought you were O’Toole.”

“Was that you who splashed me?”

“Yep. Now soothe my doubts about how stupid I hope you’re not and describe Amphitrite to me.”

Jessie tried to recall Amphitrite’s appearance. The directions she’d given were clearer though. “Pretty. Very pretty.”

“Uh huh. Great. Try to impress me with something less vague.”

She wracked her brains to recall the dream. “Tall. Wearing something like a toga. Long, curly hair. She was standing on water in a cave. Fish were circling her feet, which were bare and looked human.”

A pregnant silence followed. Dyne broke it with a heavy sigh that sounded big enough to come from a whale. “Great. Now she’s meddling with you to get under my skin.” His voice then came out flat. “Did she leave a message?”

Jessie didn’t know what he was talking about but words came out of her mouth before she even knew what she was saying. “If you don’t tell me everything I should know, she’ll be very angry.” She fell silent and mulled over the words that weren’t exactly her own.

“Yep, that sounds like her. Royal bitch. Something you’re not. You’re very lucky it wasn’t your own stupid idea to break in here. I came very close to killing you.”