S. Welles - To Ocean's End

Something huge rammed me in the stomach, stunning me. I retained enough control to keep Jessie safe in her bubble as I absorbed the blow, then resumed swimming and getting swarmed. A water serpent came at me head-on. I veered at the last moment, letting it snap on water, then felt something tear my dorsal sail. I rolled and winced at the sharp pain, then forced myself to shrug it off. The chase had only begun.

Another big monster bashed me in my spine before I could roll back over, and then a sharklike monster dived at me. I tried to veer away but its jaws sank into my shoulder, just missing my hands. Pain lanced through my body. I coiled my tail around it and tore its body in half as I pried its jaws off with one hand. The sea clouded with blood.

I resumed swimming, holding Jessie down with one hand. I thought of sticking her in my mouth, since it’d make swimming easier, but chances were I’d need my fangs more than two hands. The nereids were unrelenting with their swarming and biting, but they weren’t causing any real damage. I had a tough hide with scales that acted like armor. I changed tactics and just ignored them. All the big monsters were closing in. They would play my cargo handicap to their advantage.

They attacked me in ones and twos. I retaliated with blasts of water, tore gaping wounds with my claws, and severed spines with my fangs as needed. I didn’t care how many I killed, didn’t care how much this would piss Amphitrite off. I was so sick and tired of letting my curse run my life.

After what felt like an eternity, the nereids’ numbers began to dwindle. I’d chomped a good number of them and spit them back out. Hopefully that’d broken their morale and they were more interested in preserving their survivors. However, the big monsters kept coming at me from all sides. I dodged and lashed out, and presented my back whenever I couldn’t get out of the way. There were just so many of them, and they attacked in rapid succession, barely keeping out of each other’s way as they took turns trying to take chunks out of me.

One evasive roll put me in the path of another monster shark. I tried to keep rolling but it bit down on one of my forearm fins and swam away with almost the whole thing in its mouth. I scored three lines in its flank as a second shark took a chunk out of my tail. My blood began to cloud the water, and I blocked out more pain.

The loss of my fin hampered me more than my shredded sail. My agility suffered and I began to miscalculate more and more as I drew closer to the surface. I braced against blows as I tried to swim away as fast as I could, slowing to lash out whenever something clamped on and didn’t let go. I soon lost count of my injuries. I was hurting all over but nowhere near tiring. The nereids disappeared altogether and the water serpents’ numbers dwindled. I’d torn up dozens of them and hundreds of nereids, but they still kept coming at me as I reached the surface and kept fleeing. I snuck Jessie a fresh pocket of air.

By then it became an all-out chase. I got bitten all over and rammed in the stomach several more times before they gave up the assault. I swam at full speed without looking back, using my command over water to propel me forward even faster, now that I wouldn’t run the risk of sucking unwanted company along with me. And good god I was in so much pain. I wanted to curl up into a ball and let the current take me wherever.

Some time later, I recognized the landmarks that belonged to the Straight of Gibraltar. I finally slowed to a stop and rolled onto my back, floating along the surface. I winced as salt water flushed my wounds, then released Jessie from her bubble. She still clung to my finger as she squinted at the sunlight and looked around.

“Is this the Strait of Gibraltar?”

“Yeah.” I let her sit on my chest and protectively held my hands around her. She leaned against one of them. “Are you alright?” I didn’t see any injuries on her, but she looked a bit rattled.

“I’ll be alright. I feel like I’ve been through the tumble dry cycle in a clothes dryer. I got jolted every time something rammed you.”

An apology sat on the tip of my tongue as I caressed her cheek with a finger. I didn’t say anything since I wasn’t the one who owed her an apology. Amphitrite did. Jessie held my finger to her cheek. I could sense gratitude emanating from her. No wonder Mido had fallen so hard for her. She was such a sweet, innocent thing. I felt so guilty for dragging her into my cursed life. I owed her so much for getting me out of there. I just… “You’re so different from the other avatars.”

“How so?”

“They were all eager to help me, but none of them tried as hard as you do. I owe you so much, even if my curse is never lifted.”

“You’re letting me keep Mido. You owe me nothing, so long as you never give up trying to lift your curse.”

“Fair enough.” I began speeding along the water on my aching back, swiftly passing through the strait. I dodged ships and boats, and didn’t try to hide myself from them. I was in too much pain to care.

“Shouldn’t you give swimming a break? You’re bleeding all over.”

“I want to get back to my ship. I can recover there. Plus I don’t want to run the risk of letting everything we just escaped from catch back up. Where was the shipping route headed before you left?”

“The Falkland Islands. We were gonna gonna work our way up the east side of both Americas to spend some family time back at everyone’s homes, unless you returned sooner.”

“I think we all need that after everything that’s happened.” I flung my mind southwest along the oceans’ rolling surface. Within minutes, I felt the familiar shape of the Pertinacious’s hull plowing through the water. She was halfway along the coast of Brazil. “Found em. We’ll be back on the ship in less than twenty four hours. Do you have any money on you?”

“Plenty. Why?”

I veered towards Morocco’s shore. “Go buy some food to last you until we get back. I’m not stopping for anything except bathroom breaks.” I swam right up onto the beach and set Jessie down. She hopped off my hands and marched right over to an open air market as dozens of people ran screaming from demon me. I took a moment to assess my numerous injuries while she bought food. I was missing half my dorsal sail and my entire right fin, and it looked like I was covered in more cuts and bite marks than a fish had scales. I was striped with blood trails, which reddened the surf, but I didn’t care. I was in too much pain to care about anything but getting back to my ship and crew.

Minutes later, Jessie marched back over with a bag of food and climbed into my hands. She gave me a concerned look, but I ignored it and the building pandemonium. I clutched her to my chest and dived just below the surface, then swam off at full speed and full force.

Jessie spent most of the ride dozing and thinking. She watched the ocean zoom by now and then, but it was just one cerulean blur between giant fingers. She thought about all she’d been through ever since escaping onto the Pertinacious, her gift of a relationship with Mido, the truth behind her given name and all the perks that went with it, what she’d done to help Dyne escape—she couldn’t believe it, now that she’d stop to think about it—and what else she could do to help lift his curse. She couldn’t help but wonder if she needed to play mediator and get the two to be nice to each other or something. It sounded ridiculous, but she’d already done crazier things.

Dyne swapped out air whenever she telepathically told him she was starting to feel lightheaded, and after a few trial periods, they figured out regular intervals to avoid such discomfort. Whenever she got hungry, Jessie ate the chicken burritos she’d bought. She couldn’t bring herself to ask for bathroom breaks though. Dyne figured out when she needed a couple when sensed her distress. He formed a seat out of water and put his giant, bloodied back to her. It was still awkward but her bladder felt so much better after. An empty bladder was a happy bladder.