"Bring me the keys and go back up on deck." The captain demanded. His disappointment with the new crewman was evident on his face.

"Yes, Sir." The young man's eyes flickered from the mermaid to his captain. In a rush, he dropped the blanket and ran over as ordered handing the keys over to him.

She, of course, wasn't going to kill the young man. She was only going to knock him out to get the keys away from him.

She knew she wasn't going to last long on this ship and was getting desperate for a way off of it. She was tired, hungry, and uncomfortably dry.

"Trying to charm my crewmen into giving you the keys?"

She glared at the captain, "I was just trying to make him more comfortable by covering up. It seemed to be bothering him."

He chuckled as he unlocked her cell and grabbed her shackles. "I doubt his comfort is what you were concerned about." He gently guided her out of her cell and up the stairs back into his cabin.

The captain was brave trusting himself alone with her, but she knew that it wasn't out of stupidity. The captain was cautious around her. She could tell that he knew quite a bit about mermaids. He didn't fall for any of the usual tricks that she was taught when she was younger on how to lure men. He even had his crew was well trained. While on the boat no one slipped up and uttered another's name.

The mermaid sat down and he slid into the seat next to her, as he watched her every move.

"How about we strike a deal." The captain asked her.

She looked at him suspiciously, "Perhaps. What do you have in mind?" Her demeanor was full of caution. The captain was like a stingray. Beautiful to look at but rub him the wrong way and it could result in death.

"I give you something, and in exchange, you give me something. Sound fair?"

"Fair enough for now," she said.

"Good, I'm glad that you can be reasonable. So, what are your first demand?" He asked.

She was very hungry and her body was crying out for food, but she looked down at the shackles that were cutting into her wrist.

"Take these off," She said holding her arms out to him.

He laughed, "No."

"They are hurting my wrist. Take them off while I'm in here like you said yesterday I can't escape and honestly I too weak to even try. I also want them removed while I'm in my cell."

"Fine," he agreed, "but in exchange, I want your name."

"Why do you want my name so badly? You can't use it against me. It doesn't work that way."

"I know, but the fact you won't give it to me makes me want it," He said.

She sighed, "It's Tullulah."

"That's a ghastly name," He sneered.

"It's a beautiful name. It means leaping waters," She argued.

He chuckled as he got up to unshackle her, "I take it all of your kind names' have something to do with water."

"Most of us, yes."

She rubbed her sore wrists, "I'm also very hungry and very thirsty."

"Auh, well that is a different bargain," he told her. "You are going to have to earn your keep here. My officers and I agreed that you can have food but only if you provide a tear," He said.

"That's an outrageous demand. I know you can make a lot of gold off one tear," Tullulah said.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Then starve."

"I've already given you a tear so I have already paid for at least one meal the way I see it, you owe me."

The captain smirked, "I owe you nothing. You are my prisoner and I can give or take whatever I wish."

"But these were your terms!" She argued.

"Fair enough," He said as he got up and told the door to bring food and water. He then shackled her to her chair. "Don't worry, I'll take them back off after the door is closed and locked."

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Minutes later several men brought in several trays of food and a pitcher of water.

After the captain took the shackles off Tullulah dove in. First, she picked up the entire pitcher and guzzled down every drop. It was flat and not nearly as satisfying as salty seawater would have been but it helped to deaden the unquenchable thirst in her throat.

She loaded her plate with everything that sat before her. As soon as she dug her teeth into a piece of meat she quickly spat it back out and looked at the captain completely appalled, "Human!?"

Fletcher looked at the piece of ham that she rejected, "No, pork, but I find it disturbing that you seem to find it that similar to human flesh."

Tullulah pushed the meat away from the rest of the food to eat around it.

"I take it you don't care for humans then?" he asked surprised.

"No."

"That's odd for your kind."

Tullulah knew all too well that it was typical for "her kind," she had been ridiculed for it for as long as she could remember.

"What do you eat then?" Fletcher asked out of curiosity.

"Mostly fish. I can't seem to kill anything that can talk to me," she told him.

"Meaning humans then?"

Tullulah nodded, "Yes, but dolphins, whales, and some other sea creatures seem to have enough intelligence to be able to talk to me."

Fletcher didn't realize that mermaids could communicate with sea life, but he also never kept a mermaid alive long enough to find that out.

Tullulah suddenly stopped eating and jumped up. She tilted her head around as if she was listening for something.

"What are you doing?" Fletcher asked.

"Shh," she hushed, "do you hear that?"

He listened but heard nothing. Rage filled him, he figured the mermaid was trying to trick him, and he would not be played for a fool, "I will not fall for this game."

"Quiet," she demanded again and ran to the outer wall of the cabin and pressed her ear against it. Her eyes grew wide and she quickly turned toward him, "Sea serpent."

Tullulah ran to one of the tiny windows trying to look down at the sea below her.

"Ridiculous," he stated and headed over to pull her away from the window.

As he approached her she grabbed his arm and pointed toward the sea, "Look, just there."

Fletcher looked down toward the ocean and saw the ridged fins just break the water before dipping back down.

"Shit," he hushed under his breath before making a break toward the door, With one loud bang from his fist, it flew open shortly and slammed behind him when he left. Tullulah heard him yelling orders and the scurry of feet across the deck.

Fletcher was preparing his men for the approaching attack when the giant head broke the water's surface and hissed at the crew with its maroon head fins flailing wildly. Everyone on deck stalled in a moment of terror giving the serpent enough time to dive toward a group of men.

"Scatter!" Fletcher called out to them. The men dove out of the way and only a couple ended up in the serpent's jaws.

In the cabin, Tullulah pulled at the door hoping that the captain or one of the crew forgot to lock it after he left. She wouldn't normally dive headfirst into the waters with a sea serpent but with it and the crew distracted she hoped to slip away from both predators safely. She tugged and pushed at the door but it didn't budge. The commotion outside the door didn't tell her how the battle was going and she felt helpless and trapped. She ran to the small windows again and tried to open them. Even if she would have been able to squeeze through the small hole the windows were shut tight. Tullulah pressed her face against the window to at least see what was happening outside but the fight was outside of her vision. With a sigh, she gave up and slide down against the wall.

Silence from the sea and cheers from the ship finally let Tullulah know that it was over. She expected the captain to come back in but hours passed and she saw know. She wondered if he had been killed in the fight and if that meant her death would soon be near. With the captain gone the crew most likely wouldn't want to bother with the mermaid or whatever plan their captain had for her.

The sun started to settle into its watery bed and darkness crept into the cabin. Tullulah wearied and looked around for a place to rest when her eyes landed on the captain's bed. She stood and walked over to the bed. The mattress was soft and the sheets felt silky against her skin. Comfort surrounded her and soon pulled her into a dead sleep.

The men on the deck had a great victory with very few casualties. After the battle the torn the monster apart hoping to part it out, like they did the mermaids, and sell some of its pieces when they reached land.

As darkness settled in Bobby headed toward his captain, "We will be stocked full after this."

Fletcher nodded in agreement, "I suppose we should head home, but I would like to try and squeeze some information out of that mermaid first. The mermaid territory wouldn't be that far out of our way and we have enough room for a few more catches."

The captain and Bobby headed to his quarters to retrieve the mermaid and put her back into her cage only to find her asleep in Fletcher's bed.

"Do you want me to take her back down to her cell?" Bobby asked in a low whisper.

"No, let her sleep here tonight, she saved our lives today. We can at least repay her with one night of comfort."

"I think we are playing with fire, captain. The longer we keep her alive the more likely we are to get burned," Bobby said voicing his concerns.

"I know, old friend, just a little longer and we will be done with her."

Bobby left and the captain moved a chair to the end of the bed leaning back and propping his feet up.

Tullulah had slipped into a nightmare. She swam into the cave that she was all too familiar with.

It was a dry cave that had an underwater entrance. It wasn't easily found she had stumbled across it when she was a child and it became one of her favorite hiding spots and it was also a perfect place to hide him. She had found some toys for him on a merchant vessel that was run aground. "Seth," she cheerfully called out, but he wasn't there to greet her.

Dread filled her as she looked around the cave, "Seth?" her voice echoed off the walls.

"Seth, where are you?" Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she saw her little boy sleeping in the corner of the cave near the water she smiled to herself and relief washed over her.

"Lazy boy," She said to herself.

She started to pull herself over to him when her mother walked out from the shadows of the cave and kicked the boy over to face her.

His eyes were wide open and glossed over with death the terror still froze on his face.

"SETH!" Tallulah screamed, she sat up in bed and looked around the darkroom trying to figure out where she was. She was breathing heavily and tears threatened to spill onto her cheeks.

The captain looked at her with his eyebrows raised, "Who's Seth?"