Bloody hell…

Jason looked worriedly over the railing, while Shamira growled madly, her fangs showing as she barked down insistently at what floated in the water. Ethan punched the helm, letting a loud growl himself. He heard the old engines rumble, struggling for dear life. After a minute, they finally stopped. The seasick doctor was startled when he snarled loudly.

“What the hell is up with the damn sea?”

Kalani did not lose his grip on his shoulder, not even when he leapt down the small steps that led to the helm, bolting onto the deck. Jason stood silently while Ethan slammed his hands onto the railing, looking down. He ignored Shamira’s barks and growls, his eyes narrowing at the huge mass of seaweed that had been emerging all around.

It had begun slowly. Just small leafs emerging, broken, ripped. They floated with that disgusting black colour on the waves. Now, however, they were too many. Ethan had ignored Jason’s worry, sailing over them; there was no chance of sailing around them. They only increased in number with each inch away from the cay. Of course, they had tangled, latched weightlessly onto the boat. And now his ship’s engines had stopped working, these things for sure making a mess out of the propellers.

Ethan huffed, shaking his head.

“We can’t get ahead like this.”

Jason shivered, seeing him bolt for the cabin. There was a dreadful look in his eyes.

“What now?”

By the time Jason followed inside, Ethan had already got hold of something. He only had a second to catch the long pole he was thrown.

“We got to move those things out the way. I will check the engines while you push them off the way. I’m not going back now.”

Jason stayed calm, but that did not mean he was not nervous.

“We have been looking around for some time. Maybe we should turn back and-“

“No turning back, Jay. We have enough food. That refrigerator with snacks and beer is not the only one here. A sailor must be prepared. Don’t you think a captain would hide most of the food from a gluttonous crew?”

Jason only blinked. And so, Ethan grew tired, grumbling with the best corsair tone, even Kalani glaring.

“What you looking at for? We are not going forward, or backwards, if you just stand there like a fool. How will I set my ship free if there’s yuck all over her?”

Jason finally nodded, walking out of the cabin once more, leaving Ethan to take a deep breath and ponder. He could only think of how to keep on going deeper into the sea and find Matthew.

Shamira had not stopped barking outside. Neither of the humans had noticed a small change of tone in her barks. She had whined, seeing a figure in the distance. It emerged to take a deep breath, far enough to blend with the distant waves. By the time Jason returned outside, it had submerged. The man caught a glimpse of a huge black fin, a big striped tail sinking after a graceful calculated move. It was soon gone inside the currents.

“A killer whale?”

Shamira knew better. Jason raised an eyebrow, because she pawed at his legs again, nervously, pointing at the waves ahead; as well, at the sickly black seaweed around.

The human could not understand her intentions or worry. The dog whined, because she was not acknowledged how she wanted to, she was only caressed gently. He was thinking she feared the waters and its inhabitants, which was partly true.

“It’s only an orca. It won’t near.”

She wished the merfolk would near, but she knew they would not. She could only growl at the waves, still painted by black threads, floating up from the depths. All this seaweed made her fur shiver. She somehow knew it was not vegetation. It was not harmless seaweed. Her eyes never left it, wary.

It was dead now. But it had been alive, reaching slowly. The two humans kept trying to push through it, determined.