Others have canceled in droves. Retiree Harold Winters was among them. "We wanted a peaceful trip, not the fright of our lives," he said.
The captain"s sighting has not been confirmed. The coast guard is warning that it could be a case of delirium brought on by his traumatic capsize and rescue.
Three others were believed to be onboard the boat with the captain. Neither they nor the boat have yet been recovered.
The boat was owned by a company called Mermaid Tours.
I stumbled away from the shop. I was in one of those nightmares where you"re stuck somewhere, trying every exit, but there"s no way out and every step takes you deeper into the horror. It had happened already. The monster had attacked a ship, all because of me. My head swirled with nausea and panic.
I found myself out on the deck again. I leaned over the railing, and my stomach heaved. My mouth tasted like iron. I looked down at the sea, deep navy in the darkness. Little bright flecks sparkled white as the water lapped and splashed against the ship. There was another boat down there. I could just make out its shape. A small yacht. It looked as if it was coming toward us. Maybe they were checking to see if their lifeboats were working or something. Well, they"d be needing them soon, unless I could come up with a miracle.
I had to do something! I couldn"t just stand here staring at the sea.
Then it came to me.
I ran up steps, down ladders, along corridors, banged on doors, called through open windows: "TRIGGY! THE MONSTER!"
People emerged from their rooms. Dressing gowns were pulled around bare bellies and boxer shorts; women came out of their cabins in silk nighties, kids in twisted-up pajamas.
"Triggy!" I shouted at everyone I saw. "The monster! I"ve seen it!"
"Where?" Open-mouthed gasps.
"Over there!" I pointed - away from the island. I pointed and pointed. "Tell everyone. Tell the crew!" I ran on as everyone I spoke to gathered along one side of the boat: all gazing out to sea, desperate for a sighting of something I wished with all my heart I would never see again.
I had to find the captain.
I ran on, down more corridors - until I barged slap-bang into someone.
"Hey, what"s all this?" It was a woman in a uniform. She grabbed hold of my elbows, holding me at arms" length.
"I need to find the captain," I gasped. "I"ve seen the monster!"
The woman frowned. "Yes, dear. I"m sure you have. Now, come on, why don"t you -"
"I have!" I burst out. "I can prove it. It"s - it"s -" I gulped. The memory of it took the breath out of me for a second. I started again. "It"s enormous, and it"s got tentacles."
"We"ve all seen the papers, sweetheart," the woman said, smiling. "Now, if you want an excuse to visit the captain, you can just say so. He"s always happy for you kids to have a quick look around the cabin."
Bingo! "Okay!"
The woman gently shook her head as she pointed toward some stairs. "It"s up there. Turn right at the top, straight on to the end, and it"s through the door ahead of you. But knock first. He doesn"t take kindly to being barged in on."
"Thanks!" I took the stairs three at a time.
I bashed on the door. Come on, come on!
No one answered. Come on! No time for politeness. I tried the door. It swung open.
"I need to talk to the captain," I said breathlessly as I burst into the room.
Two men were sitting in front of a load of dials drinking coffee. One of them swiveled around. "Now, hang on. What"s the -"
"Are you the captain?"
"I certainly am," he said, "and you can"t just -"
"I"ve seen the sea monster!"
The captain leaned forward in his seat. "The sea monster?"
I nodded.
His face relaxed into a slight smile. "Now, listen, you want me to tell you something about this sea monster?" he asked. I swallowed, and nodded again.
He lowered his voice. "It doesn"t exist."
I held his eyes. "It does! I"ve seen it."
The captain leaned back in his seat. "Okay, let"s have it, then. Big thing with tentacles, was it?"
"Yes! That"s exactly what it was!"
"Right." He was smiling, laughing at me. I had to convince him.
"It"s - it"s enormous!"
"Mm-hm. Anything else?" the captain asked in a bored voice.
"The tentacles - they"re tapered at the end."
He turned back to his tea. I racked my brain. What else - what else?
"And hairy! And they"ve got huge great suckers all along them!" I blurted.
The captain put his cup down. "They what?" he asked, his face suddenly hard, and focused on mine.
"And they"re - they"re green, and gray underneath, and warty . . ." My voice trailed away as I remembered the sight of it. My teeth chattered.
The captain turned to the other man. "That"s exactly what my friend at the coast guard said."
"Sir, the newspaper report -"
The captain shook his head. "Those things weren"t in there. Come on, man. Face the facts. You saw the dials. You know we"ve been stuck here, spinning on the spot like a child"s top."
"Yes, but you said yourself that if we made a mammoth effort, we could get out of it."
"Exactly, and we need to do that now. There"s something going on and it"s time we faced up to it."
He moved his chair closer to mine and leaned toward me. "Okay, then," he said. "You"d better tell me exactly where you saw the sea monster. . . ."
I"d done it! The ship had changed direction and we were heading directly away from the island.
I sneaked along the empty deck. Every single person on the ship must have been crowded on the other side, peering into the darkness for a sight of something they thought would make their vacation. I thought of its flailing tentacles, the floor littered with bones, and I shivered. If only they knew. I hoped for their sake that they never would.
I had to get back to the island. Maybe I could confess, after all. If I told Neptune what I"d done here, how I"d stopped a whole cruise ship full of people from discovering us, he might even forgive me.
I checked around one final time to make sure no one could see me. Then I slipped back into the water.
Moments later, the familiar warm feeling spread through my legs as they turned back into my tail. It shone bright in the moonlight.
Fish around me seemed to be dancing. I could make out their shapes in the darkness. They must have been happy for me. Maybe it was a sign. Everything was going to be all right. I swam along, lost in my hopes that I could somehow make up for everything that had happened over the last couple of weeks. Perhaps Shona and I would be best friends again and the island would be safe. The kraken might even go away and our lives in our new home could really start.
"EMILY!"
I started and looked back, twisting around in the water. Two people were leaning out over a balcony on the cruise ship, waving frantically. Why weren"t they on the other side with everyone else? I edged back toward the boat.
That"s when I saw who it was. Mom! Thin and wiry with wild hair, waving her arms. Someone was with her. Larger than life in a black cape. Millie! What the heck were - "Emily!" Mom screamed again.
I swam closer to the ship, but it was picking up speed. I could hardly keep up.
"Watch the propellers!" Mom screeched. "Don"t come too close!"
Millie had sunk into a deck chair next to her, her head in her hands. A small yacht was moored on a buoy, near where the ship had been only moments ago. The one I"d seen coming toward us. I recognized it now: it was our old boat! They"d followed me!
"Mom! What are you doing there?"
"We came to find you, but you"d just jumped off! It was Millie"s idea. The vision, the boat. She"d seen you on it."
"What? You never told me that."
Millie got up and stumbled across to clutch onto the railing. "I kept it to myself," she wailed. "I thought it would have sounded crazy. I"ve heard what people say about me." She leaned out over the railing. "I"m sorry, Emily. I was too busy worrying about my reputation."
"We didn"t think they"d get going again tonight." Mom called.
Oh no. My fault again. I"d made things worse again. The ship was only on the move because of me. And now it was moving faster and faster away - and taking my mom with it!
"Mom!" I tried to keep up. She was shouting something, but I couldn"t hear her anymore. I could hardly even see her as the ship picked up speed.
"MOM!" I yelled again, uselessly, into the darkness.
As the ship slipped away, I let the current carry me along. No energy left. I drifted away from the ship, from the island, from everything that mattered. Tears streamed down my face as I howled in the darkness.
And then - Noise.
Clattering - shuffling. What was happening? I mopped my cheeks with my palms.
I"d got caught in - what? Seaweed? I flapped and scratched at it. Please, not the monster. I looked around me.
A net! I was trapped in a net! A man was holding it, pulling at a piece of rope, dragging me through the water, propelling himself along with flippers.
Flapping my tail, I tried to push myself away, but he was too strong. I struggled and fought, biting at the net, pulling at it with my fingers, cutting my hands, sc.r.a.ping myself all over. It was like wire. There was no way I could get through it. I scratched and screamed as he drew me through the sea.
Soon the water grew warmer and shallower. We were at a tiny island: a little sandy bay with a few palm trees, a small boat moored to a pole, and a makeshift lantern propped on the beach. The man tied my net to the pole.
He pushed his mask and snorkel onto the top of his head. I couldn"t make out his face properly in the shadowy light. "I"m not going to hurt you," he said, panting from swimming so hard. "Trust me."
I didn"t say anything.
"Do - you - speak - English?" he asked in a very loud voice. I ignored him.
"Stay here," he said, as though I had a choice. He disappeared up the beach as I sc.r.a.ped and scratched at the net, trying to get out. Moments later, he was back with someone.
"Dad, you are completely obsessed," a girl"s voice was saying. "It"s the middle of the night!" The voice sounded familiar. But it couldn"t be.
"I said, didn"t I?" the man replied as they came closer. "I told you - I TOLD you! Now do you believe me?" He pointed in my direction. The other person waded toward me and peered at me in the darkness. As she came closer, I could just make out her face from the lantern"s light.
It was - It was - I gasped and jerked backward against the net, my mouth stupidly open. It couldn"t be! How -?
It was someone I knew. Someone I knew well. Someone I"d thought I would never ever have to see again.
Dad"s caught a fish at last.
Hallelujah.
He"s screaming and yelling at me to come and see it. You"d think no one had ever caught a fish in the sea before.
But it"s not a fish. He"s got someone with him.
"I told you! I told you!" he"s yelling. "I said I"d catch a mermaid, didn"t I? Do you believe me now?"
I get closer, and I notice a tail. No! It can"t be!
He has! He"s actually caught a mermaid!
It turns around. I see its face, its mousy hair, skinny little arms. It can"t be! It"s impossible! But it is. It is. I grab the lamp and bring it closer as I stare at her.
It"s Emily Windsnap!
And then I remember. I remember everything! The pool, the swimming lessons. She came to us once before she left, showing off as usual. She had a tail! She swam in front of us all, swirling it around. Grinning at me as if to say she"d won. It wasn"t enough for her that everyone thought she was so wonderful. Julia, the swimming instructor - they all liked her more than they liked me, all thought she was better than me. She had to rub it in, didn"t she? Had to prove they were right. As if I didn"t already know it.
How could I have forgotten?
There was something afterward - they gave us doughnuts. That was when it all faded. The doughnuts! Had they drugged us or something? And what the heck is she doing here?
Our eyes meet. She"s as shocked as I am.
"Mandy!" she says.