Chapter Three -

The boat rocks unsteadily in the waves, its top heavy mast pivoting back and forth in the wind. Ophelia's mother sits next to Othello while Ophelia and her father reel in the sail. After about an hour on the water, there was a unanimous vote to stow the sail and use the small motor to drive back to shore. The wind had picked up exponentially, what was once a steady breeze had become a harsh wind. With the winds, the waves had also increased.

"That should do it," her father says as he ties the final strap over the mast, its once billowing sail, now tied securely to the frame.

"This was a terrible idea," Ophelia mutters dejectedly.

"At least it won't take us long to get back, right? That's the shore, isn't it? Only about three miles out?" Her mother says, almost worriedly.

"Don't worry, I got this. We will be back in no time," her father says cheerfully, but Ophelia can hear the slight tremble to his words.

He starts the motor with ease, the small boat slicing through the waves as it starts its journey back to the dock. The motor isn't a large one, they probably aren't going much faster than about ten miles per hour, but it's better than nothing.

Ophelia shuffles closer to her brother and wraps a towel around the two of them. The sky has darkened considerably and, combined with the wind, has dropped the temperature by quite a few degrees. She tries to ignore the worried look on her father's face as the storm continues to come towards them as a faster pace than the boat, the dark line of clouds only a couple of miles out.

"We probably shouldn't have come out this far," Ophelia says, voicing her concerns. Her mother pins her father with an accusing stare.

"Well, I wasn't really expecting the storm..." he says, avoiding eye contact.

Ophelia sighs; she supposes he is right. The man from the marina did say they would be fine. Then again, Ophelia has had a feeling this day wouldn't go well, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.

Ever since she heard what the village man had to say, something has been nagging at the back of her mind, begging...pleading...to be heard. Quiet whispers in the back of her mind, urging her to stay away from the water.

As the waves start to crash over the front of the bow, Ophelia realises she should've listened to the voices...should've listened to their pleads to stay away...to run. Fear spreads through Ophelia's system as her instincts tell her this is wrong. This won't end well.

A loud clap of thunder sounds, frightening the small family. A small cry escapes Othello's lips as more thunder rumbles above them, the occasional bolt visible among the clouds. Ophelia pulls her brother closer to hr side.

"The owner did say life jackets were in the bench, right?" Ophelia hears her father ask.

"Yes, why?" She replies, eager to have a safety of a life jacket around her.

"Because there is only one in here."

Ophelia whips her head around to face him. "What do you mean?!"

"I mean, there is only one jacket, that's it."

"There has to be others somewhere," her mum says, quickly standing to search through every nook and cranny of the small boat. Ophelia begins to fear the storm more and more as no others are found.

"Here, you take it," her mother says, handing the life jacket to Othello. He hesitantly puts it on, the adult large easily swallowing his tiny frame.

The boat continues to rock unsteadily on the waves as the surf gets higher and higher. The strong gale whips around the little boat, Ophelia's hair blowing into her face.

Her eyes scan the horizon as the storm looms closer, the haze of the rain now visible. She can hear it before it hits, the pattering of rain on the ocean's surface filling her ears as the rain drops begin to soak through her clothes. Goosebumps travel up her arms as the cool precipitation settles on her skin.

Thunder erupts once more through the sky as the rain continues to come down harder and harder. The rolling swells are now at least 6 feet high, the boat bouncing around on the water like a spinning top, the motor doing its best to keep them going in a straight line.

"Are we even getting closer?" Ophelia shouts over the sound of the heavy rain.

"I-I...no, we aren't," her father stammers, a fearful look on his face.

"What do you mean we aren't getting any closer?!" Her mum nearly shouts.

"The current is pushing us out just as fast as we are driving in!"

Othello starts to cry as the boat crashes over another wave, water spraying over the bow and soaking Ophelia to her bones.

"Do something, Jim!" Ophelia's mother shouts at her father.

"Do what? Paddle?!" He snaps back as he struggles to aim the nose of the boat into the waves.

Ophelia grips the side of the boat with one hand and holds her brother tightly to her side with the other. Fear creeps up her spine as the boat rises and falls with the growing swells. Her muscles tense as she struggles to remain calm under the circumstances.

As the little boat rises up on another wave, Ophelia's gaze is drawn to a splash in the water a few meters away. A black tail rises up out of the water before splashing back down into the raging sea.

She recognises that tail.

It was the same tail she saw whilst standing on the beach that night. An extreme sense of foreboding and fear settles in her bones, her breaths becoming shallow pants as she eyes the spot where the creature once was.

"Dad?" She mumbles shakily. "Dad we need to get back, now," she says, this time more audible. She isn't sure where her fear is coming from, but she knew it was about time she started trusting her instincts.

"I'm trying, sweetie!" He yells over the storm.

"Dad please!" She nearly screams as the boat turns sideways.

The village man's words echo in her head like an endless chant. Over and over again the same words repeat themselves in her brain.

"I saw a tail nearly six feet long..."

"Nothing left but a pool of blood..."

This time, she sees the tail, it is closer. its black scales glint in the light of a lightening strike like shining armour. Her heart thunders in her chest as the black fins sink back into the water where it hides, taunting her with its mystery.

"Did you guys see that?" She says.

None not them seem to hear her.

More water crashes down on them both from the rain and the raging sea. The boat is nearly flooded from the many waves that have crashed over its sides. By now, both her mother and Othello are crying, their pale faces reflecting the fear on Ophelia's own face.

"The steering's not working!" Jim shouts as he struggles to turn the boat to its rightful position.

Despite his efforts, the boat turns sideways, its flat sides facing the onslaught of crashing waves. One of the largest swells she has seen so far comes towards them, its peak at least twelve feet tall. With the bow not heading straight into the wave, the small boat will easily flip.

Ophelia jumps into the fray, helping her father to steer the boat back into the correct position. Their efforts prove to be futile as the boat only stays in the same position, almost as if something was holding it in place...

Ophelia faintly hears her mother scream as the wave climbs higher and higher, closer and closer. Ophelia latches onto her brother, her nails practically digging into his skin as she desperately holds onto him.

The boat is pulled towards it as the swell sucks in the surrounding water. A white cap forms on the crest. The wave arches down...

The waves peak crashes straight into the middle of the boat, a wall of white slamming into the boat's occupants. The water first slams Ophelia into the bottom of the boat before it flips entirely, Ophelia being tossed around with it, her hold on Othello was long gone.

Different things crash into her from all angles. Wood. Fibreglass. Skin. Metal. Water invades her senses, her nose, eyes and throat burning as liquid forces itself into her body. She screams into the water as she is compressed, tossed, flipped through the raging sea, no longer knowing which way is up.

Ophelia forces herself to kick her legs, urging her body against the treacherous ocean. She kicks, claws for the surface, her body aching but her mind ignoring it, the adrenaline in her system pushing the pain aside.

Finally, her hand breaches the surface of the water, her head and shoulders quickly following. Her eyes sting as she opens them, her lungs barely catching a breath before she is crushed by another wave.

Kicking back to the surface, she sputters and coughs between eager inhales. She whips her head back and forth, searching for any of her family. She spots the boat in the distance and she desperately swims to its upturned form. Its tiny motor and rutter stick in the air like a flag.

Through the relentless crashes of waves and crackles of lightening, she reaches the sailboat. She claws desperately for nothing to grab onto on its smooth surface. She latches onto the rutter, refusing to let go as another wave washes over her.

"O-Ophelia?" A voice says. Her head whips around to find her parents pulling themselves onto the boat on the other side.

"Mum!" She practically sobs, her tears mixing with the rain and ocean around her.

"Where's Othello?" Ophelia mumbles. "Mum, Where's Othello?" She says louder this time.

"I-I don't know!"

"Othello!" Ophelia screams into the torrents of wind and rain. "Othello!"

"Ophelia!" She hears behind her. She looks back to see her little brother barely keeping his head above water as the life vest has floated up over his shoulders.

Without thinking, Ophelia releases her hold on the boat and swims out to her brother. A giant wave crashes over her and she flips under the water. Kicking back to the surface, she scans the water for her brother. The boat is still behind her, though much further away now.

Before she can spin back around, a little hand is latching onto her shoulder.

"Ophelia," Othello sobs as he practically crawls onto her shoulders.

"Othello you have to let go, I can't swim with you on my back," she instructs. Kicking her legs in an effort to keep them above the crashing waves.

"Just put your hand on my shoulder." Othello does as he is told, his little body shaking with fear and exhaustion.

The brother and sister swim their way back to the boat, their limbs aching and their lungs burning. The waves and rain are a continuous onslaught as they pull themselves onto the boat's upturned hull.

"Are you two alright?" Jim asks them. Ophelia only manages a nod as another wave splashes over them.

Ophelia's face pales, her heart thudding in her chest, her fingers tightening around the rutter. There, just behind her parents was another splash...the tail again. It was hardly ten feet from them. It almost seems as if the creature is haunting her.

"What was that, Ophelia?" Othello asks shakily.

"It's going to be okay," she says, avoiding her question.

Her mother's shrill scream startles Ophelia and she whips her head to the side. Her mother raises a shaking finger and points behind Ophelia.

"Mum, what is it?" She shouts just before another wave crashes, rocking the upturned boat.

"I don't know. It was big a-and black," she sobs, latching onto Jim.

"Everyone get on the boat. Whatever it is, we don't want it to attack us!" Her father shouts over the wind and rain, his curly hair plastered to his forehead.

As Ophelia's parents struggle to climb the rocking, upturned sailboat on the other side, Ophelia helps her brother on their side. Water rains down on them like pellets of ice, nearly stinging her skin with the force. Her body ignores the harsh stabs of pain in her abdomen as she shoves her brother onto the ship's hull.

After he has safely climbed on top, albeit sliding around as if he were on ice, Ophelia climbs up behind him, taking her father's outstretched hand. Just as her body is completely out of the water, a harsh grip latches onto her ankle, tugging her back into the sea.

Ophelia screams as she nearly loses her father's grip. She kicks her legs as hard as she can, her heel catching tender flesh before the grip on her ankle loosens. She frantically scrambles back onto the hull, her body refusing to acknowledge the pain.

She whips around to see the head and shoulders of a man sinking back into the water, black hair disappearing under the waves.

"Was that--"

"A man?" Her father finishes.

"H-how?" Her mother cries. "That's not possible!"

Ophelia's shoulders shake as barely repressed sobs rack her body. Her bleeding fingernails grip the small ridges of the boats underbelly, her bleeding body barely holding on.

A loud, unnatural hiss has her rolling over, her legs pushing her up higher on the hull. There, grasping the edge of the boat with long, black claw, is a man. But he can't be a man...no.

Sharp claws lead to long, webbed fingers. Her gaze travels up pale, muscled arms to a neck with strange slits on the side, all the way up to the horrifying gaze of an inhuman creature. Obsidian eyes stare back at her before his lips peel back to reveal razor sharp teeth. Lightning flashes behind them, its light reflecting off the creature's wet skin.

She faintly hears the screams and cries of her family as she remains frozen in her spot. The creature uses its claws to drag itself further up the hull, closer and closer. The thing that horrifies Ophelia the most, is the long black fish tail that is attached to the thing's body.

He has no legs...no. Only an obsidian black tail that spreads gracefully behind him. She knows that tail. The man's lips pull back in a hiss, revealing the two rows of sharp teeth, he flickers violently in the flashes of lightning. His eyes shine with unrestrained malice before his eyes lock on Ophelia's. An emotion crosses the creature's face, but it is quickly erased before Ophelia can identify it.

As the creature gets within three feet of her, Ophelia finds herself unfrozen. She scrambles backwards, her bare feet slipping on the slick surface. Her very bones shake with terror as the creature gets closer and closer, the rain crashing waves creating an image she will never forget.

She chokes on unintelligible pleas as the monster looms closer still. Her father's hands grasp her shoulders, holding her from falling back down.

The village man wasn't wrong. He wasn't crazy. He was telling the truth. There are monsters in the sea. Horrid, vicious monsters with sharp teeth and claws. Ophelia kicks her feet at the creature.

It lets out a hiss as her heel catches its jaw, its face jerking to the side harshly. The creature slides back into the water and disappears. Ophelia sighs in relief, but too soon.

Ophelia cries out as the monster's clawed hand latches onto her ankle, having launched itself out of the water with its powerful tail. He pulls himself up higher, grasping onto the knee of her other leg.

Ophelia kicks and screams, her body thrashing in the monster's grip. As another wave crashes over them, her father's hands slip, letting her fall into the monster's embrace. Ophelia and the monster slide down the boat, the screams of her family loud in her ears before she is submerged under the waves.

Water instantly invades her senses. Her eyes sting, her lungs and nose burning. She thrashes, kicks, claws...anything to get away. Her efforts go to waste as her body slowly starts to shut down, the air in her lungs quickly being replaced by sea water.

Ophelia is vaguely aware of arms wrapping around her waist and behind her head before she loses consciousness, submerged in darkness.

And so she is taken.

Another victim of the mysterious sea.