The merfolk extended its own arm, and for one absurdly comical moment he thought it was going to shake his hand. Instead it gripped his forearm, its long fingers wrapping around him with ease. This was painful and instantly menacing.

Marty stared in confusion at the merfolk. It blinked again, and its puffy lips parted, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

Alarmed, he tried tugging his hand free. The creature’s grip was like a vice.

He tried again, pulling with all his strength and kicking with his flippers.

With its other hand, the merfolk yanked the respirator from his mouth.

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

ELSA

It was the most astonishing sight Elsa had ever seen: a human being floating face-to-face, palms-to-palms, with a living and breathing mermaid.

She couldn’t fathom what Marty must be thinking, having made first contact with a creature he had been chasing most of his adult life, an endeavor that had cost him his career and reputation. Equally, she couldn’t fathom what the merfolk must be thinking. Did it see any of itself in Marty, who shared more anatomical similarities with it than anything else in the oceans? Did it recognize in him a distant, land-dwelling cousin? Did its kind have a collective unconsciousness, and did humans have a place in it? Then again, the mermaid was a primitive animal with no comprehension of modern manufacturing. Clad in his black neoprene wetsuit and twinset tanks and all the hoses and tubes and other scuba accoutrements, Marty was possibly as alien to it as a human a million years in the future would be to her.

Marty extended his hand, as if wanting to touch the mermaid, perhaps wanting to convince himself it was real.

The mermaid gripped his forearm.

Elsa’s awe turned to apprehension when Marty began struggling, a conga line of bubbles streaming upwards from his respirator…then to terror when the creature plucked the respirator from his mouth.

She could hardly believe her eyes. What had been a peaceful, glorious meeting of kindred species transformed into one of horror and bedlam in a matter of seconds. And all she could think was:

It knows. It knows he needs the respirator to breathe. It’s trying to kill him.

Acting on instinct, Elsa removed the titanium knife from the sheath attached to the left shoulder strap of her BCD and swam toward the creature. It turned its head in her direction. For the first time she saw into its eyes. They were watchful and knowing like an owl’s, sending a shot of icy fear down her spine.

Elsa would have plunged the serrated blade into the mermaid’s chest if she had the chance, but it seemed to recognize the threat she posed and vanished into the black water.