“Want to hear a weird story?” she said. “Once, in the Philippines, I was filming an episode for my show in one of the western provinces. There’s this underground river there that’s really famous. It’s about eight kilometers long and just amazing. It puts these tunnels to shame. We filmed it for the show, and we were walking back to where we were staying along this off-the-beaten path. It was really steep in parts, going up through overgrown forest and limestone cliffs. We came to a spot with an amazing view out over the ocean, and we decided to camp there for the night. Well, here’s where the story gets weird. I woke up in the middle of the night to my crew calling my name from really far away, and I realized I was in a remote part of the forest. I was in my sleeping bag, just lying there on the ground, but it wasn’t where I went to sleep. When my crew found me, I was about a kilometer from where we made camp. I have no idea in the world how I got there. So—weird, huh?”

Jacky didn’t reply—didn’t show any signs that she’d heard a word of the story—but Rad continued talking regardless.

“Maybe I’m cursed or something because freaky stuff just seems to happen to me. There was another time, my crew and I were in Japan doing an episode on Suicide Forest. You know, that place people go to kill themselves? Well, we decided to camp overnight in the forest. I woke up in the middle of the night again because I heard a strange noise outside my tent. I unzipped the door to investigate and saw this horrifying old woman crawling toward me on all fours—torn clothes, unkempt hair in front of her face, you know, like the ghosts in movies. Well, I screamed and woke up—it was just a dream, okay? But the scream was real and my crew heard it. When I told them about the dream, they got scared. I figured it was because of where we were. The forest is hugely creepy. Anyway, we went back to sleep, and it wasn’t until the next day, when we were in the van heading back to Tokyo, that they told me they all dreamed of the creepy woman too—only in each of their dreams, she was crawling into my tent.”

Rad shivered at the memory and fell silent. She looked at Jacky’s face. Still alabaster, still serene, still…dead-looking. She felt her forehead. No fever; her skin was cool and clammy.

What Rad wouldn’t give to be back on the Oannes, everything like it had been the previous night.

To hell with mermaids. She wished they didn’t exist. She wished…