He was sure James would win this day, too. If only he would appear from under the water. Smee didn’t want to lose hope, but the longer James and Blackbeard were under the sea the more Smee’s heart sank. Then again, James did have uncanny good luck, and Smee was going to hold on to that, as he had held on for dear life in the crow’s nest.

Chapter V

When James woke he was still underwater, but didn’t understand how he was breathing. He had dreamed what it would be like to dwell underwater like a sea creature, but never imagined it would be so beautiful and terrifying at the same time. All around him were sunken ships, rotting and in decay, that seemed to go in and out of focus through the murky green-and-blue water. He had never seen such remarkable ships, with their massive sails floating in the currents as if they were still traversing the sea. He wondered what had become of the sailors of these majestic ships; were they, too, at the bottom of the sea, their bones now under the seafloor? Or had some of them made their way back to tell their tales? The Kraken was lying motionless about twenty feet away, sprawled on the ocean floor, and had long since ceased to bleed from its severed tentacle. James swam to the titanic beast, and searched it hoping to find Blackbeard—he worried the captain was crushed under the massive creature. He started to panic, sure the great Blackbeard was dead, and still wondering how he was still alive and able to breathe, and hoped that somehow, like him, Blackbeard was still alive.

“Over here! I found your friend!” cried a high-pitched voice so piercing he thought his eardrums would burst. He couldn’t imagine what manner of creature could be making that noise. Then he saw her: she was a curious merging of fish and human, not a mermaid but something wholly different. Her face was somewhat human, but her eyes were large and bulbous like those of a fish, and she had gills on the sides of her strangely beautiful face. Her body, too, was a bizarre combination; she was shaped like a human woman, but her body was covered in luminescent green and golden scales, and her hands and feet were webbed. Her mouth was wide like that of an angler fish, and when she spoke she revealed many rows of sharp teeth. If she hadn’t been trying to help him he would have been afraid.

“Come quickly!” she said, making James’s ears hurt so badly he put his hands to them, sure they must be bleeding from the horrible pain the siren’s voice caused.

I’m sorry, she said without a sound, mouthing the words, and he could see she wasn’t trying to hurt him.