The Mermaids
Day One Hundred and Twenty-Seven
"Look it's the ship the serpents told us about." A mermaid said to another, as they slowly followed the Kraken's Revenge from below.
"The serpent said the woman looked so sad." The other mermaid continued, as they came up directly under the ship. "What should we do?"
"This ship was marked by the Goddess, Hali. We have to help." The 1st one answered.
"Okay but how?" Hali asked.
"Don't worry, I have a plan."
Day One Hundred and Twenty-Eight
"This was your big plan, Meri?" Hali asked as they waved at the boat from a cove.
"I didn't say it was a good plan. But look, they dropped anchor." Meri answered.
Meri and Hali quietly watched, now that they got the attention of the sailors of the Kraken's Revenge. The ship had pulled into the cove and dropped anchor, and was now in the process of lowering a row boat. As they had hoped for, the woman the serpent mentioned was coming right to them.
"That must be the woman." Meri said, pointing at Amy.
Meri and Hali continued to observe as the rowboat with 3 humans came up to them, as it pulled alongside, Meri jumped back into the water and approached them.
"Hi!" She said, a smile on her face. "You must be the lady the serpents told us about."
"I told you, Captain. Serpents are smarter than they look." Amy said to Miller, who remained stone faced. "Yes, I did say to a serpent I wish they could help me. We're searching for my husband, his ship went missing a few months ago."
"Well we're the help!" Meri replied, still smiling. "But you're searching in the wrong place!"
"What? You've seen him?" Amy practically demanded, getting close to the edge of the boat.
"Information's not free, not even for the sailors of the Kraken's Revenge." Hali answered.
"What do you want?" Amy asked cautiously. "I'm not giving you my children."
"Children?" Hali asked with a look of disgust. "We're not rusalki. We want information."
Day One Hundred and Twenty-Nine
"I can't believe humans give up maps so readily." Meri said to Hali as they looked at the map the next morning, after the Kraken's Revenge had left. "We could have lied to them."
"Bad idea. That Captain would have caught us instantly. We did a good deed and got richly rewarded in return." Hali said, continuing to look at the map. "This big uninhabited island a week north of us looks good."
Meri nodded, and pointed at the ocean currents marked around the island, which revealed why nobody had settled it yet. Hali laughed when she noticed the warning signs on the map, no human would ever settle it, it would be perfect. She cast a spell on the paper and rolled it up, placing it in her hair, before she and Meri dived back below the surface of the ocean.