Arturu
What can you say about a mermaid who loved a man so much she couldn’t survive it?
That she knew better. That she had been warned since birth what bonding meant. That she had watched it destroy one of her own kind when it went wrong.
That she still did it anyway—the last thing she ever thought she would choose.
Some destinies arrive like storms; others arrive wearing a human face.
The kelp sways in lazy rhythms, undisturbed by the dread that courses through her veins. Sunlight filters through the clear blue water above, spotlighting the brown canopy in narrow columns as the surface ripples silvery bright. From within that wavering forest of hiding, she watches through the stems.
There he is, the merman, Arturu, cold, cruel, yet elegant, swimming by in search of her—the one who hunts her, who would cage her, never let her escape. Once a protector, now her jailer. He hunts her for what she took—and what she can’t return. The sea keeps its bargains, even when the heart does not.
She knows the madness in his eyes. She sees the long, powerful arc of his tail, the faint flash of violet on his scales, and how he grips his trident like a harpoon that remembers blood.
Once, those hands had offered to steady her—now they hunt. A school of silver fish glides between them as he scans his surroundings. He knows she’s nearby. He can smell her fear like a faint perfume.
Adrenaline surges. She slips away toward shore, her tail churning through the water. The drifting kelp clings to her like fingers begging her to stay hidden. He shouldn’t follow her into the shallows and its treacherous rocks. Too dangerous.
A whale calls. The waves break violently upon the approaching gray rocks, waiting with open arms. Or teeth.
She feels the wave building from behind, wanting to fling her against a lone, looming shore rock that lies ahead in the shallows. The smooth stone’s sunlit top rises above the water. She cuts right to avoid being slammed against it.
Something shifts wrong in the current. Not kelp.
She feels it.
Then sees it.
Stops abruptly.
A shadow cruises through the water toward her with purpose. A great white, older than memory. Dead-black eyes, full grown—fifteen feet, maybe more. Hunting monk seals—or her. It is already too near. She had cut right into its path—straight for her.
She’s killed sharks before—but no time, no room, to hit its gills from the side.
It closes in, head on.
Deadly.
Emotionless.
The shark’s tail beats once.
Then again.
She twists left, desperate to evade it—trying to get past the other side of the waiting rock and into the tide pool beyond. Too late. The gathering wave surges. Carries her against the rock.
She crashes against it.
Bubbles explode around her with the painful impact.
She breaches the surface, vision blurred, badly hurt, and gasps. Lost, disoriented.
She doesn’t beg. She doesn’t cry. Better the rocks than Arturu.
A turn of her head and she sees it. The black fin slices through the water to home in. Too close. No escape.
She braces, hands extended, wincing for the inevitable impact.
Instead, the sea erupts between them.
Something—someone—jumps off from the rock above and lands in the water right on top of the shark with a splash.
What did that? Who dives onto a shark?
Through the blur, she sees between her and the huge shark a man. He fights it beneath the water like a warrior. It’s as if he dropped in out of a fairytale. His hair floats and swirls. He wraps one arm around the thrashing monster and, using the other, strikes it with a knife. Blood squirts like black ink. His?
He should… save himself.
Before it kills him.
But he doesn’t.
She can’t even save herself before the waves pound her against that rock again.
The rock is no refuge; it is merely the place where the sea pauses before claiming her again.
Sliding down, too stunned to struggle any longer, she watches him, dream slow. He fights without hesitation—for her? Can’t be. No one fights for her. Not ever. Not unless they want something. Not unless they lie. Not until now.
Is he trying to save her? Why?
As she slips deeper, that stirs something in her, the part she never thinks about. The loyalty she wants but never knew and now... never will. She wants to believe in him. Just once.
And then she strikes the rock again. Agony repeats, rips through her side as she hits—hurt like fire burning through flesh. Relentless.
Fingers claw to grab its surface.
Too smooth.
No hold.
Futile.
The undertow takes her back out once more. Bubbles blow. Again, against the pain, she sees the fight. The man is dressed all in white except for red horizontal stripes on his snug T-shirt. His knife flashed once, twice—clean, practiced, merciless.
A sailor. She has seen him before—on a ship—in the bay. But she doesn’t trust humans. Trust gets you killed.
Then, through the haze of pain, she sees it—the final stroke. The shark twists, writhes, then stills.
But the sea isn’t done with her.
The next wave comes, careless and cruel. Up, up, up she rises and slams against the rock for the last time. The crash deafens. It leaves her on top of the rock and she feels the wash of the outgoing water. She lies there—crawls up out of the pounding surf for now. The rock is warm from the hot sun.
Drying her scales.
She feels something.
Skin... legs.
Safe but too late. Too many injuries.
So this is how it ends—not in vengeance or victory, but battered into silence by the very tide that once cradled her.
The ocean does not mourn her pain. It is mother and executioner, ancient and unconcerned. Every wave a memory. Every crash a tick of a clock.
Her head lolls to the side, sees the shark. It floats belly up.
Dead. A knife sticks up from it.
Her vision fades, edges darken, but then—him. His head bursts up out of the water beside the shark. He gasps, sputters, looks for her. Takes one stroke toward her…
She would have fled him if she could have moved. Yet the rock has done its work.
Her eyes close.
Then—hands. Warm against her skin. The sound of breath not her own. Someone’s trying to wake her up, bring her back.
Reluctantly, her eyes open. Lashes flutter against the sun.
It’s him. The man in the red striped shirt. His face hovers above hers, leans closer. Humans can be worse than sharks. They don’t kill with teeth. They kill with their hearts.
What will he do with her?
She lies broken. She can only pray for mercy.
But mercy is a myth.
She doesn’t believe in it. It felt too much like a lie she wanted to believe, and he makes her desperately want to.
He seems to want to keep her alive. As he checks her for bleeding, she can’t understand that someone would risk a shark for her. He makes her want to whimper to know if he’s friendly. Wants to believe he is. His touch is gentle, caring. For one breathless moment, it makes her wish she could trust him.
His mouth moves as if to try to communicate.
She hears nothing but gibberish.
His eyes search hers, not with pity, but with recognition—as if he sees through every reason she’s learned not to be saved. He’s unexpectedly handsome. Strange what one notices when helpless. The unseen becomes seen.
His hand finds hers. She doesn’t have the strength to squeeze—but she doesn’t let go.
Not from him.
Not because she has faith in him. Because she wants to. Just once.
When it matters.
She doesn’t trust humans. But this is not about trust. It’s a momentary connection—a connection between life and death, between their two worlds. Recognition of the other’s existence.
The dead shark still floats, belly up on the waves. But the sea is never still; beneath its calm, something moves. A second shadow passes under, long-tailed, watching, waiting.
She knows that shape—the arc of the tail, the glint of violet scales. It’s him.
Not even death could keep Arturu from her.
Yet the sailor does. He reaches under her. Crades her. Too injured to protest, she’s lifted into his arms—weightless as sea foam—broken, but no longer alone.
Captured.
By a human. It’s a moment of dread. She had escaped one predator only to fall into the hands of another—kindness could be the cruelest trap. Yet for the first time, she wished the danger would stay.
But for now, too hurt, she surrenders to his arms.
