One of the mermaids was laughing at her.See?Her words carried underwater effortlessly.It’s so easy to lure sailors under. All it takes is a kiss.She leaned in and kissed Sidney again, slowly—sensually, like an embrace of love.
Give in, let it happen,the other one cooed.You’ll be like us. We’ll make you a mermaid like us. That’s what happens to the women we take. You won’t die, you’ll grow a tail. Won’t that be glorious?
She’d be a mermaid if she just let the water in. It’d be so easy to just…let herself drown…wouldn’t it?
The burning hurt so much.
They were probably lying.
They were definitely lying.
But the burninghurt.
None of this was real.
But the pain…very much was.
There was a splash. Something dark was overhead.
The world began to grow dark.
The burning hurt too much.
She let the water in.
Sasha jerked into consciousness. “Fuck—”
She was sitting on a dinghy that was being rowed ashore. One minute, they’d been sitting in Hook’s quarters, and the next she was sitting in a boat being rowed by two other pirates, with Hook sitting at the head facing backwards, and her in the middle.
“What theactualfuck—” She swiveled around, staring at the world around her. Captain Hook’s ship was some miles behind them.It was early evening, but it’d been mid-afternoon when they’d been talking. They’d been rowing for some time.
Had she been sleepwalking? Had she been drugged? How the hell did she get on the boat? “How did we get here?”
“You’re adorable when you’re confused.” Hook leaned an elbow on the railing of the boat. “I’m going to also point out that I will not be this forthcoming in future works.” He waved his real hand aimlessly in the air. “So you can get your bearings before we take the next one on for real. I will not entertain this constant fourth-wall breaking in the future.”?*
Taking off her glasses, she ran a hand over her face before replacing them. “Tutorial level. Got it.”
“Precisely.”
“Another scene change?”
“You’ll adjust in time.”
Sighing, she shut her eyes. “So I’m just going to have random-ass blackouts where I won’t remember things?”
“You’ll remember things if it’s important that you do. But if those events aren’t referenced, then, no.” He examined one of the faded, sepia-stained lace cuffs that dangled from his coat sleeve. “Welcome to the life of being a fictional character. It’s quite depressing at times—entire parts of your life simply redacted because it wasn’t deemed critical to the plot.”
“I’m starting to gather that.” Watching the island’s approach, she let out a breath. “Are there other things like you? Sentient tropes or whatever?”
“I would prefer to call us ‘gods of fiction,’ but could we at least settle for archetypes? Meet in the middle?” With a roll of his eyes, he muttered,“Sentient tropes.Makes us sound like an over-programmed toaster.”
“Fine. Archetypes.” She chuckled. “Are there any others? Like, y’know, the ‘old mentor’ or the ‘heroine’ or whatever?”
“I’m sure there are.”
“Why don’t you go play with them?”
“We’ve never met.” Hook shrugged, glancing over his shoulder to see how close they were. The shore was approaching. Probably another minute or two at the longest. “It’s a very big world of fiction, after all.”
