Page 32 of Little Shake of Salt

Jake rolled his eyes. He was young for a captain, which was why I liked working with him. Dark hair, in his thirties, eyes that crinkled when he smiled. Although, he wasn’t smiling right now. “Well stop that. Ed and Brent are already on the boat. Got four people today on the crew, and we gotta go before the waves get choppier and it’s hell to get out. It’s already been a nightmare the last couple days. She’s angry.”

He meant the ocean, and he was right. There was an uneasiness in my gut today, but I was comforted by the knowledge that Marina or her guards would be keeping an eye on me.

I tightened the hood on my rain jacket as it started to come down harder, casting my gaze out to the band of dark clouds in the distance. It wouldn’t be the first time we worked through a storm, and it wouldn’t be the last.

“Are you sure we’re good to go?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Radar was showing some rough cells, but we’ll move around ‘em. Ain’t worried about it. We’ll bring in swordfish and bluefins, then head home. We’ll be out just a little longer.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

As always with our small crew, we fell into a rhythm. With only four of us, we each had to take on multiple tasks, which meant I was running around with hardly any room to think as we made our way further out into the ocean.

The further out we got, the rougher the waves became. The skies were quickly darkening again, the wind becoming brutal.

My stomach twisted with nerves.

“All is well,” Brent said to me. “We’ll bring in this haul, just like any other day.”

I frowned, but nodded. I looked out to the choppy waves, searching for any signs of Marina or the two guards she’d assigned to me. After Marina needed to leave yesterday, I’d spotted the shimmering scales of two mermen. Guards.

I missed her, but I wanted her to be safe. And the thought of any merperson being close to our vessel while we worked made me nervous. Especially with the harpoons.

Ifyou didn’t know about mermaids.

Ed and I brought in a few swordfish and then two bluefin tuna together. The boat tipped back and forth, my footing slipping every now and then as water sprayed up the sides.

“Weather is getting worse!” Jack yelled.

It was. “The fish are gonna start going deeper,” I said to Ed.

He nodded. “Agreed. Let me go talk to Jack. May need to call this one, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

I wrangled a four-foot swordfish across the deck, shaking my head as I made my way back to the side of the boat. I grabbed onto a lure, but then gripped the ledge, peering over.

Our boat suddenly lurched and I gasped, holding onto the ledge with all my strength to keep from going over. I yelped as my ring got caught on a nail on the ledge, slicing through my finger.

Pain burst through me and I winced, trying to wrench my hand free as the boat steadied. I quickly slid my ring off, but then the whole world tilted again.

A wave slammed into the hull, the boat tilting. Between the blood now dripping down my hand and the rain, my ring went flying.

“No!” I shouted, reaching out for it.

It plunked into the water and my mouth dropped, everything going numb. It was the only piece my mother had ever given to me and in all the years I’d worked out on the sea—I’d never so much as dropped it.

“Fuck!” I yelled, choking back a sob.

A flash of iridescent scales drew my attention overboard, and I spotted Marina.

Wait.My breath was sucked from my lungs as I realized Marina was going for my ring. But my ring—it was right in our fishing zone.

It was right where Brent was shooting harpoons.

“Marina!” I shouted over the roar of thunder. “Let it go! Get out of there!Marina!”

“Demi! What are you doing?” Ed shouted across the deck.