The Sea Witch's Revenge (ON HOLD)

Chapter Ten

"I'm bored," Victoria moans. She lies on her back with her legs leaning on the wall. Her hair, which she had spent the best part of an hour twisting into two, very tight braids on either side of her head, is splayed around her. She's been in that position for the best part of another hour, just staring up at the wooden ceiling and humming to herself.

"You kept yourself entertained for two weeks on the outside of my ship," Lorenzo sighs, "Why can't you entertain yourself now?"

Victoria turns and lies on her stomach. "Because I've had enough of entertaining myself," she tells him, then stands up. He narrows his eyes as she walks over to him, the chain long enough to allow her to get to his desk.

"What are you doing?" she asks, leaning over his shoulder.

"Mapping our destination," he replies with an exasperated sigh. Victoria looks down at the nautical maps and the tools scattered around them.

"Hmmm," Victoria says. "Where are we going?"

"Sit back down," he orders. Victoria rolls her eyes and looks closer at the map.

"Fine, I'll get you a book," he says, standing. Victoria smiles and walks back to her little area. The captain walks over to his shelf, pulls a random book from it, and throws it at her. She smiles and leans against the wall. Then, she opens it.

The title page reads, Creatures of Thestra: A Children's Guide. Under the writing, is a simple illustration of a centaur.

"A children's book?" she asks, putting it down again.

"I wasn't sure what your literary capabilities are," he replies calmly, not looking at her. Victoria glares at him. He still doesn't look up at her when he next speaks.

"Do you want me to put the book away?" he asks.

"Do I get another one?"

"No."

Victoria groans and hits her head on the wall. Then, she lifts the book to start reading.

"You could have at least given me a child's storybook," she grumbles, looking through the contents page. The captain ignores her and Victoria flicks through the pages to the water creatures' section, curious about what they teach children about her kind.

A thought occurs to her then and she puts the book down and turns back to the captain. "Why do you even have a child's book?" she asks.

"I have lots of books," he replies curtly. Victoria rolls her eyes and looks back at the book once more, smiling as she stumbles across the page dedicated to mermaids.

An image fills most of the page. It consists of three mermaids sitting on a rock. All of them have wild, slightly tangled hair and beautiful faces. Their tails are half on the rock and half in the water. Even in a simple charcoal drawing, they look beautiful.

Well, they got that right at least.

Mermaids are some of the most beautiful creatures in all Thestra, but don't be fooled by their enchanting beauty. It is one of their most deadly weapons.

Victoria raises her brows and snorts softly. Hardly true.

Beneath their exterior beauty is a vicious monster who enjoys feasting on the flesh of naïve men.

Not just men. Mermaids eat any kind of land mammal. Men are just the easiest target. They take one look at a mermaid and automatically think they have a chance of fucking her. They practically fall into mermaids' arms.

Once they have dragged an innocent man beneath the water, the mermaids turn into different beasts entirely. Their eyes turn black with pure evil, and their mouths fill with vicious, sharp teeth which they use to feast on your flesh and suck up your blood.