“I shall be the serpent upon thy prow,” it purred.
“Don’t you mean mermaid?”I asked.
The demon, Vic, Eddie, and Brother Al all looked at me.
“How offensive,” the demon rasped.“A mermaid.What despicable, grotesque creatures.That one such as you could even make that comparison—”
“I’m new,” I said, holding my hands up.
“If these wards were not here, I would char thee with hellfire,” the demon said.“Mermaids indeed.Scum of the seaweed, worse than algae.”
“Let’s just focus,” Vic said.
Soon enough,we were off, the clouds in the sky gray and gloomy, a heavy fog settling in around us as the night wore on.The demon had wrapped itself against the nearby mast and was pointing ahead, squinting and occasionally calling down to adjust.
The five of us, Steeley at the wheel, sat on the deck, facing the horizon.
“Choppy water this evening,” Vic said.
“Stop it,” Eddie said.“I just got used to the rocking.”
“If I ignore you guys and imagine I’m holding a martini, in the warm daytime, this is almost relaxing,” I said.“Oh, and if I ignore the fog.What are the odds we die out here, Brother Al?”
“Only a misplaced ship filled with creatures of the night,” he said.“Naught more than that.”
“We approach,” the demon hissed.“I can sense—No!”
“What is it?”Vic asked.
“Turn back,” the demon cried.“Avert course!I have been fooled!”
There was a screaming scrape, and the whole boat jolted.I flew forward off my deck chair, rolling against a sidewall.
“Release me!”the demon howled as I spun.“Now!Before they arrive!”
The fog was so thick here, it was like soup.I had rolled so far I couldn’t see anyone else—just heard the demon spluttering against the mast, and Vic muttering something again.Some of the fog was lighting up—jets of light shining, and as I struggled to get to my feet, something planted a slimy, wet foot directly in my lower back.Something sharp and metal caressed my neck, flicking my hair back.
There was some globulous, phlegmy burbling, and then a harsh voice from the thing stepping on me: “Rrrrrollll overrrrrr.Slowllllly.”
I turned, as slow as possible, and tried not to scream.
There was something that looked like a man-sized frog holding a trident at my throat, horns on its head up like frills on a venomous dinosaur.Its great throat billowed and bulged, and it croaked, a disgusting sounding noise, belching sulfurous fumes up at my face.I coughed and gagged.
“Youuuuu will be uuuuuuusefulllllll,” it burbled and then turned the trident over.“Breaaaaaaathe innnnn.”
It inhaled, throat growing, eyes blinking, and then belched again, something like a liquid, right in my face.I coughed and gasped, and then felt the world spinning around me.
“Forrrrrr now, you slumberrrrrrr,” it gurgled.
And I did.
Chapter6
“Stacey,” I heard, hissed in my ear.
I roused myself, shuddering, and coughed as I sat up.
“Quiet!”someone hissed.Was that Brother Al?
