Oceania

It was like flying over an ancient city that existed millions of years ago. Thousands of colorful water plants decorated the twisted and rough rocky ground of the coral reef. He swam through the thick, smooth sea grass and through a large hole in the coral formation. His brown hair looked like the tentacles of a jellyfish as he started to swim up to the surface for air.

“And there he is,” Johnny said, as he weaved a net. “You’re scaring more fish than you are helping.”

“Hey the net is placed,” Henry said, swimming the the edge of the boat. He rested his arms along the edge, placing his chin down onto his hands, and smiled at Johnny. “In a few hours it’ll be full of delicious fish.”

“Not if you stay in that reef, now get in here.” Johnny gestured for him to climb into the boat. Rolling his eyes, Henry shook his head and used all the muscles in his arms to pull himself into the boat and out of the salty sea. The boat shook back and forth when he tumbled inside, causing Johnny to grumble a few words of a annoyance under his breath. Johnny may have been a fisherman, but he was never fond of the deep waters.

“The world down there seems a lot more enjoyable than the world up here.” Henry shook his hair to free it from some water. The sun was now high in the sky and streaming down on them. With all the glimmers and waves, the ocean actually seemed more like millions upon millions of diamonds, coating the water. “At least down there, you can just swim through the reefs and forget about your problems.”

“They got problems too, sailors give everything down there problems.” Johnny pointed out to sea and looked up at the big blue sky. “There isn’t a place in this world that any man or animal could go without worries. That is what makes life so.” He looked back at Henry, who was still dripping with water. Picking up his shirt, Johnny tossed it at the young man. “Now put your shirt on and lets head up to Hilly’s Brewhouse.”

“You can head in there, I’ll just stick around the docks.” Henry didn’t want to be around the drunken sailors, but most of all he didn’t want to see Giselle.

“Is this about Giselle?” Johnny asked, receiving a mere shrug from Henry. Running his fingers through his hair, Henry looked at Johnny who was smirking at him. “It is about her.”

Ignoring his comment, Henry pulled the anchor up and steered the boat to turn around back towards the shore. Chuckling softly, Johnny nodded his head and leaned back on the edge of the boat. Every one in all of Hollow Shores knew about Henry and Giselle. Ever since they were kids they had been best friends, but now they were both grown up. They all believed it would only be a matter of time before they would marry.

“You gonna marry her, boy?” Johnny questioned with a raised brow.

“I’d prefer not to answer.”

Johnny only broke out into fits of laughter.



Henry sat on the edge of the docks, his feet dangling just a few inches above the water. His eyes were gazing on the horizon line, there were times he wanted to go rogue and steal a ship just to sail around the world. Closing his eyes, Henry let out a soft breath and pulled his feet back onto the wooden dock. As he sat there thinking about other places of the world, he heard a loud clamoring coming from across the way. On the next dock, eight fishermen were yelling about fishnets being destroyed and there quotas not being met. Furrowing his brows, Henry stood to his feet and decided to head over to the angry group of old, sunburned fishermen.

“Someone be cuttin’ my nets! They are clean!” Mr. Delaney, the most vocal and eccentric fisherman of the group, snapped. He held his fishnets up for everyone to see and tossed them in the middle of the group. “I’ve missed my quota for three days!”

“Aye! They broke my lines!” another man hissed, throwing his leathery hands into the air. Henry walked into the group and looked to Mr. Delaney, who was still arguing with another sailor.

“This must be stopped!”

“Who be doing this?”

Henry rolled his eyes and whistled loudly to silence the fishermen surrounding him. The sharp sound caused all the men to go silent and turn to him. He sighed in relief and stepped up onto a wooden box.

“Well if it ain’t the Caldwell’s boy,” Mr. Delaney scoffed, his wrinkly face and gray wiry hair made him look like a pirate. His clothes were tattered up and stained with fish blood and reeked of the fishy odor. Henry’s nose wrinkled up a bit, but he shook it off and looked among the men. “You have nothing to say hear boy, leave us men to our business.”

“As far as I can see your business is mine, since I could hear you at the next dock.” Henry crossed his arms over his chest and eyed Mr. Delaney.

“We know what the problem is Henry, it’s them damn mermaids,” Johnny said, walking up to the group. Henry narrowed his eyes at Johnny in a bit of annoyance. “They be cutting our nets, we got a job to do.”

“You can’t be serious?” Henry asked in disbelief.

“I be serious, boy!” Johnny scolded, waving his finger at him. “We’ll have to find her and kill her.”

“If they are so dangerous to be around, how do you intend to do so?” Henry asked. “There must be another way to solve the problem.”

“And there is!” Mr. Delaney piped up, causing everyone to turn in his direction. “The tides are changing, mermaids granted wishes.”

“And what does that have to do with anything?” Henry was the one who asked the question, his eyebrow quirked up and his lips in a firm line. “From the stories I been told, no man has ever been granted a wish.”

“We’ll capture the one and make sure she gives us our wish.”

“Which would be what, Mr. Delaney?” Henry never liked the idea of murdering anything or making anything or anyone do what they didn’t want to do. The look in the old man’s eyes were malicious though and cruel, the eyes of a tyrant.

“Their complete servitude.” The old man smirked. “Imagine the power we could have if we controlled all the mermaids of the seven seas!” Henry narrowed his eyes at Mr. Delaney, who was now laughing. All the fishermen surrounding the dock were in agreement with him. “Are ya with me men?”

“Aye!” they all shouted.