"So... we're... lost?" Edmond asked Willas. Both of them stood over the map with a broken compass.

"Looks that way. For now, anyway." Willas shrugged. "Without the sun or the stars, there isn't much we can do."

"The crew won't like to hear it. Neither will our guests." Edmonds sighed in frustration. "The clouds aren't going anywhere, it seems. It could be that they will clear in a day or so. Until then..." Edmond didn't finish. He didn't have to. With the sails still in disrepair, they weren't really going anywhere for the time being.

"They'll clear." Willas gave his captain a nod. "Then we will get right back on track."

The crew was already in low spirits after the tragedy. They weren't given any reprieve to hear they were basically dead on the water. They gathered the crew together to break the news.

"How long will this take?" The researcher asked among the crowd that stood on the deck. Both of them looked to be nervous wrecks. Whether they were scared from the storm or to potentially be compromising their work, it was hard to tell.

"A day. Maybe more." Willas spoke from next to his captain. "We will see this out as it unfolds. Night will be falling soon. We will need to be ever vigilant in hopes another storm doesn't approach." The crew went into a bit of an uproar at the words. All in terror to face such a nightmare again. They fought about how to best secure everything and who would be keeping watch.

"Simmer down." Their captain spoke to them now. "We will work as a crew. Such as we always have. The worst is surely over by now. After these clouds are clear, it is business as usual. Now, who is ready for dinner?"

DeVites took that as his sign to head below deck to start cooking. A good call. Some warm food in their bellies just may smooth out an ounce of the irritation that flowed in everyone.

Everyone took their portions, while the researchers took a little more. DeVites was annoyed but didn't bother to take it to the captain tonight. There were bigger fish to fry. They could deal with their greediness at a later date. If at all. If luck had anything to do with it, they would be dropping these men off soon enough. Who knew how far off course they had been taken by the storm.

Night closed in around the ship. It seemed darker than usual. No moon, no stars, no source of light except the lanterns they had lit about the deck. Edmond paced the deck, looking out into the darkness. It was eerie. Like staring out into a hollow void of nothing. He could see the water just below and feel it rocking the ship. It looked as black as ink. But beyond what was right there next to him, he saw nothing. He couldn't remember ever being in such a darkness as this before.

The wind swept through his hair, and with it came a tune. He turned his head back towards the darkness. He could swear what he was hearing was... singing? A woman singing at that. It was just barely audible over the waves and wind. But the tune carried just enough that he could hear words. Too far away over the waves to make out the words, but they were words nonetheless.

Was he hearing things?

Maryann.

Was he hearing his sweet Maryann?

Just then, Willas was there next to him, shining a lantern out in front of him. All they could see was the reflection of the small flame on the ripples of the black water. "Tell me you hear that singing, too?" Willas' eyebrows were creased in either concern or confusion.

"I do." Edmond confirmed. Here, he thought he was the crazy one to be hearing it all by himself. Knowing that he wasn't alone was a relief. Or was it? It meant he wasn't insane. But it also meant that there was indeed a woman somewhere out in the distance singing a song ever so softly.

"What's that?" DeVitas came up behind them.

"Don't know." The captain squinted his eyes in the dark only to still see nothing.

"Maybe the wind?" Willas offered the solution. Although, it was a weak one.

"That's no wind." Halcreek paused along his deck stroll to join them. He looked about as pale as a ghost. "That's evil incarnate."

"Oh, come off it." DeVitas scoffed. "Women aren't all evil." He offered a laugh as he looked to the rest of them. No one else was smiling. The voice had stopped singing by now, but the sound still was fresh to their ears.

"That ain't no woman either." Halcreek shook his head. "But it sure knows know to mimic one."

A wave of uneasiness washed over Edmond. He had heard tales before. Every sailor had. What were they called? Sirens? Merfolk? Mermaids? Creatures that imitated the beauty and likeness of women in order to lure men to their deaths. But those were just folklore. Legends. Tall tales. They were stories lonely men told at sea when they were missing the touch of a woman. They weren't real. Surely, Halcreek wasn't suggesting so.

"More likely the wind." Willas offered again. But he couldn't hide the goosebumps that stretched the length of his arms.

"Best we load the rifles." Halcreek looked to his captain as if waiting for his approval.

"You can't be serious." Willas eyed him now, "You don't think?"

"That's a siren." Halcreek confirmed what Edmond had already been thinking.

"Grow up." Willas rolled his eyes.

"You hear it, too. You know that isn't the wind." Halcreek snapped. It would have been almost silly to have been coming from any other man. But Halcreek? He was a learned man of medicine. He wasn't one to give in easily to spooky children's tales. The notion of it sat heavily on Edmond. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he could admit to himself that he did feel a longing for the voice as he thought it was his Maryann at first.

"The rifles." Halcreek said again. "You'll be praying for them."

"How is Piles?" Edmond broke the tension with his question. He had gone to check on Piles, but the man had been asleep.

"Not good." Halcreek thankfully took the bait and focused on this new topic. "Most of my supplies were shattered and broken during the storm. I don't have anything to clean the wound. I did my best to reset what I could, but he needs a real hospital. It is likely he'll lose the leg or even never be able to walk again if he doesn't get help soon.

Grim news. Edmond was hoping for better. He could only imagine the fear and pain that Piles was going through. Hopefully, sleep would do him well.

"Is it... getting foggy?" Willas asked now. Where once the lantern only reflected off the water, now it cast a reflection on a cloud of fog that seemed to be growing thicker by the minute.

They could all see it. There was no denying it. It enveloped the ship, rolling across the deck. Like a cloud itself had come to rest right over them. They could only see each other and a few feet in front of them. While the lantern was nice to have on a dark night, the fog only reflected the light back at them and made it harder to see beyond the length of their arms.

"They bring the fog." Halcreek looked even more terrified now. "It's a trick. They mean to separate and blind us."

"Would you stop that already?" Willas snapped at the doctor. "The crew has been through enough; it doesn't need you spouting off horror stories."

"Mark my words!" Halcreek began to storm off, "I'll be hugging a rifle below deck if anyone needs me." It only took a matter of seconds for him to be swallowed by the fog.

"Coward." Willas shook his head.

Edmond didn't know what to think. He was sure to side with Willas on this. For the sake of sanity. But at the same time, he knew what he felt when he heard the song. He was feeling a pull. A lull that called him forward. Had Willas not startled him, he wondered if he would have truly cast himself into the sea to see his wife again.