𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 14, 1834

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊 𝚜𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚊𝚛𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗. 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚎𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚞𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚕. 𝙾𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚜.

𝙷𝚊𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗. 𝙰𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚓𝚞𝚖𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚊 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚖.

𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚢𝚊𝚗𝚗 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚜. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙴𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚗 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚘. 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚓𝚞𝚖𝚙 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙. 𝙸 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚠𝚘.

𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜. 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚖. 𝙸 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚓𝚞𝚖𝚙 𝚘𝚏𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙.

𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜, 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚎.

Edmond slept that night right next to the siren in her box. Though, to him, it wasn't a siren. It was a second chance with his daughter. He fell asleep while talking to her. She loved it when he would tell her stories from his adventures. She wanted so badly to sail with him, but Maryann wouldn't have it. She didn't even like Edmond sailing much these days. Now, he couldn't blame her. He made a promise within himself to stay with Maryann forever. He'd never sail again if she asked it of him.

When morning came, he ran his hand across the box. He wanted to touch her face and kiss her hair. He spoke to her. Was she awake? "Baby?"

"Are we going home, Daddy?" She was.

Edmond smiled. He was so happy to hear her voice. He sat up and peered into the box. Her little pale face came up to greet him from the other side of the hole. She was perfect. Just like he remembered her.

He felt a dread rising in his gut. He was stalling with this plan to cast her over the side of the ship. He... didn't want to lose her again. It wasn't Emmalien, but... it was.

The men would want answers on how to carry out the plan. He would be expected to give them answers. He couldn't stomach the idea of being separated from her.

What if...?

What if he somehow managed to take her home? To his home? His real home?

Back to Maryann?

She would be scared at first, but if she just saw this for herself.

She would see that they could have their daughter back. That they did have their daughter back. In one form or another.

He groaned just as Willas came through the door.

"Captain." He greeted him. "Thought I'd find you here."

Edmond didn't want to have this conversation. He wasn't even sure how to. He wanted to tell Willas his plan but knew he couldn't. Willas would just protest and try to tell him this wasn't his daughter. But he already knew that. He wasn't stupid. He also knew that this was the closest thing to his daughter that he had.

Edmond let out a long yawn, "Tell the men to sail."

"Sail?" Willas sounded and looked confused, "I thought we would return her first?"

"Not yet." Edmond tried to sound nonchalant, "Maybe we can just... Maybe we can still make it home."

Willas saw right through Edmond. "We can't sail anywhere while she is on this ship, Captain. And she isn't little Emmalien. No matter what she says. It's a delusion. You see and hear your daughter. While I see a monster and hear her hissing in your ear."

Edmond scoffed. Willas couldn't understand. He had no children. He couldn't understand the weight of this. How much it hurt Edmond. How much he felt as though he himself would die from heartache when he lost her the first time. And how scared he was to lose her yet again. He couldn't survive it a second time.

"What do you mean to do?" Willas tried to reason with him calmly, "Keep her moisturized in your bathtub at home? You really think Maryann is going to let you come home with... Well... a literal mermaid?"

"She has her memories!" Edmond insisted.

"No, she doesn't." Willas repeated what the researched had told them previously, "It's a delusion. It isn't real. She is reflecting your own memories back at you. She uses your mind against you."

"No." Edmond shook his head. He couldn't hear that, "I wasn't thinking about Benji. I haven't thought of him this entire trip. She knew, Willas! She knew things only Emmalien could have known."

"Because of their spells." Willas didn't know what else to call it, "Their... magic. It is all in your head. Everything you see and hear is all a fantasy they fabricate within your mind. You see your daughter; I see a strange woman I have never met before. You hear her calling you. I hear her weeping. She plays different visions for all of us."

"I can't explain it to you." Edmond felt defeated. He couldn't explain it to himself either. All he knew was that somehow, Emmalien lived on through this creature.

"We have to give her back." Willas patted Edmond's back. "We can't keep her. You can't keep her. Emmalien is gone. You must let her go."

Edmond felt the pain in his chest again. The burning in his eyes. The knife in his windpipe. This time, he didn't blink the tears away. He couldn't. Instead, they came trailing down his face. One right after the other. Until the tears came in sobs. Sobs that rocked his shoulders.

He hadn't let himself cry in a long time. But today, he couldn't make the tears stop even if he tried. Willas rested a hand on the captain's shoulder for some amount of comfort.

"Why do you cry, Daddy?" Emmalien sounded as if she would cry soon.

Edmond's hand shook when he rested it next to the hole in the box, "I'm so sorry, baby. I wasn't there." He sobbed, "I should have been there!"

"You're here now." She reached out and rested her little hand over the back of his. "Please don't leave me again."

Willas cringed at the sight. He saw it for what it was in that moment. His captain bewitched by a young mermaid. He wanted so badly to pull his captain away, but part of him felt like Edmond needed this.

"I won't leave you." Edmond cried into the box, looking down at her face, "I'll never leave you. I love you, Emma."

"Captain." Willas felt it had gone a little too far. He wanted Edmond to get closure. But he didn't want Edmond to get lost in his delusions. He had a hard time finding where the line was. How much of this was helpful? How much was harmful?

Willas gave Edmond's shoulder another pat. "Come on." He tried to encourage him to get up, "We need to find Halcreek and the researchers. We need to discuss how we'll return her home." He tried to speak delicately. He wasn't sure just how far-gone Edmond was. He just knew he had to be careful. His mind was being played with like putty by these things.

"I want to stay with her." Edmond wiped his tear-stained face with the back of his hand, trying to clean himself up now.

"We need a plan, Captain. And you need food. Come on." Willas did his part to help Edmond up to his feet. He let Edmond compose himself as best he could. Then both men walked out of the cargo hold. All the while Edmond kept looking over his shoulder longingly.