The ladder whined under the captain’s heavy bootfall. The ship whimpered as each wave swayed its broken body. Below deck was brighter than the Irish woman was used to, the wide open hatch and gash down the side of the ship made sure of that. The bar shot that had caused the wound sat proudly in the spotlight it created. However, that was not what caught the captain's eyes and caused her face to twist in confusion.

There, illuminated by the sunlight and bundled up against the walls was brightly coloured canvas. Painfully garish reds and yellows striped the fabric from top to bottom. It was just like something you'd see for a traveling circus tent.

No. Not just ‘like’.

Heavy, frantic panting emanated from the back corner. The sunlight barely spilled upon the source, but what the captain could see was more than enough. A small gathered crowd. They huddled close to one another, their hands tangled in each other's sleeves— like how frightened children would cling to their mother's skirt. They were not seafaring folk. Their goady, but clean outfits made that abundantly clear— and if that hadn't then a few standouts in the group would. A tiny man with odd proportions, twins that seemed quite literally attached at the hip, a woman with a full beard…

“Carnies?” She asked to herself exasperated, her voice slowly rose as she continued, “They’re transporting carnies? They fought us for the sake of fuckin’ carnies?” She was so baffled she had not even noticed Nia had joined her.

The circus workers clustered closer together in a quivering mass. A single voice weakly rasped out “Mercy, please, mercy.” The captain just gawked at the display, her teeth clenched and her hands formed tight balls at her side until Nia spoke up.

“Sir,” her voice was small, just a breath. She raised a finger to point as the cage at the opposite side of the room. Her black eyes were wide in utter disbelief. It took all her efforts to not let her jaw go slack. Breathlessly she croaked, “Look—”

The light did not even lick over that side of the room as it did the side with the circus workers. Still, in the dark, barely visible was that cage the subordinate spoke of. Eight writhing, slimy appendages twisted and curled in on themselves and around the bars. They moved like churning milk. In the centre of the mass sat the rest of the creature. Attached to these eight aquatic tendrils was a human-like body. Little white dots freckled the skin, much like they did the extra limbs attached to the monster’s hips. Longhair cascaded down the front of its shoulders like waterfalls and pooled in the loops and curves of the tendrils, it looked black like oil— a trick of the light, or lack thereof.

“Shit,” the captain stumbled back, “It's a sea demon! A bloody demon! That’s their precious cargo? That thing? The hell were they thinking!?”

“She's the only thing caged here,” Nia said as she approached the cage. The monster’s eyes followed her every movement, but it did not speak. Sharp, golden irises cut through the dark mop of hair. Its lips did not so much as twitch, not a single hint of human expression touched its face.

“Nia, get away from it,” The Irish woman grabbed her first mate’s shoulder and firmly tugged her back, “I’ll dispatch this wretched thing.”

Her hand was already on her sword when she took another step towards the thing. Its expression did not falter. It could have been mistaken for dead if not for its churning tendrils and blinked.

“Wait, sir,” Nia tried to interrupt, but the shink of the cutlass being drawn cut her off.

“Hear me monster! I will cut you down, do you understand me?!” The captain pointed her sword just short of its throat, the swish from it moved its hair slightly. It still failed to react. “I said: do you understand me, sea demon?!”

Nia’s voice had faded into the background for the captain, so did the frantic cries from the carnies that remained huddled on the opposite side of the ship. The coursing of her own blood drowned out everything with its visceral white noise. Even as she felt the older woman’s hands grab at her arms she did not try to listen. She was too focused on the face of the damned thing in front of her. Its eyes stayed steady on hers, even as her blade was pointed at its neck. The deadpan expression seemed taunting, like a dare for her to do it.

“Brigit, you listen to me!”

The captain’s breath caught and her eyes flicked to Nia. Brigit. Her crew knew better than to call her by her first name— it was a matter of respect. However, Nia did not give her the time to scold her.

“This mermaid ain’t the one you want, she ain’t the one who threw the ocean over your home. She ain’t killing no virgin sacrifices. Look, right on the side of her neck, she’s branded. She’s a slave, Brigit. She ain’t your great sea serpent.”

It was true. A burn scar marked the side of the merperson’s neck. With her blade, Brigit pushed some more hair aside to see in full it read ‘Property of Land and Sea Curiosities’. A freak show. Brigit had not heard of the organization, but there was enough evidence pointing to that being the case.

“It's inhuman, Nia, the hell does that matter? Look at it— you’d stand up for this… thing? It's little more than an animal.”

Nia frowned. “Sir. The Harrowed Maiden, you remember how you got her? You remember her cargo?”

“This is different, this thing…” Brigit looked back at the merperson who just watched on. She couldn’t come up with an argument, not one Nia would not twist and push back in her face. She couldn’t even claim this thing had stolen souls, that was something she just could not know. Her blade shook slightly with her hand, her brows furrowed and nose scrunched.

Finally the sea demon’s eyes moved, they fell to the blade next to its neck. “I don’t sense magic upon you. You cannot kill the great serpent without the aid of another powerful sea demon, or whatever you wish to call my kin.”

Brigit ground her teeth and pressed her sword hard against its skin, her conviction returned. “Oh? Can I not? Let me guess, ‘but you could offer me such power’, right? Bullshit! I could cut you down right now—” Hot flecks of spittle flew from her snarling maw and hit the creature’s cheek. Still, it did not react more than a blink.

“I never said I was powerful.”

“Miss, you really ain't helpin’ your case,” Nia said.

“I am not looking to make deals,” It continued, its hands folded patiently in its writing lap, “Not ones with contracts and souls, should that be your worry… Brigit, was it? I just have assistance to offer, more than any other poor soul aboard this ship. Pitiful lot, I reckon they're not worth dulling your blade.”

Brigit hissed through her teeth, “Bullshit. You're tryin’ to bullshit me.”

“Hardly. I’m fully capable of making…” It paused and its eyes drifted to the side as it thought of an appropriate phrase, “human deals. They lack any true way of binding, but too do they lack any consequences— since that seems to be your worry. Tell me, how much do you know of my kin?”

“I have an expert on board. Santiago, he studies your wretched kind.”

It let out a long hum. “Is that so?” Its words were slow, challenging the idea. A restrained smile tugged at the corners of its mouth. “Is he the one who’s made a deal with one of my kind? Or was it someone else? Mighty deal they made, whoever it was. Can’t imagine how such magic would help you kill any great sea monster.”

“What…?” The word tumbled unintentionally from the captain's lips as her face fell. Even Nia had been taken aback as all the air left her lungs in a trembling rush.

“My, my. Someone aboard your crew is keeping secrets.” Any restraint it had not to smile crumbled, though only briefly. It closed its eyes, allowed its face to return to neutral, and said,  “Suppose that doesn’t matter much. Whoever it is cannot scry, nor can they sense other merfolk’s magic… Or the lingering magic on humans when they make deals.”

“She’s right,” Nia said, “We could make use of someone who can sense magic— so we ain't get blindsided by mermaids, or sirens, or their thrall. Not to mention no one's ever confessed to being tied to a mermaid before… I think we ought to really discuss that.”

Brigit was silent for a few more moments, her face still slack until it snapped back to a tight sneer. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I don’t trust it. It's just looking for us to open its cage and free it, run away with one of our souls for agreeing to this bullshit— maybe take the ships down once it gets into the water. I know we seldom see these things, but you know how they are.”

“If I were to make a deal and not hold up my half of it— or kill you, for that matter— I wouldn’t get anything. That's the point of a deal, human. Besides, you have a so-called expert aboard, hm? You should know I could have escaped at any moment.” Slowly it made a meaningful movement for the first time in the whole conversation. It startled Brigit into jolting backwards, her blade sliced a superficial cut into the monster's neck, but it did not respond to that. It lifted its hand to the bars. It touched one, then drifted between the empty space until its fingers bumped the next. “You are aware I am an ‘octopus’, correct? And that, should I will it, I can truly become such, yes? I could easily slip through. I am here on my own volition, just as I would go.”

Brigit stared at it. Her sword lingered, now with first blood drawn on its blade. A carnie behind her spoke up. His voice wavered furiously, “It-it's true! He ain't even a big octopus! He's a good merm. I promise, he's a good merm.”

”Though,” the octopus spoke up once more, “I do ask you: leave the troupe be. Leave them with enough of a crew to get them to land, too. You needn’t agree verbally, since I can imagine you fear accidentally selling me your soul.”

Nia sputtered out a questioning, “He..?” Before she shook her head and carried on, “That's remarkably human, isn’t it, sir?” she tugged Brigit's hand away. The blade finally pointed away from the merman. The cut didn't look that irritated, only a single rivet of blood pooled at the far end. “Your great serpent would never, I imagine. Don’t you think, Brigit?”

Brigit’s gaze lingered on the octopus a few seconds longer. Those golden, unemotional irises burrowed into her. At this point they did not even blink, as if it didn’t want to break eye contact first. Finally, she relented and closed her eyes. “Get Eddie to carry this thing out, I ain’t imagine it’d move well on its own. Make sure he don’t make any promises to it. In fact, make sure no one speaks a word to it ‘til we can get Santiago’s advice.” She did not open her eyes until she turned away from the sea monster and stormed towards the ladder. She grumbled to herself the whole while, mostly variations of calling herself and the situation foolish. Her stomps were deliberately loud, like a child throwing a tantrum.

Nia did not breathe a sigh of relief until Brigit vanished topside. She knelt down to the merm, however getting a closer look caused her eyes to squint. He seemed farther back than he was prior, entirely out of a blade’s reach. She hadn't seen or heard him move, and just how his tendrils sat in a bunch made it clear they were not primed for movement at that moment— or any moment prior. The cut on his neck had vanished, not even a drop of blood stained his skin. Unease built at the back of her throat. “Don't make me regret standing up for you, you hear me?”

He silently stared, expression blank and tendrils churning.