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“No, that is unacceptable,” Nathan Gold barked into his phone. It was perched on his shoulder, jammed up to his ear as he finished packing his suitcase with a satisfying zip. “I want a complete report of their assets. Yes, I am on my way there. I have a nine o’clock flight. I’ll be able to sort out this mess you made. If I were you, dearie, I’d be making a list of why I shouldn’t fire you the moment I get to Hong Kong.”
He hung up the phone with hard punch to the end button and tucked it back into his pocket. The incompetence of the burgeoning youth to the business world was astounding. He’d told Mal that Fredrick was too green for the merger, but she’d insisted to give the boy a shot. Now he was stuck with having to fix up this mess and salvage the deal. He wasn’t about to let Cora get her perfectly manicured hands on this one.
“Papa?” the small voice of his seven-year-old son chimed in from the doorway.
Gold was invested in stuffing his briefcase so he didn’t look up. “Yes, son?”
“Are you going away again?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Hong Kong, that’s in China.”
“Is that far?”
“Yes.”
“Can I come?”
“No.” He frowned at the wording in the contract. By God, had a fourth grader written this?
“Please, papa?”
“No, Bae,” he said firmly. He tossed the paper into his briefcase and slammed it shut, locking it in place.
“But I don’t want to stay here by myself. Ms. Walcott is boring,” Bae whined.
“I asked if your mother could take you, but she’s in Fiji.” Milah enjoyed spending his alimony checks on lavish parties and younger men. Bae was far better off with the nanny than his mother.
“I never get to see you,” Bae said, “You’re always at work or King Kong.”
“Hong Kong,” Gold corrected him.
“You never want to do what I want to do.”
“Bae, I’m an adult,” he said, “And being adult means working for a living. When you are older, you will appreciate what I do for you. Now let me finish packing. I’ll be home sometime next week.”
“That’s what you said last time and you were gone forever.”
“I was gone for three weeks. That hardly constitutes forever.”
“Please, papa!” Bae broke free from the door and ran to him, wrapping his arms around both of his legs and locking them in place. “Don’t go! I want you to stay! I don’t like being here all by myself.”
“Bae, I don’t have time for this nonsense.” He reached down and pulled his son off of him. “You need to be a big boy and let me do my job.”
“I hate your job! You like your job more than me!”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes it is! You always go away to work and you never want to me with me!”
“Bae!” he shouted, “You need to stop acting like a child. Now go to your room and play. I will see you when I get back.”
Bae’s large brown eyes seemed to take up half of his face, brimming with tears and pain. His lower lip trembled, but he did as he was told. Gold let out a long sigh, rubbing at his temples with his fingers. Bae would appreciate all of this one day when it was his company to run. He would understand then and be grateful that his father had made all of these sacrifices. He grabbed his coat and shoved aside the image of his son’s watery, pleading eyes.
“This is the captain speaking, we apologize for the inconvenience, but it seems there is a bad storm. We are now redirecting to New Guinea for a layover. We apologize for the delay.”
It was ridiculous that the pilot was talking to the plane as if it were a 757 and not a private jet with only him and the crew as its occupants. He scowled in the direction of the cockpit. Of course there would be a delay to Hong Kong, just what he needed to make this trip even worse.
He still couldn’t get Bae’s face out of his mind. The look of betrayal on his son’s face was reminiscent of a Shakespearean character. He knew his boy was still young and didn’t understand such things, but the guilt refused to be shaken. He turned the gold ring with the pale blue stone around on his finger, watching as it winked in the overhead light. He’d buy Bae a nice present in Hong Kong, surely that would make up for everything.
The plane let out a sudden lurch in its flight, causing everything inside of it to rattle like cutlery in a drawer. “What the devil?” he asked to no one.
The flight attendants came bustling out, fake smiles plastered on their faces. “Please buckle your seat belt. We are engaging in some turbulence.”
“You don’t say,” he growled out, but dutifully snapped on his seat belt.
The plane gave another bone jarring shake. A knot tangled into his gut. Something was wrong. He could feel the sudden tension in the air, hot and heavy. Each breath was like sucking in thick black smoke. The plane dipped again and he felt his stomach swoop down with it. There was a strange rattling noise and then a high-pitched whine.
A crunch of metal told him his worst fears were realized. He heard one of the flight attendants let out scream as the plane continued it’s rapid descent, no pulling back now. Once again, Bae’s face filled his mine, his beloved boy. How could he have thought a business trip was worth more than spending time with his son? Bae would never know how sorry he truly was.
There was fierce roar just as Gold saw the metal walls torn away from the plane like paper and wave of black sea water charging toward him.
The ocean was beginning to churn with the storm overhead bringing the waves to new life. All of the sea creatures were rushing towards shelter to protect themselves from the fierce tides. The ocean was whipping up blinding sand and tearing the coral away from its roots. Storms were dangerous, even for those who knew the sea well. Anna had already fled to the protection of the city with Kristoff, but Belle had lingered. She had seen something before the waves had begun to war with one another, something completely alien to the sea world.
She heard a strange groaning sound like some animal letting out its last dying breath. There was torn debris being swallowed by the hungry ocean, but this was nothing like the shipwrecks her grandmother had told her about. It was a strange boat she saw, smooth like a polished stone, but with strange wings like a bird that were now ripped away. There were bodies among the debris, humans. It was the first time she’d ever seen a drowned human before.
Her father would tell her good riddance. He could drone on for hours about how terrible the humans were. How they stole fish from the sea in alarming numbers and poisoned the water without any care for what lived beneath its surface. Seeing them spread out like starfish, limp and broken by the fury of the ocean, they looked nothing like the monsters he thought them to be. Belle’s heart swelled with new sadness. Who were these poor people who had lost their lives in this cold ocean? Did they have families? Life-mates? Someone should mourn for them in this terrible moment.
It was the fury of bubbles that caught her attention. At first she had thought it was a part of the strange ship, but when she got closer she could see it was something all together alive. Once she had seen a swordfish pierced through with a human weapon. The poor creature had flailed about, desperate to survive despite the futility of its struggle. The human before her now reminded her of that sorrowful memory.
It was a man, at least so she thought. He was whipping his arms around, fighting the pull of the ocean as it tried to drag him down. His two (legs? Yes that was the word) kicked in his efforts, but something had gone through one of his limbs. A jagged piece of metal had found purchase in his leg, likely from the odd ship. Belle watched him as he reached towards the swirling surface. He would never make it. The ocean always won.
What the sea wishes to take, the sea shall have. It was her father’s decree. Whenever a human vessel was brought down by the ocean the merfolk were ordered to do nothing. The humans were violent and cruel. It was the ocean’s decisions when and how to take its revenge.
Belle knew the ocean was another type of beast, one that deserved respect. She lived in its depths, understood its moods and whims. She knew better than to fight against it. However, this man…he was trying so hard. She couldn’t swim by and watch as he turned into another mangled body, brought down by the unforgiving sea.
Belle shot through the water, dodging the bits of twisted metal, fighting against the pull of the current. The man was beginning to fade. His limbs were drooping, giving up their fight. Belle grabbed a hold of the cloth that was around his torso and then took both of his arms. She heaved and pushed with all of her might. The ocean pulled back, desperate for its victim. She gritted her teeth and beat her tail against the tide. For once, the sea would not win. She would not let it take him.
The ocean was still swirling through the storm. She could hear the waves clapping against each other just as she finally broke through the surface. She took a breath of the salty air, pulling him up with her. Was he breathing? She couldn’t tell. She thought he might have taken in a wheezy breath but that could have been her own wishful desires. She needed to get him to shore.
The rain beat down on her, trying to give its ally the prize she had stolen. She used one arm to direct herself while she kept the man close to her side with the other. Her tail cut through the water harder than it ever had before. If she didn’t find land soon, she could wear herself down and the ocean could take them both.
There was a land called Australia close, she knew it. She had sometimes gone to its edge and listened to the human world, wondering what it was like to walk on land instead of swim in the sea. The storm was beginning to push away from her, giving up its battle and venturing out for easier prey. She could see the tops of the trees and the hear sound of waves crashing against the coast.
The sea became shallower, warmer. Soon she was pushing the man up along the sand, using her tail to shove them up. She gasped for breath as she lay there on the wet shore, only a friendly drizzle remaining from the storm. She let her exhaustion win for the moment, too tired to do anything. It was only when she felt the man’s chest take in a shallow breath that she realized she had won. The ocean would not take this man. He was alive.
Belle sat up into her hands, her tail winding around him. He looked a bit older than her, with wet, brown hair streaked with grey. He had a slightly crooked nose and crinkles at the corners of his eye. His face was so interesting, somehow different even though it was just like any other merman’s. She looked at his wounded limb. The piece of metal had come loose in their struggle against the storm. Blood leaked into the sand, but it didn’t appear to be pouring out in a fatal wound. She thought he would be all right.
The sun was beginning to peek out in the horizon, chasing away the rain. He would live. Belle smiled to herself and reached out to cup his cheek, feeling the prickle of hair there. The man let out a groan and leaned into her touch. His eyes flickered open and she gasped.
They were warm and brown, like sea rock baked in the sun. He stared at her for a long moment and she felt her heart give out a strange flutter. The air was cold before, but now it all seemed warm. One of his hands lifted off of the sand, reaching for her face, but then his eyes drifted closed again and he sank back into sleep.
Belle was afraid at first until she put her head to his chest. The beat of his heart drummed in her ear, promising her that he continued to live. It felt right being here with this stranger, alone on this piece of beach that bridge the land to the sea.
Voices came from her right. Humans, she knew it. They would find her man here and take him someplace safe where he could get help. Belle quickly pulled away from his warmth and leapt back into the sea. She flew to the safety of rock and peeked out to see. It was a group of three humans all wearing strange yellow clothes. They shouted out their discovery when they found her wounded man, pulling out a cloth and wrapping it around him. They waited there until a strange beating sound came from the sky. Something came down like a giant bird but with odd wings on top that swirled in a circle. Belle peeked through the water as they put her man into the bird and then it flew off towards the middle of the land. He was gone now.
It was a beeping sound that roused Gold from his sleep. He opened his eyes slowly, seeing a bright light at first and then a speckled white ceiling. There was a warm weight against his right side and he slowly turned his head to see Bae was nestled up against him, fast asleep. It was a hospital and Bae was here, his darling boy.
He hadn’t died. He was alive. She had saved him, whoever she was. That beautiful woman who had touched his face on that stretch of beach had saved him.
“Mr. Gold? You’re awake I see.”
Gold looked up to meet the warm eyes of a doctor. The man smiled at him and spoke in heavy Australian accent. “Welcome back. You came close to leaving us out there, but you’ll be all right now.”
“The plane…” he said in a raspy voice
“Yes, it went down. You’re lucky to be alive, Mr. Gold.”
Bae stirred beside him, opening his sleepy eyes. “Papa!” he shouted with glee and crawled up his chest to give him a proper hug. “I was so worried! Mrs. Walcott took me on a plane to see you. I was scared, but I wanted to see you so bad.”
“I wanted to see you to,” he said, tears pricking at his eyes. He could have died. He almost died because of a stupid business trip. He never would have seen his boy grow up if that woman hadn’t saved him.
“Is she all right?” Gold asked.
“Who?” The doctor looked at him curiously.
“The woman who saved me. Was she a flight attendant from the plane?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Gold, but you were the only survivor.”
“That’s impossible,” he said, “I felt her pull me out of the ocean and bring me to shore. I saw her.”
“Mr. Gold, there was no one there but you when you were found,” the doctor said, “You must have imagined her, probably due to the shock.”
“I…she was real,” he said.
The doctor gave him a patient smile. “Don’t worry, Mr. Gold. You’ll be all right now. Are you still in pain?” He gave him a weak nod. It felt like his ankle was on fire now. “Yes, you were impaled by something in the crash. We had to do surgery, but I’m afraid you’ll always have a limp. I’ll get a nurse up here to give you something. You rest now.”
Gold settled back into his pillows, putting one arm around his son. It could have been so much worse. It would be different now, in more ways than one. Death tickling at his toes had taught him what he truly wanted and it wasn’t being top of heap.
“Papa,” Bae said.
“Yes, son?”
“You really saw a woman in the water?” Bae asked, “And she saved you?”
Gold shut his eyes, letting his mind carry him back to that sandy beach with the waves licking at his legs. He had opened his eyes and seen here there, a halo shining around her head from the morning sun. Her eyes were so blue, like a cloudless sky. He could remember the warmth of her hand against his cheek, how he’d reached out to touch her shining face.
“I don’t know, son,” he said softly, “I wish I knew.”
Two Years Later
Belle’s tail beat against the water, but it was far too late. She felt the heavy weight of net snatch her up, tangling her in its grasp. She tried to claw her way out, but already she was being pulled away from the ocean. She gasped when the water slipped away and she was dangling in mid air.
“Oy! We got one!” she heard someone shout.
The net was slowly lowered onto the deck of a ship. It slammed down onto the surface, knocking the breath out of her. She gasped and flailed, her tail slapping against the grimy deck.
“She’s a pretty fish, ain’t she,” one man said.
“What’s that she got around her neck?” The man who spoke reached towards her throat, but she slapped his hand away. Her fingers wrapped around the string of black pearls and the gold ring at its center.
“She don’t want you to touch her, Art,” the other man said, “Best let her be and put her in the tank. We’ll radio shore and tell them what we got. She’ll fetch a good price.”
Belle was lifted up in the net again by two of the men. Part of the deck was open and filled with seawater. She was dropped in with a rude splash, but it was relief to be back in the water. She couldn’t swim very far, mostly just sit in the bottom of the tank and hold the ring close to her heart. She didn’t know what was going to happen to her now. Belle felt the ring dig into her palm as she squeezed her fingers around it. She shut her eyes and remembered the man she had saved, his warm brown eyes drinking her in. She didn’t know where she was going next, but maybe if she pretended it was to him, her fears would drift away. Maybe.