Angela returns to the alcove of overgrown plants. She sings, and it is not right, because the man is there, watching her every move with amusement—yet, he does not come. He isn’t even close to tipping into the water.

The Sea Witch’s temper snaps. She is infuriated with such irritating behavior, and finds herself relying on quite the barbaric methods now, as she swims toward the young man after her third song, that obviously, still isn’t working. 

Angela is sick of calling out to entire fleets of ships from all around the island, only to send them back minutes later, once they awake from their trance, the lot of them confused and filled with questions, that will certainly last them for a good lifetime, if not three.

Her stomach growls with hunger. She pushes against her tail, then rests a palmed hand against stones aligned across the shore, that are all still damp from the rains that had covered the lands, late this afternoon. 

The man looks down at her. He seems a tad shyer, now that they are closer.

Angela thinks it is a shame that she will have to slice him open. For a human, he has quite the charming face. 

She reaches out and concentrates on her nails, until they turn into sharp, unforgiving claws. 

But the stone she leans up against is quite the slippery foe, and in the process of trying to acquire her unmoving target, Angela stumbles. Her claws dig into the waistband of the man’s worn, cotton pants instead; they rip into the clothing’s rather thin fabric.

The young man makes a startled sound that is… quite sloppy, even for a frightened human. 

He goes tumbling back in turn—however, this does not solve the issue of Angela’s claws still being plunged deep into his attire, it only serves to aggravate it.

Angela’s nails catch onto the young man’s undergarments this time. Before either of them have a chance to react to the situation, the young man is baring himself from the waist down to her, and although this is Angela’s perfect time to strike—for he has paled in horror at this unfortunate turn of events—she does not move a muscle either.

His nether regions are not like most human men’s. It is closer to what Angela would have between her legs, if she had been of his kind. Although Angela finds the sight a rather elegant, and refreshing one—she cannot stand the taste of testicles, nor the shape of them—this still does not explain how he was able to ignore her calls for so long.

She gives up on clawing him to a bloody, merciless death and tilts her head to the side in a motion of curious inquiry instead. “Why do you ignore my calls, human?” she does not mean for it to sound like a complaint, yet it does. It is.

When Angela notices the young man is not doing much—aside from kneeling to find his belongings, that he soon uses to cover himself up—she lets out an exasperated sigh. Her arms come to rest across the flat stone, which currently serves as a platform for them both. 

Beneath the ocean’s calm tides, her dark and emerald tail wriggles, slightly. “What’s wrong with you?” Angela stares up at him. She groans. “You could at least, I don’t know…” she mutters, “scream for your life? Beg for me to reconsider? And yet,” she huffs, “you fear me not. Why?”

A tiny insect flies onto her breast. She frowns, then pulls away from the stone that had been hiding her chest, to casually swat it off. 

The young man’s attention drifts to her nipples, that perk up from the cold surrounding them. Angela wonders if he is staring because they are a deep navy color. Then, she realizes, it is probably not that, once she remembers human culture is different from hers. 

Prudes, she thinks, with a click of her tongue.

The man’s face has gone a shade darker. As a pink blush spreads up to the tip of his ears, the subtle scent of sex fills the air. The man brings an open palm to his parted lips. He looks away, then makes another peculiar sign again, with his free hand.

Beside them, the leaves rustle, once rain begins to wash over BrittleNeck Island yet again. 

Angela wonders if she should perhaps kidnap the man, until he decides to tell her his secrets, and how it is, that he is still resistant to her kind. 

If he has found a way to counter her people’s whole reason for living, this could be bad. They could risk extinction, or worse.

Or… she could come back again tomorrow, with reinforcements. Better threats. A few intestines perhaps, and the heads of two sailors. The latter often proves to be quite a good menace, especially when she holds them up by their hair.

However, before Angela can make any further plans to traumatize her newfound nemesis, a dark shape rises across her surroundings.

Angela freezes.

Everything is silent, for a moment, and then, it happens all too suddenly—she does not have time to swim away, hold on to a tree, nor to call for help. 

The Sea Witch is dragged away, caught inside the rhythm of a wave so big that it makes her feel like an intruder in her own home—the ocean.

The last thing Angela sees is a carpet of stars glimmering above their heads, before the unforgiving tide comes crashing unto Brittleneck island. 

Her entire body and head are slammed against hard stone. 

Angela tries to move her tail in order to swim far from the young man, only to realize with horror that she has been tossed out of the sea, and betrayed by the water she loved so.

A searing pain pierces her skull. Her voice is hoarse as she screams a scream, that does not sound like a scream, yet is a pitiful, dried out croak—a sound Angela barely recognizes to be her own.

She thinks she hears the man make one of his unusual, uncoordinated and graceless sounds of panic, but she cannot be certain. Her ears ring with a ferocious roar, that is soon covered by lightning which strikes the clouds that drift above their heads. 

The end, these are the words that run through her mind, for if the man catches her, she will likely wake up dead, in another realm far from this island and her beloved ocean.

Angela’s vision fades to a disconcerting black void, where nothing exists anymore—nothing, except the warmth of arms that pick her up, and carry her through the ongoing storm.