Brigit stared at the empty spot on the table where the coin once sat. She blinked, once, twice… nothing. She rubbed her eyes, nothing. She reached out and touches the table, the pads of her fingers drifted over the dampened wood until they touched hand-warmed metal. The heat felt like fire as her heart stuttered; the doubloon reappeared right before her wide open eyes. No one moved in that time besides her, no one’s hands were close enough to put it back while without having to hit hers; it sat there as if it had always been in that exact location. Her breath hitched in her throat as her mind reeled, desperately grasping at whatever information that had been presented to her and make sense of the octopus’ actions. Her eyes flicked to the door to assure the man was gone, then to Esmerlin. He sat, unbothered, unflinching, just as he always did. His hands were innocently folded in front of him, resting on the dingy table. He was a statue, a symbol of something great yet cold and unmoving.

He was toying with her. Even if she did not fully understand how, she could tell that much.

Her face reddened as her brows knit together. She leaned in close, her elbow braced on the table as words hissed through her teeth like a snake’s tongue, “You threatenin’ us, boy?” She jabbed a finger into his chest. It was a bad idea, her hand had begun to shake. Fury was a poor disguise for horror.

The octopus leaned in closer in turn, their noses nearly touched. Her hand gently bent backwards with his movement— her now upturned finger and bottom of her palm rested against his sternum. His eyes did not leave hers. They did not even flicker between her pupils. With a level voice, he said, “Threatening? No, this was a show of trust. A good and proper olive branch.” He leaned back. “Never make assumptions. Not with me, not with others like me.”

Brigit huffed and slumped heavily in her chair, it creaked under her shifting weight. As she sunk the heavy fabric of her jacket scrunched up by her neck, making her look small like a pouting child. She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets hard and let the tension of the fabric still them. She had just watched a man unwittingly sell his soul for… nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing. It was that easy. She eyed Esmerlin, forgetting to blink as she run through their interactions in her head. Was he telling her this to taunt her? To lay blame at her feet should she ever misspeak around him later? Her teeth ground together in tight circles, the scraping drowned out the tavern hubbub. A cold sweat broke across her furrowed brow in a dozen dew droplets.

“Why was he so keen to ask your assistance..?” Nia asked, her own mild reeling with her own queries. Her gazed was focused on his pupils, tracing their odd shape against an even odder colour. She carried on, her wobbled, “seafaring folk should…”

“You humans trust in your eyes too much,” he repeated, and just like that his form shifted before both of them. Instead of the horizontally slit eyes of an octopus staring back at them they saw bland, brown eyes human ones. Not too dark, not too light, no flecks of amber or anything notable. Every spec of orange cephalopod skin that once littered his body was gone. He looked completely human. Ethereal, out of place for such a tavern, but utterly human nonetheless. However, as quick as the changes came, they reverted, just like the doubloon on the table had earlier.

“You’re tricking them,” Nia said quietly between short gasps, “You’re messing with their eyes.”

“Their heads,” Es corrected with a nod.

Brigit was barely maintaining her expression. Her coat tails shuttered as her hands shook more violently, no matter how hard she pushed them into the scratchy pocket’s fabric. “You’ve been making me see things… them legs ain’t real, ain’t they?”

Es shook his head, “My my, looking for all my secrets now?” He picked up the doubloon and began to toy with it again. His nails rhythmically clicked against it as rolled it between the last section of his fingers. “My legs are real. They usually aren’t to be maintained this long, but… I’m fairly used to land.”

Brigit leaned back to look under the table. “Can all sea demons..?”

“Yes. Shouldn’t your scholar have filled you in? He sure is slacking,” Es tutted with a playfulness that crept under the woman’s skin like maggots, “It’s usually a form for mating.”

Brigit’s strained face broke into disgust, she pulled a hand from her pocket and shoved a finger in Es’ face. “You better not got no ideas. I ain’t gonna let ya pull no succubus nonsense with my crew, nor me, got it?” She spoke with enough force that spittle flew from her mouth and onto Es’ cheek.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he wiped himself with his sleeve, “I have no interest in such with your crew, nor you.”

Disgust turned to offensive quite quickly. Her lips pulled tight to her teeth, but before she could retort Es threw a hand up and beckoned the barmaid over. The gold coin in between his fingered served as incentive for her to visit their table next. Brigit’s lips puckered close as her tongue pressed hard against the roof of her mouth. It was a sobering reminder they were not alone, and that she had brought a sea demon into the establishment. Surely that would not be looked upon kindly. His sins were just as much hers, at least in the eyes of the people. Hot air and a barely disguised growl caught behind her teeth.

The barmaid bounded over, her dress was low cut and the bottom of it was cropped high. Her walk was designed to be somewhere between a step and a skip, causing her breasts to nearly leap from her top. She had an empty serving tray tucked under her arm and a bright smile on her sallow face, showing off her yellowed, crooked teeth. Despite her sickly appearance her face was still plump, and a pair of dimples pressed deep into her cheeks. “What can I get for ya lot?” She asked, her eyes met only Es’. The gold of the doubloon shone in her irises.

“Oh, we were just wondering,” Es started, drawing the coin close to him and beaconing her to lean in. She did and he continued, “You wouldn’t have happened to over heard anything… notable, would you have? We’d just hate to get in the way of a, say, a lone merchant ship on its route. That’d likely scare them poor folk.”

She hummed and hawed a moment, but with a flick of a wrist one coin turned to two in Esmerlin’s fingers. Her eyes lit up and she cupped a hand to Esmerlin’s ear. Hot, rotting breath washed over the side of his face and down his jawline like a creeping fog. He nodded then slipped the coin, that appeared as two, into her apron’s pocket.

“Much thanks, best keep the gold out of sight. Plenty of unsightly sorts about.” Es said with a smile. The bar wench giggled and winked, before another table called out and she bounded off in the same manner she had come.

Esmerlin turned to the two women with him and said, “I have some coordinates, we best leave before she notices.”

Nia’s face was scrunched, as was Brigit’s. They were both silent.

Es held out his palm, the coin still within it.”Remember, you’re associated with me.”

***

Back aboard The Harrowed Maiden Esmerlin vanished below deck, the damp and dark comforted his soar, dry skin. The skeleton of the crew left aboard watched curiously, but without comment. They didn’t dare. Brigit stood, almost catatonic with a gold doubloon in her hands. With the octopus out of view, she could finally let herself feel the full weight of his oppressive presence on her shoulders. Her eyes were glazed over, but the crew knew under the surface was a ticking time bomb. She squeezed the coin between her fingers, then lightened her grip, over and over. It felt real, but she could not know for sure. The doubloon had reappeared earlier on the table when she touched it, however who’s to say he wasn’t hiding more from her about his power? It would be foolish for him to show his whole hand, as uneducated as she was, she knew that much. She couldn’t trust her reality any more. No one could.

She stared at herself in the gleam of the coin, so lost in her questions about her reality she did not hear Santiago approach her. She didn’t even hear him call out “sir” to her. She jumped as he tapped her shoulder.

Brigit spun on her heels, pressing the coin to her chest. She recovered quickly, propped her hands on her hips and spat, “what?”

“Sir. Did you allow the sea demon back aboard?” Santiago asked incredulously, he looked down his nose at her. His arms were crossed and he tapped his foot like a parent waiting to scold a child.

Brigit scoffed and her nose wrinkled. “He got us intel on where we can find our next pay cheque.”

“So we don’t need it any more.”

Brigit was quiet. Her eyes slipped away from him.

“Why does it want to stay here?”

Brigit felt a looming despair grip her heart. She did not know, and her not knowing was the exact reason he was still around. Sure, they had made some kind of non-magical deal that he could go with them should the crew leave his carnies untouched… but that honestly could not bind him. He could leave whenever he pleased, and should she toss him away… exactly what hell could he pay in kind?She dismissed Santiago with a wave of her hand. “Never mind that. Just assure no one speaks to him.”