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“Our food supplies are non-existent!” he yells, giving his head a shake. “You killed the one thing that would have helped us, and you let the princess kill our source of income. What are we all doing this for if not for those things? You are leading us to poverty and starvation. You are not fit to be captain!”

I refuse to back down, pressing my chest right up against his and staring into his beady eyes. “Are you declaring mutiny?” I challenge. “Out with it then!”

“Captain!” one of the crew yells, and the warning tone of his voice causes both me and Sterling to look. Remi is pointing at the bow with terror in his eyes.

I whip around to see a waterspout forming on the dark surface of the sea, the column of water drawn higher and higher into the sky. I don’t know what to make of it, its creation doesn’t seem natural.

Then something shoots out of the top of the waterspout and with the way its wings are spread I think it’s a great gull or albatross, until I realize the wings aren’t feathered but slick and rubbery and belong to a giant manta ray.

The ray comes falling toward the deck and is about to hit when suddenly it starts changing forms in mid-air. The wings fold in to become human arms, the tail elongates and widens to become legs, and the manta’s mouth shrinks to become lips.

Standing before us, her feet gently touching the deck, is a sea witch.

“Nerissa,” Sam says softly from the side of me.

Nerissa fixes her gaze on Sam and gives her an impish smile. “You’re still here, Samantha Battista. I thought you would have died by now.” Then her focus comes to me. “And here’s the man I wanted to see.”

I swallow hard, summoning nerves of steel. Nerissa, like most sea witches, is a stunning woman, a human put together with dangerous magic. She’s as tall as I am, her body lush with curves that are accentuated under her gossamer thin gown made of pearlescent oyster shell which moves around her like liquid. Her hair is long and a perpetually wet dark-green that morphs into shiny kelp near the ends. Her skin is brown with a metallic pink sheen that shifts under the light, her eyes a bright glowing copper.

She has everyone on this ship mesmerized. I wish Maren could see her for herself since she was so interested in sea witches. Though now I’m wondering why.

I push that thought from my mind and clear my throat.

“Good evening, Nerissa. What brings you to theNightwind?”

She chuckles softly, twirling a piece of kelp hair around her finger. “Loving the formality, Bones,” she says to me. “No time for idle talk, aye?” Her gaze sharpens. “I’m here because your crew has stolen something from my crew.”

“We didn’t steal it, we borrowed it,” I tell her. “And the mermaid is below deck if you want her back.”

“She’s dead,” Sterling spits out.

I shoot him a hard look. “Thanks for that. Very helpful.”

“Dead, is she?” Nerissa asks, her voice low, rich and melodic. “Well, I shouldn’t be surprised, she had been dying for some time. Her blood didn’t even help my crew in the end, but they are a stubborn bunch as you know. So attached to the idea of becoming something they will never become.”

“Yes, well it’s your crew now that has something of ours,” I tell her. “Sedge, our cook. He’s useless on your ship. They don’t eat.”

“Neither do you,” she says.

“Of course we do,” I scoff.

She raises her chin. “Right,” she says. “I forget sometimes.” She makes a face of disgust. “Regardless of who has what and how important that is, my crew won’t be giving you your cook back unless you give us something in return.”

“Well, you can have the fair mermaid,” I tell her. “Be my guest.”

“Alive. We want somethingalive.”

“Why do you care what the crew have or don’t have? You’re the one that cursed them.”

Her nostrils flare contemptuously. “I’m sure you can understand, Captain, that no matter what you’ve done to your crew or how they feel about you, they’re still your responsibility. I may have cursed them and their ship, but I do care about their well-being. Didn’t you ever have a pet while growing up? Perhaps eels or barracuda?”

I frown. “No…”

“Give her the princess then,” Sterling says. “That will call it even.”

“Yes, give her the princess,” Thane says and oh, I could kill my brother right now, my hands curling into fists.

Nerissa’s watchful eyes notice this. “Princess? Do tell.”