There was a legend among the waters. A girl that had drowned years ago that supposedly haunted the deep blues, a girl in a soaked and torn white dress with long, black hair and skin as pale as the moon. There were legends among the sailors to ‘Stay Away From Carlin Cove,’ but there were always the few that didn’t believe.

“Captain,” the quartermaster said, “Something’s on the shore.”

“On the shore?” He questioned, walking up beside her to get a better look. “I don’t see a thing.”

“There,” she said, pointing to a figure clouded with fog. If he squinted, he could just make out the shape of a person, curled in on themselves, alone.

“I’ll get a closer look,” the Captain, always one for a little risk, said roughly, but the quartermaster grabbed his wrist and spun him around.

“But what about the rumors?”

And he laughed and shook her hand off as he made his way down to the sandy beach. “Nonsense.” And he made his way over to the figure. “Excuse me, miss! Are you alright?”

But as he took one step, another, his eyes began to adjust. A beautiful woman kneeled in the water, silk seeming to surround her. Horrible sobs racked from her chest; her face buried in her hands as she wept. “They took him,” she cried, “They took him.”

“Ma’am, who did,” the Captain said cautiously, but the woman didn’t reply. He worried at his bottom lip, unsure of what to do about the clearly distressed woman. A couple more steps couldn’t hurt, right? “Miss? Who took him? Miss?”

He reached out, his fingertips brushing her cold shoulder- and then she started to laugh. It was almost funny, really, the strangled sounds that escaped her mouth as her sobs turned into giggles and then turned into loud, shrill laughter.

“Miss?” The Captain asked. “Who took him?”

And the woman grabbed his wrist just as his quartermaster had, but her grip was tighter, and her skin was cold as ice. And she looked up at him now, her eyes shining with unshed tears and jet-black hair framed her face. And she smiled.

“The sea did.”

The next thing he knew he was dragged into that same sea many before had warned of.