Simone doesn't bother to look at Georgette as she walks out onto the deck. She keeps her eyes fixed on the horizon as her maid hesitantly approaches and stands stiffly beside her. She's not mad at Georgie, not really, but she isn't in any mood for company now. The night sky swirls dark and angry close by, the first drops of rain beginning to spit from the clouds. She leans on the rail and watches the brewing storm, waiting for Georgie to decide how she wants to begin this conversation.
"You really shouldn't have stormed out like that, miss. Your mother is furious."
"She'll live, unfortunately." Georgie clucks at her disapprovingly. "If she thought I'd quietly go along with this, then that's her own fault. I've made my views on marriage perfectly clear to her in the past."
"With all due respect miss, you need to look at the reality of the situation. I understand you don't want to be wed, but it is, unfortunately, a man's world. You're nearly twenty-seven, and still unmarried. Your mother is trying to secure you a husband while she still can to make sure you're taken care of."
"You mean so she doesn't have to deal with the shame of a spinster daughter."
"Yes, she's looking out for the family's reputation, which is also your reputation, miss."
"Bad enough she arranges a marriage for me to some pencil-necked dandy, she has the nerve to spring it on me while trapped on a ship. Now I have to suffer the idiot's presence until we reach Alianza."
"That's a very strong opinion for someone you've exchanged fewer than ten words with."
"Georgie, my mother has been parading me before suitors since I was fourteen. I know her type by now. They are, invariably, self important, overconfident in their abilities, and completely deaf to any sound but their own voice. I sincerely doubt this one will be any different."
"Will you please just come back inside, miss? You don't even need to talk to him tonight, or even acknowledge he exists, but the weather's getting worse and I'd rather finish this where I wo-" Suddenly the ship lurches violently, throwing both women hard into the rail. The wind is driving now, rain pounding hard and fast as Simone tries to regain her bearings after having the wind knocked out of her. The squall is fully upon them now, in all its fury. Georgie is saying something to her, screaming it, but she can't hear it over the wind. The ship heaves again, plunging terrifyingly toward the ocean, and Simone slides off the deck and over the rail as her grip comes loose on the slick metal. Georgie lunges over the rail, grabbing her ankle with both hands. She braces her body against the rail, feet threatening to slide out from under her as she attempts to pull Simone back onto the ship. Before Simone can even call out to let her go, that she should get herself to safety, the ship lurches again, pitching Georgie off the side and sending both of them into raging waters below.
All the air is knocked out of Simone's lungs as she hits the water. The impact is like landing on a stone floor, and the only mercy is that the freezing water almost immediately sends her into shock, so she doesn't feel the worst of the pain for long. It feels strange, almost like she's floating outside her body, watching herself drown. She sees Georgie in a similar state, watching her drift down until the water is too dark to see through.
She sinks for what feels like hours, though Simone knows it can only have been minutes at most. Time slows to a crawl as her lungs fill with water. She'd often joked about dying 'cold and alone', but she never figured it would be quite this literal. She doesn't even feel the cold anymore, her body gone completely numb. She's desperate and panicking, but there's no strength in her limbs. All she can do is wait to drown. Eventually she begins to fade out, consciousness slowly slipping away from her.
DO YOU FEAR DEATH MORTAL?
Simone jolts, a full body spasm she didn't think she could summon. Or maybe she's hallucinating. Certainly nobody could actually be speaking to her, and if they were, she wouldn't be able to hear it.
DO YOU FEAR DEATH MORTAL?
A faint light appears in front of her, slowly growing in strength. As it sharpens into focus and grows in intensity, Simone can make out the form of a woman within. She's beautiful, fully nude, and reaching out her hand. The pale blue light radiates out from her, becoming blinding the closer she approaches.
THIS ONE CAN DELIVER YOU TO SAFETY. GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH TO MAKE THE OCEAN YOUR OWN. THE POWER TO SAVE THE OTHER MORTAL.
Simone's head lolls to the side and sees Georgie. She's lost consciousness, bubbles no longer streaming from her mouth. If she isn't dead already, she will be soon. She tries to speak, but nothing comes out. She can't even move her mouth. Then again, a hallucination probably doesn't need to hear her to understand.
What do you want?
YOUR DEVOTION. YOUR LIFE IN SERVICE TO THIS ONE. TO BE THE AGENT OF THIS ONE IN THE WORLD ABOVE.
Simone hangs in the water, bathed in light, as she thinks. She's not convinced any of this is real; merely the last mad ravings of her oxygen-starved brain. On the other hand, if she's definitely dead one way and only almost certainly dead the other, there really isn't a choice.
Yes. I agree to your terms
THE PACT IS SEALED
The pale woman drifts towards her and places her hand on Simone's cheek. She feels warmth and sensation slowly trickle back into her body. Then she sees the jaws behind the woman, great and terrible, connected to her by some long antenna or tentacle. The jaws clamp shut around Simone, and she feels nothing at all.
Simone wakes to strong hands dragging her into a lifeboat. The sky is still dark, but clear, and the waves have settled into something manageable. Her mother clings tightly to her when she's brought up to the ship, weeping and wailing. She gets the story after she's warmed up by the stove, with hot coffee and dry clothes. They found her and Georgie clinging to a piece of ruined lifeboat that had been knocked loose in the storm. They were half drowned and nearly hypothermic. Lucky to be alive, they said.
Once they've gone, and she's left alone in her cabin, she stares at herself in the mirror. She runs her hand over her neck and feels where the skin splits slightly, then flexes and sees the new gills open up. Her fingers are slightly webbed where they weren't before, and she watches the webbing grow and shrink at her will. She could still be hallucinating. Hypothermia and shock will do that, and there's no guarantee it would have worn off by now.
Simone thinks back to the pale woman, and the horrible thing behind her. As much as she wishes it were just the mad hallucination of a drowning victim, she knows it isn't. She made a bargain with something down in the ocean. Now she could only wait until it decides to collect.