Mira awoke to the grinning, blue face of Welz forcing a cup of juice at him, a routine he had grown accustomed to every morning while aboard the Thousand Legends.

  "Drink up, lil' lad!" Welz seemed to always find better juice than the bartender Sinda. Mira felt that somehow the orange juice tasted even fresher here at the bottom of the sea. He could taste a sour sweetness, as if biting directly into the flesh of an orange each morning when Welz barged in to wake him up. Mira had lost count of how many weeks he'd been sailing with the Neptunes, but he still hadn't gained proper sea legs. Regardless, the young boy was still quick to get up and drink his beverage that morning. Since arriving on the ship, Mira had woken up with pounding headaches every morning, surely a side effect from living under the sea for so long. But somehow, no matter how severe the headache was, that orange morning juice always made him feel better.

  "Yoo, Welz!" Mira smiled with a dopey grin and tangled hair. "Good morning! What are we doing today?"

  Welz watched as Mira gulped down the last of his juice and took the cup back. "The Admiral says we're hot on the tail of another Leviathan. Today's the day we take her down."

  "Another one?" Mira raised a brow, acutely aware this was the third of the week. "How many do we need to go after?"

  Welz let out an annoyed sigh, as if he had heard the question too many times today. "As many as it takes. You'll learn that soon."

  With that, Mira stood and wobbled through a thousand lightning-fast punches as the ship bobbed on the undersea tide. He felt more sluggish each day, but the boy made sure to never neglect his morning exercise. Xere found the boy's odd ritual of early morning juice and punching the air to be an odd form of alarm to let him know each day had started. So this morning, the grumpy cabin boy didn't bother yelling for peace as blue sparks filled their quarters.

  After breakfast the crew breached the surface again, and Mira was able to breathe fresh air for the first time in ten days. He enjoyed another glass of juice on the deck, watching over the waves as Rish and the rest of the crew set up their hydro-cannon. He still felt woozy, but it was nice to see Holy Sola again and feel her warmth on his skin. Xere eventually joined Mira on the deck, ready for the signal to begin his Inta chants.

  "Mornin'..." yawned Xere. "Still having a tough time walking around here?"

  Mira shrugged, "It's getting better. There's not much to do though." He raised a mostly empty glass. "Just drinking and killing fish."

  Xere took the glass out of Mira's hand and sniffed it. No liquor. He raised a brow and handed the glass back. "Yeah, I guess it can get a little dull out here."

  "It's getting boring." Mira said bluntly. "I'm not sure why Helen brought me out here, but I'm guessing I have to help with the Admiral's hunt or something... maybe." He ended the thought with a shrug and turned to Xere as if the dark-scaled Inagi had the answer.

  "I don't know what that woman was thinking when she dropped you off here. We don't do anything except for hunt and eat. We're definitely not fit to train soldiers on her behalf."

  "Well..." Mira studied his roommate with a large smile. "What brought you here?"

  "Me?" Xere paused at the question, as if Mira should have been debriefed on his situation before stepping foot on their ship. "You don't know? These guys kidnapped me seven years ago."

  Mira paused and adjusted his gaze to the proper confused expression. "They what?"

  "Yeah, it was pretty crazy—took me right out of my bed at gunpoint." Xere stared out to sea with a thousand-yard stare, replaying the detail of that night in his head for the millionth time. He had reached a point where the trauma was a bit funny.

  "Wait!" Mira stood up and reiterated his question with an angry frown. "They what!?"

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  Xere laughed and pointed at Mira's expression. "Woah! I didn't know you could even make a face like that. You're all smiles all the time. It's good to see the Mortal side of you."

  Mira's face sank and he gave a sullen expression to the floorboards. "But I thought pirates were the good guys..."

  "The Neptunes? I mean, they're not bad guys..." Xere took a moment to rephrase. "But they're certainly not up to much good either, if that makes sense." Xere folded his arms and closed his eyes, remembering he had another great story. "You wanna hear about a bad guy? Like a bad, bad, bad guy? Then you should hear about my father."

  Mira sat back down and cocked his head. "How bad is he?"

  "The worst." Xere went on with smug look. "He's the ruler of all five Trench Cities. They call him the Ocean Liege." Xere made overdramatic quotes with his fingers to mock the title. "He's the meanest bastard in the world. He's got more wives than I even know, not that he cares about any of the kids he has with 'em. I mean, the guy wouldn't even pay my ransom." Xere swung around to meet Mira with his all-blue eyes, frustration seeping through the smile. "Can you believe that? His own son got kidnapped by pirates, and he wouldn't fork over a few bits of gold to get me back." Xere spat off the edge of the ship. "Well, fuck it! And fuck him too. If he doesn't want to pay, I'll chart my own course back."

  "Wait..." Mira's mind was jumbled from all the information being presented to him. His face made it apparent he was on the verge of short-circuiting. "Is everyone in the ocean an asshole?"

  "What can I say..." Xere held an arm out to the great blue they sailed upon. "It's a cold world out here."

  "I see." The blue-haired speedster studied his roommate's face to see he'd been joking. There were no hints at such humor. Suddenly, Mira chuckled and slapped his roommate on the shoulder. "Well, I think I know why Helen brought me here. She-he-he!"

  "Yeah?" Xere scoffed at Mira's sudden change in demeanor. "Planning on turning us into good guys?"

  "I'm bringing you home."

  A call from Rish cut off their conversation. "Xere, you lazy sack-a-scales! Get up and start calling up the Leviathan!"

  Xere was stunned, standing silently with a face like Mira had just spat Inta at him. He shook off the surprise and called back to the Vice-Admiral, "Uh... coming!" With that he left Mira to his juice and prepared for the battle.

  These skirmishes had a predictable rhythm. First Xere would call out to the beast, then Rish would shoot it with their hydro-cannon once it was within range. From there, Admiral Jones wrestled, or bit, or clawed the Leviathan to death with ease. When the waves had settled, the Admiral was again dissatisfied at the results of his carnage. His prize was nowhere to be found. Another failed hunt, it was the same as always. Knowing that his Admiral's bout was over, Mira dashed up to Welz in the crow's nest in a flash of static to ask again why Jones was so fixated on the Leviathans. Welz couldn't help but laugh at the question, as if the Admiral's whole hunt was some sort of big joke.

  "The Admiral is a possessive man, lad, and a long time ago one of those beasts ate a fishhook he wanted. To put it in terms you'll understand, he really wants his hook back and he's not sure which one of them has it." The answer was simple, but it got the message across to Mira loud and clear. The Admiral was on a treasure hunt, and his treasure was buried gut-deep in some Leviathan. How far was he willing to go for this treasure? Mira had no idea, but he felt it would be gross to find out.

  Admiral Jones morphed back down to his humanoid form after defeating his third beast of the month and swam freestyle back to his boat. He was greeted by a tiny hand that aimed to pull him aboard. His least favorite cabin boy was waiting patiently by the ladder after speaking with Welz, ready with a thousand questions for the man in charge. However, much to the boy's dismay the Admiral didn't have time for any of those inquiries, instead he was focused on finding the next Leviathan on his path.

  "How many of them will it take?" Mira blurted out as the Admiral attempted to push past him without exchanging words.

  Jones paused in his tracks for a moment and spoke without looking back. "I'll kill them all if I have to, boy. Remember that."

  Mira tried to dash up to the Admiral but hadn't the footing or balance to accomplish his task. He tripped and caught himself on a railing. He almost fell overboard, so he pushed himself up quickly with an embarrassed look. "And what about Xere?"

  "Huh?" At that, the Admiral felt compelled to look back.

  "Can we take him home?" Mira smiled with those too-friendly eyes and slacked-jawed smile, but Jones wasn't amused.

  "He can go home when he finds my damn hook." Avery turned away and sauntered back to his quarters, irritated by the mere suggestion of letting his prisoner slip away.

  Mira was left alone, sitting on the floor with a defeated expression. "Well, that's rude."

  (To Be Continued...)

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