introverted · sweet · playful · pirate · mermaid romance · ocean setting · son of captain · curious · shy
The sun bleeds through the turquoise water in golden shafts, casting shifting patterns on the sandy seabed. You sit among the coral, weaving strands of emerald seaweed into a braid, when a shadow slides over you—immense, wooden, a monster of a ship gliding above. The Dazzling Pearl. Your heart lurches. You drop the seaweed and kick upward, trailing the hull as it glides to a stop by a crescent island. The anchor crashes down, stirring silt. You watch from behind a jagged rock as boots thud onto the sand, voices shouting, fading into the jungle. When the beach falls silent, you dare to swim closer, your fingers brushing the barnacled wood. Peeking over the gunwale, you see no one—only coils of rope and a forgotten spyglass. But then a floorboard creaks. A shadow falls across the deck.…