He Stole the Prey

Rain fell over the harbor as Coral held a bucket of goldfish in her arms.

Lu Wen-chao no longer had the strength to ask where she'd picked them up. The hunters' footsteps grew closer behind them, the cargo ship ahead was about to cast off, and the fog lamps on the pier lit up one by one, like a row of cold, indifferent eyes. He only said, "Put it down."

"No." Coral hugged the bucket tighter. "They're from the same hometown."

"They're freshwater fish."

"Fish farther from the sea are more pitiful."

Lu Wen-chao gritted his teeth and dragged her, bucket and all, up the gangplank.

Water sloshed out of the goldfish bucket, splattering half his shoe. Coral immediately apologized. "They're too nervous."

"I'm nervous too."

"Then do you want the bucket?"

Lu Wen-chao said, "Shut up."

The cargo ship sounded its horn. The crewmembers on deck grumbled as they hauled in the ropes, clearly not wanting to get caught up in the Hunters' Guild's troubles. At the end of the pier, Qin Yan stood under a black umbrella in the rain, a dozen hunters behind him. Rainwater dripped from the umbrella's edge, slicing his smile into fragments.

"A hunter who steals the prey becomes the prey himself." Qin Yan raised his voice. "Old friend, are you sure about this?"

Lu Wen-chao shielded Coral behind him. "Have you always talked this much?"

"Before, you said I was too noisy. Now you're cursing me for the sake of a fish." Qin Yan chuckled. "Looks like Lady Bai was right—the **Mermaid's Song** turns people stupid."

Coral peeked out from behind Lu Wen-chao. "Wasn't he already not very bright?"

Qin Yan was taken aback.

Lu Wen-chao: "Shut up."

"I'm helping you insult him."

Someone on the pier laughed, only to have Qin Yan silence them with a cold glare.

The next instant, silver hooks flew at them simultaneously.

Lu Wen-chao kicked over a coil of ropes, and smoke bombs rolled into the rain. White smoke exploded. He grabbed Coral and rushed toward the cabin. Coral stumbled as she ran, her new shoes slipping on the wet wooden planks, nearly falling several times. The goldfish in the bucket were so jostled they were all rolling their eyes.

"They're seasick!"

"This isn't the time to worry about the fish."

"If you were a fish, I'd worry about you too."

Lu Wen-chao's steps faltered, and he barely dodged a silver hook grazing his shoulder.

Coral saw his sleeve torn open, blood seeping through. Her expression changed. For the first time, she didn't ask if the red water could be stuffed back in. She only gripped his hand tighter.

"Don't stop," Lu Wen-chao said.

"It hurts."

"It doesn't."

"Every time you humans say it doesn't hurt, it hurts."

Lu Wen-chao couldn't argue. He could only push her into the cabin.

The crew finally cut the last rope. The cargo ship drifted backward into the dark water. Qin Yan stood in the curtain of rain, not giving chase. He bent down and picked up a blue scale from the ground. The scale was slightly warm in his palm. Watching this from across the ever-widening stretch of water, Lu Wen-chao's heart sank.

Inside the cabin, Coral set the goldfish bucket down steady and let out a long sigh of relief. She said to the goldfish rolling their eyes in the bucket, "It's okay. He catches things very steadily."

Lu Wen-chao leaned against the doorframe, rainwater dripping from his chin.

"You shouldn't have come."

"But you caught me."

"That's not a reason."

"Yes, it is." She refuted seriously. "In the sea, if someone catches you, you can trust them one more time."

Lu Wen-chao fell silent.

The cabin was narrow, packed with wooden crates and fishing nets. The cargo ship rocked, and Coral couldn't keep her balance, so she could only hug the goldfish bucket and sway with the motion. She had lost her hat during the escape. Her silver-blue hair was plastered wetly against her cheeks, her skirt stained with mud, and the scale marks around her ankles were rubbed red by her shoes.

Lu Wen-chao threw his coat to her.

"Put it on."

"Aren't you cold?"

"No."

Coral looked at the blood on his sleeve. "You're saying the same thing you said about it not hurting."

She draped the coat over her shoulders, but instead of wrapping it fully around herself, she shared half of it to cover the goldfish bucket.

Lu Wen-chao's temple twitched. "The fish aren't cold."

"You're deciding for them again."

The cargo ship sailed into the dark waters. In the distance, the lights of White Whale Town grew smaller and smaller, the row of cold white lights from the aquarium like knives soaked in rain. Coral pressed against the porthole, watching the shore.

"Can I still go home?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Will you take me back?"

Lu Wen-chao looked at the wet ends of her hair. She had just been sold onto the list, had just learned someone wanted to intercept her song, and yet she was still asking him if he could take her home—as if, as long as he said yes, the sea would surely open its doors for her.

"Yes."

The moment the words fell, his pocket watch suddenly let out a rapid ticking sound.

Coral looked down and saw a strand of silvery-gray algae stuck to her palm. The algae burrowed like a living thing toward the scale marks on her ankle. It was the silver algae from the underground water tank, somehow clinging to her.

Lu Wen-chao instantly cut it away with his knife. The moment the algae was severed, a faint bell chime rang out from the direction of the distant pier.

Like some kind of marker had been activated.

Outside the cabin, the waves rose without wind.

Coral hugged the goldfish bucket tightly. For the first time, the waves didn't feel familiar. She heard many tiny voices hidden within the waves, calling her name.

Not a welcome.

A pursuit.

Lu Wen-chao also heard his pocket watch vibrating urgently. He walked to the porthole and saw a trail of silvery-gray foam forming at the ship's stern, as if something was chasing them along the route of their escape.

"Hang on tight," he said.

Coral hugged the goldfish bucket even tighter. "Do they need to hang on tight too?"

Lu Wen-chao glanced at her. Finally, he didn't correct her.

"Everyone, hang on tight."