• A white seal swam around in the harbor. A ship’s crew was watching her from overhead. The seal swam faster; but a net was thrown onto her. She was lured onto the ship, where she was tossed onboard. A girl lay there now, a white seal skin wrapped tightly around her. She was unclothed, except for the soft skin surrounding her. She looked up, and saw men staring at her. She didn’t say anything, but a man carried her off into another room.
    In this room, a mermaid was in a bathtub, and there was also a unicorn along with a Pegasus. The selkie was set on the floor, where the unicorn came to investigate her. “How were you captured?” it asked, its horn on her shoulder.
    She replied, “A net was thrown over me...And I was pulled aboard...” Her voice was like a mermaid’s, but it was much more beautiful. “Why have they captured us?” she asked hesitantly.
    “Because they wish to sell us. You and the mermaid shall never see water again. The Pegasus shall never see the sky again, and I shall never be in the valley again,” the unicorn replied sadly.
    The selkie now said, “What are your names? I am Embereth, if anyone wants to know.”
    The mermaid piped up. “I’m Ami, and the unicorn is Rayza, and the Pegasus is...Well, he just goes by Pegasus. And you are a selkie, am I correct?”
    “Yes,” Embereth said. “I am a seal with the ability to become human...But it is not at our own will, usually. I do not have that gift to change into a human when I want to, but I’d rather be a seal anyway. I don’t like the land much...”
    “Well, get used to it,” Pegasus snorted.
    “Pegasus! Be nice,” Rayza said, pricking the winged horse with his horn.
    “Hey! We’re never gonna get off this ship anyway; unless someone buys us, that is.”
    “He’s right, you know,” Ami said, sadly combing her hair.
    Rayza now said, “But we can still try to escape! I mean, maybe at night, or...Even in the morning would be alright!”
    “Fat chance,” Pegasus snorted. “Hey, what’re ‘ya think you’re doing?!?”
    “She’s singing,” Ami said, listening to Embereth’s voice.
    Somewhere, out there
    Someone sees us shine...
    Someone feels our pain
    Someone tries to cry
    Someone feels why
    We are sad...
    And I still hope
    That they will hear us cope...
    “Beautiful,” Ami said. “That was better than I could ever sing,” she gave Embereth a painful smile.
    Embereth smiled back, and then the explosion occurred. “What was that?” she asked, alarmed.
    “Something’s just attacking the ship...” Pegasus said drowsily. Then, he cried, “Something’s attacking the ship! We can escape!”
    “Wow... Who knew you had any hope in ‘ya?” Rayza said sarcastically.
    When the crew members went outside to try and stop what was attacking the ship, Ami said, “Let me go first. Then Rayza, then Pegasus, and finally, Embereth.”
    Embereth helped Rayza lift Ami out of the tub, but it was hard to hold a seal skin against her body and lift out a mermaid at the same time. So, she ended up dropping the white seal skin, her body exposed. “Pegasus!” Embereth called. “Help me put my skin back on!”
    “Why should I?” the winged horse asked.
    “Because I don’t want to go out there with nothing covering me!” Embereth said, and the horse helped her get the skin back around her. Then, Rayza and Embereth got Ami out of the tub, and got outside. They threw the mermaid overboard, and she dived into the sea.
    Then, Rayza left on Pegasus’s back. They flew into the sky.
    Embereth was left. Just as she was going to jump overboard, someone spotted her. She had got her seal skin around her tight enough that she became that small, white seal again, but that someone grabbed her, and peeled the skin off of her. “Give me that!” Embereth yelled, concealing her body as much as possible. “No,” was the reply.
    Embereth then charged at the man, and grabbed the seal skin from him. “Then I must take it by force,” she said, wrapping herself in it and becoming a seal once more. She jumped overboard, and the pirates didn’t capture her again.