As I drifted closer to these lovelies, and to the knives of rocks that threatened beneath them, they stopped their singing. Their hands were held out in open invitation, their hair blown back behind them so their breasts were fully exposed to both the sea and my own wide-eyed lust.

But one, an older mermaid by the dull sheen of her scales, began to smile. And then to grin so wide she could not hide the sharpened walrus tusks that snuck out below her upper lip.

I tried to turn the wheel with all my strength. In horror I...awoke.