Only a stranger would rouse the captain from his bunk – none of the crew would dare, even when they were docked. He usually threw offenders overboard. He did haul them back in soon afterwards, but nobody liked a dunking in the Northern Atlantic this time of year. Captain Melville let out a string of expletives as he pulled on a robe and opened the door.

A young man stood there, his skin suggesting some African ancestry mixed with a pinch of the Middle East. Clean-shaven face and clothes freshly ironed made him appear a refugee from some nation’s navy. “There’s a notice that you need another crew member.” The accent had to be American, but Captain Melville couldn’t place regions any better than that.

“So you decided to come knocking at four in the morning, eh?”

“It’s five-thirty, sir.”

“I’m not in a very good mood. You have a few sentences to explain to me why I should hire you.” He fumbled in his pockets for a cigarette.

“Would you like a light?” The young man showed him a Zippo, without apparently getting it from anywhere.

“Wait, where’d you get that?”

“Though I should probably show you the Surgeon General’s latest warning,” he added, handing him a typed memo.

Captain Melville felt slightly better. “You’re one of those magic people?”

“I am a Magics, yes. I can function normally for a full week without any sleep at all, on the condition that I do nothing but sleep the following week. More to the point for your enterprise, I can charm fish.”

“Prove it.”

“There’s a fish swimming right beside this boat, right now. Step outside and look down.” A fish leapt vertically, then fell back into the water, then leapt again and again.

“Don’t you ever wake me up this early again. What’s your name?”

“Call me Pisces Jay.” Pisces held out a hand to shake, then met the captain’s eyes. “This fishing trip is illegal, isn’t it?”

“Does it matter to you? If we find out you’re connected with the law –“

“No laws, no laws. I want to know what compensation you have for the risks we’re taking in fishing without a license in an off season when fishing has been greatly restricted due to declining stocks around the world.”

“Extremely good pay.”

Pisces smiled and tapped an amulet he wore around his neck – a Jesus fish, but with a pentacle in the center of the fish’s body. “That’s all I need to know.”

In the weeks to come, the fishing was very poor. Nets kept breaking, and no matter how numerous the fish appeared to be, hardly any ever seemed to be caught. Captain Melville paced along the deck one evening, while most of the crew was deeply into a poker game, to find young Pisces sawing through a net.

“You!” The captain gripped him by the throat. He used to wrestle in college and still had the body type, while Pisces was more of a swimmer. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re sabotaging.”

“Funny that,” Pisces choked out.

A thought struck Melville. Magic…obtaining things from thin air…controlling animals…”You’re a goddam Jangoral!” Derrick Jangoral, controller of all animals, was a major factor in the Fantasy Coup, when the Magics revealed themselves to the humans. His two daughters became international environmental stars. One protected snakes and the other one birds. This had to be Derrick’s grandson. Why hadn’t he seen it before? The idea of magic-assisted riches must have been too tempting.

“I didn’t know my family…was that famous…my mom is so going to have ravens pick your eyes out…” Pisces tried to kick something vital, but didn’t manage it. His right hand focused on attempts to release the grip on his neck, while the left hand produced a roll of duct tape. If he could tie up this man, he could make a getaway on a lifeboat –

The captain snatched the duct tape. “Gee, thanks.” He taped Pisces’ flailing hands together, and in the struggle that ensued got his legs as well. To stop him from waking anyone else up, he put a strip over his mouth, too. Then he put some of the net weights into his pockets. The whole process took about fifteen minutes the kid thrashed so. “You like the fish? Let them save you.”

Great, just great, Pisces thought as he sank. Yes, he could breathe underwater. Yes, underneath his clothes he wore a special suit made by an Elf friend that maintained his body temperature at a safe level, protected him from jellyfish, and prevented the bends. But in the absence of parrotfish or sharks, no fish could free him from such bonds…why couldn’t he have power over some North Atlantic mammal to carry him to shore?

Death from dehydration and starvation is a much more agonizing process than drowning. The drowner’s troubles are over in a few minutes. His little brother Felix was right when he said, “Paul –“

“I’m Pisces now,” he’d corrected him.

“Yeah. What you’re doing is stupid. There are other ways to protect the world’s fish populations than going undercover with poachers who just might kill you. If I know who did it they’ll have a little accident involving a tiger, but it won’t bring you back.”

And another thing, he continued with his interior rant as he sank into darkness, if he got out of this, Aunt Opal would tell Mom if he lied about it. Aunt Opal inherited Grandpa’s ability to discern lies. Then they’d make him go back to graduate school.

He passed a school of herring, which followed his mental command and tried to collectively lift him up and bite through the duct tape. He decided herring couldn’t bite worth squat. He and the herring gave up and they parted ways.

His eyes started to hurt from the salt water, so he closed them and relied on his powers to feel for fish. At least no non-fish ate humans. Generally. He couldn’t feel them anyway – until something warm and furry lifted him up to the surface in a shoot of water.

The sun slid down the horizon, and the seal must have felt some urgency, for it swam fast as possible with its teeth in his shirt. This wasn’t very fast, due to the awkward position.

They reached a stony bank on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. The seal hauled him up, and then took off her skin. He said “her”, because now she was a woman in a blue-green dress, perfectly dry. Her sealskin lay in a heap on the ground. Her paper-white hands, rough with calluses and blisters, set upon untaping him. Her tangled, waist-length auburn hair set off eyes the exact same color of the sea around them.

As soon as his mouth was free, Pisces cried, “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome. Your name is Paul Jangoral, known as Pisces, correct?”

“You’re obviously a Selkie – I didn’t know whether they really existed or not.”

“I thought you might be a myth as well.” She freed his hands, and he embraced her.

“Thank you.” Then he pulled away and blushed. “I got you all wet.”

“Never mind. My name is Nora. I know your name because you are well known throughout the sea. You protect the fish, and the fish are not the only ones who benefit. We Selkies have declined in the last few decades, along with our siblings the true seals. Everything has declined.”

“I know. The global climate change and overfishing devastates everyone.”

“You don’t just sense the fish – they sense you too. I followed the fish that knew you. I wish to ask a favor, and I have something to give in return.”

“You’ve already saved my life. I’ll do anything that’s ethical.”

She took his wrinkled hands in hers. “There is a seal colony to the west of here, perhaps two days’ swim. How fast do you swim?”

“I’m the human champion, though I’m disqualified from competition because I don’t have to break the surface to breathe.”

“I am a seal by day, a woman by night. If we make good time, there is a place for us to take shelter the one night we’re traveling. The seals are starving. The Selkies have resorted to burning their sealskins and becoming fully human, taking jobs and forgetting the old ways. I am one of the very few who has retained her sealskin and the power to speak to the sea creatures. Could you please bring all the fish you can to that colony, and to the other seals? Humans have other things to eat. I understand some humans rely on fish for all protein, but they do not live in the nearby nations. Those humans catch fish in modest quantities, and should be allowed to continue.”

As she spoke, Pisces had been gathering pieces of driftwood. He pulled a waterproof lighter from his pocket and started a fire. “Of course, Nora. I’m glad to help.”

“In return, I am yours.”

Pisces stared. “What do you mean?”

“You know how the legends of Selkies run.”

“Guy finds attractive girl, marries/otherwise with her, notices she disappears during the day, realizes she’s turning into a seal, then burns her coat so she’s stuck as a woman…oh. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“You wouldn’t?”

“If you wanted to be fully human, you would have burned your own coat already. I’m not going to cut you off from a major part of your life, part of your mission, part of your power, just because you’re really attractive and I’d love to take you out to dinner once we reach land.”

Nora gazed at him for a moment, her eyes glistening. Then she kissed him. “You are the best male of any species I have ever encountered.”

Pisces grinned. “And I’ve found the girl for me.”