“Have you heard? The sea is taking people.”

The man choked on his drink, spits of crystal water spraying over his pressed, checkered trousers. He wiped a dribble from his chin. “What?”

“Yeah,” The woman said, her voice rising, and a smile flicked onto her wrinkled lips, clearly pleased by the man's response. “Jerry told me. You know Jerry, the fisherman? Yeah, well, Jerry said that his mate Sol went out on his boat a few weeks back with his partner, and they saw something floating under the surface of the water,”

“What was it?”

“Jerry didn't say, but he did say this,” The woman said, and the man leaned in closer, “as Sol went to get a closer look, webbed hands broke the surface, grabbed him by the neck, and pulled him under. Sol’s partner managed to get back, but Sol,” the woman lifted a shoulder, taking a sip from her glass. “Well, they haven't found his body. Scary, innit!”

I rolled my eyes.

The couple sat three tables away from me, but it was as though they were seated right next to me, shouting right into my ears.

“Where ever do you think it came from,” the man said, “this monster?”

“No one knows, an experiment gone wrong, maybe? A mutated shark? It could—”

“It’s the salt,” I declared.

A hush washed over the establishment, but I kept my eyes on the table, waiting.

“Did you say something?”

It was the woman who spoke, and this time, I looked up. Every table glared at me, their eyes wary, blinking with confusion.

I smiled and slipped out from my chair, its wooden legs scraping, cawing like a seagull.

The silence grew, a heavy pressure against my ears as I stepped forward and made my way towards the two at the back of the room. My bare feet slapped on the stone, an echo of noise, claps of thunder.

“It’s the salt,” I repeated, “that you removed from the ocean to create your water.”

I flicked the woman’s glass with my finger, and a high chime rang out. The surface of the liquid rippled, bouncing as though alive. “The water which you are drinking now, I might add. Do you know why the Kings Of Old threw salt over their shoulders every year on Keonsatay?”

When no one answered, I moved around the table to stand behind the couple, a view for everyone to see.

Leaning forward, I whispered, “To keep the monsters at bay.”

Shock widened the woman’s eyes, and she gasped, touching a hand to her chest. “Excuse me, young man, that was a private conversation!”

“Then I’m not sure you understand the meaning of the word private.”

“Who are you, son?” The man asked—a new, hostile grain to his tone. His black moustache quivered, the flecks of grey reflecting the light like oil on the surface of the water. “I don't think I've seen you here before.”

I flicked the woman’s glass again and smiled, or I reckoned some would have called it a smirk.

“I’m one of those creatures you speak of.” I said and waited a few seconds for the realisation of my words to sink in.

The lady before me began to laugh, a bitter, raking sound, like two stones grinding together, flecks of spit, chips of granite, spattering over the table.

“Don’t be ridicul—!”

“I suppose I should thank you,” I cut in, and the woman’s face soured, pinching together like an octopus’ beak. “You and your husband, for creating the device you call The Sieve and setting me and my kind free, for allowing me to walk the earth once more. It was getting awfully boring down below, where the sun doesn’t shine, and creatures are sparse. But now,” I shrugged and brushed away a spect of dust.

“You killed Sol!”

I shrugged again. “That I did. Not the tastiest of fellows, but I shouldn’t complain.”

“Why you little—”

The man grabbed the woman’s arm. “Marjorie, I wouldn’t— Good god, look at his eyes!”

A murmuring of whispers blew from the mouths of the other spectators, a sea breeze whipping over the shore. Hands touched hearts and faces and loved ones, shocked by the sure orange glow of my eyes.

A tingling prickled the tips of my fingers, the ends of my toes. An aching pulsed through my jaw, and I rolled my shoulders and twisted my neck.

The power inside me grew, and I looked at the woman, her skin as pale as sea foam. “Will you take that thank you now?”

The woman shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing like coiled springs.

“Too bad,” I said and pounced.

My jaw dislocated, and my teeth sunk deep into the woman’s flesh.

I’m sure her screams could have been heard right to the country's end, right to the bottom of the ocean.

She really couldn't keep anything private.