"You were nearly fish-food, you should be more careful," she chided. In an instant, the bearded woman vanished, replaced by a striking stranger with olive skin, hazel eyes smoldering in green and black, and lips painted in glossy lacquer. Her dreadlocks cascaded like serpents, one even turning to fix me with gleaming black eyes and a flickering tongue. A golden python coiled around her shoulders as she smirked, "Mermaids don’t have souls—unless someone loves them."
This shadow embodies that same mystique—a bewitching fusion of danger and elegance, just like the enigmatic snake charmer herself.