Claire returned to the boat for her clipboard and then stood on the deck. Paddy trotted up and sat beside her proudly. In his tiny, orange life jacket, the dog somehow looked like a retired admiral overseeing a naval battle.
Donovan crouched next to the dog and patted its head. Paddy belched, and the old man twisted his nose. "What have you been eating buddy?"
Paddy barked thrice. The dog was telling Donovan about the cooked sea food, fruits and simple snacks Vidar and other knights fed him on every fishing trip. Unfortunately, dog and man couldn’t understand each other’s speech. So, Paddy’s story was lost in translation.
Claire loudly read off her clipboard, "premium abalones. Premium sea snails. Premium shrimp and sea cucumbers. Premium duck eggs and seaweed. Frankly, everything on my boat is premium. Crabs first, I brought 2, 300."
Apollo’s men moved the crabs first. They started weighing and counting and checking the condition of the crabs. These crabs 90% were giant crabs.
"Good Lord."
"Five hundred dollars each," Claire said.
"That’s too cheap for them," Apollo whispered.
Other buyers glared at him, wishing they could stuff one of those crabs in his mouth to shut him up. The Ashford group could afford to pay one thousand dollars for the crabs, if they wished. But they couldn’t.
"Five hundred," Claire repeated. "They were caught legally, handled perfectly, and fed better than most politicians."
Donovan nearly choked. "Claire!"
"What? It’s true," she said with a shrug.
Within minutes, the buyers who were wealthy restaurant owners, seafood distributors and private chefs were crowding the crates.
The crabs sold fast.
Very fast.
"That’s 1,150,000 dollars," Apollo said, turning to look at her for clarification even though he knew the figure was correct.
Claire checked the number and grinned. "One million one hundred fifty thousand."
Donovan stared. "When I was young, I would fish all month to make enough money for new boots in winter. The kind of money you make always manages to make my heart tremble."
"Times change, grandpa."
The female chef stepped forward. "Miss Dane, can we buy the shrimp next?"
As she requested, Claire sold off the shrimp next. In total, they sold for four hundred thousand dollars.
Then came the sea cucumbers.
Then the abalones.
Then the rare shell snails.
Those caused the biggest scene. Each shell was like an art piece.
"They look like gemstones," Donovan whispered in awe.
"They practically are," Claire said.
A buyer picked one up. "I have never seen shells like these or snails this plump. Where in the world did you fish them?"
Apollo turned to the eager buyers, his eyes sharper than a blade. "Asking questions like that will get you kicked out of my wife’s premium sea food purchasing channel. Your business has its secrets; you don’t see us asking about them."
The man was quick to apologize and then business continued. Sales figures climbed. The sea cucumber sold for 610,000 dollars. Abalones sold for 530,000 words. The snails sold for 740,000.
The total flashed across Claire’s calculator, 3,450,000.
Donovan’s eyes nearly crossed. "Claire?"
"Yes?"
"I think there might be a god of the sea trying to court you," He whispered.
She laughed. "Grandpa, you need to spend less time listening to grandma’s stories about gods of the sea and mermaids." Despite saying this, Claire’s thoughts still flashed to the pearl that had brought her this life changing opportunity. Was it a magical pearl? Is that why it led to Driswen, which was a magical world?
"What about the eggs?" One hotel manager pointed to the untouched baskets.
Claire glanced at the eggs and nodded. "Premium free-range duck eggs. 1800 in total. Only 1700 are for sale. Ten dollars per egg."
She didn’t think duck eggs could be exciting. So, Claire got a steel bowl from the boat and cracked one egg open. The yolk emerged bright orange and visibly rich.
The eyes of the female chef widened. "Oh."
Five seconds later, a bidding war started. Apollo’s people took away their share of the eggs. Demand for specialty duck egg omelets and pastries had risen at the hotel since Ares Ashford’s retirement party.
Apollo looked up from his phone with a frown. "Claire, Marcus wants to know if you can increase the number of duck eggs you supply to us. The chefs at our other hotels are complaining that we are showing too much favoritism to Chef Laurent by giving him all the good things."
Claire thought of all the duck eggs she had seen in Driswen, and the ones that had been destroyed. "If the price is right. I will increase the supply."
Apollo sent a text to Marcus. He urged the man to prepare those procurement contracts. As soon as bakeries caught wind of these premium eggs, the number of people biting into this special pie would increase.
"I have ducks too by the way," Claire suddenly announced, before the buyers could disperse. "The ducks that gave birth to those eggs. 350 dollars per duck. Only 300 ducks available today."
Claire thought she would only sell a few. But, the buyers were enthusiastic. As with the sea food, the Ashford group took the biggest share.
Another enormous stack of cash joined the growing mountain. And she was not done. But she didn’t plan to reveal her special catch to everyone. Claire waited until the buyers departed to invite her grandfather and Apollo to the freezer.
Paddy followed too.
"I don’t trust any conversation that begins with ’Come into the freezer.’" Donovan muttered.
Claire rolled her eyes. She threw off the thick white insulated tarpaulin that she had used to hide her biggest catch of the day. The first fish seen on the enormous steel platform was the giant bluefin tuna.
The fish looked prehistoric.
Even frozen, it looked powerful.
Apollo stared without blinking. "Oh...what the..."
"Holy shit!" Donovan stumbled backwards.
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Finally Apollo swallowed. "That’s huge."
Claire agreed.
Donovan slowly walked around it. "Good grief. How did you catch a behemoth like this with your small frame?" His eyes widened in horror. "Did any of my fishing rods make it back?"
"I only ruined a few," Claire said softly, rubbing the tip of her nose. "I will replace them." She folded her arms proudly. "Just tell me what you think of this."
Donovan whistled in awe. "I think that fish could pay for a house."
"Maybe two," Claire said, tilting her head from side to side.
Paddy barked. The dog had apparently reached the same conclusion.
Then Claire pulled back another insulated cover. Beneath it lay the giant silver ribbonfish. The creature gleamed like new silver ware.
Apollo inhaled sharply. "That might be the most beautiful fish I have ever seen."
Donovan’s mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again.
Claire laughed. "You might change your opinion on the most beautiful fish you have ever seen when you see what else I have."
She took them to the holding compartment with the live fish tank. It was separate part from the freezer.
For a moment nobody moved.
A ribbonfish nearly fifteen feet long was swimming enthusiastically. Its scales shimmered brightly with multiple colors. Every tiny movement of the light produced a rainbow across the walls.
Apollo gasped.
Donovan gasped.
Paddy sneezed.
Apollo stepped forward. "Is this real?"
"Very."
Donovan removed his cap, as if he was attending a church service or a funeral. "I have fished my entire life, and I have never seen anything remotely like this."
Everyone became quiet for a while, again.
Finally, Apollo turned his head and looked at Claire. "What are you going to sell it for?"
"Ten million," she said firmly. There was no hesitation at all in her voice.