Umi was startled awake by shouting.
"Hey! We found two people over here!" a man shouted. She felt tears threatening her eyes when she tried standing. After spending seven days in the water, her legs felt like they had no bones and she stumbled. A woman came up to her and held her up. "Don't try standing too quickly. Where did you come from?" she asked. Umi looked at her and saw she had red hair and green eyes. Just like Tsunami.
She opened her locket and compared the two. She was a spitting image of who she assumed was her mother.
"Is your name Tsunami?" she asked in Japanese. The woman flinched and nodded.
"You're a siren, aren't you?" she asked in Japanese. Umi couldn't hold her tears back anymore.
"I don't know anymore. I thought I was human, I lived in America for most of my life. Then I made friends with a merman and now I'm told we're supposed to be enemies!" she cried. Tsunami rubbed Umi's back and sat her down in the shade.
"Can we get an ambulance for the man?" Tsunami called in English. A man pulled out his phone and dialed the emergency contact number. "What's your name?" Tsunami asked.
"Umi Green," she answered. Tsunami looked at her in shock.
"My husband's last name is Green. Do you have a picture of your father? Maybe it's just a coincidence," she muttered. Umi opened her locket and showed the picture.
"What? Wait, are you-?"
"Your daughter? Yeah. I think I am. I was always told you died when I was born. What happened?" Umi asked. Tsunami sighed and started speaking in Japanese.
"When you and your brother were born, you father and I decided it'd be safer if we split up so the siren hunters can't find us. He took you and I took your brother. Back then, your hair was brown so we didn't know you would end up the siren of the family. I tried to see if it was your brother since his hair was a bluish black, but he didn't change in the water. I had to leave him with trusted friends in order to protect him. I swam to the opposite side of Ireland, that way your father could find me if something happened," she explained.
"Dad's dead. I watched the siren hunters kill him after they had me," Umi said. Tsunami sat next to Umi with tears in her eyes.
"How's your brother doing? He's still alive, right?"
"I don't think I met him yet. You never told me which family you left him with."
"The Nightingales. That's who I left him with."
"Wait, Dave's my brother? I guess that makes sense. He does have dad's dark hair," she said. Tsunami started chuckling.
"They named him Dave? I thought they'd keep his name Orion!" she chuckled. Umi chuckled too. Tsunami pulled out her phone and started dialing a number.
"Who are you calling?" Umi asked.
"The Nightingales. I want them to know you and your friend are alright," she answered. It took a few minutes before one of them picked up.
"Hi, Mary? It's Tsunami. I have Umi and her friend with me. I... I'm coming back. It's not safe here anymore. The siren hunters killed Shawn. We found his body on the shoreline a week ago," she said. Umi looked at her mother and saw tears in her eyes. She waited a moment before Tsunami said anymore.
"Yeah, I'm guessing the merman Umi's with is Mizu. He had brown hair and tan skin. No, I don't know his eye color. Because he's unconscious. I'll be there in a few days. Bye." She hung up the phone and turned to Umi.
"I'll drive you and your friend back to the Nightingales' residence. It may take a while," she said.
"Mizu needs to be in the hospital, though! He's been unconscious for five days!"
"What?" Tsunami asked. She looked over and saw Mizu being wheeled into the back of an ambulance on a stretcher. She walked up to the paramedics and pointed at Umi. One of the paramedics walked up to her and helped her up.
"Okasan? What's going on?" Umi asked.
"They're just checking on you. I asked them to take you to the hospital, too. There's nothing to worry about. I'll be right behind you," she explained. Umi was helped into the ambulance and the paramedics closed the doors. They hooked Mizu up to a breathing machine and a heart monitor.
"His heartbeat's pretty slow. We may need defibrillators ready in case it stops," one paramedic said.
"His oxygen's low, too. What happened to him?" another asked.
"He was hit by a rock in the middle of the ocean while trying to find me. It's my fault he's hurt," Umi sobbed. One of the paramedics put his hand on her shoulder.
"It's not your fault. We'll do our best to save him," he said. She looked up at the man. He looks familiar to her. Suddenly, something rammed into the ambulance. Umi looked back and saw a car, but she couldn't see who's driving it. She watched as it sped up and rammed into the ambulance, almost knocking her over.
"Shit! Did they find us?!" the man exclaimed.
"What? Who?" Umi asked.
"Damn siren hunters!" a woman yelled. She hit the window at the front of the ambulance and started using sign language. Umi couldn't understand what she was saying, however. She turned back to the group.
"I alerted the driver about the siren hunter," she explained. Umi nodded and took Mizu's hand. She looked out the back window and saw they were next to the ocean. She closed her eyes and tried summoning a wave, but nothing happened.
"Why isn't it working!?" she muttered.
"Why isn't what working?" a man asked.
"I can control the tides. I've done it before, but I don't remember how."
"You have to have your eyes open and look directly at the ocean," he explained. Umi looked at the ocean and tried focusing while the car rammed into the ambulance. Her eyes turned white as she summoned a massive wave that came crashing down on the car. The car stopped and swerved off the road, crashing into a tree. Umi put her hands over her mouth when she saw what she caused.
"I wasn't trying to do that, I swear! I was just trying to slow them down!" she exclaimed. The man looked out the window and laughed.
"It serves then right, though. Even if they weren't siren hunters, they shouldn't have been ramming into us in the first place," the man said. She looked at the man. He has blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Just like that man who was with the siren hunter.
Footnote: Okasan is japaness for "Mother."