"Isn't it too fast?" Panacea asked.
"They are the leading clans, aren't they?" Jin asked, looking back and forth from his mother to his aunt.
"They are." Robin answered his nephew's question.
"Do they share territory?" Bia asked.
"Not exactly." Now Lake spoke. "They are alike, so they like to keep close."
"What are they?" Alek asked as she was curious. The before her birthday, she got into the world of supernaturals. On her birthday, she met creatures that she thought was only a myth. She wanted to know more about the world that she was getting herself into.
"They are-."
"I told you it's a secret." Astraea cut off her husband from telling the oblivious children.
"Have you contacted them?" Panacea asked her sister, who seemed confident with visiting them.
"Yeah. When I told them that I wanted to bring my kids and yours, they were excited." Astraea popped in the last piece of rice ball in her mouth.
"Okay." Panacea didn't want to go against her sister. As long as her family was safe, she would be fine. "Give us like thirty minutes, for preparation."
Astraea put her thumb up and replied after swallowing her piece. "Now, get ready guys."
-------------
Thirty minutes later...
They all were in cars, driving to their destination.
Astraea actually only gave them twenty minutes for preparation and, all of them were not happy with that. Some of them had to get out of the house while tying their shoelaces. Some even had to leave in their pyjamas from not enough time. Good thing the pyjama didn't look like a pyjama.
In Minazuki's family car, Robin drove while Panacea sat in the shotgun seat. Alek sat with twins on her both sides and, it was a little awkward and weird. She wanted to talk to them about the lights in the sunflower field that they saw when they were little but, she didn't want her parents to know. So, she kept quiet and put on her headphones to listen to music. If she read a book right now, the twins would see what she was reading and, she didn't want that. She loved repeating that part for the kiss in the rain and, she didn't want her cousins to feel awkward seeing that.
Meanwhile, in Mutsuki's family car, Lake drove and, Astraea sat next to him. He was following his brother's car. Iris sat behind her father and, Kai sat in the middle while Bia sat behind her aunt. Iris was still a little afraid of Bia and, Kai kind of sensed that, so he offered himself to sit in the middle, separating the girls.
The ride was quiet in both cars but, in the adult heads, it was noisy. They were communicating through mind nonstop. It was mostly the two sisters arguing about this and that. Panacea was scolding Astraea for being too free and careless while her sister wasn't taking her seriously. The arguing continued even reaching their destination.
"Now now. We are here." Robin told everyone in the car but specifically to his wife and her sister.
Panacea wasn't happy with her sister or her husband but, she stopped communicating with Astraea and got out of the car.
They had come to a forest-like area but, it smelled of both trees and ocean. Alek heard a faint sound of the ocean from afar but, her aunt went in a different direction where they heard another sound of water.
The group followed Astraea into the forest came into a gigantic river. The river was at least two hundred metres wide and, it was flowing calmly. The river was clean but, Alek could see that the river was deep. She could see the rocks and stones in the riverbed about a metre away from her but, nothing more on from thereon.
"Come on." Astraea walked into the river and, they could see that it was deep because they saw her floating.
"Mum,what are you doing? It's dangerous!" Jin shouted at his mother as he saw her trying her best to stay afloat. The river was calm but, that didn't mean that his mother would not be carried away.
Astraea smiled before drowning herself in the deep river.
"Mum!"
"Aunti!" The children called out their family member in horror.
"Oh my God. Dad you need to help her!" Alek turned to look at her father, who was supposed to be next to her but wasn't there. "Dad?" Alek called out and looked around herself.
"Mum?" Bia called out to her mother as she realised her mother had also disappeared.
"Dad?" Rin also called out his father but found no trace of him.
"What the hell?" Bia was almost pissed and upset that her parents and aunt and, uncle were missing.
"We need to find them." Alek almost went back into the forest if Iris and Kai didn't talk.
"They are in the river." The youngest of both families spoke simultaneously.
"WHAT?!" The older ones snapped to look at them.
The two of them were actually watching the river while the older ones were concentrated on Astraea. Their parents had gone into the river like her and sank just like her.
"Rin, shift!" Jin quickly told his brother and, he did as he was told. He poured the bottle he always had around his neck that contained seawater into his arm and shifted in a flash. Since he was an octopus, he could breathe underwater and swim through waves. One problem was that he was a marine animal, meaning he wouldn't be able to do things that much in the freshwater.
Pollux shifted and jumped into the water but, after three minutes, he came out. It was hard to breathe in the freshwater. He had been able to hold this long because of the strong sea smell near the river.
As Pollux poked out his head and shook his head, something strong grabbed his legs and pulled him back into the river. He didn't even have time to say anything before he was dragged deep into the deeper parts of the river.
"Rin!"
"Pollux!" They all shouted his name, but he didn't come out.
"S*it!" Castor cursed and scratched his non-itchy head. Rin was a good fighter but, because of the condition, he didn't think his brother would be able to fight back whatever caused him to drown.
"I'll go." Kai then spoke to everyone. He knew the choice would be either him, Bia or Iris and everyone knew they didn't want to put Iris in danger.
"Kai!" Bia shouted and tried to grab his arms but failed. He didn't shift entirely but, eighty per cent of him was a crocodile. He had a long, strong tail behind him as he jumped into the water like Rin.
Kai wasn't a good swimmer but, he was a strong fighter. He also could smell and hear underwater, which made him a better person for the search. He was better on land while fighting but, he had no choice. Since Alek couldn't shift or fight, someone needed to stay behind with her. And he knew that would be Jin and Bia. Their venom was dangerous and, they were also strong.
Kai walked out of the river after five minutes of searching. He was tired but, he was glad to see the people he left were still there the way they were before.
"I couldn't find them. The river is too deep and dark. I thought I could hear their heartbeat or anything but, all I heard were fish. There were no heartbeats of humans." He was drenched but, he shifted back after a minute or so.
"What do we do?" Alek asked Jin, seeing how her family members were disappearing.
"Let's go to the beach. Maybe we would find them there." Castor told them. As he was the oldest and next head of Mutsuki, everyone looked up to him.
"Okay." Alek said and started to walk towards the forest because the river didn't allow them to walk straight to the river. And also they didn't know what was inside the river.
"Iris, let's go." Jin was in the front and handed his hand behind bu no one held his hand. "Iris?" He called his sister again, waiting for her to hold her hands like she always did.
"Kai?" Alek also called out her brother's name when she felt that no one was following her. Bia was in between Castor and Alek, so she also didn't notice her brother not following them.
"Iris?!" Jin turned his head back to the river but didn't find her. Neither Kai.
"Kai!!" Alek shouted her brother's name but, all she heard was her echo in the forest.
"We need to get to the beach, NOW!" Bia shouted as she lost two more people.
Jin and Alek nodded before sprinting towards the forest. Alek was the only one without powers and, Bia carried her sister when she saw that her sister was grunting in pain from her foot.
"It's alright." Alek told her sister as her sister put arms around her.
"You are not. You are making your foot worse if you continue running like this. We need to get to the beach as soon as possible." Bia told her sister while they ran. Alek didn't say anything until they reached the car.
Bia let go of her sister and pushed Alek into the car before getting into the backseat where Jin had already turned the car on.
"Don't go." Something spoke in Alek's mind before she was pushed into the car but, her foot was aching badly and, she couldn't pay attention to it.
"Argh!" Bia shouted from outside the car.
"Bia?" Alek called out her name but, the forest was quiet.
"What the f*ck?" Castor cursed again as he and Alek got out of the car. There, he saw a hole that was barely enough for an adult male to fit. Inside, water flowed as if under them was a river.
Alek crouched down to see the hole. The water flowed about thirty centimetres down, but strangely, there were splashes of water. But before she could stand up, a hand came out of the river and pulled Alek in. Castor didn't have time to run away before the hand pulled him in as it did to Alek.