"What do you mean he was dragged into the water? Have you gone nuts or something? Stop saying this every time. What impression are you trying to give the world as a billionaire's daughter?" Mr Nath half yelled at his daughter. When she made a move to speak, he hissed afterward and walked away from her back to sit on his chair.
It was another day at Nath's company and Bianca was too troubled to keep sitting at home just like her parents wanted, believing that Benson was not in any form of danger. Especially after no one has seen him for the past two days.
"Honey. I think we need to listen to her. She has been saying this same thing for the past two days. We need to listen to her. After all, she was said to be with him. He could be in danger." Mrs. Nath, Bianca's mother, chipped in, moving close to the table of her husband. Anxiety was equally crested on her face as she watched from her daughter back to her husband.
The man in his late fifties, with thick black hair, let out a deep sigh. He knew how dramatic his daughter could be most times. But his wife was right. She was never known to make up things except if they were true.
He rested his back forth on the chair that swirled round for a while, admiring the silence that hovered around them.
"But there's something I want to get straight." He spoke up, fixing his gaze back on both of them.
"According to the story I remember you told me, you were not there until the end. You said some woman who you claimed was a witch had scared you off, and you ran inside. How then did you see him get dragged into the water?" he questioned, and Bianca swallowed hard. She remembered telling him about what she had seen that day, but he never believed her. Was he going to believe her now?
"There was a mermaid present." She eventually decided to open up. Immediately she made her first statement, her father hissed in disappointment. "I'm telling you. There was also a -"
"A witch too, right?" Mr. Nath's words scoffed in mockery.
"Nath,"
"Oh, please woman." He waved her off from speaking. "Don't be as foolish as your daughter."
"She was right there. And truthfully, he is missing. No one, not even his workers, has seen him. We shouldn't take whatever she said for granted. We need to find him. Please," she begged.
The man took his time to have a rethink. Of course, she was right.
"What do you suggest I do then?" He finally voiced out, his eyes meeting them.
"We should call his parents." Bianca was quick to respond.
"Have you suddenly gone nuts? How do you expect me to do that?" Mr. Nath shot at his daughter.
"What do you want us to do then? What if he's in trouble?" Bianca cried, the tears rolling down her cheeks. She had forgotten the fact that she was in her father's office, and it was always important that she put up a good expression whenever she came and left. However, as it stood, she didn't care about any of that as the tears ruined her makeup.
"And if he's in trouble, do you expect me to call his parents and tell them to fly down here because of their son? Huh!" He yelled, banging his table. "Then what do you think they would think of us? Incapable in law. Is that what you want?" He yelled again, anger and irritation swimming in the stares he passed across to the two of them.
"Let me remind you just in case you have forgotten," he stood up. "I fought hard to keep a genuine and close relationship with the Lyman family for years, even before you were born. Hence, the reason for this marriage. And if they entrusted their son to our hands, I wouldn't be foolish enough to reach out to them in times of this, ruining everything." he explained.
For a few minutes, Bianca let the words of her father resonate in her head. She realized he was right. Even if, at first, she had been skeptical about an arranged marriage even from birth, her few moments with Benson had made her fall in love with him. Now, she was scared of losing him. To any woman or to the sea, she believed it had been dragged into it.
And if his parents came in or got involved, what if they decided to cut off the engagement? She thought.
She was equally sure that Benson would love that to happen, since he didn't seem to love her as much as she loved him.
"Even if what you're saying makes complete sense at this point, father, it all still boils down to one thing. What do we do? How do we find him?" Bianca opened up to ask her father.
"We can't involve anyone in this crazy thing. So, we would have to go into the water ourselves." He said to their surprise.
"Wait, what? I said there are mermaids there." Bianca half yelled at her father.
"Shut it! Stop filling your head with nonsense. I've lived on that part of the island and not once did I see a mermaid. So, shut it!" He yelled at her.
Not one of them could say anything else to him in objection. It was clear that he had made his decision.
*****
Deep down in the aquatic ocean, the dark sirens had turned their home into a peril. It was just two days ago when they had decided to launch an attack in full swing instead of lurking behind in the ocean. As it stood at that moment, every sea creature was hiding for their lives as their dark sirens took search. But one mermaid chose to be stubborn.
Marina was still in search of Benson, whom she had seen and was caught in the whirlwind of enmity which had grown between them.
It happened that while Cyan and Bianca were having their struggles, and Cyan had succeeded in chasing Bianca in, the dark sirens had commanded the sea to wipe away every being close to the sea.
It was unfortunate to Marina that she had been so caught up in the mesmerizing sight of the man who had captured her heart that she didn't know of the dark sirens' plans. However, she was fortunate enough to have seen him get dragged into the ocean.
Without thinking twice about the consequences of her actions, and in a hurry to save the man she loved from their whims, Marina dived back into the sea and began to chase after the dark siren who had caught Benson in a net.
Unfortunately, they had the ocean at their command now because a school of fish swam right in front of her, obstructing her chance of meeting up with them.
Now, she had to wait until her friends at the sea brought good news about the location of the dark sirens.
While she was still swimming freely in the ocean, searching every corner for them, she suddenly felt someone drag her tail from behind, forcefully.
"Ouch!" She screamed in pain as she flew into one of the ship's wrecks.
"What are you doing? Do you want to get caught?" Breanna, her sister questioned, her voice turning out in a whisper.
"I'm trying to find him. I need to set him free. He can't survive underwater. He will die." Marina said back to her, also in whispers. She had suddenly remembered that if she got caught, there was no way she could find freedom of her ocean from their enemies. She also wasn't immune to their powers.
"Not like that. You can't endanger your life in the process of finding a -" she paused for a while, and eyed her before she completed her statement. "Human." Breanna said, folding both her hands against each other.
Marina was no fool not to understand why her sister had portrayed such behavior while speaking.
The news had come as a blow to Breanna a few minutes ago that she had finally found love, but in a human. It was known for centuries that their kind had nothing to do with humans. And Brenna had never liked the idea of Marina going up to the seashore. Now, look where it has landed her.
"Please, help me sister. We need to find him." Marina's voice came to life, pleadingly.
"Hmm." Breanna sighed. "Sebastian went to take a look. Let's hope he comes back with good news."
Immediately, Marina's face lit up in gladness, and she pulled Breanna into a hug.
"Marina!" They suddenly heard, and they turned only to see a goldfish swimming hastingly towards them.
They hurried closer to him.
"What is it? What did you find, Sebastian?" Marina was quick to ask.
"They -" he paused to catch his breath as he had been swimming for a long distance in the ocean. "They are about to execute him in the depths of the ocean."
"What?" The sisters yelled out in chorus.
Before a response could be received from the goldfish, Marina swam away, her movement directed deeper into the ocean, following the direction Sebastian had come from.
"Marina." They both called out to her and followed her behind.
"What are you doing? We don't have a plan yet." Breanna spoke first.
"We will think of one while we swim back to them. Sebastian lead the way." She said, adamantly.
Breanna was aware that her mind was already projected at doing what she had decided upon. And she wouldn't listen no matter what she said to her. So, all she had to do was protect her.
"Stop." Sebastian said to them the moment they got to a deeper part of the ocean. "We need to hide so they don't see us. They're down there." He pointed at the bottom of the sea while they hid behind the long seaweed leaves.
Marina's heart almost leaped out of her chest the moment she looked down and saw five of the dark sirens hovering around Benson, who was now wide awake, and struggling to set himself free from the chains of leaves they had used on his hands and legs.
"So, what is the plan now?" Breanna asked, pulling Marina back to reality.
Marina called the both of them together, and whispered to them what she had planned out. When they understood what she wanted to happen, they nodded and moved to their various positions. Marina swam back quickly , as fast as her fins could take her, to the southern part of the ocean that was called The Echos. She hid behind the giant trees that surrounded that part of the ocean.
She shut her eyes, positioned herself and began to sing. She sang so high and loud that the Echos drove her music towards the position of the dark sirens.
"What a melody! Go find that mermaid." Washer, the right-hand man to the leader of the dark sirens, ordered the four of his members. And immediately, they did as he had instructed.
Immediately, they were completely out of sight. Sebastian took that as his cue to cause a distraction for Washer. He ran towards Washer.
"What the hell!" Washer stared at the goldfish that bravely swam towards it without any fear. The moment Sebastian got close, he snatched the bracelet that he had on his wrists and began to swim further into the west side of the ocean.
"Hey you! Stop." He yelled and began to run after Sebastian.
Now, this was Breanna's chance. She swam towards Benson.
"Who are you? Another mermaid?" Confusion and fear spiraled in his head.
"If you don't want any of this to repeat itself, don't ever go near the sea again. And don't speak to my sister even if she tries to speak with you." Breanna said as she loosened him.
"But who is your sister?" Benson asked. But Breanna didn't bother responding to him.
"Come on. We don't have much time." She said, "Chew this so you can still breathe underwater." She handed him the seaweed. Benson quickly remembered that the mermaids who kidnapped him had given him that at first. However, they fed him forcefully in his mouth.
The moment he chewed it, Breanna dragged him and began to swim back up to the seashore. She swam as fast as her fins could carry her so she could take Benson to safety.
"You're not the mermaid I needed the first time."
Breanna paid no attention to him. All she had in mind was to fulfill the job her sister had asked her to do.
Soon enough, she saw the sun reflecting on the ocean, giving her a sign that she was close enough.
"Look at me." She urged him the moment she was closer to the shore. Benson foolishly turned, smiling.
"From this day forward, you will live your life as the human you've always been and no longer have memories of everything that happened deep in the sea and of the creatures you met in the sea." She said, while her eyes shone a shining gold, sending Benson unconscious.