by Hannah Reed
“What was that Setha-Bella?”
“I don’t know Dad. Maybe something is wrong with the energy supply?”
Setha was on edge. Hospitals were creepy enough, let alone when something went wrong. Then suddenly a shock passed through the water pushing her to the ground.
“Setha,” Cooper shouted.
The alarms in the hospital sounded. They didn’t sound like power failure alarms. This was a red alert. Another shock went through the water forcing Setha down again. Suddenly a voice sounded over the hospital horn shells.
“Please remain calm. The surrounding sea has been contaminated. For the safety of all, we must evacuate the hospital. Those who need help will receive it. Please remain calm…”
The monotone voice continued and continued. Setha tried to force herself up off the ground but the water felt so heavy. She wielded her Factus pearl to jet hot water out of her hands to leverage herself off the floor. Her powers may not be strong but heat was her speciality.
“Dad we’ve got to get out of here.”
“Setha-bella…” but Cooper’s words were lost in the next tremor. Setha was prepared this time and held tightly to the bed frame. As the pressure subsided she swam to the back of the bed and collected her Dad’s breath regulation machine and his drip. Detaching them from the wall she let them float next to her as she turned her attention to her Dad. Another shock passed through the building and Setha refused to let the panic rising within her take over. She helped her Dad put his arm around her shoulders and in the other arm she held onto the breathing equipment. Incredibly thankful that her Grandmother had insisted on a private room with a window, Setha forced open the glass with a blast of her Factus energy. The hot water hissed as it slammed the window open. At the last moment, she reached over to her Dad’s bedside table drawer and grabbed his notepad. She stuffed it into her bag and together they swam out the room.
In her head ‘evacuating the hospital’ was all that was necessary to escape the danger. But, the fear in her heart was confirmed as she looked up to the surface as she exited through the window. A dark shadow was directly overhead; it looked like a huge hexagonal grid had been laid out across the ocean. As the shadow receded Setha breathed a sigh of relief. But, as she continued swimming it smacked back down into the water causing another tremor. Its force sent Setha and her Dad spinning deeper into the ocean.
“Setha,” Cooper said while pointing upwards. A thick purplish smog was permeating down through the sea. Squinting up carefully Setha could see that it was forming hexagons across the water. At the highest levels, everyone was swarming down away from the thick smog. The chaos around them was intensifying. One mer swam past her with his skin bright red with burnt hexagons forming a shining welt. He screamed in pain as he rushed away. In no control of his movements, he cut a thrashing path through the crowd of hospital evacuees.
“Come on, let’s try and get out from under this,” Setha shouted. She tried to sound calm for her Dad’s sake but really she wanted someone, anyone else to take control.
The meritia on scene were doing their best to control the smog or at least stop it from permeating any further into the water. As Setha swam along she thought that their attempts were making some impact. The smog was not descending any lower. But, still she kept swimming.
“Come on Dad,” Setha said. “Just a bit further.”
Her heart pounded in her chest but she looked straight ahead not wanting to be distracted by the chaos.
Up above, the meritia were using large metal plated shells to scoop the smog up and out of the water. The wielders of the Factus pearl were forcing the infected water upwards. Setha spotted several mer swimming upwards to help their efforts. Setha’s powers were not strong enough to help though and besides her Dad needed her most right now. She kept on swimming glancing upwards every so often to check that the hexagons were not going to slam into the water again. Their shadow floated ominously above. A group seemed to have gathered in front of her and she headed towards them.
“We’ll be alright Setha-Bell,” Copper smiled weakly as he hung from her.
“Sorry Dad, I don’t want to hurry you I just want to get you out of here.”
A hospital nurse swam over to Setha, “Are you okay Miss? Do you need help?”
“We’re fine thank you,” Setha said.
“Keep heading towards that group. Transportation to alternative hospitals is arriving momentarily,” the nurse said and she swam off to speak to other patients.
“Right, we’re almost there,” Setha said. The panic in her own voice scared her.
“Don’t worry Setha, we’ll make it,” Copper said as he sagged against her.
Setha kept on swimming them forward. The panic around them was still rife. Mer were swarming towards the alternate transportation. Setha tried to keep her Dad from being knocked by all the mer darting around them, however, the panic had sent everyone into a frenzy. A red tinge floated in front of her. As she swam through it she detected the metallic taste of blood. Opening her mouth to ask her Dad what he thought, Setha was stopped mid-sentence. Instead, she screamed. The chaos around them meant that no one noticed Setha’s world imploding around her. The breathing equipment floated innocently beside her Dad while his head lolled in the water. His face calm as if he slept, but Setha knew the truth.
CHAPTER 25
“King Nathaniel, King Nathaniel. We have an emergency. Your Majesty?”
A knocking on the door and some inane harassed chatter woke Nathaniel up from a night of disturbed sleep. What was going on, he thought. Sunlight poured through his window and he raised his hand to deflect its painful glare. Nathaniel allowed himself to float off his bed and slowly bring himself back into the now. He was the King of the Ocean, the ruler of the seven seas. He was not allowed to fall apart. Kings did not break down at the loss of their wife. They were not distraught at the news of a missing daughter. And they certainly didn’t fear their other daughter leading a meritian attack. Bringing himself into the now was not a fun task. He reached for his Curo pearl to soothe his permanent headache. A slight glow around the temple and all was better.
“Move aside, move aside!” Nathaniel heard the distinct tones of Clyde’s voice. The ornate doors to Nathaniel’s bedroom swung open.
“Oh! Your Majesty, my deepest apologies. I feared you may have been ill. You didn’t attend breakfast, lunch or the war council meeting,” Clyde said hurriedly. He hovered in the entrance of the doorway while Titan and Tarzan dashed into the room. Nathaniel mustered his face into an expression of authority and swam himself into his armchair. Clyde’s role in his cabinet seemed to have altered so that he was now Nathaniel’s personal babysitter. The King was, in a way, thankful. Clyde was a lot better than others would have been.
“My absence was on account of a headache.” That was close enough to the truth he thought. He started to stroke his overexcited pets. “Now that you have disturbed me, what is the emergency?”
~
Nathaniel kept imagining the atrocities at the hospital as he was sped to the surface. The shellpedo was hurtling along wasting no time at all. But, the chaos in Nathaniel’s mind moved at a snail’s pace. He knew that his Curo indulgence last night had not caused the attack. Yet, had he been awake could he have stopped this toxic substance before it hurt so many of his mer? Clyde seemed to think that the hexagonal pump, as he described it, had been targeting the palace. The attackers’ information was clearly wrong. Perhaps it was out-dated, believing the palace to be the tallest building in Hanaria and not knowing of the newly built hospital which towered above all the other buildings.
Nathaniel brought up his mail on his Iris pad. Alert after alert was being posted to him- updates of the wounded, updates of the infected area, updates of the attackers, update, after update, after update. He had wanted ‘a hands-on’ approach to ruling. But, he hated to admit it, perhaps he was now unfit to rule. As this sobering thought settled within him the shellpedo came to a smooth halt and th
e door released open. Without waiting for the formalities of being called and escorted, Nathaniel swam out and broke through the surface.
“Your Majesty. You’re currently in a cleared area. We have sent test tubes of the hexagonal poison to the labs for a thorough analysis. Our main concern at the moment is this.” The general speaking to Nathaniel gestured rather unnecessarily to the hexagonal tubing that was floating ominously to their left.
“We were hoping that you, Your Majesty, would be able to assist us in dismantling the infrastructure. We have yet to decide whether it would be better to sink the object or to try and move it to one of our land bases. Whatever we do we hope to minimise the chance of it pumping any more toxins into the ocean.” The general finished rather pompously, Nathaniel thought, and he had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. Of course, the aim was to stop the lethal weapon from causing more harm. He simply nodded at the mer and swam towards the structure. Assessing it from this angle he saw that it could be easily sliced apart at the welded edges. However, would that release the toxins?
Nathaniel reached out with his Essentia pearl. For regular mer the pearl merely reacted to the life of the mer who wore it; staying at sea temperature when all was well and then soaring in times of fever and cooling at death. Those blessed with the Essentia gift were able to extend the pearl’s powers to other objects and assess their life source. Nathaniel was particularly adept at doing it with the sea. Normally he could sense when something was wrong just by a slight shift in the chemical components in the water. However, with his recent reliance on the Curo pearl to ease his troubled mind his senses were dimmed. Reaching out to the water inside the hexagonal structure Nathaniel immediately recoiled. A burning feeling added to his persistent headache. Pure poison rested inside those hexagons.
“We can’t dismantle the hexagons,” Nathaniel stated as he submerged underwater to see the bottom of the metal tubes that held the intricate wires in place.
“Pardon? We must Your Majesty,” the General stuttered as he caught up with him.
“The tubes are still full of poison,” Nathaniel said turning to the General. “They need to be drained first. If we drill a hole I can remove the toxin but then we would need another container. Or if the labs have already created one, an antidote can be poured in to neutralise the poison.”
“It’s still full of poison?”
“Yes,” Nathaniel said.
“We had presumed that the structure was empty Your Majesty,” the General said shifting slightly. “My apologies Your Majesty. I will contact the lab now.” With a bow, the General swam off.
~
Since he had sent the most senior and experienced meritia to aid Kayla he was surrounded by incompetence. War was not his expertise. But, at least he possessed some common sense. When Kayla returned to Hanaria after her mission he would make her the official head of the meritia and not just a figurehead. She would do a better job than he; she had the aptitude and the training. He swam down to the shellpedo and went into the comfy saloon area. Relaxing into one of the chairs he started to read through the correspondence on his Iris pad. Hopefully, there would be no more attacks today. He wanted to make sure that all the hospital evacuees were being properly looked after in the pop-up meritia medical facility. Swimming into the next room he informed Clyde that he planned on spending the day helping to heal the infirm.
~
What time is it Setha thought as she opened her eyes? Her room was pitch black and her whole body felt empty. Then it hit her. Flashbacks of screaming, her screams flooding the water, a member of the meritia swimming to escort her and her Dad. Then seeing his realisation, she lived through the shock again. Setha lay in bed numb. With all the chaos surrounding her, all she could do was contact her Grandmother. Never had she been more thankful to see someone before. Her Grandmother had given Setha some sleeping tablets and sent her to bed. Setha didn’t remember falling asleep. Yesterday’s events blurred until all she could remember were the sounds of her own screaming. Setha pulled her Iris pad to her and pressed three. She waited while it rang and then the door burst open.
“Mum,” Setha said in shock. Her Mum floated in the doorway her eyes welled up in tears. She swam over to Setha’s side and collapsed onto her daughter. Together they started to cry.
CHAPTER 26
The jet took off once more and they continued to sail smoothly through the sky. Megan brought the last of Darius’ supplies into the kitchen area. Over a day’s detour had been made for specific types of tea, seasoning and wine. She mused that maybe their detour had been more to postpone the brothers’ arrival than to stock up on the President’s essentials. She looked out the window as she started to sort the boxes. Megan stared at the stars shining outside; it was one of the most startling sights she had ever seen. Soaring above the ocean watching the starlight sparkle across the clouds she felt exhilarated. How had she become so fortunate?
When Rosetta had informed her that she was to travel with Alex and Connor to Darius’ safe house she was so excited. Apparently, there weren’t enough maids at Rushton to cater for the two boys. And, as Darius’ decision had been so last minute there was no time to arrange for different transport for her either. And so, here she was. Megan Charles, flying on a private jet, with a mera and the guy she had fancied since she started work a few weeks ago. Never in a million years would she have imagined this happening. Since her parents had refused to pay for her to go to university she had been worried she would be stuck in the same place forever, destined to become miserable in a dead-end job. Yet, here she was, her first job and it was as a maid to the President.
~
Connor couldn’t sleep. He lay in his cabin staring up at the oak wood cupboards. Once again he had lost the girl. Once again Alex had won. He didn’t understand. Connor was the one who originally befriended her. Connor knew all about the mer. He loved the mer. Alex was ambivalent to most things except women. Maybe, Connor mused, that was the point. The only thing Connor had never excelled at was women, well, women and sports. And now he was lying here moping like a love-struck teenager when the world was potentially on the brink of war. How pathetic.
“Connor,” a whispered voice came from outside his cabin door followed by a gentle knock. “Connor?” the voice came again. He couldn’t tell over the sound of the jet if it was Megan or April. Only one of whom he fancied talking to. He lay still while he weighed his options.
“I’m awake,” Connor replied nonchalantly.
“Can I come in?”
“Yes,” he said and the door slowly inched open.
“I couldn’t sleep. Megan disappeared so I thought I would go for a wander. What are you doing up?” April said as she clambered onto the end of the bed. She was wearing nothing but a long white shirtdress. April should always wear white Connor mused.
“Connor, are you sure you’re awake? I can leave if you want.” April made a start to get off the bed.
“No no!” Connor replied, perhaps a little too quickly.
“Oh okay.”
They sat in an awkward silence, for a while. Well, it felt awkward to Connor. He wanted to say something, casual but intelligent and perhaps deeply insightful. What this was, he had no idea.
“Connor.”
“Umm hmmm.”
“I’m scared.”
Talking to Connor was not as easy as talking to Alex. But, she needed someone now and there had been no response from Alex’s room. It felt good to finally get it off her chest. She was scared, and that was okay.
“Why do you feel scared? I will protect you,” Connor replied and instantly regretted it.
April couldn’t help but giggle, though she stopped abruptly at the crestfallen look that Connor tried to hide. April shuffled forward on the bed and held out her arms. Maybe all they both needed was a hug.
“I’m scared because I don’t know what I should do next,” April said looking down at the duvet. “I know what I want to do. I want to help broker peace between mer
and the legged. But how do I do that? I can’t even control my powers,” she said and moved out of the hug.
Connor started stroking April’s hair as he had seen Alex do, hoping it would soothe her.
“Well, maybe that is the first step. Learn to control them. You have so much raw power April,” Connor said speaking faster and faster. “I could help you to study. Dad has so many books on mer. He removed all Mum’s from the house. I bet they’re at the safe house where his office is.”
“I suppose it’s a start,” April agreed shifting slightly on the bed. “Maybe I should reveal who I am to your Dad and talk to him about peace. Surely he wants peace as much as we do?” April said looking up as she fiddled with the duvet.
Connor looked sceptical at this suggestion.
“Perhaps it would be better if your Father or the Prime Minister were the ones to talk to him. No offence April.”
“April!” Alex’s concerned whisper was heard down the hall.
“I’m in here.”
Alex sauntered into the tiny cabin. “Nice and cosy in here,” he said glancing at Connor. “I saw Megan’s door was open and you were both gone. I was worried about what had happened to you?”
“On a plane Alex? You’re beginning to sound like Connor,” April joked.
“We wouldn’t want that now would we.” Alex leaned in to ruffle Connor’s hair. Connor dodged him grumpily but was then appeased when April went in to hug him again.