Ever After #7: Waves of Scales

Chapter 3.2 The Ripples

IT WAS FIVE o'clock in the afternoon but the house was already dark. Asceia switched on the lights and gazed at the wall of their room filled with papers written with the information they obtained the whole day. In this iceberg of mystery, they're still at the surface. They were certain that the mermaids were abducted and locked somewhere. They didn't know where are they right now, most especially the reason why and the conditions of her missing people.

"Don't worry. Later, we will try again. I'm just going to rest my eyes for a minute," Troy said while lying on his bed.

"You already said you kept hitting a dead end. Whoever behind this is very good at tying their loose ends and cleaning up anything," she answered and looked at him over her shoulder. "It is also slowing us down. Each day that passes, puts my people at greater risk. Who knows what the fuck these people are doing to them right now."

"I have connections, we'll find something. I'm pretty sure they have made a mistake, left some crumbs we can trace back to their operations."

"Guys, what do you want for dinner---" Frejean, who just came into their room, paused when Asceia raised her hand gesturing her to stop.

"What's wrong?" Troy whispered and jumped out of his bed.

Her heightened senses warned her of something. She kept her focus and she heard rustling leaves and snapping twigs somewhere. There she quickly reached for the switch and turned the lights out. The whole house went dark and silent, and only the light from the moon penetrating the leaves of the Acacia tree gave them enough illumination to see each other. Each second that passed by, the noises coming from the outside, became more clear despite the sound of insects.

"They're here. They found us," she telepathically said. "I'm estimating thirty men outside."

"W...What are we going to do?" Frejean was breathless. She was shaking as she rushed to Troy's side.

"You both hide while I draw them out---"

But suddenly, smoke grenades were sent through the windows. They dropped and rolled on the floor, and instantly expelled a thick cloud of smoke that swallowed the space inside. Frejean almost screamed if not for Troy who quickly covered her mouth. Asceia instinctively took the cans and brought them to their pot on the corner containing water. She submerged the cans one by one until no smoke came out of them.

Troy approached her while pulling Frejean who was gripping tightly on his arms. "I chose this room because of this." He pushed a part of the wall made out of planks and two of them were detached, revealing a space behind it with an opening just enough for a human body.

"You go first."

Frejean went into the dusty space, positioned herself comfortably, and covered her nose and mouth. Troy went in next and stood beside Frejean. Hearing the heavy steps on the stairs, Asceia instantly made a decision. She pulled the planks back and covered the opening, making sure it wasn't obvious to contain a hidden cavity.

"Asceia, what are you doing?" she heard Frejean ask and knocked on the wood.

"They need me, so you're better safe without me. I now have a plan." She turned around and ran to the door.

As she stepped outside the room, she was surprised by men who had just come up and flooded the hallway. Instead of facing them, she ran to the balcony and was shot by three darts in the process. She didn't waste any second and jumped off the balcony with her barbed stinger extended. She landed on the man which she greeted with a stab in the chest. She dropped to the ground and used the man as a cushion. While pulling out her barbed stinger, the men around and lurking in the dark shot her with rounds of darts.

She dodged some of the darts and ran away as fast as she could. On her way, she retracted her barbed stinger and pulled the darts off of her shoulder and arm. They were making her slightly dizzy and vulnerable. She can't deny that the effect was too strong. Before long, she started limping, she was starting to get paralyzed. She kept on fighting her consciousness to stay awake. Without looking over her shoulder, she knew they followed her into the deep of the woods.

Darts were flying and she was lucky to dodge them all and had the woods to cover her. She then reached the chain-linked fence. She climbed, reaching its top, she jumped and rolled over the vines covering the ground, and continued running. Unfortunately, she felt half of her body was dead. She can't feel it anymore, she lost control over it. Her body was heavy and so were her eyelids. She was panting when she stopped and turned around. She was far from the house, she made sure of that. In the darkness, she saw the strands of light from the flashlights of the men coming for her. She also heard their heavy steps coming closer and closer. Good thing she wasn't surrounded. Before long, when she saw the men about thirty meters from her position, she took a deep breath and clenched her fist.

"Control your voice," the words of her mother kept playing on her mind.

Using her remaining force, she screamed so loud that her sound waves seemed like a series of shockwaves that swept everything in front of her. Cracks crawled through the ground. The trees were shattered into pieces that were blown away. She was like a stone thrown into the water that caused ripples of energy through the woods. The armed men were swept off of their feet and impaled by the sharp pieces of wood that hit them.

She stopped screaming when she ran out of energy and sensed no enemy. She dropped to her knees, exhausted, and in the middle of a field that seemed wrecked by a violent storm. With the moonlight, she saw the bodies of men ripped to pieces and scattered everywhere. They were covered with chunks of trees and pieces of leaves and some grasses.

She tried to stand when suddenly, she grunted in excruciating pain that just took over her body. She lost balance and fell back to her knees. She looked down and winced at the sight of her blood gushing around the arrowhead protruding out of her stomach. She started to feel numb and light-headed. With her remaining strength, she pushed herself to look behind and over her shoulder. There, in the darkness, she saw a silhouette of a man beside the tree, holding a bow. Until she can't feel and move her body anymore...and darkness consumed her eyes.