The Next Generation Of Heroes | 1 ✓

Mari ~ 48

What?

"What about me? I di-" I freeze mid-sentence, face flushed pink.

All of the straight girls...

I thought I was straight. I mean, sure, I've never had any crushes in my life.

Maybe I'm just aromantic. I don't know.

"Are you..." asks Pandora.

I shrug, embarrassed about all this attention.

"Anyways," says Cyprian, breaking the awkward silence. I glance over at him, and send a silent thank you with my eyes.

"Right," says Pandora, snapping out of it. "We ha-" Suddenly, something in her pocket buzzes. Pandora pulls out a smartphone, and reads the text, her eyes growing wide. "We have to go. Now," she says, starting to swim through the tunnel.

We all follow her.

"Why?" asks Asher as he swims.

"Loïc is trying to get them to switch!" replies Pandora, kicking her tail harder.

"Into what?" James asks.

"Mermaids!" yells Pandora, turning a corner.

All of our faces pale, and we follow Pandora faster than ever. The Sea Realm appears before our eyes.

"Woah!" I explain, slowly stopping to take in the pillars of pearl and buildings of crystal.

"Mari! No time!" yelps Asher, pulling me along.

"Right," I say, following the group.

We swim into a large building made of crystal, with the word Mall written on it with shells. Pandora leads us up staircases and through hallways until we reach a shell door that says Human-Mermaid Transformation Center.

"Loïc!" yells Pandora, kicking the door open with her tail and swimming in. We follow her in quickly.

"Pandora," says Saydi easily, all traces of shyness gone.

Pandora smiles. "I've got them," she says, slamming and locking the door shut.

"What are you talking about?" demands Asher furiously.

"It's a trap," says Saydi.

"What?!" yelps James.

"Now!" exclaims Loïc.

Pandora and Saydi lunge forwards, and wrap me, Asher, James, and Cyprian in rope, and tie the rope to four pillars of pearl.

They are MUCH less impressive when you're being held captive against them.

"If you switch, you'll be free. You can live down in Poseidon's Realm forever, with us," says Loïc in a seductive voice.

"Free," says Bianca dreamily.

"Poseidon's Realm," breathes Zoë, entranced.

"Forever," sighs Rose, eyes glazed.

"With you," Reyna says, swaying slightly.

"Rose! Snap out of it!" yells Asher.

James rolls his eyes. "That's not working, Stoll," he hollers.

"Well what's your plan then? They're going to get reversed or switched something," Asher shouts back.

"Reversed," says Cyprian, eyes widening.

Reversed.

I look right at him, and follow his gaze towards a small water fountain that's creating a rainbow...

"Drachma," says Cyprian. I fish a drachma out of my pockets, and toss it to him.

"Oh Iris, Goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering," chants Cyprian, tossing the coin into the rainbow. "Show me Will Solace-di Angelo!"

A shimmering image appears beside Bianca. Dizzily, she turns towards it, and freezes abruptly. Will and Nico Solace-di Angelo appear, yelling at each other.

"It's your fault, di Angelo!" shouts goth Will furiously.

"I didn't do anything," replies happy Nico.

"Yes you did!"

"Did not."

"UGH! I hate you!" Will drew back a hand, and slapped Nico hard on the face. Nico burst into tears, and ran off, leaving Will seething.

That broke Bianca. "DAD!" she yelps, the glazed look leaving her eyes as she jumps up, reaching for her father.

"Stop this NOW!" demands Loïc, swiping his hand through the Iris message, disconnecting it.

But the deed had been done.

"What happened? Where am I?" asks Bianca, looking around wildly.

"Bianca!" I exclaim happily.

"Why are you guys tied up? And who are these mermaids?" asks Bianca, confused.

"Merman. And I'm a siren," whines Loïc.

Bianca's eyes travel up and down Loïc, and she scoffs. "Still a fish."

"Are you checking him out?" asks Cyprian, outraged.

"CYPRIAN!" I yell, rolling my eyes.

"Get us out of here," says Asher.

Bianca pretends to think about it. "What's the magic word?" she asks teasingly.

Asher glares at her. "I hate you," he sighs.

"Close enough," shrugs Bianca, pulling out her sword. Then, she slaps Zoë. Hard.

Zoë yelps, crumbling to the ground.

"Ohh, that felt good," sighs Bianca.

Zoë clumsily stood up, and frowns. "Why'd you have to slap me?" she asks.

Bianca grins. "That was for Rose's stupid brother. And welcome back to the real world, Zoë. Evil fish people trying to kill us, yada yada yada. Nothing's new," explains Bianca.

Zoë frowns a little, but loosens up. "I kinda deserved that, I guess. I'm really sorry about Andr-"

"Guys! Not time for a talk about our feelings! Time to kill mermaids and save friends!" yells James.

"Right," says Zoë, pulling out her sword. "If we take out Loïc, our friends are free. Let's free Asher, Cy, James, and Mari and get to work."

Bianca grins wickedly. "Or, we could fight Loïc, Saydi, and Pandora by ourselves. THEN we could free everyone else."

"You can't take out all three mermaids without our help!" exclaims Asher.

"Excuse me?" Bianca says.

"You're just two teenage girls!" replies Asher.

Bianca glares at him. Zoë frowns. "That's sexist," she comments. Then she turns towards Bianca. "Free them later," Zoë says, grinning. "But this conversation is NOT over."

Bianca nods. Asher groans. Then, they advance forwards.