Beneath the Waves (Ocean Song Book 1)

Chapter 28: Trouble on Land

Serena releases a tired sigh as she rests in front of a fish shop after her escape from her brother and their guardian.

After they had arrived on shore, they stopped by their home to check on things and look for traces of their brothers with no luck. Then they spent a good hour walking around with people stopping to stare at them every so often, mainly women anyway. Reasons being Rodion's handsome face or their attractive warden that watches them like a hawk. It mattered little as she quickly became fed up with the two and managed to give them the slip at the juice bar.

Briefly does a moment of guilt enter her mind, but she pushes it away just as quickly. Sure the two men would most likely be angry with her for running off when they find her, but so long as nothing happens to her it should be fine. Right?

Wrong.

"Well if it isn't the Fish Girl!" A quick glance to the right leaves her groaning in displeasure as she catches sight of Raquel Woods, a rather annoying girl who's obsessed with Arion like most of the high school female population. "And here I thought you disappeared for good!" She cackles as her two friends, a dark blonde and a ravenette, laugh beside her. She flips her chocolate brown hair behind her head as she does a quick survey of the area.

Meanwhile, Serena rolls her eyes as she says rather blandly, "You will find no trace of my brother Raquel."

Raquel gives her a weird look as she quickly realizes that she's still talking like the merpeople. "Ugh, why are you talking like that?" She asks, but then quickly shakes her head as she continues, "Actually, I don't really care. It's been weeks since anyone's seen Arion, and your family turns up missing one by one. Yet, here you are."

"If you're wondering if my brothers are back, then I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Only Rodion is with me and he could care little and less for noisy girls like you!"

Raquel seems almost taken aback by her sudden sharp tone as her friends glance at one another unsurely. Suddenly she laughs out loud like a self-indulged hyena as her friends quickly join in once they're certain everything's fine.

"Ah ha ha! Oh, wow. Did shy, quiet Serena learn some new tricks during her trip?"

However, Serena says nothing as her gaze farts left and right in search of an escape. Raquel simply smirks as she catches on to what she's doing.

"Aw, is the little fish scared now?" She asks with a mockingly sympathetic tone. Is she scared? Certainly, yes. She hasn't had to deal with someone like Raquel in nearly four months! Well, there was Delmara, but Delmara wouldn't deign to glance at her, let alone converse! Yet, Raquel is a completely different story.

"Well, say something Fish Girl!" The ravenette, Gia Sanders, barks while the dark blonde, Allison Miller, slips behind her and gives her a rough shove forward with a callous smirk on her face. Serena releases an involuntary yelp as she stumbles forward and ungracefully falls to her knees. The impact of the concrete did hurt, but she was a little more bothered by the fact that the people around them were simply going about their day as if she weren't just pushed to the ground with three girls standing around her with obvious ill-intent.

Her gaze meets the designer boots on Raquel's feet then continues to follow them upward until she's looking at the pleased expression upon her face.

"That's more like it. Common trash should know their place in the world, and yours is on your knees before me." After these words leave her mouth, all falls into a frigid silence. Dark feelings dance about inside the deepest part of her being as she tries to reign in the negative emotions that threaten to consume and destroy her.

It's then that a different voice rings out. "Common trash is she? Then what does that make you?" All eyes immediately snap to the source of the voice to find an olive-skinned young man with semi-long dark gray hair. He stares at the three perpetrators with a harsh gaze of liquid honey that has them momentarily forgetting about what it was they were doing. Serena rolls her eyes as a single thought passes through her mind, Leave it to these three to focus all their attention on some good-looking guy. While they're distracted, she stands up from the ground and dusts the sand off of her behind before turning back to the impending spectacle.