What Lies Beneath the Water

Coincidence? I think not! (52)

**Dahlia's POV**

"Dahlia, do you know why you are here?" He asked leaning against desk, holding some sort of magazine.

"No, I do not, Uncle. I have caught up on all my missing work from when I was gone, and I have stayed out of trouble's way." I said honestly. My work was finished all during first period the day following Aqua's birthday because Tomoe and Kou kept on asking me what to give her as a gift, and we didn't practice.

He smiled, "I did not bring you here because of your wrongdoings. You are a wonderful student in every subject except Dimensional Manipulation and Mathamancy, but those are taught by Tomoe and Kou, and everyone is failing their classes." It was true. Not one person in Black Stone understood even a fraction of what they were teaching except for themselves and Aqua. And Aqua is a special case.

"You are here because I want to talk to you about your roommate, Aqua Gray. She is not a human, now is she, Flower?" He stated and I had to keep myself from giving it away.

I acted confused as I said, "Why would you say that? She is just a living blood bag to my knowledge." I never understood the rage for human blood within the Vampire Realm. I always saw it as distasteful and so I am strictly a vampire blood type of girl.

He handed me the magazine with Aqua on the cover. "Then explain this."

"What is there to explain, Uncle? That is Princess Aqua Marie Okeah, daughter of King Destin Okeah and his late beloved Queen Genesis Okeah." She looked beautiful in the picture, dawning her white jumpsuit that Nereus Okeah gave her with the matching jewelry and her ring with sapphires and a mermaid tail.

"Explain to me why the Princess has the same facial structure as Aqua Gray. Explain to me why they share the same blue eyes or why she is wearing the same ring that Aqua Gray wears every day. Most importantly explain to me why she shares the same name as the Princess." He questioned me so plainly with his usual demeanor, which scared me to some degree. Uncle is not the type of vampire to ask questions so kindly and plainly. He always demanded them, but this time.

I looked at the picture questioningly to make my fake ignorance believable. "There are humans that look exactly like supernaturals, and I've seen them before. I believe they are called doppelgängers, so perhaps that human is one. I know that she wears these human things called contacts because I've seen her with dull green eyes before. As for the ring, I was initially suspicious of it myself. I had asked her why she had a mermaid tail ring, but she told me that her father was a sailor, so he got her the ring because it looked like a whale's tail. As for her name, I am not sure. As mentioned before, her father is a sailor, so perhaps he named his child after the water for that reason."

"Perhaps you are correct, Flower, but there is still so much I question. Why are Tomoe and Kou so fond of this human? Why can she play most instruments like that of a mermaid? Why does Kai seem to have a special relationship with her?" He asked me once more, and I was starting to panic.

"I do not know why Tomoe and Kou fancy Aqua because they are their own person. However, I do know the answer to the other two. As I said before, Aqua's father is a sailor and for a brief period of time, Kai worked for him for quite a few years while Aqua was growing up. Once Aqua was old enough, he taught her to play most of the instruments that she knows." He nodded his head, but I could tell that the gears were still turning in his head.

"Dahlia, explain to me why you are such good friends with her? She is a human after all, and you have plainly stated your dislike of them." He asked, and it was a tough question to answer. For centuries I have spoken about the insolent and volatile human race, but my hatred and anger towards them started to disappear after I truly became friends with Aqua. It has practically vanished since I started to spend my afternoons at the hospital with Aqua. It is at the worst of times that humans show their best qualities.

I took a deep breath and handed him the magazine back. "You of all people should know why. You are so incredibly close to both Santino and Her Majesty Queen Rose Michaelis. You know that she won't allow Santino to wed me until I change myself and heal the hatred in my heart. How am I supposed to change if I don't take the necessary steps towards it? Aqua was my way in to healing that hatred. I am glad that I gave her a chance seeing as she is much more compassionate than all the other humans that I have met." He nodded his head in understanding and walked over to his desk.

"I still question her. There are too many coincidences that cannot be explained."

"Everything has a reason, Uncle. Surely you know that more than most."

~

"Ah, Ms. Gray, you are finally back after almost a week. I did not think you would come." Uncle said as he looked at Aqua's late pass to class. She looked pale and like she would faint at any second. The Mermaid Sickness was kicking her ass more than the shifters ever could.

"E coli infections are a real pain. I am still not fully well, as I am sure that you can see." She said and he simply nodded his head and told her to sit in her seat.

She walked up the stairs agonizingly slow, one step at a time. She wouldn't stop rubbing her temples and nearly vomited when she caught the smell of blood from one of the vampire's cups in the room.

She sat down in her normal spot in between Kalen and I and just laid her head on his shoulder, clearly in pain. He just ran his hand through her hair and kissed her forehead. She then pulled a metal bottle out of her backpack and opened it to reveal the nasty seaweed shake that she always drank.

Vladimir quickly went back to giving a presentation on the Kingdom of Avalr to which both Professor Sinclair and Vladimir's mate are from. Most of the students in the class were just eating their snacks, but Aqua was diligently taking notes.

I needed to tell her that Uncle knew, but I knew that I couldn't say it aloud because Vladimir would know seeing as super hearing was just a common perk of being a vampire. So I opened my notebook to an empty page and wrote, "Vladimir knows. I lied to cover you, but he is very suspicious." I then kicked her foot and pointed to my notebook with my pen.

Her eyes widened, and she opened her notebook to a new page. "Any lies that are of importance?" She wrote before going back to taking her notes.

"Don't think so. I think all of the lies fit with your fake story." I wrote on mine and she just nodded her head before going back to her notes. I couldn't help but feel worried, like Vladimir had something up his sleeve. 

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