Scales (A *Tail* starring One Direction, like no other)

Chapter 15 ~ The Plan

"Liam, I saw her out swimming a few hours ago, she looked a little lost, and I was going to help her get back to the beach, but...But" Ainslea stutters.

"What happened?" I prod.

"Liam, I don't know how to put this, but she was caught." Ainslea sighs, her eyes glistening.

"What do you mean, 'caught?'" I ask.

"A fishing boat, she got in the net, I followed the vessel for a while, but then a smaller faster jet boat caught up to it, some people climbed onto the fishing vessel, and then, a few minutes later, they got back onto their jet boat, but this time with a massive crate, and then, they sped off into the ocean, to some other part of Australia, or the world even." Ainslea chokes out.

I remain silent, Hannah, she's caught, by who knows, and I can't bear to think of what they are doing to her at the moment.

I feel a wet hand lightly rub my shoulder.

"Liam, I'm so sorry." Ainslea sobs, "I tried to follow the jet boat, but it was too fast."

"Don't blame yourself Ains, at least we now have some faint idea of where she is." I say, trying to calm her.

"What are we going to do?" She asks, and then starts sobbing again, wow, I guess she really liked Hannah.

"We have to find her, and save her, what else is there to do?" I say, my good boyfriend/ hero instincts kicking in.

"How?" She asks, looking up at me with tear stained cheeks.

"I'll figure it out on the way, but first, I need to know if there is anything you have that could help me breathe underwater." I say, I mean, I don't really know if I could ever breathe underwater, but the past week has been pretty crazy and at the moment I'm starting to think that most fairytales, myths and legends are real.

"Actually, now that you ask, there is." Ainslea says, a hint of a smile appearing on her face.

I raise my eyebrows.

"Here, eat this." She instructs, holding out her hand. I inspect the object in it, which looks like gummy bear lolly, except it's in the shape of a starfish.

"Are you serious? How did you even get that so fast?" I question.

"I am totally serious, and also I just happened to have one on me, just in case." She replies.

"Well, here goes nothing." I say, grabbing the gummy starfish from Ainslea's palm and popping it in my mouth, swallowing it in one go.

As soon as the starfish enters my mouth I feel a strange sensation ripple through me, but a second later, it's gone.

"Shall we see if it worked?" Ainslea asks, looking up at me.

"Yup, the faster I can breathe under here, the faster we can try to find Hannah." I reply, taking off my top and jumping into the dark water. Luckily I was wearing my beach shorts so I was ready to swim.

Once I'm submerged I try to open my eyes, and they pop in surprise as I notice that the water doesn't blur or sting them like usual, instead it feels like I'm opening my eyes to air. I spin around and see Ainslea has come under too.

"Go on Liam! Open your mouth!" She laughs, and I gasp when I can hear her voice perfectly under the water instead of some muffled mess.

"Woah!" I exclaim, immediately clamping my hands over my mouth when I realise I can breathe and speak like normal.

"You like?" She giggles.

"Definitely!" I say, chuckling a little.

"Well, Liam, since it's eleven at night, how about we head to my house to make a plan of action and get a few hours of sleep before heading off to find your girlfriend, and my good friend!" Ainslea suggests and I nod, making a plan is probably the best idea.