KAYLOR
"Hey Kaylor," the owner of the voice was waving awkwardly at me while Rosa and I were busy watching a movie in the living room.
It had my heart nearly left my body. My jaw dropped, along with Rosa's. "You're still here?" I asked.
Rosa immediately walked over towards Mr. Ainsley to help him with Morgana's luggage as she proceeded to give an explanation why she's still here.
"I've decided I will go to college here, in your school," Morgana said sweetly but one can sense the malicious threat to it. "I'm going with you."
Ack! Why is she following me? She's naturally my omen of bad luck. Things can't be good. Morgana dropped her things by the door, stride over to me, and wrapped her arms around me.
"Morgana..." I warned.
"I know, I know," Morgana said. "You broke my heart, Castillo. And here you were the one who encouraged me to be the one to confess."
I recalled that time that I did. But seriously I meant that advice for Jeon or other people out there. Not me. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." I choked.
"It's okay, stupid. I'm Morgana Cross. I don't cry just because of stupid people."
I raised an eyebrow. "No hard feelings?"
"Yes to hard feelings, Castillo." Then she whispered sultrily in my ear. "I'll never forget that I lost to merfolk. People like her should've stayed fictional or underwater. Why did she even rise in the first place?"
"I would've died, Morgana. If she wasn't around that night in the cruise—I would've become—" I stopped myself.
"Become what?"
I knew the secret nearly slipped off my tongue but I try to salvage it."Become death, you know, permanent part of the ocean perhaps!"
Morgana recoiled from me. "That's good of her. But still, she should've stayed underwater!"
"Why are you really here, Morgana?"
At that, she flashed me a Cheshire cat smile. "I want to meet her again. Tell her, won't you, Kaylor. I ask for a real introduction. I won't get drunk, promise."
"You do know I have no way of contacting her, do you?"
"But she can contact you, right?"
"Fine, I'll tell her when she will."
Her face grew a predatory grin. Morgana Cross doesn't look scary anymore. She looks otherworldly and vaguely threatening.
* * *
I was getting ready for my date. With the innate desire to look pretty, I managed to pull off some cute natural look and chose a nice dress that I had to buy from a sale. While I'm at it, I tried forming excuses and great tactics so that I can evade Morgana with whatever routes Calliana and I are going through.
Morgana... I swear if she'll ever go to destroy my second precious date with Calliana, I'll kill her.
After fixing myself, I waited. Then I was getting impatient. So instead, I decided to have my long bath until the sun finally set, turning the air cold. I stepped into my new attire and waited for something to happen. Morgana was still out with her local friends, probably spying the loft from afar from any intruders. I was in my room alone and then a thought popped into my head. Maybe this was a perfect chance to escape to the sea in disguise. Then Calliana can find me easily. Morgana wouldn't have seen this coming.
CALLIANA
Great, I'm trapped.
With my heart sinking, I can't find a way to send a warning to Kaylor. Maochlannsen put me in a soundproof room, probably called the music room. I can't control the sounds here. It's being blocked by a solid matter.
Okay, I'm having out of options and I can't seemingly trust that girl, Morgana. I trust her to keep Kaylor safe but I know she wouldn't care less about me.
Kaylor... How could so many emotions be evoked from one single word, only six letters long? I had a feeling I had already asked this question to myself.
No, no, no! I scolded myself, squeezing my eyes shut. Don't think about her! Think about yourself first and all logical reasons will overflow then you can escape.
Keeping myself still, letting my eyes remain shut, let out a deep breath, trying to calm my racing mind.
The momentary lull in action didn't last long.
The door exploded. Two quickly began ascending from the smoke from broken ice still settling from the previous explosion. My eyes quickly recognized a guard of the Bantay Tubig, a Syokoy. Syokoys are merfolk with the body of a man, head of a fish, and green scales all over.
With him was a Kataw, the royal figures of the Philippine seas, with the legs, head, and torso of a human but with gills on their bodies and fins in their arms. Unlike sirens, which have the ability to control sounds, Kataws have the ability to manipulate and control water and make it into ice.
Recognizing who the Kataw was, I bowed down to the Princess, 3rd of 9th children, 2nd in line for the throne of the Bantay Tubig because the 2nd child was miscarried.
Princess Angara stood up, her face hardened into an expression that almost promised unforgiving nature. She was wearing fish-scaled armor that glowed in the dark, forged within the depths of the sea from the finest blacksmith hands of Ancient merfolk. She was beautiful as was the meaning of her name; the embodiment of a Filipina Merfolk.
She threw her chin to indicate the order and the Syokoy proceeded to investigate the area, removing any hints that they came to save me, and turned to look for clues to see what the mershark's up to.
"Rise, Calliana." her voice was delicate yet in control. "Lidagat sent us here through my ears."
"She did?" I blurted out in an airy voice, thanking the Visayan deity who watched over me.
"Of course, Amanikable is such ill-tempered to even save his people from danger. Maklium and Haik's busy with the prayers sent to them by the Merfolk. Lidagat also gave us warnings. The ancient merfolks are preparing for worse, getting ready for the humans and the day of merfolk exposure coming." She said, still hadn't taken her eyes off me.
The princess made me nervous, and a nervous Merfolk of my kind tended to just spit out anything that crossed our minds. "I'm sorry, your highness." I pressed a hand to her lips in a futile attempt to stop any more words, but the damage had been done.
Her gaze softened. "Dear, you must be tired from the trip," she spoke softly, "Shall we make haste to back to the palace and get you comfortable before sunset?"
I stayed there, immobilized at the thought of leaving.
"Come on, Calliana. Let me take you home." She rephrased.
"I've sinned against our laws, Princess. Am I still worthy to be welcomed in the Bantay Tubig?"
The Princess's eyebrows furrowed as she studied me. "By sin, you mean, you've fallen in love with a human?"
My throat constricted.
"Yes, but is there any creature who doesn't sin to live? Humans had distorted the meaning of love for centuries. 'Love is a savage emotion. To love someone is to rule them. To love is to destroy.' My Queen Mother had dutifully explained to me the meaning of passiveness." A small smile crept her lips. "Dear, loads have sinned against that law. To pardon your crimes, you have to stop Maochlannsen and the human. But, I've decided to give you an exception, Calliana. Come home. By coming home, Maochlannsen can't do anything to us. He can't expose us."
"B-but Kaylor—"
"You have to leave her, Calliana. It's best for us. We shouldn't have walked among them. Our rightful place is the seas. We need to leave until it's okay again to rise ashore. My brothers are calling for the others on land to get back at the ocean."
It seems that I wasn't the Queen of the white chess, to begin with.
Behind these seas surrounding the city, one may feel they have stepped into another secret world. A world within a world—one can be found in the Philippine Seas which is in the part of the area of the North Pacific Ocean. The area spanned underwater across corals and dunes.
Sitting in my coral room, I was still in my human form. It's too early to be back to retain my tail. At least I can breathe underwater, thanks to an old potion given to me by our sea witch.
I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to be feeling.
Familiarity? Security?
Was I supposed to be overloaded by emotionally draining flashbacks and guilt of leaving Kaylor? Was I supposed to be joyous that I was home? Was I supposed to sigh in relief? Or was it some other emotion? One that didn't have a corresponding word? Something completely different?
"It seems that I can't force you to stay." Princess Angara dressed purely in a mantle of billows and coral flowers and entered my chamber without a sound. "I, however, do not blame you."
I curtseyed. "Princess, you are so kind to me, and yes, you're right. I can't stay."
"Your human courage resurfaces. You know deep in your heart that you might die. What you are planning to do, won't always end well." She said and dropped her gaze from mine. "One of the Syokoys reported that Maochlannsen's using a lethal poison to all Merfolks, one that he created through the help of human chemicals and oil spillage."
"I have lived enough, princess."
"No, you haven't. I have lived a decade longer than you, Calliana. I have not lived enough yet. You might have known something I do not, for I have not yet experienced the stirrings of heart desires. Though I am sure, love makes someone a fool."
"I am not a fool, your Highness. I can see clearly without any rose-colored glasses."
Then at the last moment, Princess Angara tilted her head to look at me. "You love her, that much?"
"It burns," I answered with a nod.
"You still have the heart of a mortal, after all, Calliana of the Welsh People." Princess Angara brought her palm to my warm cheek. My eyes traced over her face for the first time. "Even if the name of your birthplace, Even if your culture species has changed, the heart will forever remain as the heart. And the nature of your heart, no matter what, will always be human."
I blinked stupidly, feeling outwitted by her words. I joined my palms and bowed in respect to the Kataw in front of me.
"Go." She ordered. "I will talk to my parents. Amang Hari (King Father) and Inang Reyna (Queen Mother) will listen to me."
Without another word passing between us, I spun on my heel. Princess Angara watched me leave.