Despite being mad at Adalyn, Vanessa didn't have anything else to wear to the party other than the dress Adalyn made for her. She slipped on the dressed, quickly curled the end of her hairs using the pearl pin Raphael made for her pull the right side of her hair back a little, and slipped on some brown sandals. She didn't fuss with makeup, only throwing on some eyeliner around her eyes. She didn't wanna worry where Adalyn was since she had left the house a few hours ago and hasn't come back but Vanessa couldn't help but be worried a little now that she's all calmed down.
She was still angry at Adalyn for making Kyoko-who thought Vanessa had been okay with it-glamour her dad into making him fall in love with her. She just shouldn't have done that but Adalyn should come back now. She didn't mean to hurt her, she was just very angry. Vanessa had told her to keep her attention off her father but Adalyn just didn't listen.
She went downstairs to find her dad out on the porch with Anita. Anita looked so pretty in the lavender sundress. Vanessa realized she never seen Anita in anything but her usual jeans and black button shirt, a look that says badass detective.They were laughing about something, her dad pulling his keys out as he nervously looked down at his jeans. His smile was shy but his eyes seemed to sparkle as he looked at her.
She stepped out onto the porch, making the two adult turn their attention to her, "Hi." she said. "Wow Anita, you look stunning."
"Thank you, Vanessa. I do love that dress, so gorgeous on you." she said.
Vanessa smiled as her dad spoke, "Driving with us to the festival?" he asked.
She shook her head, "No, Raphael picking me up. I think he should be here soon." It was a lie since she and the girls were gonna walk to the festival. It wasn't fair anyways, only a fifteen minute walk. She was gonna meet Raphael and James there but her dad doesn't need to know that.
"Alright." he said. "See you there. Anita, ready?" he asked as he held his arm out.
Anita smiled as she quickly wrapped her arm around his and that's all she had to do was smile for them to be on their way. Vanessa watched her dad open the passenger side door of the car for Anita and close the door when she got in. He went over to the driver side, waving to her and she waved back before he got in. She watched as the car turned on and drive away. This was right-her father and Anita. It wasn't because Adalyn would be bad for her dad, she does believe Adalyn would make a good wife to him. It's just their both from two different worlds and Adalyn wants her mermaid life back. Vanessa knew Adalyn will choose the merfolk life over her father. Her dad doesn't need another heartbreak.
Vanessa walked back into the house, locking the door. She went to the garage in the back, going inside where the girls were watching Grease on a laptop until she opened the door. Ninda looked beautiful in the skin tight black dress with spaghetti straps and brown sandals. Hasina looked stunning in the coral tank top and black shorts. Tavia was in a navy blue sundress and Alia in a white dress. Kyoko had on a beautiful floral white romper.
Vanessa forced a smile for them, "Look how gorgeous you all look. Beautiful in and out of your tails."
"Not as beautiful as our queen."Taviasaid. She grabbedHasinaarm excitedly, "Hasina has a gift for you,she's been working on it all night just for you. Show her, Sina."
Vanessa eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as Hasina reached down under the blanket. Her eyes widen when Hasina lifted the seashell covered tiara with pearls and stones decorated around. "A queen needs a crown."Hasina said, walking over to Vanessa. Vanessa smile was real now at the kind gesture she did and the tiara was so incredibly beautiful. She placed the tiara on top of her head but it didn't rest on top, it actually went around her forehead.
Vanessa raised her hand up to her head to adjust it a little, "Hasina, thank you." she said as she hugged her. "It's so beautiful, I love it."
"I'm glad that you do." she said as she hugged Vanessa back.
*
When they got to the entrance of the park where the festival was, Vanessa had to turn to the girls, "Alright remember, this is a very human event meaning I don't want any thing-fishy." she said, making the girls grin as they looked at each. "Girls, really. Noglamouror singing, we're here to have fun. That's what a festival is for. If there's any problems, what did we agree on?"
They all sighed as Alia forced a smile, "We come to you about it and you fix it." she said.
"Right." she said, pointing at her."Okay,lets go."
They all walked into the festival where allot of people were already around playing games, getting on rides, and eating many different foods. Vanessa kept an eye out of Raphael and James until she found them near the balloon dart boards. They both seem to be glaring at each other before throwing the darts.
"Boys are so competitive."Ninda said as we came up next to the booth.
Some boys walked passed the girls, whistling at them, "Where have y'all been all our lives?"
The girls glared at them, clearly not liking the male attention and Kyoko even had to pulled Tavia back. Mermaids really don't like human boys. Vanessa smiled at Raphael as they hugged and she felt James eyes on them so she refused to make eye contact with him.
Raphael touched the tiara on her forehead, "Where'd you get this from?"
"Hasina made it for me, isn't it lovely?" she asked. "Said every queen deserves one."
"Sure does." he said, stepping back and placed his hand on his stomach before bowing a little. The girls behind her giggled a little, making Vanessa blush a little. Raphael stood up straight, taking her hand as he looked at her arm where the bullet scratch was all healed with no blemish, "I'm sorry about what my uncles did."
"You sent five hundred apologies texts and calls, Raphael." she said. "And I told you it's alright, it's not your fault."
"Still," he said.
"As long as you managed to erase their memory everything alright." she said. Raphael bit his bottom lip and her eyebrows furrowed together, "What? You did erase their memory right?"
He sighed, "It took me almost thirty minutes of trying with just my mom before it happened. Do you know hard it is to try to sneak it in when she telling me childhood stories when she visited the Dominican Republic? It felt like allot of work and wore me out so I went to bed after. It comes so natural to you, Vanessa."
"Because we girls are better."Nindasaid, making Vanessa roll her eyes.
Vanessa sighed, "Alright, alright. None of us went out into the water today anyways and they haven't suspected it was me. I'll help you tomorrow practice."
He nodded before he looked around, "You're missing one. Where's Adalyn?"
"Hopefully somewhere feeling bad for tricking me." Kyoko said coldly.
"What?" Raphael questioned.
"Long story." Vanessa said as she lowered her head.
*
"Wow, I can't believe it." Raphael said as both of them sat at table in the hall where the dance was. The girls were dancing along to the music like perfect swans even though they been in the Arctic for so long but mermaids were always filled with allot of surprises."I mean, I noticed she had a thing for your dad but I didn't think she would do anything."
"I just hope she'll come home soon, I'm worried about her. She rushed out the house so quickly." Vanessa said as she picked at the burger on her plate that she only took two bites from.
"I'm sure she will be. She's probably just wondering around town and home now." Raphael said as he took her hand in his. She gave him a small smile for trying to comfort her but it didn't really help. A slow song came on and Raphael nod his head out into the dance floor, "Come on." He pulled her up from the chair and pulled her out into the dance floor. She smiled as he pulled her in from her waist and took her right hand in his. Raphael was always a smooth dancer.
Vanessa watched as the girls grabbed some boys to slow dance and she giggled as the guys looked nervous in front of them since they weren't Abercrombie models. She smiled up at Raphael as they dance, feeling a little relieved at the moment of peace. She took her hand out of his and wrapped both her arms around his neck, resting her head on his chest.
*
Vanessa tossed the ring over towards the bottle she was directing it to but it missed. It her was her last ring and she only made the second one. Groaning, she turned away from the booth. Raphael chuckled at her and she hit his arm to make him stop. He rubbed her arms, "I'm only playing, you didgood. But you know, you do have air magic." he said, making her roll her arms. "Just wave your fingers and whoosh that stuffed tiger is yours."
"I'm not gonna cheat." she said.
"Oh your such a goody-to-shoes." he said. He walked around her, giving the man a dollar. The man gave him four rings and Raphael easily made them loop around the bottles. The girls cheered for him while Vanessa gave him a cold look for a second before giggling and wrapping her arm around his. The man gave him the small stuffed tiger to Raphael and he held it out to Vanessa. She smiled up at him and took it, kissing his cheek.
"Ah!" we heard a kid yell. Vanessa head snapped to her left where the noise was coming from and she saw a boy around ten stepping away from the large metal tub of water filled with apples for apple bobbing. His mother rushed over as he pointed at the tub, "The-the water! It was just freezing up."
"My lord, you're freezing." the mother said as she rubbed his arms and cheeks. The mom started yelling at the guy who looked completely confused as he checked the tub.
Raphael looked at Vanessa and she shook her head, "It wasn't me." she said.
"Hey, this isn't funny!" a girl yelled at the booth where she was spraying a target with water to fill up a balloon but the water froze. She hit the water gun as if that was gonna work.
Raphael breathed out, "Vanessa." he said, pulling her towards a direction across the festival where a dunk tank. The man sitting in the seat didn't notice the water starting to heat up and neither did anyone else. A man swung his arm back and threw the baseball, hitting the target. Vanessa gasped, holding her arm out as she stopped the rails from giving out but she felt this heavy feeling like holding a pile of books. Her arm was quickly getting tired and it trembled. She held out her other hand, trying to stop the boiling water and cool it up. Once the water stopped boiling, her arm finally gave out and the man dropped into the water. The man stood up, looking around the water confused but he seemed completely fine.
Ninda grabbed her arm, "She's here, she's somewhere." she breathed out. Vanessa looked around, trying to find Queen Severina but she couldn't find her in the crowd. She couldn't be able to even recognize any of the mermaids if they were here.
She heard something strange. She looked down at the ground, hearing pipes clank. She looked up to see everyone in the festival could hear it and they all stopped what they were doing. Before any of them couldn't understand what's going on, water from the ground sprout out of the ground from the pipes. It everyone screamed loudly at the outburst. Raphael and Ninda grabbed Vanessa, pulling them all away from the festival going around the booth and further away. They ran away as far as they could near some trees before they lost their legs.
Vanessa fell forward, holding her arms out to catch herself as hit the ground. Groaning, she propped herself up to see everyone was fine. It was night time thankfully and the trees blocked out allot of the light on them. People weren't even running towards their direction.
"Everyone okay?" Raphael asked.
"Yes." they all said.
Vanessa turned around, holding herself up with her arms as she looked around to see them only looking annoyed by what Queen Severina done. The pips were already done spraying water and people were calming down in the festival. She looked at the girls, running her fingers throw her hair when she realized something.
"Where's James?" she asked, looking at them all and James was indeed missing. Actually, she hasn't seen James in the last fifteen minutes.
"He said he was going to the bathroom."Taviasaid. She bit her bottom lip, "But it has been awhile..."
They quickly brought their legs back and ran back into the fair. They all ran around, trying to look for James but after twenty minutes they couldn't find him. The festival wasn't a huge event, it wasn't much where he could go off to. Vanessa ran her hand down her face, groaning as she closed her eyes. She felt her left hand where the seashell scar was tingling like it does when your arm falls asleep. Suddenly there was glimpse of water and she saw a bright light above the water that looked just like the moon.
Someone grabbed her arm, shaking her, "Nessie?" Raphael said and her eyes snapped open. He looked down at her concern and she breathed out heavily, not sure how she just did that.
"He's in the water." she said and they looked at her confused. "I don't know how I did it but I saw it. The ocean, it like he was being pulled down. It didn't last long, maybe a few second but he's in the ocean. We should go hurry."
*
Vanessa and the others ran down towards the shore where the water was crashing against the bank heavily and sounded like thunder. The wind was strong tonight on the beaches and she had a feeling it was because Queen Severina must not be in the best mood. She turned to the others, "I don't think splitting up the best idea but the ocean big. I don't know exactly where he is."
Ninda came over, "Then focus, like earlier." she said.
"I don't know how I did that though." she said.
"Try." she said. "Whatever you done, do it again."
Vanessa felt frustrated right now but she nodded. She closed her eyes, trying to just let everything just disappear from her mind. She felt that tingly feeling again but this time came a voice Vanessa...help...then the glimpses came of three mermaids pushing James into the ocean and swam out into the ocean about a few miles going straight.She felt her chest squeezing up, having a hard time breathing so she opened her eyes.
"Th-they were here, at this spot. I recognized the boulders." she said. She turned around, holding her finger out, "They went out straight a few miles."
Kyoko and Hasina went into the water, "Okay,lets go." Hasina said.
Vanessa grabbed her arm, "Wait!" she said,makingthem look confused. "This could just be what she wants. She's using James as bait probably."
"Do we have a choice really?" Alia asked as she walked out. "If you want to protect James, we have to go out there. We needed to be prepared for this, to be ready whenever it happens."
"You practiced as long as you could."Taviasaid. "And this isn't just about James, it's about her. We gotta show her we're strong to."
Ninda nodded, "Their right, we should just out now."
Raphael grabbed Vanessa arm, pulling her back, "Whoa wait, Vanessa isn't ready. Yes her powers are getting better but this is a very strong mermaid who is older than her. It's exactly what she said-it's a trap to draw us out there. Who knows if her coven of mermaids are all lined out there like their getting ready for battle."
"Each mermaid is ordered to stay in certain locations around the world, their spread out and their not supposed to leave." Ninda said. "She only keeps her best mermaids around her, the rest are order to stay where they are. I'm not afraid of her companions."
Raphael scoffed, "We shouldn't risk it though-"
"Enough." Vanessa said, pulling her arm out. "I'll go out. She'll want all of us, not just me. You guys stay here and I'll be back."
Raphael came in front of her, "Nessie, no. That's dangerous, she'll kill you if you're alone."
"And if you go she'll kill you even before you know she's there. I have the abilities to at least distract her enough for me to get James and quickly come back." she told him. He opened his mouth to argue with her some more but she wasn't gonna let Raphael go out there when she's stronger than him. She didn't want to say that, fearing it'll hurt his feeling. "I'll be alright, trust me that I'm braver than what you expect."
"Nessie, of course I know you're strong-okay, fine." he said. He breathed out heavily, "Twenty minutes though and if you haven't made it back I'm coming out there."
"Alright." she said, nodding.