I recommend re-reading the previous chapters of this book!
It has been a while since I last updated, so re-reading will help you better understand where our protags last left off.
(I have also made small edits and revisions to them)
(Comments very much encouraged!)

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"YOU ABSOLUTE IMBECILE!" Yumi screamed as she threw everything on her desk to the floor. Her teeth were gritted, her hair was sprung out of place, and her eyes were burning with anger. The merfolk that she had managed to capture were now gone, with both their tanks empty and shattered on the floor. She was fuming.

     Celeste attempted to subside Yumi's anger by taking her hands, but Yumi threw the lamp on her desk that had tipped over at her.
     "I swear... I swear to all things dreadful I am going to KILL YOU," Yumi screamed at the redhead in the corner of the room. Luck was on Alec's side that day since Yumi didn't have any weapons or sharp utensils on her. "You had ONE JOB. ONE SIMPLE JOB. SO TELL ME ALEC," She jumped out of her chair, "HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO LOSE TWO WHOLE MERMAIDS!" Yumi pushed aside her desk and lunged at Alec. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pen that she attempted to stab him with. Alec managed to grab Yumi's arms before the tip of her pen could dig through his skin. He could tell she wasn't coming at him with her full potential. Her technique was sloppy and impulsive because of her anger. He managed to push her off of him and Celeste grabbed her and held her back.

"Leave. Now!" Celeste shouted, out of breath. She was trying her best to keep Yumi at bay, but her thrashing was proving difficult to control. Urging Alec to get out before Yumi landed a successful hit, Celeste motioned her head to the door behind them. The redhead stumbled back towards the exit and ran out. He had been chewed out by Yumi countless times before. He seemed to be her punching bag most of the time. So, he thought that this time he should take the opportunity to cut his ties. He doubted that Yumi would give him his portion of the pay because of his accident. She probably wouldn't pay him ever again for this. It wasn't that easy, though.

     As much as Alec hated to admit it, he needed her. Cash was tight and she was his only source of income. He had been working for Yumi for so long, his reputation had plummeted and employers didn't want a thieving pirate on their staff.

     He cursed at himself for his actions the other day. Last night he had gotten lazy and decided to leave the two mermen after they had both fallen asleep. How stupid of me, he thought.

Alec did wonder how they escaped, though. The window is the obvious choice, but the one in the room was locked, so they couldn't have jumped out and then locked it from the inside. So then there must have been someone who broke in, but who? No one else besides Cassidy, her daughter, and the rest of the Squad knew that those merfolk had been captured, let alone exist. So who could have possibly broken in? Could one of them have betrayed? Alec's mind wondered to Gold, since she did lash out and defend the merfolk. She was the biggest suspect.

     Alec shook his head. He could think about all of this another time. Right now he had to head home to his sister and prepare a makeshift dinner, since she had been rendered helpless due to her unfortunate cold. As he walked, he contemplated telling her about the mermaids. Alec knew that Aly had always had an eye for fantasy and would love to hear about how the merfolk myth was true. He didn't know if he should, though. The mermaids were top secret info and even when they were shared among just 6 people, they were stolen. He decided not to tell her. Instead, he would divulge into one of the many other make-believe stories she enjoys to entertain her. She had been home alone all day, so she would probably appreciate the company. For the first time in a while, the thought made Alec smile.

«««

Kyran's eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the new surroundings. Where were they? What happened? He looked up and saw Evan holding him. His eyes were still shut. Needing him to be awake to experience this new place, Kyran shook Evan by the shoulders until he woke up.

"Wha- what's going on? Where are we now?" Evan whined, bringing his hands up to rub at his irritated eyes. They did seem to be getting knocked out a lot lately. Kyran shrugged his shoulders and started looking around. It didn't look dangerous. It just looked just like the regular ocean. There were heaps of rocks, fields of kelp, patches of dirty sand, and the occasional school of fish swimming by. Kyran let go of Evan and began to swim around. Lunar must've dropped us off here, Kyran assumed. If she could make objects appear in her hands at will, surely she could teleport us out just as easily?

     He swam in a few circles before he was interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling. Kyran blushed, a bit embarrassed by the sound, but Evan diffused it with a laugh. "We need to find some food," Evan searched the area for something to eat, "There!" He pointed at a school of fish that was swimming through a patch of kelp.

"Wait, wait! We don't have anything to catch them with. Or to kill them with..." Kyran rambled. Evan pouted and thought to himself. He used his pointer finger to tap his chin until he sprung his head up with an idea.

"Oo! Ok, ok. So, how about you swim down and try to weave together some of that kelp to make some nets," Evan pointed to the kelp below them, "And I'll go out and look for something to stab them with," Evan proudly ordered. Kyran agreed and they both went to work. Kyran swam down and began to pull out strands of kelp and tie them together. He didn't know how to weave, so he just tried to tie the kelp with as little to no holes as possible.

Evan swam out to try and find a sharp rock that he could cut down into a small dagger-like weapon. He searched below for a rock a decent size and length when he found an even better option. There was a heap of broken pieces of wood, probably from a ship or boat of some kind. Evan grabbed a plank and cracked it in half. The tip was very blunt so he tried to find a flat rock to sharpen it on. After some searching, Evan had found a rock and sharpened the wood into a pointed stick. He swam back to where they had landed to regroup with Kyran.

"Look what I made!" Evan flaunted. He shoved his handmade weapon in Kyran's hands.

"Woah! That's actually really cool. Much better than mine," Kyran compared. He handed Evan his net he "weaved." The kelp was tied in a vertical pattern, with rocks tied on the corners to weigh it down.

"No, Ky, this is great! Now we can finally eat," Evan said, excited. His scales shifted to the same Gold color they had changed to when they first got away from the pirates. Kyran chuckled at the implication that food was as exciting as freedom to Evan.

The two set out to go catch some fish. They spotted a school of fish near a rock and decided to strike. Kyran threw the net over the fish, the rocks on the corners clashing against the rock the fish were huddled near. The fish scattered when the net first hit them, and most of them were able to wiggle their way out through the holes, but Kyran's net was able to catch two fish from that school. Evan came over and attempted to stab the fish to get them to stop moving. He was able to pierce the first fish, but his stick broke when he attempted to stab the other. Having been shoved out of its position, the fish was able to get out from one of the holes in Kyran's net. Evan, being the competitive person he is, wasn't going to let that fish go so easily.

Kyran sat down on the sand, already munching on the fish that Evan managed to stab. They didn't taste that great. Usually, the fish that are caught in the kingdom are cleaned, shaved, and de-boned, but now he had to eat it completely raw. He didn't enjoy the meal, but hey, it's better than starving. Kyran watched as Evan chased around the other fish, struggling to keep the animal in his hands.

"Get back here!" Evan screamed at the fish. Kyran could see that his scales were changing from orange to red. Kyran laughed at how frustrated this small fish was making Evan. Soon enough, the boy caught the fish in his hands and immediately bit into it. He swam back in Kyran's direction and the two sat and finished their self-caught fish.

"That tasted terrible," Evan laughed, licking his fingers, "Definitely not worth the energy I put in to catch it." Evan leaned back into the sand, holding himself up with his hands. Kyran still hadn't finished his fish, the bones proving difficult to eat around. Evan had offered to peel the meat off of the spine for Kyran, but Ky refused. He believed that Evan had already done enough.

The pair finished their small meal and were laying down, resting. They had gone through so much. They deserved the break. Kyran's stomach grumbled again, not satisfied by the single fish. He held his arm over his stomach, as if that would help at all. He tried to distract himself by looking around at their surroundings. Rocks, kelp, fish, black sand, more rocks...

     Wait.

     Kyran looked back at the patch of black sand he saw. Right behind him, the sand was swirling around, almost exactly how Lunar had teleported them out here. Kyran didn't fully trust Lunar, but the patch of black sand seemed to be calling him. As Kyran came closer, he saw that the sand was swirling around something. The object beneath the sediment was beckoning him. Calling him, praying for him to release it from the prison of black sand. Kyran reached his hand out to dive beneath the sand.

"Kyran!" Evan yelled from behind. Kyran snapped out of his daze and locked eyes with the green merman. His scales had returned to the worried green they always retreated to nowadays. Evan grabbed Kyran and pulled him away from the swirling sand. "What are you doing?! That could be another one of her tricks!" Evan explained.

"It was just like before... with the ravine," Kyran looked back at the sand, "I felt out of control of my body..." He looked down at his hands. Evan grabbed him by the shoulders and escorted him away from the sand.

"If it's the same feeling as back then with the ravine, it's probably bad news," Evan pushed Kyran to swim faster, "So let's get out of here and away from pirates, Mystics, magic, and all the other dangers we could possibly encounter—" Evan was cut off by the sound a small explosion. The pair looked back at the black sand patch to find it had subsided. Flecks of dark sand were scattered all around a shiny object. Kyran's eyes glowed at the sight. He immediately swam to it to grab and inspect it. Evan jumped to stop him, but to no avail.

Kyran looked down at the object beneath the sand. It was a small glass vile of dark blue liquid with a note attached to the cork that sealed it. He recognized it as one of the viles that Lunar was mixing miscellaneous liquids in. In pristine cursive, the note read:

Each of you must drink this to complete the spell.

Lunar's signature was neatly written on the back of the card. Kyran swirled around the liquid in the jar. It looked deadly. That wasn't a good sign. It was an opaque dark liquid that left smears of indigo on the sides of the vile. Kyran scrunched his face in disgust. Did he really have to drink it?

Evan came up behind him and grabbed the vile. He took his turn reading the note and examining the liquid. He looked at Kyran and gave the same face. Neither of them wanted to drink this.

"What if she's trying to poison us? Why is she even doing this?!" Evan tried to rationalize. Kyran shrugged and took the vile back. He stared at it, going back and forth with his options. He thought back to Lunar, and how she had immediately given them a wish in return for his gem. He thought back to the pirates and how they had nearly killed him. He thought back to the golden-eyed girl. How she had stood up for him against her mother. He thought about his hallucination. She had shown him kindness and saw him as a human.

Kyran looked back down to the vile. He popped open the cork and stuck a finger inside to feel the consistency. It felt like water. He had expected it to be thicker, like goo, but looks can be deceiving. Evan watched him, skeptical of what he was doing. Kyran gave him one look before swigging down a little more than half the vile.

"KYRAN!" Evan reached his hands out on instinct. He stayed a ways away from Kyran, fearing some crazy transformation was going to happen. Kyran burst into a small coughing fit before composting himself. He looked at the vile he had drank from and coughed.

"Hey, that wasn't half bad," He joked. Evan didn't appreciate it. "Here, have it," Kyran handed Evan the open vile. Evan looked at it in disgust, still fearing that it was poison. "I promise it's not that bad. I don't feel any different," Kyran encouraged.

"If you say so," Evan tipped the vile and drank what was left in it. He made a confused face, his scales changing color with it. He flicked his tongue a couple times, trying to distinguish a taste to associate with the strange drink. He shrugged and motioned the tube to Kyran to take it back, "You're right, it wasn't that bad," Evan commented. Kyran took the vile back and put it in his pouch. He didn't know if they needed it, but it was better to keep it around, just in case. Evan gave some pretend claps before heading back down to the sand. He curled himself up and laid down.

     "What are you doing?" Kyran asked.

     "Going to sleep, obviously," Evan answered, already tucking his hands under his head to act as cushions.

     "You're not going to wait and see what the liquid did? Lunar said it was the last part of the spell," Kyran nudged his friend, too anxious to sleep. He didn't know when the effects of the potion would start to take place, and he didn't want to be asleep when they happened.

"I haven't gotten a single night of good sleep in the last week. We're finally away from trouble so I'm going to take advantage of that," Evan's scales shifted to aqua, letting Kyran know he was calm enough to finally sleep. Kyran coughed a couple of times before sitting down next to his friend. He grabbed a nearby rock and began to make shapes in the sand. He coughed again, bringing his hand up to his chest. Why am I coughing so much? Kyran slowed his breathing down to try and find the problem. He took in a slow breath and coughed again. He felt like he was suffocating. When he took in another deep breath, he felt like pounds of sand were pushing down on his windpipe. He smacked both of his hands to his throat, not knowing what was wrong. Oh no, oh no no no. Was it really poison? Had he been tricked again? Was he going to die? Kyran reached out his hand to grab Evan. Evan slowly turned over.

"Dude, come on. I already told you that—" Kyran's loud heaving cut him off. Evan's scales immediately changed to the same fearful acid green. He began to panic, fearing that the liquid really was a poison. Kyran grabbed Evan's hands and tried to explain what was happening.

"Can't, breath. Water," Kyran shook his head. He puffed his cheeks, taking one last breath. He pointed up to the surface and Evan understood what he had to do. He threw Kyran's right arm over his head and swam as fast as he could to the surface.

Evan brought himself and Kyran above the water. He scanned around the area for anything that could help them. There were no boats around, luckily, so Evan could swim with Kyran's head above the water without fear of behind hunted. In the corner of his eye, Evan finally spotted something. There was a small beach in the distance that he could rest Kyran on. As Evan began to swim to the beach, he felt his own breathing begin to become shaky. He burst into a coughing fit, but pushed through as he made it to the shore.

Evan pushed Kyran onto the sand, getting his head away from the water as fast as he could. There was nothing around but sand, broken ship debris, seaweed, and dirty rocks. Evan began to cough once more, the air becoming stale and clogging his throat. His scales slowly drifted to the pure white color they turn to when he is struck with pain. Evan fought and struggled to keep his eyes open, fearing either of them getting caught on this shore, vulnerable to anything that crossed the beach. The sun is so much for powerful on land, its intensity making Evan's eyes heavy.

     After laying down for a few minutes, heaving slowly, Evan finally gave in and closed his eyes, engulfing himself in yet another slumber.

❖

𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘦 25, 2021
3114 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦
𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦! 𝘪 𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘪 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘪𝘵!
𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘪 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴
𝘐𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘭
~𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖