Helanie:
The music was beautiful. The mermaids came out of the water, did a little trick, then swam back down. They would come up again, jump high, land with a splash, and repeat. They showed so many tricks. One of them swam fast, jumped high, spun in the air, and landed back in the water. Their tails were different colors, shiny and glittery. When the light hit them, they looked even brighter.
My friends were glued to the performances. Sometimes Sage and Jenny looked insecure when Penn and Lamar kept staring at the mermaids. Some of the mermaids acted cute, smiling, waving, and interacting with the crowd. Others were seductresses. They stared into the eyes of Norman, Lamar, Penn, and Gavin, then did a little dance, rubbing their hands over their bodies, smiling in a way that gave the men goosebumps, before going back into the water.
I felt jealous like the others, but it was nothing. They were only performing. Norman was enjoying it, though. I even caught him looking at me a few times. I didn’t know why, and I wanted to ask him what he was thinking.
One mermaid must have noticed Jenny was feeling insecure. She came close to the edge and blew a kiss, not at Lamar but at Jenny, until Jenny started smiling and clapping. When she did the same to Lamar, and Lamar got excited trying to catch the flying kiss, she splashed him on purpose, making everyone laugh.
Once the performance was over, dinner was served. The drinks tasted like nothing from the werewolf land. Altogether, the next three hours of entertainment were perfect.
"What were you thinking?" I finally asked Norman as we returned to the mainland.
"You’ll give me that kind of entertainment once you give birth, right?" he teased, nudging me with his elbow.
"Of course, if you mend yourself and don’t mess up again," I warned him with a playful look.
But the closer we walked back to the mansion, the more I realized maybe not. I didn’t want to get too close to my mermaid side anymore. I had planned something for Emmet, and the fact that even Norman forgot about it made it scarier. I wanted everyone to remember not to hold onto my mermaid side too strongly anymore. Sadly, I did ask Emmet to come with us but he couldn’t. Not until the curse started to get extreme and we began to break the brothers free from them.
And then we all paused when we looked up and saw Lord McQuoid finally arrive. We had heard he had a little unfortunate event when his car broke down. The warriors reached him right away to help, but he was also feeling under the weather, so they had to rest longer than expected. The warriors later told us he didn’t want to wait. He wanted to get here and meet my mom as quickly as possible. And now he was finally here.
We had just entered the mansion to eat dinner when he arrived.
"Ursula," he said, calling my mom’s name. My mom started walking toward him, then broke into a sprint.
"McQuoid," she cried, landing in his arms and hugging him.
The mermaids began to walk inside, wanting to glimpse the man who had made her feel loved after she had lost everything. The way they hugged each other said everything. Then Lord McQuoid cupped her face in his hand and kissed her on the lips.
"Is he going to be our king?" one of the mermaids asked. Lord McQuoid and Ursula broke their kiss, laughing at her words.
"Why not? He is my king," my mom said.
I was so happy for her. She had finally found her happiness.
"I heard what happened," my mother rushed in, with Lord McQuoid behind her. She was in beautiful red lingerie, but she wore a robe over it.
"Don’t worry, I’ve sent the mermaids to sense her out. They’ll find her," she said, looking confident.
"Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded, closing her eyes to reassure me.
"Helanie, a mermaid’s senses are never wrong. Don’t worry, they’ll find her," my mom said with a smile.
Soon, a guard rushed in to give us the news.
"We’ve found Lucy. We trapped her in a car after giving her sedatives. I spoke to the mermaids and they are bringing her back here. Is there anything else you want us to do?" he asked.
The news was all I wanted to hear. But then my mother said something that made me feel slightly bothered.
"See, Helanie, once you give birth and can transition again and use all your mermaid senses, you’ll realize mermaids are very powerful," she said in her beautiful voice. Little did she know, I didn’t even plan to keep my tail.
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