Prologue: Calm before the storm

"Daddy, I love him."

As King Triton's daughter fought with her father on the flickering screen in front of them, Andy Brown's daughter snuggled deeper into her father's warm arms. The only two members of the Brown family in the house that night had sacked out on the couch to watch one of Delia's many favorite Disney movies, "The Little Mermaid". Originally, the other member of their family was supposed to have joined them but he had volunteered to get take out from Mamma Joe's and had mentioned stopping by the Abbotts' house on the way. Andy and Delia knew how easily distracted their dark-haired relative became when encountering the Abbotts' daughter, Amy, and after an hour had given up on Ephram, opting instead to survive on a large bowl of slightly burned, way too salty, but still consumable popcorn. Neither of the Browns had hope of the teenage boy returning any time soon and were not worried at all about the late hour that was quickly approaching.

"Under the sea. Under the sea. Out in the sun-,"

Sebastian's beautiful singing was abruptly interrupted when the sharp trill of the Browns' telephone sounded throughout the house. Glancing at the clock as he reached for the phone, Andy was surprised to find that the time was verging on midnight and he silently wondered who would be calling so late.

"Hello."

The panicked voice of Amy Abbott greeted Andy's ears and what he heard next caused him to pale considerably and sent the small girl on the couch running over to see why her daddy had tears falling down his face.

"Dr. Brown, there's been an accident. Ephram's hurt. You need to come to Mamma Joe's right now."