It was a warm morning bathed in light. The kind that makes most want to lay down on the sand and relax or at least stay suggled in bed, not Ariel Anesidora Atwater though. She had practically been awake all night waiting in anticipation for today. Now she just had to be quiet because, if anyone woke up it would be the end of her plans for today. It was possible to go another day but she had waited too long and put to much work into this.

Ariel had the smallest and highest room in the large house. Her dad said it was because she was the youngest and when her sisters moved out she could take any of their old rooms. However, she knew the truth, it was an attempt to stop her from sneaking out. The windows in the room were sealed even if they hadn't been it would have been impossible to escape out of them. There were no trees nearby, it was too high to make a rope out of her sheets, and roof to steep to stand on. Going through the house meant she had to avoid all the creaky floorboards, not wake up the dog or anyone one else in the whole house, and not alert their neighbour Sebastian Crab. This had kept Ariel in the house… for about a year and a half.

Counting all the way, she crept down her tower stairs. Ariel made sure to skip the 7th and 10th steps. Once at the end she put her ear to the wall and listened. Her sister, Arista, had a habit of waking up to go to the bathroom. After Ariel was sure that no one was moving around, she quickly but quietly moved through the hallway. When she reached the second set of stairs, she was extra quiet. Her dad and her oldest sister, Attina, had rooms on the bottom floor. Her sister in particular was a problem, as her room was the closest to the creaky stairs, and she suffered from a bit of insomnia so she often stayed up reading or watching tv. Ariel got on the less noisy banister and slid down. She had made it past the kitchen and was in the living room when the red haired teen heard foot steps. A dash to the side of the couch and she was hidden.

Peeking out she saw Attina who seemed unaware of her sister being in the room. Instead she sat down on the couch and turned the TV on. This wouldn't have been a problem if the only door to the garage hadn't been right next to the tv. Ariel needed to get rid of her sister. So she crept to the half open closet behind the couch and fished out the leash. Then she made her way to the kitchen which thankfully had a wall that divided it from the kitchen. In the corner of the kitchen their dog, Spot, slept soundly.

Ariel had found him abandoned one rainy day. His black and white fur was matted. His entire body had been caked in mud. Most of all he had seemed so sad. She took him home right away and gave a nice juicy steak. Surprisingly, she had managed to keep him hidden for a week but a dog as big as he was couldn't stay hidden forever. When her dad found out her sisters had joined in begging their dad to let him stay. Attina, in particular, had desperately wanted to teach him to do tricks. Now that he was a member of family, Ariel not only had to take care of him, but put up with her sisters, Aquata and Adella, fighting over if he was a Newfoundland or a Great Pyrenees. Personally, Ariel didn't care what breed he was as she would love him no matter what.

But right now she was focused on how he might help her get out of the house. The day before she had purposely worn him out in the hopes of him sleeping rather than altering everyone of her escape attempt. Her hope had just changed. She retrieved spots favorite doggie treat. One whiff of it and him went nuts. Almost as nuts as he went when he thought he was going on a walk. So, once she had the item she out the back door and stepped into the backyard. She set the door barely ajar. Stuck in the hand that was holding the treat and the leash. Then gently lobed them at the dog. Closed the door and waited. It didn't take long for Spot to wake up. It took even less time for him to eat the treat and pick up the leash. He then started jumping on the nearest human being, begging to be taken outside.

"Sit," Attina commanded.

He did.

As Ariel peered through the glass door she wished he listened to her like that. But for now she'd just settle for her silly plan working. Her older sister patted his head. Attina took the leash from Spots mouth and attach it to his collar.

"Victory!," whispered Ariel to herself.

Before she even saw her oldest sister leave the house she made a beeline for the pool house. She knocked on the door. When she didn't get a response she let herself in. Sandy colored hair poked out from a blanket, laid on the couch.

"Urchin, it's time to go."

"It's too early to go exploring," the boy groaned. "Besides why would I want to look at some cursed castle?"

"You were eager to go to go exploring sunken ships last week."

"Yeah, but I wasn't likely to get myself caught in a buncha thorny vines there."

"Oh, stop being a baby."

"I'm not, I'm being practical."

"Fine. You can stay here and deal with daddy when he realises I ditched school."

Urchin was racing to the garage before she said another word. Ariel hurried after the scrawny teen. He snuck out the bike while she fetched the duffle bag. Within it there was a grappling hook, a helmet and three backpacks. Within those bags were divided a camera, two headlamps, a flashlight, batteries, three sets of wellington boots, two wet suits, three backpacks, a fanny pack, knee pads, gloves, first aid kit, fruit snacks, granola bars, rope, several water bottles, a copy of Merryweather's History of the Fantastical, duck tape, an umbrella and several other less noteworthy items. After triple checking her supplies she walked out through the side door.

"Where's Gabriella?," Urchin asked.

"She'll meet us at Tiana's Place. Now get on," she said as she tossed him a helmet.

They rode through town on a bike with only one set, two passengers and the biggest duffle bag he had ever seen. Urchin questioned how she could even move all the weight while. Maybe it was all that swimming she did? But he couldn't understood how should control it with all these hills let alone the cobblestone streets of the old part of town and the rain from last night.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw something white move. Ariel quickly made a U-turn and skidded to the side of the road. Urchin and the duffel bag when flying into the bushes. Ariel and the bike fell hard on to the street.

"Oh! I'm so sorry are you okay?"

"Yea. But, gee, Ariel what was that about?"

"You didn't see the cat?" she said as she pointed to flood control channel.

There in the middle of the was a cat that had it's forehead covered in duct tape. It was swimming back and forth trying to get out but due to the high walls of the structure it couldn't. If they didn't do anything it would surely drown.

Thinking quickly Ariel through open the duffle bag and grabbed the umbrella she had packed. Then hopped the chain fence that separated the channel from the street. When the cat swam close to her Ariel used the umbrella to scoop up the squirming cat as otherwise would have been too far. It also had the added bonus of the cat being unable to scratch her out of fear. However, Ariel have to fear getting scratched as the cat fell asleep from exhaustion.

"You poor thing," she cooded. "Urchin would you mind grabbing the scissors for me?"

"No problem. You were amazing back there you know?"

"Thanks, but I'm sure anyone would have done it."

"Probably not whoever out the duct tape on the cat. Here's the scissors"

After Urchin tossed them over the fence Ariel began inspecting the tape on the cat. It was already worn probably from the water but she still didn't want to rip it off. Thankfully, the cat had really long hair so she just had to cut off a little bit of hair to remove the tap. Underneath Ariel was confused to see a crescent moon. The cat's eyes shot open. It instinctually swiped at Ariel's hand. She dodged but the cat's claws instead pierced the umbrella. Then without further notice the cat ran off.

"Do you think we should go after it?" Urchin asked.

"No, she's probably long gone."

"She?"

"It was a girl cat trust me."

When Ariel stood up to climb the fence Urchin finally saw her scratches from the fall. His eyes grew wide with panic.

"Are you alright!," he screeched.

Ariel laughed, "I'm fine, besides if I wasn't going to the beach always makes me better. You know that."

"I suppose… but-"

"No buts we're going. And we better hurry or we'll be late."

Now what the teens didn't know as they proceeded on their was was the cat was actually still near by. She was watching them in fact. If this had been the weirdest thing to this day happen these two would have lead a pretty normal life but it wasn't. It was about to not only get stranger but more dangerous.