Summary:

What do you think you know about mermaids? Pretty women with shell bras and shimmering fish tails, frolicking in the waves?

Wrong.

Merfolk, as it turns out, are every bit as beautiful as we think they are... but that beauty belies how dangerous they can be. Kidnapping, torturing, drowning, and even devouring humans are all not only practiced, but commonplace among these creatures. The scariest part? Some of them even walk among us, seeking their next victim. Three young women - Einin, Levi, and Jendayi - all from different backgrounds, but soon to be united by this single thread of fate, will learn the hard way... but will they live to tell the tale?

Einin wasn't exactly excited to be left alone with her 'little' brother, at this age he was both bigger and meaner than her and hated listening to her. He had been doing his best to ignore the fact that his older sister was struggling to keep up with him as they both wandered away from the hotel and further up the beach. Their parents - annoyed with the brother and sister's arguing - had banished them from the hotel for the day, leaving Einin in charge of her younger sibling.

"Seamus!... Seamus! Slow down!" She had to jog to keep up with him. After his most recent growth spurt, he was towering over her five foot frame at six foot two, and feeling very smug about his height. Unfortunately for him, Einin made up for her lack of height with sheer loudness, when the situation called for it. Seamus winced and shot an annoyed look back at his sister, who was trailing about ten feet behind him, and yelling at him to slow down.

"It's not my fault you're so short," he huffed, still looking irritated, but waiting where he stopped in order for her to catch up... and hopefully end the yelling. People were starting to stare, not that his sister ever cared. Seeing her brother standing and waiting for her, the auburn-haired girl ran up to him, her cheeks slightly pink from exertion and annoyance; she despised being ignored.

"And it's not my fault you have an attitude problem!" she glared at him, "Do you want me to get in trouble?! I'm supposed to be watching you! Legal adult here!"

"Like you could watch me from that height, and you just turned eighteen two days ago, it barely counts," he snorted in amusement at his own joke.

"Don't you have any new material?" Einin snapped irritated with her younger sibling's teasing. He had been acting like this since they had gotten to Kyoto, no, ever since he got over five foot. Kyoto was the last vacation they were having together before she headed off to college, and the family would be separated for the first time. It was a worrying thought for the both of them, and was causing already short fuses to become even shorter, with more bickering occurring over stupid and trivial things. The two of them had been kicked out after an argument broke out regarding where the family was going that day. Einin was fairly certain this was just their way of coping with her move to college; after all, Seamus would be the only kid left at home after that. Even though she was fighting with her brother, she believed it was just her way of saying she would miss Seamus's teasing. Actually, if she was being honest with herself, she was already missing her tall, yet short-tempered, brother, and she hadn't even left yet.

"Hey, so... do you like the beaches here?" Einin asked her sibling, a hand brushing away the loose curls that had fallen out of the hair clip that restrained her bangs.

"Eh… the beaches are fine. I just don't understand why we had to come all the way here when we had the beach back home," he shrugged and kicked up some sand as they walked further along the shoreline.

"It's a vacation. I just thought you would want to hang out at the beach instead of going to the spa or walking around the town like we did yesterday," pacing slightly ahead of Seamus, she did a lazy twirl in the sand, tired of just walking along and distracting herself from starting another stupid argument, "besides, you always complain about how I won't take you to the beach, so I figured it would be a good time to make up for it now."

The boy rolled his eyes, used to his sister's train of thought by now, and followed her. She walked closer to the ocean as they approached a less occupied part of the beach, and decided to hang out there for a bit to watch the sun set.

A gentle breeze pushed her hair back for her she waded into the clear water; her pale legs turned a light pink from the floating sand scraping against her sensitive skin. The water wasn't cold like the water back home, and the sun setting against the waves was something she could appreciate. It was a good moment, just standing there existing, and watching, until she felt a wet smack in the back of her head.

Her hand found the now muddied area on the back of her skull, and pulled a large clump of the wet sand out of her shoulder-length mane. Laughter gave away her attacker (not that she expected anyone else) and she quickly turned about face, scooped up a large handful of the mud, then hurled it at her little brother. The gritty projectile hit its mark - that is, his bare chest - with another sloppy, wet slap. Suddenly his laughter died off, and he moved his hand to touch the mud on his chest in surprise. When he looked back up, his eyes burned with a fire that could only mean one thing between the two of them: war.

It was a brief fight - not that one could tell from the amount of sand covering the siblings' bodies, from the top of their heads down to their feet. Einin had taken the brunt of the impact, and it showed: the shirt that she had been wearing over her bikini was now completely filthy. It was clear that she had lost the fight, not that she would ever admit it.

"Asshole," she mumbled (ignoring how he laughed at her) and pulled off her cover-up, rinsing off most of the sand back into the sea, then cleared the rest of it off herself, especially out of her hair. The walk home was going to be a pain seeing as neither of the two had brought towels and despite the warmth the sun had just set and twilight was just beginning.

When the two finally made it back to their hotel, dusk had settled into twilight. Einin had been thrown into the water twice on the way back after asking a few particularly invasive questions about Seamus's girlfriend. Cold and still soaked to the bone, she returned to the room to take a shower to get the remaining sand and salt water off of her.

'Flopping on a bed after a hot shower is definitely the best feeling in the world' the redhead smiled at the thought, and rolled on her side, enjoying the feeling of the covers. She let out a sigh, then glanced over at the large windows that overlooked the water. The sky was perfect: a few clouds, the moon nearly full, and the ocean being, well... the ocean.

It couldn't hurt to just go out again, could it? She had managed to get back before dawn without much trouble last night, so maybe she could go out again tonight? It was her vacation after all, and she was pretty good at hiding if the police were passing by. 'It should be fine,' she reasoned. After all, nothing had happened the night before, why would anything be different tonight?

Getting to the beach was the easy part. Once she made it down there, the trick was getting over the fence, just beyond which laid her favorite stargazing spot. Despite the signs placed all along the fence, ones seemingly dead-set on discouraging people from trespassing, she made the climb over and ventured forth.

She crept gingerly along the coastline, hiding behind the rock formations and looking around the area for any sign of trouble. Thinking about it from an outsider's perspective, it must have looked odd, a girl in her pajamas creeping barefoot along the shore. A small, almost impish, giggle escaped her lips, and almost out of habit, she brushed the locks back out of her face; Einin felt like she was a main character in one of her romance novels. It was an amusing thought to say the least, sneaking out to some private beach to meet the love of her life. Maybe they would dance after confessing their love to one another? She laughed at that little fantasy... but then thought better of it. She was allowed to have her dreams, and besides, when was the next time she would have a moment like this?

Hesitantly, she put her earbuds in, glancing around one last time to make sure no one was there before she hit "play". Her dancing wasn't particularly graceful, but in that moment, she was only dancing for herself. A few minutes of this twirling reverie, accompanied by her carefree humming, was exhilarating, but also tired her out quickly. The impromptu dance ended with one final spin before she laid on the ground, smiling even as she tried to catch her breath.

The sky was really beautiful that night.

Morning came faster than expected. She had gotten back to her hotel room around five a.m. and debated just staying awake til eight. Unfortunately, her body made the choice for her, as she fell back asleep in the middle of her train of thought.

When she woke up, she had six missed calls from her brother, a few texts from her mom and dad, and the knowledge she missed breakfast. Groaning audibly, the pale girl dropped the phone, knowing how irritated her mother was bound to be and not really looking forward to confronting it. She spent a few minutes rolling around in bed, pretending she didn't actually have to get up and talk to her mother, but eventually sat up and got ready.

She found her family down at one of shrines they had decided to go visit - much to Seamus's protests - and waited for someone besides her grouchy brother to notice that she had joined them.

"Welcome to the party, sleepyhead," Seamus mumbled, apparently feeling kind that day; thanks to that, she would probably be able to play invisible until her mother got angry at something that wasn't her. Einin didn't really understand her mother's dislike of her sleeping in; she just knew at this point it was a pain in the ass to hear the lecture about "responsible young adults" again. Seamus glanced around the shrine, occasionally taking a picture to send to his girlfriend, but otherwise bored.

The rest of the day was spent bothering Seamus and looking at the old shrine. It wasn't particularly exciting, but it was nice spending time with her family. Dinner was good - maybe not stellar, but good - and when they got back to the hotel, she hung out in her parents' room, reading and talking until they kicked her out to go to bed. She texted her brother a good night, although he was probably asleep by then.

Einin made it back to her room just fine, but looking outside, it seemed too perfect of a night not to go stargazing again. With a sigh, she got up and and shoved her flip flops on, then departed the hotel again to walk to the private property. She shoved herself over the fence again, and made her way to her chosen spot. It was colder tonight than it had been before, and a shiver rattled her body as she trudged through the sand.

She laid down when she got to that patch of earth, her eyes watching the stars and how the moon reflected light onto the water. It was peaceful, the world silent except for the lapping of the waves against the sand… but that silence was broken by the sound of… someone calling her? The redhead stood up, and curiosity got the better of her as she began to follow the source of the haunting sound, one she quickly recognized as a voice. It was almost like her mind was in a fog, and her body was more in control than she was as she trailed down the beach. What greeted her was a rather… unusual sight: a boy - perhaps no older than she - apparently treading water in the ocean as he sang with a voice as clear and haunting as a wind chime. His hair was blond, wavy, and cascaded down to his waist. His smile was enchanting, yet… sinister, and he appeared to be reaching out toward her, his palms out as if beckoning her to him.

Einin shuddered as she found herself stepping into the lapping water, rather against her will. Yet, no matter how her brain tried to stop her, to make her turn away and run the other direction... her body wouldn't listen to her. It was a surreal and terrifying experience, to feel as if you were a spectator while your body was controlled by a force more powerful than you, yet thoroughly mysterious. As if that weren't enough, she could feel herself begin to hum, the soothing sound echoing through her throat in perfect harmony with the boy's seductive melody. His slender, pale arms embraced her hypnotized body, and she fell into him, vaguely aware of a soft, impish giggle...

"Time to go home, Anemone-chan!"

Mytwistedview: Hi I'm Luna, nice to meet everyone! I just wanted to say thinks for reading please review to let us know what you think! This chapter was written by me and edited by the wonderful Sassybaskets.