Melissa

"Sire we have succeeded in making a human, a mermaid. When I left I saw others wonder. It will not be long before we have most of their army with us."

"Good. How is the human dealing with how we look?" Poseidon asked.

"I told her before I changed her. She seemed okay with it."

"Bring her to me." he commanded.

I signalled the closest servant that was here and sent him to find her.

I had thought she would have been more in shock when I showed her how we look, but she had been fine. It was odd. Maybe when we turned people into mermaids they gained thoughts like ours and they weren't as fazed by how we look.

Although above water we are beautiful, mermaids under water resemble catfish. We have whiskers above our eyes, razor sharp teeth, green scales cover our body and our fins are on our hands and faces. I don't think we look that bad but humans seem to struggle with the sudden change in appearance.

The servant brought her in, bowed and quickly went back to the seat of Poseidon's throne and cleaning it. It was amazing how dirty it could get under water.

"What is your name child?" Poseidon asked in his booming voice.

Marie was unfazed "Marie." She answered quite calmly.

"Marie how do you like the underwater kingdom of the mermaids?" he asked opening his arms wide.

"It is beautiful. I must admit though I was taken aback with the appearance of the mermaids underwater."

"More than up above?" he asked a smile crinkling his old face.

She laughed, "Maybe not as much, but it was a surprise." She said looking straight at him.

Now he laughed. "I hope you enjoy your new life here. If you need anything just ask Melissa here."

She nodded and thanked him profusely. "I will one day make it up to you for your hospitality."

"No need." He said kindly, "Now if you would be so kind as to join us at our feast today I would greatly appreciate it."

Some of the color left her cheeks. "We aren't eating humans are we?"

"No." Poseidon said waving his hand to rid himself of the thought. "We will eat fish. This is our normal feast, we only eat people as a way of revenge on them. And besides they aren't as tasty as the fish our servants catch.

"When was the last time you had a proper meal Melissa?"

"Not in a long time father. I have been eating humans as my meals. It has been three weeks since I have had a break from them."

"Well now, we will have you dine on the finest fish we have today then on your behalf." He smiled and I smiled as I bowed, "Thank you father."

"You need the day off, but I expect you to work harder after this." He said seriously. I nodded my head and he laughed. "Come on let's hurry or the food will get cold.

I was very grateful for a break off work, but I felt unease for some reason. I kept looking at Marie and I couldn't help think that she would try to take information from us and give it to the humans. What would happen if she was going to try to use us?

I stayed up all night tossing and turning. If she did betray us, what would happen? Poseidon would never let me kill her. He had grown fond of the pre-human. How dare he? She was still responsible for what happened. For killing them all. If he liked one, he would grow fond of others and the whole mission would have been a waste of time. That couldn't happen. I had to make sure that she wouldn't be a problem.

I started to shake again. I calmed myself and left my hiding spot to sit on the rock like before.

No mermaids or mermen popped out of the water. I was disappointed. I had to wait for at least one mermaid to come. Nothing stirred behind that murky, black river.

I sighed and just as I was about to move, I saw something. It soon showed itself. It was the same mermaid from before. I lifted my bow, got an arrow, nicked it and I was about to shoot when she disappeared again. Had she heard me? I felt something grab my foot. No! I wouldn't let it end this way! I stepped on the hand and ran far away from the water. I shot into the waters. I kept shooting till I had only one arrow left.

Her head poked up, I shot, I missed.

I heard her tinkling laugh and I felt like snapping my bow in half. It was useless. I started to march off and I heard her get out of the water.

"Wait!" it said.

I turned around and was surprised to see a harp. What would that do?

Another mermaid came up, took the harp, strummed a few notes and began a complex song filled with watery notes that sounded beautiful. Then she started to sing.

I felt so calm and peaceful. My heart pounded, but it sounded muted and quiet. Distant and her voice was like that of an angel. It reached into my soul and touched it and warmed it. I loosened my guard and I felt myself take steps toward the mermaid. I couldn't understand what she said. It seemed to flow and bubble like a river and I pictured myself drowning in her voice. That sweet melodic voice which only I was hearing.

I kept walking toward her. The only thought in my mind was to come closer. I wanted to hear better.

Something burst out of the trees and she stopped singing. I cried out. I wanted to hear more. He slashed at her. I rushed toward her. He threw me back. He was hurting her. No!

I managed to push past him. He had slashed at her. Now her chest was bloody and his dagger was in her heart. She couldn't die. I had to hear the rest of her song. He threw me away again. I wrestled with him, but he pinned me easily.

When he turned back to the mermaid her breathing had turned shallow. The other mermaid was holding her hand. Tears in her eyes. The mermaid with the lovely voice said something in that bubbling language and went limp. I stared and the spell was broken. The lone mermaid wasn't crying. Just staring and shaking her head as if she didn't believe that had just happened. Like this was all I bad dream. I don't blame her for thinking that.

She picks the other mermaid with a tenderness I never thought monsters like that could possess. And she gave us a look filled with hatred as she slowly lowered herself into the water.

I stared at the spot she had disappeared in. I heard leafs and twigs crackle as my saviour walked away. I turned, "Wait."

He stopped but didn't turn around. "Be more careful next time. Mermaids aren't nice like the fairytales tell them to be."

He started to walk again. "I know that." I shouted back. He didn't seem to hear. He walked through the thick foliage and disappeared from view.

He wasn't getting away that easy. I ran after him. I wandered through the forest aimlessly for a long time. I couldn't find him though. He was good at hiding. I walked back to the compound and when I reached it the sky had gotten a pinkish glow. They would be waking up soon. I hopped we would attack them soon.

I stared at the limp body of my sister Nerissa. Why did I have to bring her up? Why couldn't I have just waited till morning to attack the humans? If I had then she wouldn't have died. I thought bitterly. I laid her down on the sea floor. Her face appeared pale and even under the warm water she felt cold.

I began to call to the fish to take her to the afterlife. They came quickly and quietly. Soon she was hoisted on all their backs and she drifted far into the horizon. She had long been gone from sight, but I couldn't move or cry. She was dead because of me.

I got up from the rock I had been sitting on and made my way toward the castle. When I reached it, the sky above the water had started to turn pink. I walked in and crawled into bed, but I stared at the wall numbly. A servant came in to tell me Poseidon has sent for me in the first attack of the morning. I didn't move though. I didn't want to. Why? Why should I fight them? What if this is a hopeless cause? What if no matter how hard we try things will always just manage to go the human's way?

Poseidon even came into my room to try to get me up. he threatened to do unspeakable horrors, but I still didn't move. I didn't hear him as he spoke. It was like I was in my own world only filled with the sorrow of my sister's death.

Eventually they stopped trying and left me. They still don't know. I thought. I should tell him…I drifted back to the not thinking. I woke up and I was ashamed to find out that I had fallen asleep.

I got up and started out the door. Heading nowhere in particular. My fin knew where to go. My mind was trying to get caught up, but it was still chained by the pain of her death.

Dead. It sounded so final. Like there was nothing after it but pure blackness. Nothing…Nothing…

I found myself at the mouth of a cave. Nerissa had loved this place. She had loved it. She had silently practiced her singing here. There was an echo in the cave so the sound had bounded back to her and she had hypnotized herself to see how effective her songs were. She had been very ingenious. Only someone like she would think to do something like that.

I smiled. I remembered once her song had been so powerful it took days to get her out of it. She had been acting like a chicken for a whole week. When she was back to normal she had memory of what had happened and she had hidden for a day because of how embarrassed she had been.

I entered. I sat at the rock she had sat on and I picked up her harp. I strummed the strings, but instead of the beautiful melodic notes that she played, when I strummed it the harp sounded like guns firing. A battle raging in those notes and I could picture the bloody picture. I saw mermaids dominating humans. Their corpses all bloody and sprawled on the ground. We had won. We rejoiced, but I didn't seem to be rejoicing in the picture. I was crying.

I searched inside myself. Did I feel sorry for the humans? I didn't find that inside me. If anything I saw more of a fiercer hatred toward the humans.

I set the harp back down and left the cave. I went into the troops.

"Finally you showed up. We'd thought some human had gotten you."

I nodded. "One has." I said quietly. No one heard me. We went on with the routine. No one seemed to notice the glassy sheen in my eyes. Or if they did they didn't seem to care.

We sat in front of the board and came up with battle strategies. It was harder for us to fight an enemy that can hide underwater where as we were without cover as we fought them.

I couldn't seem to concentrate. I could only concentrate on the person who saved me. He was a boy! How was he able to resist the mermaid's charm? All the other boys went head over heels over them.

When the meeting was done, the whole day was gone. I should probably try to find him. I thought as I walked back to my cabin. I stopped by the door and turned around and walked back to the place I had met him.

He did not appear. Maybe he would only come if I was in trouble. Why did he save me anyway? I brushed the thought away quickly. I couldn't think of that now. If I did more questions would pop into my head and I wouldn't be able to meet him again. The army could really use him. He had singlehandedly defeated a mermaid.

I tried for a while to find him without putting myself in danger. It didn't work. I went to the river and sat on the rock. No one came. Mermaid or human. I shook my head and left. This wouldn't work. I went back to the compound and I couldn't get to sleep. I only had the thought that if we had him, the mermaids would be history. I smiled. I would be the happiest person when we got rid of those demons.