SPELLBOUND

Eddie and Gilbert were dazed. Gilbert had the energy to return to his feet, and Eddie sat up straight, messing his spiky blond hair to put it back in place. Fiona loomed over him with a white glow around her, dimming to nothing. She had just healed them.

"Pad..." Eddie murmured. "Where's Pad? Last I saw, a fishlike thing was pulling him into the lake..."

"A cursed Sea siren it was!" Gilbert exclaimed, pounding his fist upright onto his open palm. "I caught a glimpse of it... it seemed to have seaweed green hair and blueish skin...? Yeah, Skin, I guess we could call it."

"A Sea siren?" Fiona asked, clutching her staff upright with both hands. "What would it want with Pad?"

"She." Gilbert corrected. "probably wants what all Mermaids want-a man slave."

"Dad, don't be dirty, now..." Eddie scolded.

"Eddie!" Gilbert exclaimed. "Didn't Margaret teach you better than that?"

"Well, when you travel around a lot, you... learn things..." Eddie rubbed the back of his head in shame.

Fiona sighed. "Well, that's an interesting thought... a fishwoman kidnapped Pad because she wants him to be a sex slave..."

"No, no, NO!" Gilbert yelled. "Will you bloody teenagers get your mind out of the gutter for just ONE minute?"

"I'm sorry, dad." Eddie apologized with utmost sincerity. "We aren't trying to be. Just... please elaborate, if you will."

"Yes, please." Fiona replied with agreement and shame.

"Anyway..." Gilbert went on. "A mermaid often abducts a human man to be her slave, tending to her every whim, serving her until his body can handle no more and break apart."

"That's horrible!" Fiona exclaimed. "But what man would be foolish enough to do this?"

"A man under the Siren's spell!" Gilbert replied. "A Spellbound man."

"A Spellbound man..." Eddie parroted. "Wait, can't Fiona remove curses?"

"Yes, and we have Curse dolls, too, in case she should try it on us!" Fiona beamed with joy.

"But Fiona," Gilbert turned to her. "you don't have to worry. The Siren's Spell falls upon only the ears of men. Not women."

Fiona nodded. "Well, it's a good thing I'm not affected, because you need my Holy powers. I shudder to imagine them being used by the wrong hands."

"Technically, they'd still be in your hands." Eddie contradicted.

"Okay," Fiona rethought her dramatic sentence. "I shudder to imagine them being used for the wrong reasons."

"Hey, I just realized." Gilbert exclaimed.

"That Mars bars are made on Earth?" Fiona threw in a joke. Eddie began to chuckle as his father began to blush.

"Really?" asked Gilbert. "Amazing! I must record this in my Adventurer's Handbook!" He pulled out his journal an dbegan to write this down. He closed the book, and put it behind his back, causing it to disappear in a way that nobody who plays RPGs could ever figure out. After doing this, he pondered his thoughts and remembered what it was that he had realized before. "Ah, yes! Where's the little Witch girl?"

"Melody?" Fiona asked.

"No, Alphaba." Gilbert replied sarcastically. "The girl with the orangey-brown hair and the blue hat and moppy dress and magician's cape. Where is she?"

"Melody and Pad had a small fight earlier," Eddie replied, rubbing the back of his head. "i-it's nothing too unusual. Just this time, I'm not sure what it was about."

"It had something to do with her Spell book." Fiona replied.

"Oh." Eddie said, unimpressed.

"Melody is a huge hypocrite," Fiona began to divulge. "if I were to guess what happened, she was upset, she heard Pad scream or something, and she went in after him. She's also very proud, so she would go in without telling us, because she believes she could handle it herself."

"Well," Gilbert concluded. "now we have TWO people to save! Let's get a move on!"

Eddie looked at him puzzled. "You mean we're going to swim down there? What if we get killed? And, our attacks are hindered by water, and-"

"Eddie, isn't it about time you trust your old man entirely?" Gilbert replied, pointing towards a submarine.

Eddie and Fiona gaped at the beautiful machine, and then at each other. At the machine, and at Gilbert, who was climbing on board.

"I call it the HYDRO-MAVERICK! All abooooaaaard!"

As the two finished staring, they immediately ran towards it, Eddie jumping on board, and pulling Fiona up by the arms. The ship submerged and its motor began to turn.