Melody, Finn, Bay and Zafrina slowed, and sank back into the shadows as they heard voices. Slowly, they crept up the jagged wall, peering over the top. On the seabed, a shoal of fish frantically broke apart, as merfolk swiped nets, threw spears, shot arrows. The merpeople were agile and lean, most possessing tattoos. With expert skill, they hunted the brown-scaled fish easily.
"Look!" Whispered Zafrina, in horror. "It's... it's Mereditha." Melody hadn't met Mereditha, but she knew that the mermaid was one of the six missing from Atlantica. A mermaid with strawberry blonde hair was pushing writhing nets of fish into boxes, with the same mechanical movements they has witnessed from Alex. Her pale green eyes were glassy, like Alex's. "Nia's a seawitch. You don't suppose..." Zafrina didn't get to voice her speculation, for a group of fish darted their way in frenzy.
The four dived down against the base of the jagged stones, crouching as a merman broke away to pursue. The fish were turned back, directly over the group's heads - the merman glanced down momentarily, but he didn't notice the merpeople hidden. Swiftly, he chased the fish back to the hunting party, and the four exchanged relieved glances. With the moment passed, they quickly swam on their way, to get away from the hunters.
It must have been a day since they had crossed the real border - a viscous wall of seathorns a few metres tall, with spears jabbed into the plant. The deadly points had stuck up threateningly, warning off any trespassers. After some hesitation, they had passed over the wall. Now, they were hugging the shadows of a jagged line of rocks, a line that Finn and Bay called the Broken Shells.
The Broken Shells were tall and, like the name suggested, resembled broken and damaged shells. They casted long shadows, and as a result, they were good cover. The Broken Shells ran all the way to Neptune's Scar, which lay ahead - Melody's skin crawled with fear. Ever since she had seen the warning, the human skeleton lashed to a mast, she had felt sick and fearful. Just the memory alone was sickening. What if Nia found out that she was human? Would Melody meet the same fate as the human on the mast?
"Look, girls - we have to tell you something." Bay slowed to a stop. The four faced each other in the shadows of the Broken Shells - Melody kept close to Zafrina, protective of her cousin, for Zafrina had confided in her last night, telling her the terrifying nightmare she had received the day before. "There... there's a creature living in Neptune's Scar. It's a sea serpent." An atmosphere of unease and trepidation spread over them all. Sea serpents were incredibly deadly - venomous, with huge teeth. Only Finn and Bay had seen the sea serpent before, and the tales told were no exaggeration.
The creature lived within the crevice, never leaving it. A rite of passage in Nia's kingdom meant that each warrior in training was required to locate the beast, attack it, and then get out alive in order to be accepted into the army. Proof was required - a vial of the creative's blood, a scale, or a tooth. Many had been killed by the serpent during this final test, but Nia wanted only the strongest warriors. Finn and Bay had been lucky enough to be sent in together, barely escaping the animal with a scale each to prove that they had done the task.
The three who had grown up in the sea had heard myths and legends. Sea serpents had killed many - merpeople, and unfortunate shipwreck survivors or those who were attacked while sailing. A famous legend told was that a thousand years ago, the greatest sea serpent in the ocean, Addanc, had killed and devoured a whale.
"That's not our only problem." Finn pointed out. "The scar is long, and dark. Even if we do get into the crevice, how will we find the trident? It's pitch-black in some places."
Melody and Zafrina exchanged wide-eyed glances. Melody's hand moved to her locket. "My locket... when I open it, it gives off light." She pried it open - the glowing orb rose, along with the lullaby. She quickly snapped the locket closed to silence it, and she glanced around, anxious. Luckily, it didn't look as though the music had attracted unwanted attention - the seabed was empty, as far as the eye could see. It was almost too quiet.
"There's our light." Zafrina said, with more optimism. "Let's go." She swam past Bay.
"Whoa, whoa." Bay took her hand, to stop her going any further. As he did, Zafrina and Bay locked eyes, and it took Bay a few moments to let go of her hand. "The noise... what if it attracts the creature?" Silence. Melody looked down at her locket, realizing the risk of using it.
"Well... it'll be a last resort." Finn said, trying to conceal his worry. "Unless we really can't find it... we'll have to use the locket." Melody nodded, and closed her fingers around the gold shell. Reluctantly accepting this, Bay and Zafrina lead the way. Zafrina had overheard where Triton had been captured, so the fact that Andrina had swum straight over Neptune's Scar from this point narrowed their search a little. They had a rough idea of where the trident was, but retrieving it would be difficult nonetheless. Melody swum beside Finn, heart thudding as she saw a dark shadow ahead, on the sea floor. Suddenly, she felt something brush her hand.
Melody looked to her right, where Finn swam. He gazed into her eyes, as he held her hand to reassure her. He clearly saw her fear. "Thank you." She whispered, squeezing his hand.
"It's going to be fine. We'll find the trident, free Triton, and this'll all be over." Finn gave her his crooked smile, and her heart fluttered. She was going to tell him once this was over - she was going to tell him how she felt about him, and who she really was.
Ahead, Bay and Zafrina slowed down. "We're here. This is roughly where Andrina said she dropped it." Zafrina clung to the shadows, clearly reluctant to go in. Neptune's Scar tore across the sea floor - a black, ragged crevice opened before them. It was surprisingly thin at the top, but inside the crevice, it widened, almost into a cavern. Shafts of light poured into the gap - from above, they didn't see any sign of the trident. This must have been the spot, for not far away, a cliff rose - the place where Triton had been captured. At first, it looked as though it were indeed a cliff, but instead, the rock went far above, to the surface. It must have been an island of some kind.
"Alright." Melody's grip on Finn's hand tightened. "Let's go in." Bay, followed by a reluctant Zafrina, disappeared through the gap. Finn began to lead the way in, but then Melody stopped. She glanced over her shoulder, thinking she saw a glint - like sunlight on tail scales, or on metal. But there was nothing.
"Melody?" Finn asked, blinking.
"It's fine... just me being paranoid." Melody insisted, before following him in, forgetting what she thought she saw.
The inside of Neptune's Scar was dark, and eerily quiet. Zafrina had the spear tip in hand, her eyes nervously flickering from one side of the crevice to the other, while Finn's hand, the hand that didn't grasp one of Melody's, kept twitching toward the knife in his belt. Every minute sound made some of the group jump. The serpent could be hiding anywhere. The crevice was rocky, and further down, the bottom of the scar was a black smudge. Melody had no idea how deep it really was, but she could guess.
A few scraggly plants struggled to grow, their bone-like stalks reaching desperately toward the weak light pouring in from the top of the crevice. A few silent fish swam about, and further down, stranger creatures would likely lurk. A couple of bones lay in places, perched on rock edges. As they had dreaded, the trident was no where in sight. They split into pairs - Finn and Melody, and Zafrina and Bay. They scoured the top of the crevice, praying that the trident had come to rest further up, but to their frustration, it wasn't in sight. The only way to find the trident was down.
Melody lead Finn downwards, reluctant, but knowing that the trident couldn't be anywhere else. At first, Finn went readily, but then Melody realized she was pulling him along. She twisted round. "Finn?"
"Sorry." The fear in Finn's voice was obvious. "It's just... me and Bay had to face the thing, when we were fifteen. It was to test our skills as warriors - Nia calls it a... a graduation ceremony." Melody took this in, appalled by this.
"Well... if she's beaten, no other kid will have to endure that. Or training." Melody tried to be optimistic, but she could see that Finn wasn't assured. His beautiful sea-green eyes were troubled and filled with fear.
"I know. I'm still afraid, though." Finn confessed, and again, Melody squeezed his hand to show her support. Her heart swelled a little more as she heard the vulnerability in his voice. However, these good thoughts were suddenly crushed, as she realized the darkness closing around them. The water was getting blacker, and Melody could hardly see. Slowly, she looked at Finn, and then up at Bay and Zafrina, who were making their way downwards as well. Reluctantly, Melody's hand went to her locket. Eyes screwed closed, Melody opened it.
Immediately, the glowing orb of Atlantica rose - in the darkness of the crevice, the light seemed brighter than it did in normal light. However, in the eerie silence that enfolded them, the usually comforting lullaby was unsettling, and loud. Above, Bay and Zafrina focused on keeping watch for any movements in the darkness.
"Can you see anything?" Whispered Finn, trying to pick out any sign of a trident. Melody turned at all angles, holding up the locket, squinting at their surroundings.
"No." She replied, in frustration. "I see noth..." Melody didn't finish her sentence. She didn't see anything, but she swore she felt something - almost as if someone had tugged a piece of her hair from the left. Melody turned, and again, felt this sensation pulling her down a few metres. Finn trailed her, looking about in unease.
Then she saw it. Her grandfather's trident lay on the edge of a rock shelf - the glisten of gold was captured by her locket. The three points were buried in sand, and a seaplant had begun to crawl it's way across the handle. "That's it. We found it." Melody raced down to the ledge, closing the locket, silencing the music. Her hands found the trident in the gloom, and she raised it up, her heart beating swiftly - she brushed off the sand and the seaplant. A great bubble of joy rose in her chest, and she began to smile. For some reason, it began to glow after not being handled for so long.
But then, as that moment, the glow of the trident, as it faded, caught something with it's light. Finn, who had swum down beside her, had seen it too. With huge eyes, Finn picked the glistening thing up. An enormous scale, a shade of bluish-green, glistened in his hand. Beside a puzzled Zafrina, Bay began to tremble with fear. "We have to get out of here." It was then that the mermaids realized - Finn held a sea serpent scale.
But they were too late. Above, there was a great movement. Stones and pebbles clattered down, and there was a great snarling from above. Melody whipped the trident upwards, and the dying light of the trident briefly illuminated the creature's face.
"Great Neptune." Whispered Zafrina, in a quivering voice.