Chapter 18

I can't remember how long I was out for, as I awoke fully submerged in water. There were small lights illuminating the water from corners while I saw blackness beyond me. As I came up from the bottom, which was solid, and drew forward, my head collided with an invisible wall.

Panicking, I spread my hands over the invisible wall, gently, I knocked on it, it quietly echoed within this…tank. I peered up and swam forth, only to have a palms amount of air before hitting the top of the tank, I breathed in the cold air.

"Finally, you're awake." A voice drawled from around me, startled, I shrunk to the bottom of the tank.

"Who-Who are you?" I glanced over my shoulder, grabbing my curtain of blood red hair and twisting it.

"Forgive me," The voice seemed to be everywhere. Soft and yet hard at the same time, but oddly trusting. "Where are my manners?" Before me, a face appeared out of nowhere and I had no intention of screaming, and yet here I was, pinned furthest away from him, shrieks coming from my mouth.

His face was oval shaped, but wide, with a slit for a mouth, with tiny sharp teeth upturned into a grin. No nose, but indentations for his nostrils and clear, glowing yellow eyes with black slits, that seemed to dilate in and out as he scrutinized me. He had pronounced muscles over his eye sockets that portrayed his expressions as eyebrows would do. A pirate hat neatly over his head, fluffy hair rolled into thick rolls weaved down onto his shoulders.

"You really are remarkable." He pulled out something from behind him, a book, tatty and ragged. He flipped through pages, looking back at me once or twice. He stopped at a page, expressing his enthusiasm in his find. Pressing the pages to the tank, I inched closer to get a better look.

It was illustrations of mermaids, but different. Gills were deep on their necks, sharp teeth fanged out of their gums, hair like snakes, dead human bodies at the bottom of the sea bed, shipwrecks a disaster behind the depiction. I turned away in disgust. They weren't mermaids, nor were they sirens. They were monsters that I had never seen before.

"Obviously these," He pulled the book away and shut it. "Are nothing like you. You are a siren. You must sing for me, draw me into my annihilation with your beautiful voice…" He continued as I whispered.

"I am a mermaid."

"You will make every man want to…What?" His voice went cold suddenly and his pupils so thin that the yellow almost over took them. "You are not a siren?" He began to shout. "You can sing though, yes? I cannot showcase just a beautiful fish, you must do something."

"Showcase?"

"Can you sing?" He yelled and I felt the vibration of his voice through the water.

"Yes, yes." I croaked, not meeting his terrifying gaze.

"Sing me something, my dear." Just before I plucked up the courage to even look at him, a shrilling sound surrounded me. He had dragged his owl fingernail down the tank, revealing a scratch.

I trembled at first and his hand banged on the tank so hard that I swayed in the water, his eyes suggesting his impatience.

"Louder, my sweet." He cooed.

"What would I give if I could live
Outta these waters?
What would I pay to spend a day
Warm on the sand?"

I couldn't sing much more as I hiccupped into cries, tears melting in the water. This would be the perfect time to admit it, that daddy was right. That home was safe and humans…Creatures were the monsters. But he wasn't right. Because through all the bad, there was good, Jim was good.

He was fighting his way to me. I knew it was his voice that screamed my name, his voice bringing chills to my skin. He was trying to finding me, and I know. He will get to me.

"You will do perfectly," He stood, towering over my tank.

"What did you mean, showcase?" I whimpered, rubbing my eyes hard that I saw stars behind my eyelids.

"Why, Viscardi A La Monster. This is my home." He gestured to the blackness outside of my tank. "Perg!" He demanded, his eyes shining bright.

"Yes, boss?" I knew that voice. It was one of the creatures that hauled me in my box.

"Draw the curtains." He commanded.

"Yes, boss."

I hovered in the water idly, keeping my arms close to my chest, keeping my eyes on the thing in front of me. Then, white light shone before me, so bright I had to look away. Then it eased, and as I squinted into the light, my mouth dropped open. It was row upon row of seats in an open building, seats on secondary levels and third levels, nearly reaching the engraved ceiling of gold above.

"This is my home." The creature came back low at my level to my side, giving me sideways glances. "This was once the most undesirable building in Mercy X, and with my looted millions, rebuilt it into something spectacular." He marvelled.

This was a stage I was on, in a solid glass tank, thick red curtains pulled back, backstage rooms and tunnels to my left and right. Encased lights were dotted on the walls and the walkway; it was very much like the theatre in the palace back home, where Sebastian held his orchestra.

"What do you showcase?" I asked.

"Why, monsters of course." He began to walk away. Clad in an overcoat and boots with two legs.

"But I'm not a monster," I came slightly closer to the glass, pressing my hands against the cold.

"Then what are you?" He peered over his shoulder at me.

I wanted to say mermaid again, but scared of his reaction.

"You are just something no one has seen before, a creature of the unknown," He grinned maliciously. "You'll fit in just right with everyone here."

Just as he said that, I heard whispers to my left and right, scrapes on a wooden surface, wet slaps on the floor. Before the curtains began to close, the last of the light fading, a figure stood over the tank, blocking out the last of the light.