" Do you think Mero's mom will admit her guilt?" Rui asks Aiden. " I hope she does for Oct's sake." He replies. Aiden, Mero, Oct, Cerea, Miia, Rachnera, Rui and Shaia were looking for Mero's mom. The others were safely outside. " Move!" Shaia snaps at the butlers. After Aiden's group came back, Rachnera captured Potemkin and Sebastian. " We're sorry for leaving you at the cave!" Sebastian apologizes with a scared look on his face.
" We thought you would be okay there!" Potemkin cries. Rachnera ignores as she drags them across a walkway. Rui glances at the water on both sides of the walkway. She shudders at the of a predator being in the water. With the queen acting weird, she might have set a trap. " There could be a shark in the water like in those movies." The tropical mermaid thought while shivering.
A speaker near a door turns on with a buzz. " Meroune. I've been expecting you." Mero's mom voice says. Mero frowns at the sound of her mother's voice. On the way back to the hotel. Aiden figured out that the queen is the only one who could've started the rumor. " I expect that you already talk to Oct?" Mero's mom asks her daughter. "Yes! Now rectify this mistake now before it get worse!" Mero yells.
" I see that you figured out my goal. Come to my chamber and bring the human with you." The speaker turns off the moment Mero's mom stops talking. " That was too easy." Rachnera comments. " Run away, Potemkin!" Sebastian shouts as he hops to the exit. Potemkin hops after him. " What's up them?" Miia asks. Suddenly a piranha leaps out of the water! Another piranha appears and tries to bite Rui!
Shaia blocks the attack with her sword. " Dear sir. We have to leave now." Mero tells Aiden. The man nods and follows Mero to the queen's chamber.
It took a minute to swim to the chamber. But Aiden and Mero finally got there. " Welcome back Meroune." Aiden looks up to see an older version of Mero sitting on a throne. " I welcome you as well human. Thank you for taking care of my daughter." Mero's mom smirks. " Mother. Why won't you tell the truth about Miss Oct?" Mero asks her mother.
" Haven't you caught on Mero? I did all of this for tragedy!" The queen smiles happily. " Huh?" Aiden stares at Mero's mom like she had gone mad. " If the rumor spreads everywhere. Humans and mermaids will stop interacting with each other. Then I will be forced to be separated from my boyfriend." Mero's mom dreamily sighs.
" Mother! You cheated on father!" Mero exclaims in dismay. The queen waves off her daughter's outburst. " The rumor isn't just going to affect mermaids! Stop the rumor now before something bad happens!" Widen demands. Mero's mom taps her chin with her forefinger as she thinks. " Okay. I'll stop the rumors if Mero comes back home." She replies.
Aiden and Mero were shocked. " You have stopped caring about tragedy. So let me remind you of how much you love it." The queen presses a button on a remote. A sound of rushes water alerts the two. They look up to see torrents of water flooding into the chamber. Mero's blue eyes widen in horror. Her mother was going to down Aiden if she doesn't go home!
" No! I never wanted a tragedy that will kill Dear Sir! I love him!" Mero thought. She then realizes that the water is already over her head. She turns around to see something that she never wanted to see. Aiden was clutching his throat and he is struggling in the water. Mero could tell that he needed air. She looks straight at her mother. "I'll go back home!" Mero shouts.
" That was really easy." The queen comments as she presses a button. She then notices spikes jutting from the floor. She presses another button and the piranhas enter the chamber! " I really need to read that manual again." Mero's mom mumbles. Mero gasps as the water starts draining at a fast rate. She looks at Aiden and is horrified. Aiden was no longer moving!
Without a second thought she quickly swims over to him. Her mother immediately realizes what her daughter was going to do. " Meroune!" The queen screams. Mero ignores her and kiss Aiden. She then gives him the air in her swim bladder. A long snake tail reaches out and wraps around Aiden's waist.
It was Miia! " I got Darling!" She shouts while pulling the man out of the water. " Why isn't Mero swimming to the surface?" Cerea asks. " Argh! She must have used up the air in her swim bladder! She'll sink without the air!" Oct yells. Oct was right. Mero was not only sinking, she was also being dragged by the current.
The queen screams when she sees her daughter heading towards the spikes. " What have I done?! I never ment for this to happen!" The queen frantically thought. A surprising snaps her out of her thought. A net was around Mero and someone was pulling her to the surface. The queen squints her eyes to see the net was a spider web. The one holding web was Aiden!
The queen stares at him in amazement. He just rescued her daughter. " Maybe Mero should continue living with this man." Mero's mom thought with a smile.
Two hours later. The family was back home. " Whew! I'm glad Mero's mom cleared everything up." Aiden sighs. He was so tired, that he wasn't mad at Smith for bringing more homestays without telling him again. Airini the freshwater mermaid and Aashi the eel mermaid were talking Mero. Miya Sahashi the oomukade was chatting with Flay Akbar the girtablilu.
The four arachnes were warily watching the oomukade and girtablilu. Occasionally Mara would go to the stairs and looks up it. Tito, Rosty, Were and Lato had also moved in. Aiden had figured out what Smith did to the backyard. There was an impressive looking tree house on sturdy oak tree. Serenity was currently asleep on couch. Rachel had left an hour ago.
Aiden was surprised that his sister was fine with Rachel leaving. Maybe she knows the reason why Rachel had to leave. Aiden felt something tickle his throat. He coughs to make it go away. After he was done coughing. He looks up to see everyone staring at him.
" Why are you the only one who believes me at this hospital, Michael?!" Aiden demands. " You have survived so many life threatening incidents. So the other doctors want to make sure that nothing is wrong with you." Michael calmly replies. Aiden scowls at the reply. He never liked being in hospitals.
The only reason why he was there because everyone at home insisted that he see a doctor. The doctor learned that he had drowned and he somehow learned about the other incidents. Now he was stuck at the hospital for a few days. Michael walks out of the room.
Aden closes his eyes and groans. Serenity promised to take care of everything at the house. But Aiden is still worried about what might happen. A random severe thunderstorm can suddenly appear, a burglar can break into the house, Miia could set the house on fire if she attempts to cook.
Aiden opens his eyes and sees Lala sitting on a chair near the bed. " Whoa! Why are you here, Lala?!" The startled man asks. Lala didn't respond as she gives him a letter. Aden reads the letter. " I've sent Lala to visit you since I'm busy and the other girls can't visit you." Aiden recognize his sister's hand writing on the letter.
Lala glances at the hallway where the children were playing at. Lala notice one little girl was staring at her, instead of playing with the rest of the kids. Lala was so distracted that she didn't see Aiden reaching out to her. He pats on her shoulder and she jump in surprise. The jump made Lala's head fall off as Megumi walks into the room.
" Eeeek!" Megumi shrieks as she accidentally kicks the head out of the room. Aiden sighs when hears the pandemonium in the hallway. This was now another reason why he hates hospitals. He starts to wonder how everything was at the house.
Back at the Valentine house. Serenity was more than a little nervous. She had just learned from Haru that Gaito doesn't know about Were. That was understandable. Were has been mostly bothering anyone with a tail. " Maybe Gaito will be okay with her." Serenity says. The raptor harpy gives her a doubtful look. " He had a panic attack when he saw a kitten." Haru reminds the young girl.
" Who almost had a panic attack?" Gaito asks as he walks into the living room. Serenity was about to answer when she hears purring. She looks behind the couch to see werecat was asleep and has a happy smile on her face. Unfortunately Gaito also saw Were. " A cat!" He shouts as he ran out of the living room.
Serenity immediately knew that Gaito was going to avoid Were for now on. " We really need to find out why he's afraid of cats." Haru says. " It is his decision if he tells us why he's afraid of cats. So we have to be respectful." Serenity told Haru.
The raptor harpy nods bashfully. She had forgotten her manners for a moment. Serenity walks towards the bathroom. She was hot from all the chores she did earlier. The water from the shower will cool her down.
Meanwhile at the hospital. Lala had found her head, with the help from the little girl who was staring at her earlier. Now they were having a nice conversation outside the hospital. " Yuuhi! It's time for you to go back to your room!" A nurse calls out. Yuuhi reluctantly walks over to the nurse. She briefly stops to look at Lala.
" Miss Dullahan. When I die, will my soul still exist?" She ask Lala. The dullahan was surprise at the question. She wasn't expecting that question to come from a little girl. The nurse gently grabs Yuuhi's hand and they enter the hospital. Lala slow gets up from the bench. She makes a mental note to visit Yuuhi the next day. Maybe she should bring a gift with her.
First she has to figure out what a little girl would like for a gift.
" I'm glad that I'm going home tomorrow." Aiden sighs as he looks out a window. It was nighttime and everything was quiet in the hospital. He hears a noise beside the bed. He turns his head and freaks out when he sees a ghostly glowing face. Aden calms down when he quickly recognizes the face. It was Lala who was holding a turned on flashlight.
" What are you doing here so late, Lala?" Aden asks. " I'm here to visit my new friend. I could find here room, so I came here." The dullahan says as she holds up a basket. " Are these plushies suitable for young children?" She asks. Aiden shudders at the sight of the grotesque plushies. Only a fairly normal cat plushie was the only thing that didn't creep out Widen.
It then dawns on Aiden on who is Lala's new friend. Lala was surprised to see sorrow look on the man's face. " Lala. I have some bad news for you. That little girl from yesterday has a terminal illness. Her condition got worse an hour ago. Michael said that she won't make it through the night." Widen told Lala.
Lala was stunned at the news. She couldn't believe that Yuuhi's short life was being cut so short. She sits on the bed and covers her eyes with her hands. Aiden felt a knot in his throat. He never saw Lala look so vulnerable before. " It's my job to take souls into the afterlife. But for some reason I believe that Yuuhi deserves to continue living." Lala whispers.
" Everyone has those thoughts before. My dad used to say that fate can always change." Aiden says. Lala looks at Aiden in surprise. A idea appears in her mind from the wise words of Aiden's deceased father. Without saying anything, she left the room. The man was puzzled by Lala's behavior. But he shrugs and lays down on the bed. " There's no way that she is up to something that will get someone into trouble." He thought.
The next day. Yuuhi and two kids were playing on their Nintendo 3Ds outside the hospital. Aiden and Lala were watching them from a bench. " I'm really glad that Yuuhi made a quick recovery." Aiden smiles. " Fate must have decided to let her live." Lala comments with a happy smile.
Aiden chuckles before he notices the MON squad and Smith. He also notices that Zombina was very nervous and Tasuku looks serious as he talks to a doctor. He watches as Smith walks over to Yuuhi. " Hi there. I'm Smith. I'm going to do a few tests and they won't hurt." Smith said in a friendly tone to the confused little girl. Smith shines a small flashlight at Yuuhi's eyes.
She turns it off and holds Yuuhi's wrist and looks at her watch like she was checking the girl's pulse. Then Smith holds up her hand to the girl's mouth and nose. " Dilated pupils, ice cold skin, no pulse and she's not breathing." Smith mumbles to her squad. Tasuku walks over to Yuuhi and crouches down to her eye level. " I'm sorry to say this. But you are a zombie." The thirteen years old told her.
" What's a zombie?" Yuuhi asks in confusion. Smith brings Zombina over to the bench. " You are a zombie like her." Smith chuckles. " How did this even happen? Zombina's last treatment was two days ago. And she couldn't have bit the girl." Zanya questions. Lala casually walks up to the group.
" I believe this is the reason why this girl is zombie." She says as she holds up one of Zombina's teeth. " Ahhhh! This is my fault!" The red haired zombie screams. Aden then notices that Lala is hiding pliers behind her back. " This isn't good. I need to put you on house arrest for a while." Smith groans.
" Don't worry Bina-chan. We'll cover for you." Tio comforts Zombina. " What are you talking about? Since you guys are a team, you all are under house arrest." Smith tells her squad. " What?!" The entire squad shouts at once. " I'm going to make Lala apologize later after they calms down." Aiden groans.
Here's the new chapter everyone. I hope everyone likes it. I got some news. I don't want to immediately jump into the chapters that have Kiira, Kino and Kyuri. So I set up a poll for possible side chapters before the next arc in the story. The three that has the most votes will be the next chapters after the chapters that involve Aiden's dates with Zombina, Tio, Doppel and Manako. See you guys later.