Chapter 19 love
Author's note; Summary: Sean returns to Florence; Annie and the mermaids make discoveries about the hunters.
Annie returned to Florence at the end of the week. She didn't tell Alex and Vivian about the seer and the hunters as she didn't want to worry them and she told Theresa to keep quiet about it for now.
The next morning Annie decided to go see Parker and tell her what happened. Parker's parents had gone out so Parker was alone.
"Hey Annie," said Parker smiling at his girlfriend. "How was Jasper."
"It was great," admitted Annie. Her smile then dropped. "But something happened. I met this woman. She was a seer, someone with psychic powers. She told me I was in danger and that if I wasn't careful, I'd be killed. Then I saw the stalker that the others and I have seen had followed me and killed the seer."
She showed Parker a newspaper. Parker took the newspaper and looked. On the front page was a picture of a body. Parker read the story.
Police arrived at the crime scene in the Jasper Alberta January 12th 2016. The owner of the store Dragon's fortunes, 24-year-old Ty Woo was found dead inside the store. The cause of death was later revealed to be strangulation and a gunshot wound to the chest. Witnesses claimed to have heard a gunshot from outside the store and saw the suspect fleeing the store. The witnesses were unable to give a specific description of the suspect as it was covered in dark clothing. Ty Woo had immigrated from China the year before and was believed to be psychic by her family. Suspect remains unidentified.
Parker finished reading the article and looked up at Annie.
"Don't worry," he said comfortingly. "I won't let that stalker get you."
Annie gave a small smile to her boyfriend and kissed him.
…
Meanwhile Yuria returned to the room at the inn. George was going through his laptop when he noticed her.
"I've been looking at the mermaids around here," said George. "And where there might be magic in Florence. Have you kept watching Annie Yesconis?"
"Yes," replied Yuria. But she sounded concerned. "But you know that seer I killed in Jasper, she read my fortune before she died. She said that the mermaids would be our undoing if we kept this up."
George looked up curiously of his girlfriend's words.
"Which is why we have to destroy them first" he declared, trying to hide his own concerns.
"Don't you think we should stop?" asked Yuria.
"We're hunters," declared George. "We've killed many magic beings before. I can't stop till I find the mermaid that killed my father. Those mermaids will lead us to where they come from so, we can destroy them all."
Yuria was looking a little unsure.
"You know," went on George. "While you were away, I was visiting Annie's parents at her vice principal's house. I noticed something familiar about her sister."
"You think she was the mermaid who killed your father?" asked Yuria.
"No," replied George. "It was a male mermaid. But I wouldn't be surprised if she was involved with the storm. I think Dawn and Melora might be mermaids too."
…
Irene, Trish and Kelsey were in the sea cave at the moonpool.
"Why are we here?" asked Kelsey shivering in the cold.
"I wanted to see the moonpool" replied Irene.
"You still missing Sean?" asked Trish.
Irene lowered her head.
"I do," said Irene softly. "I was thinking of trying to make a portal to go back into the oceanic realm to see him."
Just then the moonpool started bubbling and then a portal opened and a merman shot out. He was very familiar to the girls.
"Sean?!" cried Irene happily.
"Irene!" exclaimed Sean smiling.
"What are you doing here?" asked Kelsey.
"I wanted to see Irene again," explained Sean. "The rest of the shadow pod saw how much I missed her and told me to go see her."
"How'd you get here?" asked Irene.
"I went to Avalon and got a pearl to make a portal to Florence," explained Sean. "And I brought an extra one to return to the oceanic realm."
"I'm glad you're back Sean," said Irene.
Sean climbed out of the moonpool and used his heat powers to dry himself off making his tail turn into legs.
The girls took Sean along town. The weather was cold, though it didn't seem to bother him to much since he was a mermaid.
When they got back to Irene's house, they were surprised to see Lydia talking with George.
"Isn't that the man from the car accident?" asked Sean.
"It's George Clemons," whispered Trish. "He and his girlfriend Yuria have been hanging around Florence, thinking about moving here."
"Irene," said Lydia noticing her daughter. "You remember George Clemons, don't you?"
"Hello Mr. Clemons," said Irene politely. "What are you doing here?"
"It's so nice to see you again Irene," said George. "I stopped by to tell your mother that Yuria's been enjoying her natural products."
He then noticed Sean.
"Who's that?" he asked.
"This is Sean," said Irene. "He's my boyfriend from out of town."
"It's nice to meet you Mr. Clemons," said Sean.
George noticed the colorful pearl in Sean's pocket.
"What's that?" he asked with interest.
"It's a pearl," said Sean holding up the pearl.
"I've never seen a pearl like that before," said George.
"Sean's an amateur oceanographer," Irene jumped in. "He loves the ocean."
"Do you live in a costal town too then?" asked George. "Since you love the ocean?"
"Of course," said Sean trying to sound convincing.
"Well Lydia, it's been nice talking to you, but my shift starts in an hour," said George. "So, I have to run."
"Okay then George," said Lydia. "See you again soon perhaps."
With that George left.
A little while later Irene, Trish and Kelsey were sitting in the living room watching tv.
"I must admit, you've kind of come at bit of a wrong time," said Irene.
"What do you mean?" asked Sean.
"Well for the past couple months," explained Irene. "We've been dealing with a stalker."
"A stalker?" asked Sean.
"It's mostly been stalking Irene, Trish, Rachel and Annie," explained Kelsey. "I haven't seen anything."
"We've been noticing strange things," jumped in Irene. "Feeling uneasy in public like someone's watching us, seeing footprints in the garden, we've even seen this car parked outside with a mysterious figure."
"For a while it stopped," said Trish. "But it's seemed to started coming back. Annie was visiting her mother in Jasper Alberta and she saw it."
Sean's eyes widened at the girls stories.
"We think it might be a supernatural hunter," said Irene softly. "If it's stalking us it must know we're mermaids."
"I can't believe I missed all this," said Sean. "Don't worry, I won't let that stalker hurt you."
Irene smiled flirtatiously at her boyfriend and leaned against him.
…
Annie and Rachel were at school the next day talking with their friends. Annie left out the incident with the stalker. She didn't really lie to much to them, the rest of the trip had been uneventful for her.
That afternoon after Geography Annie and the girls went to the cafeteria for lunch. Along the way they saw Irene, Trish and Kelsey talking with some of the other girls from the drama club. Irene was wearing a new pink spaghetti strap top and designer jeans. As they got closer Annie could see that Sean was with them, his arm wrapped around Irene's and Irene was introducing them to him.
"That must be Sean," whispered Muffy. "The boy she's been going out with."
"That's Sean," confirmed Annie. "I didn't know he came back."
"Irene must be showing him off to the others" humored Toni.
"He does look attractive" added Amelia.
Annie and Rachel walked up to Sean and the girls.
"Hey Sean," said Annie smiling. "I didn't think you'd be here."
"Annie, Rachel," said Sean. "I thought I'd come for a visit."
It didn't take Annie and Rachel long to realize that he missed Irene. They couldn't blame him, he and Irene had been very close since the met, so it was hard to stay in their separate worlds.
During lunch, Annie and Rachel sat with Parker, they had told him about Sean returning to Florence. They looked over at the drama club's table, Irene and Sean were talking and laughing with the others.
"Do you think Sean will start coming to Buchanan high?" asked Parker.
"No," said Annie. "He's just visiting. Irene's told the others he's from out of town."
"Did you see the stalker again?" asked Parker.
"No," admitted Annie. "I haven't seen it since the incident with the seer."
"What should we do about this hunter?" asked Rachel.
"Maybe we should find out who it is," suggested Annie. "And where it's been going. Then we'll know where the hunter's hideout is."
"But how do we find the hunter's base?" asked Parker.
"We should ask Mrs. Wellington," said Annie.
The three got up and went to Mrs. Wellington's office.
"Have you seen the stalker Mrs. Wellington?" asked Annie.
"Lately it's seemed to be stalking us too," admitted Mrs. Wellington. "The past couple days Melora and I have seen this car following us, just like the one you girls have seen and I noticed one of my deck chairs on the side of the house, outside my bedroom window. Then one night I got up to get a drink, when I got back, I felt like someone was watching me. I lifted the curtain and I saw his eyes starring at me. I screamed and Haru came outside with his sword and the stalker ran off."
"The stalker must've found out you're a mermaid too" gasped Annie.
"We're thinking of finding where the hunter is," explained Parker.
"We can find out where the hunter goes and find out what it's up to" added Rachel.
"But we don't know where their organization is," said Annie. "Do you have any idea?"
"No," replied Mrs. Wellington. "They're like spy movies, their headquarters could be anywhere."
"We'll just have to follow the stalker and see where he goes, who he talks to and what he does" declared Rachel.
When school was over, Annie, Rachel and Parker started to leave the building as everyone left.
"You don't have to do this," said Annie in a matter-of-fact tone. She could still remember what the seer had seen in her vision about Parker and the hunters.
"I couldn't let you face those hunters alone" declared Parker smiling.
"We've been facing sea witches, demons and spirits since I became a mermaid," said Annie humorously. "I'm sure we can handle without boys."
But to tell the truth she felt nervous deep inside.
"Hey guys," called a voice.
The three turned to see Sean.
"I overheard you guys talking about tracking down the stalker in the cafeteria earlier," explained Sean. "I'd like to help; I didn't tell Irene about this because I want to keep her safe from the hunter."
"Where's Irene?" asked Rachel.
"She went home," replied Sean. "I told her I was going swimming. So, what are we going to do?"
"First," declared Annie. "We have to wait for the stalker to show up. Let's just act average until it shows up."
The four friends walked through town for a while. There was a bit of snow on the ground and the streets were covered in a small bit of frost. Being a seaside town in the middle of winter, there wasn't too many people around, apart from a few passersby and a couple of cars going by.
After a while, the gang stopped to rest. Annie looked back to see a car driving around the corner.
"Guys," whispered Annie. "There's the car."
The others turned around to see the car driving slowly.
"Just act normal" whispered Parker.
The four walked along, acting like they didn't notice the car. The car continued to follow them. Feeling anxious, they started to walk faster and the car started to pick up speed. Getting more anxious they started to run as the car went faster, they rounded the corner of the side of a bush and watched as the car went by.
The driver didn't seem to notice them.
"Now let's follow it," said Annie.
Annie, Rachel and Sean made themselves invisible and Parker followed the car across town.
They followed the car into the parking lot of the Inn. The car parked and a man stepped out. They couldn't see the man's face because it was all covered up.
The mermaids made themselves visible again.
"It's the inn," said Annie.
"Parker, you wait out here," said Rachel. "We'll text you what room he's in."
The mermaids turned invisible again and followed the figure inside the inn. They went up the stairs and watched him go into room 203.
After making themselves visible, Annie texted Parker where they were and they hid behind a potted plant. Parker came upstairs and joined them behind the plant.
They waited for a few minutes and the man stepped out again and walked past. They waited until he was gone and they walked to the door.
Annie held her hand out.
The door unlocked, the handle turned and the door opened.
The four peered inside and quietly walked in. They could hear water in the bathroom running.
"It sounds like someone's in the shower," whispered Rachel. "The hunter's working with someone."
"We'd better hurry," whispered Annie. "We don't have much time."
Annie noticed on the bed was a laptop.
"Guys, look" she whispered.
They climbed on the bed and opened it up.
To Annie's surprise, she saw something.
"You guys," she said gravely. "You might wanna see this."
The others gathered around.
"He's got lots of pictures of me, Rachel, Irene and Trish" exclaimed Annie.
"That's just freaky" muttered Parker.
"Look," whispered Rachel. "There's a picture of me and Annie at Amelia's sleepover."
"Why would the hunters take pictures of us?" asked Annie.
"They're probably taking pictures for their fellow hunters," Sean realized. "They're spying on us to get information for them!"
Just then the water stopped.
"Listen," whispered Annie. "The water's stopped running. We'd better go."
Annie quickly closed the laptop and the gang ran out the door. But what they didn't know was that Sean had dropped the pearl.
…
Later Annie was at Parker's house.
"I can't believe the hunters have been stalking us and putting pictures of us on it's computer" said Annie worriedly, pacing around.
"They're trying to gather information for someone," agreed Parker. "You didn't really want me to come with you, why?"
Annie didn't answer.
"Because," she spoke softly. "The seer told me a vision about you. She said she saw you with supernatural hunters. I was worried that you might be in danger because of a human being in love with a mermaid."
"You don't have to worry about me," assured Parker smiling. "I'm glad I found out you're a mermaid. It's my job to keep you're secret from the humans."
Annie hugged her boyfriend tightly.
…
Sean returned to Irene's house and told her everything.
"I can't believe he's been taking pictures of me!" cried Irene indignantly. She then calmed down and looked at the ground. "I don't know what I'm going to tell Trish. She's already stressed enough about being stalked."
"Don't worry," assured Sean. "I won't let them come near you."
"Why didn't you tell me you were going with Annie and Rachel?" asked Irene.
"I didn't want to bring you into trouble" muttered Sean.
Irene wrapped her arms around Sean and kissed him.
Sean reached his hand in his pocket.
"My pearl," he exclaimed in surprise. "I dropped it somewhere."
"Don't worry," said Irene. "We'll go to Avalon and get another one."
…
Back at the inn, George returned, Yuria was sitting on the bed and looked up when she saw George.
"Look what I found" she said holding up the pearl.
"It's that pearl I saw that boy with," said George.
"I did some research," said Yuria. "It's a magic pearl that can transport you to other realms."
"We can use it to get to where the mermaids come from" cried George excitedly.
"The next full moon is in a couple days," continued Yuria. "And we can use that to our advantage."