After several weeks of phone calls, they stopped, and letters started arriving. They were addressed to Queen Oki, yet they had no return address. The black refugee mermaid Lucy (Not the Aqua One) usually retrieved the mail. Due to her darker complexion, she was the least likely to be attacked as her complexion did not correspond with any of the fair-skinned Aqua Senshi. Thankfully, Lucy kept a cool head more than anyone else here. This, in turn, made the others feel secure as she handed everyone their mail. As Oki read her anonymous letter, she gasped and dropped it, disgusted and breathing heavily.
"My beloved, what's the matter?!" King Delphin rushed to her side.
Oki pointed to the letter, which Delphin saw was stained with blood, which was incredibly odd as that should have washed away in the water! Unconcerned by its soiled condition, Karen retrieved the letter, not bothering to put any thought into her cleanliness.
"Karen! You should use a tissue to pick it up with!" Sara admonished, her orange nails matching her hair.
"Our queen is being threatened, and you are concerned about being sanitary?!" Karen snapped back furiously. Sheepishly, Sara shut her mouth.
"What does it say?!" Seira eagerly begged Karen to read the note.
The purple mermaid scanned the words and attempted to conceal her distaste, "Uh...Seira, I genuinely don't think you want to hear this."
However, Seira noticed Karen's nails had turned black, matching the mermaid's hair. Though disappointed, Seira knew Karen only attempted to protect the short girl's innocence. Yet that did not stop Lucy (the Aqua Senshi one), Hannah, and Lina from reading the paper, either. The letter went as follows.
"Dear Queen Oki,
Did you enjoy our calls? You seemed to be unwilling to answer at first. Possibly, this will be a bit more convincing. By now, we figured you conceded to the reality that your reign is ending. Don't bother rallying the Aqua Senshi, as they didn't defend themselves on the beach too well. By the way, this blood is a mix of a River God and a Muse, unaffected by water. This is a miniature sample of what your kingdom's people will be if you attempt to fight us.
Sincerely,
Your mystery murderers."
"How did THEY know we were on the beach?!" Hannah cried in anger.
"Maybe they were spying on us? I mean, there were tons of people around. They could have blended in perfectly." Lina reasoned.
"We were all over the beach. One of us would have seen something." Sara contradicted sadly.
"We were careless..." Noel whispered, her navy eyes pricking with tears.
"Don't blame yourselves, girls." Orca's father tried to cheer them up. "Accidents happen. Moreover, we can't expect you never to cut loose and have a little fun."
"It seems like we can never have fun, your Majesty. Because whenever we do, something foul transpires!" Hannah argued.
"No one ever said being a Senshi would be easy. Nevertheless, it is an immense honor to be chosen to uphold love and justice, which is a right for everyone, their blonde queen spoke, seeming calm again.
"Love...We can't even think about romance until we are fourteen, Mom!" Orca huffed.
"Well, you are all over fourteen now." Delphin smiled, hoping this would defuse further tension.
"Let's get back to the topic; what if it's someone from inside the palace?" Sara pointed out sensibly. She knew quite well the water had threats in it just as much as out of it.
"Everyone loves our queen." Noel doubted their new enemy was a mermaid.
"Plus, why would anyone want to hurt Queen Oki? She treats everyone like royalty." Seira added.
"Still, we should keep that possibility in mind." Karen decided.
Something about the letter made Orca uneasy. It was not so much what was written. Rather, it was how aggressive it sounded. It unquestionably indicated someone was not just out to get her mom. No, they would get rid of anyone in their way, too.