Thanks to my little derailed into my miscreant side, I was late. The old man didn’t comment on it but got on with my training. I settled on the patch of grass overlooking the beach. Gramps paced in front of me with his hands behind his back.
“What transpires during a Merfolk Royal debriefing?” His deep voice intertwined with the wind.
I stretched out my legs and kept my eyes straight ahead. “The court assembles and each member relays the issue. Strategies for problems are also discussed at this time.”
He practically beat this information in my head. Royal etiquette. Who said females were the only ones who got this training. I had to learn how to do everything as a King. For both creatures. Merfolks and Land folks. Each species was treated differently but with the same respect.
“Hmm,” he whirred. “And, have you come up with a strategy for the problem at hand?”
It too
Five miss calls and three messages later, Shelly had still not responded. A note stuck to the cupboard indicated her whereabouts. She went grocery shopping while Little Miss Mermaid was with her fiancée. I couldn’t understand why either of them had phones if they never used them. Shelly, for one, left the thing every and anywhere. It was always a headache when trying to get to her via phone.Sophie was no longer in my bed. The house was quiet and my bed was spread. I hit the shower, cursing at the sting of the water in the fresh wounds. Fel had inflicted more cuts than the other two times. Bite marks ran along my shoulders. One side more than the other. My back had suffered at the hand of those sharp fingernails.I couldn’t tell what was with her. Fel was often the one to get clingy after great sex. Her mind would go straight to wanting a relationship. This time the tables turned. She kicked me out. The worst part was I didn’t like
Soph and I finished eating. She stored Shelly’s unfinished meal in the food warmer and washed up. There was no use going after Shelly. I was in no mood to be reprimanded. Again. Gramps gave me enough to last a lifetime. When Shelly was ready to come to me with what was wrong with her, I would be here.Sophie wiped the counters and turned to me. “Okay, so, I have time now. I’m going to use it to make the forms. Do you know how many copies we’ll need?”Land was crawling with merfolks. They were good at blending in. There was no telling how many of them were here.“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Let's start with three hundred and send me the original soft copy before you start making copies. I want it to bend to Mom.”If I was going to make any moves, Mom should be the first to know. It would be hell on earth if she was the last. Regardless of the fact I was her son, there were things no on
When I got home, Sophie had finished the form and notice. She took the liberty of sending copies of each to me and Mom. In a record time, Mom edited, added the Northan Kingdom's logo and motto. The mission statement and logo King Rainard used in his time sat at the top of each document. They looked amazing. A Royal Summoning as it stated on the Notice.Sophie went as far as to get parchment paper, so the documents appeared more formal. Royally, she described it. We managed to print five hundred copies of each document. The location of the shelters was listed at the bottom of the notice. I tried my best to memorize them for later.I wanted Shelly to drop them off at the nearest shelters tomorrow. Sophie emailed the copies of the documents to the shelters that weren't close by. We expected to get a response by tomorrow.Everything ran smoothly. Except for the fact, Shelly was still missing. She and Alex still needed to be updated abou
Hectic. This was the atmosphere at Prince Marvelon's home. Ah, the prince title no longer suited him. King Marvelon was his right name now. His power had grown tremendously overnight. Last night the royal summoning woke me from my slumber. No doubt, it did the same to all the other merfolks on land. King Marvelon, the King of Kings, ruler over land and ocean, ordered a census of merfolks residing on land. Young and old got the order. Even the location of where to collect the royal documents lingered at the forefront of my mind.The command was clear and precise. No one could reject the decree. Not even a child. The King had passed a rule and it was being carried out. Guardian Shelliot and Sophia conversed strategy. King Marvelon has been out of it. Whatever happened last night either exhausted him, or it startled him. It could be the latter, though. There were a lot of people he knew who were merfolks. Maybe that was why he wandered around like a zombie.
The trip to the Antarctican Manor was nerve-wracking. The beauty of the outside world was forgotten. All through the drive, I kept trying to call Prince Mitchalus with no response. Sophia was playing the role of the Royal Messenger and no one at the manor was prepared for her arrival. To make it worse, the journey to the Antarctican Manor was quicker than normal.The driver helped me out of the vehicle as Sophia drove up behind us. She departed the car with wandering eyes."This place is amazing," she sung with awe. "I half wished this was where Prince lived. Do you know if your prince is in need of any friends? I wouldn't mind spending time at a place like this."I snickered.If only she knew. She and Prince Mitchalus were close friends. Too close. I couldn't even tell how he managed his double life and kept them separate.The driver bowed and carried out his routine. He got back in the car and dro
Guardian Torus strolled ahead of us in the direction of his office."Right this way, human," he threw over his shoulder at Sophia."This human has a name," Sophia trailed after him. "It's Sophia. I prefer that."He already knew her name. One of his amazing abilities was to remember everything. He could recite an entire statement from anyone when they said it once. However, he disliked Sophia, or rather what she was. Therefore, he would treat her as if she was trash.Guardian Torus shrugged, not turning to look at her. "You are a messenger. It's not vital to know your name."Non-sense. It was crucial to know the identity of every messenger and their names. This helped to avoid deception. If it wasn't, anyone could swim into the Royal Court and cause destruction. No Kingdom wanted or needed such tragedy."Really?" Sophia drawled. "You might be right, merman. I mean, it's not like we a
Alex was gone. I searched everywhere for him. I needed an explanation for what happened on the night of 'The Summoning'. His face was clear as day. He was a human. So, why was he on the list of faces? Why was he with her? He had to be in trouble. Yet, somehow I had this sick sense he was okay. That couldn't be. 'She' was with him. There was nothing good about her. Her aura stunk of evil.Alex's friends had not seen him since he left after the game they shared. He was not at the apartment he and Sophie shared. In fact, all his stuff was gone. It was as if he never lived there at all.Sophie had been so busy with the survey and updating databases, I thought it was best to not share the information just yet. She loved Alex. The thought of Alex moving out while she wasn't there would hurt her. I couldn't cause her harm.Little Miss Mermaid joined me in the kitchen."Morning," she grumbled.I added more
"I feel odd," I whined, fixing my couplings.Sophiedecided that it would be better if we all dressed formally for the business meeting. She was playing the role of my executive assistant. Therefore, she bought everything to play the part. She had spent two hours to know everything about the man we were meeting.He owned a few hotels along the coast. The building I was thinking of buying was one of the first he has ever owned. However, he wanted to expand and improve the hotel like his others, but its location prevented him from doing so. Therefore, he lost more than he gained. People were willing to book his other hotels and not that one. In the long run, he moved the hotel to another location. I made the offer to check out the old building before he could decide what to do with it.Sophie helped me with my tie. The thing was like a rope, hanging me. I wondered how Dad lived in these things."Oh, stop whining,