Aunt Beth is walking next to Lisbeth ahead of Uncle Seb, Caleb and I. They are talking in hushed voices, so soft that I cannot pick up with full concentration. Uncle Seb keeps me entertained by playing I Spy with me as we walk past long hallways filled with old things and paintings.

Caleb, the strange man, is behind us. I peek at him a few times, catching him staring at me with a dark look. His pitch black eyes scare me. Being near Uncle Seb makes me less scared. Uncle Seb will never let me get hurt by anything.

"Is it the security camera?" Uncle Seb asks when I say that I spied a rectangular white box.

I giggle in response.

"My turn! I spy with my big eyes..."

The sound of laughter makes me stop in my tracks. I have never heard high pitched voices before. My curiosity leads me to the fancy-looking window. I have to stand on my toes to see where the voices are coming from.

There is a group of children playing outside. A mixture of children of different skin colours, hair, and clothes are scattering in different directions. I notice that they are avoiding a blue-shirt boy. Whenever he goes near anyone, that person would run and laugh.

"Linda," Uncle Seb says from behind me. He sees what I'm looking at and he understands instantly.

"Can I please play with them, Uncle Seb? It looks fun," I ask, looking at him and then back outside where the fun is. No one every play with me like how they play together.

He sighs out loud. "Come, Linda. Your father will be here soon."

"Daddy's coming here?" The excitement from seeing daddy made me forget about the children playing.

Uncle Seb gives me a wide smile. He holds out a hand and I take it. We continue walking down the hallway where Lisbeth and Aunt Beth are watching us with a strange look on their faces.

"What do you want to drink? I have tea, coffee, hot chocolate..." Lisbeth asks us when we finally reach the kitchen. I did not realise how big their house is and it would be fun to explore the house as an adventure.

"Hot chocolate please!" I request quickly. Uncle Seb helps me up to sit on one of the high stools and then takes the seat next to me.

Lisbeth cast me a soft smile. "One hot chocolate. What about you, Sebastian?"

"Make that two chocolate. Thanks, Lisbeth."

"I would like some tea please," Aunt Beth adds in.

Lisbeth goes to work on making our drinks while Caleb leans against the doorway of the kitchen, keeping his gaze on me. His dark look has softened a little, but he still scares me.

Uncle Seb taps my shoulder, gaining my full attention before he leans in. "Please behave, Linda. Your dad will be here soon if you be a good girl."

I nod eagerly. I miss Daddy's comforting hug. I want Daddy to protect me from the scary shark. For now, Uncle Seb and Aunt Beth is all I have and trust.

When Lisbeth starts boiling the water, she turns to face us and folds her arms across her chest.

"So, Beth and Sebastian, what happened after the Gurney Battle? Carlisle and Piper?" she asks. I frown at the unfamiliar names.

Aunt Beth lets out a long sigh. "We have decided to go our separate ways when we realized the potential danger we can bring when we are together. Each of us have our own life to lead anyway, so Carlisle made us 'disappear' off the face of earth and have new identities for us. The last I heard from him, he was doing research on parallel universe at a university. Piper is working as a lawyer in Europe. I'm not sure where she is now, but she's constantly on the move.'

Uncle Seb clears his throat and pitches in his own side of the story. "I was travelling the world doing odd jobs until I bumped into Beth. Imagine the big shock I had when I discovered she was with Augustus."

Aunt Beth instantly hits Uncle Seb in the chest. "Not with Augustus, but accompanying him during one of his errands. Augustus has never recovered from ... the incident. I don't think he will ever move on."

That made everyone turn to glance at me. The weight of their gazes made me down at my bare feet. Where are my sandals? I frown as I think of the last time I wore them. They must be still in Aunt Beth's bag.

Lisbeth makes our drink once the water is boiled and I am served with my hot chocolate.

"Then what have you been up to, Beth?" Lisbeth questions with a curious look.

"I can't tell you just yet. It is somehow tied with Augustus's story."

Lisbeth frowns but didn't push it.

"MUMMY!" a girly voice shrieked in extremely high pitch. The pitch make my ears ring and I can't help but growl at the owner of the annoying sound and nearly jump to attack. The sudden action have Uncle Seb wrap his arm around my small body and pull me to sit back on the chair. Caleb stands in between me and the girl so he is blocking my view. Caleb glares at me in anger as he stalks towards me like a predator.

Lisbeth gives an annoyed look at Caleb and the girl. "Calm down, Caleb. It's normal for someone like little Melinda to react to unnatural sounds. And you, young lady, what did I tell you about shouting and screaming?"

"Sorry, mummy," the girl whispers regretfully. I can hear soft sobs and sniffles from the girl. The strange man Caleb no longer stares me down like he's going to eat me and turn to the youngling.

"You're only just going to get yourself into trouble, Valerie," Caleb scolds her gently. He forgives her by putting both his hands on both sides of her shoulders.

The first thing I notice about the girl is her appearance. She looks like a very young version of Lisbeth. She looks around my age, yet the slight intimidating feeling she gives out has me under the impression that she doesn't like to be bossed around. Her long black hair is tied up into a pony tail and eyes twinkling in curiosity despite tears rolling down her cheeks. Valerie has a different scent compared to everyone in the room. This is because she is human.

"Sebastian, Beth, Melinda; this is my daughter, Valerie. Valerie, they're our old friends," Caleb introduce. I notice the way he speaks my name in a dislike tone.

Uncle Seb and Aunt Beth smiles at Valerie while she stares distastefully at me. She doesn't like me and it is maybe because I was a step away from attacking her.

"Be nice, Linda," Uncle Seb remind me. He shoots me a stern look.

I groan softly. Without intending to startle anyone, I shuffle a little so I can advance towards the human girl.

"Hi," I say softly, feeling shy.

The girl doesn't respond. She still doesn't like me. I can tell because her tears of fear continue and she takes a step back towards her father.

"I'm sorry for nearly attacking you," I bite out quickly. This is the first time I speak to someone my age and I made that person cry.

"I'm sorry for screaming." The tears slowly come to a stop where as her father uses a handkerchief to wipe away the salty water.

I give her a small smile, making sure not to frighten her further. "I'm Melinda, but you can call me Linda."

She returns her smile but the distance between us remains. "My name is Valerie."

Uncle Seb, Aunt Beth, Caleb and Lisbeth speaks quietly when Valerie and I made up. My head tilted to a side as I listen to what they are talking about.

"That's strange," Uncle Seb say, looking at Valerie. "I would have thought the Minatour gene would be dominate. It's also clear that she's not going to be a Peacekeeper."

"Strange indeed," Aunt Beth joins in. "I suppose only time will tell."

Lisbeth and Caleb share a look. They look very concern of their daughter.

"I was thinking that she might be a Demigod, but like what you said. Only time will tell," Lisbeth states.

"She is our daughter, human or Demigod or whatever," Caleb says with force.

Valerie tugs on one of her father's finger to get his attention. Caleb complies without resistance.

"Vaughn took my doll away," she informs sadly. To make her sadness convincing, she pouts.

Caleb rolls his eyes. "Your older brother just can't leave you alone."

"Bye, Linda," Valerie tells me as she walks past me. Clearly, she has forgotten what I did to make her cry and is showing friendliness.

The father and daughter disappear out of the house in search for this Vaughn.

"Vaughn is a Minatour," Lisbeth tells us. The worried line appears on her forehead. "That's why Valerie surprised Caleb and I."

Aunt Beth strokes my hair as we casually sit in the kitchen. The ladies start to talk about boring stuffs about themselves and Uncle Seb continues our I Spy game since the things in the kitchen is descriptive.

"Melinda is a different Siren, isn't she?" Lisbeth mumbles. I turn to catch her staring at me.

"Yes, she is," an angry response come from the kitchen entrance. I jump in excitement and give the person a hug.

It takes Lisbeth a few seconds to process and say, "Hello, Augustus."

Author's Note

Back for now. Will take time to get back to full gear.

-M.