Daddy is starting to act weird ever since he told me about the bad guy. He gets distracted easily and starts to leave the house more often than usual. This also means that I get to spend more time with Aunt Beth and Uncle Seb at home.

I tend to try to avoid Aunt Beth as much as possible because she loves to quiz me and make me do chores when I get the answers wrong. Uncle Seb, on the other hand, would be my protector from Aunt Beth's consistent attacks on me.

On one fine morning, I plead with Aunt Beth and Uncle Seb to go to the beach over breakfast.

"Please?" I ask, giving them a pitiful look.

Aunt Beth gives a hard look when she answers, "No."

Uncle Seb has a thoughtful look on his face, which gives me hope that I can convince him.

"Please, Uncle Seb? I miss the ocean."

"You know we can't keep an eye on her when she's too far away from us, Sebastian," Aunt Beth tells him softly. I frown at her.

Uncle Seb sighs. "If we do go, will you promise to stay close to us no matter what?"

"I promise!"

"Alright then, let's go!"

I leave the kitchen with a happy squeal after noticing Aunt Beth glaring at Uncle Seb. I waste no time to grab my swimming clothes and a towel from my room. By the time I'm downstairs, Aunt Beth is ready with a bag and Uncle Seb is only in his green turtle swimming shorts with a towel in his hands.

"Let's go let's go let's go!" I yell happily, grabbing Uncle Seb's hand and dragging him out of the house.

He chuckles along the way with Aunt Beth trailing behind us. Once the sand is under my feet, I let Uncle Seb's hand go and quicken my pace.

I am stunned momentarily when I feel something run past me.

"Race you to the water, Linda!" Uncle Seb calls out ahead of me.

"Not fair!" I scream, chasing after him. He wins and turns to grin mischievously at me. I stick out my tongue and run past him to the deeper part of the water.

My transformation is not painful. It starts off with my legs tingling as scales appear replacing my soft human skin and sewing together to form one long aqua blue tail. I look down to see my fingers webbing together and finger nails grows longer and thickening into deadly claws. My eyesight adjust to the sea water and able to see everything underwater. My perfect straight teeth become jagged, perfect to eat anything raw.

I pop my head above the surface after I'm certain that my transformation has completed. Uncle Seb is walking towards me slowly, since he has the power to control fire. The fear for water is etched on his face, which makes me proud of him.

The first time I asked him to come to the water with me, he was so scared that he even refused to come to the beach. It took me a long time to get him into the water and this far.

I swim over to him until the depth of the water is fitting for my liking.

"Remember, don't swim further the buoy, kiddo," Uncle Seb tells me in a serious tone.

I nod in understanding. "Yes, Uncle Seb." My voice changes due to my transformation. It sounds pitchier and different from my human voice.

"Linda! Sebastian!" Aunt Beth yells from the beach with a camera in her hands. "Smile!"

Uncle Seb put a hand over my shoulder and I smile into the camera, not showing my teeth. I spent the next ten minutes under water scaring Uncle Seb by letting my tail make contact with his legs. He mentioned many times that he hates it when I do it because it feels like a shark is about to take a bite out of his legs.

It is still funny to me.

Uncle Seb then is enough with me and makes his way to the surface, leaving me alone in the water.

It's quite boring to be alone and unable to go too far. At least if daddy's around, he will be able to accompany me to our secret spot way past the buoy.

With my advanced eyesight, I catch sight of a group of fat-looking fishes trying to swim away from me. I do not hesitate, going after them until I catch one with my claws and tearing it with my teeth. The fish tries so hard to get away, but I keep a firm hold on my food.

Raw fish satisfies me in this form. I enjoy a variety of sea food, especially fish. It is easy to eat fish, compared to other sea creatures like prawns and lobsters. I also noticed that my appetites are different when I am of different forms. In my human form, I prefer cooked fish as I am reduced to human teeth.

A grey form from a distance heads to my direction. The blood from the half-eaten fish has clouded my sight so I cannot see what is coming for me.

In panic, I abandon my food and swim as fast as I can to the beach where Uncle Seb and Aunt Beth wait for me.

I glance at the back to see a shark hot on my trail. I try to swim faster, but my tail is still not long enough. I am six years old, not strong enough to defeat a shark three times my size. The depth the shark and I are in is deep, so the shark has no intentions of leaving me alone.

My only hope is for Uncle Seb and Aunt Beth to help me. I swim upwards to the surface, which slows me down.

"Help!" I yell out once my head is out of the water. I see Aunt Beth jumping to her feet from a distance, screaming at Uncle Seb who is taking a nap. Before Aunt Beth can do anything, the shark bites my tail and drags me down back into the water where it can try to eat me.

The shark's sharp teeth digging into my scales makes me scream in pain. I am bleeding out as black dots appear in my vision.

I am not going to give into the shark too easily. Daddy always tells me to fight no matter what. I will fight.

I clench my webbed hands into a fish and punch the oversized fish in the eye.

The result of my punch is the freedom of my tail. My tail twitches and I can't control it to get me away from the shark. I sink, moving away from the surface at every second.

More dots appear. The shark is no longer distracted and its mouth widens, nearing my face.

Something incredible happens. The shark is pulled back away from me. A warm pair of arms grabs my shoulders and tugs me upwards to the surface. I try to concentrate to see who my savior is.

I manage to catch sight of green swimshorts.

"Uncle Seb," I whisper.

Uncle Seb looks at me, silently begging me to hold on. We are still in the water and the shark manages to free itself from whatever is holding it. Instead of swimming towards us, the shark escapes and gets out of my sight.

I almost black out when I feel my head above the water where air enters my lungs.

"Hang on, Linda. Hang on. Beth! We're here!" Uncle Seb yells in a panic tone. I feel like I'm in the middle of a typhoon, trying so hard to stay grounded. My consciousness slips in and out when Uncle Seb getting us to safety.

"She's losing too much blood." Uncle Seb's voice echoes. "Careful, she's heavy."

I am surprised when I do not feel the boat floor beneath me. I open my eyes to see Aunt Beth's worried eyes and leaves above me.

"Aunt Beth..." I say softly, hissing in pain when my injured tail is scratched against a hard surface.

"We need a doctor," Aunt Beth screams at Uncle Seb, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my tail. The moment the towel makes contact with my scales, I let out a cry of pain.

"We can't bring her to the hospital and we definitely cannot get her to shift back to her human form," Uncle Seb reasons, holding onto a branch as we move. "We can bring her to Lisbeth."

Aunt Beth groans. "Augustus is going to hate us for this."

"We don't have much of a choice, Beth!"

"Fine! Linda sweetie, don't sleep, okay? I need you to stay awake for another five minutes," Aunt Beth tells me softly. "Sebastian, call Augustus."

"It hurts," I moan, my claws grabbing onto the trunk of the tree.

Uncle Seb moves closer to me. "I know, kiddo. I know." A moment later, he says, "Shit! Augustus is not picking up his damn phone."

The tree that is holding us moves faster to a destination past the forest. It takes me a while to know that Aunt Beth is controlling a mangrove tree that saves me from the shark and getting me medical attention.

I feel like it's been a long time since my body has no contact with the water. I am not allowed to transform back to my human form because Aunt Beth fears I may worsen my injury. My scales are so dry and I struggle to breathe properly using lungs instead of gills.

"We're here," Aunt Beth informs Uncle Seb. "We can't expose her to them. They will think she's a Siren."

"Beth, they're Minatours. How the hell are we going to hide her scent from them?" Uncle Seb asks in a hush voice.

Aunt Beth stays silent. "Let's just pray that the sea scent on her camouflages her true scent." I feel her soft touch on my face and then leave me hidden within the leaves.

"Please stay quiet, okay, kiddo?" Uncle Seb whispers into my ear.

A few tears of fear and pain escape as I nod. He then climbs down to join Aunt Beth at the bottom. The tree's long roots tighten around me, securing me.

"Thank you," I whisper to the mangrove tree. Aunt Beth told me that each tree has its own spirit and have their own personalities. Only Aunt Beth is able to communicate with them and giving them the energy to move on their own.

"We come in peace!" Uncle Seb yells at whoever is stopping us in the middle of the forest.

Multiple growls reply him, making me tremble in fear. What are they?

"We need to talk to Lisbeth," Aunt Beth informs them.

"What is your business with the Peacekeeper?" someone ask.

Uncle Seb grumbles in annoyance. "None that concerns you."

"What's with all these rackets? Beth? Sebastian? What brings you here?" a man asks with surprise.

"Caleb! We need to see Lisbeth urgently. Please," Aunt Beth pleads.

There is a moment of silence. "Come."

Author's Note

Merry belated Christmas! Four days till 2017! Man, I feel old. I'll try to update as soon as I can! Thank you for being patient with me. :D

Btw: Picture of young Melinda above!

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-M.