Mermaid Blues: Beasts, Giants and Spirits

Calm Tides Before the Storm

Ceres and Seline are in the food court located across the entrance of the University of Baguio. It is their favorite meeting place since the prices of the foods they sell are affordable for their budgets. They are at the table at the farthest corner from the entrance.

Ceres is sitting across from Seline. He is enjoying a bowl of chicken mami topped with three fried siomai. He is slurping the noodles then. Seline is enjoying the cup of milk tea she just bought from the booth right behind her. She is just staring at her brother sipping the broth. She barely took a sip of her drink. She is out of herself, ever since she found out that both Ana and Grace's mothers are kidn*pped, she has been terrified and worried about the girls. She is worried because Ana and Grace are not responding whenever she calls them. She is just stirring the cup with a straw without taking a sip.

Ceres took another sip of broth from the bowl. He looks at his twin sister. He is surprised she doesn't drink the milk tea. She is spaced out, just stirring it.

"Are you going to wait for the ice to melt before you can drink that?" he tried to draw her attention.

Seline snaps out from spacing out. "Huh?" she replied.

"So, how are Grace and Ana?" Ceres asked.

Seline took a sip and held the drink in her mouth, puffing out her cheeks. She glanced at her big brother, uncertainty in her eyes. Then she swallowed.

"They're fine," she replied.

Ceres wasn't satisfied by her answer. He felt she left him hanging. "That's it?" he asked. He brought his eyebrows together.

"I have told you everything about them," she answered. "There's nothing more to tell."

"Well, I would love to meet them," Ceres told her. "I would like to see each of their powers."

"They'd love to meet you too," she said with optimism.

"But then, I am so busy with my life I am ashame to meet anyone else," he said sarcastically.

"Why don't you get out of the house?" she then asked.

"What?" he was surprised. "I've got no where to go."

Seline sighed n frustration.

"You don't need to worry," Ceres assured. "I can manage. I can still take the beating no matter what. I am going to stay so he won't hurt both you and Auntie Naomi."

"Kuya..."

"I am still finding a way to get out from the agreement we have with Daddy," he said. "If I need to run. I need some reason to do so without hurting you guys."

"He might be joking back then," Seline protested. "He didn't mean to kill us."

Ceres smirked. He shook his head. "No..." he argued. "He might be drank that time, but he really did mean it". He swallowed his saliva as he looked at his little sister with certainty. "You shouldn't talk about this everytime we meet. You always know that I am fine."

Seline didn't speak for a second right after she heard his words. She took a deep gulp. She nodded as she decided to agree.

"Good," Ceres smirked. Then, he sighed. He took a sip from the bowl of broth. "You might be late. Aren't you going somewhere after this?" Ceres asked. "Come on! Drink your milk tea so that you can go sooner," he said.

"Yeah, you are right. I forgot, I am going to Ana's home after this," she agrees.

Ceres took a sip of the remaining broth from his bowl. Then, a child came to them. He is wearing a dirty t-shirt and ripped pants. His skin is covered in dirt. He is about ten years old.

"Kuya. Kuya. A little money, please. Just to buy some food," the child begs Ceres.

Ceres slightly smiled with mistrust. "I am sorry. I don't have spare change in my pocket," he told.

"Just a little money, Kuya. Please," the child begs with his hands stretched out with his hands joined together, forming a cup.

"Go and get some money from your parents," he still insists. He looks away from the kid.

"Please, Kuya. Have mercy. I am hungry, Kuya. Give me spare money," he is still stubborn.

Ceres gently shakes his head. "I am so sorry. Go get some from your parents."

The kid got dismayed. He looks at Ceres anxiously. "Hmph! You guys are bad. You don't have mercy to the poor," he said.

Ceres and Seline looked at each other. They both opened their mouths in shock at what the kid said. Ceres looks at the kid with a smirk on his face.

"Hey. It is not because we didn't say 'Awee...you are so poor and pitiful' and we didn't give you the gold doesn't mean we are bad guys, okay? Because sometimes good people are smart enough to tell you to go and ask your parents for money, not us," Ceres protests. "Get out!" he then said.

The kid walks away from the table. Ceres took a deep breath. He looks at Seline. Seline squints at him.

"That's just a kid, Ceres," she complained.

"What? Would you believe that a fat kid just came out from nowhere asking for your money because he is hungry that his parents are kidn*pped by aliens?" he defended.

Seline rolls her eyes. She sighed. Then, she takes a sip. Ceres got up from the stool.

"I have to go and pay," he informs. "Say 'hi' to Ana for me," he requested.

"Okay," Seline replied.

:::::::::::::::::::::::

Ceres came over to the store where he ordered the chicken mami from. He brings out his wallet.

"How much is the chicken mami?" he asked the vendor while he looks down to his wallet, searching for a twenty peso bill and a ten-peso coin.

"Thirty-five pesos, Sir," the vendor said.

Then, he heard the word 'solar eclipse'. The word is coming from the news flash on the tv screen behind the vendor. He looks at it and he sees an image of the moon covering the sun. There is a date flashed below the image. The eclipse will happen on December twenty-one, two thousand and twenty-six - that's coming next week.

***Blue Water***

Ana is sitting along the sidewalk in front of the gate. She is curled up by the edge as she cries. She is looking down at the concrete underneath. Then, Kendrick startles her when she sensed he is about to sit down beside her.

"Ken!" she got surprised. She immediately wipes off the tears on her face. She got embarrassed.

Kendrick stretched out his hand holding some tissue papers. He offers them to her. Ana grabs the tissue. She wipes her face.

"You are crying again," he said.

"I am sorry to see me like this," she said. "I can't stop crying ever since I got here."

"Is there any lead to your mother?" he asked.

"The convict confessed but the information we have is limited. Sir Cielo is trying his best to search for the driver of the van who kidnaped my mother. We know that they dropped her at Camp 3 but we don't know where did they take her next."

Ken looks away in the opposite direction. He bit his lips and nodded. He turns his head toward her. "I wish I can do something to save her," he said.

"You have done enough," Ana said. "Saving me there back in Abra, I owe you one," she said.

"There must be something we can do," Kendrick suggests.

"I have to trust the association for it," she said.

"How's your sister?" he asked.

"She's inside, depressed. She can't make sense of anything that is happening right now. She doesn't know it is because of me."

"Do not say that," Kendrick said. "It is not your fault."

"It is," she protests. "You see, I am trying very hard to become a normal person. I have never thought that my powers will be the reason why I put my family in danger. My father abroad is having panic attacks. He keeps calling and calling asking about my mother. I don't know what to tell him. I feel like I have been tearing apart," she said.

"We'll pass this through like how we saved my brother and you in Abra," he said. He gave her an optimistic smile. "The association will find your mother and Grace's before Christmas. I know that," he said.

Ana looks at him with a smile of hope on her face. "Thank you," she said.

"Ana!" Seline calls at the distance. She just arrived at the village by a jeepney. They are briskly walking towards Ana and Ken. She creased her forehead while she spotted a guy sitting beside Ana. She is seeing some chemistry emitted by their auras.

"You two are neighbors?" Seline asked.

"Why are you here?" Ana asked. "You should come in. Let's get inside the house," she said.

"I came here to visit you. To check out how you are doing, if you're doing fine or not," Seline replies. "Why are you not answering my calls? Are you okay? How are you?" Seline asked.

"I am worried," she replied. "I don't know what to do."

"Don't worry..." she hugs her. "We'll find her. We'll find her."

Then, Ana's cellphone rings. Ana immediately took it out of her pocket. She checks who is calling. She got surprised when she sees her mother's number on the screen. She immediately pressed the response button. She holds it next to her ear.

"Hello! Mama?" she responded. But then, instead of her mother, she hears a voice of a man replying.

"Hi! Ana," he greets.

Ana immediately recognized the voice. She can tell it is Gabriel Umali.

"You bastard! Where did you take my mother? Where?" she asked with anger.

"I won't tell you," he replied. "You managed to escape within my grasp. That is a cute move," he said.

"Goddamn you," she said.

"You know the drill. Do what we want or I will kill your mother and Grace's mother," he threatens. "This time, I will take this seriously. I will give you two days."

"Don't make my mother get involved in this," she said.

Seline steps close to Ana. She brings her face close to Ana's phone. "What do you want?" she chimes in. "Let their mothers go!"

"Is that Seline Agyaman talking? Tell her 'Hi'," he responded. "But I won't. It won't work that way. What I want is for her to clear the last tattoo. Since you refuse to bring me the last link to kill, I have no choice but to do this."

"Where is my mother?" Ana asked. "How would I know she is okay?"

Then, her mother's voice is heard. "What are you doing? Let go of me! Let go!" she yells.

"Mama? Mama!" she calls.

"Let's have another agreement. It is either you bring me the last wielder of Lumawig's tattoo or you will voluntarily erase the mark within two days. I know the last of them is in the custody of the association. It is either you or I will kill him or you erase his tattoo for the sake of your mothers. Choose!"

Then, the call ended.

"Wait! Hello? Hello!"

Then...

Cielo found Ken, Seline and Ana by the sidewalk. He came at the right time. He was with two of his agents.

"I don't know if this is the right time to say this but I am going to say it anyway," Ceilo chimes in. "Ana, I want you to let the last tattoo be removed from Kianu," he said.

"What! Are you out of your mind?" Seline complains. "If she does that the whole world will end, remember?"

"Yeah, I know but this might be a better shot we've got to save the world," he said.

"But if we do that, the reality will collide and it will take years for them to separate and reconnect," Ana argues. "It will be too late."

"Why?" Kendrick asked.

"The hunters are right. We have to let the realities merge. We have to let this happen," he said. "Or else, your mothers are going to die

Ana, Ken, and Seline wrinkle up their foreheads. They don't know what is a goal he wants to achieve. They begin to wonder.

"Do you trust me?" he asked. "The Cordilleran Marksmen and ther elders agreed to it as well."

Ana looks at them with rage in her eyes. "You are right," she told Ceilo. "We have no time to waste. Let's save my mother and Grace's mother. I will make sure none of them dies."

"Don't tell me, you are going to erase Kuya Kianu's mark? You are not yet stable. Moreover, you said you might faint again or lose your sanity this time," Seline protests.

"I have no choice," she said. "Also, I am not alone with this, am I?"

Seline nodded. "Okay then, let's do this," she said with determination.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

A ruckus was happening at the basketball court located at the open plaza.

Sherdel smacked the face of his rival. His teammates immediately approached and stopped him. They grabbed his arms, his feet, and his body while they pull him away from his rival.

"You brag! Is it because your grandpa owns this school, huh?" his rival yelled. He was also being pulled away from Sherdel.

"Sherdel. Don't listen to him. This is just a game," his friend Daniel reminded him.

"He's been pushing me for how many times!" Sherdel told him.

"Okay. Okay. Sherdelino, stop it, please. This is a friendly game."

"Tell that to him because he is a cheater."

Then, his grandfather came in and blended into the crowd.

"PRRRAAADO!" he shouted.

Everyone froze. They suddenly got chills when they heard a familiar voice. They looked at the man who shouted.

Sherdel gulped with nervousness. His grandfather was looking at him. His eyes were filled with disappointment and anger.

"What the f**k are you doing?" he asked.

His teammates released him.

"Lolo...," he faintly said. His heart was racing faster due to his nervousness.

"Is that what you want? To have lots of enemies?" he asked.

Sherdel looked at little Althea who was standing silent beside Mr. Alhibing. He can see in her eyes that she was afraid.

"Let me expl--," he said.

"Fine! I am sick of scolding you anyway."

Sherdel shut his mouth. He held his head down.

"Let's go, Althea. You shouldn't have seen this."

And so, they turned away and they walked out from the scene. Sherdel scratched his head. He got frustrated. He got disappointed in himself. He was angry.

"That's yours, you son of a b***h," his enemy said with a smirk.

Sherdel got further hurt just when he heard the boy's comment. He immediately grabbed his friend's bottle of water, turned to face the enemy, and threw it toward him. The bottle painfully landed on his chest.

"Aarrrgh!" he yelled in pain. Then he slowly fell to his knees and later laid himself down to the ground.

"f**k you!" then, Sherdel turned his back on him then he walked away.