Chapter 11: The Enemy Within

" Dad, you are hurting her" Lava said

" I am a marine biologist" Erica said looking straight into his eye

" Whatever you are thinking is wrong and you know that" Lava said.

Mr. Hansel quickly released the grip after coming to his senses

" Sorry, that was wrong of me; I was just pissed that the fishes were hurt" he said in remorse.

Erica just smiled "Is okay" she said trying to sound human

" Search for the piranhas and fish them out, be careful; they are really harmful. I will send in some other workers" Mr. Hansel said on the walkie-talkie he was using to connect with his worker.

" I will go get the remaining stuffs for the safety of the fishes.... we need to clean the fish tank" lava told Erica

" Sure" she said as she watches Mr. Hansel leave with lava

Erica got closer to the fish tank again placing her ears on it

" I am sorry for all your loss; I will do everything I can to get you back to the sea" she said.

She listened for a while and her mood quickly " I think someone intentionally did it?" She said

She quickly left in anger not knowing Mr. Hansel had been watching her from the CCTV room.

(Outside the Palace of Riveria)

" What are we doing here princess?" Amanda curiously asked for the tenth time again

She has been following the princess around without knowing where she was going. " It's getting late, it's dangerous if the queen finds out" she said again

" I don't know how to explain this but I think my mother is hiding something down the old dungeon" she said

" Old dungeon? I thought the dungeon was forbidden from entry since it's a danger zone?" Amanda curiously asked

" That's what I thought at first; until I saw the queen come out of there earlier today" the princess said

" What? If the queen is involved in this then it's really dangerous and am starting to get chills" Amanda said almost scared

" Yes, it's scary; but if we don't find out now, I might regret it later' this is huge" the princess said

" This is scary" she said to the princess

" There are four guards there, we need to distract them" she responded

" Four guards, that gives us more reasons not to go there" Amanda said

" No, that is the more reason we should" the Princess said

" I know what to do" she said going down under the sea followed by Amanda.

She gathered some small stones on her hand before swimming up.

Amanda followed her silently with her heart pounding from her chest. Princess Adunni hid herself on the water plants that had filled the deserted place. She silently threw the stone as far as she can at the corner of the dungeon drawing their attention to it. They quickly turned to the direction why still standing firm and not bothering much about it, the stone landed more than three time before one of the merguard volunteered to check what it was

" I don't think this is going to work, they are not moving an inch" Amanda said

" I thought of that too, what I am going to do now is risky" she said

" What?" Amanda asked in curiosity

" You are going to hum the siren song as loud as you can once you go underneath the water" the princess said

" What! No way" she said immediately

" If you keep getting scared, you won't last in Riveria, one day you are going to proudly stand by me remembering this" the princess said smiling

" That's unfair" she said silently

" You just have to hum and when you notice them coming, just move away to another place" she told her "You are like a sister to me, I won't let them catch you" she promised.

Amanda grin before swimming down underneath the sea.

The guards were distracted by the siren song. It was high pitched and distracting as if it was coming from all corners. They looked at each other in surprise before gesturing at each other's at what direction to follow. They all left leaving only one merguard guiding the dungeon.

The princess was happy that her plans were progressing. She threw another stone endlessly to the same direction earlier which caught the attention of the merguard guiding the dungeon, he quickly left to see what was there which gave the princess opportunity to get close to the dungeon. There was no chance of entry as it was blocked.

" I am such an idiot for not thinking about this first, I can't open it in few minutes" she said really pissed at herself

" Who is there?! " She heard a faint voice shriek;

she had recognized the voice which caused her fear.

" Whoever you are, please find Erica; she is in danger" the voice came again faintly and weak. With princess Adunni head still in confusion, she quickly left the place before the guards could return. She hummed too as a sign to Amanda. Amanda got the signal and quickly escaped as fast as she could.

" This might be that prisoner playing tricks on us" one of the guards told the other when they had heard the song no more. They quickly started heading back to the dungeon.

The two mermaids stopped swimming once they were out of sight from the dungeon. Amanda inhaled and exhaled deeply to catch her breath as she just escaped death.

" That was close" she said with heavy breathing. When she stared at princess Adunni who wasn't saying anything, she saw how lost the princess was as if she had seen a sea witch.

" Did you find anything?" She asked in curiosity

" I heard Vashi's voice inside the dungeon" she said to her " we have to get out of here" she told Amanda

* * *

" I am coming" Oma said when she heard knocks on the door.

She walked faster on the stairs to get to the door. When she opened the door, she was shocked to see Erica standing there all sweaty and her hair all over her face.

" What the…! there is never a day that has passed by without you scaring the hell out of me" she said placing her hand on her chest

" I need to find a human" Erica said coming inside

" You are gone since yesterday only to come back to say this? What if my foster mum was the one who had opened the door?" She curiously asked shutting the door

" She will be back in four days' time " Erica said going upstairs " Do you know how to find a human?" She asked again

" A human? That's the work of the police and it isn't a good idea" Oma replied " First of all, remove my mum's dress! I can feel how angry she could get right now" Oma shouted when she had suddenly realized Erica was still putting on her mum's dress.

Erica pulled it off on the stairs as Oma stood there looking at her unbelievably. Erica threw it at her which she took and headed for the washing machine.

Walking around the house looking half naked " Someone placed piranhas inside the fish tank" Erica said

" Wait! there was a fish tank at the politicians fundraising party?" Oma curiously asked

" No, I went to lava's home and then followed Mr. Hansel to his Aquarium" she said as Oma dropped the clothe on her hand and her mouth wide open

" You followed who?" She questioned looking dazed

" Lava" she answered " I slept at his home last night" she said again

" What an honor, I mean; how? None of them knew you, how?" She curiously asked really confused as her brain doesn't seem to put the words together

" I played some few tricks like they do on tv " she answered

" You did what? Even though; I still can't picture you and the family of Alonso together, there is a big difference, no amount of trick can make you sleep there and follow the great Mr. Hansel to his fish tank... I mean Aquarium" Oma corrected herself immediately still in shock

" I played Lava, he fell for it, then I used him to play his father; Isn't that enough reason?" She asked " can you stop asking me questions because you where the one who refused to follow me, our deal is still active" Erica said

" Shoot me in the head" Oma said sarcastically. " I am going to deny you if you find yourself in any trouble" she said

" I would deny you too once am done" Erica bombarded back to her as Oma glared at her.

" So, who are you looking for?" Oma asked

" Someone is poisoning the fishes which Mr. Hansel have been covering up, last night; Someone placed piranhas inside the fish tank and it harmed a lot of fishes today" she told her

" I don't know how you knew this or why you are doing this, but considering that it's a huge Aquarium; There should be a CCTV camera, you have to check last night video before carrying out any actions" Oma told her

"How do we get this CCTV camera?" Erica asked

"What? you got to be kidding me, you are not doing that" Oma said in total shock.

(At Mr. Hansel fish industry)

" Sir we had the tank all cleaned up " One of his workers said

" How many fishes were lost?" Mr. Hansel asked

" Fifty if I could guess sir, especially the gold fishes" he answered and Mr. Hansel hit his hand hard on the table causing his workers heart to skip a beat.

" The election is coming close and someone is messing with me" he angrily said " how many piranhas were inside the fish tank?" He asked him

" More than ten of them sir, piranhas are hard to find; I am guessing is another setup sir" the worker said silently

" What about the CCTV camera facing the tank? Did kelvin check it?" He asked

" Yes, it wasn't working, if I am right; It was planned and the culprit might be an insider" the worker said again

" Don't tell Lava about this yet, he must not be distracted from school. Once he returns from the commercial shoot of the new seafood at the restaurant, tell him to go straight home" Mr. Hansel said

" Yes sir" the worker said

" And also inform kelvin to find out about this biologist; Erica, am afraid there is more to her" he said

" Yes sir" he replied before exiting Mr. Hansel's office

(Riveria)

" Are you really sure you heard her say that?" Amanda asked again

" Yes, I can never forget that voice" Princess Adunni said meaning it.

" Why would the queen have Vashi locked up secretly on the dungeon? She is just a step sister to her; she would have killed her at sight for being a traitor to Riveria for years" Amanda said

" Vashi's mother is from Oceania and have been rivals with the queen's mother, that is a big reason for the queen to kill her at sight in revenge or else there is more to this" Princess Adunni said hoping someone would explain everything to her

" She mentioned Erica, she should despise her more than my mother; there is more story to this " Amanda said

" I knew something was wrong the moment my mother sent Erica out of the sea for some mission, why would the queen send only Erica away? Unless the humans attack us, Sirens; there is no business with us and them, something is not right" Princess Adunni said

" Am guessing we have more than one enemy now. We don't know who is the enemy among all of us now" Amanda said

"We must get to the bottom of this" Princess Adunni said