Hunting Souls: The Ring of Shadows

Souls-18

**Alanna's POV**

Patch was like me! How could I have not seen that? Well maybe I never would have figured that out but oh my gosh. I wasn't alone. Was he my father or something then? How did he meet up with Caleb? Why didn't anyone tell me?

All these questions were swimming in my mind, making me even dizzier.

Something big approached as Patch swam with me in his arms. His dark indigo tail swished as we propelled through the water.

"Patch?" a merman said looking at him with the rest of his crew.

"Aye, we found Alanna."

"Alanna sir?"

"I mean Aida."

"The Princess? You found her!"

"Yes, this is her and she needs to see her mother right away. She found the Ring."

The merman stepped aside and let Patch swim quickly towards the entrance where my mother's kingdom was.

Inside was totally different from the mermaid's kingdom. It was darker but still lively. Everything was in shades of blue or purple, but there was some white and red as well.

A woman stood at the throne and immediately swam over as Patch and I approached.

"Aida?"

"Aye, it's her but something is wrong. The Ring is burning and its affecting her. She needs help."

"Thank you Patch, I'll take her to the infirmary and see what we can do."

I opened my eyes a little wider and saw the woman who was my mom. She looked even more stunning then what the picture had been. Her long black hair swirled around, shading her deep violet eyes. Even her skin was lighter than mine! How could she be my mom? Sedna's tail was a dark purple, almost black. We couldn't possibly be related. My tail was pure white!

"..Mom?"

"It'll be okay Aida, we'll get this fixed."

"My name is Alanna."

She laid me down on a table and another merman swam into inspect my arm that had the Ring on it.

"Drink this," he said opening my mouth and making me swallow some liquid that made my legs go back to a tail. The Ring's color died down to its original color and the burning ceased.

"What... what did you do?"

"I paralyzed it for a moment so we can remove it. It's still yours but we can't have it harming you. Here, wear it on a chain around your neck for now."

I put it on a chain he handed me and latched it.

"Good, that should do the trick for now."

"Thank you."

Sedna smiled and looked at me, "I've been waiting for you to come back darling. I'm so sorry for all of this. I had to protect you from things that not even I fully understand. I knew you would be safer on land than in the sea. I'll explain the rest once Caleb gets here."

"Why is Patch like us?"

"He's my best friend and adviser. I'll explain all of this once everyone gets here. Let's fix you up until then shall we?"