Heirs of the Ocean

Chapter Seven: Betrayal and a Hidden Mermaid?

   A year passed. I was eighteen years old. The kingdom was at peace again. Nobody remembered about Evilato. The castle was redesigned to what I wanted it to look like. One night, about a week after the one year since my mum's murder, I heard the castle door open. I opened my bedroom door and looked out into the hallway. "Dorieos?" I said. Nobody answered. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. I screamed, swam backwards and turned on my lamp. Someone had stabbed me with a harpoon in my shoulder. I quickly swam to my desk and pressed the emergency button. A hand reached over and turned off my lamp. Alarms began going off. I felt someone grab my hair. They threw me against the wall. I tried to fight back but I couldn't see in the dark. "Queen Pallesea!?!" I heard Dorieos yell. I felt a sharp pain in my other shoulder and my stomach. Dorieos turned on my light and a figure swam out of my room. I was losing a lot of blood. "Queen Pallesea!?!" Dorieos said, swimming over to me. Everything was becoming blurry. I was losing consciousness. "D-Dorieos," I said, weakly. Dorieos grabbed my hand. "Don't worry Queen Pallesea. I'll get you help. I'll make sure you're safe," Dorieos said. He quickly swam out of my room, calling for help. Six minutes passed and Dorieos swam back into the room with Detective Morgathea and Doctor Acapea. "Queen Pallesea?" Dorieos said, grabbing my hand. I opened my eyes as much as I could. I knew I was about to die. I opened my mouth to speak. I began coughing up blood. "Oh my Neptune," Dorieos said. He began to cry. "We have to get her to the hospital, quick," Doctor Acapea said. "Yeah," Dorieos said. I felt him pick me up and carry me out of the castle. I reached out and touched Dorieos' face. "I love you, Dorieos," I said. Dorieos began to cry again. "I love you too, Queen Pallesea," He said. That was the last thing I heard him say before I lost consciousness.

    I woke up in a hospital bed. My shoulders and my stomach felt numb. They were all wrapped in bandages. I looked out my hospital room window. It was dark. Fishes were swimming back and forth. My door opened and Doctor Acapea swam in. "Oh good, you're awake. Finally," He said. "How...How long was I unconscious?" I said. "Um, approximately six days," Dr Acapea said. "SIX DAYS!?!" I said. "Yes, you had to go into emergency surgery to get those harpoons out of you. They were really stuck. Unfortunately, your body didn't react well to the anaesthesia and you went into a coma. But you're awake now, which is good," Dr Acapea said. "Ok? So, when will I be able to get out of here?" I said. "Well, we still need to monitor you to make sure you don't slip back into a coma. We also have to monitor your healing process. So I would estimate you can leave in two weeks," Dr Acapea said. "Two weeks? No no no. I can't stay here for that long. I'm the queen. I have to be in the castle, ruling over all these sirens and making sure nothing bad happens," I said. "I'm sorry Queen Pallesea. But, it's for your own good. If you slip back into a coma and you're not at the hospital, you could die," Dr Acapea said. "Who's going to be in charge while I'm stuck here? Who was in charge while I was in a coma?" I said. "Captain Dorieos offered to be in charge," Dr Acapea said. "Oh, I guess that's ok. Can you have Dorieos come see me whenever he can?" I said. "Of course, Queen Pallesea," Dr Acapea said. He swam out of the room and closed the door. I looked at my nightstand. It had my walkie-talkie on it. I picked it up. "Detective Morgathea?" I said into the walkie-talkie. "Queen Pallesea? You're awake?" Detective Morgathea responded. "Yes, I am. Listen, I need to talk to you. Could you come to my hospital room?" I said. "Right away, Queen Pallesea," Detective Morgathea said. I put the walkie-talkie down and closed my eyes. A few minutes passed and I heard a knock on the door. I opened my eyes and sat up. "Come in," I said. The door opened and Detective Morgathea swam into the room. "You wanted to talk to me, Queen Pallesea?" She said. "Yes," I said. "Did you find any clues as to who could've done this to me?" I asked. "Well, the harpoons are still getting analyzed for fingerprints or any clue as to who could've shot them. But, what we do know is that it's a mermaid," Detective Morgathea said. "A...mermaid? How do we know that?" I said. "When you fought back against your attacker, you scraped off a few of their scales," Detective Morgathea said. "Ok? And?" I said. "You're lucky I have one of the scales with me right now," Detective Morgathea said, reaching into her jacket pocket. She pulled out a bag with a pink scale in it. "Look at the scale. Do you notice something different about it? Something that's different from the scales on your fin?" Detective Morgathea asked. I looked at the scale. "There's like a moving pattern on it," I said. "Exactly. Now, do you know any sirens whose scales have a moving pattern?" Detective Morgathea said. "No," I said. "Right. But, I bet you can name a bunch of mermaids who have scales with a moving pattern," Detective Morgathea said. I thought for a minute. "Well, I never noticed it before. But now that I think about it. All mermaids have moving patterns on their scales," I said. "Ex f*cking actly," Detective Morgathea said. "I don't know any mermaids with a pink fin," I said. "Which is why Captain Dorieos sent four soldiers over to the Mermaid Kingdom to search for every mermaid who has a pink fin and arrest them. Meanwhile, I and the rest of the police force will keep investigating the crime scene to find more evidence as to who the attacker was," Detective Morgathea said. "Oh. Ok," I said. Detective Morgathea's phone started going off. "I gotta go," She said. "What's going on?" I asked. "There has been some important evidence discovered at the crime scene and I have to go see what it is," Detective Morgathea said. "Ah. Got it," I said. Detective Morgathea swam out of the room.