Gem of the Sea (Mertalia SpaMano AU)

17

Eventually the sky got darker, a feat that Lovi hadn't thought actually possible, and Toni hadn't returned, Anuk sat by the window staring down the barely visible path, waiting for her brother "where on earth is that boy?! is he trying to make me worry?"

"It's my fault" Lovi sighed

"Lovi, honey, you may be a mermaid, but I doubt you brought such a foul storm" she smiled thinly, in truth, she wasn't sure what a mermaid was capable of

"no, It's my father, he must have finally noticed I was gone"

"Only now? Lovi, you've been with us two weeks now! surely he's not only just noticing, something else must have peaked his temper" she patted his shoulder reassuringly before looking back out the window

when the clock in the kitchen finally read nine, Lovi stood "I'm going to go find him, he must have taken shelter somewhere" he headed for the door and out into the storm, not giving Anuk time to protest, It didn't take as much effort as he thought, and thankfully the rain wasn't seawater, a risk he hadn't considered, but he could still hardly see where he was going and the mud was slick under his feet "my prince..." the wiches called from the waves as they broke against the cliff "my prince, are you having fun?"

"is it everything you dreamed?"

"don't you miss your family my prince?"

"see how they miss you?"

"you've broken your father's heart!" they jeered, throwing waves against the cliff so hard they sprayed up, he scrambled back, slipping in the mud and falling on his back

"why are you out, my prince?"

"careful of the water, heehee!"

"oh, where is your human, my prince, has he run off on you?" he tried to ignore their harsh voices as he picked himself up and kept walking, the town couldn't be too much further, right? he'd been this way quite a few times now, but the walk had never seemed this long as the cold rain stung his face and the witches burned his ears with their words.

The dimmest light of the houses at the edge of town had just appeared when he tripped on something, they were bags, full of food, some of it scattered in the mud where it had been dropped, the railing that he caught himself on was broken annd fell away easily into the water below, he stared for a  moment, his numb mind turning over as he looked down at the bags, they hadn't been there long enough to be soaked through, not even ten minutes, he'd guess, meaning the person who was carrying them had to be nearby. he looked around, theirs was the only house this far out of town, since the fishermen were all away at this time of year, he remembered tipping their boats when he was bored. 

he was still staring at the broken piece of railing in his hand and the choppy waves below when everything finally registered and he felt like his chest was splitting open as he screamed "Antonio!" the witches simply laughed.