Swimming? No thanks

Chapter 37

"Wow," was all my mom could say at the end of Dalton's story. Her eyes were focused on the floor.

"Yeah, so that's the situation we're in right now," I told her.

"That's a lot of information." My mom sighed.

"Did you know?" Dalton asked.

"About which parts?" She looked up at us.

"Mermen existence and how we're created," Dalton explained.

She shook her head, looking down again. "I had no idea that there were more mermen out there or that they were sneaking into the ocean to steal our eggs and make more mermen."

"Well, they are, and now they're coming out of the shadows to reclaim the trident and to destroy us." I stood up and started pacing, making my mom look up at me.

"Yeah, on top of that, I have a father I don't know about." Dalton looked at our mom.

Her eyes met his. "I promise I didn't know about your father."

"I know." He grabbed her hands gently. "But that's not our focus right now. We need to figure out how to stop the mermen."

"He's right. What's our plan?" Sarah spoke up.

"Hadley, do you have any ideas?" Maddy asked.

"No. We have to destroy the trident before they find it. Maybe once it's gone, they'll leave."

"But how? We were supposed to do it tonight, but we can't find it without Dalton. And he can't go out and get it because a) they're stalking him, and b) it's a full moon," I said.

"I can tell you where it is. You and Maddy can go out there and destroy it. You just have to watch out for them."

"Okay, where is it?" Maddy asked.

Dalton explained it's position to us and Maddy and I prepared to go.

"Are you sure about this?" Cameron asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. We have to destroy the trident as soon as possible. Maddy and I got this."

"I just don't want you to get hurt, princess." He rubbed his hands up and down my arms comfortingly.

I smiled at his new name for me. "I won't. Don't forget, I have powers."

He chuckled. "I haven't forgotten. They have the same powers you do."

"I know. I can handle myself, Cam."

"Fine. Just be careful." He kissed me on the cheek.

"I will." Cameron went back to the group before Hadley came up to me.

"Do you want me to come with you, honey?"

"That would be nice, Mom. Why didn't we think of that before?"

"Because I didn't volunteer before. I'm coming with you."

"Okay."

"Alyssa, we should go," Maddy informed me.

"Yeah, and my mom's coming with us."

"That'll be a big help." Maddy smiled at my mom.

"Let's go, girls."

"Bye, guys. Wish us luck." I waved at my friends before we walked out.

"So how do we make sure the mermen aren't following us?" Maddy asked.

"I have the power to make invisible things visible," my mom explained.

"Okay. That works."

My mom scanned the area before we dove in. As we swam, she watched behind us to make sure we were alone. We got to where Dalton said the trident was and started digging. We found it in the sand and immediately started to weaken.