Statera *Chosen At Birth*

Chapter Twelve

Daniel watched the Pegasus circle overhead. The beautiful creature turned into a human, who dove cleanly into the water. He looked at the woman with a confused look when she emerged from the water, "You were the Pegasus?" He asked when she swam up to the group of them.

            "Newcomer?" The other two nodded, "Before I do anything else, I need my hug." She walked over to Isabel and the two hugged each other warmly.

"Where's my hug?" Tyler complained with his arms open waiting for a hug. She looked in his direction with a glare.

"Imaginary after what you did earlier. Telling people that we're dating." He was about to protest but she rose a finger, "I don't care if you were kidding either." She scolded and then she looked at Daniel, "And yes, I was the Pegasus. I can morph. I'm Sydney by the way." She introduced with a handshake. After that Isabel went into detail about everything that had happened. Every now and then she would ask Daniel to clarify a few things.

"It's never a good thing when Sydney is this quiet." Tyler whispered to Daniel. He wondered if he had done anything wrong in a short manner of time. It wouldn't surprise him if he did honestly.

"So, based on what I'm hearing is that you're the new water pure element." She guessed instantly without a doubt. The other two looked at her shocked. She narrowed her eyes at Daniel, "I'm only guessing, but it seems like there's something you're not telling us either. I don't like to be wrong." She looked at him with a stare that sucked the truth out of him. If Isabel trusts her then he supposed, he could too.

"Sydney please don't say stuff like that." Tyler didn't look so good as his face was buried into the water's surface. Grieve was written all over his face, "Bad enough we lost Persephone a couple weeks ago, now you're telling me that she's already been replaced... It's too much." Sydney never looked at him once, instead her glare intensified like an angry parent.

"I spoke with Persephone the night before the Tonali sisters attacked me." He had Tyler's undivided attention when he made the announcement. With the amount of emotion Tyler had, Daniel felt obligated to let them know, "She told me that she was happy with who her aura chose to take her place and that she would put her memories in my head so I could know how to use her powers. She also said something about leading her people." Daniel wasn't so sure that he wanted to repeat that last part. He was praying that it didn't mean he was king of an entire kingdom he knew nothing about.

"Persephone was the queen of the water kingdom before she passed..." Sydney stopped talking to think about something for a second. She looked to Tyler, "We can explain everything tomorrow. We'll let Isabel get you settled in and relaxed." She talked slowly while trying to piece together her plan. Two more people popped up out of the water, which interrupted the meeting.

"Alise. Kristen." Isabel shouted when she saw who swam towards them. She gave both warm hugs.

"Oh? Who's this?" One of them asked after peering over Isabel's shoulder with a curious look.

"Oh, he's with me Alise." Isabel responded while Alise swam over to him. She swam circles around him with her orange and blue fin breaking the surface a couple of times.

"I figured he was with you." She said as she put her hand on his stomach and wrapped both of her hands on his bicep, "But I wanted to know his name and aura." She floated next to Tyler. Her tight milk chocolate brown curls and cinnamon bark brown skin complemented the color of her tail well.

"Oh yeah right." Isabel blushed, "Daniel this is Alise as you know. And this is Kristen." She pointed at a woman with short blonde hair that was wavy. Daniel expected her to be merfolk too, but he was disappointed to see that she was ordinary like he was.

"I'm Daniel. My aura is blue." Daniel responded nervously when the two looked at him strangely with a tilted look.

"Fellow merfolk. Interesting. Blue and what?" She asked. She looked around when she didn't get a response.

"Underwater." Tyler demanded. Both vanished under the water as everyone else began walking up to shore.

"I should probably be heading out before it gets too late. Cavaroon is a nine-hour flight after all." Sydney groaned and pretended to cry.

"Would you be able to give me a lift to Pyrocan on the way?" Kristen asked as they walked up onto the wet compact sand.

"Hey. You couldn't wait for us?" Tyler hollered at them after two blue flashes turned their fins into functioning legs. Daniel sighed it away so that he wouldn't hurt his brain trying to figure everything out. He was about to ask them something when Isabel screamed loudly at someone behind her.

"What is wrong with you? Why do you always have to scare me?" She shouted before throwing sand at the familiar person.

"Dr. Marquez?" Daniel asked, but what unsure. They looked the same, but the personalities were completely different.

"At work, but outside I go by Santiago." He waved his hand over the denim jacket he was wearing. The sand fell off at once without the need for him to shake it off.

"Hate to break the group up, but I have to go." Tyler hugged everyone, except for Sydney and plunged back into the water.

"We're out too. Remember, we'll be back tomorrow to explain everything." Sydney pointed at Daniel before turning into a Pegasus again. Kristen jumped on her back before Sydney could take off.

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