Waterline

Trouble's Afoot

Mr. And Mrs. Heinen were at home attending to their regular duties. That was when they received a text from Molly. Mrs. Heinen called her husband over so they could read it together.
"I've been seeing Ashley around this poor drummer boy. I'm afraid they might be dating. You could do your research on him, his name is Tobias Ross Herrick and he is from New York"

Mrs. Heinen was most affected by it, she remembered telling her daughter about the horror of dating unworthy people. Mr. Heinen has trouble believing what he just read. "We have to do research on that boy," he said, before heading straight to the computer. Mrs. Heinen had to clear her head, she decided to make some tea and sit outside in their garden.

"This place is about to be destroyed!?" Toby exclaimed. Ashley came clean and told him about everything that has happened.
"Yeah, Neptune sent me down to be the child of the Heinen family. He also turned Clare into an escort since she was a siren," Ashley explained.
"So the children can be from former sirens? Have you checked Mae or Nelson?" Toby asked her.
"I've checked Mae, she wasn't one of them. Nelson, on the other hand, I have no clue" Ashley said.
"You already know that Berwald and Eddie are ones, but I don't understand why," Toby said, he is still confused about the inheritance.
"Eddie and Berwald were born at the exact same time. In previous life, both suffered an early death. With both traits, Neptune found them as good variables" Ashley had her notebook out to explain.

"I also have clues to what the children could be" Ashley turned the page to show a whole bunch of lines and names of the children. She explained that a parallel line represents a former siren and a perpendicular line represent a siren. One line is drawn to the siren and that was for Triton. It was a strategy that Ashley had to use to keep Clare from figuring it out. Ashley knew well that, something like that would happen and did her own secret notes.

Ashley explained everything she could to Toby and tried to clear up all the confusion. She started with the rock explosion. Clare created it in an attempt to kill her, Berwald, and Eddie. Luckily they are all safe. Eddie left his shop early and Berwald was saved by Darrel. Ashley had to fight her way to safety but luckily the paramedics came. She told about all of Neptune's kids. Rhodes was represented by Eddie and Berwald. The other children that have to be found are Proteus, Triton, and Benthesicyme.

"Do they even know about this?" Toby asked.
"No, I would like to keep it like that until all of them are found," Ashley told him. Toby nod in response, understanding that he wasn't to tell anyone else. He understood it would be a risk for Clare to find them.

"This is too much to take in. Can we go to your house?" Toby asked. Ashley nod, she didn't have to tell him since he already knows. The ride to the house was fairly quiet but the music was playing on the way there.

Toby parked his car and got out.
Ashley followed, grabbing her stuff. She then noticed what his house truly looked like. It was a small place, with a garage. It was nothing to be proud of. Toby unlocked his door and allowed Ashley to go in first. She walked in, the place looked smaller from the inside. Ashley found a seat on one of the couch. Toby closed the door and locked it.

"I know it's trash, but I hope you can feel at home," Toby said.
"It's fine," Ashley told him.
"Okay, I'll go cook you some lunch or brunch" Toby headed straight to the kitchen, which was close to the living room.
Ashley nod, food sounded great at the moment. She didn't have any breakfast at the hospital or had any time to get lunch.

Toby quickly rummaged through his cabinets and fridge for something to make. He wanted to do something sophisticated since that's how he saw her as. He found a packet of spicy ramen and got an idea on what he could do. Toby grabbed a pan and a pot.

"What are you making?" Ashley asked as she peeled from the corner.
"It's a surprise, you'll find out after I'm finished," Toby said as he quickly pushed her away from the kitchen.
"What if I smell it?" She questioned.
"Plug your nose than" Toby quickly said before running into the kitchen.
"Yeah, I'll do that," Ashley said, sarcastically.

Toby filled the pot with water and started to boil the water. Then he went to get some ingredients from the fridge, including eggs, cheese, and vegetables. Toby used some butter to spread on the pan. He grabbed a knife from one of the drawers and got one of his only clove cloves of garlic. After peeling it apart, he cut them to even smaller sizes. Toby then grabbed an unopened bag of spinach and put all of it in the pan along with the garlic.

After an hour of cooking and figuring out what he's doing, Toby finally finished lunch. "It's done, come look at it" Toby said, clearly proud of his work. "Finally," Ashley said as she got up from the couch. She looked at the dining table to see some kind of monstrosity. Ashley wasn't sure how to react but smile at what was made for her. "So, what is it?" She asked him.

Toby pulled out a chair before saying, "I call it cheesy spinach ramen with a side of hard-boiled eggs." Ashley said down and looked into the bowl. It was filled with noodles with chunks of green floating around and at the end of the bowl was a hard boiled egg cut in half. Toby stood beside her to watch, waiting for her reaction to the food.

Ashley grabbed her fork and grabbed a forkful of each food. She took her first bite, to be honest, it wasn't as bad as it seemed. "So... do you like it?" Toby asked, anxious to see what she thinks.
"It's surprisingly good" Ashley answered before taking another bite.
"I'm so glad you like it- Wait, What do you mean surprisingly?" Toby asked her.
"Not now, I'm trying to eat," Ashley said as she continued to eat the strange ramen.

"I don't think she would want you to stay with her, Mrs. Heinen" Molly answered into the phone. She was pacing around the living room with Clare watching her from the couch. "Sorry, all the rooms are occupied in my place" Molly answered again. Clare couldn't hear what's on the other line but she can tell what was happening.
"You can get a room at Mediterranean Resort and Spa, I can make reservations tonight-" Molly was silence as she listened to the response.
"Alright, I'll be there at 5" Molly answered before the other line hung up.

"What's the plan?" Clare asked as she sat up. Molly sighed before putting her phone in her pocket. "The Heinen's will be flying here around 5:30 and that's when I pick them up" Molly explained. The fun is about to start and Clare has more tricks up her sleeve. Too bad Ashley is going to be in deep trouble.