Shifted: Book One

Chapter Twenty Five - Hidden Treasure

Beneath the waves of the mysterious lake were wrecked ruins of buildings and ships, surrounded by waving lime seaweed and grey rocks. The water was foggy and almost dusty, it was cold too, but not so cold it would make you numb. It was eerie, not completely silent but oddly quiet. Hazel never learned how to swim, not after what she went through. Of course, she knew the basics of swimming, but this was the first time in years where she had actually swum.

She pushed the water back using her webbed hands and kicked lightly using her feet, swimming forward into a clearer area. None of the other champions were in sight, nor was any treasure. There were hardly any sea creatures too, not yet anyway, though Hazel was expecting it to be swarmed with all sorts of fish. She continued to swim forward, passing the seaweed that seemed to be dancing with the calm water. Hazel squinted, and to her left she caught a glimpse of a ruined pillared building with a white shining light glowing from the centre, she decided to investigate. She approached the building but very slow with caution, she didn't know what was there and if anything was waiting for her ahead.

Within a few meters away from the building now, she heard a hissing sound from beneath, it almost sounded like a cat, but more aggressive. Hazel carefully looked below her feet, revealing a bizarre and angry creature. It had long and stringy chartreuse hair that floated in the water, eyes widely distanced apart on either side of the aggressive face and sharp teeth that could rip into anything. It held a stone and pointy trident with it's scaley hands and had rather thinly haired arms. The creature had elf-like ears and a long swishy tail. It seemed to be a mixture of a person and a mermaid! Then the name came to mind, these creatures were merpeople! She had read about them last month with Ginny, but she never imagined ever coming across one.

Hazel's eyes widened and her heart was in her throat, she swiftly swam forwards towards the building whilst the creature disappeared. Hazel was within touching distance now of the building and noticed something extremely strange. Five students, completely frozen, floated between the pillars of the building. Ron, Hermione, Cho, a young girl from the Beauxbatons and.. Fred! Hazel immediately swam to them. She grabbed Ron's ice cold face, his eyes were almost glued shut and his cheeks had a slight purple pigmentation. She tried to shake him but he wouldn't wake up. She swam over to Fred, who looked exactly the same. She stroked his cold cheeks, he was so cold, his skin was like solid snow. She pinched Fred just under his chest on the side of his torso, hoping for him to wake up; she had spent a lot of time with the Weasley twins during her first few months shifting to Hogwarts, she already knew a lot about the twins, including where Fred was ticklish. He didn't move, and Hazel panicked.

Suddenly, another creature zoomed past her, but it wasn't a peculiar looking creature, it was Cedric, who had an almost transparent bubble around his nose and mouth, allowing him to breath. Cedric locked eyes with Hazel for a moment or two, then pointed to the ropes that anchored the treasures. He took his wand out his pocket, still maintaining eye contact with Hazel so he knew she was watching. He made his way to Cho and used his wand to blast the rope her ankle was attached to. He grabbed her waist and ascended out the lake without a scratch.

After Cedric rescued Cho, there were only four treasures remaining. Hazel didn't recognise the young girl in between Ron and Hermione, so she naturally assumed she was Fleur's treasure. Hazel scoped her surroundings; the merpeople swarmed the area, but seemed quiet and harmless for now. She slowly made her way down to the ropes and attempted to untie the knot until a fast creature zoomed past her abruptly. She didn't have a clear idea who or what it was, but she recognised the head as a great white shark. The creature, who she soon recognised was Viktor, snapped the rope Hermione was anchored to, and ascended with her frozen body.

Hazel, now up against the clock, took her wand out her pocket, the water fighting against her and caused her movements to slow her down. As she took her wand out, a small herd, around three or four, merpeople immediately darted towards her with their sharp tridents and demonic faces. Hazel ducked, not knowing what to do, until a bright blue light enveloped around her, pushing the creatures away and causing them to scurry off. She turned around, it was Harry. They swiftly swum a little deeper to the bottom of the ropes.