Grandfather

Mariana Pov

I've been swimming around aimlessly for three days. I am so far from the island, I don't think I'd ever find it again. I left everything behind, my safety, my necklace my mother got me, my mate. My eyes tear up at the last thought. I heard him scream. I wonder if he also felt the same pain I felt in my chest.

I need to rest. And find food. I'm starving and I don't know where I am. I don't want to go somewhere I'm not supposed to or where I don't belong. I've seen very few mer-people since I left the island. I just hope I'm getting away from the kingdom too. Thinking about my home makes me sad. My parents and sisters. I don't know what happened to them.

What has my life turned into? Next moment, I bump into something soft. I look up and I am face-to-face with the most handsome man alive. But I can see that he's also pretty old. His eyes has that old knowledge look to them. "Um, sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you." He doesn't move an inch. I furrow my brows in confusion. What is he doing? He reaches out to me and places his hand on my cheek. "Mariana?" he whispers. How does he know who I am? "Yes?" I say hesitantly. I don't say any more, I don't know if I can trust this man.

At first he looks shocked, then surprised and the he looks like the happiest man on earth. He smiles broadly at me and then embraces me. "Oh my sweet Mariana. I thought I might never see you again." I wiggle out of his grasp, "Excuse me, but who are you exactly?"

"Oh right, sorry. I'm Neptune, your grandfather." WHAT!? He looks taken aback for a moment, then I realise I said that out loud. But I mean, What!? He was supposed to be dead. "You're supposed to be dead! How are you my grandfather? How do I know that you're not someone who wants to kill me?"

He raises his eyebrow at me. Almost like he's asking a silent question. Like, 'are you serious'. "In this part of the ocean dear, if someone wants to kill you, they don't hug you, they go straight for the kill. Speaking of killing, we need to leave. William's guards are constantly patrolling here. Come on, let's go." What does he mean by William's guards?

As far as I know we are far outside of the kingdom. Aldera. That's my kingdom's name. I haven't thought about the name in a while. Though, why does it feel like I didn't know my kingdom's name, like I had somehow forgotten it? My very much alive grandfather leads us to an old broken down building. It looks like a castle that has been torn down from battle. It's rather beautiful.

Neptune looks around and presses buttons on the pillars. After a few seconds, something clicks into place and a very large stone barrier closes in all around us. It looks like the whole place is one giant rock. We are now hidden from the outside world. Suddenly, the water level decreases as well. I'm starting to panic because I don't know what to do. My breathing becomes panicked and my arms and fin are swaying viciously, creating a current in the little enclosure.

"Hey, it's okay. Just relax and let your tail grow into two legs." I do as he says but it is much more difficult under water. It's like my nature is resisting the urge to change. I finally manage to form my legs and by the time I'm done struggling, I'm already at the bottom and the water is almost completely gone.

"So I guess we have a lot to talk about?" This grandfather of mine is really weird. I look at him and just stare. I still can't believe that I'm looking at my ancestor. Wait, isn't he supposed to be like a thousand years old? "Yeah gramps, you've got some explaining to do." He hums and waves me over. I walk to him and take a seat on the cold, wet stones next to him.

So where do I start? There are so many things I want to ask him. He must know something about my parents, right? "How are you not dead?" He turns to look at me, the same look he gave me earlier. "I am a god of the ocean, you can severely injure me but not kill me. To kill me, you'll have to kill my father." Oh, that makes sense in the way that he's the god of the ocean. No ocean, no gods. "Neptune?" He sighs when I call him on his name. "I see you're not comfortable calling me grandfather." I rub my hands together. It's not like I know him, so no, I'm not comfortable yet. I shrug it off and I ask him about my parents and where they are. He doesn't look like he wants to answer, uncertain of how I might react to the news.

"They're being held as prisoners at the palace. William has them under surveillance twenty-four seven. No one enters or leaves without him knowing. I guess he's waiting for you to go back. Also, no one has seen Mary since the attack." That last sentence has my stomach in knots. I know Mary is a stray cat and always manages to slip away, I just hope this is the case as well.

I sigh loudly, feeling helpless and utterly useless. Neptune puts his hand on my shoulder, "You know, now that you've found me, maybe we can work on a rescue plan?" I turn my head slowly to look up at him. I give him the same look I've given my mother plenty of times, the one that says 'are you joking with me?'

"What? I didn't expect that you would just give up that easily. Shame on you." Neptune rises and walks away after scolding me. He disappears behind some columns and I don't see him for the rest of the time. What am I supposed to do? Go back to shore, tell my mate my situation, ask for help and hope for the best?

Neptune peeks his head out from behind the column I saw him disappear behind, he has a scolding look on his face. "It's not about hoping for the best, Mariana, it's about finding a good and solid solution. And FYI, I can hear what you're thinking." He winks at me and disappears again. Urgh! This is so frustrating! "Fine! I'll go back to that jerk and ask for help, maybe he can even find a nuclear weapon to blast William off the face of the earth."

He appears once again and when he's within arms length, he flicks my nose with his thumb, almost as if he's flipping a coin. I rub at my now sore nose and glare at him. I hear some banging on the wall closest to me. Neptune shows me to be quiet as he walks to the wall and listens. He releases a breath after a few minutes, "All good, the guard is gone." The guard is gone, that's good. This puzzles me a little bit. "Why are there guards here anyway? I mean, how would William know where to keep a patrol team?" Neptune scratches his chin and not so gracefully, lands on his butt when he sits down, in the middle of the floor. "Well, after my mate had your great grandfather, Williams's father came after us. He was my most trusted advisor, and he betrayed me. He...he killed...her." Neptune looks like he's been thrown back into some horrible memory, yet he continues to talk. "I took Marcus and fled the kingdom, but he caught up to me and and so I gave my son to some surface dwellers, I gave them eternal life in return for taking care of him, Papa Jo and Maria." My eyes have grown ten fold. That's how they know about everything!

That's why they protected me, they've done it before. With my very own grandfather. "Williams's father took me prisoner and kept me down there until William was born. I waited for the crowd's uproar when they announced the prince's birth, then I broke the barrier and the wall of my cell. Abraham must have thought that he contained my power, stupid mistake. Thinking you have your enemy under lock and key. That's not the point though. The point is, William continued to search for me even after Abraham and his father, died."

"So, he's still looking for you? Maybe I can use that to my advantage, use you as bait, when the time comes, of course." I give him a quirky smile and he does not look pleased. "Did you hear a word I said? I'm not intending to get caught and thrown back into prison." I shake my head at him, "You really think I'm going to allow him to throw another family member of mine in prison? We'll obviously figure out a plan and a backup plan for every plan we make before you offer yourself 'willingly'." He still doesn't look impressed. He stands up and walks over to some stairs I haven't noticed before, "You figure it out, it's your problem. Goodbye and goodnight." He waves at me and disappears again. "Goodbye and goodnight, jail bird!" I yell after him and only get a grunt in response. I'll leave him to rest while I get out of here and work on a plan.

I look around the pillars for whatever contraption Neptune uses to move the rock wall and get out of this dome. I find the dents in the stone and start pushing the buttons. The clicking sounds again and the rock starts to lift.The space is quickly filling up with water again and I can hear Neptune yell in surprise. My body starts to change back to a fin and in seconds I'm out and I nearly swim right into one of the guards. I think that this is it, I'm caught but I'm suddenly hurled around and faced with the biggest squid I've ever seen.

A deep, ancient voice enters my mind, "Hide behind me, Princess. I'll distract them while you make a swim for it." I nod my head frantically and say a quick thanks and swim off. The beast destroys many structures and successfully kills all the guards. It makes the bile in my stomach rise to my throat at the sight of the detached limbs. So I hurry with the current to take me back to the island.

This'll be quite interesting and I'll have to stop by at Maria and Papa's place to explain my sudden disappearance. I just found my real grandfather and now I'm leaving again. How has my life come to this in just two weeks? If things don't slow down, I'm sure I am going to go insane. I also hope my mate doesn't freak when he sees me. I really want it to work, maybe even mate before William can lay claim to me. Hopefully.