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"Hi Mr. Walters, and yes we were just talking," Tim said he shifted himself in his chair to face Mr. Walters.

Meanwhile, I brought my foot up and slowly slipped the mermaid scale into my shoe. Once that was done I too shifted my body, so I almost faced  Mr. Walters? But not fully, that way I didn't have to stare into his eyes.

"What were you talking about?" Mr. Walters asked and gave us a tight smile that did not look at all natural. I turned to look up at him and found he was staring down at me menacingly through the clear square glasses perched on the tip of his nose

"Just some really good fishing spots around here," Tim answered and leaned his arm on the back of my chair.

"I think she already has enough of those," Mr.Walters replied drily, then his tone brightened, although his face remained tight. "Tim, I believe you're in the wrong seat. If my memory serves me right, I placed you right beside your aunt," he said to him and pointed to the woman who was now staring at us with curious blue eyes.

Tim looked at me, and I could see in his face that he now sensed something was off. "Must have been my mistake, " he said slowly and stood from his seat and sat beside his aunt.

I spent the next hour shoveling the bearable garbage down my throat. Afterward, I half listened to Mr. Walters' speech while he bragged about his company's latest deep-sea salvage success and credited all the major investors who sat around the table. In the meantime, I avoided looking at Tim, the boy from the beach, but he did not avoid looking at me.

It wasn't long after his speech, and after he had answered a couple of the crowd's questions, that people began to leave, but not before he introduced me to at least twenty people as his niece.

While I watched person, after person while, I got the impression that they were fleeing with how quickly they hurried out the door. Maybe deep down they sensed the darkness that lurked behind those blue eyes and wanted to get away from it at the first chance they got. A darkness my father couldn't have missed, so it was beyond me why he decided to strike a deal with this man. Let alone,  leave me, a daughter he claimed to love, in his care. I didn't care how long his family had served us for; it didn't make him the least bit trustworthy.

My dread grew at each new departure of a guest. Each new warm body that left brought me closer to having to be completely alone with Mr. Walters. Tim was one of the last of the guests to leave. He left with his aunt, but not before he gave me a long look while he walked out the door. A look that did not escape Mr. Walters' sharp eyes, and earned me a long hard stare.

Soon after he left, the old grandfather clock, that had a smiling sun and moon carved into its exterior chimed nine times from beside the couch I had perched on. Mr. Walters walked to the front door on turned the lock. With this task complete, he stalked back towards the bottom of the steps, where he fixed me with those piercing eyes. His fingers drummed the banister impatiently.

I reluctantly stood and walked towards him. All I wanted was to go upstairs and lie down on my waterbed, open my eyes and there be sunlight, so I had an excuse to leave this dry tomb.

"I thought I told you that I didn't want any of my guests to disappear!" he said through clenched teeth when I reached him.

"And none of them did and are going to!" I answered and quickly slipped past him and began race upstairs, but careful of the mermaid scale in my shoe which poked and rubbed against the side of my foot. All I wanted to do was take it out, so I no longer had to endure its disgusting touch

"Marina," he roared after me, and I froze halfway up and reluctantly turned around. I knew what he wanted, so I quickly recounted the "lie" I had told my sister.

"But I only set it up because you killed all the fish and forced me to go out in broad daylight to the beach."

He pressed his fingers to his temple before he removed them the next second, "Fine Miss Oceans, we will make sure nothing happens to your fishes again. But if your father or sisters call you to the sea, go."

"Alright," I agreed and turned away for him secure with the knowledge that he would never force me into a position I had been in this morning again.  But I knew the incident with the boy from the beach was far from resolved in his eyes.

Minutes later, I was sprawled on my water bed, but only after a had made a quick trip to the bathroom to throw up the evening's dinner. The mermaid scale laid on top of my nightstand, where I had placed it before I had gone to puke.

I decided to give it a second look. I sat up, and the mattress rolled under me. I hovered my face above the scale and did my best not to touch it, while I gave it a closer inspection. I noticed a little hole had been drilled at its pointed tip, no doubt to allow a piece of string to be slipped through it. I wondered if it was the scale that I had seen Tim wearing around his neck. I doubted it. He couldn't be immune unless he had true love in his heart, which was something only adults usually achieved through the love of their children. And he had looked into my eyes serval times that evening, even if only briefly, and he did not seem swayed in the least.

I used the fabric of my dress to tuck the scale into the drawer of my nightstand. I quickly buried it under some junk that had been inside it.

If he had said, he had found the scale in things that belonged to his father. I guess I would find out tomorrow. If he had killed a mermaid, I resolved in my head; I would have to tell Mr. Walters and let him handle it. I just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

I must have fallen asleep between my trains of thoughts because the next thing I knew I was opening my eyes to daylight. The ugly pink dress from the night before was still in me. I stretched and looked at the clock, which read 5:30. At 9.00 I opened the store. I stood and got dressed. I put on a loose blue top, and a long green shirt before I slipped on a pair of sandals, anything not pink I had bought myself...with the help of Mr. Walters.

I went to the aquarium room and to my delight, it was stocked with live and swimming fish. I quickly ate three fish, instead of two like usual, in hopes that it would stave off my afternoon hunger.

I walked out of the house with the store key's dangling from my fingers. I instinctually began to walk towards the sea. It called to me, a calling that became stronger and stronger each day this week, and more painful for my soul.

I soon came upon the beach and closed my eyes and breathed in the salt air deeply. I smiled and opened my eyes. No one was here, except for someone surfing a couple of waves out in the distance. I dragged my feet across the sand and towards the water. I had sat myself down at the water's edge when exhaustion hit my body fully. The lack of sleep on land was really wearing me down.

I laid down in the damp sand and closed my eyes, while the waves lapped at my feet.

"Hey!" a boy shouted and I jerked awake.
My clothes were completely soaked, and water foamed all around me, the keys were still thankfully gripped tightly in my hand. I don't know how I would have explained the lost keys to Mr. Walters.

I was aware that there was someone looming over me, but not much else.

"What do you think you're doing? You could've drowned! A couple more seconds and you would've been dragged out!"

Even amid the confusion, I was under right now; I found myself laughing at his absurd statement.

"Drown?" I raised my head to glance up at the person standing over me, "That's impossible..." my eyes found a semi-familiar face. It took me a moment, but I recognized him as the boy that had been in the store earlier. His friends had been recording me with their phones, while he had asked me about the coast guard catching me in the water that fateful night. I saw he had a surfboard tucked under his arm and he wore a wet suit. He must have been the one I had seen surfacing earlier.

"You're that girl..." he said, and I got up and quickly started to walk away from him.

"Wait!" he called after me and began to chase after me. I could tell by the frantic pounding of his feet on the wet sand behind me.

I began to walk faster, but the water made my shirt heavy, and it made it hard to move quickly.

"Can you stop please?" he called after me, "I want to apologize about yesterday."

I kept walking, "I don't care it's fine," I called over my shoulder.

"No it really wasn't cool, we were being idiots..."

"It's fine, just leave me alone, and we can call it even," I said, out of the corner of my eye I could see that he is walking beside me.

"I owe you an ice-cream or something..." he said, and I was half tempted to lift my eyes to him again and put his under my spell to make him go away, but that would be risky. If you did it too many time..."

"No thanks, goodbye," I said and shuddered at the thought of having to shovel more human food down my throat.

I made it to the boardwalk, and my ears did not detect any sounds of footsteps following me. Good.

I went back to the house where I quickly changed into some dry clothes. I again put on a loose skirt and shirt.

I walked the long distance back to Whales Tails and began to unlock the store. When I walked in my eyes automatically flew to one of many devilish devices that Mr. Walters had set around the store. It was a habit of mine since they had been first installed. I didn't like the concept of being watched and not being able to watch back.

I went to the counter and waited. Gradually the usual stream of tourists began to pour in. Like usual, I avoided the young boys as much as I could. Before I knew it, the clock read five till 6, but just before the clock struck six, a woman hurried into the store. She frantically told me she was lost and asked if I could give her directions.

I tried to explain to her that I had to leave now, but she kept assisting it would only take five minutes. Fifteen minutes later, she was leaving the store, waved at me, and thanked me for the help. I smiled and waved back at her and quickly locked the front door behind me. I began to move towards the back door. I walked through the beads hanging on the door and came face to face with Tim,  who was coming in the back door.

Panicked, I ran at him and pushed him out of the store.

He looked at me in surprise and stumbled back into the alley. I stuck my head out of the door and looked at him angrily. "Wait here!" I commanded and ducked back in into the store. I quickly looked at the camera in the back room and tried to figure out if it could see the part the Tim had been in. I tried to visualize the screens that Mr. Walter had shown me that day he had revealed that he would have eyes on me at all times, but I was having trouble. I guess I just had to hope it didn't, but I had a feeling that it had been. I joined Tim out in the alley.

"What were you doing!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I knew I sounded angry, but I was more scared than anything else. I couldn't believe that he had just done that! I had only myself to blame for this one. I had been the one that was stupid enough to tell him to meet me here!

Tim fidget with the floppy hat on head, the same one he wore when I had first encountered him on the beach. "I was worried you were late. I need to show you something, but sorry if I scared you, I didn't mean to."

"Well you did," I said, and looked back at him. "You were really stupid. He has devices in there that watch me!"

"Then will you come with me to somewhere more private? I live at the edge of town near the sea cliffs. It's the perfect place to talk."

"Alright," I replied reluctantly, wondering if it was a good idea to go off alone with a potential mermaid hunter. But if he did kill me, at least I wouldn't have to live with Mr. Walters anymore. I also needed to know if he was a danger to Delphine since he has seen her.

"So if you just follow me, I know a way we can go to avoid being seen. Portmore has all these weird side streets and tunnels that barely anyone uses, so we should be able to get there without anyone seeing us just follow me!"

I knew those tunnels and side streets he was talking about. I was here when Portmore was nothing more than a lighthouse and a trading post. I had used those same tunnels and streets when Portemore was my hunting ground.

I  followed Tim to a narrow alley that snacked its way between two houses. From there, went down another alley that lead to a tunnel, that leads to another alley, where we turned right into another alley, and went through another tunnel, and down yet another alley. Soon, we were at the edge of town and the edge of the coast. Here only a lonely pave tar road separated us from the black jagged cliffs towered high into the sky.

Tim lead me me to a narrow windy path that had been carved into these jagged giants. We climbed it until we arrived at a little yellow house that sat on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Tim led me to the steps where he and I took a seat on their splintery wood.

"So, why did you want me to come out here?" I asked.

A moment of silence

"I'm not originally from Portmore," Tim began "I came here last year to live with my aunt.  I used to live in Ghana, actually I lived a lot of places. But while me, my mom, and Sarah were there my dad got in a boating accident, and was presumed dead. My mom couldn't take it, so she sent us here to stay with Aunt Laura. But about three months ago I got this weird note addressed from my dad. Inside was a key for a safety deposit box and instructions to go to the bank alone and take everything out of it. So I did, and there was all this weird stuff inside claiming mermaids were real inside, and instructions for me and Sarah to wear these mermaid scale necklaces to keep us safe."

"But," Tim continued, "my dad was a dude with a weird sense of humor, like really weird . And I thought that maybe this was one last joke. But then... I saw one. Coming to shore and I watched it become a human, and I started to believe. Started to read the stuff in the safety deposits box, started to learn about the history of this town. There's a reason my dad wanted me know about the mermaids after he died. And I want to know why. Was it to keep me safe, or did he want me to take action."

Tim and I locked eyes. "You can sit here and lie to me about what is really going on, but I think we could help each other. It clicked just who you were last night when you introduced yourself as Mr. Walters' niece. When they found you in the ocean that night three weeks ago, you weren't just out for a late night swim. You're mixed up in something bad, and that's why I can't talk to you. You aren't actually Mr. Walters relative, are you?"

"No," I answered.

"Who are you then?" he asked.

"I didn't know Mr. Walters before coming here. But before I tell you anything else, Are you trying to hunt the mermaids?

"Not sure I'm trying to hunt them. I'm just just a guy trying to figure out what my dad wanted from me with the help of  this. Wait here .

He got up almost tripped in his haste to get up the steps and disappeared inside the yellow house while I waited. A short time later he reappeared with a book I didn't know still existed.