Chapter 207
Chapter 207
The sand was empty. Kaiya was gone.
Dane reached over in a desperate sprint, his eyes wide with horror. "Where—"
"The current! She must have slipped under the wave!" Dante yelled, his mind immediately leaping to the dire consequences of a Mer-child being exposed. "She didn't change, right? She promised!"
"Dante, there's no time!" Dane shouted. He didn't care about the rules; he only cared about the baby.
"Over there! He killed the Baby!" The woman shrieked, marching over with lifeguards and officers.
"Oh shit!" Dante cursed as he was about to dive into the water.
Yeah, at a point, the whole family was turned with a promise of staying together forever.
Dante wanted to damn all rules and risks and dive in to save the princess, but the loud woman from earlier decided to play a good shepherd.
And each moment he was above the surface, the farther the little, mischievous Baby swam.
"Call Vernon, Nixxon, anyone," Dante murmured to Dane as he cleared his throat and faced the officers.
"It's him, I warned him not to take the Baby to the water, but he wanted to kill her because she wasn't his daughter –"
"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, lady. I'd give my life for that little mer... princess. I promise you, she's fine. She's probably visiting grandpa or something. If you can just let me go down there, I'll find her –"
"He's crazy, he's talking crazy, lock him up," The woman pointed at Dante, her eyes angry.
"Lock me up? No. Dane, you... fuck... he left me," He muttered as he turned to the side and couldn't find Dane.
'The bastard abandoned me,'
"I'm sorry, sir. We'll have to restrain you until our divers find the Baby." A pregnant officer walked forward with cuffs dangling from her hand.
Dante sighed, staring at the woman's swollen stomach, "Look, Officer Ma'am. I know you'll make this quiet personally because of your condition, but I promise you, I love that baby just as much as her parents do. If you just let me dive in, I'll find her, I swear it," he tried to reason with the pregnant, scowling officer.
"If the baby is found, you'll be set free, if... she's still breathing," she tried to reach for Dante's hands but he moved back, shaking his head as he scowled at the young woman from earlier.
"Come on, guys. This is just a misunderstanding. Stop staring!" He snapped at the people gathered around them to watch the arrest.
Everyone moved back, but never stopped staring. They all wanted to see how the child killer was handled.
"Ladies, I'm sorry, this is just a little misunderstanding," Dante said, his hands raised as he slowly did backpedals toward the water.
"Sir, do not resist, or else –"
"Just a few minutes!" Dante shouted and suddenly turned away from them.
Dante didn't hesitate to dive into the water. He thrust his hands into the water, his human skin instantly stretching, transforming. His legs fused, covered in scales, and his tail erupted—a powerful, deep-red flash—splashing the human mother who shrieked and staggered backwards.
Ignoring the panicked commotion, Dante plunged under the water, propelled by sheer paternal terror.
Under the water.
The murky chaos of the public beach water instantly cleared as Dante's Mer-vision took over. The noise of the surface faded to a dull roar.
He scanned the immediate area. The current was strong here, but Kaiya was too small to have been pulled far—unless she was actively swimming.
'Please, don't let her have changed.'
The sight of a full Mer-tail in a crowded public area would ruin their security for years.
Then he saw her.
Not struggling, not drowning, but sitting perfectly still on the sandy bottom about ten feet out. She was completely unharmed, her pink swimsuit and small body glowing faintly in the refracted light.
She was perfectly safe, except for one crucial detail: she was holding a starfish in one tiny hand and whispering to a tiny, shocked crab in the other. Her eyes, those dazzling, innocent blue eyes, were wide and curious.
And she was beginning to sing.
It wasn't a human baby sound. It was a faint, crystalline melody—a nascent siren song—that shimmered through the water, causing the surrounding schools of small fish to halt their swimming in fascinated obedience.
Dante reached her in a flash, grabbing her gently under the arms.
'No, Princess! No singing!' Dante scolded silently through the water, projecting his voice directly to her mind in the Mer-tongue.
Kaiya looked up at her frantic uncle, her face a picture of innocence. 'Crab wanted music, Uncle Handsome,' she projected back.
Dante sighed, pulling her against his chest. 'The crab can wait. We need to go, now.'
'I can't have your fathers chop off my head if anything happens to you,'
He powered upward, slicing through the water with his strong red tail.
Dante burst from the water, holding Kaiya high above his head. His magnificent red tail was undeniably, shockingly visible, thrashing in the shallow surf right up to the sand line.
The entire beach had gone silent, staring at the sight of the handsome man with the crimson tail and the giggling baby.
The young mother who had screamed was now sitting on the sand, her jaw dropped, pointing a shaking finger.
"She's fine!" Dante yelled, transitioning his legs back to human form with a painful, blinding flash of magic that he hoped looked like a trick of the light to the farthest onlookers. He stepped onto the dry sand, his red shorts soaked, Kaiya still safe in his arms.
Dane immediately rushed forward, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around Kaiya, then turning on Dante with furious eyes.
"What in the hell, Dante! You went full Mer-mode! The security!" Dane hissed under his breath.
Dante ignored him, planting a kiss on Kaiya's forehead. "You're okay, sweetheart. You gave your uncle a heart attack."
"I was helping the crab," Kaiya whispered defensively, her innocent gaze cutting right through his anger.
Before they could fully regain control of the situation, the young mother scrambled toward them.
"Y-y-you're... you're a mermaid!" she stammered, pointing at the wet spot where his tail had just been. "And the baby... she just vanished!"
"Madam, please relax," Dane stepped in smoothly, adopting the persona of a frantic, exhausted uncle. "We are simply amateur illusionists taking the baby for a beach day. I apologise for the scare. My brother here," Dane clapped a hand on Dante's back, "is trying to get a job at the Cirque du Soleil, and he often practices his exit trick under the water. It's an embarrassing hobby, I assure you."
Dante gritted his teeth, playing along. "I'm sorry, I forgot I still had my waterproof body paint on! It's very realistic, isn't it? Please, enjoy your day."
"You're one lucky man," The pregnant officer marched forward, holding Dante's wrist and staring keenly at Kaiya for any sign of discomfort.
"Yeah, I'm always lucky. Have a great day, Ma'am," He quickly grabbed Kaiya and practically ran off the beach, pulling Dane along.
"We are never," Dante panted once they were safely back on the street, "taking her to a public beach alone again. I swear, the little demon is trying to kill us all."
At home...
Dante, Dane, and Kaiya arrived back at the mansion. Vernon and Nixxon were sitting on the back patio, enjoying a late morning coffee, looking relaxed and ridiculously well-rested.
Dante marched up to them, his face pale and furious, thrusting Kaiya into Vernon's arms.
"Take her. Take her right now, before I trade her for a goldfish," Dante seethed, wiping wet sand from his face.
Vernon and Nixxon exchanged a confused look. Kaiya, safely tucked into her father's arms, immediately chirped, "Papa Handsome! I saw the crab!"
"The crab?" Nixxon asked, looking at the two dripping, stressed men. "What happened?"
Dane sagged into a chair, rubbing his face. "She vanished, Nixxon. She just vanished from under Dante's nose. A wave came in, and she was gone, completely under the water."
Vernon held Kaiya tighter, his demeanour instantly turning rigid and protective.
"And Dante," Dane continued, pointing a shaky finger, "had to flash his full Mer-tail in front of a dozen tourists and pretend he was a failed Cirque du Soleil hopeful to prevent a massive security breach."
Dante glared at Vernon. "She's not listening, Vernon! You told me she only understands me! I told her no tails, no singing, no vanishing! And she was singing to a crab! She's getting too big to be in public, Vernon!"
Vernon looked from the furious Dante to the utterly innocent Kaiya, who was now playing with his fingers, then over to Nixxin, who was trying to stifle a laugh.
"Kaiya," Vernon said, his voice serious, "Did Uncle Dante tell you not to use your magic near humans?"
Kaiya looked at him with huge, watery eyes. "Uncle Handsome's tail was red."
Vernon sighed, turning to Nixxon, "I think the child is trying to tell us that Dante needs to be punished."
Nixxon snorted, shaking his head. "She's not wrong. But we need to be more careful. She's learning faster than we thought."
"We're never going alone again," Dane vowed. "And Dante is on clean-up duty for the next month."
Dante didn't argue. He knew he was lucky the security breach hadn't been worse.