Ocean Song Beneath the Waves
*UPDATED* Chapter 8: The Sorcerer

Such a nuisance this girl is… Prince Oceanus’s brow twitches as leads Serena through the dark cavern. The water is chillier here, obviously due to the lack of sunlight. And present company does little to improve his sour mood. He wishes for her to hurry and return to the surface world so he can be rid of her irksome presence. Thus their reason for coming here.

They swim in silence–a silence that hardly bothers him. Her being silent is the highlight of his afternoon.

Before entering the cavern, the foolish girl had lingered by the entrance trying to weigh her options. He didn’t necessarily care if she follow or not—either way, he’d be rid of her. He simply continued along, not acknowledging her presence. It only took her a few minutes to decide to follow after him—assuming that staying with him is the safest option.

He quickly senses the winding path ahead and discreetly quickens his pace to where she can hardly keep up. If she dies, it’s not his problem. Such an outcome would’ve been appreciated before they reached this point. But the whole thing with the shark did nothing but create questions to her sudden ability to swim through the water.

The sorcerer should have the answer I seek. He senses her draw even closer to him, most likely to keep from getting lost in the darkness. Though he didn’t show it, her presence did in a sense of the word unnerve him. He was swimming side by side with the very creature he despises more than anything else in the world and what’s worse is the fact that she is swimming. Underwater. With him. Irony is such a distasteful thing.

Prince Oceanus maneuvers the twists and turns in the cave with an extraordinary expertise. The girl, however, has a more tumultuous time as she uses her hands to propel herself away from the wall when going through said twists and turns. In all sense of the word, she’s nothing more than a guppy. Incapable of swimming and gods know what else. It seems her earlier display was just for show, either that or she’s already forgotten how to turn.

She has yet to truly do anything noteworthy for him to be impressed by. As far as he’s concerned the guards really should’ve just left her wandering about the ocean outside of the veil rather than bringing her inside and disrupting the somewhat calm atmosphere of his life.

It wouldn’t be that much of a problem if she wasn’t an accursed human but the horrid truth is that she is, indeed, a human. A human with no place beneath the sea. She is an anomaly, something that shouldn’t be.

He turns the final corner and is welcomed by a pair of eerie lights floating about an entrance to what appears to be a chamber. Prince Oceanus continues through the doors with his undesirable companion following close behind with a profound hesitance.

A voice echoes about the chamber filled with strange potions, bobbles, and other such trinkets. “Ah, young Prince.” Serena abruptly releases a gasp as a man appears behind her, grasping ahold of her shoulders with a cheshire grin.

His features, like most merpeople, are pleasing to the eye. A straight nose, a regal jawline and high cheekbones accenting pale skin.

“And with such lovely company following within your wake,” he adds as he runs a sharp black nail across her cheek and through her hair.

Such a youthful façade that hides a true terror beneath. Prince Oceanus grimaces. He’s never been overly fond of this sorcerer.

“Leave her be, Calder.” The man named Calder chuckles as he releases Serena and swims past her to a seat made of stone. His black tail, something of a cross between an eel and a mer’s, sways lazily from side to side as Calder stares at Prince Oceanus with sharp vibrant green eyes. Serena keeps silent as she stares at Calder wearily but Prince Oceanus isn’t the least bit fazed.

“On to business I suppose,” Calder sighs as he rests his cheek against his fist. “What brings you here today, Prince?” He asks, now choosing to adopt a more serious disposition.

“Her.” His reply is curt and simple as he looks back at Serena sharply. She quickly swims forward and waits silently for whatever it is that Prince Oceanus brought her here for.

“Hm...” Calder swims forth from his chair and circles the girl quietly whilst studying her. “Strange magic is at work here,” He mutters thoughtfully as he finishes his studying and moves in front of her instead. “This isn’t something I can simply undo. In fact, I do not even think my magic would reach her let alone turn her back into what...she...was... Hm...” Calder grasps his chin as he stares at Serena with a bit of intrigue deep within his eyes. “Interesting. I will need more time to study this. Ah right, where are my manners?” Calder chuckles as his eyes brighten. “My name is Calder. May I ask yours?” Serena blinks owlishly before rushing to answer.

“Oh! My name is Serena,” she hurriedly introduces as Prince Oceanus merely stares at her in disdain. Nothing more than a naive child. It makes sense given the behavior he’s observed from her thus far.

“What a sweet young girl! You would be wise to treat her well Prince. After all, you see no such girls down here who acts as she does. Are all human girls this sweet?” The cheerfulness in his voice causes a small frown to cross Serena’s face, one that doesn’t go unnoticed by Prince Oceanus.

“The ones I know aren’t as sweet as you may think them to be.” It was such a quiet mumble that Prince Oceanus would’ve missed it had he not been paying close attention to her change in behavior. However, Calder doesn’t seem to notice or just doesn’t care to ask given the reaction his question invoked.

“Well it seems I have some work to do. However, my knowledge of this is limited so you might wish to consider taking her to Marina. She may know more than I.” He didn’t seem the least bit concerned as he swam about the cave in such a languid manner that the prince found himself to be almost irritated with how little he cared.

Prince Oceanus shakes his head with a scowl. “Absolutely not. I have not the desire nor the time to waste seeing her.”

Calder shrugs. “Very well. Then in the meantime, I may send for you young one. After all I will need to study your special case,” he says with a misplaced eagerness like a child who received a brand new toy to play with. Prince Oceanus’s scowl deepened.

He turns around and heads back towards the entrance. “…Come.” It’s a frigid command that leaves Serena little room to snap at him. And oh how she wants to give him a piece of her mind, but she’s not willing to expend the energy required to butt heads with him right now. Nor does she want to worsen his mood with a smart comment, especially given that he’s her only way back to the palace in one piece. So without a single word she bid Calder goodbye and followed after the merman as best she could since he’s picked up the pace albeit out of irritation or frustration.

Now left to her own thoughts, she takes notice of something in the back of her mind. The lullaby echoes in her head as it did an hour before. The singer sounds as though they’ve been deeply rooted in sorrow and it feels as though the song is trying to call her back. But the question is, to where?

Rodion’s steely glare stares fixatedly at nothing but serves to scare off all unfortunate enough to look at him. He leans against the side of a building in an alley with his arms crossed. He simply stares as people walk along with main street while rats scuttle about his feet looking for the next dumpster.

He’s become numb to the foul stench and only moves when one of the rats stray too close to his feet. The damned things are bigger than fucking guinea pigs. He scowls down at one such rat—kicking it without mercy.

The rat gives a screeching squeak as it goes flying across the alley. Its little friends take that as a warning to stay away and turn their direction to a nearby trach can missing its lid.

The sounds of cars make him a little anxious for some reason and the chattering voices put him on edge. The overcast above him just makes the whole world look grey and he’s the only spot of color. Dressed in black ripped jeans with a dark red shirt. The black leather of his jacket makes it a little hot to be wearing such a thing. Especially given that he lives on the Californian coast.

There’s no such thing as a cool day in Andomore. It’s hot as hell all day, every day. But torturous heat is way better than being stuck in the house with his brothers all day.

Arion is still stuck way deep in his feelings, Zale is still whoring around, and now Caspian is hopeful of their sister’s safety because of a fucking voice he heard singing in the ocean. There’s a reason that they’re avoiding each other now. Crazy is the last thing anyone needs in their situation.

For the most part, Rodion has tried to stay out of trouble. The biggest incentive being that he doesn’t want to have to call Caspian to come bail him out and then listen to a long-winded lecture about responsibility or some such shit.

Suddenly, Rodion’s thoughts are disrupted by a particularly foul stench mixed with the distinctive scent of various drugs. Looking up he replaces a disheveled shell of a man stumbling about through the other end of the alley.

Upon noticing Rodion that stoned look on his face morphs into an idiotic grin as he stumbles over. The man nearly falls over about several times before reaching Rodion, who hasn’t budged an inch.

Rodion knows his type well. A shitfaced addict that can go five minutes without his daily fix. This just so happens to be one of those guys that goes around selling what they’re taking as well.

“Hey man I just got an order of some o’ the good stuff. Ya want some?” His question is met with an ice cold glare that clearly isn’t amused by his presence.

“Fuck off sleaze ball,” Rodion growls lowly as the man quickly realizes his mistake and flees the scene. For street trash, he’s pretty damned smart at least.

“So scary. What’d the poor bastard do to piss you off Rodion?” At least someone was entertained but Rodion definitely isn’t in the mood to be bothered.

“I ain’t interested in any illegal shit he’s got to sell,” he grumbles distastefully as he amuses himself with the half-empty can in his hand. He takes a sip of the alcohol it contains, grimaces, and tosses it, allowing the contents to spill out across the ground upon impact.

“Hey! That was a waste of perfectly good beer!” The man’s protests, however, are ignored and of little consequence to Rodion as he leans back in the chair lazily.

“Like I care. If it bothers you so damn much then get some better drink than the shit you bring in every day, Van,” he says with a muffled yawn while Van grumbles complaints under his breath while cleaning up the newly made mess. Rodion simply closes his eyes but upon doing so he’s met with the same sight that he’s become acquainted with every time he closes his eyes. Her face, her smile, her hair, and her eyes. It irritates him. She just won’t leave him in peace and it irritates him to no end. So he does what he always does. He opens his eyes and leans up off the wall.

“I’m heading out.” And he left just like that without any further explanation. Why should he explain? He doesn’t care. His mother is gone, his father is gone, and now his sister is gone. All the light’s gone so he’s just left with darkness and he’s going to replace a way to survive and thrive in it because he’s not going to get that light back. So let her haunt him with a false light. At least he has some way of seeing her face despite her absence…