Merfolks ⚢

Chapter 22 Shark

CALLIANA

I growled to myself as I skillfully navigated the streets, abiding by a route I had memorized—a familiar route I had traveled time and time again under the strictest cover of darkness.

How disgustingly cliché, I scoffed, as I brushed a lock of my ebony hair out of my pale face, I looked up to the building in front of me, its shape familiar and somehow comforting, even in the darkest of the night. It was somehow like coming home, even though it wasn't mine.

With a single practiced graceful motion, I hoisted myself up onto the lowest hanging branch of a sturdy tree before ascending a few branches higher. It only took her a few seconds to reach my destination—a medium-sized branch shielded by the dense foliage of leaves. A quick flash of lightning and the low rumble of thunder made me apprehensively retreat deeper into the camouflage, while still attempting to peer into the nearest window unnoticed.

My trained and sharp eye was still able to make out the faint image of a sleeping girl inside the room. Kaylor was, for all intents and purposes, vulnerable. I can sense her, because of the pearl that she carries. It's not time yet to call or visit her. I have to do my mission first.

Kaylor.

It was such a bittersweet name, one that was usually only whispered with the faintest of breaths when no one else could overhear.

I quickly moved over to the other room. I peered through the glass. A dim small desk lamp was the only light source illuminating the workbench. He seemed busy but I barged through his window anyway.

"Is it the 7th month, already?" the man stared at the calendar; it was the second week of May.

"It's nice to see you, Maochlannsen."

"Oh no, stop. I don't go by that name anymore." He said, swinging his chair around. "It's Mavio Ainsley."

I smirked. "Humans have shorter and shorter names as years passed by."

"Ah yes, I remember the first name I used before. Malkivo Aushurebleu."

"Azure blue, what a jargon pretentious sap," I said while walking my way to his couch.

"I see you have saved my student from her imminent death, Callianna."

I sniggered. "It'd be troublesome if she becomes part of our world by accident."

Mavio set his photos and cameras aside and took his black gloves and skillfully added a few microliters of a clear liquid to a glass test tube. Capping it and swirling the contents around gently, there was a pleased chuckle.

"I still can't believe you rely on those potions so you would remain human," I said, nonchalantly.

The content of the test tube was transferred to a sickly green liquid that glowed in the dim light. As the clear fluid splashed into the glowing flask, the fluid began to churn and bubble, releasing faint wisps of vapor. "Well, there's nothing that I can do, right, Calliana? I mean I was exiled by all the corners of the seven seas. I can only live on land."