Lisha looked on with a smile as her elder sister, Rana, helped her son, Brian, to his feet again. The youngster was almost a year old and had learned to crawl around, but standing was still a challenge.
"Okay, Mister. Now let's give it another shot."
His mother let go of him as carefully as she could and for a second, it seemed as if he could stand on his own. He turned around and flashed a toothy grin at her, clearly proud of his new achievement.
"Good job! Woohoo! That's my boy!", Rana praised excitedly. "Now, walk over to Aunty Lisha. Can you do that? Come on, try it."
Instantly, he accepted the challenge and went to work. Lisha couldn't help but shake her head. He looked so much like his father. If things had turned out differently, she, and not Rana, would have been his mother.
"One... two...," Rana counted as the baby took one heavy step after another. But as he raised his leg for the third step, he began to sway and stagger so much that it was clear that he was going to fall. Instantly, Lisha was there to grab him and carry him back to her couch and make him comfortable on her lap.
Rana clapped and whistled in celebration and the confusion on the baby's face slowly cleared away as his mind registered that he had not failed after all. With a wide grin, he tried to imitate his mother by clapping too, but he could hardly hit his hands together even once.
"Is he doing just as well in the other department... the water, you know," Lisha asked her sister.
"Uhhh... ahem. Not really. We haven't tried that yet," was the reluctant response from Rana.
"Excuse me? What are you trying to say? When are you going to try it?"
"Well, you see... Ben thinks..."
"To hell with what Ben thinks," Lisha swiftly cut her off.
Rana's eyebrows shot up in rebuke of her sister's liberty, but Lisha ignored her and went on.
"You are a mermaid and that's what you and your ancestors have always been. There's no way in hell that your son is going to be any different regardless of what your land husband says or thinks."
"Well, what can I say?", Rana shrugged indifferently. "But speaking of husbands, Lisha, when are you going to get one for yourself? You're not getting any younger, you know."
"Don't change the topic!", Lisha scolded. "This is something serious. You better get him to the water as quickly as possible. He doesn't even have a merman's name... what on Earth are you waiting for before taking him to Mother to get christened, eh?"
Rana coughed guiltily. She knew at the back of her mind that she had not yet made up her mind on whether or not to take him to her mother. She knew that if she floated the idea that her mother come over to the land to see the baby, Lisha would say she was mad.
Ever since Rana got married, Lisha had suddenly grown mature and had settled confortably into her new role as the next available eldest sister, much to the surprise of everyone. She had even become a staunch advocate for following the rules and sticking strongly with the culture and way of life of the merpeople.
"Well, there's no guarantee that he'll take to the water naturally... he's not fully one of us, you know," Rana said with another cough, knowing just how lame her excuse sounded.
"Then what's better than actually trying it to see how it turns out or..."
Lisha's voice trailed off and both women quickly sat up, erect and alert. Even the baby knew something was not right. Soon, they heard the sound of running feet and someone barged into the living room!
"Lina! What's wrong?", Rana asked in alarm, jumping up to her feet instantly. Lisha too had dropped the baby and was on her feet too.
Lina, her dress torn; her hair a wild mess; and her chest heaving rapidly, stood facing them with wild red eyes.
"They attacked us... Mother's dead. They killed her!", she wailed and sank to the ground, crying bitterly and wringing her hands. Her sisters stood there, rooted to the spot, their mouths agape as if they'd been electrocuted. Their mother... their only parent... the only friend, guardian, protector, advocate and adviser they'd ever known... dead???
Rana was the first to recover from her shock. She staggered over to her sister and sank down beside her. "Lina," she croaked, with tears in her eyes, "what really happened?"
But Lina was in no state to give a coherent answer. She buried her head in her sister's bosom and cried her heart out and all Rana could do was hold her tight and cry with her.
When the girls had finally exhausted their tears, they sat down there in each other's arms, each replaying in her head the favorite memories she had of their mother.
Lisha, on the other hand, was more practical. After drying the few bitter tears that had rolled down her cheeks, she quietly sat down beside her sisters. "Tell us, Lina... tell us what happened."
Punctuated by fresh sobs and still holding onto Rana, Lina finally told the ugly story of the brutal attack on their home.
The attackers had come when most of the mermaids were asleep. Only Lina and her mother were awake and about. The first notice they received of the attack was a loud crash and a huge tremor that had the entire enclave shaking. At first, they had thought it was an undersea earthquake or perhaps the dormant volcano near Podeo Island had suddenly become active, but when they heard the sound of men's voices, they knew immediately that it was a man-made activity.
By now, some of the mermaids had woken up and were in great fear. Maana quickly summoned Lina who was the oldest of her daughters available and instructed her to see to it that all of her sisters were led to the back of the enclave and kept there. That was when they remembered that Laseena and a few others who had earlier gone out on an errand were yet to return! Nothing worried the mermaid mother more than the fact that all her children were not in one place where she could keep her eye on them and make sure that they were safe.
In the meantime, the tremor only continued, increasing in intensity and it didn't take long for them to figure out that the attackers were actually destroying the enclave, beginning from the entrance. If they stayed where they were, it would be nothing short of a very ugly and painful death as they would be buried alive underneath the ruins of their home!
Maana swung into action immediately and shouted for Lina to bring the girls forward. There was absolutely no time to pack any belongings; they had to save just their lives and nothing else! It wasn't easy getting the scared and confused girls to the front. Already, they could see the entrance of their home crumbling before their eyes and slowly shutting them in. With a few words of encouragement and an assurance that they would all be okay - a promise even she did not believe - Maana, followed by Lina and with the rest of the girls bringing up the rear, stormed the entrance in a daring all-out effort to escape. But the attackers suspended their act of destruction and turned on them with their brutal weapons.
Shouting for her children to escape, Maana faced the enemies barehanded and fought with teeth and nails until she was sure that none of her offspring were left in the vicinity. Only then did she decide to flee, fatally wounded, with Lina, who had never left her side all through the battle.
With Lina's help, she found her way to an abandoned enclave where they quickly took refuge. But it was clear that the brave mermaid mother would not last long.
Within an hour, she breathed her last in the arms of her favorite daughter, taking with her Lina's vow that she would do everything possible to reunite the family.
While Lina told her story, Rana couldn't help but shed tears too as she imagined what pains her mother must have gone through. The question that pounded at her mind was: Who on Earth could have been demonic enough to do this to an innocent family in a time of peace?? But the stoic Lisha only sat staring straight ahead, her jaws and her fists clenching tighter and tighter until her fingernails dug deep into the flesh of her palms.
"So where are the girls?", she asked as soon as her sister had finished narrating the tale of woe. But in response to the question, Lina simply shook her head and burst into fresh tears. Apparently, none of the other girls had been found.
"We need to search for them immediately," Rana said, quickly drying her eyes and rising to her feet. But before she could finish the statement, Lisha too had jumped up and was marching out of the house like a furious soldier.
"Lisha! Where are you going? We need to stick..."
"Sorry. Look for them on your own for now. I have a business to settle. I'll join you later."
Rana stood in shock, staring at the rapidly retreating figure of her younger sister, wondering how she could be so careless and heartless concerning the welfare of her own blood sisters.
***
Lisha didn't knock when she reached Joey's apartment. With a furious push, the door was flung open and Joey had to jump backward to avoid getting knocked down by his own door in his own house.
"Jeez! Take it easy," he admonished. But the wild-looking Lisha was not interested in taking anything easy.
"I need something right this minute," she ordered breathlessly, but Joey stopped her immediately.
"Wait, there's someone here who happens to be one of your sisters. I was about to bring her over to..."
"What's her name?", Lisha demanded eagerly, with double wildness in her eyes.
"Rowna, I... I think," Joey stuttered, taking a step back from her at the sight of the increased brightness of her glowing eyes.
"Rohna. She's here? Keep her safe, you hear me? And keep her comfortable. Don't take her anywhere. Rana may be here soon. Don't say anything to Rohn. A lot has happened. We just lost our mother..."
"Oh my God! Wha... wha... Is there... what can I do to help?"
"Keep Rohna safe and get me a car," Lisha promptly replied.
"A car? Are you sure you're in the right state of mind... I mean, I can take you anywhere you want."
"No, no, no. Thank you. I'm fine. I can take care of myself."
"Then, in that case, don't take the Audi. Better safe than sorry. You can take the truck. The keys are there."
Lisha whirled around, grabbed a set of keys from the rack on the wall and rushed out.
"Drive carefully!", Joey called out after her, but she didn't respond. He went to the balcony and looked down to see if she would take his advice and to his surprise, he saw his Audi flying out of the garage at top speed!