Genre (s): Fantasy/New Adult

Written When? Sophomore Year of College

Episode 1

Pilot

It was Tracey Freeburg’s first day of college. He tried his best to talk his adopted parents, Emilee and Jesse, out of it, since he had very bad memories of human school, but he never prevailed. Now there he was, standing in front of Glenn McConnell Residence Hall on Wentworth Street in Charleston, South Carolina.

He shivered at the sight of the immense building, but he told himself there was no turning back.

Tracey was a very handsome, young man who had long, black hair that reached down his back and golden-brown eyes. He wore a gold-trimmed, dark green shirt with a black and white vest over it, white pants that were held up by a brown belt, black boots, and maroon-colored fingerless gloves. His appearance was ninja-like, giving him a very different look from the other kids in the move-in crowd. After all, Tracey Freeburg was no ordinary boy.

Tracey was a claxton, the male equivalent of a siren, and a prince. His father, Tamesis, was the claxton king of Atlantica (the Lost World of Fairies). His mother, though, had been a fairy. She took Tracey as a baby to Merlin’s Island after the Octopus Man (Poseidon) attacked his realm. However, she died from a broken wing soon after she turned him over to Merlin the Great himself, who was Tracey’s mentor for nineteen years.

Tracey started off as a fairy, but then he chose to become a merman so he could return to his father, while still living with Emilee and Jesse above the waves. He loved being a merman, but at the same time, he hated that he popped a tail every time he got wet.

***

“Tracey, you’re supposed to be blending in,” Emilee told her adopted son. She hopped out of hers and Jesse’s Acura and opened the trunk of the car.

Jesse, her husband, helped her. He was an older man who wore glasses.

Emilee held her gray hair in a bun. She, too, wore glasses.

“I am blending in!” Tracey argued with the older woman.

“By wearing that?” asked Emilee. “Did you bang your head on some coral while out on your swim? I told you to look ‘presentable’.”

“But I like this outfit.”

Tracey didn’t ride with Emilee and Jesse to the college. He got carsick easily, because he wasn’t used to cars, so he agreed to meet them there. Yes, Tracey swam to the Charleston Harbor and climbed out of the water at the last leg of Waterfront Park. It was a rather enjoyable swim, counting out the fact that the whirling of boat motors caused his head to spin. Therefore, Emilee and Jesse never got the chance to check the outfit he wanted to wear for Move-In Day, because Tracey left early so he could get to the school on time. In his mind, the word “presentable” meant wearing the best ninja clothes he had.

When Emilee saw she was not going to be able to convince Tracey to change, she just said, “Fine, fine. I’ll let you off this time. Why don’t you grab a cart and check yourself in, while Jesse and I start unpacking your things?”

“But there are humans over there!”

“Shh!”

A few college kids heard Tracey’s remark and gave him funny looks.

Poor Tracey. He had so much to learn about the human world vs. the magic world. That was one of the reasons why Emilee and Jesse enrolled him in the College of Charleston. If Tracey was going to live on land with them, then he had to learn to live like a human. Most young people went to school so they could one day have their dream career. Emilee and Jesse managed to enroll Tracey as a junior, by saying he was a transfer student.

Emilee was a little worried about him. No, she was very worried. How long could Tracey keep up the human act before he popped a tail? Also, he was a claxton. What if he ended up spelling all the young ladies at the college? Despite her worries, Emilee hoped Tracey would succeed. She couldn’t wait for the day when she and Jesse could finally call him a true human.

***

Tracey felt his knees knocking together. Why were kids giving him weird looks? He did exactly what Emilee and Jesse wanted him to do–made himself look presentable. Yet, he couldn’t help but to feel like people thought he was weird. Entering McConnell’s lobby, he found himself trapped in a mass of people. There was a desk to his left, where students checked out carts, a lounge room in front of him, and an open room to his right. The open room was where students grabbed the keys to their suites. In it was a line of desks.

A group of RAs sat in a line. They grouped their papers that consisted of the students’ names alphabetically, to make the process easier. Tracey assumed the room was where he had to go first.

Unfortunately, he did not get far before he tripped over his own foot and crashed into a curly-haired girl. That’s what he got for flying his whole life; he still struggled to walk properly. If things couldn’t get any worse, the collision caused the girl’s water bottle to spill all over his shirt and vest.

Tracey gasped when he saw he was soaking wet.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” the girl yelled.

“Just forget it!” Tracey said. He got the heck out of there. He pushed past the girl and followed the lobby’s hallway to the men’s restroom.

People stared at him, bewildered.

The girl yelled, “Wait!”

Tracey shoved open the door of the restroom and dove inside. He pressed his back up against it, right when his whole body glowed up green and purple. As he fell to the floor, he mumbled, “Great.”

***

Back in the lobby of the dorm, Emilee and Jesse appeared, carrying a few of Tracey’s bags.

“Tracey?” Emilee called, but she received no answer. She and Jesse searched the area, but they couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Where is he?” asked Jesse. That was when his eyes landed on the girl Tracey ran into.

She was a pretty brunette, who had brown eyes and an acne-free face. She also was the only student who looked available at the moment. She wore a silky pink shirt with blue jeans and high-heeled boots.

Emilee and Jesse approached her.

Jesse cleared his throat. “Hey. Sorry to bother you, but have you seen a black-haired boy by any chance? He looks a little like a ninja and is about twenty.”

The girl, who screwed the cap of her water bottle back on, nodded. “Yes. It was weird. He and I crashed into one another, and then I accidentally spilled my water bottle all over his shirt.”

“Wait a minute! You spilled your water bottle on him?” Emilee asked in a frightened voice.

“It was an accident!” said the girl. “I tried to apologize, but he took off running for the men’s restroom. It was like he was scared of being wet.”

Emilee and Jesse’s eyes widened.

At the sight of their faces, the girl asked, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing! Thank you!” Jesse quickly announced.

Next to him, Emilee groaned and slapped her palm to her face. The couple dropped Tracey’s things off on a counter in the lobby and quickly made a run for the hallway.

Behind, the brunette had a suspicious look on her face. Who was that boy who crashed into her? She had to find out.

***

Emilee and Jesse almost ran into the hallway’s wall,–they moved so fast–but they managed to find the men’s restroom.

Emilee banged on the door. “Tracey, are you in there?”

“Emilee?” Tracey’s voice said from the other side of the door.

“Yes, it’s Emilee!” Emilee said. “And Jesse’s with me.”

“I need your help! Please!” Tracey begged.

At his command, Emilee and Jesse pushed open the door. They stepped into the restroom, and their jaws dropped.

Tracey was a merman. His tail was green with gold splotches. Wrapped around his forehead was a gold, seaweed circlet. A green and gold seaweed sash stretched from his right shoulder down to his left hip. He sported gold gauntlets with spikes on his wrists. On his upper, left arm was a tattoo-like whale design. It was the symbol of a claxton, or a Fairy of Whales.

Smiling nervously at Emilee and Jesse, he lifted his hand and waved. “Hi.”

“Tracey, seriously?” Emilee frustratingly asked. “Not even ten minutes in, and you already pop your tail?”

“It’s not my fault! She crashed into me! Can you just get me dry?”

“Ugh.” Emilee once again did a face palm. Turning to Jesse, she said, “Jesse, keep watch.”

Jesse saluted at her. “Aye, aye, Captain!” He stepped out of the bathroom and instantly stopped a young man who tried to go inside. “Uh, you can’t go in there.”

“Why?” the student wanted to know.

“There’s a leak. I swear, kid, you’re going to break your neck if you try. Why don’t you use the bathroom in your suite?” Jesse gave the student’s back a gentle push.

Inside the bathroom, Emilee kneeled to Tracey and reached her hand into her purse, pulling out a towel. She always kept one on hand, just in case accidents happened. Placing the towel on his tail, she rubbed it down.

“Why don’t I sing to pass the time?” Tracey asked.

“No! No! No singing!” but it was too late.

Tracey opened his mouth and sang in a beautiful, claxton-like voice, “Come with me, my one true love, and I will take you to the sea.”

Emilee slapped her hand over his lips. She was starting to have second thoughts about sending him to college. She hoped his voice didn’t hit some of the young ladies in the lobby. Emilee had to admit, it was very hard to raise a claxton. Now she knew how Merlin felt.

In magic years, age twenty was still considered a kid. Magical beings did not become full adults until age twenty-five, because they aged slower than non-magical beings. In conclusion, while Tracey may have been one of the oldest students to attend Move-In Day, he technically wasn’t the oldest, but the youngest by magic years. He still did not know the true extent of his power, so he had to be very careful around humans.

Emilee got him dry. As soon as she did, Tracey again glowed up. His tail vanished. It wasn’t long until he was back in his ninja-like attire that he started with. Both he and Emilee sighed with relief.

“Let’s try not to get wet again, okay?” Emilee said through gritted teeth.

***

After the tail shananzo, Tracey was finally able to check himself in. He got in line at the A-F section of the open room’s table.

Emilee and Jesse continued to bring in a few of his things.

Spying on Tracey was the curly-haired girl. She hid behind the shoulders of her best friend, an auburn-haired girl named Luna.

Luna was about her age. She had green eyes and wore a short-sleeved, white shirt with a pair of ripped jeans and sneakers. She and the curly-haired girl had been friends for they didn’t know how long. They went to the same high school, and now they were going to the same college. Both of them were History Majors.

Luna knew the curly-haired girl well enough to see that she was crushing on the boy who crashed into her. “Candice, you’re doing a poor job pretending you did not just crash into the hottest boy you’ve ever seen in your life.”

“I’m not crushing, Luna! He’s hiding something!” Candice argued, although she could feel herself blushing. “Why would he run away when I spilled my water bottle on him?”

“Some people don’t like water. What’s the big deal?”

“If he doesn’t like water, then he shouldn’t be at this college.”

Tracey heard the two girls conversing with one another. Bewildered, he peered over his shoulder. His golden-brown eyes landed on Candice.

She gasped and quickly hid herself from view again. “He’s looking at me! How does my hair look?”

Luna laughed. “Yep, you’re definitely crushing.”

“I am not!”

“Yes, you are. Come on, admit it. You feel like you could faint any moment right now, am I right?”

Candice’s cheeks puffed out. She glared at her friend.

Luna winked, giving her a peace-out sign. “Come on, girl, you’ve got this. Check it. He’s coming this way.”

“He is?”

Indeed, Tracey was. He gave up his place in line just to talk to the two girls. Stopping in front of Luna, he waved and said, “Hey.”

“Eee!” Candice squealed. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from the good-looking ninja.

“Is your friend okay?” Tracey asked Luna.

“Oh, she is. She’s just having a moment,” Luna replied.

Tracey scratched his head. “I see. Well, um... I’m Tracey.” He held his hand out to Luna.

She took it and gave it a quick shake. “I’m Luna, and this is Candice.”

“Luna–” Candice mumbled, but Luna went ahead and pulled her out from behind her back. Now only mere inches away from Tracey, Candice felt like her head was about to explode. Only her first day in college, and she already felt like she just met the hottest guy on campus. In fact, she loved him so much that she had trouble speaking. “You have beautiful hair. No! I mean, what is with this getup you’re wearing? No! I mean, what are you hiding?”

“Hiding? I’m not hiding anything.” However, Tracey could feel himself shaking.

“What's your Suite Number?” said Luna, who scratched her chin. “I seem to recall that one of our suitemates is named Tracey.”

Candice froze. She looked like she was about to throw up.

“Um, I think it was Room 308?” Tracey answered, not totally sure.

Now it really looked like Candice was about to throw up. She slapped her hands to her lips, as she tried to let the message sink in.

“Well, well, well,” said Luna. She gave Candice a gentle poke in the ribs. “It looks like we’re a few of your suitemates.”

“My suitemates?” Wait a minute, Emilee and Jesse never said Tracey would have to live in a dorm full of disgusting humans! Oh, gosh, what was happening was way too much for him to handle. A room full of humans meant that everybody was going to bully him, just like Peter Nelson. “I-I have to go,” said the young claxton. With that, he pushed past Luna and Candice.

Luna waved goodbye, but Candice remained frozen. “All right, we’ll see you later then!” She placed her hands on her hips and glanced at Candice. “You can faint now.”

And Candice did. She fell into Luna’s arms, with a huge, goofy smile on her face.

***

Tracey went back outside to Wentworth Street, but he was unaware that Emilee and Jesse watched him from a short distance away. They asked themselves why their adopted son looked upset.

Tracey, who stopped on the sidewalk across from the Grace Cathedral Church, pulled his Cougar ID out of his back pocket. At the College of Charleston (COFC), a Cougar ID was a must. It got students into the dining halls, events, basketball games, etc.

Tracey stared at his embarrassing photo in the card and tried to make up his mind. At the time he took it, he had no idea what the function of a camera was, so that was why his photo looked more like a mugshot rather than a Cougar ID. He tightened his grip on it and clenched his teeth. Shaking his head, Tracey tossed the ID onto the sidewalk.

Emilee and Jesse saw that. “Tracey!” they yelled at the same time.

However, Tracey already disappeared through ninja speed.

Emilee and Jesse hurried to the ID on the sidewalk.

Emilee picked it up and handed it to Jesse. “Get Tracey checked in. I’m going to talk to him.”

“How do you know where he went?” asked Jesse.

“Trust me,” said Emilee. “I know how to speak Tracey.”

***

Tracey returned to the Waterfront Park. It was a well-known park in Downtown Charleston that took on the form of a giant T... at least, the first part of it. At the Waterfront Park, people could wade in its two fountains, take a stroll along the Charleston Harbor, or relax on some swings. If they were lucky, they sometimes got to see the cruise ship.

The park was a lively place that day, since it was still summer vacation, but Tracey knew a place where there wasn’t as much foot traffic. It was the area where he dragged himself out of the ocean and onto land–an additional walkway at the end of Waterfront’s Right Section, which looked like a rectangle with a triangle at its head. To get there, Tracey strolled down a sidewalk that passed the Pineapple Fountain, as well as the City Gallery.

Finally, he made it to the sandy path at the Park’s exit. Just like he predicted, there was almost no foot traffic. Everybody either waded in the fountains or took pictures of the cruise ship and harbor.

Tracey stood behind a line of cordgrass, where he examined Fort Sumter, Castle Pinckney, and the ocean. Warm wind blasted his hair, which momentarily caused his pointy ears to reveal themselves. At least there was no one there; not now, at least.

Being near the ocean caused Tracey’s hair to change colors. Instead of pure black, it was now light brown with black streaks. It was a sign he was starting to take up his claxton form again, because he was near his true home.

Tracey was just getting ready to push his way through the marsh grass when he heard a familiar voice yelling at him from behind.

“Tracey, wait!” Emilee. She hurried to Tracey, who turned his body to look at her, and asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What does it look like?” Tracey said. “I’m returning to the ocean. I don’t want to live in a suite full of human bullies. Why didn’t you and Jesse put me in an apartment instead?”

“Because if you’re going to live on land, you need to learn how to befriend humans,” was Emilee’s answer. “Tracey, please. I know you have bad memories of us from Makenna’s school, but not every human is bad. In fact, there is just as much good in the world as there is evil. Jesse and I put you in McConnell because we heard they have an amazing staff there, as well as wonderful students. They would never bully you. Please, son. Just give College of Charleston a chance.”

“I’m sorry, Emilee, but I don’t belong here,” said Tracey. “The human world doesn’t need a claxton in their school system.”

“Tracey–” but Emilee got no further.

Tracey ran through the marsh grass and dove into the Charleston Harbor. As soon as he had his tail, he used it to slice through the water like a knife. For a second, he poked his head out of the harbor so he could glance at Emilee one last time. Afterwards, he dove underwater.

***

“Wait a minute! You’re Tracey’s dad?” Candice asked Jesse. After checking Tracey in, Jesse went ahead and started to bring his things up to his suite. Sure enough, Candice and Luna were two of his suitemates. The rest of the suitemates, including Tracey’s roommate, weren’t there yet.

Jesse nodded at Candice’s question. “I am. Please forgive him, girls. He’s just really shy.” He, Luna, and Candice stood in the suite’s lounge room. It had a couch, as well as a kitchen sink, table, and refrigerator.

Luna spoke right after Jesse. “And afraid of water.”

“Yeah, why is he afraid of water?” Candice wanted to know.

“Afraid? Pfft! He’s not afraid! It’s his nerves talking!” Oh, Jesse hated lying. However, it would be nice if at least one or two of Tracey’s suitemates knew his true identity so they could watch over him and keep him out of trouble. But he did not want his adopted son to end up in the Charleston Aquarium as the Number One exhibit in the nation.

“Does he always dress like a ninja?” was Candice’s next question.

“It definitely is his style,” Jesse said. “It’s hard to explain, girls.”

Both Candice and Luna gave him a suspicious look. Candice crossed her arms, and Luna placed her hands on her hips.

Jesse sighed. He felt like he could trust them. They looked eager to become Tracey’s first college friends. Bringing his hand to his forehead, he took a deep breath. “Girls, what if I told you that... I don’t know. Tracey is a merman?”

Candice and Luna stared at him. Not even two minutes later, they burst out laughing.

“A merman? Oh, that’s a good one!” Luna laughed.

“You’re funny, Mr. Freeburg!” said Candice. “There is no way the boy of my dreams is a fish freak!”

While Jesse expected that, he still felt embarrassed by his question. He didn’t want to think about the kind of reaction he would get if he went as far as saying that Tracey was the heir to the throne of claxtons, as well as something else.

***

Tracey swam to Castle Pinckney, an overgrown fortress in the Charleston Harbor that local people were forbidden to go to. It was a popular home for terns and seagulls. There, Tracey was able to think. By using ninja speed, he managed to find his way on top of the fort. He was well hidden from people behind its protective walls.

Tracey rested his back on Castle Pinckney’s flag and pulled his knees close. Wind blasted his hair. He closed his eyes against it.

The birds left him alone. After all, they felt they could trust the mysterious stranger. That was because Tracey used to have a friend tern named Gina, whom he saved from a broken wing when he was little on Merlin’s Island. Unfortunately, she went with her flock to explore the world, so he wasn’t sure if he would ever see her again.

Tracey missed Gina. He missed Makenna, and he missed Merlin. He never knew that trying to be a human would be so difficult. And now that he was twenty, how long would it be before his father called him back to Atlantica for his coronation? Tracey was not ready to become king, and he did not think he ever would.

He pulled grass out of the sand, as troubling thoughts continued to bombard him. On the third clump of grass, he heard a voice in his head.

Somebody communicated with him telepathically. “Tracey.”

“Chief Wave?” Tracey asked.

The Chief Wave it was. He was the wisest, oldest wave in the whole Magic World, whose duty was to watch over all the water-based magical beings. Magic brought him to life and gave him powers. He was the one who banished the Octopus Man to the Bermuda Triangle after he attacked Atlantica.

“Tracey, why do you fear the world of humans?” he asked the young merman.

“Chief Wave, do you not recall that when I tried to blend in at Makenna’s school, the only piece of knowledge that left with me that day is that all humans are bullies?”

“You need to stop making excuses,” the Chief Wave told him. “That may have been the reason why you left Makenna’s school, but College of Charleston is different. The real thing you fear is yourself.” At that line, a blue light flashed in front of Tracey to reveal a holographic image of a huge wave–the Chief Wave himself. He floated in front of Tracey and seemed to stare into his soul.

“Myself?” Tracey asked. “Why?”

“Because you’re a claxton. Why else?” Now that he mentioned it, the Chief Wave had a point.

Tracey clenched his teeth, as gruesome images of him spelling the whole school and pulling it to Davy Jones’s Locker overtook his brain. He shook his head to get rid of it.

“Come with me, son,” said the Chief Wave. “I want to show you something.” He metamorphosed into the watery form of a seagull and floated next to Tracey’s head. He gestured with his wing for him to follow him.

Tracey did. He tried his best to ignore some of the island seagulls’ confused faces when they saw the watery version of themselves.

The Chief Wave took him to a crack in Castle Pinckney’s wall. Looking through it, they had a clear view of Waterfront Park, Downtown Charleston, and the Cooper River Bridge.

A few seagulls joined the adventure. They landed on top of the fortress’s wall and continued to stare down the mysterious, watery version of their own kind. The Chief Wave shooed them away, but the seagulls didn’t move. Finally, he had no choice but to ignore them.

Glancing at Tracey, he said, “Tracey, you are a prince, but you’re not just a prince of the water. You are also a prince of the land, because your mother was a fairy. College of Charleston needs somebody to look up to–someone they can rely on. In a way, the city is your kingdom. As a prince, you need to look after it. At least until it is time for your coronation.”

Tracey couldn’t speak. A prince. He was not a prince but one of the most feared mythical creatures in all of human mythology.

“Sooner or later, kid, you’re going to need to make a choice,” the Chief Wave explained. “To either return to Atlantica and lose your legs forever or remain on land. Emilee and Jesse know this. That is why they enrolled you. If you spend time with people who are also trying to find their self-identity, you’ll be able to figure out where you truly belong. That is the whole point of college.”

“Emilee and Jesse are just trying to help me,” Tracey said in a soft voice.

“Exactly.” The Chief Wave nodded. He shooed a few more seagulls away before he next metamorphosed into a watery version of a human man.

That came as a complete shock to the seagulls. Their dark eyes widened, and they quickly took off in flight. A few of their feathers got in Tracey’s hair, but he ignored them.

Instead, he and the Chief Wave met eyes. There was a moment of silence between the two, until Tracey finally made up his mind. Gulping, he gave the Chief Wave a slow nod.

Smiling, the wave placed his watery hand on his shoulder and said, “That’s my boy,” before Tracey once again turned into a merman.

***

The Sun started to set. Finally, Waterfront Park calmed down.

Parents picked up their tired children and carried them towards their cars.

Emilee, though, never left the park... not even after Tracey ditched her. She hoped and prayed he would come back to her and Jesse, but she was starting to have doubts. All she and Jesse wanted was for Tracey to figure out who and where he was meant to be.

A few tears ran down her cheeks, as she examined their first family photo. It was on Seabrook Island, soon after she and Jesse asked Tracey to be their son. They looked so happy together. Emilee would never forget the smile that beamed across Tracey’s face on that special day.

Sighing, Emilee slipped the photo into her purse. Brokenhearted, she stood up from the bench. “I miss him already,” she sniffed, but she concluded Tracey would never return.

Nevertheless, just before she left, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. In the rays of the setting sun, a figure walked towards her from the walkway Tracey used as his escape ground. It took a minute for Emilee to recognize him. When she did, her purse dropped from her hand. Was she indeed looking at who she thought it was? Yes. Tracey. He had come back.

Under the beautiful sunset, he and Emilee approached one another. Emilee, who tried to hold back tears, reached up and rested her palms on either side of Tracey’s face so she could look into his young, handsome face. Finally, she pulled him into a tight hug.

Tracey returned it.

Above them and up in the sky fluttered a flock of seagulls. It was the perfect end to a hard day: Tracey’s first time at college.

He and Emilee returned to McConnell Hall, where Jesse, Luna, and Candice helped him finish moving in. Tracey’s room was Room 308B. His roommate wasn’t going to move in until later, but he went ahead and got ready for him.

Emilee and Jesse fixed his bed, while he hung up his clothes.

In the meantime, Candice tried to work out a way with Luna for her to not swoon every time she saw Tracey. It was a grueling task for her and left her feeling quite embarrassed.

Luna just laughed it off.

Once everything was unpacked, Tracey, Luna, and Candice went downstairs to see Emilee and Jesse off. The RA checked them out, as well as the cart they used to carry Tracey’s things. Once that was finished, Tracey gave his adopted parents an enormous goodbye hug.

“Remember, no spelling the young ladies,” Jesse whispered in his ear.

He, Tracey, and Emilee giggled.

Letting go, the older couple gave Tracey’s cheeks quick pinches, telling him everything was going to be okay.

Tracey had a feeling it would be. As Emilee and Jesse left, he thought about what the Chief Wave told him on Castle Pinckney:

“‘If you spend time with people who are also trying to find their self-identity, you’ll be able to figure out where you truly belong. That is the whole point of college.’”

Tracey let those words sink in and used them to his advantage to hang out with Luna and Candice, much to Candice’s embarrassment.

***

Tracey was unaware that he was being watched... by none other than the Octopus Man himself. He lived in a dark cave far out in the Atlantic Ocean, where he constantly spied on the young claxton. The Octopus Man looked just as his title suggested. He was half man and half octopus, who had glowing, blue eyes and a pet he called his own.

Watching Tracey from his bubble TV he created by using the power of his trident, he spoke in a booming voice, “I WILL NOT LET THAT CLAXTON LIVE ON LAND. HE BELONGS IN THE OCEAN, WITH ME, AND I AM GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!”

Right after he said that, a smaller figure appeared from deep within the “pit of shadows”. He frightfully held his hand out to the Octopus Man. The figure looked like a merperson.

Poseidon did not appreciate his presence. To show how upset he was, he pointed his trident at the figure. “GIVE UP,” he boomed. “THE BOY IS MINE. GO, MY PET! UNLEASH YOUR POWER, AND SHOW HIM WHO THE TRUE KING IS!”

Frightened, the merperson-like figure swam back, right when a huge monster appeared in front of Poseidon.

A huge, gaping mouth filled full of razor-sharp teeth was not hard to see at all. It threatened the enemy with them.

As the mouth fell closer, the merperson-like figure held its hand out to the monster, allowing himself to be swallowed by Poseidon’s darkness... by the Curse of the Sea.