“You have to let us in please! What we have to tell the princes is important and pertains to Kai’s fiancée!” Doria pleaded with the hoard of guards outside the palace gates as they pointed their weapons at her and the man beside her. Kris tried to reason with the guards telling the ones that listened that he was the captain of the princes’ ship and needed to speak with them immediately.

            “No one is allowed in or out of the palace. Emiyn’s orders.” The head guard informed standing his ground as Kris and Doria tried to push their way through.

            “Please! You must let us in! Kai’s fiancée is in danger! We have to tell him!” Doria cried out as she beat the chest of the guard in front of her. He pried her small fists from him and pushed her back into Kris’s arms.

            “I ask you leave the premise before we have you arrested for harassment and trespassing.” Another guard informed as he raised his weapon as warning.

            “Come on,” Kris muttered to Doria pulling her by the arm away from the group of men.

            “What about Taura? We have to tell them somehow.” The girl hissed back as Kris guided her to the side of the large wall separating them from the palace grounds.

            “We will. We just need another way in.” Kris looked around for any other openings or weak points in the wall. It was too high to climb or jump over and the only opening Kris could see was the front entrance.

            “We’re wasting time.” Doria jumped in her spot as she frantically turned from side to side while biting her lower lip. It was already dark and she knew if they planned to search for Taura in the morning their search would be futile.

            Thunder rumbled in the distance causing Kris to look up towards the ocean. He could see lightning flash over the open water. Clenching his fist, he knew if they were to warn Kai and Sehun there would still be the danger of sailing out into a storm. Tapping his fingers against his arm, he figured the person to tell was Sehun. He could conduct a search in the water with the other Sirens while Kai and the others could search land for the other kidnapped girls.

            “We need to get to Sehun first. He’s the only one able to search the water in that storm.” Kris looked down to Doria who nodded in confirmation while Kris continued to think of a plan. “Come on, let’s see if there is another way in.”

            The two circled the wall and were at the halfway point when Kris noticed something that might lead to their way in. A large tree on their side of the wall had branches that stretched over the wall, one of them could climb the tree with the help of the other.

            “Hey see that tree over there?” Kris pointed to it for Doria to see.

             “Yeah.”

            “I’m going to give you a lift and you’re going to climb your way to the other side.”

            “Okay.” Doria nodded hesitantly as she followed after Kris who got himself in the position. Slightly bending his knees, he cupped his hands motioning for Doria to get a running start. Lifting her dress, the girl ran to Kris placing her foot onto his cupped hands while he hoisted her up to the closest branch. Reaching a hand up, she latched onto the branch and pulled herself up.

            “Remember find Sehun!” Kris called up to her as she carefully shuffled to the other end of the large branch.

            “Got it!” Doria lost her footing a few times but managed to keep her balance before hopping down onto the palace grounds. She hit the ground running towards the palace seeing the bright lights shine though the large windows. Gasping for breath, Doria slipped through one of the side doorways. Looking around the corner to make sure there was no one around, Doria quickly ran down the hall to another corner before climbing up the main staircase. As she neared the second floor, Doria could hear voices coming in her direction and froze.

            Her heartbeat accelerated tenfold as she clung to the banister taking one step at a time. Doria made it to the second floor and saw that the voices came from a group of guards escorting three men. She looked at their backs, recognizing one of the three men immediately, “Destan?”

            His hands tied behind his back, the young man held his head down in shame as he cried silent tears. Once they turned the corner, Doria clearly saw her boyfriend’s profile and gasped. Taking a step in his direction, Doria stopped. Taura was more important.

            Running in the direction from where the guards came, Doria ran down the corridors turning each corner as she desperately yelled out Sehun’s and Kai’s names.

*~*~*~*~*

            Taura stood bare with her hands tied together behind her back. With a blindfold covering her eyes, she flinched as each cold hand that grazed her body. Tears streamed down her red face from the pain of standing up for so long. She could feel them wobble and shake with each added garment.

            “I’m sorry.” A soft melodic voice whispered to Taura as the girl slipped on a simple white slip over the mermaid’s body.

            A group of three young girls were assigned