{ Part 2 }

Violet jerked open her eyes. She blinked it for a few times, trying to adjust the dizziness in her head. Then she got up and freed herself from the seaweeds that covered her body and tail. Dust was everywhere. The ocean and the whole area around Mermaidiya were polluted with tiny sand and dust that rose deep from the seabed. Violet wandered around for a while before she swam to look for the others.

“Aria…” she called out her sister's name but she what she saw was only the small fishes around the broken ship. She swam further inside the deck.

“Celia…” her heart started to race anxiously. Where was everyone? The ship was empty and there wasn’t even a single mermaid around the ship even when Violet rose higher to get a clearer image on the entire kingdom.

“Oh my…please, everyone…don’t scared me…” she cried out and choked out of surprise from the salty water. The place was empty. Her home was empty. So she swam down deeper into the ocean where mostly the big sized fishes lived. Then she stopped halfway when her eyes widened in shock.

“Anne!!!” she shouted her name before swimming rapidly toward one of the mermaids. She wasn’t her siblings but she was one of the mermaids in her kingdom. Violet threw herself beside her and landed her tail on the sand. She peered nervously down to Anne that was already lying motionless on the ground. Violet touched her forehead.

“Anne…what’s happening? Can you hear me?” she asked her softly and Anne slightly opened her eyes.

“Your highness…” she weakly called out, recognized her as one of the princesses. Violet frowned as she eyed her through serious gazes.

“Please...talk to me…what had happened last night? Where’s everyone?” Violet asked her and Anne choked a bit when she opened , trying to speak back.

“It was…De…Delancy…” she managed to blurt out. She looked really fragile as her chest when up and down, trying very hard to breathe. Violet narrowed her eyes while shaking her head.

“A what? Who?” she didn’t understand her. Violet tried very hard to remember anyone called Delancy in her kingdom but there wasn’t. So she glanced up a bit, finding someone else to help them but the ocean was empty, only fishes surrounded them. She looked down again at Anne.

“We need to save you…” Violet whispered to her and gathered her up by holding her shoulders.

“Can you swim?” she asked her again and Anne nodded slowly, her eyes still tightly closed. Violet let out a sigh. She needed to calm down to think for the next solution. She desperately wanted to figure out what was going on but she had to save this girl first. She looked sick as she leaned on Violet’s shoulder for support. Then suddenly something clicked her. She remembered a place to cure Anne so she swam them there, leaving Mermaidiya empty and broken with dust everywhere in that place. The pieces of ship shattered even more and make the area look even messier.

“She was poisoned…” the old mermaid told Violet as she peered at her through her dark eyes. Violet shifted uncomfortably under her stares before she cleared .

“How? Who could possibly had poisoned her?” Violet asked and the old one swam towards Anne that now laid on her seaweed bed. She poured something green, a few drops of liquid into her half opened mouth and Anne choked a little. Violet sighed.

“Will she be fine?” Violet asked again and she started to feel impatient when the older delayed her answer. The mermaid turned around to face her.

“Don’t you know who did this? Your kingdom was crashed down terribly like that…” she asked her and it made Violet hid her face down. She stared on her hands for a while before looking up to her back. She was eyeing Violet with a stern look on her face.

“I’m sorry…I wasn’t there last night…and I don’t get a thing on what had happened to Mermaidiya…” Violet explained and she smirked at her sarcastically.

“You foolish child! How dare you left Mermaidiya by going outside to see the humans! What good will they bring to you? You wasn’t there when your brother needed you the most and now you can’t even save your own kingdom! What a shame to our kind!” the old one scolded her and Violet felt something sharp throbbing her heart. It was indeed her fault. If she was there for her brother, for her sisters, for them and for everyone in Mermaidiya, her home could probably be saved. Violet stopped herself from crying by facing her again.

“What should I do now? I don’t even know what had happened to Stefan and the others…Please don’t tell me they already…” she stopped halfway. She wasn’t brave enough to say the word ‘die’. She didn’t want to leave alone in this ocean. All of her kind was gone too. The old mermaid swam closer to her before she stopped in front of her eyes, staring intensely.

“They didn’t die…but they are cursed…” she informed mysteriously that made Violet frowned at her.

“What? By who?” she asked confusedly and the old one laughed out a little.

“By the queen of the darkness…the evil Delancy…” she answered her and Violet startled. She remembered Anne was mentioning that person just now.

“Is she a mermaid too?” Violet opened , asking slowly and the latter nodded.

“She was your late father’s sister…used to be a princess in Mermaidiya…but the former king chose your father instead of her to be the king so now she evoked her revenge to take over your kingdom…” Violet realized hung opened widely when she heard the history. She never knew such story existed. Her father gave the throne to Stefan and they agreed it all even when there were 7 of them among the princesses. After all Stefan was the oldest even though Maria, the oldest princess was more powerful compared to him. Each one of them had their own power. A personal power that could only worked here in the ocean. Among the royalists, only Violet’s was the plainest one. Her little talent is the ability to talk to the sea creatures. She could directly talk with the fishes and quickly read their behaviors. But that kind of talent was the useless one since they did live in the ocean so there was no need for communication with the creatures, right? And she was called Violet because of her purplish blue colored tail that took after the color of the seabed. But Violet never cared about being the plain Jane. She loved herself the way it was.

“I regretted it that they saved you alone but in the end you’re doing nothing to save them…” the old one scolded her again and it made Violet cursed under her breath. She was deep in thinking that she looked absent minded like that. It was not like she didn’t want to save them. Sure the hell she will. Violet thought determinedly but then something clicked in her. How could she do that? She didn’t even know where they were right now. Slowly, she looked up to that mermaid.

“I’m going to save them…I’m surely will…but I don’t know anything about Delancy…so you need to tell me about her…” she replied her and the old mermaid laughed wickedly. She swam away, distancing herself from Violet.

“Why should I? I have nothing to do with this… I don’t even live in Mermaidiya…” she snorted at her and Violet let out a heavy sigh. She personally felt that this mermaid didn’t like her. The old Lydia was a witch among their kind. She was gifted with the ability to heal people and she also knew something called magic. Violet herself didn’t exactly know what it was but Lydia always healed the mermaids that accidently injured themselves. She just got that power. And now she even knew her family’s secret which made Violet felt a bit unfair. She desperately needed to find out more about this mermaid named Delancy.

“Yes, you don’t but you did care about Mermaidiya…you knew the history that I didn’t and you knew what just happened last night…it’s clear enough that you care! So, please…I’m begging you…help me…” Violet pleaded again with her most sincere tone. Lydia turned to face her. She observed Violet in quiet for a while before she opened , trying to say something but then she closed it back. She herself looked confused.

“Your siblings saved you from the spell because of their sincere love towards you…so that you can live and didn’t get caught under Delancy’s evil spell…so now, you need to do the same to save them…” she finally explained while Violet listened carefully to her.

“How?” she asked again. Lydia cracked a small smile.

“You need to prove that true love really exist just like your siblings did…then only can the spell be broken…because Delancy’s heart is filled with hatred…her curse was chained with that feeling…only true love can actually heal it…” she told her with a soft voice. Each of her words was very meaningful to Violet. She was proud of her siblings. She was thankful that they saved her with their true love towards her. Now she knew how valuable she was to her siblings. If love was the only way to save them, then she was completely ready to show that love. She was indeed loved her brother and sisters with full of her heart. Wholeheartedly. Then she looked up straight to Lydia.

“I’m ready…I’m ready to save them…they proved it to me that Delancy’s curse can be defended with love’s power so now it’s my turn to save them…my love is big enough for all of them…” she said determinedly but that mermaid shook her head.

“You can’t afford it alone…you will never be…” she told her back but Violet snorted at her.

“That’s rubbish! My sisters did save me just like that last night…I saw it…I saw the red light splashed to me but my sisters covered me…they barely covered me with their sincere love…clearly I could do the same!” she explained forcefully, her voice started to raise against the wave around them. Lydia shook her head slowly.

“They did it with the six of them together…and now, do you dare enough to go to her castle alone and fight to save your sisters?” she asked uncertainly and Violet nodded at once.

“Sure the hell I can!” she answered stubbornly but the old mermaid laughed out with a wicked look on her face.

“Your brother saved you to be his only hope…don’t destroy yourself like that…Delancy is way too powerful than you…” she replied her and Violet slumped down her shoulders in despair. Her hands covered her face as she tightened her heart. She wanted to cry but she couldn’t show that weakness in front of Lydia. She was the only one left to save Mermaidiya, so she needed to be strong. Lydia glued her eyes at Violet, sympathy filled her eyes. Pity this girl, she thought as her brain also racking up any ideas to help her. Then something came to her mind. At the same time Violet lifted up her head back. She forced a weak stare at the witch.

“Is there any other ways to save them then? The one that could prevent me from going to her castle?” Violet asked for assurance and Lydia nodded slowly to her. Violet’s eyes suddenly glowed with hope.

“Really? Please, tell me then!” she demanded loudly and Lydia lifted her hands, indicated for Violet to wait for her. She moved to swim to one corner of the corals, between the sea rocks and pushed her hands into it to bring out two little things. Violet eyed her closely in silence before she swam back to her. Then she held out her palm to reveal two tiny things: a piece of green seaweed and a necklace. The necklace was made from various shape of seashells and at the center of it, there was a craft of a little mermaid as its locket. It was pretty but Violet looked up at Lydia with confusion drawn on her beautiful face.

“What are these things for?” she asked her.

“Listen carefully, Violet…here’s the deal…in order to save your siblings, you need to show one true love…” Violet nodded in full attention as she listened.

“But true love only comes from here, your heart…deep inside…” Lydia explained again while her finger pointed to Violet’s chest where her heart was kept inside. Violet also touched her chest.

“…then you need to convey that love by falling in love to someone else…” Lydia said out the requirement that make Violet suddenly stared straight at her. Falling in love? What was that? Violet asked herself questioningly. She never fell for anyone. Or the truth was, she never knew how to fall in love. She always thought that she loved her siblings and her kingdom with all of her heart but to fall sincerely for one certain person, she never did that.

“How?” she asked with small voice and Lydia curved up a smile on her lips.

“You need to go to the human land, convince a mortal to love you and steal his soul in order to prove that eternity in love can bring the greatest power against the dark…that’s the only way left to destroy Delancy…” Lydia finished her explanation on the plan and Violet felt like a giant rock just hit her head hard. She felt dizzy but she shook her head and blinked her eyes.

“That’s…sound difficult…I never imagined myself to be up there…” Violet told her while her gaze when up to the far distance of the sea surface. She only went there once, once and she had seen the humans. Her mind went back to the boy and girl she saw last night. Again, she felt the throbbing pain in her heart. But to live there on mortal land and being around the humans, she couldn’t possibly imagine it. She ignored the weird feeling and glanced back towards Lydia.

“If I succeed to make him love me...what’s next? Can I go back to the ocean?” Violet demanded further explanation. Lydia nodded.

“Yes, you can…but you need to bring him into the water to take his soul…and remember, he needs to get in willingly…” that rule made Violet sighed heavily. If the human knew that she was about to kill him, who would want to follow her willingly? She shook her head.

“That’s impossible…he would never sacrifice his soul, his life just to save me and Mermaidiya… It will be too twisted for him to go there with his own will…” Violet protested again and Lydia groaned out loud. She swam quickly to one side before turning back to Violet.

“Don’t you understand it? True love is always like that…it needs sacrificing in order to prove it…you yourself will sacrifice your love towards him when he is dead, right? So it’s all in one way round…he gives up his soul on behalf of his love to you and you let him