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~*Chapter Seventeen *~

The next morning, after breakfast, you went back to your room and examined the shell you had found in the water last night. The slight glow that was emitting from it had died down and almost gone out, but the whispering was still present. You held the shell to your ear and closed your eyes, putting one finger in your other ear to try and concentrate.

“They hate me… alone… my prince…”

It was hard to pick out many words since the whispers were so fast and frantic. It seemed like whoever was talking was desperate for help or someone to listen to her. You couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the voice, even if you weren’t sure who it belonged to or if it even had an owner.

“I’m… lost…please…help…my voice…”

You pulled the shell away from your ear and pressed your lips in to a firm line. You couldn’t help but start to get worried; whoever was on the other end of this shell was in trouble and you didn’t like it one bit. After much debating with yourself, you finally decided that Baekhyun was the best person to ask about it since he was practically the Prince of Neverland.

You found him in the living room, wrestling with Chanyeol, whose hair was completely drenched, over something. Both were shouting profanities and hitting each other while the others did nothing; they just watched and laughed. You stood in the doorway, watching amusedly as Chanyeol flipped Baekhyun over on to his stomach and sat on his back so he couldn’t move.

“Get off me, you giant freak!” Baekhyun managed to yell as he tried to regain his breath.

“Not until you say sorry,” Chanyeol sang, waving his fingers in the air like he was conducting an orchestra. Baekhyun groaned and tried to push Chanyeol off him with no success.

“You’re crushing my insides!” Baekhyun whined, giving up the struggle and just laying flat.

“All you have to do is say, “I’m sorry Chanyeol, for throwing that bowl of water over your head, I’ll never do it again,” and I’ll get off you,” he laughed, drumming on Baekhyun’s back with his hands.

“You deserved it,” Baekhyun coughed.

Chanyeol made a buzzing noise, like when someone gets an answer wrong on a game show, and leant back putting more of his weight on top of Baekhyun.

“Alright! Alright! I’m sorry!” he cried, smacking the floor with his hand as if to say he couldn’t take anymore.

“And…?” Chanyeol raised a brow.

“And I won’t do it again,” Baekhyun snapped, “Now just get off me you oaf!”

“That wasn’t hard, was it?” Chanyeol mocked as he rolled off him. Baekhyun sat up immediately and put a hand to his heart as he inhaled dramatically.

“I almost died back there,” he trailed off with wide eyes. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at him, “Stop overreacting, you baby.” Baekhyun shot him daggers, “Have you ever had a giant sit on you and squeeze the air from your lungs? I don’t think so.”

Chanyeol scoffed and got up, “Oh, hey Semmi,” he chuckled when he spotted you smirking in the doorway. At the mention of your name, everyone’s heads snapped around to look at you.

“Hey,” you waved, smiling at them all. “Baek,” you looked over at him as he got to hit feet, still with his hand on his chest. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” he walked over to you and you held out the shell.

“I found this when I was on the island, it keeps whispering things and I was wondering if you knew what it was?”

Baekhyun furrowed his brows as he took the shell from you and examined it. He turned it over in his hands and held it near his ear, but the whispering stopped as soon as he got it halfway there.

“I can’t hear any whispers,” he said with a frown.

“That’s weird,” you said taking the shell back. You put it to your ear again and surely enough, you could hear the same whispers from earlier on.

“I’m… lost…please…help…my voice…”

“It’s a girl,” you explained, “she keeps saying she’s lost and that she needs help. She also says something about her voice, I don’t know.”

Baekhyun rubbed the back of his neck, “Kyungsoo,” he called, “Come over here.”

Kyungsoo sighed, “What now,” he rolled his eyes as he wandered over.

“Look at this,” Baekhyun took the shell from you again and passed it over to Kyungsoo.

“Where’d you find this?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. He did the same as Baekhyun had; he turned the shell over in his hands, his fingers tracing the grooves.

“I found it at the bottom of the lake on the island,” you explained.

“The island? When did you go there?” he asked, furrowing his brows together.

“That doesn’t matter,” you shook your head, not really wanting to explain the events of yesterday all over again in fear that you’d embarrass yourself. You recited the words that you had told Baekhyun to Kyungsoo about the lost girl and her voice and he nodded.

“If you found it in the lake… maybe the mermaids will know more about it?” Kyungsoo offered, passing the shell back to you. “I don’t know anything about it really, but a shell like that has to have something to do with them, that’s the only course of action I can suggest.”

You gulped; the mermaids weren’t exactly your favourite creatures in the world, not since they had tried to drown you. You looked to Baekhyun who immediately understood why you were so reluctant to go to them.

“I’ll take you,” he offered.

***

“Don’t worry,” Baekhyun said softly. He squeezed your hand gently and only then did you notice that they were actually intertwined. Somehow, they always seemed to end up connected when you were with him. You pulled your sweaty hand out of his and straightened up. “I won’t let them hurt you,” he comforted, leading the way down the rock steps.

You had had to wait until the evening crept in to make your way down to the Blue Lagoon so the mermaids would be awake. It was the longest wait of your life and as time crept by, the cries of the voice  in the shell began to get more frantic. You couldn’t pick out as many words since she was now whispering faster and more frantically, but the same two words always stuck out.

Alone and help.

You followed Baekhyun down the steps until you arrived at the edge of the water, the exact place you had been sitting when they had dragged you under. He squatted down and splashed the surface of the water a little, whistling a short tune.

Shortly after, the lilac haired and green haired mermaids surfaced from the water. They were even more beautiful now that you could look at them without thinking you were about to die. They smiled at Baekhyun, but as soon as their eyes locked on to yours, they snarled and scowled.

“Be nice,” Baekhyun said through gritted teeth, “We need your help.”

“Why should we help you?” the lilac haired mermaid spat. He voice was a harsh whisper even though she appeared to be shouting.

“Because after what you did the other day, you owe us both,” Baekhyun countered. “Show them,” he ordered you, pointing to the shell that was concealed by your hands. You held it out so it was in their view and they narrowed their eyes at it.

“Do you know what this is?” Baekhyun asked the mermaids. They both cackled, throwing their heads back as they laughed, yet they still managed to look beautiful.

“Well?” Baekhyun asked impatiently.

“Yes, we know what that is.”

“Explain then,” Baekhyun was growing more impatient by the second.

“It’s the Lost Princesses shell,” the green haired mermaid explained, “Don’t you know the tale of the Lost Princess?”

You both shook your heads and the mermaids scoffed.

 “Years ago, the Mermaid Princess, who was destined to wed the most powerful merman in all of the seas, fell in love with a mere human. Refusing to abide her father’s wishes, she left in search of the Sea Witch for a spell to turn her human so she could be with her human prince. She traded her voice for legs and searched the land for her Prince. She was with him for a while too, they were meant to be wed on the land, even though she didn’t have a voice. It was said that the kiss on their wedding day would break the spell and allow them to live together on the land forever, but the Sea Witch didn’t like happy endings. So of course, she sent her minions to kidnap the Princess and since then she hasn’t been found. It is said that that shell you have in your hands, is where the Sea Witch kept her voice. She tried to hide it to the best of her ability, but you have obviously found it so she can’t have hidden it very well. After the curse was enacted, however, the Prince on the land forgot all about the Princess, but we haven’t. Somehow, we still remember her. Maybe, with that, you can find her again and reunite her with her prince.”

When the lilac haired mermaid had finished telling the tale, you sat down on the rocky ground in shock. So you of all people had found the Lost Princesses voice. You suddenly felt a wave of responsibility hit you and you wanted nothing more than to reunite this Princess with her Prince. Now all you had to do was find her.

“Do you have any idea where she could be?” you spoke up. The mermaids snapped their heads to you and snarled again. Baekhyun glared at them and they eventually softened up, rolling their eyes.

“She could be anywhere, from this very lagoon to anywhere in the ocean. Nobody knows, that’s why she’s the Lost Princess.”

You nodded, “Thank you,” you stood up, “I think we’re done here,” you nodded to Baekhyun. He got up and thanked the mermaids again who just scoffed and submerged back under the water.