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~*Chapter Nineteen *~

“How didn’t anyone find this?” Kyungsoo asked in awe after he took in a deep breath for the first time in hours. The four of you stood, staring at the cold stone walls of the secret corridor. The only source of light was the dim shine of the shell’s glow and you held it out in front of you like a torch to make sure there was no immediate danger. You led the way forward, Baekhyun walking at your side, arm awkwardly brushing against yours every now and again sending a pulse of electricity through you.

The quiet sound of water dripping off your clothes on to the hard floor and everyone’s heavy breathing mixed together seemed much louder than it actually was and you couldn’t help but feel nervous and paranoid that something bad was about to happen. The shell started to flicker making it harder for you to see where you were going.

“How long do you think this corridor goes on for?” Chanyeol’s deep voice reverberated around the stone walls surrounding you and your heart jumped to your throat at the sudden outburst. The eeriness of the atmosphere put you on edge; you didn’t really like being in this confined space one bit, even if there were three grown boys with you, it only seemed to make you feel even more claustrophobic.

“I don’t know,” you managed to squeak, brushing the drenched strands of your fringe out of your eyes. You continued walking in silence again; everyone was just looking for one thing – an exit, an opening, anything, something. Like earlier, the shell suddenly gave off another blinding light and all four of you immediately shut your eyes tight, trying to shield them from the harsh glare.

“What’s it doing?” Baekhyun shouted, hand still covering his eyes, face scrunched up.

“I don’t know,” you cried, trying to hold it as far away as you could. Just as those words left your lips, the shells light went out like a switch and you were engulfed in utter darkness. Everyone stopped in their tracks. You looked around frantically but you couldn’t see anything or anyone. Just as you felt panic setting in, Baekhyun’s hand intertwined with yours and you felt yourself calm a little, like a wave of tranquillity washed over you, erasing all of the worry.

“Keep going forward,” Baekhyun announced, “It has to end somewhere.”

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo mumbled in agreement and the sound of feet shuffling resumed and you continued down the cave corridor. Baekhyun’s hand remained firmly locked with yours and you were grateful; if you’d been left to walk in the darkness without the comfort of seeing everyone else, you would have felt completely alone too. You didn’t know if Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were still walking next to you right now, the only thing that gave it away was their breathing and footsteps. Having Baekhyun’s hand in yours gave you the sense of security you needed.

Eventually, you heard Kyungsoo pipe up, “Can you see that?” he asked; you could tell he was pointing forwards even though you couldn’t see him. You looked, and noticed what he was talking about. There was a slight, bluish glow coming from what appeared to be the end of the tunnel.

“It must be the end,” Chanyeol deadpanned.

Without another word, everyone resumed walking; Baekhyun was tugging on your hand slightly, urging you to walk a bit faster and you complied, eager to find out what was at the end of this very long, dark, scary walk. The blue hue of light came closer and closer and after what you counted were eighty-seven steps, you were standing in a stone clearing. There was one bright, blue pool in the centre and that was it. The water was shockingly blue, even more so than the Blue Lagoon itself. The water sparkled and the small, circular hole in the ceiling of the cave provided some light causing the water to reflect and give off the azure light.

“What is this place…?” Chanyeol trailed off, turning around on the spot as he looked around with his mouth hung open in amazement. Everyone shook their heads, failing to provide him with an answer.

The perfect stillness of the blue pool’s surface was disturbed when a dark shadow seemed to be getting bigger and bigger from underneath the water. Ripples scurried to the sides of the pool and lapped against the jagged rocks as a head of red hair emerged from the pool. All four of you jumped back and your grip on Baekhyun’s hand and the shell in your other both tightened.

The shockingly bright red hair belonged to a young girl. Her face was solemn, but looked desperate and hopeful at the same time. She stared at your face, to the shell and then back to you. You held it up dumbly, and looked at her, waiting for instructions. She was the Lost Princess; there was no doubt about that. Although, she wasn’t technically lost anymore.

She pulled her hands out of the water and put them around as if demonstrating that she couldn’t use it and then it finally clicked. Of course she couldn’t speak, she’d had her voice taken away. She pointed to the shell and then mimed holding it to her ear. You did as she instructed and you could hear her whisper as clear as crystal. No interruptions, no breaks, it was slow, steady and easily understandable.

“Put the shell in the box over there.”

The mermaid pointed to the left most wall where there was an indent that held a simple mahogany box. You looked at Baekhyun who was staring back and forth from the both of you in confusion. You chuckled and unlinked your hands, wandering over to the wall. He was quick to grab your wrist.

“What are you doing?” He looked worried as he stared in to your eyes.

“Trust me, it’s OK.” He didn’t let go immediately, it was only when you gave him a reassuring nod that he sighed and let you carry on walking towards the wall.

The box was cold, really cold. You lifted up the rusty latch and raised the creaky lid of the box to see that it was lined with a deep purple, silk fabric. You looked back at the mermaid and she nodded.

Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun all watched nervously as you placed the shell into the box with shaky hands. The same blinding light burst out from the box and you covered your face with your arms; as did the boys. The room seemed to get warm and it felt like the light was filling everything and everyone. Even though your arms were covering your eyes, you could still see the orange painted on the underside of your eyelids.

When the light faded, you opened your eyes; your vision was blurred and there were light spots obscuring your sight but you could clearly see that the box had disappeared; leaving just the shell that had now turned a bright white colour. You spun around and found that Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun were standing back in the corner while the mermaid was getting out of the water. She wasn’t exactly a mermaid anymore. She was standing on two shaky legs and instead of a tail, a long flowing dress took its place. It was a lilac colour and fell to her mid calf. Like all the other mysteries you had yet to solve, her hair was somehow dry and fell down to her waist in scarlet waves.

She opened as if to speak but frowned when she made no noise. She put her hand to and tried again desperately but she didn’t utter a word. You could hear the shell whispering though. Picking it back up and placing it near your ear, you could hear her.

“Why can’t I speak? Where’s my voice? I thought it would come back when the shell was placed back in the box!”

The mermaid began to sob and she dropped to her knees on the cold stone floor. She didn’t make any noise, but tears streamed down her face and the three boys stood by positively terrified. You raised an eyebrow at them and hurried to the woman’s side, rubbing her back.

“It’s OK,” you croaked, having not spoken in a while. She took her face out of her hands and looked up at you, giving you a sad smile. You held the shell up in front of her and then placed it to your ear, “Talk to me.” She looked sad, but you could hear her whispers again.

“My voice…” she choked and you could see her blinking back more tears, “The sea witch said it would come back if someone returned the shell. How am I going to talk to my prince like this? How am I supposed to find him?”

“We’ll help you,” you reassured her, motioning to the three cowering boys in the corner. They didn’t seem to know what to do, what to say or how to approach what had just happened. For the three people in the room that had experienced the most magic, they didn’t seem to be handling it very well. You stood up and offered your hand out to the woman, helping her on to her shaky legs. “What’s your name?” you tried, you weren’t exactly going to call her Lost Princess, that would be weird.

“Ariel,” you heard the shell whisper. You gave her a smile, “That’s a lovely name, come on, Ariel.”

You weren’t sure how you were going to break the news that you didn’t know where the Prince was either. Nobody on Neverland seemed to know anything about her story so it was evident that the Prince was unknown as well.

***

When you reached the surface of the water, you helped Ariel swim over to the water’s edge where Kai was waiting to help you both up. He looked surprised to see her, but grabbed her hand and helped her to safety nonetheless. Sehun ran over to you and helped you up before you turned around and helped Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. You were all completely exhausted and collapsed on to the cold surface beneath you, panting for breath. You closed your eyes and exhaled in relief; your mind could rest now that you knew she was safe and not so distressed anymore. You also had to admit, you felt quite heroic finding a Lost Princess that nobody had found in years. You just hoped you could find her prince too.

“Joonmyeon,” the shell whispered in your ear. You sat up and looked over at Ariel who was staring at Suho with unreadable eyes.

You shuffled over to her and followed her gaze, watching Suho pass towels to Kyungsoo and Chanyeol. “No, that’s Suho,” you explained.

“That’s him,” she shook her head, “That’s my Joonmyeon.”

“You must be mistaken he-”

“Has he asked about me? Has he been looking for me this whole time?”

“He’s not Joonmyeon,” you tried, “Nobody here knows who you are. We only found out about you the other day, I found your shell on the island and the mermaids told us your story, we came looking for you because you said you needed help.”

“No,” she whispered, “That’s him, that’s definitely him! How can I possibly forget him?”

***

Ariel sat on the sofa in the strange little house made of wood that sat in the trees. The girl who had introduced herself as Semmi gave her a glass of water and a notepad for her to communicate but she didn’t want to write how she felt. She wanted to speak, she wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, but most of all, she wanted Joonmyeon back.

Semmi kept calling him Suho but Ariel knew that wasn’t his name; she knew him almost as well as she knew herself. Ariel watched ‘Suho’ prepare food in the kitchen with the boy called Kyungsoo from her seat. She watched him move gracefully around the room, passing utensils and vegetables to owl-eyed boy. She watched his eyes turn in to two crescent moons as Kyungsoo cracked a joke and his laughter was like music to her ears. She missed his laughter so much. She missed his smile, she missed his voice, she missed his face, she missed how he would hold her and tell her everything was OK even though she couldn’t speak. She was so happy on that day they were meant to wed, the kiss was meant to break the curse and allow her to be with her beloved properly. She could talk to him, she could tell him how much she loved him.

When Semmi told her he didn’t know who she was, she didn’t believe her. She refused. How could Joonmyeon forget her? He said he’d love her forever, he promised. He wouldn’t go back on that promise.

But when she looked at him and he simply smiled before looking away again, she knew she was right. She knew Joonmyeon didn’t know her. Ariel cried. She cried hard, but no sobs could escape . She didn’t have the voice to wail, cry or scream. She simply sat there in silence as tears cascaded down her cheeks like the waterfall at the lagoon.