"Are you sure that you want to do this?"
"Of course; why do you ask such a silly question?"
"So then, you never answered my question that day when the detective interrupted us. If you wanted a semblance of normalcy and adopted the first girl, why did you have the second child? I know you love your body among everything, so why did you?"
"Three reasons actually...."
"Tell me about them then?"
Her eyes took a faraway look, "Tyler was thinking of leaving. He wanted marriage, and I wasn’t ready, so I let it happen. I know he had been all about children, and that is why I even agreed to adopt that first brat! With the expectation that we had something between us, the idiot never brought up wanting to break up again."
"Oh! That is unbelievable.... Such a simple reason? I know you didn’t like him that much, though, so I sense you’re not telling me everything!"
"Mmmm!" Aliya paused as if she had not heard the last part of the statement; she just added,
"... And there was Ian, too."
"What about him? How did he contribute to this?"
"He had the audacity to start to ignore me! So, I had to pull on his heartstrings a little more. You can think of it as some of the emotional punishment, and it worked! That stupid man went all out of his way to make sure that I had a safe delivery, and then he even became their godfather! Ha! Men are pussies!"
"Ha! That is too ridiculous!" Her companion shouted, not even bothering to stifle her laughter.
"Shhh! You’re going to wake up the child!"
"Whatever! So, what is the third reason, and also, why did -"
"When I found out that it was a girl, I thought, why not? She would be a spare for when I needed anything. This life is long and boring anyway!"
There was a long pause,
"If that was it, then why did you leave them?"
Aliya shrugged, "Of what use is a mer-child with no abilities at five? I thought it would take some time since she was half-human, but then, there was still nothing at seven? What ridiculousness was that? I can’t even hold my head up among my friends? I did not dare tell anyone she was my child, but the ridiculous thing was that she looked just like me! It was annoying as hell!"
"Haha! You’re as ruthless as ever!"
"How do you expect me to survive if I wasn’t?"
"... and the boy? I didn’t take you for a mother figure who was willing to take on three children!"
"That was just a ticket for the future, but then, it all ceased to be fun..."
"You wouldn’t understand. I thought that I would be rid of him soon, after adopting him, but then he was one resilient child,"
"Whatever, let’s take a walk!"
"Isn’t she sleeping? Let’s go!"
*Flash back ends....*
The room was unusually still after Ingrid’s shocking words,
"When did you hear this?"
"Back when that woman was in the hospital,"
"So, they thought that you were asleep?"
"Who was the other person?"
"I don’t know. They were already talking when I stirred awake, but I still pretended to be asleep. That was the day that I went there alone. In fact, I am not sure how I fell asleep."
"Why didn’t you tell anyone?"
"I don’t know...." Ingrid’s voice lowered to a squeak, "I wish that I had."
Currey tapped on Ingrid’s shoulders as if to comfort her while Samantha was frozen in shock,
Another supernatural person? It was scary to think that Aliya was a mer-person. Samantha shuddered.
"Thanks for telling me."
"Mummy? What of her?"
"Your mummy is okay.... So don’t worry."
"Don’t worry, Ingrid, leave that to me to handle. You just need to protect yourself and your siblings so that when your mother comes back, she will be happy."
Despite her reluctance, Ingrid nodded.
"Now, I want you to still act the way you have been and do not draw attention to yourself."
Then Currey turned to Samantha, "DO not go anywhere unaccompanied. I know that even though you are the eldest, there isn’t much you can do here, but the most you can do is not to give yourself away that you are immune to things. Stay with them. Now you know the hidden threat. It makes things easier. Do not confront her!"
The two girls nodded gravely,
"I have increased your hidden guards. They may not be able to do much in the face of the current danger, but they are better than nothing. Suzie will be here, and you can confide in her, too. Your parents will be okay, so do not worry too much about it."
After Currey gave his instructions, he added, "You’re a brave girl, Ingrid. You did well. The mechanism will stay in your three rooms, so you talk with ease in the confines of the three rooms but not outside that."
The two girls nodded vigorously, and Currey walked over to Gabriel., smoothened the cloth on him and then, disappeared from the room. In all of these, Gabriel remained asleep throughout, and this made Samantha glad, for this was not the words that a child should hear.
T-Vino Police Station...
"The other investigation is as good as solved. Have you called the fiancée for the body yet? I know she cannot identify it based on the state we found it in, but she still needs to come in."
"Not yet. It’s been hard on her, and she does not remember much..."
"Evans, you need to read between the lines sometimes. Does she not remember, or does she not want to remember? These are two different things!"
"Why do you say that, Leon?"
"I don’t know. Something is a little off for this woman."
"Alright! I’ll call her right now!"