However, the trio's rash actions angered the sirens, who hadn't been slighted by the mermaids in a very long time.
A war broke out, yet it was decided from the start.
With Dominic's anti-siren technology, the sirens had no chance. They tried retreating, but it was too late.
In conclusion, the mermaids win the war, and Emea, Dominic, and Austin live happily ever after.
It seems Beatrix had entered the book right at the beginning, when Narcissa was luring Dominic in. However, judging by the silence in the water, Beatrix arrived early enough, and the lure didn't work.
Thankfully, too. She wouldn't know what to do with a charmed man, as she certainly wouldn't eat him.
That meant that Dominic was fine, the main leads hadn't met, and Emea had no reason to have a grudge against her.
It seemed like a perfect way to start her task.
Beatrix slowly started swimming in the direction of Narcissa's home. It was surprisingly intuitive, being a mermaid.
She liked the feeling of the water on her fins and her long, black hair swirling around her. It was a calming sensation.
Yet it was this sort of quiet that Beatrix wished she could avoid right now. She didn't want any opportunity to think. She needed to block out everything.
Once she had gotten the hang of it, Beatrix swam much faster, quickly reaching a strange-looking cave.
The inside was surprisingly soft, decorated with various sea ornaments. It's likely due to Risa, Narcissa's sister. From what she understood, Risa was the kind, delicate type.
"Narcissa?" A soft call came from further inside the cavernous home, there were makeshift rooms, made up of mud and stones.
Beatrix swam further in, where she found a small woman, maybe 20, sitting on a bed made of plants.
The whole experience of being a siren and seeing this sort of fantasy setting was still shocking Beatrix a bit. The sea furniture and décor interested her, though she had to admit it seemed difficult to use, being in the water and all.
"Risa." Beatrix swam forward and sat next to Risa on the bed.
"How was dinner?" Beatrix understood the subtext; Risa was wondering if she had killed someone tonight. In the book, Risa is a kind-hearted siren, a rarity. She hates hurting people and refuses to hunt for herself, so Narcissa would hunt for both of them.
Which was definitely an issue, considering Beatrix wasn't about to hunt people either. She may be in the body of a siren, but she wasn't capable of cannibalizing people.
"It was alright, no trouble. I'm afraid I only caught one, though." Beatrix lied.
"That's alright, I ate recently, anyway." Risa smiled lightly at her.
Despite being very different people, Narcissa and Risa had gotten along well in the books. They disagreed a lot, but still deeply cared about each other.
"That's good, it's probably going to be a while till I hunt again."
"By the way…" Beatrix paused and turned away from Risa.
"You should avoid mermaids for a while."
"And humans." She added quickly. It's best that Risa didn't get involved in the plot.
"That's silly. It's not like I go around talking to mermaids and humans anyway. We aren't exactly on the best of terms." Risa rolled her eyes teasingly. She laughed softly.
"Besides, I have you right?" Risa smiled warmly.
"Yeah." Beatrix turned away sharply.
"I'm going to bed now, see you tomorrow." She swam away.
"Goodnight!" Risa called to her back.
It was important that Beatrix keep a good relationship with Risa, if she wanted to watch her and prevent her from interacting with plot characters. And some part of her felt like she owed it to Risa.
She saw her own sister in her, and it hurt.
But she was trying desperately to avoid the things that hurt her. She wouldn't be able to keep going if she thought about everything that's happened, and everything that she's lost.
-
The next couple of days were spent getting used to her new life, and being a different species, along with learning more about everything the book didn't detail. Perhaps the world she was in now had filled the blanks that the author had forgotten.
It turns out that having the ability to turn into a human after sharing a true love's kiss with a human is a pretty well-known ability of mermaids. It's not exclusive to Emea, many of the other mermaids have experienced it before.
Many just choose not to do it, not only is it difficult to fall in love with someone, but to many, the human world seems uninviting.
Those that do, however, are aided with a gift all mermaids are bestowed; they are able to charm people.
While sirens lure people to their location, mermaids have an arguably stronger ability: to make anyone fall in love with them. Perhaps the disparity between sirens and humans is so large because of the author's favor for their main character.
Either way, the mermaids certainly have an advantage over the sirens. Being able to become human allows them access to a whole new world that the sirens will never know.
In comparison, sirens have a much more cruel ability. They're all born with advanced fighting capabilities, along with retractable sharp nails and teeth.
The only way the mermaids were able to defeat them in the book was due to Dominic's tech.
Beatrix learned all this from other sirens. While they found it strange that a seasoned siren was suddenly asking basic questions about their life, Beatrix had to. Since the book didn't say everything, it's important she knows what she's doing.
She swam away from a local group of sirens; she'd been wondering how to feed Risa and herself without killing anybody, but the sirens seemed a bit appalled by her question.
And the information she found wasn't very helpful; while sirens didn't eat much and could get by on animal carcasses for a while, it was a temporary solution. Humans had all the nutrients sirens needed, and their bodies had evolved to exclusively hunt and eat them; compared to the softer mermaids that evolved to eat fish. If she and Risa wanted to be healthy, Beatrix would have to hunt someone eventually.
She just hoped she could finish her task before it came to that.