Kai shot through the water leaving a trail of bursting blue bubbles along his way. The seagull took off into the sky as soon as he touched the water. Sheila and Zaren followed him flapping their tails faster than ever.

Jay saw his seagull wifey fly across the sky with a pair of stretched wings, enjoying her lost freedom. She flapped her wings to slow down and perched on Jay's shoulder. She spread her wings to hug him around his neck.
They pulled away from each other as a voice called Jay's name out, "come on. They are right behind us."

Jay thought only for a split of second and said, "meet you on land," to his wife and dashed into the sea, as she took off to the clouds again.

There was a swarming army of eel mermen, wading behind their tails. And right above them the sea witch flapped her raven wings and mangled her face at them.

They swam and swam beating their fins, splitting the water with their arms without a break. Kai had to breathe once in a while into Jay's mouth to keep him alive.

The sea witch sky rocketed and took a turn into the clouds. Cottony white clouds of day light started to blacken, with thunderstorm and tornado. Kai took a moment to witness the sky, as it changed it's mood. He signalled them to move faster.

Kai and his mates were underwater, he knew he was safe. But, he constantly worried about Jay's wife, who was now up in the air and probably fighting the thunderstorm. He shook his head to chuck the desperate thoughts away and tried to look at the brighter side.

Once they lost them, they left a sigh of relief. They resurfaced to look for Jay's wife.

The place they were stranded currently was way more familiar than the previous one. Kai tapped on Sheila's shoulder, pointing at the island infront of them. "We were here before. Look."

By that time, Jay's wife flapped her wings to hover above them and perched​ on Jay. "I was worried," he said, pampering her feathers gently. She closed her eyes, leaned on to his cheek, letting out a soft sigh.

"No, this doesn't make sense. The sea witch let us go on purpose?" Zaren rubbed his index under his chin. "Feels fishy to me."

Kai couldn't help but agree with his wise words. "That's right. What do we do now? Where to find the remaining ingredients?"

"All we need is a scale and a sinew." Sheila spoke to no one in particular. "I got it. The sea goddess led us here," she beamed saying that and looked at the island which stood at a distance.

Everyone looked at her with a hint confusion. She scanned their faces one by one, but nobody understood a thing until she had to spill the beans herself. "The scale of the serpent, remember?"

"Aah...right!" Zaren nodded at her justifiable point.

Kai gave a stern but single nod. "Let's go hunt the beast. But...how do we go up the hill top, I believe the serpent resides there."

"Don't worry," Jay said, "I'll play the 'prey'." He caressed his wife for one last time before he pushed himself out of the sandy beach.

His foot prints faded away with every new wave, as they waited for his return.
"I have a favour to ask of you, Mrs. Jay." Sheila tickled the smooth neck of the seagull.

"You guys saved us. Ask anything you want," Mrs. Jay squawked, she flapped her wings to perch on a stone which was right beside Sheila.

"We uh...we need a spittle of your saliva." Hesitation was apparent in Kai's voice as he informed her. "That's what the prophecy says, 'a spittle of a seagull who lost her love'."

"Oh boy." Mrs. Jay laughed, "that's an easy one. Give me a minute." She started making a gargling noise, while her tongue performed a cabaret inside her beak. Everyone cringed harmoniously. Zaren even muttered to himself.

"How gross. Bleck!"

Mrs. Jay retched and cleared her throat, getting ready to spit. Sheila held a seashell infront of her beak. Leaning over, Sheila watched a small spittle squirt into the centre of the shell. Seizing the precious droplet, she appreciated Mrs. Jay's efforts.

A distant scream shifted their attention back to the island. Kai saw Jay running away from the fringe of coconut trees and stiffened with alertness. A flock of birds flew away from the island, the thick forest on the hill waved and parted, a sure sign that the serpent was descending.

"Kaiii..." Jay cried before hopscotching on the beach sand to reach them. "It's coming!"

A familiar hiss haunted his ears, now more closer and more clearer. A scaly and red hood of the serpent took shape to peek through the trees. It slithered along the sandy ground, leaving a wavy trail of its existence.

The serpent raised from the ground and opened its hood to intimidate them. 'Tasty bite. A handful snack.'

Sheila held the rolled paper infront of it and waved it sideways, to distract the serpent away from others.

"What are you doing?" Zaren screeched, his teeth tightly clenched. "Are you crazy?"

The scarlet serpent seemed to have a  massive interest in the paper, as it slithered and followed wherever Sheila waded holding it. The serpent bent forward with a brisk movement and stuck it's forked tongue out to lick and examine the torn paper.

Sheila raised her fingers hoping that the serpent would yield, but no. Not the cannibalistic serpent who almost devoured them the previous time.

It hissed and opened its mouth exposing the lethal fangs, as if it was preparing to take a bite from her body.

"Hhee yyaa!" A scream coming from a distance scared the serpent away towards its abode; dozens of arrows and spears sticking to its hood and tail.

Everyone's attention shifted towards a group of people holding a variety of weapons and running towards the serpent. Sheila and Zaren held each other's hands as the surprise punched them in the face.

Among the group of dirty looking men, there was a hefty man with bushy moustache and beard, now of course long and matted -probably with lice and ticks as well- was running holding a wooden log. His fierce expression was nothing less than that of a savage caveman.

"Daddy." Sheila screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Dad."

Zaren joined in with her as he called for his father's attention. The hefty man stopped to steal a look at the bizarre people floating on the surface of water. The heavy wooden log in his hand dropped to sink into the wet sand. His fierce expression softened as he recognised their faces. "Zar!"

"Zar, Sheila?" He exclaimed as he hopped on the beach, "is that you?"

"Dad..." They both cried, unable to walk out of the water, as the sandy waves washed their bodies. The hefty man dropped to his knees and hugged them together, caressing the twins equally.

"What's happened to you? You look..." He stared them up and down, "you guys look magical, like straight out of a fairytale."

"That's what it is," Kai chimed in with a stern nod of respect to the sailor of RMZ ship, "a fairytale."

"How? Why?" Zar's father kept wondering; the group of survivors who chased the serpent away, were now surrounding them. A flabbergasted expression was painted on all over their faces. Some of them holding their Kith and kin, forbidding them from going any nearer to the bizarre looking teens.

"Dad, you should see Gabby." Sheila chuckled to lighten up the mood. She went on to tell the whole story to the crowd of survivors. Some of them believed her, but some still didn't.

"That's alright." Her father consoled her, "you told you need the scale of the serpent, right?"

"Yes." Sheila nodded in approval.

"So be it," he assured her, and signalled his assistant. He whispered something into his ears and waited patiently until he returned.

"Sir." After a while, the assistant handed him a parcel wrapped in a dirty cloth.

"Here." Her father said, transferring it over to Sheila. "Open and see for yourself."

Sheila, with doubtfulness tinkered all over her face, started to unwrap the parcel. What lay inside made her gasp. Kai, Jay and Zaren peered to get a better glimpse at what was inside.

Sheila picked one of the pieces and scrutinized. It was a semicircular coin with a radial texture of some kind. It was shiny, glowing, it was pure gold indeed.

She dug and went through the bottom ones, they were quite different from the first one. Still partially red, turning gold only at edges. She came to a conclusion that the coins were actually the serpent's scales.

"A long time ago, there was a chest of gold hidden below the roots of this mountain. A beautiful queen named Scarlet, did everything in her control to get to the treasure. But, little did she know that it was cursed. The One who lay their dirty hands on the chest of chastity, shall be cursed for life - an ugly beast of gold." The last line of the story was completed by Kai, as if he had known the story by heart.

"Two down. One more to go." Zaren took the red and gold scale from Sheila's hands. "Come on. There's no much time left, probably the sea witch is attacking the city. Gabby and kids are down there."

"Yes. Yes." Kai agreed, as he prepared to leave from the beach.

Sheila held her father's hands to bid him a proper goodbye, that was what she always wanted. "Dad, I love you, I promise you...I'll visit once this mess is fixed.."

He nodded and lifted her up from the water, his bulky arms wrapping around her in a tight hug.
Zaren slowly approached them and joined the family hug. Onlookers hurrah-ed to cheer the family reunion.

"I believe you." Her dad said, lifting the twins up in a hug, before letting them go chase the adventure.

"Dad, you're embarrassing us!"

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WC - 1701