“Olivia, you were here? How?”

Her father stepped away from Numi who was looking at her with eyes as round as saucers, as were the rest of the family members.

He was not dressed as usual. That's why, at first, she couldn't believe it was him. He had taken off his nobleman's clothes, the embroidered doublet, the leather gloves, the velvet pants and the high riding boots, and had changed into a simple shirt and light pants. He was even barefoot, and did not carry any sword. His black hair was tousled, as if he had run a great distance. He looked like just another member of the tribe. A carefree man who had come home after a long journey to meet his beloved family.

Had he really been looking for her all that time?

“What are you holding there?” Alaric pointed to the talisman Olivia held in her hand, and gave a bitter laugh. “Of course, it had to be her. At least she kept her word, somehow, and delivered you to me.”

Olivia had clenched her fists so tightly she felt her hands burning. She wanted to scream, but the pain was as great as a rock stuck in her throat. She gritted her teeth. She didn't want to cry, not there, with everyone watching. With her father's mistress and their daughter present.When she spoke, her voice sounded like a hiss, loud enough that only he could hear it.

“It wasn't to protect me... you wanted to keep your other family secret from me... your shame... And Daephennya wanted to show me the truth of what you were. Now I understand.”

“It's not like that, don't let her manipulate you.”

“You lied to me about my real mother, you hid from me that I had a sister, and from both you kept me apart. You made that decision alone. You betrayed me, your own daughter, but of course if you had another... You don't really need me.”

Alaric approached slowly as if she were a deer that could run away at any moment.

To Olivia's surprise, Silas stepped between her and her father.

Alaric stopped.

“You're still here, with my daughter, you could have left by now,” her father glared at the dog. “I thought...”

“Silas, leave us, there is no need, please,” Olivia begged him, and the dog reluctantly took his place behind her letting out a growl.

She looked back at her father.

“Every year you'd go away and leave me... Turns out it was to meet your other daughter.”

A much prettier, more fearless, freer daughter than she could ever be, Olivia thought.

Numi moved forward in a couple of strides, until she was next to Alaric.

“So... you're Olivia? You're Olivia, really?” she looked astonished, almost as if she had just been told some good news. It seemed that at any moment a smile might break out on her face that she was trying hard to contain.

“Numi, don't...” Alaric tried to shush her, but the young sirenian didn't listen to him.

“Did you know?” Olivia felt she couldn't sink any lower. Was everyone there aware that the Count of Shadowrock had a sirenian daughter, except for her, the ignorant, pathetic girl who lived locked up in the castle.

“Dad always brought me news about you, and I wanted to meet you so much.”

Olivia felt as if she had been hit right in the chest.

“Do not call him that in front of me! Not like we're family! We're not! I can't have sisters! Not like that!”. Every word that came out of her mouth felt like it made her bleed inside. “You wanted to meet me? Ha! You took your time! You didn't even try, I'm sure!”

Numi stepped back with a hurt expression. Yaritza came up from the side, and hugged her daughter, who hid her face in her mother's neck.

“Olivia... it's not their fault,” said Alaric softly. “Hate me. I am the cause of all this mess, and your mother...” he shook his head.

“Is that why I was punished? For the mother I have?”

“It's not like that, you know very well it's not like that.”

“I don't believe you! You chose the easy way! You locked me up, and hid a part of me! It's my life! It's not only yours! It's my story too!”

Alaric had stretched both arms forward, reaching for his daughter's shoulders. Before he could touch her, Olivia already felt imprisoned but was unable to move.

“Not here, Olivia, come with me. We'll talk about it, I'll tell you anything you want, I promise, I swear.”

“I don't believe you.”

“It'll be different this time.”

“Are you going to force me to come back after all?”

“At Shadowrock I can protect you. Here you're exposing these people to the king's rage...”

“So they come first.”

“You too,” Alaric gave Silas a piercing look.

“And Silas? Will you leave him alone?”

“Silas?” Alaric then understood that she was talking about the black dog. “So you've become friends... If that's the case then all the more reason you should...”

“He's not going to sacrifice himself for me!” Olivia shouted.

The Count's apparent calm disappeared from his face.

“It's the only way the royal family will leave us alone! I beg you, chimera! I have it all planned, nothing bad will happen to you!”

“He has a name! His name is Silas, and he's my friend, and I'm not going to hand him over to the palace for my safety!”

“If you would listen to me for a moment you would see that...”

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Alaric was an inch away from Olivia, but Mantok blocked him.

“We are not in Shadowrock, my Lord. You may be the Guardian of the Circle, but you have no authority here.”

“Authority? She's my daughter!” Alaric roared in a way that made Olivia's skin crawl. She had never seen him so angry.

“Yes, but she has also committed a great fault,” replied Mantok in a soft, yet firm voice, the opposite of Alaric's at that moment. “The girl has infiltrated my household, and has entered into relations with my family pretending to be someone she was not. As one of the chiefs, I demand that a tribal meeting be held to decide on an appropriate way to make amends for such an offence.”

“Really, Mantok?” Alaric looked at him as if he had gone mad. “She is a child!”

“Mantok...” Thalassa stood next to her partner, but then turned to the Count. “My Lord, this has been a very hectic night. We must all calm down. But there is one thing I cannot deny. My partner is right. Your daughter has insulted us all with her deceit, so for the time being she will remain in our custody until she is accountable to all the chiefs of the tribe. After all, the Lake Tribe demands respect.”

“Thalassa...” Alaric's voice became threatening.

“You are the father of my granddaughter. Do not ruin so many years of friendship simply out of stubbornness. I promise that your daughter will not run away, as I know very well that you fear. Neither of them, she and the chimera, have anywhere to go. This place is surrounded by Sirenians who will be able to find them at once. The chimera has reached the lake, and is therefore under our protection. In the meantime, Mantok and I will have a talk with these two... to better understand the situation.”

“This is outrageous,” the Count reproached her.

“We are just following the laws of the Covenant. You are the Guardian, you should know that, you have taken an oath. Actually, here the only one who is trying to abuse his power is you because you do not allow us to judge your daughter properly.”

The Count closed his eyes, and thought about it for a moment.

“Fine, but make it quick.”

“All in good time. Today is the night of the Return, we can't rush the chiefs.”

The Count said no more, it seemed he had realized he had everything to lose if he confronted Thalassa.

The sirenian chiefess began to retreat towards the big family hut, followed by Mantok, who signaled Silas and Olivia to follow them. He then waved his arms at the other family members to dismiss them.

Before walking away, Olivia turned her head toward her father to find Yaritza standing next and comforting him by stroking his back. Irritated, the girl turned around again, and hurried her pace.

She had no idea what Silas must be thinking, but at least he had tried to defend her. Meanwhile, her head was a whirlpool of contradictions. She felt guilty that she had been caught in her deception, but also betrayed by that family of sirenians who knew more about her life than she did.

Although at that very moment she preferred a thousand times more to suffer the punishment imposed by the tribe than to talk to her father again.

Inside the hut were some members of the family whom Mantok asked to leave. Once they were alone, Olivia fell to her knees, and, resting her hands on the ground, lowered her head.

“Chief Mantok, Chief Thalassa, I know I have offended you deeply, and there is nothing I can say in my defense but...”

Mantok let out a laugh that reverberated throughout the room, and Olivia looked up in surprise to see him shake his hand in the same manner she had already seen him do hundreds of times over the course of that agitated day.

“Raise your head, Acolyte... my Lady... uh... girl... no one is angry with you.”

“Aren't you?” Olivia's voice trembled in disbelief. She felt so angry with everyone and there was the old boss laughing with his whole body.

Mantok even had tears leaking from his eyes that he had to wipe away with one hand.

“Of course we are not. I haven't had so much fun in years. Young people have all sorts of funny ideas... Disguising themselves as Acolytes, running off through the kingdom with a chimera... Thalassa, my dear, did you know of all of this?”

They had both sat facing Olivia and Silas in a relaxed position.

“Of course, my dear,” she replied.

“I figured as much, you're always one step ahead of me.”

“So the punishment...?” Olivia began to ask in a pitiful voice.

This time both chiefs laughed.

“All that punishment stuff was an invention to get your father off our backs, so we could talk calmly to decide what to do with you and, above all, with our brother chimera,” Mantok bowed his head to Silas, who nodded in return.

“It is a pleasure to meet you at last, Lady Olivia,” said Thalassa.

“We haven't seen you since you were a baby,” added Mantok.

“Have we met?”

“You were too little to remember,” the man explained. “We always wanted your father to bring you to visit the lake, and meet your sister, but he...”

“The man is as stubborn as an octopus,” Thalassa remarked, but then she became serious, and looked Olivia straight in the eye. “Still, we always understood his reasons... It's already beginning to show.”

“Show?” Olivia shifted uncomfortably.

Thalassa reached out to the girl without touching her.

“Your elven half. It's still very weak, but there it is.”

Olivia bit her lip.

“We'd better focus on Silas.”

The sirenian agreed. Mantok, who had gotten up to look for something, returned with a map which he spread out on the ground.

“Well, where does the chimera brother want to go?” he asked.

“To the Isle of Demons,” answered Silas.

Mantok whistled, and Thalassa began to point out some spots and routes. From the lake, the most direct way to get to Stormbrace was to cross the eastern meadows, but for Silas the safest route would be by water. He should take the same route as the sirenians did: cross the Gulf of the Dancing Lights until he reached the Misty Dream Strait. Then he would have to follow the coast eastward until he reached the Freedom Sea and head straight toward the island.

“For a non- sirenian, it's a long journey,” said Mantok. “But at least you can change form.”

“I... I coudn't transform yet...”

Silas lowered his head in shame. Olivia wanted to tell him that he shouldn't feel bad about it, but she thought the chimera wouldn't like it if she said it in front of the other two.

“But right now...” Thalassa started saying.

“My options are limited, ” Silas interrupted her. “I can turn into not very large land animals. I have never come close to practicing in water. I will need time to achieve a suitable form.”

“I understand...” Thalassa remained thoughtful. “There is a way to speed up the process.”

Silas' droopy ears perked up.

“Is that so?”

“We have rarely done it. We need several sirenians, especially experienced chiefs.”

“What is it?”

“We should be able to read your code and make... a few small alterations.”

“Alterations?” Silas sounded suspicious.

“Temporary,” Thalassa clarified. “But they will last long enough to get you safely to the island. If we could, we'd go with you... but too many people already know you're here, not just the Count, I imagine. If we are found to be helping a chimera, we may risk a conflict. With wizards you never know.”

“I understand,” said Silas, and then puffed out his chest with pride. “The mere fact of turning me will be of great help. The rest I can do on my own.”

“That's the spirit worthy of a chimera,” nodded Mantok with a grunt of satisfaction.

“Still...” Thalassa frowned. “We are getting ahead of ourselves. We can't make any decisions without the rest of the chiefs.”

Mantok waved his hand.

“I don't think it will be a problem... They'll all agree...”

“They won't like it if we interrupt their party,” Thalassa warned him.

“It is an important matter. With the Count here we can't wait any longer... As for you... Lady Olivia of Shadowrock.”

Olivia took a deep breath. She didn't like what she was about to say at all.

“If I go with Silas... the royal family will come for you and the rest of the tribe. I don't want that. My father is right about one thing. I'm sorry I got you into this mess.”

Mantok laid a hand on her own.

“This lake has been very dull lately. You were meant to come and shake things up a bit. I understand that it must not have sunk in yet but we are family. To us, you are as much a granddaughter as our Numi. If you ever want to run away from your father again, you can always come here.”

Olivia averted his gaze, and looked at the black dog who had become somber.

“What will you do with the prince?” Silas asked suddenly.

“I'm not sure yet but it's something I'll have to deal with. I won't let my father use you to save me. I'm glad we came together this far.”

The chimera was silent again.

The time had come. They were very close to saying goodbye. Olivia wondered if he would feel as sad as she did.

But she was determined. She couldn't run away from her problems. Silas had to go alone, even though, from that moment on, she was sure that, if that was truly the last time they saw each other, no matter her fate, she would spend the rest of her life missing him.