My eyes didn't fall away from Owen as I watched him slowly make his way towards the school’s entrance. Once he was out of sight, I felt my chest lifting off a giant weight and finally managed to breathe normally again.

What on earth just happened then ?

I was still stunned, unable to understand what to make of the situation that unfolded only minutes ago. I was convinced at first that I was going to leave the alley with either bruises on my body or with a tight and painful knot in my gut. But that wasn't the case at all. In fact, I think that I've never felt better in my whole life.

I turned my face towards the alleyways exit and spotted a tall colourful figure still standing straight in the middle of the sports field. How long has Mira been waiting for me ? I'm assuming that she's been there for a while by now.

With a calm and peaceful mindset, I left the dark passageway and stepped into the blinding sunlight. I rushed towards the now impatient Mira, who I just noticed was frowning with her arms crossed over her chest.

“So ?” Mira toned with a look of eagerness plastered on her face.

“It went fine,” I reassured her.

As soon as I'd said that she relaxed her body and let her arms drop down to her sides. She must've been worried about me ever since she saw Owen trap me against the wall. She could not have guessed that the situation was, on the contrary to her belief, totally under control.

Mira looked down into my eyes with a gentle smile drawn onto her face. Her expression was now completely calm and composed. Then, she suddenly groaned out in relief.

“I’m so thankful that you are ok, I was convinced that I'd have to resort to violence at some point, so it was a good thing you told me to stop running ! If not, Owen might have turned out beaten to a pulp. He'd have been so deformed the only place he'd ever be able to work in again would be a circus !”

I chuckled a bit under my breath at Mira’s remark.

“That's not very cool, rainbow-girl ! Besides, he might have turned out to be victorious in that situation. With just a simple trip down the authorities and he'd have your butt in debt to him for the rest of your life. He would be swimming in the money that you would be paying him off !”

“Oh, so you're meaning that he is not rich enough and actually needs my money ?” My friend said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and pushed her slightly to the side.

“You know what I mean ! Just… Oh, shut it.” I mumbled as Mira’s laugh echoed around the empty field.

We were now walking away to a more comfortable and private place to stay. We still had a bit of time on our hands before the buses would come and pick us up. So we decided to go towards the border of the school grounds and sat down on an empty bench under a tree, out of sight of any curious eyes.

Mira slumped back onto the bench and leaned towards me to pinch my bicep.

“You know, you still have to fill in your end of the bargain if you remember correctly.”

I widened my eyes in confusion.

“What do you mean ?” I said as Mira chuckled lightly.

“Well, I didn’t hang around only to act out as your bodyguard, I’m genuinely curious on what Owen had told you. Now could you please stop making me wait and spill the beans ?”

The scene was completely silent while my friend was waiting for an answer. To that, a very slight smile formed onto my face as I looked down to my intertwined hands, trying to hide the light blush on my face.

“He… Wants to come over to my home the day after tomorrow.”

It was then that Mira glanced down at me with a look of complete confusion.

“Why does he want to come over to your place ?” She questioned.

“It was to fill out my end of the deal we made.”

Mira’s expression was quickly replaced with a frown. She was now genuinely concerned.

“Akari.” She ordered in a hoarse tone. “Tell me everything.”

I gazed back at her with my lips slightly pursed. I then breathed in and out as I was about to tell her the full story.

I started communicating her the whole conversation I had with Owen. I told her about him being the scuba diver, about the fact that he was going to keep silent about me being a merman and about the condition he gave me in exchange. I unfolded the discussion I had with Owen word by word, and Mira never changed her dark and worried expression as I went along. Once all was said and done, Mira looked down to the ground with menacing eyes.

“So,” she stated. “You are telling me that he wants to be your friend and now you suddenly trust him ?”

I stared at her with a puzzled look riddled across my face.

“I… Well, aren’t I supposed to trust him ?”

“NO !” Mira exclaimed as she lifted herself to her feet, her now anger-filled eyes directed straight towards me.

“Of course you’re not supposed to trust him ! Haven't you realized that Owen is playing around with you ?! He is manipulating you right under your nose, and right now you are currently playing mindlessly into his game ! You know that eventually he is going to be using you to get exactly what he wants, and meanwhile you will be left with absolutely nothing ! Hell, you might even be dead if it ever comes to the worst ! Believe in what I'm saying Akari when I tell you that Owen is absolutely not to be trusted !”

I was shocked that Mira would react like that. I thought that the whole ordeal was solved and that I did not need to worry about anything else. But right now, she made me feel like I was in even greater danger than before. I thought that the fact that it was Owen who discovered my secret would play off as an advantage, but apparently not seeing how my friend responded.

“What the hell Mira !” I exclaimed. “You were the very first person who told me that I should open my heart to the others around me, that I should try making myself some new friends ! You were also the one who told me that Owen was genuinely the kindest person in the world and that I should trust him more. Yet, now that I have done exactly what you told me, you're demanding I do the exact opposite ?! Why on earth did your opinion change so suddenly !?”

“Because he is human Akari ! Owen. Is. A. Human !”

She exhaled all her anger out and plummeted back onto the bench. I frowned my eyebrows and stared at her with a bewildered expression.

“Ok, now I really can’t understand your point.”

Mira huffed and looked back into my eyes. She then expressed herself in a calm and composed tone.

“The tables have turned Akari, he now knows who you are. The purpose of manipulation is to make you think that you are both on an equal level, yet he is the one who has the higher ground. He will make you trust him, and he will, may it be literally or not, stab you right in the back. I have…”

Mira ceased to speak right in the middle of her sentence. It was like she were stopping herself in order to not say anything she would regret later on. After thinking on her wording, she resumed her speech.

“I have to warn you that this is how it works with humans. That’s how they’ve always been. I know he seems genuinely nice to you now, but one day he will come after you. It could happen in a day, a week, a month or a year from now, whatever the time would be it will happen. They are human, and we are mermaids. They hunt us down, and we are their prey. And for that fact, we should never, ever trust the humans.”

Her anger from moments ago finally made sense to me now. What she said was true. Now that Owen knows my secret, I now run every risk of being in danger, especially if I decided to stick around him. And even if he really wanted to protect me, what tells me for certain that he won’t blurt out everything to his friends later on ? If he ever does that, whether it is accidental or not, my life will be ruined to shambles. I thought that after Owen and I ended our conversation, I would be completely safe, and that all of this would be over. That was so stupid of me to be thinking like this, the situation is so dire I don’t even know if there will ever be an ‘over’.

Mira caught up on my ruminating thoughts. So she took advantage of the silenced ambiance to let out something that she seemed to have been wondering for a while.

“What are we going to do now ?” She questioned. It took me a moment of reflection to finally answer in what seemed to be the most anticlimactic way possible.

“I don’t know Mira.” I grumbled. “I have no clue on what's going to happen after today…”

“Well I do know what's going to happen. You still have your meeting on Saturday, right ?” My friend stated, her posture straight as she glanced at me from the corner of her eye.

That’s right ! I was going to see Owen the day after tomorrow, so maybe I could try and sort all of this out then !

“Would you like me to come over to your place on Saturday ? Just like what we did today, I can stand aside and protect you if it gets out of hand,” She stated.

I thought on her words for a moment before I let out a sigh.

“No Mira, it's going to be okay. If it were anybody else than Owen, then I’d probably be more afraid for my safety. Fortunately, it seems like I have been discovered by one of the most understanding person there is, even though he is human and, as you said, he should not be trusted. I will be more wary around him now that you've warned me, and I think that I'll be able to tell now if he is going to be manipulating me or not. Besides, this situation… I have a feeling that I must confront it by myself. So please don’t worry about me rainbow-girl, I will turn out safe and sound after this week-end.”

Mira then did something that I wouldn't expect her to do. After what I had just said, I would have expected her to contest me and force herself onto my rendezvous with Owen. But she didn’t do any of that. Instead, she just smiled. But something was off with her smile. It wasn’t here to show how cheerful or happy she was, it was more like she was worried, that she was scared of the outcome that might result after the two days are over, but nevertheless she trusted me and knew that I would be able to handle all of this out.

“Okay Akari. But please, if ever you think that you might be in any kind of trouble whatsoever, call me. Or at the very least send me a message, like that I'll come rushing to your house as fast as I could.”

I held onto her hand and nodded, a half-smile forming onto my face.

After a conversation like that one, I didn’t expect us to speak much. We did manage to do some small talking here and there though, and slowly but surely the atmosphere became more and more relaxed. My friend was incredible. She had the power to make me fear for my life more than anything, but at the same time she could just as much make me feel at ease. They say that the power of friendship can conquer anything, and I felt that to be very true in my case. Because right now, it seemed like Mira and I were the most powerful force that ever existed on this earth.