She heard the tiny demigod yelling at her from within her bag, and ignored him gleefully. He was a means to an end for her, and that was all. 

She swam downwards and downwards until she arrived at at underwater city that was lit by glowing seaweed, jellyfish lanterns, and glowing algae. Down here, the water was less murky, although Belle didn't notice, due to her not having a soul. She might be bleeding profusely, and still would not notice, because her body couldn't feel much ofanything without the element of a soul. It seemed as if, even when it came to emotions and feelings, all she could feel were negative ones like anger and sadness.

The homes in the underwater city were made of PVC--all were white, and she could see the silhouettes of some mermaids and mermen inside of them. They were small, just big enough for one mermaid or merman. Mermaids and mermen slept by burying themselves in the sand, and any mermaid or merman who was inside one was sleeping in the sand.

Belle swam through the throng of buildings until she came to a cluster of more orange buildings at the back of the village. They were painted all different kinds of colors, and she knocked on the door of one such building. The houses had no doors, only open arches. She waited politely outside nonethless until a merman emerged from the house. He wore a golden headress with crystals hanging and jingling at the ends. He had features of a shark--sharp fangs, a gray dorsal fin, and black eyes. He asked her, "what is it, Belle?"

"I caught a demigod." She answered. 

The merman's eyes widened. He looked left and right, went inside his house, and then waved her inside afterwards. She followed him in, and the shark merman drew the drapes hanging from the open arch. The man bade her, "Show me the demigod." 

Belle reached into her bag and pulled out the demigod. The shark mermaid pulled out spectacles from his own bag and examined the demigod. 

The demigod was squeaking at them, saying, "Unhand me, foul creatures! My mother will have your heads!"

The shark merman lowered his head and asked the demigod, "Who is your mother, and what is your name, little one? My name is Uther."

"I am Jan, and you will set me free, peasants!" Jan answered. 

“Ignore him, he just says the same thing over and over.” Belle said, pursing her lips. 

“No, it’s important for us to know this. Who is your mother? Who is your father?” Uther asked again.

There was silence from the tiny demigod, and then he asked, “Will you set me free if I tell you?”

Uther smiled and lied coolly, “Of course. We will just need a few things from you after you tell us, then we’ll free you.” 

Jan crossed his arms and puffed out his cheeks. “Fine. My mom is…”

Belle looked at him, wondering why he wasn’t continuing. She glanced at Uther, and then back at Jan. “Yes? Who is your mom?”

“I… don’t remember.” the demigod rubbed his temples.

Uther whispered to Belle quietly, so Jan couldn't hear. “We need to know his parents if we are to gain his soul. We need to get on his side, let him rest, and then he will most likely remember.” 

Belle was impatient. She grimaced and grumbled, “I want it now. Why should this pathetic creature get to feel the full range of emotions while I don’t get any? I don't want to let him rest."

Uther placed a hand on her shoulder, "let him rest, Belle. You and he may stay here while I go hunting. Make up a bed for him."

Belle grumbled, "fine."

Uther swan out of the tent, and Belle was left alone with the demigod. She placed Jan in her purse, and went outside the tent. She found two seashells and a bed of seaweed, and then went back to Uther's tent. She placed the seashell on the bed of sand, then placed a bed of seaweed inside the shell. Next, she placed Jan on top of the seaweed, and placed another bed of seaweed on top of Jan--both to keep him in place and to encourage him to sleep. 

The tiny demigod said indignantly, "I have never been treated so poorly in my entire life! Get me out of this dirty bed of seaweed."

Belle lied on her belly in the sand and gazed at the demigod, getting an up close look at him. 

He looked human in all respects, save for his hyper pale, nearly translucent skin. She made a face. He was quite chunky, and she wondered how he managed that, when he was a demigod. 

"You lived in the heavens, correct? The heavens, I'm sure, are remarkably beautiful compared to this. I'm sure you had every thing you could ever want." Belle hissed jealously. "I'm sorry I couldn't provide you with the feather down sheets you are undoubtedly accustomed to."

Jan blinked rapidly, and for a moment held a look of compassion on his face. But then, he said, "Quite right! I shall curse you for not providing me the trappings fit for a god, accursed, hideous mermaid."

Belle thought that a human woman would take quite the offense to that remark. She merely rolled her eyes. "Perhaps you humans, demigods, elves, and dwarves should not hog all the souls to yourselves, then I may not be ugly."

"Perhaps if you mermpeople hadn't hadn't committed such hideous atrocities to begin with, the gods would never have cursed you with soullessness to begin with." Jan countered. 

Belle went silent at that. In a moment, she slammed the second sea shell on top of Jan and merely said, "Go to sleep, fool."

Belle kept her elbow on top of the shell, ensuring that he couldn't escape, despite the fact that he struggled, kicked, and shrieked at her to let him go. He eventually went still ,and she assumed he had fallen asleep. She lifted the seashell to see that he had, indeed fallen asleep. Belle placed her hands on her cheeks, and waited patiently for him to wake back up. 

***

Jan didn’t know how it was so easy to fall asleep inside of a shell on a bed of seawood. It was nothing compared to his plush bed back at home that truly did feel like falling asleep on the softest of downy feathers, but he was so exhausted from his trip down to earth that he just… did. 

To begin with, he had fallen into a large pool of water. According to his books, this pool of water was called the ‘ocean’, and, at first, he wasn’t sure if he could breathe underwater. He had read horror stories of humans drowning in water. He was shocked when he was, indeed, able to breathe underwater--he assumed it was because he was a demigod. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to swim, and looked like a drowning chicken trying to paddle his way to the surface of the gigantic pool of water. All he could think was, I’m going to die! I’m going to die!

But then, something hooked onto his collar. The thing that had hooked onto him was lifting him out of the water at a rapid pace. This had terrified him even more, and again, all he could think was, I’m dead, I’m dead! 

He breached the water at a breakneck pace, and was swung into a fisherman’s boat. The fisherman was stunned at seeing him, and immediately gave him the appreciation and accolades as was worthy of a prince like him. 

Wait, I am not a prince. I am a demigod. He reminded himself, although he had no idea what that meant. 

Regardless, he had patted the old fisherman’s hand and told him that he was worthy of his… godly protection and love, because he didn’t know what else to say as a demigod. 

The old man flattered him, which he quite enjoyed, and then this blasted mermaid had stolen him away. Regardless, he felt the heaviness of his eyes as he drifted into a deep sleep without his own permission.

To the depths of his heart… to his very bones, he missed his mother desperately. He was in a strange place, and he didn't know what he was supposed to do. He was sincere when he said he didn't remember what his mother was the goddess of, or what his father was the god of. He seemed to have a blank spot in his memory as to what had happened to his mother in general.

***

Once he had slept and woke up, he was greeted to the inside of the pink shell. He could hear the repulsive mermaid who had captured him humming a song under her breath. 

He wondered if he might be able to escape while she was occupied. He silently pushed the lid to the seashell open, and was greeted to a giant, yellow mermaid eye. He fell on his caboose in fear, and then, tried to hop out of the shell and run, but she easily caught him by his collar. 

"Are you well rested, little demigod?" The mermaid asked. 

"Let me go, hideous mermaid!" Jan cried struggling to no effect. 

The mermaid sighed, rolling her eyes. "My name is Belle. Kindly answer the question."

Jan stopped struggling, and began panting heavily.

"I am… well rested." Jan finally said after catching his breath. 

"Good. So, do you remember your precious mother's name?" Belle asked.