Chapter 3

I scoured the neighborhood with my flashlight, checking every alley, every shadowy corner, even peering into storm drains. But there was no sign of Leo.

The night wind bit at me, chilling me to the bone. Then something clicked. I bolted, running towards the nearest beach.

Under the moonlight, the sand glowed a cold white. The waves breathed, ebbing and flowing, a steady rhythm.

Right at the ocean's edge, a small blue figure knelt in the water.

"Leo!"

My shout startled the little merman. He whipped his head around, and when he saw it was me, he clutched the egg and tried to dive into the sea.

"Wait, stop! Your tail will get infected!"

The seawater was already up to his waist. I rushed into the waves, grabbed his collar, and dragged him back to shore.

"There are hardly any good scales left on your tail. Why are you running into the ocean?"

His scales were gone because the original Chloe had ripped them off to prevent him from escaping. The saltwater would burn like hell on his raw skin.

"Sister..." He clutched the egg tightly, afraid I would try to harm her. "The eggshell turned gray. It needs saltwater."

Only then did I notice the egg's strange appearance. From the moment I’d pulled it out of the boiling pot, it had looked a sickly, dull grey-blue.

"But you can't soak yourself in the ocean, either. There's a tide pool area over there; we can go there."

Noticing that the child under my hand was shivering violently, I quickly took off my coat and wrapped it around him.