I returned to the surface once the sun had started rising from the east. It was already low tide when I broke to the surface so I could just tell the rest of my family that I swam early in the morning and went far because of the low tide. I was part of the swim team and had a record of swimming from one island to another, so they don’t really necessarily worry whenever I go by myself in the sea. Of course, it was normal to be worried, but I never had any accidents or bad incidents, so I suppose they were complacent.
It was difficult to drown in the ocean or get bitten by a shark when you’re the child of the sea god after all. Well sea monsters were an entirely different thing but that's another story.
As I started heading to the beach, I noticed the sudden change of atmosphere in the sea. The feeling of dread was getting worse the closer I got.
“Mira.” my cousin, Allyson, called the moment I reached the sandy beach.
“Hmm? I thought you guys were gonna come at dawn since it was a high tide. I didn’t see you guys.” I told him with a smile on my face. “I was rather lonely.”
“Nobody managed to wake up.” he replied with a shrug. “Apart from you apparently.”
"Well, you guys were drinking 'til midnight. It would be a miracle if any of you actually woke up at three in the morning." I said which he only replied with a shrug.
I actually did not see it for myself whether they went to the beach at dawn or not, but I did ask some nearby fishes and they told me no one in my family did so.
But that did not mean no one actually went to the beach.
"There were these guys in robes milady." I remembered one fish say as I was heading to shallow waters. "They were checking that underwater cave when the tide started getting low."
I couldn’t get the fish’s words out of my mind.
“This place seems a little ominous.”
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at his words. Allyson had always been sensitive to the supernatural. He was someone with a ‘third eye’, so he could see things normal people can’t. Now that I think about it, most of the kids in my family were sensitive to the supernatural, apart from that cousin of mine called Marii. I wouldn't be surprised if I find out I wasn't the only demigod in the family tree to be honest.
“How so?” I asked.
“It’s too quiet.”
I glanced around the beach, and it was everything but quiet. It was still six in the morning, but the guests of the resort were already walking around, enjoying the breeze or searching for seashells. Some were even taking pictures since the scenery was rather nice.
Although…
“I don’t see any locals up and about.” Allyson commented.
After breakfast I headed to the front desk. I was ordered by an uncle of mine to ask regarding the exclusive use of the pool and one of the karaoke machines in the resort. I also wanted to ask about any folktales or legends of the place, and the cave we found while swimming a while ago.
“The karaoke machines are available until eight in the evening. The pool is inaccessible once its six.” answered the woman in the front desk, rather rudely, whom I recognized as the manager of the resort. She was one who talked to Uncle Harry regarding how many rooms we would be using as well as the extra mattresses and blankets.
“But I thought night swimming is okay here?”
“I thought I told you guys yesterday that the pool is inaccessible in the evenings since our lifeguard is on leave?” she hissed.
‘She’s too rude for someone who constantly deals with costumers.’ I thought. ‘And she never told us anything about the pool being unavailable in the evenings yesterday.’
I was pissed off to be honest. She was too rude and sarcastic, definitely not good for someone with a job under customer services.
It was later during lunch, when grandma, grandpa and Aunt Dina’s family went to the resort that the manager lashed out on us for not informing them of the extra guests. Uncle Neri explained to her that we did inform her and that other guy the day before but she insisted that we didn’t. We just decided to pay the fee and went on with our lives.
Later that afternoon, while sitting on the swing watching over the kids playing tag in the grass, I noticed that the guests were starting to leave the resort. I was a little confused and suspicious at the turn of events. I was pretty sure some of those guests had decided to stay for at least a few more days in the resort, but somehow they were all leaving. It even seemed like they were fleeing or something. Of course, we decided to stay since we were scheduled to leave the next day anyway.
It turns out we should’ve left with the rest of the guests that day.
-To be continued...