Chapter 203 - Reef – Brittney's Punishment

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Reef Rivers

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I told Ocean that we needed to go take care of some things this morning. He was going to have a visit with Abraham in a bit, so we wanted to give them some space. It's easier to be hypnotized like that when there is no one else around.

He knew that I was coming to find out information about Brittney, but I didn't tell him where she was or anything else. He didn't need to know anything about this. Ocean had been through enough. He was trying to heal, and with the stuff that had been going on with Justin, we didn't need to make his recovery even worse with this too.

Abraham and I had arranged for Brittney to be taken to a special facility. This facility was located about a hundred miles or so off the coast and, of course, it was underwater. This was easy for me to get to since I was a merman, and I was able to go to those depths.

Now, I needed some assistance, like always, to help me travel faster. I swim around eight to ten miles per hour when I am not trying to go faster, and about twenty miles per hour if I put my all into it. That would still take me a while and I didn't want that. So, we usually arranged for someone to come with us, someone that we could trust. This person would drive us out into the open water with his boat and either return later or wait for us, depending on the time, the day, and of course the weather.

Right now, he was getting me to where I needed to drop from in about an hour and a half, two hours max. That was a lot faster than I would have been able to get there on my own. I wasn't taking that long today so he was going to wait for me while he did some fishing.

When we got to the right spot, or close to it, I dropped into the water and shifted at the same time. By the time that I was covered in scales and wearing a tail, I was already far below the surface of the water, and no one was able to see me.

I swam down through the water at an angle, aiming for the ocean floor and the prison that was waiting there for me. This prison was currently in the territory of my merfolk clan, so they would not be able to refuse me if I wanted to come for a visit.

I wasn't here for a pleasure visit though. No, I was here for business. It just so happened that this business overlapped with my family's. Speaking of family, I had the lovely time of telling Brittney's mother and father what she had done. When I learned that her mother lived with her father on land, I knew that her mother had to be different than the others. The problem though, is that Brittney wasn't different from the other Sirens.

Still, telling the mother was hard. I mean, damn, that had been a hard visit.

***THE DAY BRITTNEY HAD BEEN ARRESTED***

The house that Brittney had been raised in was large, fancy and expensive. I could tell that her father was a wealthy man that took care of his wife and daughter. He had to have been a real catch, if the Siren wanted to leave the sea to be with him.

When I knocked on the door, I could hear someone coming almost immediately. A woman in a modern day housekeeper's uniform answered the door.

"Can I help you?" She asked me sweetly.

"I am here to see the mother of Brittney." I spoke sternly and tried to sound professional. The housekeeper's face paled and she stumbled over her next words.

"Y..yes. Please c..come in. I will get Mrs. Cartwright." She nodded and opened the door to let me into the foyer before hurrying off.

I stood there in the hall for just a few moments before I heard hurried footsteps coming down the hall. I heard a man and a woman talking frantically in low voices as they hurried toward me.

When the woman came into view, I could easily tell that she was a Siren. No, she didn't have scales or unnatural coloring. It was just the sheer beauty of her. She had beautiful, and natural, platinum blonde hair that bounced around her head in perfect waves. Her eyes were strikingly beautiful and mesmerizing. And her figure was perfect, even with her being slightly older. She definitely didn't even look like she was twenty-five, yet I knew she was well beyond it.

Her husband, the human, was a handsome man, but he was not all that striking. He had normal looking brown hair, hazel eyes, and a decent physique for a man in his forties. However, he did have kind looking eyes, and a boyish face that made it seem like he was fun to be around, I could see why his wife liked him.

"Are you a police officer? Do you know where my daughter is?" Mr. Cartwright asked the moment that he was in the foyer.

"Where is my little girl? What's happened to her? Is she alright?" I had never, in my entire life, seen a Siren that was this worried about their child. Aside from the social status that their child obtained, a Siren mother didn't care about their daughter. Once they were able to be on their own, they sent them away and didn't count them as their children anymore.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright, can we sit down please?" I asked them as I moved toward the hall. "I think some privacy and comfort might be in order here."

"Oh God, no." The man seemed to be thinking the worst.

"C..come this way."

The two of them led me into a living room with luxurious furniture and high-end electronics. They liked to prove their wealth, that was for sure. Once we were seated, Mrs. Cartwright started speaking immediately.

"What happened to my little girl? Where is she?"

"First off, she is not hurt. Secondly, she got herself into some trouble and has been arrested."

"ARRESTED!" Both of them shot to their feet in disbelief.

"That is impossible." Mr. Cartwright bellowed at me. "My little girl is an angel."

"Mrs. Cartwright, does your husband know all of your secrets?" I asked her that while letting just the smallest amount of my scales appear on my face, just a small flash for her to know that I was not human either.

"Huh!" She gasped when she saw that. "Y..y..yes, he knows everything."

"Good, then I can speak candidly." I took a deep breath then and explained to them what their daughter had done. I told them how she had harassed Ocean and Makai, how she had tried to use her Siren powers to bespell them into committing suicide, and how she had tried to turn the entire school against them. They had tried to argue that it was not true, but I told her that I saw it with my own eyes and that Ocean was currently in the hospital because of her actions. Not to mention, when Mrs. Cartwright learned of my position and authority, she really couldn't refute what I was saying. I had the authority to do what I did, and she couldn't stop me. She could be there at her daughter's trial and sentencing, but that was about all that she could do. Unfortunately, unless we brought their daughter to see them, Mr. Cartwright wouldn't be seeing her for a very long time.

***ON THE WAY TO THE PRISON***

It had been a hellacious time, that was for sure. I didn't want to make another visit like that ever again. It was way too much for me. As a parent, I didn't want to say those things to another parent.

Now, though, I was here to tell Brittney what was going to happen to her. This would be much easier, since this person here tried to kill my sons. That was not going to fly. She would pay for those crimes.

When I got to the building in the sea, which was in a bubbled dome that allowed us to feel like there was actually gravity in the place, I went straight to the gate which was opened for me immediately. They had been waiting for me.

After having passed through the barriers that kept the others inside, I was taken back to the visiting chambers. Brittney had been brought out and armed merfolk were standing on either side of her. They were armed with swords, spears and other weapons of the sort. Guns didn't work under the water, so we didn't use them.

"Who are you?" Brittney snapped at me. "What do you want?"

"Oh, you don't recognize me from the other day?" I chuckled at her.

"You're the man that stopped me from putting a spell on Makai." She glared at me. "So, you're a merman huh? Stupid, how is that even a good power? Sirens are the best."

"You are too much like a Siren for your own good, Brittney. Your mother wished you would have been more like her."

"What do you know?" She snapped at me.

"Well, that's what she told me when I explained to her where you are. She was quite distraught, but she knows that there is nothing that she can do about it. You committed a crime and must pay." She didn't seem to like my response, or at least I don't think she did since she screamed at me.

"You can't keep me here!"

"Oh I can, and I will. You have been charged with malicious use of power. Attempted murder. And conspiracy to commit interspecies terrorism. You are not going anywhere for a long time, Brittney."

"ALL I DID WAS SING!" She cried. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG! I WANT TO GO HOME! I WANT MY MOMMY AND DADDY!"

"Too bad, Brittney. You're a big girl now and you need to face the big girl consequences for your actions. With the crimes that you committed, you will not see the surface world for the minimum of twenty years, if ever. Even after your prison sentence is over, if it ever is, you might just be kept in the sea for the duration of your life. You are not to be trusted among people because you are not stable enough for that."

"NOO! I don't want this. I want to go home. I am sorry. I am so sorry." It's not my fault. He made me do it! Ocean dumped me and made me do this." She was sobbing now, but I could tell it was all fake.

"No Brittney, you dumped him, and he moved on. You need to stop with the fake crying, it isn't doing you any good. And you are going to pay for your crimes. Your mother will be there for your trial, coming back to the sea for the first time since she met your father. Speaking of, I will be nice enough to let your father have a video chat with you. That is for his benefit, not yours. You do not deserve these kindnesses from me. Your parents however, do. Their only crime was spoiling you too much. You needed discipline but never got it. And this is where that led you." I turned and started to swim away.

"I HOPE YOU ALL DIE! YOU! OCEAN! MAKAI! ALL OF THEM! I HATE YOU ALL!"

"And, that there, is showing us what type of person you actually are." I shook my head and left the prison.

All that travel for five minutes with her. I had intended to explain more to her, to tell her what would happen, but she clearly didn't deserve it. She didn't need that kindness from me, or anyone. And in my heart and soul, I knew that prison wasn't going to help her.. She was going to be a bane on society her entire life.