273 Wait For The Signal

"Do we need to go somewhere to fulfil the mission?" Lycster whispered to his sister while they had breakfast. 

Vy shook her head, "Not that I know of. The instructions given was to wait for the signal. But…"

She thought back to the different times she had encountered the Future Eye and its associates. Usually, they would have people working for them in every place. This made Vy wonder if they had a place in Timbretune as well. 

Remembering the town made her miss it quite a bit. She missed speaking to Carole and wondered how she was doing. 

"We should write a letter for Carole, just to check in with her," Vy suggested to her brother. 

"Sounds good to me!" Lycster agreed with glee. 

As they left the Aqui Inn, the Blackfire siblings took a left turn to swim along the shop districts. Unknown to them, there was someone following their movements throughout the day. From each shop, they went to each unique location they visited. 

Vy and Lycster marvelled at Pearl Boulevard, which was filled with art sculptures and musicians. There were a number of small restaurants and cafes that featured live bands playing unique instruments neither of them had seen before. 

Lycster grabbed his sister by the hand and swam across the road to show her the interesting sights he had found. 

"Look, sis! Isn't that just wild?" Lycster exclaimed as he pointed at the scallop shell xylophone a street performing merman was playing. 

Before she could even react, her brother pulled her to the other side of the road to marvel at a mermaid crafting art sculptures out of corals and sea glass. The vibrant colours attracted the attention of many onlookers while the realism of the sculptures impressed the critiques. 

Not before long, Vy and Lycster felt a little hungry, so they started to look for a place they could eat in. They noticed a place called 'Kelp Diner' and decided to head on there to take a look. But before they could enter, they were stopped at the door by a waiter. 

"My apologies miss, sir. Are you both land walkers?" the merman waiter asked politely. 

"Yes, we are," Vy replied. 

"Oh in that case, please head over to Kelp Diner Express instead. Unfortunately, the food we merfolk consume is vastly different from you land walkers. So for food that would be suitable for you, you can head over there instead," the merman waiter explained as he guided them towards the place he had mentioned. 

The siblings were ushered into the restaurant right next to the Kelp Diner which looked very much the same. Much to their surprise, the Kelp Diner Express was bustling with business despite it still being early for lunchtime. 

As soon as they were seated on clamshell chairs, they were given a menu each by a mermaid waitress who introduced herself as Ashleen. She read out the specials for them and gave them some time to decide on what they would like to order. 

After placing their order sometime after, their food arrived in a timely manner. There was one thing that remained on their minds. How were they going to be able to consume their food? After all, they were not on land anymore. There were some things they had to take into consideration. 

However, a quick peek at how the rest of the patrons were eating gave them the clue they were looking for. As soon as their food arrived, Vy and Lycster were ready to dig in. 

Vy had ordered a squid ink spaghetti, while Lycster was having grilled codfish. 

"I wonder if the food will be wet," Lycster whispered to his sister, not wanting his comment to be heard by other patrons. 

Vy chuckled, "Only if you ordered it with sauce."

Much to their surprise, there was no different for them eating underwater or on land. Baffled by the experience, hoping that there had been something interesting to note, Vy could not help but ask their waitress why it was so. 

"Oh, don't worry. We get that question a lot," Ashleen smiled after hearing Vy's question. 

"We have spells in place to keep the food as they should be. We also have a special kitchen so that the food can be prepared," she continued to explain. 

After finishing their food, they paid for their bill and left the restaurant to explore the area a little more. Vy was getting a little worried because they had not heard back from anyone yet. She was certain that Future Eye had people in the vicinity. 

Could something have happened? 

But just as her thoughts were about to go in a different direction, Vy felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see two mercentaurans dressed in light scale armour with broad smiles on their faces. 

"Are you Miss Vyrena Blackfire?" the mercentauran with long flowing black hair asked. 

Vy narrowed her eyes a little before she replied, "Yes, I am."

"Please follow us, Miss Blackfire."

Up in arms, Vy inquired further, "What for?" 

The two mercentaurans looked momentarily flustered, as their eyes darted from side to side. Vy knew at that point that something was wrong. These two people did not even use her code name. 

"For the drop-off," one of them finally answered. 

Lycster remained silent, knowing it was best to let his sister handle the situation. He watched on in anticipation to learn and see how his sister would manage it. 

Crossing her arms, she placed her finger on her chin as she said, "Isn't the drop off scheduled later this evening at the lamp post right outside the hotel? Has something changed?"

Latching on to the detail Vy had provided, the other mercentauran jumped in, "Indeed. The drop off has been rescheduled. It is no longer at the Aqui Hotel. We are here to escort you to the new location."

Aether chuckled at the mercentauran's slip up. Vy had never mentioned the name of a hotel to begin with. 

The fact that they knew the name of that hotel was even more suspicious.