Diana was going to help Jacob again today. This time, she was going to help him capture a picture of a mermaid that he had apparently discovered in the sea. And apparently he had tried to tell people about it, but no one believed it. To be quite frank, Diana herself did not believe this. A mermaid at this time and age? Impossible. Even though she had heard of the existence of vampires and demons among humans in today’s world, mermaids were a different story. First of all, they lived underwater, and because of that, they were hard to discover already. You could not see them unless you went underwater, or they decided to show up above the surface like how Jacob claimed he saw them. Maybe they wanted to know what the world outside of the water was like too. If they were real in the first place, that is. Diana went to the same location she went last time for the last job she did for Jacob Fischer. It was somewhere near where they could access the sea as well. Jacob was sitting there as always, but this time he had a little polaroid camera hung around his neck on a strap. He was so ready to prove Hargeon wrong, it almost made her want to laugh, but she just covered it with a polite laugh and approached him naturally, alerting him with the cough it seemed as he turned to look at her with a slight frown.

“Hey Jacob,” she said with an encouraging smile and showed him the paper. He then got up with a small smile himself, adjusting the strap around his neck so that it held the camera properly. He just gave her a wave of his hand and took the lead to where they would have to take the picture. She wondered why he was not speaking as much, or smiling. Usually he was a cheerful kid, showing so much excitement you  could not help but feel the excitement as well, or at least feel amused by him. She did not want to ask him why he was feeling this way, so she ignored it and just tried to spark a conversation. “So, where exactly did you spot the mermaid? I love mermaids, so I actually can’t wait to see one,” said Diana, pretending to be excited about seeing a mermaid. This seemed to help lift Jacob’s mood, because he began to talk about the mermaid and how it was probably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, how its scales reflected the sunlight and looked so beautiful. Diana agreed with everything he said and nodded along, adding a few words when needed but mostly just being Jacob’s audience. Apparently Jacob wanted to go on a boat a bit further so that he could catch the mermaid. His reason was that mermaids were probably scared of humans so they stayed a bit further from the shore, which Diana could totally agree with.

So they were now on a boat in the middle of the sea not too far away from the shore, but also dangerously close to the nets that were there for safety reasons. The Hargeon beach authorities could not guarantee your safety if you went galavanting off beyond the nets. Diana sat calmly on the boat that probably fit only five people at most. Jacob probably did not have too much money to hire a bigger and sturdier one, but Diana was not scared. She knew how to swim, so that was a good thing. Even if Jacob did not know how to swim and something bad happened like their boat flipped or something, then Diana could save him. She did not just learn how to swim. She also learned how to save someone else, which was part of every swimming course. She liked that they taught how to save someone else too. It was good of them. Diana watched Jacob as he fidgeted with his little polaroid camera, making sure it was ready when he needed to capture the mermaid. Diana herself did not hope to see the mermaid much. This was her second day on a boat, doing a job for this kid, again. Jacob hummed a tune that Diana was not familiar with, but she knew it was one of those village tunes. Was he from a village here? Was he a village boy instead of a rich kid like she assumed? Maybe he was.

“Who else did you talk to about finding the mermaid?” asked Diana out of curiosity. Jacob started talking about how he talked to his friends first and they laughed at him, so he decided to tell his siblings and they also laughed at him. So he thought that it was because they weren’t mature enough, that they did not understand him, or could not accept what he was saying. So apparently he thought it was a great idea to go to the adults afterwards. For some dumb reason, he went to his uncle first, and then when he did not believe it, he went to his parents. Even his parents laughed at him, and told him to stop watching too many cartoons. Even still, he was determined to prove everyone wrong, so he kept talking about it, until it was the talk of the town. Diana laughed as she gathered her hair into a ponytail. Sitting on a boat in the sun was making her feel a bit hot so she needed to tie her hair up. For a long time, they sat there on the boat waiting for the mermaid to show up, but time just went by and nothing happened. The sun changed its position in the sky, ready to set soon. She did not start speaking about how they should leave and the mermaid was probably gone because she was scared of humans, but Jacob started talking, saying that it was a failed mission and that they should head back before it got dark. Diana nodded and helped him get the boat back to the shore. But just as she was turning, she noticed a shining something in the water. A large tail reflecting off the light came up over the surface for just a second and disappeared. This made her smile, but she kept it to herself.