Luca knew something was wrong before his feet could lift off the carriage.
It was subtle at first, but from the moment that he inhaled the air, it settled heavy in his lungs. It was overwhelmingly sweet. The scent wrapped around him in an instant, clinging to the back of his throat and coating his senses in something almost suffocating. It was stronger than anything he knew. He had never experienced such a sensation in his body before, so he quickly wrote it down in his notebook.
Luca waved at the carriage, which had the prettiest colossal seahorses he had ever seen.
He began trekking across the pristine bridge leading to the Blue Coral Estate, his suitcase in one hand and his notebook in the other. The tiles of the bridge below his feet shone in an almost unnatural manner under the dim, overcast sky.
The time he spent in the carriage had given much time for resting, but of course, Luca did not rest. He had been highlighting important things in his notebook, such as the Lunar Lily detail mentioned by Scovina, and double-checking everything he had brought with him in his suitcase, which now seemed heavier than ever.
The further Luca walked, the more uneasy he felt with all the strange air pressure giving him a significantly harder time. He adjusted the enchanted oxygen mask on his face and forced his feet forward.
"The path seems to be getting longer the more I walk," Luca thought, now exasperated. Every glance he made at his watch, the amount of time he had spent baffled him. He had been walking for at least two hours, and he was still midway across the bridge.
Luca let out a heavy exhale and dropped his suitcase. The wind had blown his hair out of style, and he felt more unathletic than a senior citizen.
He slumped against the railing of the bridge to take a breather, and since—for some odd reason—there were no passing vehicles at all, he figured he could take a short nap. He took out a pillow from his suitcase, put it on top of it, and then laid down. Unfortunately for him, the weird oxygen mask made that uncomfortable. Luca looked up at the sky, knowing that any normal person who saw him would think he was a madman, but he didn't care. Not now. All investigators were crazy anyway.
As he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but notice something awfully familiar. It was faint… and rotten.
It was the same fish-laced undertone from before, barely detectable to anyone else, but to Luca it threaded through the sweetness of the air like something decaying beneath the perfume.
He coughed lightly, recalling unpleasant flashbacks of him embarrassing himself by asking around if anyone else could smell fish at the crime scene.
Fully giving up on the idea of taking a nap, Luca got back up, and as he glanced over at his side, he physically felt his heart drop at an astronomical rate.
"Oh dear," he shrieked.
A tall slender merman with ashen skin and aqua scales loomed over him, smiling so widely it was frightening. He hadn't even heard him approaching.
"Welcome to the siren dukedom, Mr. Sterling!" The man said, taking Luca's luggage. "Follow me to the front doors, if you will."
Before Luca could register anything that was said, the man grabbed him by the arm and levitated away with him. That was definitely unusual, but it wasn't like the man could walk on his tail, either.
And all of a sudden, the air didn't feel so oppressive.
Luca swallowed, getting overwhelmed by how quickly and suddenly everything around him was happening, and the man seemed to be taking him to the Blue Coral Estate.
"Who are you?" Luca finally asked after recollecting his thoughts.
"I'm your appointed valet! I will assist you during your stay," the man smiled quickly and then narrowed his eyes. "I hope you're good at your job," he added in a whisper.
Luca swallowed, putting on a polite smile.
Soon, they came to a stop in front of a giant portal. "If you weren't a human, you would've surely arrived at the doors ages ago," the merman said slyly. "Anywho, step into the portal." And then he all but shoved Luca while smiling to himself slyly.
"Rude," Luca thought as he stumbled and spun in the portal, knowing for a fact that his blood pressure had spiked.
Thankfully, it was over as quickly as he had been pushed inside. When his vision settled, he found himself standing directly in front of grand, pearly doors of the estate, and right in front of it stood the sly valet. Luca couldn't help but wonder how the valet had gotten there before a literal portal.
Luca's appointed valet wasted no time before grabbing him by the arm and leading him inside the pristine coral corridors. Luca was amazed by the sight of it all, but none of it came close to Zayn's residence.
"The name's Corey," the merman turned. "You must be so worn out since your body isn't adjusted to walking such a distance, am I right? Corey said, tail shimmering under him.
"Erm… yeah," Luca responded, pushing an awkward smile.
Luca's luggage swished at Corey's side as he led him on. Luca assumed he was being taken to the room he'd be staying in and fretted for what it'd look like. He hoped it ended up being cozy and kind of small.
As expected, the walking distance was astronomical, and Luca was panting like a water-deprived dog after the first half hour. There was seriously no need for the Coral estate to make him feel like the elderly while he was still in his early years.
Once again, Corey stopped in his tracks, slightly startling Luca behind him. "Mr. Sterling?" he began. Luca looked up. "You know, you can take off that mask now. The Coral estate has breathable air, and if you haven't noticed, it isn't filled with water."
Luca flushed faintly, ridding himself of the annoying mask. He had thought he'd be stuck with it for the duration of his stay.
He couldn't get rid of the familiar smell that had returned to him despite the corridors being littered with lingering maids, butlers, valets, nobles he had seen in the media, and all the likes. It was frustrating not knowing what it truly was, but he knew that the fact that he smelled it again here of all places had to mean something.
"Earth to Mr. Sterling?" Corey snapped in his face several times. Luca must have zoned out. "This is your room," he announced, opening the intricately carved wooden door.
Luca shut his eyes quickly, stepping in before opening them. The room wasn't exactly what Luca had hoped for, but it wasn't bad either. It was a coral-themed, dome-shaped room with a large desk and a medium bed and was lined with several bookshelves. Luca sighed in relief. It wasn't a huge pristine room that screamed "showing off my wealth and status" in every corner. "Bonus brownie points for the sirens," Luca thought happily.
Corey dropped his luggage beside the bed, and that was when Luca noticed his frilled, webbed ears, whose colour matched his tail. He wrote down that tiny detail in his notebook, because he was going to keep a profile of everyone he encountered. It was a necessity.
Luca plopped down on the bed, thanking Corey for his service.
Corey didn't leave immediately, though. He summoned a pure white letter in his hand, which had Luca's name written in bold on the surface. "Her Grace has invited you for dinner tonight at 8pm sharp."
Luca's eyes widened. There was surely going to be a feast, and that meant there would be lots of food and many eyes watching him as the sole human at the table. He knew he wasn't going to eat, and that would be seen as disrespectful, and what if Scovina suddenly decides to have him incinerated for lack of manners?
Luca broke out in a cold sweat. He could not go even if he wished to learn more about his current case immediately.
"I—did you know that if humans ate after extremely exhausting, lengthy travel, they would have a ninety-nine percent chance of blowing up?" he said too quickly. Corey narrowed his eyes.
"I really wouldn't recommend I eat anything or even move right now to ensure my safety and the completion of this case," Luca added, feeling as if he committed the largest crime with his obvious lie.
Corey stayed quiet for five seconds too long before replying sharply, his eyes still narrowed. "If what you say is true, Mr. Sterling, then I shall let Her Grace know of it," and then he shut the door after exiting.
Luca sighed heavily, throwing himself back on the soft mattress. He was exasperated and probably needed hours of sleep—not a nap.
He wasn't going to do either of those. At least not yet.
Luca placed all his clothes and collection of ties in the closet next to the large window, which had a view of the garden. Then, he placed his suitcase right next to the bed and left the room secretly, hoping he wouldn't be spotted by Cory.
He needed to familiarize himself with his surroundings and every part of the dukedom. There were large posters featuring a coastal ball, which would take place in three weeks. "Interesting," Luca thought to himself as he passed one.
Each corridor consisted of large, white, arched walls with intricate symbols and pointed, arched windows. The floor tiles were a clear purple, which added a nice touch to the look. Coral reefs in vases decorated almost every hallway, and beneath it all, there was the same scent every time—Lunar Lily. Or that was what Luca assumed it to be.
It was a sweet, floral, but venomous smell that could almost paralyze one's sense of smell. Though the reason was still unknown, Luca could see why it worried Scovina. The scent of a forbidden elven flower filling up a siren estate from top to bottom? Everything was fishy about that.
More than anything, the complete silence was present at all times. No one in the hallways paid him any mind, let alone greeted him or even gossiped as he passed. Luca pushed open a large silver door, and what he found inside was something beyond beautiful. Lovely, exotic water creatures swam in a large aquarium, and in the large pools that filled the room, pretty mermaids swam and played around, drinking tropical juices and lounging nearby. There were many coral reefs and decorative algae along with mystical trees and a cool breeze blowing soothingly inside, as if it weren't a room at all.
They looked as if they were having fun. That must've been where Corey went whenever Luca was in his room.
As much as it was beautiful, Luca left quickly—he wasn't trying to intrude, and he was there to work, not watch mermaids like a creep.
Just as Luca turned around, someone bumped into him. The force hit him hard, as if that person had been running fast across the corridors, and worse, Luca hadn't even seen them.
When he came to, he was met with the sight of… a little girl. The one who had bumped into him. She had long silver curls, ashen skin, and bright amethyst-coloured eyes. She looked almost too identical to Scovina.
"Are you our human investigator…?" The little girl asked, her eyes widening in an eerie way.
"Ah, yes." Luca got up off the floor quickly, dusting himself off. "May I ask who you are?" he said with a warm smile.
The little girl jumped to her feet, her lips sharpening oddly, as if she were attempting to smile or something close to that. "I'm Lady Angelica. I'm very, very imp-tuh-rant," she said, the gap in her teeth evident.
"You're Duchess Scillivar's daughter," Luca realized. "And don't you mean important?" He added.
She tilted her head, as if the word "important" were foreign to her. "Imp-tuh-rant… yes. That's what I am." She leaned in. "But don't tell anyone I said it wrong. Humans might laugh, and I do not like laughing humans, Mr."
Luca couldn't help but laugh lightly, but it quickly got stuck in his throat. She had just said she disliked laughing humans, and Luca was being exactly that.
"I'm five whole years old, Mr." She narrowed her eyes. "I can make monsters scare you at night," she said with that odd smile again before walking away as if she were some secret spy.
Luca watched her little figure disappear down the hallway, her tiny shoulders bouncing as she mimicked sneaky movements like a miniature spy. He couldn't help the faint smile that tugged at his lips and the uneasiness about it all. There was something too precise about the way she imitated stealth, as if she had been observing many people far older than herself.
He straightened, muttering under his breath. "Five years old… and already playing espionage, great."
Then, a prickle ran down his spine. He shook his head and scribbled a profile about her in his notebook: "Lady Angelica—potentially harmless… probably not."
His thoughts lingered longer than they should've on her amethyst eyes and that eerie little smile. Part of him wondered if she was simply precocious or if there was something much darker lurking behind her cherubic face.