Day 7: Free Day

A/N: I hope you will like this. I'm quite proud of this one.

Chapter 1

The first time it happened, the world was prepared.

Despite the religious folks saying that it was divine retribution, it didn't cause a massive extinction. Though the government of every country tried to take refuge of their poor, their homeless and some of their animals, there were a few who drowned.

Countries had been able to make giant airships and rescue as many people as they can. Third world countries, inspired by Noah's ark managed live on ships and boats.

The coincidence of the rain pouring from the heavens on the 17th day of the second month was overwhelming. As the sun rose on the second day, the water has subsided and mountains showed up. That was where the similarities end from the story of Genesis.

In those days, instead of life perishing, it flourished. Trees grew taller; plants became greener, gone were a few traces of pollution, except for algae's and barnacles that grew on streets and buildings. The world became baffled. The scientists were shocked at the new changes in the new world.

Ever since then, the world would flood itself every year for a day or two. That's how it has always been and people came up with more measures to survive the flooding.

Diana made sure that the Cavendish manor has finished air sealing its doors closed and windows shut. She brushed her hands together in a pleased manner. It was the year 2017 and the flooding was two hours away.

Regulus and Spica, her English Foxhounds, yapped happily as their owner reentered the living room. They dizzily spun around in circles and eagerly tried to get her attention. Diana played fetch with them before setting a pot of water on the stove to boil. It was going to be a long night. She was going to make tea.

The news mentioned about a new species of creatures coming with tonight's flooding. Scientists who studied the flood theorized that the flood creatures were mammalian animals that nearly drowned. They even studied the components of the floodwater and explained that they had found a new element that performs miraculous wonders that induces the ability to transform the lungs and develop gills.

Diana had never seen flood creatures in person before. She has seen footages and they were usually small dog-sized things. They were ugly, all scales and huge eyes and they would tap on her window occasionally as they swam by.

Still, Diana was nervous. People had whispered about these creatures being the size of grizzly bears. She even heard they had long knitting needle teeth and hundreds of eyes. Some could emit light in their eyes like cats. Diana didn't like underwater creatures that lived deep from Mariana's trench. Which is why reading Lovecraftian novels about the Deep Ones were a little too unsettling. Especially nowadays since conspiracy theorists are saying that the author was right all along. If there was one unsettling thing about the Deep Ones in his fiction, it was that those creatures loved to breed with humans.

So she waited for her water to boil to drink calming tea. Everyone else was resting in their quarters: her aunt, her cousins, and the servants. The telly in her room was set to a station giving flooding updates. Diana felt a little safer when she listened to the UKN, knowing what was happening in the outside world when she couldn't be in it.

She stood by her window with her first cup of Oolong tea and sipped it gently. Midnight came by quicker than Diana could blink. There was a rumble under her feet. Regulus and Spica scampered into their cushiony doggie houses. And Diana stared out at the deep indigo sky. The moon was full tonight. It shone down on the eerie scene that was about to ensue.

Sure enough, it began to pour. Not just any normal rain, frighteningly wide, shattering sheets of rain all over the world. Scientists said that this was how the Mother Earth was cleansing herself, like how one would bath their pets to get rid of dirt and fleas. It filled up the front lawn in no time, and eventually, a steady water level had risen halfway up the window on the second floor. She could hardly see what lay beneath the murky water. A fish or two swam by, and occasionally something bigger.

From what she knew about aquatic creatures, those who thrived in cold waters tend to have muscled flesh with lots of fat and rubbery slick skin while those who live in warm shallow waters are often colorful. Diana somehow wished that she lived somewhere warmer to see friendly fishes swimming out her window instead of terrifying ones.

Despite all that ponderings, Diana remained nervous about the night ahead.

An hour rolled around and Diana still wasn't in any mood to sleep. Her nerves just hadn't subsided. And it was all because of some silly rumors about crazy bear-sized flood creatures that probably weren't even real.

Diana stared at the murky water. The light from her tall lamp by the window had illuminated it slightly. She caught glimpses of tiny seahorses and even occasional fishes swimming by. But due to the dirty look of the water, they appeared ominous and off-putting. Diana stood from her chair and pulled the curtains. The moment she did that, there was a sudden tapping from the window

Diana froze, probably just debris hitting the manor, right? She'd have to notify the Carter and Anna. Tell them the barrier systems were getting faulty.

Knock. Knock.

There it was again in a slightly different speed than the last knock.

Diana jumped when her dogs poked their heads out and barked. She set her second cup of tea down on the tea table and stood lost in the middle of her bedroom's living area. She had never been superstitious, but Hannah and Barbara once told her that three knocks from the unknown were often the devil mocking the Holy Trinity. It was a good thing that the knocks only came in twice at a time, or Diana will find herself ignoring her philosophy that it was supposed to be other creatures who should fear humans. Now that she deduced it wasn't ghosts or evil entities, how on earth could anyone or anything be out there?

It was too dangerous. Too cold, anybody out in those waters without proper gears would die from pneumonia in minutes.

"Hello!" A voice came from outside. For all the waterproof measures they did, the manor's windows weren't soundproof at all.

Her dogs barked again. Diana couldn't open the door for obvious reasons.

"Regulus, Spica!" Diana hushed at her dogs. She took a step closer to the window. "Who's there?" she asked, her voice breaking slightly on the last word.

"Hello?" the muffled voice came again, clearly not hearing her.

"H-Hello?" Diana called, "Who's out there? How did you get out there?"

"Help!" the anonymous voice pleaded in a strange accent. "Please!"

Diana didn't know what to do. This situation was bizarre. A person, most likely a girl by the sound of it, was outside her the damn manor during the flooding, and she needed Diana's help.

This was a life or death situation. Diana let out a panicked sigh and stared at her the window.

Diana's eyes flickered with an idea. "Can you climb onto the roof?" she called. "I'm gonna open the chute to the chimney. You can climb through."

She waited for a reply. There was none.

"Hello?" she yelled over the growing storm, "Are you still there?"

Diana feared the girl had been taken by the waves of the flooding. A sudden sickly feeling filled her stomach. Had she been too late? Would she have to call cadaver control to report a dead body on her premises?

Diana didn't take another moment to think and headed outside to the living room and opened it. The hinges squeaked as the remote-controlled chimney pried the frames open. It was a bad idea. Water gushed in and Diana feared the look on her aunt's face when they find themselves drowned in their own home but that assumption was quickly dismissed when Diana watched a long pale arm stretch out and claw its way outside the chimney.

Two red eyes glowed. A girl's face came into view. A live salmon was caught between her teeth. It wiggled, trying to wrench free, acting as a literal fish out of water. But the salmon didn't distract Diana from comprehending the girl's features.

Soft round face and chocolate brown hair that was wet from the rain. Diana stared back, surprised by the sudden flash of light her eyes emitted. Something about the way made Diana feel uneasy. This was previously a human, but she looked strange.

Possible homelessness wasn't exactly an aspect of this girl. Diana can tell that much.

Yet something was...wrong, other than the obvious elephant in the room that needs to be addressed.

Diana finally took hold of the situation. She pressed the button so the chimney would shut. The water that gushed in had reached her ankles, but there wasn't any worry. The manor was installed with drainage. With another click on the remote, the water on the floor drained like a shower floor.

When it was all over, she whipped her head back to the Asian girl.

Something clung to her, something long and heavy looking. For a second, Diana thought it was the girl's cheap plastic scuba suit, trailing behind her. But as the girl came closer, she saw what it was.

It was a pair of wings—white colossal wings.

Her feet padded against carpet floor and a steady drip came from her body with each movement she made. The wings twitched and stretched as the girl unfolded them.

Diana's English Foxhounds were going insane but they barked at a safe distance. Diana couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight before her. Inevitable warmth spread across her cheeks as she watched the beautiful stranger.

The stranger continued to fan out and shake her feathery appendages, sprinkling most of Diana's living room in water droplets. She was barefoot and dressed in strange clothing - a tunic satin dress in pink color.

Diana met the girl's huge ruby-colored eyes as the stranger unhinged her jaw and grabbed the salmon by the gill.

"Samui," she shivered. Her wings grew fluffy as they dried in the heat of Diana's living room. The Asian girl looked around, eyes wide with curiosity.

"I... You have..." Diana stammered. She could not stop staring at the girl for a single second.

The girl trembled again and raised an eyebrow at her, "English?"

"I..." Diana's mind wanted to blow. "Yes?"

The girl nodded her head with a smile. She then handed the medium-sized salmon to Diana. "Thanks...for help. Offering?"

"I... uh..." Too mystified to even speak, Diana just accepted the salmon and it slipped through her fingers.

The poor fish just flapped on the floor.

Awkwardness began to seep through and it disappeared instantly when the stranger spoke: "I am cold."

"Oh," Diana breathed. She swallowed hard in her attempts to speak. "Do you need a change of clothes?"

The girl looked like she needed a hot bath, a sauna session, and ten bowls of chicken noodle soup. Not just dry clothes. She shook in front of Diana like a newborn puppy. And yet her face remained curious and alert like a deer.

"Cold," the girl repeated.

Diana could only nod. She will have to prepare her a warm bath and boil some more tea.

"Are you tired? I have a guest room." Diana said as the storm wailed outside. The stranger finished warming herself in Diana's bathroom and was now wearing some of Diana's old pajamas. Diana even had to cut the cloth to accommodate the guest's oversized wings.

"Tired? What is tired?"

"Do you want to sleep?" Diana asked, fearing that the girl might not understand her language very well. She has to refrain to speaking as she usually does. "Like, rest?"

The girl stared blankly.

Diana decided to demonstrate by climbing under her covers and patting her sheets down. "Sleep," she repeated, folding her hands under one side of her head.

"Sleep!" the girl repeated happily. She strolled over to Diana's bed and began to lift the sheets on the opposite side.

Diana had no time to stop her and soon enough she had buried herself under the covers, wings folded against her back comfortably.

"Okay no," Diana sighed. "You sleep in the guest room."

"Sleep?" the angel spoke.

Diana nodded. "Come with me."

She showed her the guest room, a neat place with warm white lamps and soft bed sheets.

"Here?" she asked.

"Yes, this can be your room."

"Sleep," she nodded and lifted the covers to climb under.

"Okay," Diana said, baffled by everything that was happening right now. "Oh, I forgot. My name is Diana. And you are?" she asked looking hopefully at the water angel.

All she received was a stare.

Diana reconstructed her question. "What is your name?"

"Atsuko," she said with a smile that reached her ears. Her cheeks colored with pink powder.

"Pardon?"

The girl tilted her head, repeating her name.

"At-soo-koh?" Diana tried.

"A-tsu-ko."

The girl shook her head and said it again. Only this time it was faster.

Diana didn't get it, but she tried again nonetheless. "Akko?" she was pretty sure she forgot to pronounce another syllable, and it was confirmed when she received a lifted eyebrow from the stranger.

"Okay, I'm Akko." The girl then sunk her head on the soft pillow, closing her eyes. "Night, night."

"Goodnight," Diana said before closing the guest room's door.

Diana couldn't sleep well that night. She threw the blanket off of her, deciding to make this sleepless night as productive as she can make it.

The flooding updates on the UKN caught her attention. She watched as an image of an eerie-looking creature appeared on the screen. Diana glanced at the strange girl before striding over to her tea table to fetch the remote and turn up the volume.

"…all we know from ancient texts is that the great deluge was a narrative in multiple myths and religions. These primeval waters were the source of life as it was water that gave rise to life in creation and among the flood creatures is species called the water angels. Flood creature expert, Professor Croix Meridies have informed us that their DNA has similarities to our own and that we may have encountered a new species of Homo sapiens. These beings are and should pass along your home just fine. But if one should break into your home, stay alert. They tend to be very spontaneous and unpredictable. If you find yourselves needing to tame an intruding water angel, tempt it into submission with a sugary treat. Do not under any circumstances threaten or harass these creatures."

Diana stared at the image in the corner of the screen. It was a young bright pink-haired girl, happily eating a donut and a silky white tunic and dark wings.

Her heart stopped. The stranger in her guest bedroom was not a girl. She was a flood creature - a water angel.

When the gleaming light of the rising sun broke the horizon, the pouring rain and blasting wind had stopped, though the flood will not lower until tonight or tomorrow. Diana did her morning routine and finished around 10 in the morning. She couldn't believe she woke up late today of all days for she was particularly an early riser.

She visited the guest room, and couldn't find the water angel. Diana stood in the middle of the room, disturbed. Had she simply imagined the girl who can breathe underwater and fly?

The wet footsteps, the unmade guest bed and the lone dead salmon that Carter curiously poked on the living room proved otherwise.

As if on cue, she heard her cousins let out a shrilling scream. Cold sweat trailed down Diana's spine. She gulped and her mind raced as she tried to think about what to do. She grew anxious. What if the water angel became aggressive? What if she would feel threatened when Maril and Merrill will attack her? These creatures were unpredictable, right?

Thinking quickly Diana tore apart her pantry for something sweet. Anna, the head maid was there, and she looked surprised as the rest of the household was at the commotion.

She practically flew towards the kitchen counter, ignoring Anna's questions as she and ripped open a biscuit tin. There was a handful that remained. Diana took the whole tin with her and proceeded to go upstairs where the water angel was.

When Diana reached the second-floor landing, Akko was nowhere in sight, but Maril and Merrill were there on the floor, hugging each other in fright.

"Where's the water angel?" Diana asked them, but before her cousins could reply, a drop of water hit Diana on the nose. She slowly looked up to find the water angel had taken up residence on the thick wooden beam across the ceiling, still dressed in Diana's pajamas.

Akko smiled down at Diana, swinging her legs back and forth nonchalantly.

"Get down from there please," Diana said, strangely calm.

"Oh, okay," she said. Her wings jutted out from her back and she swooped down to the floor. Diana stared wide-eyed at the stunt.

"Uh...here," Diana murmured, handing the creature a large cookie from her tin.

The water angel sniffed the air around the treat and her pupils instantly dilated as if she were a cat. Her cold fingers took the cookie from Diana's hands and she munched on it happily. Diana was surprised by how white the water angel's teeth were. She also noticed two razor-sharp looking pointer teeth at the front of her mouth. They were small but still looked like they could do some serious harm.

"Diana!" A booming voice echoed around the halls. Diana heard the click of high heels coming towards her. It was none other than her aunt. Daryl Cavendish. She was the only woman in the house who wore those death traps they called five-inch heels.

Diana's formal mask spread across her face, turning toward the older woman. "Pleasant morning to you, Aunt Daryl."

"You call it pleasant?" she returned, surprise and annoyance in her tone but not on her features. "First day of flooding and there's already a water angel intruding in the Cavendish household." Daryl turned to the side and gave an order to Anna. "Call the aerial police or better yet, the animal control."

Diana had a strange urge to protect the water angel, now that it had been established they were both on friendly terms. "No! You can't do that! Akko here is a guest. I let her in."

Something crossed her aunt's face. It was ugly. She placed a hand on her tilted hip and grimaced. "Oh, did you? May I ask why on earth did my dear niece just let a wild creature in?"

"Yeah, what if she has rabies?"

"Or worst, lice!"

Maril and Merrill were on their feet, flanking their mom. For some reason they thought it was their job to leer at Diana, adding the intimidation that their mother exudes.

Diana bit back a retort. Incredible ire swept through her. "Weren't you listening to the news? Water angels are human beings!"

"Oh please, there's no way human beings have gills and wings."

"Yeah, besides, those so-called flood creature experts have multiple theories. They are all over the place!"

Somebody turned the volume of the TV and the news update droned over the hallway. Diana figured it was the butler, Carter. The old man was clever in a way to interrupt a heated debate without seeming impolite.

"…citizens have reported that the well-spoken of water angels have taken up residence in homes across the country. The creatures are said to be curious beings and no incidents have occurred to date. Meanwhile, social protection, human rights organizations, and environmental agencies have categorized water angels as official human beings and have the support of the global state. Water angels are now under a protection act against all related crimes towards them."

"I see," Aunt Daryl contemplated. "We must protect this young one, lest she gets killed out there. Anna," she spun on her heels towards the head maid and ordered. "See to it that our odd guest feels welcomed in this household, and Diana dear, make sure she doesn't destroy anything."

The water angel was now wearing a pink dress from when Diana was 11. Anna had neatly combed her hair and made accommodations on the back for Akko's wings.

"Do you have a family? You know, back in the waters?" Diana asked.

Akko blinked and an odd expression overcame her face. Her gaze dropped to the table and her empty plate. Her shoulders seemed to slump and her lower lip pouted slightly.

"Family," Akko murmured. Her bright ruby eyes met Diana's steady gaze. Akko bit her lower lip and waved her hands about as she tried to pull together a sentence.

"I'm lost... nowhere to go."

"Do you need help finding them?"

Akko shrugged. "There are people...bad... family got separated... because of our wings." She pointed to her back, her wings. She tapped them and awkwardly waved her hands in frustration.

Diana winced as she tried to figure out what Akko was saying. And then it hit her, along with a nauseating wave of guilt and sorrow. "You got separated from your family because of bad people who attacked you for your wings?"

Akko's eyes widened and then she nodded sadly.

Diana's heart sank. "That's terrible!"

Akko nodded, even slower. "Money," she murmured.

"Well, do you know if they are still alive?" Diana said under her breath.

She shrugged, causing her wings to bounce.

"Do you have friends? Other means of communication?"

Akko smiled briefly then, much to Diana's relief. "Yes... friends."

"Who are your friends?" Diana asked, doing her best to lighten her tone and the mood.

Akko smiled but ignored the question. She held up five fingers.

"Lots of friends," Diana grinned, glad that Akko wasn't completely alone in the endless ocean.

"Do you have friends?" Akko asked. Scooting her chair closer to Diana's even though the table separated them.

"Yes, I do," Diana said. "I have Hannah, Barbara, and a childhood family friend, Andrew. You know you didn't answer my other question."

Akko's forehead creased, questioning.

"Do you have any other forms of communication?" she asked.

Akko nodded eagerly, "Echolocation."

"I suppose," Diana murmured, figuring that water angels have better capacities than ordinary humans. "But even if you do try to echolocate, that might take a few whiles to find them. Also, you need to be on the move."

"Scared," Akko wrapped her arms around herself.

"We won't shun you out, Akko. You heard my aunt. You're under our care now. At least, until we find your family and friends." Diana said, reassuring her, although the reason why her aunt might have made that decision was because she didn't want people to know that the Cavendish household wouldn't house a shelter-less, weak and hungry, water angel.

"Ladies," the butler, Carter, called. "Luncheon is served."