Louisa's POV
In despair, I pressed his chest and started to do CPR on him.
I saw Uma do it once when one of the soldiers drowned. I didn't know how to do it correctly, but I knew I had to try my best to save him.
"Do you need me to take you back to the land? It's a bit tiring to float like this with two human beings on top of me," the catfish said.
"Yes, sure. Sorry," I said. I almost forgot that we were actually staying on the back of a giant catfish.
While the catfish was swimming to the shore, I still didn't want to give up on Alex.
His face became deadly white and I couldn't see any sign of life.
As we approached the land, I struggled to drag him out of the water and kept doing CPR on him.
"Is he going to make it?" the catfish asked.
He was floating around the shore and didn't want to go away.
"I don't know, but I have to try my best," I said.
"Are those two fishheads looking for you?" the catfish asked.
"Oh, yes," I whispered to myself.
"Mana, Mata! I'm here! Come here!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.
At that time, Alex took a deep breath and started to cough the water out of his mouth.
I felt so relieved and collapsed next to him.
Then, I saw Mana and Mata's head in my sight.
"Miss! You're still alive!"
"I miss you so much and I..."
They looked at each other and started to cry out loud.
"Guys, I'm fine. Please don't cry and let me hug you," I stretched out my arms and said.
Despite saying this, I was actually crying tears of joy.
They curled up and snuggled me while holding each other's arms. I felt so happy that they were unharmed.
At that time, Alex coughed more water out of his lungs.
I struggled to sit up and held him up in my arms.
"Cough it out, Alex. Cough it out," I gently patted his back and said.
"You... You've saved me..." He couldn't catch his breath.
"No. That catfish saved us," I said and pointed at the giant catfish in the water.
"If you want, you can look for some snails and feed me. I haven't eaten snails for a really long time," the catfish said.
"Could you two look for some snails for Mr. Catfish?" I said Mana and Mata.
"OK, Miss. We'll do everything for you."
"We're very good at collecting snails. They're not as fast as we are."
"But we're not sure if we want to leave you alone with this man."
"He looks very dangerous."
"It's OK, guys. Go ahead and I'll take care of Alex. Mr. Catfish is here as well," I said.
Mana and Mata thought for a while and walked off.
I looked at Alex and said, "Can you get back to your feet? We've got a long way to go to get to Cliff of Fear. We can make a stretcher for you and drag you forward."
Alex tried to stand up, but he fell to the ground again.
He shook his head and said, "You just go ahead, Miss Louisa. You don't have to worry about me anymore. I was so stupid that I thought I could kill you to save my brother. But now I realize that killing is never the answer to anything. I don't expect you to forgive me and I don't know how to face Colt and my brother... I shouldn't have lied to you. I should kill myself to redeem my sins..."
As he said, he tried to crawl into the lake.
I stopped him and heard the catfish shouting, "Wow, I can't believe it. You risked your life to save him, but now he wants to thank you for killing himself? Werewolves are complicated. Anyway, he looked very delicious. If he doesn't want to live, can I eat him?"
"Nobody is killing themselves today," I raised my voice and said. "Alex, this isn't your fault. You just did what you had to do to save your brother. The one who is supposed to get punished is Josephine. She's behind all this. If you really want to do the right thing, you have to survive and testify to what she had done in front of everyone. If you die, it will be my words against hers. And without a witness, I'm sure everyone will believe that I am the one who poisoned everyone. I need your help, Alex."
Alex looked very conflicted.
I knew he had feelings for Josephine even though he had only mentioned it once to me.
I saw the look in his eyes when he said or heard Josephine's name and I knew that was a look from a person who was love-struck.
I had always thought he had feelings for Colt, but I guessed he was just admiring him for his great craftsmanship.
"Sorry, Miss Louisa. I know you've saved my life, but I just can't do it. I love Josephine so much that my heart gets inflicted even when I think about her being hurt. I'm sorry," he said.
"It's fine, Alex. I shouldn't have put you into such a difficult situation. You don't have to make any decisions that you don't want to make. I really understand, because when we're in love, we do everything for our beloved ones. We have to follow our hearts and there's nothing wrong with it. Now, let's just focus on how to save your brother, OK?" I said.
"OK, Miss Louisa. You're so kind," Alex lowered his head and said.
"Can I say something?" the catfish said.
I looked at him and said, "Yes, of course."
For a fish who had saved our lives, he surely was very nosy and talkative.
"I can take you to the Cliff of Fear." He said while splashing some water with his tail. "There's a lake next to the castle and I can easily take you there."
"It's very kind of you," I said. "But I want to assure you that you can't eat anything other than snails or algae for today's meals."
I wanted to get to the Cliff of Fear as soon as possible, but I certainly didn't want any of my friends to miss a leg or arm or anything.
"No problem," he said. "As long as your friends bring me enough snails."