NANCY DREW AND THE SECRET OF MERMAID COVE

Chapter Eleven

Chase showed them which animals never to mess with like coral, sea urchins, seals, large dolphins, and jellyfish. Once both girls seemed to be doing really well he took them back up to the surface. They had to take off their flippers and toss them into the boat, before being able to climb up the narrowboat ladder. The group rested a bit and sipped on some Lilt soda before heading to the next diving location.

This area was very different from the first location. It was full of coral and fish in every color of the rainbow. There were even some small sea turtles in the area, which the girls gravitated towards.  Nancy pulled out the camera and was taking multi-shot pictures as Bess gently grabbed hold of the turtle's shell and tried to pet it. Chase swam up behind them and snatched the turtle away before it could bite Bess. 

"Keep in mind, sea turtles cannot withdraw into their shells and will bite when feeling threatened!" he warned after letting the creature go.

The three of them had fun posing and taking pictures of each other for a while before heading off to the seaweed forest. The girls felt hesitant to enter, afraid of what awaited them inside. 

"Believe me there is nothing to worry about," Chase said.

"No think you. If need be we will wait right here." Bess stammered. 

Chase shook his head. "If you insist then wait right there. It is your loss though because there is something amazing hidden beyond the seaweed." He said before disappearing into the undersea foliage. 

So Chase entered it without them. The two girls tried to wait outside afraid of what might be hidden inside the greenery.

After a short while of twirling their thumbs, the girls became bored. "How long do you think we have t wait for his return?", Bess asked as she looked to Nancy. 

"He has to come out sooner or later," Nancy replied crossing her arms. 

Just then a large form passed over their heads, casting a fast-moving shadow on the sand.

Bess looked up only to spot a shark. "Nancy...is that what I think...IT...is?" she asked while pointing to the creature. 

"It is probably a harmless species that feed on small fry," Nancy commented, however, as the creature grew closer it became evident that it was a huge beast that looked to be ten feet long. 

" I don't think sharks get that big just from eating the small fry," Bess said as she hid behind Nancy.

Nancy pushed Bess in the direction of the seaweed forest. "YOU ARE RIGHT! WE NEED TO GET TO COVER!"

 "Chase, can you hear me? Hello, chase? We need you. "Bess said over the radio as the two girls swam behind a boulder for cover."

With no response from Chase, Nancy commented, "I think he must be out of the range of the radio. So we need to move closer to where he currently is." The two waited until the shark was out of sight before they swam into the seaweed.

Once inside, the girls ventured deeper until they a small clearing.  That was when something grabbed Bess's shoulder. She yelled and fought, however, when she turned around there was Chase smirking at her.

"You huge jerk! Why I outta knock your block off..." she fumed.

In response, he just laughed and motioned for them to follow. The girls explained what had happened with the shark as they traveled. To their surprise, Chase did not seem too concerned.  

The area they were in now felt like a huge over the grown maze. Along the way, Nancy noticed many different kinds of seashells and something that looked like wreckage? Where could he be leading them she wondered?

Once they emerged from the greenery, Nancy was surprised to see an old shipwreck. The boat was laying on its right with a huge hole in its side. She wondered what mysteries it held.

Nancy swam closer to investigate and then ventured inside.  She found it empty of life, except for some small reef fish who had decided to take refuge here. After doing a thorough search she found an old boot, broken glass, rotted books, and an overturned table that sat right in the center of the room.

On the far left wall was an elaborate carving of a wild griffin scoring in the sky. On closer expectation, different colored glass stones were embedded in the wood. "This is very elaborate," she commented.

Nancy also found similar carvings around the boat that seemed to indicate the change of seasons. "It cannot be that easy," she stated while pressing the greenstone which symbolized springtime. It moved slightly. Next, she pushed the red for summer, orange for fall, finally the white one for winter. There was a cracking sound as part of the carving slide open to reveal a message in a bottle.

After retrieving the bottle, Nancy reached into the small hole to see if anything else was hidden there. At the very back, she could feel something with her fingertips. She pulled the item free to find that it was a small leather pouch with a tarnished silver pocket watch inside.

Upon closer inspection, strange symbols decorated the top of the pocket watch. Nancy turned it over in her hands to try to find an inscription. Unfortunately, it was in a foreign language making it impossible for her to read.

Off in the distance, a creature waited in the dark. It eyed the female that seemed unaware of the danger, so the creature chose this moment to attack.

Nancy's eyes widened, as a huge shark came in to view and went right for her. The world seemed to slow to a painful halt as Nancy was trapped like a deer in headlights unable to move, speck, or turn away. All she could do was stare into the of the creature's soulless evil eyes as it shot forward like a bullet. 

Nancy closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. Right right at the last moment, something came in on the radio. " Nancy where are you? It is starting to get dark..." It was Bess.

This was just enough to snap Nancy back to reality. In the blink of an eye, she was somehow able to dodge the attack. She took this moment to swim over and hide behind a broken table that lay near a dark corner.

Across the room, the shark's powerful long tail churned the water and sand causing the area to become murky. Nancy held her breath praying it would move on. The shark swam in circles around the room as if trying to figure out what had just occurred. 

Another message came on to the radio, "Nancy, it is Chase. Please answer back.."

Nancy did not answer fearing in doing so it would give away her location. So instead she turned off the sound on the radio and searched the room for anything that could help her escape. "A tin can and an old leather shoe, oh how helpful." she thought sarcastically. 

As Nancy felt along the wall, she found a small handle. By pulling it hard and it budged a few inches revealing an opening. To buy her some time to pry the compartment open, Nancy picked up the tin can and filled it with sand to give it some weight. Then she threw it hard against a wall.

This distraction gave her just enough time to pull open the hatch and slide inside. After pulling the hatch closed she felt around the small dark space and concluded it to be a large wooden cabinet made into the ship. She waited silently in the darkness until she felt it had been long enough for the shark to have left to call her friends for help over the radio. 

Authors note*

The small puzzle she has to solve to unlock the message in a bottle is a nod to the Nancy Drew video games.