Chapter 31
Jade and her son, Jon had become closer to the whole group. She was becoming rather confused as to why their get-togethers were always at her house, the cafe or Rikki and Zane’s place. Whenever she suggested one of the other’s places the always came up with some kind of excuse to get out of it. Jade was confused. Did they not like her? Did they have something to hide? For the first few weeks, she had brushed it off but she had started thinking about it more often. Jade thought back to teacher’s college where she had been in the same classes as Emma and Bella. They had developed a friendship and she had soon met their friends and boyfriends, becoming a part of their group. It seemed that she was the first new addition since high school. Jade always felt as if they weren’t telling her the whole truth, this leading to when they left teachers college, they had lost contact all together. On both sides, they had tried contacting each other but failed and soon gave up. Jade didn’t go to too big lengths to find them, they had always been exclusive especially once a month, coincidently it had always been on a full moon. Her friends all shared one thing – a chronic fear of water. Again at the time Jade had brushed it aside, everyone had their fears. She had a fear of heights. But then, she had caught the girls all a different times diving into the harbour fully clothed, she never confronted them but had her doubts and was confused. Then there was also fact that she sees them ten years later and they didn’t look as if they had aged a day.
The fact that they didn’t share everything with her meant that their relationship had become strained. Back in contact with them again, there seemed to still be secrets in the air.
After get-togethers at Rikki’s cafe, when they dispersed her friends always seemed to disappear amazingly fast, and never head to the car park. One particular time she had seen Bella diving off the dock. This brought back memories of all the girls doing the same thing when they were younger.
“Why?” was the one question that kept coming up, “Where do they go?” was another. Jade had decided that she would get to the bottom of it, something wasn’t quite right about them.
OoOoO
A few days after Ash’s birthday, Jade decided she would make a surprise visit to Rikki’s place, she found that the others were often there. Therefore, after work, she turned up on the mainland’s house doorstep. A certain brunette opened the door.
“Cleo, is Rikki in...I thought this was her house?”
“Oh, it is,” Cleo paused, “Rikki’s out...supermarket shopping.”
“Okay, why are you here?”
“The kids are having a play-date and Rikki thought she’d take advantage of an adult in the house and go out and get some more groceries, Zane is working late tonight you see,” Cleo replied. In actual fact, Cleo had just picked up the kids from school and Rikki had left work early and was back on Mako Island. ‘Kids, I need you to pretend that you’re having a play date. Rikki is out grocery shopping okay?’ Cleo mind spoke to them. They all knew the importance of keeping the secret even though they were young. ‘Yes Cleo,’ They all replied in unison, Cleo winced as the noise filled her brain.
“Cleo, you alright?” Jade asked, Cleo had zoned out and seemed to be in pain.
“Oh, sorry, I just have a headache. Come in,”
The two women sat down on opposite couches.
“So what brings you here tonight?”
“I wanted to give her a surprise visit, but also I have a couple of coins I found, since she is an archaeologist, I wondered if she could analyse them.” Jade replied. This was genuine, she did want to know, but she also wanted to see if she could catch them off guard in case there was a secret. She thought Cleo’s excuse seemed a little off.
“Oh, can I see them?” Cleo asked politely.
“Sure,” Jade handed them over. Cleo used the few seconds of examining the coins to contact Rikki.
‘Rikki, Cleo here,’
‘Hey, how’s it going? Kids all good?’
‘Yeah, but Jade has turned up unexpected at the mainland house, she thinks it’s yours...’
‘Oh, what was your excuse?’
‘You’re out grocery shopping, could you pick some up and come over ASAP,’
‘Sure, I’m on my way,’
As soon as the exchange was complete, Cleo handed the coins back, “They’re nice, where’d you find them?”
“My uncle found them on one of his digs in Rome, gave them to me for my birthday,”
Cleo nodded. A few minutes later, Rikki came in the door, paper bags full of groceries in her arms.
“Oh, hey Jade. What brings you here?” Rikki said feigning surprise.
“I got these antique coins, could you have a look?”
“Sure,” Rikki placed the groceries on the counter top. “Kids? Can you sort these out for me please,”
They got up and headed to the kitchen.
“Let me see,” Rikki said looking at the coins, “I’m no expert on coins but these look to be from the Byzantine Empire, around 600 AD. They’d be worth quite a few hundred dollars.”
“I thought you said you weren’t an expert,” Jade said
“I’m not,” Rikki laughed. “Take it to an antiques dealer or coin specialist; they’d give you the exact details. Why’d you bring it to me?”
“Those people cost,” Jade said with a smile.
Soon Jade left and headed back to her car. As soon as she had driven off, Rikki, Cleo and the kids got their stuff together and dived into the water.
“Do you think she bought it?”
“I hope so.”
“What I don’t get is, why haven’t we told her?”
“I...actually don’t know,” Rikki said.
Chapter 32
Jade Oliver arranged to meet with Bella, Emma, Rikki, Anna and Cleo to have a juice at Rikki’s Cafe after work, a few days later.
“So, do you guys still have a phobia of water?” Jade asked randomly. “Oh, sorry if that's too personal,” she said after seeing their surprised expressions.
“No, it’s alright. I for one still have a phobia of water,” Cleo said. Jade nodded but she was not convinced. Jade had figured out that their secret had something to do with water. She had never seen them in the rain or even with a drop of water on them. If they were wet, they would always run away. There was one way to test her theory. Making it seemed accidental; she knocked her juice all over Bella’s front. She gasped in surprise.
“Bella, I’m so sorry,” she apologised. Bella stood up and after sharing a look with the others, ran in the direction of the cafe’s bathroom. “I’m sorry,” Jade called after her. Jade stood up to see if she was all right but Rikki stopped her.
“No don’t worry; I’ll just go see if she’s alright.”
A few short minutes later, the two women returned to the group.
“I really am sorry, Bella,” Jade apologised profusely.
“It was just an accident, no harm done,” she replied.
This demonstration with the liquid had just made Jade more suspicious; she had had enough.
“Okay guys, I’m done fooling around. Tell me what’s going on.” She demanded.
“What?” Emma asked, feigning innocence.
“I know your hiding something...no don’t try to cover yourself. I’ve know you’ve been hiding something for as long as I’ve known you. I think it’s taken me enough time to notice.” She looked at their staged blank faces. “I know it has something to do with water.”
“We’ve already told you, we have an irrational fear of water – are you trying to embarrass us?” Rikki said.
“No. That isn’t it.”
“What answer are you looking for exactly?” Bella asked.
“I want to know the truth. You can trust me.” Jade said. She got no reaction. “Come on, I know you don’t live where you said you lived.” She turned to Rikki.
“Of course we live there,” Rikki said.
“No, you don’t. The other day when you closed up the cafe, you did not go that direction you just dived into the water and did not surface. You weren’t at your house early the next morning.”
“What, are you stalking me now?”
“Not really. More like proving a point.” Rikki opened her mouth, “No. Don’t try to deny it or make up some funny excuse, I’m done with it. Trust me, I won’t tell anyone your terrible secret. I know it has something to do with water, over the years I’ve caught you diving into the water and not surfacing, whenever you get wet you rush out of the room. I also have had the vibe of being excluded, like you guys are all part of a club that I wasn’t invited to. Please, why can’t you tell me.”
Her speech seemed to have shaken the resolve of her friends, they were staring at each other, unknown to Jade; they were mind speaking to one another.
‘She’s got us there,’ Emma said.
‘Why did we never tell her, when she puts it like that it kinda makes us seem like the bad guys,’ Bella said.
‘She’s bound to figure it out for herself sooner or later – it’s best we tell her and gain her trust that she won’t tell isn’t it?’ Cleo asked.
‘Yeah. She’s got enough personal evidence to support her questions.’ Anna said ‘I don’t know her as well as you do but she seems to be trustworthy enough,’
‘Thinking about it, we were rather rotten friends in the past, I think she deserves to know,’ Emma said.
‘Let’s tell her then,’ Rikki audibly sighed. ‘Besides, if she does tell we can take care of her...kidding. We can take care of ourselves.’
They all snapped out of a trance, Jade had been watching them weirdly. All five women nodded at the same time, ‘We tell her.’
“Right, we’ll tell you.” Rikki said, “But more private – down on the beach.”
OoOoO
“Before we tell you, we have to contact someone,” Emma said, nodding to Anna. She gave another nod in reply.
‘Ben honey?’
Anna couldn’t hear a mind response. ‘Ben?’
‘Oh, Anna! What’s up, sorry I was just getting down from my scaffolding,’
‘You know Jade right?’
‘The girls old friend from teacher’s college?’
‘Yeah, her, we are about to tell her our secret, is that alright with you?’
He paused. ‘Yeah, as long as you’re all sure its the best decision.’
‘We are.’
‘Sure, you have my full go-ahead.’
‘Thanks sweetie, I’ll see you later,’
‘See ya, back to work,’
Jade was giving Anna a strange look as she jerked back to reality, she had zoned out while talking to Ben.
“Ben’s alright with it,”
“Sweet.” Bella said.
“Wait, how did you contact him...?” Jade trailed off.
“We’ll tell you later,” Rikki said.
“Alright, this will be a lot to get your head around,” Cleo said, “But we need to you swear on your life that you won’t tell anyone our secret.”
“Okay, I swear I won’t tell. What’s this all about, you’re not being hunted by the government are you,” Jade half-joked.
“No. Not...yet,” Rikki said.
“Okay, my lips are sealed. Fire away, my curiosity is getting the best of me.”
“We are mermaids. And before you start laughing, it is the absolute truth.” Emma added quickly. Everyone was absolutely sincere and solemn as Jade examined their expressions.
‘Are they trying to pull my leg?’ Jade thought to herself. ‘But if they’re mermaids that would probably explain the water...’
“Explain? How? Why? Can you give me proof?” she asked aloud. All five of them nodded at the same time. That really was getting creepy.
“We will, but not here, let’s go to my house, for somewhere a bit more...private.” Rikki said.
OoOoO
“So who’s is the house really?” Jade asked.
“Technically it is still mine and Zane’s,” Rikki said, “But we all pitch in to maintain its upkeep,”
“Who lives here?”
“None of ours,” Cleo said.
“So, where do you really live then?”
“Mako Island,” Anna said.
“Mako? How?”
Rikki disregarded her question and interrupted saying, “All in good time, now do you want proof or not?”
Jade nodded enthusiastically.
“Thanks for volunteering, Rikki,” Emma laughed splashing a glass of water over her. Bella went behind Rikki to catch her.
“Gee, thanks a lot Em,” Rikki muttered.
Jade’s eyes almost bugged out of her head. “You were serious,” she breathed, eyes still wide,”
“Duh!” Rikki said from the floor - Bella had gently laid her down. “But seriously, the tail isn’t the half of it.” Rikki stretched out her hand and steam started billowing from her tail. Anna went and opened the windows to stop condensation building up.
“Are you doing that?”
“Yeah, it’s called powers. Cool huh?”
“Yeah, amazing,” Jade murmured in response as Rikki’s tail instantly became human legs.
“So, what can you guys actually do?”
“Boil stuff and create lightning,”
“Move water, control wind,”
“Create ice and snow,”
“Create jelly and crystallised water,”
“Boil and move water and my husband Ben can move water and create ice.”
“Ben? A mer...man?”
“Uh huh.” Anna replied. “That's why we had to get his permission to tell you.”
“And how may I ask did you do that without a phone?”
“As a mermaid we gain special abilities; mind speaking one of them.” Bella said.
“Mind speak?”
“Literally.” Rikki replied.
“Were you born this way?”
“No, transformed later on in life.”
“How long ago?”
“Rikki, Emma and I have been mermaids for over fifteen years.”
“I’ve been one since I was nine, so over twenty years.” Bella said.
“Wow,”
“Ben and I have been mermaids for about ten years.” Anna said.
“How?”
“We have no idea – by magic.”
The women went on the talk about mermaids more in detail, Jade completely intrigued by it all. She learnt about their kids, powers, and all things mermaid.
“Could I see where you live?”
“Ah, okay, we’ll take you over tomorrow. That okay?”
“Yeah!”
OoOoO
“So, how exactly do you live here? I heard a rich family bought the whole place but have reserved half the island for public use...” she finally clicked, “Oh! That was you,”
“Yup. All of us pitched in but when Bella inherited a couple million dollars, It sealed the deal,” Rikki said.
Jade was overwhelmed when she saw their water village. Over the years, they had put food colouring in the water so when It was hardened, it stayed that colour. Red, yellow, purple, green and blue were the colours of certain walls depending on rooms.
“How exactly do you create lightning?” Jade asked Rikki as they were walking through the village.
“Like this,” with a flick of her hand a lightning bolt fell from the sky hitting the ground near to her friends. Everyone jumped in surprise – especially Jade.
“Rikki!” Cleo chastised, “You could have given us a heart attack,”
“Sorry, just too good an opportunity to miss,” she replied sheepishly.
A/N: Please review. Sorry the delay between updates is getting longer, I just don’t have as much time as I used to.
Chapter 33
Lewis was just finishing off some research notes in his office, when his colleague Alan Xavier knocked on his door.
“Alan, come in,” he smiled. Alan had blonde hair and was a man in his early twenties. Alan was fresh out of university, unlike Lewis who had been working there for almost nine years. Lewis had taken a liking to Alan from the start, he reminded him of himself at that age. They soon became close friends working on things together and Lewis often found Alan coming to him for friendly advice whether it was about work or something in his personal life, Lewis was always happy to help. His advice was generally helpful but when it came to tips on women, well let us just say they weren’t so helpful.
“What can I do for you?” Lewis asked.
“Could you help me with my report?”
“Sure,” he smiled. They chatted and Lewis pointed out errors and things that could be modified in his report to make it better.
Lewis took a sip of water.
“Lewis, do you know anything about...mermaids?” Alan asked out of the blue.
Lewis almost spat out his drink.
“Mermaids?” he choked, shocked. “You know they are just a myth right?”
“Yeah, I was just wondering what you knew.”
“What brought this on?”
“Well, it’s one of the myths that really interests me. It’s a myth that has been around for so many years. Plus, my aunt keeps having recurring dreams involving them.”
“Your aunt?”
“Yeah, she’s had amnesia, still can’t remember much of what happened before the accident and she still has these dreams all these years later.”
“Oh.” Lewis had an idea of exactly who Alan’s aunt was.
“So, do you know anything?”
“No. Not really. They are supposed to be half fish half woman right? Some say that they are like that permanently. I haven’t really looked into them,” Lewis lied convincingly.
“Okay, thanks.”
“You’re welcome, sorry I wasn’t much help.”
Alan soon took his edited report and left Lewis’ office.
Lewis sat back in his chair, hands behind his neck; this was not good news.
OoOoO
“How was work today?” Cleo asked Lewis as he came in the door.
“It was alright,”
“What happened,” Cleo asked.
“It mightn’t be a problem...” Cleo gave him a look.
“Alan asked me about mermaids today, I guess it just rattled me.”
“Mermaids? Why?”
“I don’t know what goes on in that boy’s head, he mentioned Denman.”
“Denman!” Cleo shrieked, “How is that nothing? How does he know her? I thought she had amnesia!”
“She does! He didn’t say Denman specifically, but it’s definitely more than a coincidence. A marine biologist with amnesia having weird dreams about mermaids...”
“She’s having dreams about us and telling people? Not good.”
“No, it’s not, but there is no reason for them to suspect that the mermaids in her dreams were real, people suffering trauma, in this case inducing amnesia, often have unexplainable dreams,”
“So, what did you tell Alan?”
“Nothing. Just what every person ought to know about mermaids. That they are half human, half fish, and live in the water,”
“But we don’t live in the water...”
“Look in mythology Cleo, it never really says that mermaids can live amongst humans.”
“Right. Hopefully nothing will come from this.”
OoOoO
“Linda? Do you believe mermaids exist?” Alan asked his aunt. She was working again as a marine biologist. Linda Denman could remember everything that had happened to her except while she was apparently working on the Gold Coast , This was one year in 2007 and then 2014 these two years were complete blanks, both times she was working on the Gold Coast, the years between she only had patches of memory. The only thing was, although she had regained most of her memories, she still had recurring dreams ten years after her accident, and they were to do with mermaids. She had no idea what was going on in her subconscious mind but she felt it was trying to tell her something, she wrote them off anyway. Everyone had written them off as trauma induced, that they were not compressed memories. Alan thought there was something more to them however.
“Alan, I’ve told you before. I am a marine biologist, I can’t believe in anything until I have observable facts and sightings.”
“But, what about your dreams?”
“They are merely dreams,” Denman had barred herself from believing in mermaids, thus she had convinced herself that her dreams were just dreams.
“Outside of science, personally do you believe in mermaids?” Alan asked.
“Neither yes or no, Alan. I keep my mind open.”
“Right; your mind open...” Alan said to himself.
OoOoO
“Oh no!” Jake exclaimed, “I left my homework at home!”
“Can you hand it in tomorrow?” Bella asked patiently. All the mothers and their kids had arrived at the mainland house to head off to school.
“No! We’ve had two weeks and it’s a really important project,”
“You head off to school then with the others and I’ll go grab your assignment, I’ll bring it to your class.” His mother said. Bella wasn’t due into her school until second period so she could spare some time.
OoOoO
Meanwhile...
Alan sat in his boat using the sonar scanner and recording details for a daily sea life check he was instigating. Suddenly a large fish came onto the scanner. It was swimming much too fast to be a dolphin. It was going double the speed of a motor boat if not faster. He had never seen a sea creature so fast. The large fish disappeared off the scanner’s radar before he could really look into it. Something made Alan not file this phenomenon until he had more solid facts.
OoOoO
Bella had sped back to Mako, grabbed her sons project before placing it in a waterproof bag. She walked back down to the moon pool and launched herself back to the mainland.
OoOoO
There it was again, the large fish was going back the same direction, as if it had purpose. This wasn’t just any old fish. This time it was swimming the same depth but slower, it seemed to have acquired something square shaped.
“Very peculiar,” Alan muttered.
A/N: Please review!
Chapter 34
A few days later...
Alan was again out on his boat, this time however, it was his own choice. Alan wanted to find out exactly what that marine animal was. He sat on the side of the boat in a wetsuit and fins and placed his mask on before slipping into the water, a portable sonar scanner in hand. This scanner would relay recordings of sea creatures nearby, back to his laptop. At the end of every day, it would send a file of clips of anything of great size, for example a whale, dolphin or in his case, the ‘large fish.’
He placed his scanner firmly on a rock, reasonably deep. Satisfied, he headed to the surface and then back to the mainland.
OoOoO
“Where’ve you been?” Lewis asked Alan as he came back after his lunch break, his hair wet.
“Investigating something,”
OoOoO
Unfortunately for our mer-friends, they had no idea the sea was being monitored; they swam with their kids back to Mako.
OoOoO
Alan looked at his laptop eagerly, opening the files that the scanner had sent on schedule. Three readings had picked up activity that wasn’t of the normal sized fish in the area. In the first scan there were seven bleeps on the screen, half the size of a dolphin, accompanied by two larger bleeps, both about the size of a dolphin. ‘Could it be a pod?’ Nine of these marine creatures were definitely something to look into. Though they were dolphin sized, dolphins did not usually have only two adults with seven calves. They could only have one calf every 2 years, these smaller bleeps looked about the same size, therefore the same age from this scan; this is what Alan considered. He clicked the next file open. The next scan was of two large bleeps swimming the same purposeful direction an hour later. The final scan, again was of two large bleeps, again swimming the same direction. Dolphins and other known sea creatures weren’t known to go one particular direction, it was as if they knew where they were going. This needed investigation. He was going to go back and get some more detailed scans and hopefully, some visual images. First, he needed the equipment.
OoOoO
Alan monitored the creatures with the sonar scanner for a week before he could install the new equipment. As he monitored them, he observed that the creatures only appeared at certain times of the day, almost exactly to the minute. The first group would leave at around 8.30am, seven small and three big. The second group left at around 9am, this was a group of two larger creatures, both groups heading towards the shore. The next readings were after 3pm, the same time with groups of the same number as the first day. There was also a couple of dolphins that swam by occasionally during the week, these he could tell, actually were dolphins.
These were the core readings, then on two out of the seven days, he saw irregular patterns, normal to fish – they would spin round going no particular direction. Then after about an hour of this, they would head back in the same direction they came.
‘Funny,’ Alan thought about the groups heading to the mainland, ‘It’s as if they’re rushing to work,’ he ran this over in his mind. ‘Rushing to work...could they be actually? Mermaids? No. Don’t be silly Alan. Mermaids do not exist. It’s just an uncanny coincidence,’ he thought, ‘Or is it...? I need a scanner with more precision and a larger range...and I know exactly where to get one,’
OoOoO
Alan knocked on the door. It opened a moment later.
“Alan, what a lovely surprise,” Denman exclaimed, “Come in,”
“Hey Linda,”
“What brings you here?”
“I was wondering whether I could borrow one of your powerful sonar scanners, the ones that give a very clear reading, making out the shape of the marine life,”
“Personal or professional?” she asked curiously.
“Personal...”
“Alright, I can lend it to you for one week; it needs to come back in one piece,”
“I can manage that, thanks Linda.”
“Can I enquire why you need one of these for personal use?”
“I just want to have clearer shape images, work won’t allow me to use their scanners,” he fibbed.
Alan didn’t know why he’d just lied to his Aunt, somehow he didn’t want anyone to know just yet.
She bought it and Alan left her house carrying a very important scanner.
OoOoO
As soon as he got back home, he took his boat out and switched the scanners, bringing the not-so-high-tech one back onboard. Hopefully, this would get him better results so he could in fact, make out what the animal was.
OoOoO
Meanwhile at Rikki’s Cafe...
“...Happy Birthday dear Natalie, Happy Birthday to you..” Everyone sang in unison. It was Natalie Charles’ third birthday and everyone was celebrating. Anna cut the cake giving a piece to everyone. Ben, and Anna had invited a couple of mums and little girls from play centre to celebrate with them.
“How time flies,” Cleo muttered.
“What was that Cleo?” Emma asked.
“Oh, don’t you think that time has flown by so quickly? Natalie is turning three! She is the youngest of us all,”
“You must be getting old,” Emma laughed.
“Hey, you’re older than me,”
“True, true. But your right, the past few years have gone by amazingly fast.”
OoOoO
Alan’s P.O.V
I opened my laptop, I wondered if any new scans had come in. I opened the file, suddenly a live scan filled the screen. Oh my goodness me. I had not had a reading like this before.
Wow, the definition was amazing. I could see a couple of dolphins as clear as day. Suddenly a mass of creatures came onto the screen. There had to twenty of them. Seven were the small creatures but with them there were creatures smaller still, ones that I hadn’t seen swimming with them before. It was only a second before they had left the range of my scanner. Since the scan was recorded, I looked at it again, and again. No it couldn’t be. I zoomed in on the creatures the more powerful sonar scanner gave accurate images of shape, sizes and weights of the creatures. When I zoomed in, it revealed them to have human torsos and arms projected above their head, but in place of where legs should be there was a tail. I sat back in my chair, shocked. This here was credible evidence that mermaids existed. I had no idea what I was going to do about it.
Chapter 35
A week later...
Alan knocked on the door and pushed it open.
“Yeah. Oh, sorry Cleo gotta go...see you later...love you.” Lewis hung up the phone.
“Alan, what can I do for you?”
“Guess what?” he began excitedly as he sat down.
“What?” Lewis replied mockingly. Alan ignored the friendly jibe. He was going to tell Lewis. Alan had battled with himself for the week wondering what he should do. He decided to go to his mentor, Lewis McCartney.
“I may be onto something. I think I have credible proof that mermaids in fact exist.” Alan wasn’t sure whether Lewis had suddenly paled or whether it was just the light; he ignored it when Lewis replied.
“Proof?”
“Yeah,” Alan took his laptop out of his bag and set it on the desk. He turned it around, “Take a look at these.”
Lewis’ P.O.V
A million thoughts were racing through my mind. This was not good news, not good at all. What if he told his aunt? How did he even get on this tangent? This could put my entire family at risk. What will Cleo say?
“Proof?” I replied.
“Yeah, take a look at these.” He swivelled his laptop around to show me some files. They were stills of defined sonar images, really high tech equipment. In these, it clearly showed my friends and the children swimming to the mainland and back to Mako on the different slides. Each one had been annotated with speeds and times.
“Are you sure these are credible? They could be a pod of dolphins,” I said trying to dissuade him.
“No. I have the live scans too, these creatures were going much too fast to be dolphins or any other type of fish for that matter. Even faster than an average speed boat.” He saw and believed my fake disbelief. “Come on Lewis, there is something amazing here.”
“You’re right but you’re going to need more than just some scans to convince me,” I tried to smile. “Are you going to file a report?”
“Not yet.”
Thank the Lord.
OoOoO
Normal P.O.V
A week later after returning Linda’s device, Alan set up motion activated cameras around the areas where the mermaids most commonly swam, unknowingly, again the next morning, the mers travelled to work their normal way. Lewis had told them about Alan, but sonar scanners reached a large area, they would be picked up on the device no matter their route.
As soon as Alan got to work, he opened his laptop to see look through the photos, he knew the creatures would not be in the water overnight so he clicked open the pictures for that morning. The first twenty or so were just of shoals of fish, sharks and one small pod of dolphins. He clicked to the next photo.
“No way.” He breathed. There was a photo of nine tails, seven small and two large. There it was proof. The tails were a gold colour but he saw a few tails with a reddish tinge. He looked a little bit closer, the ones with reddish tails were mermen, the rest were mermaids. He couldn’t see their faces but it seemed like the mermaids had had offspring.
He opened the next frame. There was two mermaids swimming over the reef, large smiled on their faces. He had seen those faces before. Could it be? It was! Lewis’ wife Cleo was in that picture smiling at him. Did Lewis know his wife was a fish? Did he know the other mermaid? She looked very familiar. It dawned on him. He had met that woman at Lewis’ birthday party, the owner of the cafe – Rikki. He quickly closed the file as a colleague walked past.
OoOoO
“Alan, just the man I wanted to see,” Lewis said as he passed Alan in the hallway on the way to his office. “Mr Handler told me to tell you that you need to file that biodiversity report before the end of the day,”
“Can I talk to you privately?”
“Sure,” Lewis asked questioningly. They went together to Lewis’ office. Alan shut the door behind him. Alan got straight to the point.
“Were you aware that your wife is a mermaid?” Lewis’ jaw dropped in response; he quickly recovered himself.
“Are you serious? My wife? A mythological creature, that’s absurd.”
“I have proof.” Alan replied ignoring Lewis’ disbelieving tone.
“Proof? May I see this proof?”
Alan produced the photo.
“This...this has to be a fake.” Lewis said flustered.
“Lewis, I saw this download with my own eyes. There is no use pretending. Your wife is a mermaid and she is not the only one. I was just wondering whether you knew.”
“Yes, I knew.” Lewis said in defeat. “Please, please don’t tell anyone, she could be put in a cage and...and experimented on! I love her...”
Alan nodded, he knew that would most likely be the case if the knowledge got to the wrong people.
“Please don’t tell...” Lewis pleaded.
“I...I’ll think about it.”
“You’ve met her, she’s just like any other human...just with mutated DNA...” Lewis continued, “So is Rikki, you met her too. If you exposed them it’d ruin their lives”
“I’ll consider the options. Lewis, this is an amazing discovery, it’d make me rich. I know there are others.”
“Do you have other photos?”
“Yeah.” Lewis’ heart sank. “You can’t identify who they are, though it is evident that the mermaids can breed. I take it you already knew this?” Alan asked. Lewis nodded slowly handing the photo of Cleo and Rikki back to Alan. He put his head in his hands. Alan thought that Lewis was going to break down soon, he looked devastated. Alan weighed the options. If he exposed them he would gain a lot of money for the research and become famous amongst the biologist community. However, if he did, the two women in the photo would have to deal with the exposure and possibly get in serious trouble. It would also break the heart of his friend and mentor, Lewis McCartney and his kids. Affecting negatively also their friends and children. Thinking about it, Alan didn’t really need the royalties from the research and Lewis would be devastated. He made his decision.
Alan reached over and patted Lewis’ shoulder. “I won’t tell.”
“Are you serious?” Lewis asked hopefully.
“Yeah...I promise. I just couldn’t do that to you man,”
It took a few seconds to settle in before Lewis jumped and hugged his friend tightly, “You have no idea how grateful I am to hear that. Thank you, no, seriously, thank you so, so much.”
Lewis was still weary but at least it was a start. Alan felt he had made the right decision – the look on Lewis’ face was worth it.
That afternoon, he burned the photos and uninstalled his monitoring equipment. Their secret was going to be safe with him.
Chapter 36
Lewis waited by the path to their village for Rikki and Cleo to return home from work. As soon as he did, he pulled them aside.
“Hey Cleo,” Lewis said giving her a hug and a peck on the lips. He turned to see Rikki still walking.
“Rikki, wait!” She turned around, “There’s something I need to talk to you both about.”
“Lewis?” Cleo asked worriedly, “What is it?”
“Someone, has...found out about you two.”
“What? Lewis! What have you done!” Rikki exclaimed.
“Rikki I’m sure he didn’t do anything.” Cleo defended.
“You remember my colleague Alan? I told you that he had mentioned an interest in mermaids. Unfortunately I didn’t know he placed sonar scanners and motion activated cameras where you regularly swim...”
“It’s always those cameras.” Rikki muttered to herself.
“And no Rikki, I didn’t give him any information. He got the powerful sonar images from his aunt, Linda Denman.”
“Her nephew?” Rikki asked in disbelief. “Why was he interested in mermaids.”
“Denman has been having vivid, strange dreams involving mermaids. Alan got sonar scans of all of you swimming by, back and to work, various days.”
“You mean...all of us?” Cleo asked
“I’m afraid so. He only got identifiable photographic evidence of you two however.”
“How do you know this?”
“He confronted me today...about you Cleo, he asked me whether I knew my wife was a mermaid.”
“And you obviously couldn’t deny it...So, is this guy going to spill?” Rikki demanded, hands on hips.
“I talked to him and for the moment he’s not going to.”
“I hope you're right Lewis, I hope you’re right.”
Alan Xavier’s Apartment, later that day...
As he reclined on the couch, putting his feet up, he brought the photos up again on his laptop, examining them closely. The printed versions he had burnt but he had yet to delete these.
Wow. Real mermaids, how was this even possible? He knew it was the right thing to do but somehow he felt reluctant as he pushed the delete button. The photos were gone forever. Maybe he could actually see the mermaids in the water? He was very curious. He mind wandered at the possibilities, he was very excited, it would be amazing. Alan thought to why he had been interested in mermaids in the first place. For one, his aunts recurring dreams had brought to the surface a fascination with mermaids he had had as a boy. The possibility that there actually could be mythological creatures out there waiting to be discovered, more for personal gain and experience that profit. Had Denman actually seen mermaids? Were they the reason behind her mysterious ‘fall’ and amnesia? Those with forgotten trauma often regained their memories through dreams...especially recurring ones. He would talk to Lewis later.
Meanwhile at Mako...
Lewis and Cleo announced the news to the adults after dinner, everyone was worried as they had no guarantee that Alan would keep the secret.
“Don’t worry,” Lewis said, “I don’t think he’s the kind of guy to spill for money,”
“You don’t think?” Emma asked incredulously.
“He gave me his word, and that man is a word of honour.”
“You better be right Lewis,” Zane said.
Lewis’ Office, the following morning...
“Hi,”
“Hey Alan,”
“Can I talk to you for a moment?” Lewis nodded at the chair.
“Sure, is this about what I think it is?”
“Yeah...”
“You have no idea how grateful I am that you’ve decided to keep the secret, you have no idea, thank you.”
“It’s okay; I promise I’m not going to tell. I couldn’t do that to you.”
“Thanks.”
“That said; would it be too forward if I could meet them? I really am curious.”
“Meet them?”
“I really want to see the amazing creatures personally...” Alan saw Lewis’ frown, “Sorry, people. How is it even possible?”
“I have been trying to figure that out for years, we’ve just put it down to magic.”
“Magic doesn’t exist,”
“I said that once, but how else? You won’t be saying that once you’ve met my family.”
“Family? Or just Cleo?” he saw Lewis’ small smile, “Are you saying...”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, mermaid genes are dominant over human DNA, and therefore there is a 99% that offspring would be mers.”
“So that is why there were smaller ones, they indeed are children mers...” Alan muttered to himself. Lewis chuckled at his realisations.
“This is why I was so happy you decided to keep the secret...”
“Because It would have put your whole family at risk...” Alan finished.
“I’ll ask Cleo whether she’ll show you, it is her decision, she has been ill recently so I’m not sure how soon it’ll be even if she says yes”
“I understand.”
OoOoO
“Guess what Lewis!”
“What?” Lewis replied to excited wife as soon as he came in the door.
“I’m pregnant again!” Cleo gave it a few seconds to sink in. A grin spread across his face, he hugged her tightly.
“So that’s why you’ve not been feeling so well in the mornings,”
“Yup, I had my suspicions, did you?”
“Actually it didn’t cross my mind, but I’m happy anyway.” He grinned. “We’ll have to tell everyone later. Have you told the girls?”
“Not yet, I was waiting for you.”
“Jen! Andy!” Their daughters came into the room. “How would you too feel about another brother or sister?”
OoOoO
Once the excitement had died down and Jennifer and Andrea had left the room, Lewis decided he would tell Cleo of Alan’s request.
“Cleo, Alan asked whether he could see you today.” She gave him a confused look, “In mermaid form,” he continued. Her mouth formed the shape of an O.
“Why?”
“He is ‘Curious’” he replied, “He just really wants to meet a real life mermaid.”
“And he’s not going to spill...”
“No, I’m pretty sure we can trust him in that area.”
“Well if you trust him, I do. Maybe Rikki would like to come too,” Cleo said brightly.
“But, she won’t want to...”
“It’s worth a try.” She replied.
“Rikki, do you want to show yourself to Alan as a mermaid with me?” Cleo asked point-blank.
“Why on earth would I want to do that?” she replied incredulously.
“He already knows you’re a mermaid and I don’t want to do it by myself.”
“Fine then. If he tells about me to anyone, I swear I’ll boil him alive.”
Cleo gave Lewis an ‘I told you so’ look. Rikki wasn’t as hard to convince as they thought...
To be Continued...
P.S - sorry this chapter has taken so long, i hope you enjoyed it, please comment/vote/whatever :P