Previously...
I suddenly see a blue glow on the ocean floor, that looks like the stone of the Trident (which I really should name). I swim closer to it to see that it's a ring with a blue stone (that looks like plastic) that looks exactly like the one in the trident. This obviously belongs to a mermaid, so either it's Rita's, or it proves my theory that there are more merfolk on Mako. What is it with Mako and Mermaids?
Chapter 8: Things are running away and dying
Percy's POV
I know Rita told me that she was the only mermaid left on Mako, but I think that she was lying. It would be unlikely that she didn't know if there were more, so she most likely lied to protect them, and I can't judge that. She didn't know me, and she still doesn't know that I'm a merman as well, so of course she wouldn't tell me if there were others. I'm going to give the ring to Rita, and then I'm going to tell her about myself. I just hope she doesn't question why my tail is different, and I'm not going to reveal that I can turn at will yet. I don't want anyone on Mako finding out that I'm a demigod- I need a life without all the gods interfering all the time.
I have a plan to see if Evie, Cam and Carly know about the moon pool and merpeople, because the phone call I overheard with Evie (which I kind of feel bad for listening in on) makes me believe that Zac is a merman, or at least knows about them. I can't believe I'm going through this whole mermaid thing again- soon Dr Denman is going to show up. I mean, I probably shouldn't say that, because it'll probably make her come to Mako. I can imagine her suddenly having an urge to move back to Mako now, which probably isn't a good thing, but what are the chances of Dr Denman coming back while I'm here? Probably quite high now I've said that. Great, just great. And I've also said probably quite a lot in these last few sentences, I think I need some variety in my vocabulary.
A student taps my shoulder so that I turn towards the boat and see that they're all in the water and ready to go. I point up to the surface as if to tell them to swim up to the surface. Once we get there, I say, "We're going to be swimming around one particular area of Mako today. Next weeks' lessons are on natural caves in the water, and how they form, so today see of you can find any caves around Mako, if any island has any, it's Mako. If you find a cave while we're diving, just notify me, and we'll go inside if it seems safe. I'll look first, and if I'm killed, then you'll know not to go in. And that's all I need to say, we went over general safety on the boat, so we're ready to go."
I signal to the students to follow me and we all see that this area of Mako is full of life today- it's like the whole island's marine life has flocked to one single area. It's amazing to see! I hope the students are enjoying it, seeing so much in one area is so rare, usually something has to drive them away from another place, but this seems like a natural occurrence. I then take the students in the general direction of the moon pool. Evie, Cam, and Carly don't look too alarmed yet, but when I take them to the moon pool they'll panic (if my theory is correct). As we get closer and closer to the moon pool, I start to see them looking at each other, getting worried. This means that they could know something about merpeople, and I think that they know about the moon pool. The only way to tell for sure will be if one of the other students comes across it, or if I suddenly stumble across it, and if we go in and they react somehow.
Julian gets my attention and points to a cave- the moon pool. Good, someone else found it, that will lessen suspicion towards me. I swim in, 'check that it's safe', and swim back out to tell the students that they can come in. Evie, Cam and Carly all exchange a look of alarm with each other, which means that they all know something for sure. I knew I was right! So they clearly know something, which pretty much confirms that there are more merpeople on Mako. I hope I can meet them, and maybe I could introduce them to Cleo, Emma, Bella and Rikki.
Once we swim in, I indicate to get out of the water to the side of the pool, Ophelie and Julian look in shock at the pool, which is exactly how I felt the first time I went in there. Evie, Cam and Carly, on the other hand, have a fake look of shock and awe plastered all over their faces, which I may have believed earlier, but not now. I start to speak to them, "Wow! This is an amazing find Julian, well done! Does this school do extra credit? I'll have to check, but if it does, then this gives you a lot of extra points. I forgot to say as well, if I can give it, all the dives are worth extra credit as well. But back to this cave, isn't it incredible? I could only wonder what type of marine life would come in here! Feel free to look around here- I'm sure there's more to explore, so be safe, you can take your masks off (which is obvious because we're on land now, but anyway), and have fun exploring. We'll spend a little time here for the moment, and then we'll head back to the boat from here."
Evie's POV
I can't believe it- how is this possible? People shouldn't just stumble across the moon pool! The entrance is deep in the water, and it's well hidden. I noticed we were going in it's general direction, but I wasn't worried at first. I didn't even realise how deep we were going until one of the people- Julian- got Mr Jackson's attention saying he'd found something, and I saw the entrance to the moon pool. I'm just glad no one was in here, I don't know what would have happened if one of the pod was in here.
What if Mr Jackson takes pictures? If he remembers where it is, he could close it off to do research of sorts- he's a marine biologist, he'd be interested in something like this for sure. What if this turns into a situation like Rikki and her friends had with Dr Denman? What if he puts any cameras in here and films it? He could find out about the mermaids and Zac and expose them all! I need to ask if he's going to come back to the pool or do anything with it.
"Mr Jackson?" I ask.
"Yes Evie?"
"I was wondering if we were going to come back here on any dives? Or if you were going to do anything with it after this?"
"I'm not really sure, I mean, it interests me a lot to find a place like this, and it's amazing! There's just something about this place that makes it so mysterious, but that's making me want to leave it alone. This is most likely something's home, and who would I be if I exposed it for others to see? I really care about marine life, and to change this place, or bring groups of people here goes against my morals. Like, how would you feel if I started bringing people into your house, uninvited, and showed it to the world? It's not right, and I wouldn't want someone doing that to me. I think places like this are best kept a secret, and I'm going to tell that to all of you before we leave today." Wow, I didn't expect him to have that attitude, "So to actually answer your questions, no we most likely will not come back here, and I'm not going to do anything with it. Sorry, I went on for a while there, I tend to do that a lot. Anyway, explore this place with what little time you'll have left in it." I don't know what to think about this, I mean, it's lucky that he respects marine life, but I don't feel like that's the only reason for him not doing anything. I may be wrong, but my gut is telling me that there's much more to it.
I ask Cam and Carly to meet me at the end of the land entrance so we can talk somewhere in private about this whole situation.
"This is a mess, a huge mess. What are we going to do?" Cam asks, "How can we tell the pod as well? He's going to set up cameras here for sure- he'll find out about the mermaids (plus Zac)!"
"I spoke to him before I met up with you guys, and he said he's leaving the pool alone, and he's making sure everyone else does as well."
"How can we believe that? He's a marine biologist- he'll want to know all about this! Why would he say he's leaving it alone?"
I tell them exactly what Mr Jackson said to me, and neither of them believe that it's a good enough reason, "I believe that he's leaving it alone, you guys didn't see him say that, he was being genuine," I say, "But I think that there's more to the story then that. There has to be another reason he's protecting the pool."
"Do you think he already knew about it before we came?" Carly suggests.
"It could be, but he was truly amazed when he came in, he couldn't have faked that look." Cam replies.
"We'll have to consult Zac, but the pod can't find out. Who knows what they'd think, and do." I say.
Mimi's POV
Zac, Pearl, Ondina and I are diving on Mako, looking for my moon ring. Once we warned the pod about Mr Jackson's dive, we convinced Pearl to come with us back to Mako to look for my ring. Zac saw us and agreed to help look, and we're being careful to stay hidden so we aren't seen by the divers.
I notice the water full of marine life, much more than it usually is. It's an amazing sight to see, and I can imagine how amazing it would be for the divers to see (if they came past here of course). Zac points to the surface to tell us to go up there. All four of us swim up and Zac starts to speak, "There's so much life in the water here today- it'll be impossible to find your moon ring until it clears, I'm sorry Mimi, but Mr Jackson's boat is near here, they'll have to come back this way at some point, we might have to come back later."
"Don't you guys find it weird that so much life is crowded in one area?" Ondina asks.
"What do you mean?" I reply.
"Well, there's never so much in one area, it's like all of Mako's marine life has fled to one area. Isn't that a little weird?"
"Now that you bring it up, I did find that strange." Pearl agrees.
"Well, do you want to investigate? We could go to the other side of the island to see if there's anything there-" Zac suggests.
"What about Mr Jackson and his students? I could stay back here and keep guard, we can become invisible, remember?" Ondina says, "Wait, I forgot about your situation Pearl, I'm sorry.."
"Don't worry, I'm good at staying hidden, even though I don't have powers. I'm up for a little investigating if everyone else is." Zac and I agree, "Right then, Ondina is staying back to guard, and Mimi, Zac and I will go to the other side of the island. Race you both!" She says before swimming off.
"Let's catch up quickly Mimi!"
On the other side of the island...
As we're swimming, Zac and I see that Pearl has stopped and is staring at something. Once we swim closer, we see why.
The water has a green tint to it and there's no life to be seen. Plants lay on the ground, drooped, or dead. There's nothing living in sight, well apart from Zac, Pearl and I. It's like that area of the water has dropped dead all of a sudden.An aura of death surrounds us all, the drooped vines on the floor threaten to drag us in with them. We stare at the water in silent shock, wondering what happened, and if it will spread even further.
Mako is in danger again, and it seems much worse than last time.
AN
Hi everyone! So I finally updated! Yay! I am trying to update when I can, I'm not abandoning the story any time soon, I can promise that.
For this AN, I want to say that I'm a Mermaid is almost at 80k, which is making me think that it's pretty close to 100k reads, which I'm hugely grateful for!! So, I want to do something for when the book reaches 100k, like a special chapter, character contest, face reveal, etc. Please comment any ideas you have, and I'll see what's popular, and maybe do it if I like the idea.
See you next time!