“Mina!” Andrew whispered loudly. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s a long story.”
Filipe surfaced next to her and looked suspiciously at Andrew.
“I know him from home,” she said, turning to Filipe. Filipe’s mouth dropped open. Mina added, “I know, it’s really bad.” She gulped and realized that, counting the shark episode, this was the second time she had betrayed Okawii in 2 weeks. It’s not my fault! She wanted to yell. How was I supposed to prevent our capture or our captor from showing ups to people I happen to know?
“How is this possible?” asked Andrew, gesturing to the tank.
“I can’t explain it all right now,” deflected Mina, not wanting to give away any more information about her different body. “What did that Texas guy say to you before, when you were looking in?”
“Just some asshole comment about me not being the first human man to fall for a mermaid.”
“It’s, um, really good to see you,” she responded.
Filipe took the hint and dove back down underwater.
“Listen, Mina, I wanted to come visit you on Okawii, but your dad said I couldn’t come on the island. It’s been really boring at home without you.”
“How is the band doing? How did the gig at the Curly Cue go?”
“Great, of course, but it would have been better with you there.” He looked down at the side of the tank. “I have to tell you that I’m in love with you. I have been since grade school. I know you’ve changed a lot since you’ve been here, with your new, um, skills, and with meeting your grandmother and seeing where your mom grew up. But I had to come and tell you.”
“Wow, Andrew, I, um…” She knew about his feelings, but she hadn’t expected him to be so open about them. Keoni was on her mind. She always figured that Keoni and Andrew would stay in their respective worlds and that this would eventually help her sort through her feelings. She never expected Andrew to show up here, on Okawii.
“You don’t have to answer now,” he responded quickly, sensing her discomfort. “I just want you to know that I’m here for you, and I want to be a bigger part of your life. I know you’re learning a lot about your past and stuff, but I’m here for you. I’ll wait for you.”
“That’s very lovely, but you may not notice that we’re in a bit of a bind here.” She wanted to be honest to him about Keoni, but this wasn’t the time. As much as she wanted to tell Andrew the truth, Mina knew she couldn’t. About anything. She was a completely different person now, and he knew that now that he had seen her, but he didn’t know the depths to which she had changed. Still, seeing him hanging from the tank and confessing his love to her despite her awkward new body made her love him even more. Not necessarily the same passionate love she felt for Keoni, but a tender, affectionate love nonetheless.
Andrew looked adoringly at her in the tank. “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that we’re staying in the area for a few days, something about my dad wanting a fish from the area and Hector offering to help him. Tomorrow I was going to tell your dad that you’re here so we can figure out how to get you guys out of here.”
She smiled at him and said, “You’d better go, the guard will be back any minute.”
Mina swam around impatiently after Andrew left, trying to formulate her plan of escape. Their curiosity had worn off by now and the guard mostly ignored them, so she was able to surface a few times to get her bearings. She could barely make out Okawii in the moonlight and guessed that they were about a half a mile away from the shore. As midnight neared she became more and more positive about her chances to escape: the guard was getting tired and had already nodded off a few times.
At about 11 o’clock, to Mina’s dismay, the guard was relieved by someone else carrying a cup of coffee. He was more interested in them and spent his first ten minutes next to the dark tank, watching the shadows of the mermaids go back and forth.
Mina decided the best strategy was to pretend to be asleep, and she sank down into the back corner of the tank. Filipe followed her lead and also sank down to ‘sleep’. The guard settled into his chair, watching the tank for a while before turning to his i-pad to play some games. As midnight approached, Mina kept her eye on the guard and prayed that the cloud cover that had appeared would hold. Her nervousness made it hard for her to stay still.
But, in the end she did fall asleep, awakened only by the desperate need for air that two-legged humans had while underwater. Instinctively kicking to the top of the tank to get air, she saw that the guard was engrossed in his game and as quietly as possible started climbing out the back of the tank.
Filipe had awoken to her movements in the water and swam to the front of the tank, ready to do anything to distract the guard if necessary.
As Mina landed on the deck, she saw the guard look up, and she hit the ground flat. In the darkness he miraculously didn’t see that one mermaid was missing and turned back to his i-pad.
She crawled around to where the guard couldn’t see her anymore and stood at the edge of the yacht. It felt great for her skin to be out of the water after a full day of soaking, and she stood there, wanting to escape but not wanting to jump back into the water. Then she looked back at the guard and knew she didn’t have time to think, so she took a deep breath and dove into the water.
At the beginning of the swim, the adrenaline of the escape propelled her forward. It was only a matter of time before they noticed that one mermaid was missing and she hoped that she would be far enough away if they were to put any spotlights on the water. It was only after the adrenaline wore off that Mina realized she hadn’t swum so much with her legs since she quit swim team half a year ago. Not that it really mattered, a half mile was only 35 laps in a pool, she calculated, easily completed after a season off.
She made it to shore without any issue, and, after catching her breath, she ran to find help.
Chapter 14
David awoke with a start. With Mina missing, he hadn’t slept very well and he heard some rustling in the woods nearby. The noise came nearer. Someone or something was approaching in the middle of the night. He poked his head outside of his hut. He had never been so relieved to see his little girl.
“Dad!” She whispered loudly, glad that she wouldn’t have to wake him.
“Mina, what happened to you? How did you get back?”
“Filipe and I got captured. And Mr. Lanza and Andrew are here—they saw me in the tank.” Mina bit her lip.
“I know, I went out to see them because I thought there was a problem at the bank. I saw a giant holding tank on their yacht and thought there might be on one the other as well. Did Filipe get back as well?”
“No, he’s still on the boat, his coral won’t expire for another few hours, about 9 am. We have to get him out of there by then, or he’ll change in broad daylight.”
Nukuluve emerged from her hut.
“Grandmother, they saw me. I’m so sorry; I’ve ruined it for everyone,” Mina said, tears starting to form in her eyes.
“Never mind that, Filipe is more important,” answered Nukuluve. She went back into her hut and came out with a small bag. “In here are several pieces of White Coral; you never know. They’re coated with wax to make them waterproof.”
“Thank you, grandmother.” Mina stood up, ready to run back to the boat, but her dad slowed her down.
“Just hang on. We’re going to need a plan, as well as a few more hands. Don’t forget that I can’t change forms in an emergency. Go wake up Keoni, Maria, and Paul.”
Mina went first to Maria’s. She didn’t want to risk being seen by someone at a boy’s hut, especially Keoni’s, in the middle of the night. The culture was too conservative. The magnitude of such a scandal could ruin her, especially if she wasn’t even allowed to be with Keoni alone in broad daylight for a language lesson.
She was able to get Mary away from their family’s huts without waking anybody up. Together they went and woke up Paul, then Keoni. As always, Mina’s heartbeat esc
alated whenever she was around Keoni, but she had to put aside her feelings in order to focus on the task at hand. Filipe was more important than whether or not Keoni would hold her hand in the dark forest.
Mina filled them in on their way to the dock.
“So Filipe’s in a tank on that yacht that was here?” asked Keoni incredulously.
“Yeah,” said Mina. “And we only have a couple hours to get him out.”
The eastern sky had begun to lighten. On the dock Maria and Keoni stretched to wake themselves up.
“Good morning,” David greeted his daughter and her friends.
Paul yawned, still half-asleep. “Okay, so tell me what I have to do.”
“We’re going out to the yacht and we’re going to free Filipe. We have until 9 am before he changes, but if we’re not off the boat by 8:30, whoever is closest to him will give him another dose. Here, take these.” She passed out the Coral from her grandmother.
“In case something goes wrong, any of us can throw his second dose into his tank for him. He knows he needs a second dose by 9 am. We don’t want them knowing the secret that the mermaids are actually humans.” Mina closed her eyes for a second, wishing she could forget that Simon and Andrew already did know the secret. “Do you guys all have your own White Coral, just in case we need a fast escape?”
The others nodded.
“My dad’s going to row out here on the pretense of wanting to fish with Mr. Lanza, his colleague from home who’s on the other yacht. He also has extra coral to give to Filipe if necessary. The plan is that Dad is going to leave first and act as a diversion, while we follow and get Filipe out. Hopefully, the others on the boat will want to do anything to keep Dad from seeing Filipe and won’t be around on the back deck where the tank is.”
The Okawiian teenagers then watched as Mr. Young, wearing a khaki bucket hat and carrying a tackle box, departed from the dock.
“Hey! Are you guys awake yet?” David asked loudly as he climbed aboard Simon’s yacht. He didn’t know how he was going to get over onto the other yacht, but this was at least a start.
“David, what are you doing here?” asked Simon, coming out of the cabin with a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Well, I saw the tank and figured you guys were going to be doing some serious fishing, so I thought I’d join you bright and early,” David pointed to his tackle box. He looked over at the other yacht to see if there was any movement, but all looked silent.
Simon looked back into the cabin to make sure they were alone.
“David, cut the crap. Andrew and I saw Mina in the tank yesterday.”
David nodded, looking out at the other yacht. “I knew they were on that yacht. Mina escaped, but the other kid’s still there, we need to get him out.” David had known Simon since college. He trusted Simon to run his business, but he never anticipated having to trust Simon with Okawii’s secret. David worried that his colleague would somehow try to use this information to his own advantage.
Simon slowly widened his eyes, not knowing how exactly to respond to his boss. He had hardly slept with the image of Mina swimming around in the tank on his mind. His conversation with Hector afterward confirmed that Hector had no idea that the mermaids were people with two legs, and he and Andrew hadn’t spoken of it. He knew he was privy to some seriously secret information, and he now understood now why David had responded the way he did when Simon had asked him back in Tucson about the interesting fish outside of Okawii. After seeing Mina, Simon no longer wanted a mermaid for himself, despite his deal with Hector. But he still didn’t know what he was going to do with this information.
Simon took a sip of coffee. “Listen, I’m glad Mina got out, I really am, but that other kid was captured fair and square.” He shrugged. The Youngs had given him a second chance and he was grateful to them, but he knew that in the long run, Hector was a more valuable contact.
“What are you trying to say?” David asked sharply.
“Nothing, never mind,” Simon shook his head as Andrew appeared in the doorway.
“Mr. Young! I thought I heard your voice.”
“Listen Andrew, you need to help me,” said David, walking over to the boy. He saw that Simon was wavering and had not yet definitely decided which side of this whole mess he was on.
Chapter 15
Kaho, a mermaid from the island of Lilo, had set out in the open sea a month earlier. He was the official bearer of the invitations to the Mermaid Games. Lilo was hosting them this year and it was tradition for the host island to send an official invitation to the other mermaid tribes that included a poem to be recited.
He visited Ipona, Beluu, and Otto Island first, and had set out from Otto Island toward Okawii a week earlier. At 22 years old he did not yet have a family to provide for and could be spared from Lilo for that period of time. Kaho was one of Lilo’s strongest mermaids and was heavily expected to win several events at the Games. It was a great honor to be chosen to deliver the invitations, and Kaho had prepared extensively, carefully mapping out his route and deciding where and when to fish to sustain himself.
Although he had enjoyed his journey, Kaho was excited to finish this long mission and return home. As his thoughts were back on Lilo with his girlfriend as he approached Okawii, he didn’t notice the boats parked outside the reef until he was almost under them.
But by then it was too late, Hector, who had been scanning the horizon with his coffee in hand, noticed the bubbles, and couldn’t resist the idea of getting yet a third mermaid.
He quickly and quietly removed a harpoon from the side of the boat, put down his coffee, and let it fly.
“Yes!” Hector pumped his fist. “Got him.”
Andrew and David, without the aid of Simon, climbed aboard the back of Hector’s yacht. When they had departed the Lanza yacht they noticed Hector moving around on the front of the boat, so they knew that at least he was awake.
“What are we going to say if somebody sees us?” whispered David.
“That I left my phone here yesterday that has a sweet fish-finding app and we can’t start fishing without it.”
David gasped when he saw the large tank and Filipe swimming around it. Although he had seen Simon’s large tank the day before, it was jarring to see an actual mermaid trapped inside. The guard was sleeping in his chair, but the sun had just risen and it was only a matter of time before he woke up. They went around to the back of the tank to be out of the guard’s immediate line of sight when suddenly they heard a quiet bang on the back of the boat. They looked at each other and shrugged, but when the bang happened a second time, they ducked down to the floor and quietly pulled a tarp up about 3 feet from the ground to block themselves.
The source of the noise presented itself shortly: Mina, Keoni, Paul, and Maria climbed onto the back deck as quietly as four people could in the process. They also ran to the back of the tank to get out of sight and almost trampled David and Andrew under the tarp.
“Ssshhhh!” David held up his hands and jutted his head toward the guard.
Filipe had long been aware of their presence and was awaiting a signal from them of some kind.
It was 8 o’clock and more of the crew were stirring. The guard rubbed his eyes and the six rescuers stayed as still as ice. He got up, stretched, and looked at the mermaid in the tank. For an entire minute he stared at the lone mermaid, then opened the door to the cabin.
“Hey Mike! Come here a second, will ya?”
Mina closed her eyes and turned red behind the tarp, realizing that the guard knew a mermaid was missing, and if anyone caught sight of her with two legs, all would be lost.
“Go, now!” mouthed David to his daughter, and she scurried toward the back ladder while the guard was at the door.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Andrew took David’s message as meant for him, and stood up and walked toward the guard with a big smile.
“Morning, Jim!”
“You’re not supposed to be here,” said the guard, looking cu
riously at Andrew.
“I know, but I just couldn’t help myself, they’re just so pretty!” he said, pointing his thumb toward Filipe, still swimming around like he was oblivious to everything.
Squinting his eyes, then closing the door to the cabin, Jim quietly asked Andrew, “When you were here yesterday, were there two mermaids or just one?”
“Honestly Jim, I don’t remember,” shrugged Andrew. “So much of that visit is hazy to me. I only remember one mermaid.” He looked back at Filipe while opening the door to the cabin. “Hey man, did you guys find a phone inside by chance? Could you help me look for it for a couple minutes?”
Jim looked at the tank suspiciously, then back at Andrew. He was sure there had been two mermaids. If one had gone missing on his watch….“All right.”
The others knew this was their chance. David glanced at his watch. “It’s 8:20; he only has 40 minutes.”
Filipe surfaced and looked down at his rescuers. Without consulting the others, David threw up a piece of coral to Filipe and said, “Here, it’s Coral, just in case something happens.” Filipe ate the coral, aware that he might not have much time above the water line and he couldn’t open it underwater because the Coral would dissipate.
Keoni looked up at Filipe. “Can you flop yourself out of the tank? If you get yourself over the edge, we’ll catch you and throw you into the ocean.”
“I can try.”
“Do it, now, we don’t have much time.”
Filipe pushed up with his hands on the edge of the tank, and swished his tail back and forth, but it was too heavy and he couldn’t get it over the side. Paul climbed up the corner of the tank and reached in, grabbing the tail. The others positioned themselves underneath Filipe, aware that the twelve foot drop could seriously injure the mermaid.