“One, two, three,” counted Paul, and on three, he hurled Filipe’s tail over the edge. Filipe knew this was his only chance to escape, but was still afraid of the drop and didn’t let go of the edge of the tank. He hung vertically on the outside of the tank, his tail dangling in the faces of the others.
“Okay, Filipe,” said Keoni. “We’ve got you. Just let go and you’re home free.”
Filipe shook his head in fear.
“Filipe, if you don’t let go now, they will take you home and stuff you, do you understand me?” said David forcefully.
The fear of being stuffed trumped the fear of dropping a few feet, and Filipe let go of the tank. They waddled with him over to the edge of the yacht, and threw him overboard. From the small boat, Mina, knowing how tired and hungry he was, grabbed his hand when he landed and held him next to the boat.
From the front of the yacht, Hector, unaware of the rescue operation taking place on the back of his boat, looked hard at the water, waiting for his prey to float to the surface.
“Get out the scuba gear!” he ordered Mike, not willing to lose his prize to a shark. He continued to scan the water waiting for any bubbles to appear.
Kaho was fighting hard to make it. The harpoon had hit him squarely in the left shoulder. He sank down deep in order to pry it out, then he held his breath and swam hard for Okawii, staying near the ocean floor in order to avoid leaving an obvious blood trail for the hunters to find. Just inside the gap in the reef he was forced to take another large breath—this was the one that Hector saw.
“In there, he went inside the reef!” Hector shouted.
Hector’s conversation with Chief Akolo crossed his mind in which he promised not to go inside of the reef. But in the heat of the moment he wanted to get that third mermaid, badly. He assuaged what little remained of his conscience by telling himself that the Island Council wasn’t coming if they hadn’t come yet.
Everyone on the boat besides Jim was unaware that one mermaid had gone missing. Jim and Andrew entered the cabin to look for Andrew’s phone, and saw the commotion of the rest of the crew members.
At this point, Hector and his some of his crew, who were now awake as well, jumped into a small motor boat to go after him. Hector and Mike were already outfitted with scuba gear.
Kaho had been to Okawii only once before, several years ago when they had hosted the Mermaid Games, so he had a vague idea of the island’s layout.
He figured that the presence of the yachts accounted for him not seeing any mermaids in the corridor between the reef and the island, and he knew he had to alert the islanders somehow. After he got his legs back in the river at the north of the island, he rushed ashore and shouted, “Help! Help!”
A few Okawiians came running from Vai Place. Some tended to his wound, and others ran around the island, alerting the others.
When Chief Akolo arrived, Kaho handed over the invitation to the Mermaid Games and promptly fainted.
“Take him immediately to the main lodge and tend to him there,” ordered Akolo. “The fishermen cannot get a glimpse of his face with their binoculars.” Tucking the leather scroll containing the invitation under his arm, the Chief walked after them.
At the main lodge the medicine man on the island tended to him. “He’ll make it,” he told the Chief, “but he may never have use of his left arm again.”
Kaho came to consciousness at just the right moment to hear the medicine man say that. “What do you mean I might not get my arm back? I’m favored to win the spear throwing at the Games this year, I need that arm!”
“Settle down, you’re lucky you have your life,” said Akolo.
But Kaho was wound up. “How long have they been sitting outside your island like that?” he asked, sitting up in protest. The medicine man gently pushed him back down.
“A few days,” answered an elder.
“Why in hell haven’t you called the Island Council yet to get rid of them?”
Akolo reddened. “Yes, but this situation is different,” he stammered.
Nukuluve stepped forward. “How is it different, Akolo? Why have we not taken steps to rid ourselves of these visitors? In the past, whenever a yacht wandered into our waters, the Chief and a group of elders would go out to them and explain our culturally protected status. We’ve never had to put up with unwanted visitors like this for more than a couple of hours.”
Others nodded.
Josephina added, “And with missing children and you not sending out a search party? Unconscionable.”
Chief Akolo held up his hands, “Filipe and Mina are probably fine. They probably got caught up on Luta watching the baby turtles hatch or something.”
Nukuluve started again. “Isn’t it obvious that the yachters caught them?” She purposely did not say what she knew about Mina escaping and then returning for Filipe. “With Mina and Filipe missing and now with Kaho hit by a harpoon, his sporting chances ruined?”
“Mina and Filipe are fine,” lied the Chief, “They are just fishermen, but you are right, I will talk to them today and ask them to leave our waters.”
Nukuluve pursed her lips and suddenly the scales fell from her eyes.
Chapter 16
The Pacific was calm and silent as Keoni, Maria, and Paul jumped onto the boat. Mina was holding a limp Filipe’s hand in the ocean.
“He’s too weak to swim back to Okawii,” said Mina. “We’re going to have to go slow and pull him home.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Keoni said, pointing outward toward Hector’s boat.
The others looked and saw Hector and Mike in scuba gear jumping off their boat into the water.
“How is this possible?” asked Maria. “They can’t have found out we left already!” asked Maria.
“It doesn’t matter, we have to find a way to get Filipe back before they get to us.” Keoni was determined not to lose anyone to these hunter-monsters.
They began to row, but the tide was against them.
“We have to use the engine,” Keoni said. “We’ll never get back otherwise.”
As soon as they started the engine, Hector’s other crew members turned and saw them.
Andrew had tried to keep Jim occupied, but Jim shouted from the yacht, “Our mermaids escaped, they have one hanging off that boat!” Jim pointed to their small boat. There was no place for them to hide in the bright morning sun.
Mina hung on tight to Filipe’s wrist. “Don’t go so fast, we’re going to lose him!”
By this time the scuba divers had been alerted to their presence as well, and were close to catching up to them.
“Shit!” shouted Mina. “This is impossible.” Looking back and seeing that Hector’s crew members were only about 20 yards away, she quickly swallowed some White Coral and jumped in next to Filipe.
“Filipe, listen to me, I’m going to need you to swim. We’re not going far.”
Filipe nodded weakly.
Hector and Mike were now only 10 yards away, and they were closing in fast.
“Just follow me, don’t think.”
Mina dove down to the bottom of the reef surrounding Okawii, and, finding a small opening, swum through to the island side of the reef. Filipe followed her. Hector and Mike, with their fins and with Mina and Filipe swimming rather slowly for mermaids, were able to keep up and followed them through the reef.
She looked back toward Filipe and saw that Hector and Mike were still tracking them, now on the inside of the reef. Gesturing to Filipe to stay close, she abruptly turned and seemed to swim right into the reef. Filipe followed her into the tunnel that she had found earlier, and they surfaced inside the cave.
“What is this place?” asked Filipe, breathing deeply. He rested his head on his arms on top of the shelf formation and opened and closed his eyes weakly.
“A cave I found,” answered Mina. Then she added, “They won’t be able to follow us through the tunnel with all that gear on.”
She saw the state he was in and qui
ckly went down and pulled up two of the large jars. Putting them on the shelf above water she opened them and dumped out the dried food. Filipe, his body craving protein, immediately went for the fish.
“Not too much,” warned Mina. “You’ll get cramps if you eat it all and try to swim fast afterwards. Remember, we may have to outrun them.”
Filipe slowed his eating.
“Are you feeling better now?”
Filipe nodded.
“Good. I’m going to poke my head out and see what’s going on. Hopefully I’ll be able to lead them away from here so you can make an escape. If I’m not back in five minutes, come on after me. That means the way is clear.”
Keoni watched Mina disappear down into the ocean with Filipe slowly following her, and Hector and Mike following them, and shook his head. He wasn’t going to let the girl he loved dive into such a risky situation without going with her.
He turned to Maria and Paul. “Listen, you two go back for help, I’m going down.” He ate a piece of Coral and dove in after Mina and Filipe without a concrete plan. Hector and Mike didn’t see him enter the water as they had already turned to follow Mina and Filipe through the reef.
Keoni quietly followed Hector and Mike through the reef to the other side, and saw the glow of Mina’s golden tail as it disappeared back through the tunnel. He realized that the scuba divers had seen Mina and Filipe go into the reef-tunnel and would just camp out there until they came out. Swimming quickly and silently, Keoni approached the backs of the scuba divers, who were peering into the tunnel. He gave a quick tug on their tanks to get their attention. They turned around, shocked to see the tail of a mermaid slowly swimming away from them. Not realizing they were being played, they started after him.
At this point Mina poked her head out from the tunnel, and saw the scuba divers chasing Keoni. With a surge of protectiveness, she dashed out in front of them to get their attention away from Keoni. Her golden tail didn’t fail to dazzle them, and Hector turned immediately to chase her while Mike stayed on in Keoni’s pursuit. The Texan recognized Mina immediately. He didn’t know how she had escaped his tank, but there was no way he would let her escape again.
Mina failed to realize how close Hector actually was to her, and she found herself struggling to stay ahead of him. She zigged and zagged in case he tried to harpoon her, but she, like Filipe, was tired and hungry. A couple times she felt his fingers touch the end of her tail fin.
Then suddenly Mina noticed that Hector was no longer right behind her. She turned around to see where he went and saw that he was next to the reef, fiddling with his gear. The scuba air bubbles were no longer being emitted from him. Mina knew she should take the opportunity to go back to Filipe in the cave, but she continued to watch Hector anyways.
Hector’s jiggling got faster and more forceful as he realized his equipment was failing him. Finally giving up all hope of ever catching the mermaid, he went to kick off the reef to surface and breathe when he found that his fins were stuck in the reef.
Mina was watching him the entire time. After a minute when Hector still hadn’t surfaced, she began to get nervous and fiddled with her necklace. Why wasn’t he going up to breathe? As much as she hated him, she didn’t want to see him die like this. Another half minute went by as she weighed her options. She decided she couldn’t let a man die in front of her when she had the opportunity to stop it.
Seconds before he ran out of air, Hector watched in awe as the golden-tailed mermaid approached him. She looked him in the eye, smiled, and gently took the harpoon from his hand, launching it down to the ocean floor. Then she removed the regulator from his mouth and blew air bubbles into his mouth, effectively saving his life.
She gave him two more breaths of precious oxygen before bending down to remove his fins from the reef. Tears flowed from Hector’s eyes as he looked at his left hand and felt a phantom tingling in his missing three fingers. He never expected that a wild animal would ever save his life. Still crying as he kicked to the surface, Hector never even looked back at his harpoon. This beast had saved him. It had saved him from his own certain death, and, more importantly, it had saved him from his own psychological need to dominate the animal kingdom. He was awakened to the natural goodness that existed in nature and vowed never to harm another creature again.
Chapter 17
Keoni knew it was his job to distract the other diver, but he didn’t have a plan as to how he would lose him. The diver was well-practiced and in the narrow area between the reef and the island Keoni was unable to really speed up and shake him.
Unexpectedly, Mina showed up in his line of vision and gestured at him to follow her. She swam toward the reef at full speed and disappeared in to the tunnel. Keoni followed her and heard the thump of the scuba diver when his gear hit the edges as he tried to follow them in.
“Filipe! I’m glad you’re still here!” exclaimed Mina when she surfaced inside the cave. “How are you feeling?” She saw that he had gotten most of his color back.
“A lot better, thanks. I looked out and saw that the way was definitely not clear with them still chasing you guys around.”
“It’s still not clear,” said Keoni. “The other scuba diver chased us in.”
Mina nodded. “The Texas guy swam back to his yacht. Hopefully when the other scuba diver sees that, he’ll follow him back.”
“How did you manage to lose the Texas guy?” asked Keoni. “I was busy with the other guy and when I looked up, he was heading back to his yacht.”
“It’s a long story, but it seems like he had a change of heart,” she replied.
Keoni looked at her in amazement. Mina saw that she had impressed him and smiled at him. She raised her eyebrows in obvious flirtatiousness, not caring if Filipe saw her or not.
Five minutes later, Keoni went to see if the way was clear yet. He cautiously swam down the tunnel, but as he neared the exit, a hand came swiping in at him, scratching his face in the process. Keoni could taste his blood in the water as he used his hands against the tunnel wall to back himself back into the cave.
“He’s still there,” Keoni said, with his hand on his scratched face.
Mina looked up in the reef-cave and eyed the large holes. “I have an idea.” She grabbed one of the tiny cylinders from the shelf and picked away at its wax seal.
“What are those?” asked Filipe, pointing to the tiny orange balls that Mina spilled onto the shelf.
“Just White Coral that’s been processed. It’s extremely potent and will cause you to change forms immediately.”
Filipe put one in his mouth and instantaneously his head fell under the water line. Kicking back to the surface with his human legs, he said, “Cool!”
“Just hang on a second,” said Mina, eating one as well. “Keoni, now you.”
“Wait, where are you going with this?” asked Keoni.
“See those holes up there?” she asked. “We’re going to climb through one while we have our legs.”
“But we don’t know where they lead,” said Filipe.
“Yes we do,” smiled Mina. “You know that giant rock out by the reef? I’m pretty sure that we’re just under it and that these tunnels will get us through to the other side.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” said Keoni, swallowing one of the orange balls and heaving himself up onto the ledge.
Mina grabbed a couple of the small cylinders and then she and Filipe followed Keoni up. They started into the biggest hole in the reef.
“This one’s a dead end,” said Keoni, backing down.
“Let’s try this one.” Mina climbed up into the second biggest hole. It was a little higher up than the one Keoni had tried, and she was lucky to find a foothold in the reef. The dried out reef was chalky and scratchy against their skin as they wriggled through it and before long they saw daylight peeping through a one foot by one foot little hole at the end. Keoni took the knife attached to his arm and used it to made the hole a little bigger.
> Filipe poked his head through the rock and looked out to sea. “We’re going to have to swim by the boats to get to the opening in the reef.”
“Perfect,” said Mina. “The Texas guy won’t come after us, and Mr. Lanza won’t either. The only one chasing us is the guy waiting by the tunnel, and he’s on the inside of the reef while we’ll be on the outside.”
The three teens jumped into the water, each swallowing another orange ball on the way down. By the time they hit the water they had their fins back.
David and Andrew stepped off the boat onto the dock. Nukuluve was waiting for them.
“And the others?” asked the old woman.
“They all changed forms and disappeared under the sea,” answered her son-in-law. “We waited around until Hector—the owner of the blue and white yacht—came back to the boat. He was crying and throwing all of his weapons into the water.”
“And him?” Nukuluve looked questioningly at the big-haired teen. It had been many years since a complete outsider had come to the island. She was reminded of when her Eva had brought back David and wondered if there was anything between her granddaughter and this young man.
“He’s fine. He knows. He is Mina’s best friend from home,” said David.
She nodded. “Come. You must be hungry.”
As they walked back to Nukuluve’s hut, she filled them in on what happened. “Akolo is no longer Chief of Okawii. His wife, Sela, came forward and told everything. It was Akolo who was responsible for the capture of Mina and Filipe. He told the hunter where to find them. This explains his unwillingness to send a search party, and his not going out to speak with the yachters to ask them to leave our waters which would be the norm.”
David shook his head. “Wow. What could prompt him to give up some of his own people like that?”
“Mina’s golden tail, for one.”
“I don’t get it.”
“It means that she is genetically predestined to inherit the Chiefdom on the island. Akolo had always imagined that his nephew Keoni would succeed him and the Chiefdom would remain in his bloodline.”
“But then why did he betray Filipe as well?” asked David.