“I don’t think he wanted to lose Filipe, but he had to send him along because it would be too suspicious for him to send Mina alone. She’s too new to the island for such an errand. Also, according to Sela, the yachter had offered Akolo a significant sum of money that was waiting for him on Hawaii.” Nukuluve smiled. “It seems that Sela did not want to go to Hawaii after all.”
Andrew hung his head in his hands. “So Mina is really the Chief of the island?” He knew that if that were true he would have no chance with her now. She’d stay here and never come home and he could never be a mermaid and join her here.
“No, she is not, and it is not certain that she will ever be. Her tail is only a genetic marker, passed down through the Chiefly line. Uhila is acting Chief now, and the elders will have to meet and discuss this unusual situation.”
“Where is Akolo now?” asked David.
“He is in his hut awaiting the judgment of the elders.” Nukuluve turned her head toward the woods, hearing footsteps. Sure enough, Filipe, Keoni, and Mina were walking toward them on the path.
“Andrew! They let you on the island!” Mina ran over and gave him a hug.
“Yeah,” Andrew nervously ran his hand through his big hair. “Apparently I’m ‘worthy’ enough now that I know your secret.”
David Young quickly filled his daughter in on the happenings on the island.
Afterwards Mina sat and stared at the fire for a minute. “Grandmother?” she asked. “Did Chief Akolo really give me up like that to the hunter? I always thought he was such a nice guy…”
“Yes, Granddaughter,” the old woman answered, putting her hand on Mina’s shoulder. “Akolo’s big mistake was that he sacrificed the future of the island for riches and power today.” She looked softly at her granddaughter. “A leader must always consider the future.”
Mina nodded. While Filipe and his rescuers finished eating their soup, Mina looked several times between Andrew and Keoni. She was still in disbelief that they were both there at the same time. She couldn’t wait to get home to Tucson and play with Water Salad, but she had never felt more alive than on Okawii as a mermaid, and Keoni could understand that. Andrew caused her to feel comfortable, while Keoni caused a knot in the bottom of her stomach that heightened all of her senses. She knew an uncomfortable conversation with Andrew was coming up, and she wondered if Keoni sensed that they had had a history. So what if I kissed Andrew—Keoni can’t be mad about that. Plus, he probably kissed Ana while they were dating.
As the group sat there discussing the morning’s events, Maria and Paul approached them.
“We were worried about you guys,” said Maria with a relieved smile. “I’m glad you made it home safe.”
Mina stood up. “Yeah, we’ll tell you all about what happened. Come on, I want to show Andrew Vai Place.”
“Be careful,” said David pointedly.
“I promise not to go into the ocean,” answered his daughter in a sing-song voice, “today.”
The group of teenagers stood to go and Mina walked with Andrew all the way to Vai Place, painfully aware that Keoni was right behind them on the path.
When Andrew first saw Vai Place, his reaction was the same as Mina’s had been: total awe and an urge to jump in and try everything at once. As he stood there taking in the slice of paradise in front of him, Ana approached the group.
“Who’s your friend?” she asked Mina smiling, her voice dripping with honey.
“This is Andrew,” replied Mina, slightly miffed that Ana suddenly treated her like her best friend now that she had brought a hot boy onto the island.
“Hi,” said Andrew, smiling.
Mina didn’t know how she should react to this. On the one hand she wanted to warn her friend of Ana’s unpleasant nature, but on the other hand, this could work out for her. I love him and he is still my best friend, but I don’t love-love him. This would get Ana off her back about Keoni, and alleviate some of her guilt for kissing Andrew before her summer on Okawii.
“Come on, let me show you the coolest rock slide,” Ana said to Andrew.
Andrew looked at Mina.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Go,” she nodded, “I’ll be right behind you.”
After Andrew left with Ana, the others slowly drifted away, leaving Mina alone with Keoni. Although she had spent countless hours alone with him, she was nervous. Nobody knew about their kiss after the feast, and they hadn’t defined themselves as a couple yet, but they were alone together in front of half the island, including Ana and Andrew.
They sat down on a rock formation and watched the others play.
Mina broke the silence first. “Keoni, that night after the feast—what does that make us?”
Keoni grabbed her hand and looked at her. “I don’t quite understand your question, but I love you.”
She was hesitant to ask further, realizing that there some cultural difference here, too. At home, ‘dating’ was something that was defined by both parties. It looked like that was not the case on Okawii.
Their hand-holding drew a few stares and Mina knew that the entire island knew about their relationship by this point.
Keoni continued. “I’m sorry that you have to leave Okawii at the end of the summer, but I want you to know that I will remain faithful to you.”
Mina smiled at this confirmation of their relationship. “I have to go to college next year, but I’ll visit next summer between school years.”
“I didn’t tell you this earlier, but Akolo had refused my request to go to college. Now I understand why. I assumed that your golden tail made you the heir, but he did not see that as a possibility and was still counting on me. Now that he’s not in the way, I am sure Uhila will allow me to go.”
Keoni suddenly stood up. He had caught sight of his mother and brother on the other side of the waterfall. “I forgot—I promised my mother I’d watch Taha today.”
As Maili and Taha approached them, Mina wondered if his mother had seen them holding hands, and hoped she would approve of her for her son.
“Remember? You said you’d take him to the beach today.” Maili felt bad interrupting, but she had other plans and needed to leave the boy. She smiled at Mina. “I’m glad you’re back safe and sound.”
Mina watched Keoni go with his little brother, loving that he was so good with kids and so good to his family. Maili smiled at her again before she left, but didn’t say a word. Mina understood from the woman’s face that she supported their relationship.
After Maili departed, Andrew appeared next to Mina.
“So you’re with him, huh?” Andrew asked, sitting down next to her. His puppy-dog eyes told her that he was still very interested in her, despite the good time he was having with Ana.
She looked at him and gave him a sad smile. “Andrew, I love you, I do, but I am a mermaid.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “This is who I am, who I was meant to be.”
“It’s cool,” he nodded casually. “You’re coming home for school, though, right?”
“Of course, there’s no way I’d miss senior year.” Mina felt bad about Andrew and hoped this wouldn’t impact their friendship. Senior year without him and the band in her life would be unbearable.
“Good.” He grinned at her. That meant he still had a chance. He knew the saying about absence making the heart grow fonder, but Andrew knew that that usually didn’t refer to high-school summer romances. A few months from now the memory of Keoni’s face would fade for her, and he would be there right next to her as always.
“Hey, I’m sorry.” She felt guilty about having led him along with their kiss at the beginning of the summer only to have him appear on Okawii to find her dating someone else.
“No worries,” Andrew said confidently. “Just know that this doesn’t change anything for me. I said I loved you out on the boat, and I still do.” He would wait until she came to her senses and realized they belonged together.
The next day there was still a sense of insecurity around the island. The blue a
nd white yacht had departed, but Simon’s was still there and the elders had not yet come out of their deliberations regarding the fate of Akolo.
Keoni was busy watching Taha, so Mina was hanging out at Vai Place with Andrew, Maria, Paul, and Ana. After some chit-chat, Paul and Andrew went to climb on the vines and the three girls were left alone. Maria gave Ana a fake smile and a look that said, “Do it already.”
Ana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about pestering you about Keoni. You won him, and that’s fair, and you won’t hear anything else from me about it.”
Mina was impressed with Ana’s humility. “It’s okay,” she said. “I hope we can still be friends.”
“Fine,” said Ana, extending her hand.
Finally around noon the elders came out of the main lodge and made their way to Vai Place to announce their decision.
Uhila stepped up on a rock and raised his staff in the air. The Okawiians quieted down in anticipation of the verdict.
“In light of the fact that Akolo betrayed our way of life to an outsider and handed over two of our own to what could have been a grisly fate, we have decided to exile him from Okawii and forbid him from using White Coral ever again.”
The crowd whispered and nodded.
Uhila continued, “David Young’s colleague has agreed to drop him off at Hawaii where he has relatives.”
After the announcement, Mina and Nukuluve approached the old acting chief.
“Uhila, we have something to show you, in private,” said Nukuluve.
He looked at them inquiringly. “Come.”
They followed him to the main lodge, which was completely empty.
“What is it?” he asked them, making himself comfortable on a bench.
Mina took out one of the small cylinders she had brought home from the underwater cave. She carefully picked off the wax at one end and dumped the four tiny orange balls into her palm.
“It is White Coral that Konala and I processed many years ago,” said Nukuluve. “It is extremely potent, and causes one to change forms immediately, regardless of the presence of salt water.”
The oldest man on the island raised one eyebrow, but said nothing.
“Let me show you,” Mina said. She ingested one of the balls and promptly fell to the floor with a giant fishtail. Uhila looked down at her, with his mouth gaping open. Then Mina quickly popped another orange ball into her mouth and regained her legs.
“We show you this because we think it might be useful to the people here,” said Mina. “If Filipe and I had had some of this in our possession at the time of our capture, we would have easily been able to escape from the yacht.”
“That is amazing!” said Uhila. “So you and Konala made these? Can you make more?”
“I think I can recreate the recipe,” said Nukuluve nodding.
Later that day Mina walked her dad to the dock. Her plane home was scheduled for the next week, but he was going back with Simon and Andrew.
“So, are you ready to go back to Arizona?” David asked his daughter.
Mina blinked her eyes innocently. “Can I stay an extra month so I can go to the Mermaid Games? They picked me to represent in one of the sports. Please, please, please?”
David looked at her hard. “Let’s make a deal. You agree to apply to colleges, and you can stay an extra month.”
Mina jumped onto her dad, giving him a big hug.
Epilogue
“Yeah, it’s good to hear from you.” Simon Lanza closed the door to his office at Young Bank as he turned off the speaker-phone function on his mobile. “Yeah, I did hear about Hector quitting as president.…Yeah….Yeah….This is an investment opportunity like no other,” continued Simon. “Think of it like a cross between Jurassic Park and swim with the dolphins.” Simon paused. “We’ll make millions.”
THE END
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