Wednesday

"What in the name of sanity are you doing?!" Rikki asked.

Lewis stood at the bottom of the slide entrance to the moon pool cavern, wearing a miner's helmet with the light on. He turned to face Cleo, Emma, and Rikki, who were staring at him in bafflement. The light from his helmet hit their faces.

"Lewis!" they yelled, flinching and shielding their eyes.

"Oh, sorry," he said. He tried to turn the light off but fumbled finding the switch.

"Lewis, seriously!" Emma said, still having to look away.

Frustrated, Lewis dropped the knife he was holding and simply took the helmet off. He dumped it on the ground with its light still on. "Sorry."

Lewis wore a coil of rope around shoulder and waist. At his feet was a pile of short pieces of rope, along with the helmet and the knife he'd just dropped.

The girls looked around. Scattered on the ground were two more coils of rope, the knife's sheath, a lit lantern, a hand axe, and a large paperback book.

Rikki squinted at the book. "Is that...the Boy Scout Field Guide?"

"No," Lewis said pointedly, nudging the book out of the light with his foot and vainly trying to turn it over. "I mean, ye-...well, maybe."

"Lewis, what are you doing?" Cleo asked.

He nodded his head in several directions as embarrassment and pride waged a brief battle. Pride won. "Well, when Dr. Denman, Harrison, and Zane invaded this space the day they captured you, they brought a ladder to help them climb into and out of the cavern."

Emma said, "And you know this becaaaaaaaause..."

"Zane told me. But even if he hadn't, I'd have deduced it. Really, can you guys see Harrison sliding down this chute, then trying to climb back up it?"

The girls thought for a second, and had to admit that, no, that wasn't something they could visualize.

"I've always felt there's an engineering solution to every problem," Lewis said. "And I figured, why not have a rope ladder near this entrance? It's really hard to climb up this chute, and I'm kind of tired of doing it. But I don't want to stop visiting. So I'm building a rope ladder!" He beamed at them.

The girls stood there with their arms folded, nodding slowly.

"Lewis," Cleo said carefully. "Where, exactly, do you plan to keep this rope ladder?"

"Well, coiled up here in the cavern, of course. We wouldn't want anyone hiking across the island to stumble across it."

As one, the girls continued nodding slowly.

Cleo soldiered on. "So...when you visit the cavern, and then it comes time to leave the cavern, how are you going to climb up the shaft?"

"With the rope ladder, of course! I just told you."

The trio of slow nodding continued.

"The rope ladder you plan to store down here," Cleo said, plowing on like a trooper.

"Yep!"

The nodding stopped. Neither Emma nor Rikki knew quite where to look.

Cleo moved in for the gentle kill. "So...if you're down here...and the rope ladder is also down here...you're going to climb the chute with the rope ladder so you can attach it to something, just so you can come back down, then climb the rope ladder to get out?"

There was, perhaps, the deepest moment of silence in the history of Mako Island as Lewis worked his way through that.

"Well, you know," he finally said. "My idea is still in the planning stage, so I'll get back to you on that."

Each girl made a funny face. "You do that," Cleo said.

"Absolutely keep us informed of your progress," Rikki said. "I am dying to know what you'll do next."

Lewis just nodded.

The girls headed back to the moon pool, which was where they wanted to be in the first place, relaxing. They'd had to abandon their relaxation temporarily to investigate the funny noises echoing along the cavern.

Lewis called after them. "Well, it's actually time for me to go, anyway. So I have to climb up, now. Does...anyone want to give me a boost up?"

Rikki's voice came echoing back. "Use your rope ladder."

Lewis just nodded, recognizing the sarcasm. "Great. Yeah. I'll...I'll just do that." Then he called back down the cavern. "I'm leaving my stuff here!"

"All right!" Cleo's voice came echoing back.

As the girls sat on the edge of the pool with their feet in the water, Emma said, "Your boyfriend."

Cleo sighed. "I love him."

Rikki patted Cleo affectionately on the shoulder. "It's all right. We each have our weaknesses."

"He's a good guy, really," Cleo said.

Ten seconds. Their legs became mermaid tails.

"Yeah, he is," Emma said. "Rikki and I like to tease, but yes, Lewis is a really good friend, and a really good person. Just, the biggest dork I've ever known."

Rikki said, "He's, like...the only boy we've ever met who actually understands what a boundary is."

Cleo and Emma nodded in sad agreement.

Emma suddenly remembered something. "Oh, hey, Rikki, did you tell your dad the dinner's been moved to Saturday?" The families of all three girls had planned to have dinner together Friday night, but the schedule changed when Emma's father suddenly had to attend a day-long field trip Friday to a building site fifty kilometers away with his company's CEO and their client.

"Yeah. He said it'd be no problem."

The girls slipped fully into the pool and floated, resting with their hands and heads on the side of the pool, feeling the warm saltwater soothe their mermaid souls. But they were only able to relax for about half an hour. It was a school night. Cleo and Rikki hadn't done their homework yet. Emma had, but she was scheduled for a short shift at Juicenet.

Emma had worked at Juicenet a couple months during the previous school year. It had seemed a perfectly straightforward job, yet somehow, disaster had visited almost as often as the fruit delivery.

The worst, of course, was the day she'd almost killed Miriam. That had been Miriam's fault, but to be fair, Miriam could not possibly have known the danger she was in. The image of her frozen body still haunted Emma. It had been a really close call, and they were all fortunate Miriam had emerged unharmed, and that no one else had seen her while she was frozen.

Emma had quit, at least temporarily, partly because of that incident. It had rattled her deeply. And, selfishly, she had also wanted to enjoy her summer break free of any job, enjoying her teenage years to the fullest.

But with adulthood around the corner, and due to some subtle pressure from her parents, who wanted their daughter to take on more responsibility, Emma had asked Wilfred if she could resume her position, and Wilfred had said yes. He was easygoing and had known Emma for years.

It was Wednesday, so it would be slow that evening. Taking advantage of that, Wilfred wanted Emma to work a brief two-hour stint just to get back into the swing of things, and to learn the changes he'd made since she'd last worn the colorful Juicenet uniform. This would prepare her for her full return to duty that weekend, when it would be much busier.

Cleo had left her watch lying beside the pool so she could see it easily. It read 4:25. "Almost time to head back," she said reluctantly.

Emma's eyes were closed, her head resting on her arms. She opened her eyes just long enough to glance at the watch, then closed them again. "Five more minutes."

"Five more hours," Rikki murmured, also completely relaxed.

Emma stirred just enough to gently poke Rikki in the side. "You have homework."

"Homework, schmomework," Rikki murmured.

Emma smiled. "Rikki, I swear, I'm going to see you graduate if I have to carry you across that stage myself."

Rikki schnorted, but she knew Emma had a point. She did have homework.

It made Rikki ponder, once again, her responsibility in general.

Knowing her two best friends had jobs, Rikki felt somewhat guilty not having one herself, and wondered if she should get one. All too clearly, and all too painfully, she remembered her confession to the others after their horrible argument the previous weekend: I just want to play, until adulthood catches up to me and throws me to the ground.

There was an added angle for Rikki. Her friends had taken jobs to earn a little money, yes, but mostly to learn responsibility as they prepared to grow up. They didn't technically need the money. But Rikki lived in a poorer household, with a father who'd busted his ass against the brick wall of life for years to give her the barest decency of a home. Any household income would be deeply appreciated. So, of the three girls, Rikki felt she was the one most obligated to get a job. Yet here she was, still playing. At sixteen, while her father toiled away.

But, of course, there was another angle on top of that: Rikki was actually reasonably wealthy, and getting wealthier. She just hadn't told her father, yet. She couldn't tell him, not without telling him everything.

Telling their parents they were mermaids. Somehow, it always came back to that.

That idea was the elephant in the room. Sitting on Harrison Bennett's sofa, they'd all agreed it would be a good thing to consider and to discuss. But every day since, they'd avoided the subject like the plague.

Cleo sighed. "I'd rather move Lewis's stuff in here. I know it's probably safe where it is, but I'd feel better." She rolled out of the pool, dried herself, stood, and headed down the tunnel which led to the entrance.

The tunnel was short enough that sunlight coming either from the entrance or from the volcano cone illuminated the passage just well enough to see. At night, one needed a flashlight or a really good memory to walk that path.

It was a sunny afternoon, so light tumbled down the entrance, though from an angle which wasn't that favorable. The entrance chamber was half lit, which was why Lewis had been using the lamp and the helmet light, but Cleo could see well enough.

Lewis had taken his knife and hand axe, but had left everything else. Amused by the miner's helmet, Cleo turned its light on and set it on her head. She picked up the now-dark lantern, the coiled ropes, and the book. She left the pile of cut rope segments; they weren't worth moving.

Cleo was almost able to carry everything in one trip, but not quite. Halfway back to the moon pool, the book slid out from between the ropes and flopped to the ground. She proceeded to the moon pool and carefully set the ropes and the lantern by a far wall, as out of the way as possible. She would text Lewis that she had moved his stuff.

Still wearing the lit helmet, she went back down the tunnel and knelt to pick up the book. And did a slight double-take when the helmet's light revealed something.

Cleo crouched further and carefully looked at the wall on her right, which was the wall in the direction of the ocean. Then she poked her head into the wall.

She pulled her head back out and called down the tunnel. "Hey! You gotta come see this!"

Emma and Rikki pulled themselves out of their relaxation and rolled out of the pool. "Oh, what did Lewis do now?" Rikki muttered, as she dried herself and Emma. They wandered down the tunnel to join Cleo.

But the tunnel was empty. They found only a book lying on the ground.

"Cleo?" Emma called.

Cleo's arm suddenly emerged from the wall, by the floor. It waved. "Down here!" came Cleo's voice.

"What the..." Emma said. She and Rikki approached that spot and knelt, and saw Cleo's face beaming back at them from a hole in the wall they'd never noticed. Cleo had thoughtfully turned the helmet light off before meeting her friends like this.

"Hiya!" Cleo said.

Her fellow mermaids were surprised. The opening was about three feet wide and two feet tall, flush with the ground.

Emma stood and looked carefully, alternately bending over, standing straight, looking at the spot from the left, from head on, and from the right. "Oh, that's wild!" she exclaimed. "It's an optical illusion from every angle! The rock hangs over this opening in such a way that you never notice it from above! Especially with hardly any light!"

"Where does it go?" Rikki asked.

"Come see!" Cleo said.

Each girl was young enough and skinny enough to wriggle through the opening with little effort. As her friends joined her, Cleo took off the helmet and turned its light on, holding it in her hands like a simple flashlight. This way, she could talk to her friends without blinding them, as Lewis had done.

It was a small chamber, which the girls could see only by the helmet's light. It was roughly the shape of a long, skinny triangle, about eight feet wide by the entrance, with the remaining two walls converging to a point about twenty feet straight back from it. The ceiling was just as high as in the tunnel, though there were a couple places where the girls had to duck slightly.

Cleo began inspecting the walls thoroughly, from ground to ceiling.

"Huh," Rikki said. "How wild that this has been here the whole time and we never knew it!"

"We've walked right past it dozens of times," Emma said. "But you just can't see that opening unless you know to get down on your knees and look for it!"

"No exits," Cleo said, finishing her examination. "But there's this."

She knelt near the far end of the chamber and indicated a recess in the right wall, at the ground. It was about three feet deep, and its opening was about two feet square. "It's like a little alcove," Cleo said. "We could maybe use it to store things. We could call it the mersafe!"

Rikki smiled, and said to Emma, "Ha! She's already moving in."

Cleo grinned. "Well, this chamber does seem like a nice addition to our clubhouse. We'll call it the hideaway! A new room to use, if we ever need it."

"I can't see that we ever would," Rikki said.

"I don't know," Emma said thoughtfully. "I can't either, at the moment. But the fact that it's so well hidden might turn out to be useful someday."

"It makes you wonder what else might be in this cavern we don't know about," Cleo said.

"Well, color me surprised," Emma said. "But also color me anxious. I have to go; I don't want to be late my first day back on the job."

The girls wriggled out of the hideaway and headed back to the moon pool, Cleo picking up the book on the way and turning off the helmet.

Cleo had a thoughtful expression on her face as she set the book and the helmet on the ropes. "Guys...that was weird."

"What was?" Rikki asked. She and Emma stood by the pool, ready to go.

Cleo gave them a curious look. "The way I discovered the hideaway. Lewis...his little pet project...leaving his things...the way I felt I needed to go get his things...his helmet, with the light...the fact that I put it on and turned the light on just because I felt like it...the book dropping at exactly that point in the tunnel." She shrugged. "Maybe it's nothing. But after we started talking about the moon pool's possible influence over things, I've been hypersensitive to gigantic coincidences, or to bizarre sequences of events which lead us to something. And...this kinda feels like one."

"So the moon pool wanted us to discover the hideaway?" Rikki asked. She looked at the water and asked, "Hey, are you up to somethin'?"

The water, of course, did not answer.

Emma gave them a slight smile. "It was probably just your garden variety coincidence. But if the moon pool really did lead you to discover the hideaway, I'm sure we'll find out why eventually."

Cleo joined them. Together, they dove in.

Thursday

Linda arrived at Blue Sky Boats at 7:30, like she usually did. She started the coffee, checked the security logs, eyeballed her boats to make sure they looked much the same as the night before (she'd been hit by vandals once, years ago), made sure the payment systems were connected to the network, and checked the weather. At 8:00, she unlocked the front door and flipped the sign in the window from Sorry, we're closed to Come on in, we're open!

The man walked in at 8:01.

He was about forty, somewhat ruggedly good-looking, clear-eyed, and physically fit. He had a small backpack slung over one shoulder. In one hand he carried a fishing rod and a net; in the other, a medium-sized tackle box.

The bell over the door jingled as he entered. The reception area was small enough that the bell wasn't necessary, but it was part of the charm.

The man glanced around, taking in the rest of the charm. Kitsch art lined the walls at odd angles which were no doubt meant to be tasteful: old black and white photos of people proudly holding large fish they'd just caught; fishing rods and nets; old license plates; an autographed photo of Judith Durham. An old wooden outboard motor even hung from the ceiling in one corner.

"Good morning!" Linda said, from behind the counter. "Welcome to Blue Sky Boats! What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to rent a boat, please." The man approached the counter.

"Yes, sir. What would you like? Is this a family trip?"

"No, it's just me, I'm afraid, and my needs are simple. I'm just here on vacation. I'd like the smallest thing you've got with a motor, for one week." He set his tackle box on the counter, to one side, so he could reach into his pocket. He pulled out his marine license and set it in front of her. "Everything here is correct and current."

"Mr. Anthony Warren," she said, reading the license. She entered his information into the computer. "What are your plans with the boat, and where will you be taking it?"

"Fishing, and no real planned destination. Just random spots. I don't intend to go more than a few miles offshore."

"Do you intend to moor it here when not in use, and to leave your car here while you're on the water?"

"Yes, if you allow that."

"Absolutely. There's no charge to leave your car in the parking lot or to moor the boat, but you'll need to sign a liability waiver for the car."

"That's fine."

"Do you intend to take the boat to Mako Island?"

He hesitated, just for a fraction of a second, wondering how to play that question. "Mmmm...hadn't thought about it one way or the other. Is that special?"

"Mako Island is a higher-risk area, due to the reefs and sharks. The insurance charge is a little extra."

"Shark attacks on people are rare, even in infested waters."

"Good luck telling that to the insurance companies."

He smiled with genuine humor. "True. Yes, I'll probably be in the vicinity of Mako Island."

Anthony could have lied about that, but there was always a chance this woman had GPS locators in her boats. GPS technology wasn't very widespread at the moment, but a few savvy business owners were already taking advantage of it. Anthony could see quite easily that by 2010, at least, in just a few years, it would be everywhere. Also, he had no real reason to lie.

"So you're okay with the higher insurance fee?" Linda asked.

Anthony gave her a charming smile and handed her a credit card. "Yes, I am."

She entered information about his car, including the rental agency, for security purposes. Then she printed a few papers for him to sign: liability waivers (car and boat); insurance; a promise not to do anything reckless or irresponsible; a promise to return the boat with a full tank or he would be charged a refuel fee; a promise to return it clean or he would be charged a cleaning fee; etc. The usual stack. He scribbled his signature on each.

Linda stapled the papers, put them in a cubbyhole beneath the counter, handed his license back with a smile, and said, "Follow me."

She led him out onto a pier and presented him with a small boat, capable of seating two people, four if they were friendly. It was white with blue trim. "I always photograph the boats, on all sides, when they're returned, and I compare them to the previous photos, so if you bring it back damaged, I will know."

"Understood. Quite commendable."

Linda handed him the key. "Have fun, Mr. Warren! Enjoy your stay on the Gold Coast!"

Anthony smiled. "Oh, I absolutely intend to make this the trip of a lifetime."

 

A mile offshore, Anthony let the boat idle forward slowly and pulled the journal from his backpack. He didn't really need it; he had the relevant passages practically memorized. But this close to the prize, he intended to be thorough. No mistakes.

The journal's directions, and a crudely drawn map, guided him safely through the reefs surrounding Mako Island and led him to the beach closest to his goal. The sky was clear, the wind and sea were calm, the boat handled easily, and he'd driven boats this size many times, so he had no problems.

Anthony had never been to Mako Island, though he'd seen photos of it many times. It almost felt holy, finally arriving on its shore after hearing about it for so many, many years.

He pulled the boat firmly onto the beach, took a compass from the backpack, and swung the backpack over his shoulder. He picked up the journal and flipped to the section which told the reader how to get to the cavern. Once again, the directions included a crude map.

Anthony checked his surroundings against the journal, got his bearings, and set off. He probably wouldn't need the compass, but it was better to be safe.

The journal led him true. The waterfall, and the cavern entrance, were exactly where they were supposed to be.

His heart pounded as he stood outside the entrance. After so many years, he was finally here.

He stored the journal and the compass in the backpack, then held the backpack in his arms. He crouched, braced his legs against the sides of the opening, and carefully slid down the chute.

He had hoped to land lightly and expertly on his feet, but the chute flattened at the bottom. This meant that no matter who you were, king or pauper, you slid into that cavern on your ass, completely undignified.

He scowled, stood, and brushed himself off. He looked around, and found a small pile of rope pieces at his feet.

Unexpected.

There wasn't a lot of sand or dirt in this first chamber, so there were no footprints. But he got the feeling the rope pieces had been put there recently. He couldn't fathom their purpose.

He'd really expected the cavern to be completely deserted. To find signs of occupation, however slight, was alarming.

Someone might be in the cavern at that very moment.

He swung the backpack over his shoulder and crept forward silently. He didn't need the journal now; he knew the way from here.

At the other end of a small tunnel, he emerged into what he thought of as a cathedral of evil.

The moon pool.

No one was there.

The moon pool chamber took Anthony's breath away. He gazed around, overwhelmed, and looked up the volcano at a circle of sky.

Then he looked around more closely. Here, there was sand, mostly dirty silt brought in from occasional storm surges. In this sand were all sorts of footprints. He saw the ropes, the lantern, the helmet, and the book stacked neatly against one wall.

It was clear that multiple people had been here very recently, and he got the distinct feeling that whoever it was came here often.

His soul went ice cold.

No! he thought wildly. It couldn't be! Could it?!

Could there be...more of them? More than the original three?!

Anthony's heart pounded, and he felt dizzy. This was a development he simply hadn't thought of, and he chastised himself for his shortsightedness. Despite years of careful planning, he had never thought there might be more! Stupid! he berated himself. How could I overlook such an obvious possibility?!

If new mermaids existed, he wondered if he had a moral obligation to deal with them, too. If so, his mission in life just became a whole lot heavier and more complicated.

One thing at a time, he thought, firmly bringing himself under control. Louise Chatham is still the objective. Deal with her first.

He set to work quickly. He'd thought he'd be able to work at his leisure, but knowing someone could arrive any moment changed things significantly.

Anthony chose a point on the rear wall where the rock bulged outward a little. He set his backpack down, pulled out a pickaxe, and attacked the wall vigorously. It was basalt, so this would take a while, but he'd known that.

He struck the wall powerfully a few times, then paused.

He had the eerie feeling he was being watched.

He turned. No one was there.

He suddenly realized what it was, what it had to be. Mermaids were magical creatures, and he knew the magic emanated from this place. And magic was intelligent. So, of course he was being watched.

He smiled. "You don't like it, do you?" he asked softly, his voice echoing slightly. He didn't know exactly where the magic was focused, so he addressed the pool. As the centerpiece of the cavern, it felt right. "You know what I'm doing, and why. And it bothers you." His smile grew more spiteful. "Good. You should be afraid. Because you certainly don't scare me!"

He turned back and resumed attacking the wall.

Behind him, a few ripples raced across the surface of the pool, as if something invisible had agitated the water.

Half an hour later, sweating with exertion, Anthony pulled away a final section of rock to find what the codex had told him he would. Something that was definitely not basalt. In fact, something he was sure was completely unknown to science.

Embedded within the wall was a vein of blue, oblong crystals. Most were three-quarters of an inch to an inch long. They glowed softly.

Anthony smiled. He pulled a sack from his backpack and collected about twenty crystals.

Then he stowed the sack and the pickaxe inside the backpack, swung the backpack over his shoulder, and gave the moon pool a crooked, triumphant grin.

"You've created a new set, haven't you?" he asked jovially. "Probably a trio, if I understand how you operate, and we both know I do. What, the first three weren't evil enough? You had to go and corrupt three more young souls? Heh. Well, I'll just have to deal with them, too, won't I?"

Anthony regarded the wound he'd inflicted on the cavern wall. "They'll see that someone was here. That's fine. Consider it a calling card. My proclamation of our impending battle." He turned back to the moon pool. "I'm a fair man, so normally, I'd salute you, my foe." His face grew hard, and full of hatred. "But you don't deserve such respect, so you'll get none. Not now, not ever!"

With this parting barb, he strode from the cavern and back to the entrance.

The climb back up the chute, while wearing a backpack, was tricky.

Idiots! he thought at first. Whoever these new mermaids and their friends are, you'd think they'd install a stupid rope ladder!

But halfway up the chute, Anthony was honest enough to admit that, had he thought of it, he could have brought one, too.

 

Upon returning to the mainland, Anthony treated himself to a nice relaxing lunch, then went shopping.

First, he hit a new age hippie store, the kind which sold healing crystals and tacky jewelry which – as far as he was concerned – some woman with thirteen cats had made in her kitchen while thinking she was being wise and witchcrafty when she was, in fact, an epic-level idiot. Luckily, he didn't have to put up with the incense, the Enya music, and the hippie bullshit very long; he found what he needed pretty quickly.

He stepped out of the store with a necklace whose pendant was a gaudy silver disc about six inches across, engraved with a blessing in Gaelic, which the pendant's maker had probably copied from their daily calendar. It looked like something prop masters would have used as a medallion in a 1950s Flash Gordon movie. It was truly hideous. But it was big enough to do the job, which was all that mattered.

No, he didn't wear it.

Next, Anthony found an electronics store, where he purchased superglue, packing tape, and the latest iPod model. He chose a pink one.

Why an expensive iPod instead of something much simpler, such as a box of chocolates, a teddy bear, roses, or a small piece of jewelry? Simply because Anthony found it amusing.

He visited a store which sold greeting cards, stuffed animals, and other small gifts. He bought a nice, generic greeting card, which said something like I hope you're having a wonderful day; he didn't bother reading it too closely. He signed the card, Someone who cares. Then he paused, smiled, and added a little happy face, on impulse and just for fun. Why not?

Then Anthony found a Pack & Send, and spoke to a nice young man behind the counter named Pete. Anthony asked Pete to box and wrap the iPod, to attach the card to the exterior of the package, and to ship it to Forest Meadows Rest Home, a local address, before end of day.

Anthony stressed that the recipient was old and infirm, so the delivery person would need to take the package all the way to the recipient's door, rather than just leave it at the front desk. No, Anthony didn't know the room number, so the delivery person would need to go to the front desk to get that information. But, Anthony stressed several times, it was still vital that the delivery person, upon learning the room number, deliver the package all the way to the room. Anthony made sure Pete understood how crucial this was. One wouldn't want to force an infirm person to come get a package, would one? Pete agreed that no, one wouldn't.

Anthony paid extra to have the delivery tracked, and would receive email updates on his blackberry. Pete said the package couldn't possibly be delivered before 5:00, but would be delivered that evening, no problem. Anthony truthfully replied that that was actually perfect, and wished Pete a very good day.

Anthony returned to his hotel room. He sat at the desk, turned on the lamp, and arrayed before him the crystals from the moon pool cavern, the pendant, the superglue, the packing tape, and a single piece of paper containing a translation of the codex passage he had photographed.

He set to work, then took a nap while the superglue dried and his blackberry charged.

He woke at 4:30 and checked his blackberry. His package was still en route, which he'd expected. He checked the superglue, and found it had hardened nicely.

He put the necklace on, tucked the pendant inside his shirt, and left.

He drove to Forest Meadows Rest Home, which the private investigator he'd hired the previous month had told him was the current residence of Louise Chatham. Anthony had no doubt the address was accurate, but the one piece of information his investigator had been unable to determine was Louise's room number.

Anthony had gotten the impression that the investigator could have discovered Louise's room number using nefarious methods, but was such a stickler for the law that he would not do so. Which kind of defeated the point of being a private investigator in the first place, in Anthony's opinion. It was frustrating, but Anthony knew he would prevail in the end.

If the delivery person followed instructions and took the package to Louise's door, Anthony would follow the delivery person and discover Louise's exact location.

Anthony parked up the street from the rest home and turned the car off. He kept one eye on his blackberry, and another eye on the rest home's entrance, looking for any arriving vehicle with the Pack & Send logo.

He was ready to go at a moment's notice.

Fifteen minutes later, Anthony spotted a group of four teenagers arriving at the rest home on foot. One boy and three girls.

The original mermaid trio had consisted of teenage girls. There was no guarantee the new batch would also be teenage girls, of course. He supposed there could be mermen as well as mermaids, and of any age.

Still...his eyes followed the three girls walking into this particular rest home, and he wondered.

 

"Well, good evening!" Louise said as she joined Cleo, Emma, Rikki, and Lewis. As usual when any of the girls visited, they sat at a table on the rest home's covered patio. Lewis stood and pulled out a seat for Louise.

Louise turned to Cleo as she sat. "My! What a fine gentleman you've found. He's a keeper!"

"Most of the time, he is, yes!" Cleo said with a grin. "And even when he's not, he somehow still is."

Louise asked, "Since you're in such good moods, may I assume you finally survived a full moon with no problems?"

"Yes!" Rikki said.

"Finally!" Cleo exclaimed.

The full moon had been a week earlier. The girls had visited Louise once since then, on Saturday – right after their horrible argument on the beach – but they'd had much heavier subjects to discuss that day, so the topic of the recent full moon hadn't come up. This was really their first true chance to talk about it.

"What did you do this time?" Louise asked. "Were you together?"

"No, it was a school night, so we were in our homes," Emma said. "We each told our parents we were going to bed early because we were really tired. We locked our doors, made sure our curtains had no openings,-"

"Bathroom and bedroom," Cleo interjected quickly.

"-took sleeping drugs, and wore sleep eye masks," Emma finished.

"Voila!" Rikki said. "No moon madness!"

"Congratulations!" Louise said.

"Did you, Gracie, and Julia ever conquer the full moon?" Cleo asked.

Louise shook her head. "Never. We mostly did what you just described."

"Yeah, life's a whole lot calmer when the moon's not making us do the cray-cray," Rikki said.

"Cray-cray?" Louise asked, giving her a puzzled look.

"Slang term for crazy," Emma said.

"Ah," Louise said.

"Remember, the moon is the root source of the word lunatic," Emma said. "Luna is the Latin word for the moon, and ancient people thought the full moon caused madness."

Lewis said, "Now that we know what we do about mermaids and magic, I think we can agree that those ancient people probably knew what they were talking about."

"Well, you don't need a full moon to experience the wild life," Louise said, and looked at the teenagers mischievously. "I know you can do that all by yourselves. Tell me, did you have a good time saving that family and putting those thieves in jail?"

Cleo's jaw dropped a little and her eyes grew wide. Emma and Rikki looked at each other in astonishment. Only Lewis didn't seem surprised; he gave a little smirk of admiration.

Cleo asked, "How...how did you..."

Louise just smiled. "Dear, with all the time I have, I read the paper every day." She looked around the table at all three girls. "A mystery explosion at sea, in mid-air, which no one can explain? A 000 call from a girl no one can find? A bizarre jump off a cliff into the ocean which no one can explain, and for which no one can find a body? A mysterious gust of wind, which exposed the boat the thieves were trying to hide?" She gave the girls a mock-disappointing look. "Really, you may as well have posted signs all over the place saying, Mermaids were here!"

They laughed.

"Well...I guess we did post signs all over the place saying Mermaids were here," Emma said. "But only to those who know how to read them!"

"Tell me all the juicy details!" Louise said.

They spent the next fifteen minutes doing precisely that, delighting Louise immensely.

As they finished their tale, the chirpy employee who once tried so hard to get them to join a shuffleboard tournament materialized beside their table.

"Good evening, everyooooooooooone!" she said, making Louise flinch. The woman's name tag read Brandy. She had close-cropped blonde hair, and her face was a megawatt smile brighter than the sun. "How's everyone today?!"

"We're good," Rikki said with a smile, while the others nodded.

"Greeeeeeeeat! Are you all going to join us for the competitions?!"

"What competitions?" Emma asked. She felt she had to ask, even though doing so also felt like the first step in sliding over the event horizon of a black hole.

"Why, our dance competitions, of course!" Brandy enthused. "Best couples dancers, best solo dancer, best Elvis impersonation, best Michael Jackson impersonation, and best legs! It all starts in the activity room at seven!" She squealed a little.

Rikki smiled in admiration. No matter how irritating the woman was, she couldn't help but just love her.

"No, we're not dancing or exposing any legs tonight," Louise said with a forced smile. "My friends and I have a lot to catch up on, and very little time in which to do it, I'm afraid."

"Awwww! Well, if you change your mind, just let me know! You can sign up right until the last minute!"

"Thanks very much," Emma said with a smile.

They were spared further enthusiasm because, at that moment, Brandy saw her next victim in the patio doorway. She sashayed over with a loud and cheerful, "Heeeeeey!"

The friends shook their heads. "She's an absolute gem!" Rikki said. "I don't care what anyone says."

"I hate her more every day," Louise said, and the others burst out laughing.

"Louise, I wanted to ask you about the lockets," Cleo said, while taking hers off. She showed it to Louise, who bent forward to peer at it.

Cleo opened and closed her locket. "You can see how the hinge is coming loose, just a tiny bit."

"Oh, yes," Louise said, gently taking the locket.

"I'm afraid it'll only get worse, so I'd like to get it fixed it as soon as possible," Cleo said. "So we were wondering...did you, Julia, and Gracie find these in a store, or did someone make them for you?"

Louise smiled, partly from the memories. "Oh, no, we didn't find them in a store. We never even thought about owning matching jewelry. No, a man named Max Hamilton made them for us. He surprised us with them one day."

Emma said, "So...did Max know about..."

"Max knew we were mermaids. He was-" Louise suddenly slowed her enthusiasm, as she realized she might say too much. "He was a friend of Gracie's," she said diplomatically. "He discovered our secret one day, but he was fine with it. In fact, Lewis reminds me of Max, very much. Max was a bit of a scientist, and an engineer. A bit overeager to find scientific explanations for our gift." She smiled. "He became a confidant and a friend to all of us. And one day, he gave us these matching lockets, to signify our friendship and our bond." Louise ran her fingers over the locket, just as she ran her mind over the memories.

"You say was," Emma said. "Did he pass away?"

"Not so far as I know," Louise said, coming back to the present. "Last I knew, he still lives nearby."

Rikki looked puzzled. "Does he ever come visit?"

Louise gave her a sad smile. "I'm afraid not. Oh, don't get me wrong. He has nothing against me, as far as I know. But...Max's memories of that time aren't all happy ones. He may not want anything to do with them, any more."

"That's sad," Rikki said.

Louise's smile became melancholy. "We had a lot of good times. But yes...there was plenty of sadness, too. Too much for some." She gently handed the locket back to Cleo.

"So, if I show up at his door with this locket..." Cleo asked hesitantly.

"Oh, he wouldn't be mean, or anything. Max is an old softie."

"But it might be painful for him," Cleo said.

"Or...it might be healing." Louise shrugged. "Sometimes, life is like that. The universe gives you a chance to close the book on something, and maybe that would be the case for Max. I honestly don't know. As far as Max is concerned, that locket still lies beneath the water on Mako Island. He may actually enjoy seeing it was rescued, and that it means something to someone new."

"Would it be okay to get Max's phone number and address?" Cleo asked.

"I don't have it," Louise said. "But I believe he's in the phone directory. You should be able to find him quite easily."

Cleo pursed her lips and looked thoughtful, as if something had just occurred to her.

"Emma, let me see your locket," Cleo said, while putting hers back on. Emma took hers off and handed it over. Cleo opened it to look at the photo inside. A moment in time from half a century earlier: Louise, Julia, and Gracie smiling at the camera, showing their mermaid tails.

Cleo showed the photo to Louise, and said, "It never occurred to me until just now: someone you knew and trusted had to have taken this photo." Cleo smiled at Louise with her newfound comprehension.

Louise smiled back, proud of Cleo for working that out. "You're right. We allowed Max to take photos of us one day at the moon pool, with the strict promise he would never show anyone. He had his own darkroom, so that was no problem. He convinced us that photos would become precious mementos over the years, and he was absolutely correct. But we later learned that another reason he wanted to take our photos was so he could put one inside each locket."

Louise turned to Rikki. "Your locket still has the photo inside, correct?"

Rikki nodded.

"Yeah, mine's the only one with no photo," Cleo said.

"You know, you are free to replace that old photo with one of yourselves," Louise said with a smile. "I mean, they are your lockets."

As one, all three girls shook their heads emphatically. "No, absolutely not," Emma said.

"They are ours, but they have a history," Rikki said. "A good one. And we honor that."

 

The Pack & Send van turned into the rest home's parking lot. Anthony got out of his car, locked it, and began walking briskly.

 

Before saying goodbye, Lewis and the girls accompanied Louise to the lobby, since it was the direction all of them were going. A few people sat around the lobby, alone or in groups. At the rear of the lobby was the main desk, where a woman sat on duty until 8:00. A Pack & Send delivery man entered the lobby and headed for the main desk. Louise and her friends paid no attention to any of these things, as they chatted their final words of the night and prepared to say farewell.

Louise had just begun to drift away from the others, in the direction of her room, which was down the east corridor. The teenagers had just begun to drift toward the front door. They were all just about to say their final goodbyes when the woman at the front desk called out, "Oh, Ms. Chatham."

Louise, Lewis, and the girls all turned to look at the woman staffing the front desk. In front of her was the Pack & Send delivery man with a small package.

The woman gestured to Louise and said to the delivery man, "This is Ms. Chatham."

Louise was surprised. "A package? For me?"

Anxious not to lose sight of the delivery man, Anthony walked quickly and boldly through the front doors, then stopped cold.

Louise mother-effing Chatham was forty feet in front of him! And the delivery man was handing her the package right there!

Just like that, Anthony's careful plan blew up spectacularly. Simply because Louise just happened to be in the lobby at the exact moment the delivery man had arrived! The odds were astronomical!

Anthony controlled his rage. He looked away from Louise, who was signing for the package while her friends gathered around and watched curiously.

Louise's friends were the teenagers he'd noticed earlier. He found that extremely interesting.

The woman at the front desk noticed Anthony standing there like a lump on a log, just inside the doorway, and called to him. "May I help you, sir?"

Anthony didn't even glance at Louise. He smoothly switched to the role of confused visitor. "Uh, hi, I hope I'm in the right place. I'm looking for a Mr. Gregory Bancroft?"

The woman made a funny face. "I don't recognize the name." She checked her computer while Anthony walked to the desk. He had to follow through his improvised lie. Twenty feet to his left, Louise and her friends were ignorant of his existence.

"Someone who cares?" Louise asked, reading the card. "And no name?"

"You have a secret admirer!" Rikki said with a grin.

Louise gave Rikki a horrified look. "Goodness me, that's the last thing I need!"

"Maybe something in the package will tell you who sent it," Cleo said.

"We have no one by that name, sir," the woman at the front desk said.

"I see," Anthony said. "I was told he was in a rest home, but maybe I got confused about which one. It's too late tonight to call my friends and ask them to clarify, so I'll just figure it out tomorrow. Thanks for checking."

"No problem, sir. You have a wonderful evening."

Anthony headed for the door. His prey was just twenty feet away, yet he could do nothing but stride out and hope no one remembered his face. The evening's operation was a complete bust.

He almost made it. He was accosted ten feet from the door.

"Hi theeeeeeeeeeere!" Brandy squealed into his face. "Would you like to stay long enough to enter our dance competition?!"

Anthony was about to blow. The object of his hatred was forty feet behind him, opening his package, while he had to pretend he didn't know her. His heart was thudding in his chest, his adrenaline was about to pop out of his ears, and now this walking ray of sunshine was blocking his path.

With monumental control, he said, "No thank you, I'm in a hurry. Please excuse me." He quickly brushed past Brandy and charged out the doors.

"What is this contraption?" Louise asked.

"It's an iPod!" Lewis gushed. "The latest!"

"Is it expensive?" Louise asked.

"Very!" Cleo said, stars in her eyes.

Louise held the iPod by its cord, between two fingers, and stared at it like she'd just pulled a garden snake out of her spaghetti. "Who in the world sent me this? And why?" She looked at the teenagers. "And what in tarnation am I supposed to do with it?"

And that was how the teenagers accompanied Louise to her room and spent an extra half hour helping her set up her new iPod.

 

Anthony fumed every step back to his car. He climbed in and drove away, replaying the events of the past two minutes in his mind over and over.

If he'd thought of a smoother lie, perhaps he could have stayed and followed Louise back to her room! But he knew there was no smoother lie which would have allowed him to do that without arousing suspicion. No, pretending to be a confused visitor and getting the hell out had been the smart option. The only option. But it still burned! And because the woman who staffed the desk saw his face and believed his lie, he could never return under another pretense to try again! That had been his only shot inside the rest home, ruined by a bizarre coincidence!

And what of that coincidence?! What were the odds Louise would be in the lobby at the very moment the delivery person arrived?!

The answer suddenly hit Anthony so hard he had to pull onto a side street and park for a moment, just to get his breathing under control.

A coincidence of astronomical odds.

A coincidence of astronomical odds, my ass! he raged to himself.

He had forgotten he was dealing with magic. And with magic, there was no such thing as a coincidence of astronomical odds.

"So," he whispered savagely. "You protect them, your little servants. You manipulate events in very subtle ways to thwart anyone who would harm them! Well...duly noted. Round one to you."

His blackberry chimed. He checked it.

Your package was delivered at 6:11 PM. Thank you for using Pack & Send. Have a wonderful day!

The message ended with a smiley face. Because...why not?

Anthony displayed perfect control. He calmly set the blackberry on the passenger seat.

With a look of cold determination, he put the car in gear and drove back to his hotel.