There has been a pod of mermaids at Mako Island for thousands of years. They came from the east, from the Pacific Ocean and further, and, finding the extinct volcano's latent magic, stayed. Former land people, both the western settlers and the natives, soon joined them and their numbers grew
It stayed much like this for centuries, with the mermaids living in secret, occasionally joined by a human.
In 1956, three fifteen-year-old girls found the moon pool. They weren't alone, though, and the human boy with them came dangerously close to discovering the pod.
It was then that the council decided they could no longer risk their existence by accepting land people into their pod. They avoided the three new mermaids, and set up defenses around Mako and fortified the ones that were already there. The reefs were sharp enough to tear through a boat's hull, and the pod began raising and taming sharks as guards. No one would come near Mako.
It worked. Nobody approached the island, and in 2006 when three girls got stuck in the ocean, they waited for the coast guard instead of risking the trip.
Of course, this didn't scare two teenaged-boys into staying away, and in January of 2008, the moon pool turned its first merperson in over fifty years. The three young mermaids responsible for letting him in were cast out, and the pod left.
A year later, the three girls who had gotten lost at sea for a whole day the summer before year ten were about to enter year twelve. One of them had won gold in States in competitive swimming at the age of sixteen, and had little time for her childhood friends, too busy training for the Olympics for much else. One of them had taken up martial arts, and taught younger kids every day after school to make a little money to help her through uni; she wasn't going to ask her dad for help. One didn't know what she wanted to do with her life, so she just focused on her schoolwork, forming a small tutoring business with her best friend and his girlfriend. Everything was normal.
Rikki is just walking out of class, gi stuffed in her bag, when Will pulls up in his hunk of junk Subaru and honks at her. She smiles, pulls open the passenger door and throws her backpack into the back, and slides in next to him.
He's technically not supposed to be driving her around without an adult, but much like her, Will's never really cared for rules. He's been like that since they met, when Rikki's neighbor's dog broke its chain and rushed her. Will was on a walk, and hearing the chain snap and Rikki's muttered "shit," jumped the fence and distracted the dog long enough to buy Rikki the time to get back inside.
That was in December. It feels like they've been friends for far longer, the way they can play off each other.
"Class go well?" Will asks as he pulls out of the little shopping complex Rikki's job is at and starts heading south.
"One of the kids was a little shit," Rikki replies. She pulls her half-empty water bottle out of her backpack behind her and unscrews the cap. She had kickboxing before the class, and it's hot in there, so she's still sweating a bit. "He kept refusing to do the katas, and would not sit still."
"Was it Jono?"
Rikki nods and takes a long drink from her bottle, draining it. She's gone on these rants before, so much that Will could probably walk into her class and be able to tell who every kid was, especially Jono. "Calum was surprisingly focused today, though, which I guess is a good thing."
"Most of them are there to learn to stay focused, so I guess you're doing your job right."
Rikki laughs. "God I hope so." They're silent for a while after that, Will focusing on a particularly tricky bit of traffic and Rikki content to just enjoy the silence after an hour with screaming primie students.
"So I found something while I was out swimming," Will says suddenly. He's a free diver, and he finds joy in swimming in the shark-infested waters around Mako Island. Rikki knows it's dangerous, but she can't really find it in herself to care when he gets excited like this. She's scared that one day he's going to wind up dying out there when she thinks about it. It's his decision to risk his life like that though (and it's not like free diving is a particularly safe sport, anyways), so she doesn't say anything.
"Yeah?" Rikki asks. She'll admit she's interested. Whenever he finds something cool enough to bring up, it's usually really interesting. Last time he found something, it was a small silver ring with a rounded blue stone on it, and she wears it almost constantly, taking it off only for martial arts or if she's scared she'll lose it. "What'd you find this time?"
"I wanna wait and tell you and Bella at the same time." Bella's their friend, a girl they met after she stormed out of the Ocean Café and ran into Rikki. She had just applied to sing there, but they already had a girl, and weren't looking to hire another performer at the time. They changed their mind a month later, when something came up in the first singer's life that meant she could only sing about half the time. Bella happily accepted their offer of an audition, and a week later she was working at the café, picking up all of the days the primary singer had to miss.
"Must be important then," Rikki comments. He rarely ever waits to talk about something he's excited about, and Rikki wonders what could possibly be this important to make him wait.
"Hell no," Bella says, looking at the small boat and Will's pleading smile. "We're not going out there, especially in that."
Rikki sits at the helm of the small boat, watching the two of them argue and wondering how Will had managed to rope her into it in the first place. Whatever he found is s something they actually have to go to Mako to see. He explained on the way to Rikki's house, where he told her to get her swimsuit, fins, and a mask. She had learned around the first week of their friendship that when Will gets that look in his eye, it's better to go along with it rather than fight, even though her instincts tell her otherwise.
"Come on," Will pleads. "This is awesome, and I know you don't like going out to sea, but this is worth it."
Bella shakes her head slowly before turning around and walking back up the jetty and towards her bike. "It's not gonna happen, Will," she calls over her shoulder. "Feel free to do it yourself, but I'd rather not get eaten by sharks."
Will looks like he wants to protest, but Rikki interrupts before he can say anything. "Forget it," she says. "She obviously doesn't want to go. You can tell her about it later. Let's just go." Rikki kind of wanted Bella to come with them, but the other girl's notoriously stubborn. There's no way either of them are changing her mind.
"Fine," Will says. He unties the line holding them to the jetty and pushes them off, and Rikki starts the boat and pulls them out of the small marina.
The ocean's relatively calm today, small swells easily cut through as the small boat makes its way to the small island a few kilometers out.
For as long as Rikki's lived on the Gold Coast, no one's ever gone near Mako. It's surrounded by jagged reefs and shark-infested waters. Not even the most adventurous people stay long. A few years ago, Benett tried to tame the island for some hotel or something, but his boats kept running into the reef and sinking. Sharks would tear anchor lines, and there are still a few sunken hulls scattered throughout the reef. No one died, thankfully, but Benett lost a lot of money on it, the greedy bastard.
Rikki's got no idea how Will manages to make it through the reef without running aground.
"Stop here," Will says when they're a good quarter kilometer away. "We're swimming the rest of the way."
"You're serious?" Rikki asks. "We're swimming all the way to shore? What about the sharks?"
Will gives her a look like she's stupid. "They don't mess with anyone who's not an idiot. I mean, surfing or spearfishing? Yeah they might go after you, but we're swimming, and without oxygen tanks at that. Sharks don't mess with the kind of control it takes to do that."
Rikki wants to point out that she probably won't be able to swim that far without an oxygen tank or something, but Will's already pulling out his wetsuit and shimmying into it. Rikki rolls her eyes and pulls out a wetsuit of her own.
Will's gear is a lot like hers, but where she's got a pair of flippers, he brought a monofin, one of the ones he uses for free diving. She asked why he uses it instead of flippers when he's not diving once, and he said that after all these years using one, he's going to kick with both legs at the same time anyways. He might as well use something that gives him a little more power.
Will makes sure the anchor line is secure one more time before he lifts his legs over the side and slides into the water. Rikki follows soon after, and with a last glance at the boat, they take off.
It takes a lot longer than Rikki expected to reach the shore. She's still tired from her class and kickboxing, so they go slower than Rikki imagines Will usually goes. The sun's near the horizon when they finally drag themselves onto to the beach.
"I am never doing that again," Rikki groans. "Never." Her legs are weak, and her arms not much better. She had used them to help her keep up with Will, whose larger fin meant he could go faster with less effort. If she had the money she'd look into getting one of those.
"We still have to swim to the place." Will says. "Sorry."
Rikki moans and lets her head fall into the sand. "Really? This isn't all a big, mean joke?" Her words are muffled by the sand, but still audible.
"Yeah, sorry."
"Stop apologizing," Rikki says, turning over and sitting up. "Let's just go before I die of exhaustion."
This trip is a lot shorter, only about five minutes, and when they surface in an underwater cave, Rikki realizes it was totally worth it.
"This is amazing," she breathes. The cavern is tall and has a lip just out of the water. She can see the newly appearing stars if she tilts her head far enough back. "How did you find this?"
"Funny story, actually," Will says, "I fell down a hole while exploring the island."
"You were on the island? Are you crazy?"
"If I'm crazy, then you are too," Will replies. "You're here with me."
"True," Rikki says before going back to looking at the stars above her. "It's dark. How are we gonna find the boat?"
Will follows her gaze to the stars before swearing and pulling himself onto the side of the little pool. "I don't think we can."
Rikki looks at him. "So what, we're just gonna stay here all night?" She's still treading water in the middle of the pool. She doesn't know why, but she doesn't want to get out.
"I guess so," Will says as he slips his feet back into the water. Suddenly the whole pool lights up and starts bubbling. "Holy shit," Will says as he slides back into the water to join Rikki. "Why do you think it's doing that?"
Rikki looks up. "Probably that," she says, pointing at the moon. It's right over the hole in the cave.
The moon eventually moves, and the bubbling dies down. The two teenagers climb back up onto the side and curl up. It's warm, and even lying on rock and dirt they have no trouble falling asleep.
Well hello there! I'm Bathyal, and this is my first fic for H2o. Not my first fic ever, (I've been on the site on and off under different names since 2010), but the first one on this account. I'm also posting this on AO3, where I've been for most of the past few years, so apologies if the formatting seems a little clunky. At the time of posting I've got a good four chapters written, and they'll be posted in the next day or two. Reviews and constructive criticism are much-appreciated, so feel free to drop a note.
-Bathyal