Alonna had been to Mako a hundred times. Her dad had been researching the sharks that swarmed there. He was a marine biologist, whose study focused mainly on sharks. She had come without her dad, this instance. The last time she had come, she had dropped a necklace around a peculiar small cave. This night, there was a full moon, but it was still quite dark. Her torch was pointed toward the ground, searching for the lost necklace. She could have sworn it had fallen in this spot.
Though she had never actually been in the cave, she knew about it. The cave was weirdly shaped in a sort of circle. Well, it wasn't as if she had seen so many caves that she knew how they should look. But, this wasn't how she had pictured a cave, in her mind. It was quite small, too. She thought a cave would be deeper and more squared.
She went in further into a deeper cavern. Realizing it was actually a pretty good sized cave, she liked it just a bit more. There was a pool of deep blue water in the middle, shining elegantly in the light of the moon. This place was so serene. She had never been to such a place before; yet, here it was, right in front of her. This island had always been here; just across the ocean from the Gold Coast.
She looked around the cave, trying to figure out where her necklace fell. Finally, her light shone on a glistening object. She reached over and picked up her necklace.
She turned to go out of the cave, but the way she came in was to steep to go back up. She moved her light toward the water. It looked to be her only way out. Moving toward the water, she slipped on a wet rock, dropping her torch into the pool. Darn it! That was the only light she had. She bent over, looking for it. Deciding that she needed to use the pool to get out, anyway, she jumped into the water, reaching for the torch.
All of a sudden, the water started bubbling! She felt a weird, tingling sensation. Her hands shot out, as she tried pulling herself out of the water. Then the bubbling stopped and everything was perfectly fine. Grabbing the torch, she quickly swam down and out of the opening of the pool. She swam around to the front of the island, where her boat was waiting for her.
When she got home, she quietly set her bag on the couch and tip-toed through the living room. Her parents were waiting up, in the kitchen.
"Where have you been? You should have been home two hours ago." Mum said, furious.
Alonna looked up at them, nervously; trying to figure out a story. If they figured out she was away at Mako Island, she would never hear the end of it. The island was forbidden, unless she was with her dad.
"Um, well, I was at Austin's place." She said, desperate for an excuse. Austin was her best friend, but using him as an excuse, resulted in Alonna's parents calling him to find out what the two of them were up to. Her dad dialed the number on the house phone. She wasn't too nervous. As soon as Austin heard what they had called for, he would come up with something.
"Austin. You were with Alonna tonight right?" Dad asked blatantly.
Austin, on the other end, hesitated; thinking of an answer. What had Alonna been up to tonight? Oh well, he would ask her later.
'We were studying." he said. "Just a bit of harmless biology. Sorry I kept her. I wanted to make sure that she had it written down right. We have a test tomorrow.'
"Oh, alright, then. Good on you two." Dad said, hanging up the phone. "Alonna, you could have just told us you were studying. I wouldn't have called him if you had."
She looked at her dad. "Yes you would have. You never believe me." she said angrily, walking up the stairs to her bedroom.
Looking at the clock on her bedside table, she noticed that it was only 10:00. She went to the bathroom and turned on the tub. A good bath would do her good and help relieve a bit of stress. There was no school tomorrow, so she could stay up all night, sleep in and maybe hang out with some friends tomorrow.
As the tub filled to the top, she turned the knob off. She stripped her clothes off, locking the bathroom door. She stepped into the tub and sat down.
Abruptly, she started feeling like she had in the cave's pool. Except, this was a bit different. She was changing! She closed her eyes, fearful to see what was happening to her. When she opened her eyes, there was an elegant tail where her legs used to be! A pale orange brassiere had appeared over her chest. Looking down at the sparkling orange fish tail, she was speechless, confused, even scared. What was going on? This wasn't real; it couldn't be.
She painfully got out of the tub, reaching for a towel to dry herself off. As soon as she got dry, the tail went away. She was freaking out. This was too weird. She went to her bedroom and picked up her phone. She had to call Austin. Wait. What would he say when she told him she was a…. A mermaid? At least, she thought she was a mermaid. She couldn't be completely sure.
'Alright,' she thought, 'I won't tell him, yet. But I will ask him if he has any books.'
She punched in the numbers quickly, on her cell phone. When Austin answered, she told him all about what had happened; about the normal things that had happened. She left out the bubbling pool and the tail business.
'So, you were at Mako? Mako is dangerous. Everyone knows that. You could have been attacked by sharks. And at night time, you could have slipped and hit your head.' he explained, worriedly.
"Oh, thanks for the support." Alonna said sarcastically. "Anyway, I dropped my necklace there before. You know how important it is to me."
'Yeah, I know. It was your grand mum's, but you should have waited until your dad went tomorrow.' Austin said, sympathetically.
"Ok, well, I was wondering, since you have all those… mythology and fairytale books… maybe you… have one about mermaids?" inquired Alonna, warily.
'Mermaids? You've never shown an interest before." assumed Austin.
"Oh, I've always thought they were beautiful. It's just; I don't believe in them, per say. I just wanted a good bit of mythology to look at."
'Alright, I'll gather my books for you, then. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?' asked Austin, knowingly.
"Um, not really. I gotta go." said Alonna, hanging up the phone.
She didn't like hanging up on him, but she couldn't tell him about this, not yet. She had to find out what was happening to her before she even thought about telling anyone. Even if she ever did find out what truly happened to her, the thought of being exposed to scientists was not a good one; so she decided to wait. Austin had been her best friend since they were four. She knew she could trust him with anything, especially her life. This was all too weird and unexpected, though.
Noticing that all the lights were off in the house, she decided her parents should be asleep now. She went out of her room and down the stairs to the kitchen. She opened up the ice box and pulled out a cup of ice cream, careful not to wet her skin. She then opened the fridge, pulling out a pitcher of juice. Grabbing a cup, she poured the juice carefully and put the pitcher back into the fridge.
She went back to her room, setting the cup on the bed-side table. As it touched the surface, it turned into a crystal-like form. She stared at it in both excitement and confusion. It was an amazing crystal, formed from pineapple juice. A golden crystal that just happened to form as she set her glass down; it couldn't be a coincidence. She picked up the glass and it turned back into liquid. She took her other hand and pointed it toward the glass as she set it down. This time it stayed as it was. She pulled her hand away; still, it stayed as it was. Moving her hand toward it, she tried forming her hand into different gestures. As the juice stayed liquid, she decided it must have been her imagination.
After she finished her juice and ice cream, she laid down in her bed, thinking of what was happening to her. She calmly drifted off to sleep, reflecting on mermaids and other mystical creatures, which she now believed to be real.
The next morning, she awoke groggily. Mum came in, turning on all the lights and opening the windows.
"Come on up, sleepyhead. You can't sleep all day. Why don't you go down to the Juice Net?" said Mum.
"I don't think I want to go out today. I'd rather stay home. I'm not feeling well." explained Alonna.
"Nonsense!" yelled Mum, "Your friends will be waiting for you. Cleo called this morning asking for you and I told her you would go"
"Mum! You can't go and tell people I am going to do things before you ask me!" Alonna shouted.
"Well, I'm sorry. I just thought you would enjoy a day out with your friends. Cleo and Emma are such nice girls. Lewis and Austin will be there, as well." said Mum, calmly.
"You left out Rikki." Alonna said
Mum's eyes rolled down. "That girl is a nuisance. I don't understand how those girls, or their parents, deal with her." she said.
Alonna grabbed all of her stuff, heading out of her room, not thinking twice on her mother's words. Rikki was a good enough friend. She was stubborn, yeah, but she was fun to be around, as long as you weren't the source of her insults.
It was twelve o' clock when Alonna got to the Juice Net and she didn't see any of her friends. She hoped that no one would get any water on her today. She hadn't quite figured if it was the water or not, (what had turned her) but she didn't want to find out in a café full of people.
She set her stuff at one of the tables close to the counter. Going up to the counter, she asked Wilfred for an orange pineapple smoothie. Then, she sat down at the table and waited. Nearly twenty minutes later, the girls finally showed up, walking to her table to meet her.
Rikki went to the bar and asked Wilfred for three juices of types separate to each girls liking. Cleo and Emma each pulled out their chairs and sat down. When Rikki sat down as well, Alonna had three pairs of eyes on her.
"You look awful." Cleo said, taking notice in the black circles under her eyes.
"Oh, thanks. That is exactly what I need to hear this morning." said Alonna, stuffing her face into her shirt.
"Rough night? What went on?" Emma said, sympathetically.
"I'm guessing she didn't sleep." said Rikki.
"As always, someone is quick to point out the obvious." said Emma, referring to Rikki.
"I got sleep, but not much. I was up all night trying to figure something out." Alonna said. "Something happened last night; something weird. I am not normal today. I promised myself I would keep this a secret, but I can't, it's freaking me out too much. Can we go somewhere a bit more private?"
The girls looked at her in confusion and worry. They wanted to do what they could to help their friend.
She still really didn't want to tell anyone; but for a reason she couldn't tell, she felt she needed to tell the three girls.
"What about the guys?" Cleo asked. "They'll be meeting us here soon."
"Well, then, they'll be on their own. Come on, let's go to my house. My parents are out for the weekend. And they took Elliot with them." Emma said.
"Alright. That sounds good." Alonna agreed.
The girls grabbed their bags and headed out the door, saying goodbye to Wilfred on the way. They walked to Emma's house with no conversation. Rikki kicked a can along the way.
When they got to the house, they all headed up the stairs to Emma's room. All four of them found a seat, either on the bed or the floor.
"Okay, we're in a private place. Nice and secure. Now, spill!" Rikki said.
"Alright. Well, something… weird happened last night." Alonna started.
"Weird? Like how?" Cleo asked.
"Okay, this is kind of hard to explain… but… I went to Mako last night." Alonna continued. Cleo, Emma, and Rikki glanced at each other. They hoped she hadn't found out their secret. "I dropped my necklace last time I was there. I didn't have time to get it because I was with my dad. Anyway, I went to find it. It was dark, so I really couldn't see much."
"You went to Mako at night to look for a necklace?" Rikki asked, blatantly.
"Rikki, that necklace was very special to Alonna. It was her grand mum's." Cleo explained. "Go on."
"I had a torch, Rikki. Well, the necklace had fallen around an entering to a small cave, round the middle of the island. I searched the opening and then I fell into it. I found my necklace at the bottom and when I tried to go back up, it was too steep. I decided the only way out was through the pool, but, that was when it got weird." Alonna continued again.
Cleo, Emma and Rikki glanced around at each other once more. "Last night was a full moon, right?" Emma quietly asked the others. "Right." Rikki answered. The three of them knew exactly where this was going. They had experienced this themselves, not so long ago.
"Wait, wait. You're a mermaid, too?" Rikki asked, bluntly.
"Rikki!" Cleo and Emma both yelled her name in unison.
"What? It's obviously where the story is headed. I just thought it would be easier to get it out faster." Rikki said.
Alonna looked at all of them. She knew there was some reason she wanted to tell them. Now she knew what that reason was. They were like her. The same thing had happened to them. With a sigh of relief, she realized that she wouldn't have to be alone in this.
"Me too? You're mermaids, too? How? I mean, when?" She asked.
"A while ago, we got stuck in the cave, too. It was a full moon and we went into the pool." Cleo said.