On a crystal clear morning in late winter the sun rose slowly over the Pacific, reflecting golden light across the waves and turning a few scattered clouds on the horizon shades of rosy pink. Beneath the waves just off the coast of North Stradbroke Island sped five mysterious shapes, crisscrossing each other playfully and leaving trails of bubbles in their wake. Four orange tails and one blue one churned the water, heading north ; it was the Mako pod, out for an early morning swim.
Almost every day Zac, Lyla, Nixie and Sirena explored the waters north and south of Mako Island, and they sometimes coaxed Rita to join them as well. She had been isolated from her own kind for so long that she had become a bit of a loner – like Lyla had been, before she'd discovered the joys of friendship. Rita had initially wanted nothing to do with the three exiled Mako mermaids, but as they all raced each other up the coast she had to admit to herself she was glad the three of them – now four, with Zac - had come into her life. They could be a whole lot of trouble, but also a whole lot of fun.
Her train of thought was derailed by having to dodge around Zac, who'd pulled up so suddenly his tail touched the back of his head. Everyone peered past him to see why he'd stopped. Large floating barrels were anchored to the sea floor by a thick cable, and an attached chain held a large hook. They all surfaced, and Lyla looked at Rita. "I've seen those before – what are they?" she asked.
"It's a drum line." explained Rita. "It lures tiger sharks, bull sharks and white pointers away from the beaches at Straddie. They've got quite a few of them along this coast." She shivered slightly. "One day, hopefully, we can all share the oceans peacefully."
Zac nodded, his curly black hair dripping. "Yeah. Back when I surfed I was all for these keeping the beaches safe. Now, though…" he frowned. "I wish there was another way."
Nixie scoffed, "How do they expect to catch a shark with an empty hook? It's a bit insulting; sharks aren't that dumb."
"Looks like dolphins have stolen the bait again." Rita smiled ruefully. "I wish they wouldn't, they can get caught as well."
Sirena added, "There's a shark net just over there too. I really don't like them – they're hard to see, even for us, and turtles and dolphins need rescuing from them all the time. They give me the creeps."
"Yes, let's go out a bit further; we won't stick around here." They dived again, and raced through the clear blue water until they were a safe distance away.
"How about a little friendly competition?" suggested Lyla. "Loser shouts everyone dinner tonight."
"All right, you're on!" Zac dived down about 20 metres and they could see his dark shape pause near the sandy bottom. Then with a few sweeps of his powerful tail he rocketed upwards, exploding almost vertically out of the water. He soared several metres into the air, tucked his head in and somersaulted, pinwheeling like a dolphin. "Woohoooo!" Suddenly he found himself being pelted with water bombs gleefully flung by Lyla, Nixie and Sirena. "Wh - ? Hey!" Caught by surprise, he over-rotated and cannonballed back into the water, landing flat on his back with a massive splash. "GIRLS!" exclaimed Rita, trying unsuccessfully not to smile. The three younger mermaids laughed uproariously. Zac popped back up, grinning.
"Nice landing fishboy!" called Lyla, giggling.
"Yeah, really graceful!" chimed in Nixie.
Zac laughed with them. "Thanks, I thought so too! You should've seen the faceplant I did the first time I tried that."
Zac had another go – without interference this time – and hit the water flukes first, to applause from his four mermaid spectators. Then they had their turns; Lyla flipped just as high as Zac had, much to his chagrin. Rita and Sirena's leaps were slightly lower but their re-entries considerably more adept, barely making a splash. Nixie, however, performed a spectacularly acrobatic cartwheel high in the air before diving back in, resurfacing in almost the same spot. "Winner! I rule!" she crowed. "I think I fancy lobster tonight thanks Zac!"
Zac was hugely impressed. "How did you DO that?"
Nixie smirked. "You should come hang out with the Moreton Bay bottlenoses sometime. They love showing off for the tourists, and they'll teach you a thing or two!"
Suddenly there came a gentle lowing sound, and a strange vibration in the water. They looked around in delighted surprise as a young humpback whale swam by, blasting spray high into the air through his blowhole.
"Awesome!" breathed Zac. "He's come even closer than the one you showed me, Lyla!"
Sirena looked at the older mermaid. "Rita – you can speak humpback can't you?"
"Yes, I'm quite fluent in whale," Rita answered, Zac gaping at her in awe. She shot him a mischievous sideways glance then bellowed "MMOOWEEE NEEEED TO FIIINNND SOOMME NNLOOOBSTEEER. CANN YOOOU NNNGIIIVE UZZZZ DIREEECTIONSS?"
Zac stared at her for a moment then dissolved into fits of helpless laughter. The last thing he'd expected was for Principal Santos to do an impression of Dory from Finding Nemo! Rita joined in laughing, but Lyla, Sirena and Nixie just looked at each other, mystified. "That's not whale, is it?"
When they finally stopped laughing, Zac said "Rita, ask Quasimodo if he wants to have a go too."
"Why 'Quasimodo'?" Rita asked.
You know, the humpback? In that old story?"
"I think you mean hunchback."
"Oh. Yeah. Right. I knew that." Zac coughed.
Rita slipped underwater, the others joining her. They listened to Rita and the whale calling to each other; first a series of deep lowing sounds, then a kind of distant-sounding whistling; it was haunting and beautiful, with notes that travelled from low to high and back again. Rita grinned and nodded at the others and they returned to the surface. "He's really keen!" she translated. "He's trying to catch up with his pod and hasn't had company for a while, so he's really excited to – oh, there he goes!"
Quasimodo powered away from them at full speed, close to and parallel to the surface. Suddenly he jerked upwards, clearing the water at an angle of about 30 degrees, and despite his enormous mass he soared so high into the air only the end of his tail remained in the water. He rotated slightly, then all of his 20-plus tonnes crashed down on his back, sending up a massive plume of water and spray. The pod cheered and clapped their appreciation, but it wasn't over yet! Quasimodo thrust with his massive tail and again soared into the air, slightly lower than the first time but still clearing the water for over half his body length. He splashed down again, churning the water to foam and choppy waves, then drove himself into the air again. And again! In an impressive series of breaches, which got gradually smaller as he tired, he put so much distance between himself and the pod they had to hurriedly swim to catch up. "Looks like he's going for gold Nixie!" Zac chuckled. "Maybe he wants your lobster."
They'd just counted his twenty-third breach when they realised where he was going.
"Oh NO!" said Sirena urgently. "Look, he's heading right for the barrel! Rita, tell him to stop!" Rita ducked underwater to call a warning, but it was too late. The young whale breached almost on top of the barrel, then splashed down into the shark net and instantly became ensnared. He tried to breach again, but was pulled up short by the drum line. He then tried to dive away from it, but he couldn't go anywhere. He thrashed around for several moments, but soon stopped; he was stuck.
Nixie groaned. "Why didn't he watch where he was going?"
"We have to help him," Lyla interjected. "Let's zap the net - he'll be out in no time." The younger pod members went to move toward the whale.
"Wait just a minute!" said Rita. "We can't use our powers on it; what will landpeople think when they come to check it?" She looked at each of them. "They'll know it wasn't a shark… or a whale. It'll draw attention."
"Yeah, you're right," said Zac. "We don't have a knife or anything though - I guess we'll just have to untangle him." Everyone swam quickly to the whale, Rita reassuring him with a few low resonant grunts and barks. They inspected the ropes that coiled around him and tried to figure out the best place to start. One typically long pectoral fin was free but the other was bound to his side by the net. The biggest tangle was between his dorsal fin and his flukes; the net was knotted together with ropes, buoys and lengths of chain, all of which had coiled around his body. Sirena and Nixie set to work on his right pectoral fin, Lyla and Zac swam down to tackle his tail, and Rita stayed near his knobby head, talking to him and getting regularly doused in spray when he blasted air from his blowhole.
It soon became apparent it wasn't going to be an easy job. "Don't be so impatient, stop fidgeting would you?!" pleaded Nixie, tugging at a twist of netting while Quasimodo's fin tried to wave back and forth. "I really wish I could speak whale… NNNHEEELLLLOOO! PLEEEAASE STAAHHP! Choh! Rita it's not working!" Nixie complained. Rita gave a snort of laughter, then coughed to cover it up. Down below, Lyla and Zac were making even less progress with their section, and were becoming quite frustrated. The whale seemed to sense this and in turn became more and more agitated.
Suddenly Sirena gasped. She ducked underwater and whistled loudly in dolphin to get the others' attention. When they hurriedly popped up she gestured in the direction of Point Lookout. "There's a boat coming!"
