A/N: This story is very, very Chris centric….and slightly...just a little, tiny bit UA...
"How much longer," A voice asked, breaking the hypnotic spell of the pine and cedar trees that flashed past the white Jeep Grand Cherokee as it sped down Highway 19 on Canada's Vancouver Island.
"Huh-what," Chris answered with a shake of his head, and then looked over at the young woman in the passenger seat beside him. "Oh sorry, I kind of zoned out," Tapping a finger on the display screen of the Jeeps dashboard he glanced down at it. "The GPS says we're about 30 minutes from Port Hardy…we just passed Port McNeill, so we're nearly there-" Curiously he asked, "Mimmi you're not getting car sick again are you? Want me to pull over?"
"No, I'm fine just a little tired," Mimmi answered drowsily as she stretched her arms and neck. "I took one of those pills Rita gave you when we got on the airplane. I'm okay."
"Dramamine," Chris smiled. "Explains why you fell asleep so fast after we left Nanaimo."
Reaching for a half empty bottle of water in the cup holder next to her Mimmi took a drink, face twisting with disgust at the room temperature liquid. "Do we have any cold water left?"
"I think so, it's in the cooler in the back seat," Chris answered. "Sure you're feeling alright?"
"I'm okay, just…anxious to see home, I want to be awake when we reach Queen Charlotte Sound," Mimmi paused, her gaze lost out the window as the trees zipped by, quietly she added, "I was born there."
Or hatched, Chris thought to himself, not willing to actually say what he was thinking. Even now, after knowing Mimmi for well over a year, and spending time with her since moving back from San Diego, there were things Mimmi and the rest of the mermaids remained vague and tight lipped about. The subject of baby mermaids was one of those things. Even now with his knowledge of dolphin and whale breeding, Chris had no idea how mermaids actually reproduced. Letting out a breath, he remained silent and turned his attention back to the road, his mind wandering as as the trees and pavement rolled past.
It had been four months since the events with the water dragon, and Mimmi's revelation to Chris that she, Ondina and the others were mermaids, and Zac Blakely was a merman, not to mention being her younger brother. At first things had been alright, well they had fine between Chris and Mimmi, but within a few weeks arguments between the mermaids had started. Not that he knew a lot of what they were arguing about, just bits and pieces gathered from Mimmi's angry rants and sobbing. What Chris did know was that the few surviving Eastern mermaids were demanding that Nerissa, Zac and Mimmi's mother, should stand trial for the crimes she had committed while transformed into a water monster. Chris found the whole thing rather complicated, and slightly unbelievable, even after Mimmi had explained it to him several times.
The Mako Pod pleaded that Nerissa was not responsible for her behavior; she was under the influence of some kind of spell cast by a mermaid named Aurora. Chris had asked about Aurora once, after Mimmi had gone on a tirade about the accusations against her mother; and once again the mermaid had gotten tightlipped and refused to answer. His next questions of why Mimmi and Zac were defending a woman that basically abandoned them as infants, and what did they actually know about Nerissa anyway, had gone over even worse. Lesson learned, Chris thought, recalling that particular day as he drove down the Vancouver Island highway, never ask questions like that. He had endured almost three days of frosty silence from Mimmi and everyone she knew; even Zac, who barely even knew his birthmother, had given Chris the cold shoulder for daring to doubt the woman. All relationships had their bumps he supposed, but being in one with a mermaid was a really, really bumpy ride.
They were a strange group, the mermaids, and well, Zac. Chris wasn't even sure how to deal with him, because once again, despite attempting to be friendly, Zac somehow made him feel like an outsider. Thankfully, Cam, Carly and Evie, were far friendlier and easier to talk to. The reason Cam has pointed out was the four of them were the only humans in the 'Mako Club', and there were things about the mermaids they would never be able to understand. Evie was the only one that had any idea what is was like; having the tail, the magic, the freedom underwater, something none of them would ever have. She had also confessed to all of them one night that Zac, despite his outward appearance of collective calm, was enduring an emotional rollercoaster after telling his parents his true identity. Sometimes, Evie had told Chris, Zac thought it would have been easier to keep his heritage secret.
And that, Chris glanced over at the mermaid in the passenger seat, and sighed inwardly, was something that bothered him, Mimmi could get so secretive sometimes. He tried to be as open as possible with her, and so did she with him, but sometimes…some things, were just taboo for her to discuss. Thus he had suggested the two of them get away, take a holiday, and now they were speeding down Highway 19 on Vancouver Island heading for the northern town of Port Hardy. Mimmi was reluctant at first, but after some urging from Rita to explore the world, and see the waters of Queen Charlotte Sound, she had relented. Rita was a godsend; she was theonly natural mermaid, other than Weilan, that had any clue as to how life on land operated, and Chris was forever in her debt because of it. She also had a lot more money and resources than any of them had considered; she had paid for the airfare from Brisbane to Vancouver, had somehow obtaining a valid ID and Passport for Mimmi, and then booked the hotel in Port Hardy for Chris and Mimmi's stay. When Chris had asked how Rita could afford pay for the trip on a high school principal salary, the older mermaid had only smiled, offered him packets of Dramamine with a wink, and said Mimmi would need them. Cryptically the elder mermaid then gave Chris some shopping suggestions for the trip before adding softly, "I talked to Mimmi, you two have a good time, don't do anything Harry and I wouldn't do, and use the time to sort things out. You two have a lot to talk about."
Chris was unsure what Rita had meant, but was thankful for the Dramamine. Mimmi had surprisingly thrown up only once on the long plane ride to Vancouver, and thanks to the yellow round pills had slept for most of the flight. The only other time she got sick was s shortly after leaving Nanaimo, fortunately Chris had enough warning to pull over, and Mimmi enough time to get the door open before she vomited on the side of the road. A pleasant robotic female voice chirping "Please continue north on Highway 19" startled Chris out of his reverie. "Mimmi," He announced looking down at the GPS in the dash as they passed a sign indicating the turn off to Fort Rupert. "We're almost there, about ten more minutes."
"I hope we have a nice hotel," Mimmi said, her face lighting up as she pushed the button to lower her window and stick her head out. "I can smell the sea," She exclaimed.
Glancing over at the mermaid, her head halfway out the window of the speeding Jeep, dark hair flowing in the wind, Chris smiled. "If I know Rita, I'm sure it's very nice hotel."
"Oh Chris," Mimmi whispered as she stepped through the doorway of the hotel room, her eyes glued on a sliding doors that led to a balcony overlooking the harbor of Port Hardy. Crossing over to the glass doors she stood outlined against in the fading light of the setting sun and the twinkling lights reflected off the water. "I love it," Her voice was barely audible as she pressed her hands against the glass. "This is the most wonderful thing anyone has ever done for me."
"Yeah," Chris answered with a lopsided grin as he looked at a huge pink tiled and heart shaped Jacuzzi tub tucked in one corner of the huge "Honeymoon suite" of the Glen Lyon Inn. The tub, Chris noted, looked large enough to accommodate him and a mermaid. "Rita," He snorted softly and then smiled at Mimmi, "And it certainly is a nice room, Rita really outdid herself."
"It's wonderful," Mimmi said softly, turning from the window she tilted her at the pink heart shaped Jacuzzi. "And yes, Rita did outdo herself," Mimmi eyed the tub appraisingly as she repeated the last words Chris had spoken. "What now?" She asked, her tone almost teasing.
"Well, I better get the rest of the luggage," Chris answered setting a shoulder bag down on the queen sized bed and looking around the room once more. "And then I'll see about reservations at Taziker's for dinner." He moved over to the door and stopped. "You do want to eat right."
"Yes," Mimmi answered glancing over her shoulder at the harbor. "I wonder if they have seating outside, like the Ocean Café and everyone else in Gold Coast."
"I don't know," Chris shrugged from the doorway. "I'll check, but it's kind of chilly out so if they do it might be closed for the year."
"Okay," Mimmi sighed, a longing look out the windows. "But it would be nice to enjoy the air and the water; it'd be really romantic."
"I'll see what I can do," Chris grinned as Mimmi walked over to the Jacuzzi and ran a hand over the smooth pink tiles. "I'll get the rest of the luggage."
"Well, I have dinner reservation-" Chris announced as he walked into the large hotel suite of the Glen Lyon Inn. He stopped, a suitcase held in each hand as he looked over to Mimmi who was engrossed at watching the large flat screen TV mounted to one wall. "What are you watching?"
"The news," Mimmi's voice was cautions, the remote held limp in one hand. "Something about some missing hikers north of here, they were on a beach…" She trailed off, glancing at Chris over her shoulder.
"Mimmi," Chris asked carefully as he set the luggage down. "You and Ondina said northern mermaids are dangerous, you don't think they-"
"Don't be silly," Mimmi interrupted, the tone of her voice however was far from convincing. "People in a kayak maybe, like last year, but not someone on shore…"
"So you don't think…" Chris ventured cautiously as he watched a woman news reporter walking along a rocky beach talking about the disappearance of two hikers along the shore of Queen Charlotte Sound.
"No," Mimmi said, her voice annoyed as she hit a button on the remote and shut the TV off. "Mermaids were never allowed to come to the mainland anywhere in these parts; all the aunts told us it was forbidden. If we wanted to comb our hair or sing, we had to stay on the small rocky islands away from shore."
"Aunts?" Chris asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Mimmi sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before answering. "My mother vanished when I was a podling," She explained. "So the older mermaids of the pod were my aunts, they raised me and a few others, and then I moved to Australia."
"Okay," Chris said, his voice betrayed his skepticism. "You never mentioned anything like this before-"
"Just-just never mind," Mimmi interrupted, and closing her eyes for a few moments asked cheerily, "So can we sit outside to eat?"
"No," Chris said, and inwardly cursed himself for how blunt he sounded. Taking a breath he plunged ahead, "They don't have outside seating, but I made reservations and maybe after we eat we can go for a walk or something…along the shore."
"I'd…like that," Mimmi sighed. "Chris," She ventured and took a breath. "I know, you get frustrated because you think I keep secrets, but-"
"You do, Mako is nothing but an island of secrets," The words were blurted out before Chris even knew he was speaking. "No, I-I don't mean that…I…God I'm stupid."
"No you're not," Mimmi hung her head. "I am…Chris I want this work, and it worked for Harry and Rita-"
"He died," And there it was, Chris knew it was the 800 pound gorilla sitting invisible in the corner, but it was out before he could stop himself.
"I know," Mimmi countered. "Rita said he died before they could be married, and it has nothing to do with us."
"It was at least 60 years ago," Chris sat down on the bed, shoulders slumping.
"It was not."
"Mimmi, I've seen the photo, it's black and white, nobody uses black and white film like that anymore," Chris heaved a breath. "It was a picture taken in the 1950's, everything is digital and color now-" He stopped as he saw Mimmi's eyes become blank and knew she had no idea what he was talking about. Almost forlornly he sighed, "Harry died decades ago Mimmi and Rita hasn't aged a day." And out it was again, now a different gorilla was sitting across the room from the other one. "And nobody is telling me anything about how mermaids live or how long they live-"
"Chris," Mimmi broke in. "It's alright, I don't want us to start fighting about this…we can sort through this." She crossed the room and sad down on the bed next to Chris and took one of his hands in her own. "We can make this work, and…and I'll get the pod to explain everything, I promise."
"When?" Chris said finally looking at the mermaid next to him. "And I don't want to start fighting about this either."
"I'll find a way," Mimmi smiled shaking her head with a small laugh. "Rita told me I was the smartest mermaid she ever met, next to Nixie, and I barely know Nixie, so that must be a compliment from Rita." Leaning on Chris's shoulder she encircled one of his arms in hers. "If I can make a potion that turned Evie into a mermaid, I can find one that will turn you into a merman." She stiffened as Chris drew away.
"What if I don't want that," He said, moving away as he freed his arm from the mermaids grip. "What if…what if I want you to be a land girl?" And now a third gorilla joined the party.
Mimmi stared at Chris, her mouth hanging open slightly.
"Wow, uh, look at the time," Chris said standing abruptly. "We-we better… get ready for dinner I guess."
"I guess so," Mimmi answered, her voice mechanical, her eyes unreadable.
"I'm gonna take a shower," Chris said taking a step toward the suites large bathroom. "Did you wan-" He stopped shaking his head slightly. "Never mind." Leaving Mimmi where she sat he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.
"Sorry about last night," Chris apologized as he slowly brought the Jeep to a halt at a large clearing at the end of gravel and dirt road. He had been driving for almost an hour, following the GPS down little used roads toward the northern most part of Vancouver Island. "I didn't want to fight."
"We didn't fight," Mimmi said, almost snappish and flung her door open to step out. "We disagreed."
"Okay, fine," Chris said under his breath as the events of the previous night played through his mind.
He and Mimmi had indeed went to dinner at Taziker's, Chris ordering steak and baked potato while Mimmi ordering a salmon, which she never really ate, instead choosing to just pick it apart with a fork. The meal Chris noted was rather silent and rather chilly. Mimmi had ended up excusing herself early remarking that land people food made her sick, and went back to the room, leaving Chris to sit alone and console himself with the food and beer. Being in love with a mermaid, he observed again as he nursed a bottle of Molson, was a very, very bumpy ride.
After dinner things did not get easier, all fantasies of the pink tiled tub, and a mermaid vanished when Mimmi, one foot tapping impatiently on the floor demanded to know what was wrong with Chris being a merman. What followed was a whispered shouting match between the two, Chris demanding to know why he was the one that had to change his entire life, why couldn't Mimmi lose her tail and settle for being a normal person on land. Mimmi's angry response was that Chris obviously thought mermaids and mermen weren't "normal", everything went downhill from there. Eventually Chris slept in the bed alone, Mimmi locked in the bathroom and apparently sleeping in the much smaller shower/tub.
And now here the two of them were, surrounded by the chilly Canadian wilderness, having spent a chilly breakfast, an equally chilly walk around downtown Port Hardy followed by a nearly silent hour's drive north the town to what Chris hoped would be a nice beach hike for the two of them.
"Mimmi wait," Chris shouted as the mermaid headed down a fern lined path. Popping the back of the Jeep, he grabbed a large backpack, slung it on and jogged after Mimmi. "Mimmi wait, you don't even know where you're going."
"Yes I do," The mermaid replied, not stopping as stomped her way down the narrow trail. "I can smell the water, it's just through there." She waved one hand vaguely.
Heaving a sigh Chris caught up and followed, gazing around at the huge fir and spruce trees around them. "Looks like Endor," He remarked in awe.
"What?" Mimmi asked over her shoulder, her pace slowing.
"Star Wars," Chris answered, smiling slightly as he felt the ice breaking at Mimmi's look of curiosity. "Return of the Jedi, it took place on a planet that had big trees and ferns like this. It was pretty amazing-" He broke off almost bumping into Mimmi who had stopped abruptly.
The path, winding its way through the tall stands of trees, ferns and the occasional wildflower, led to small clearing on a cliff overlooking the still clear waters of Queen Charlotte Sound. Below a small sand, rock and log strewn beach was exposed by the low tide, the path carefully continued down a dozen meters to the beach.
"Wow," Mimmi whispered glancing over her shoulder. "Do we go down?"
"Why not," Chris replied grinning. "You said you wanted to see home…this is home right?"
"Well," Mimmi paused, biting her lower lip. "It was where I was born," She answered finally and led the way down to the edge of the beach. Stopping before her hiking boots touched the damp sand. "This as far as I-"
"No it's not," Chris interrupted as he shrugged the backpack off and knelt to unzip a compartment, pulling the contents out he presented it to the mermaid.
"No way," Mimmi gasped eyes huge at the sight of the knee high yellow galoshes that Chris now held. "I can't believe this! When did you get these?"
"Nanaimo," He answered handing the boots over. "I got them at a store, you were too car sick at the time to notice," He explained as Mimmi sat on a boulder and pulled the galoshes over her hiking boots. "Rita suggested it before we left Brisbane."
"This is incredible," Mimmi laughed as she walked clumsily across the wet sand and gingerly stepped into several inches of cold clear water of the Sound. "Chris, I can't believe I'm doing this, I've never been able to do this."
"Well the boots are kind of ugly," Chris replied as he walked over to stand next to Mimmi, his boots, waterproof up to the ankle did an admirable job of keeping his own feet dry. "But they look like they're doing the job, like these-" He held out a pair of yellow rubber elbow length kitchen gloves to the mermaid.
Almost squealing the mermaid slipped the gloves on and took several more steps into the clear water, stopping when it was over her ankles. "I can't believe I'm doing this," She exclaimed, stooping she carefully dipped her hands in and wiggled her fingers under the water. "Thank you," She said straightening to look out over the calm waters of the Sound. "Chris about last night-"
"No, we're okay, just forget about it."
"I can't," Mimmi said and turned, looking down at her legs and submerged feet and then at the water dripping off her gloved hands. "This is a problem we have to fix, but you were right, I shouldn't automatically assume that you want a tail and live in the ocean." Frowning she looked down at her feet and legs again. "I just-I don't have anything else to compare it to, I didn't have legs until me and Ondina tried to take Zac's Powers and tail away. You've had legs your whole life and lived on land; it's not fair for me to demand you change that."
"Well, Zac had-"
"No," The mermaid sighed heavily her shoulders slumping. "Chris, listen, Zac is different, his tail was taken away by magic, but he was always a merman deep down." Walking across the beach she sat down on a log, head in her hands. "What are we doing? This is hopeless."
"Trying to sort things out," Chris said helpfully walking over to grab the backpack and then taking a seat on the washed up log next to the mermaid. "And it's not hopeless." Taking breath as the mermaid looked at him, Chris plunged ahead, "Mimmi, I love, and I want to spend my life with you, but-"
"You can't spend your life with someone who can't take showers, walk in the rain, or even do the dishes," Mimmi rattled off. "I can't even get peed on by our baby, if we have one, and not turn into a fish." She sighed looking out over the waters of Queen Charlottes Sound. "We have a lot of things to think about don't we."
"Yeah, we sure do," Chris started laughing as he put an arm around Mimmi's shoulders and following her gaze out onto the water. "And I didn't even know we could have babies."
"I don't know about that either," Mimmi leaned against Chris as she spoke. "Our pod never talked about that."
"Seriously?" Chris asked, surprised. "You never asked where baby mermaids came from when there were no mermen around?"
"Not really, we just guessed we were all hatched, like fish-" Mimmi stopped abruptly at the look Chris was giving her. "No, we never did, it was forbidden." She frowned. "But when I got to Australia I heard rumors of half breeds living north of Mako in Orphelin Bay, but that was just rumor."
"So what else was forbidden? You said you couldn't come to shore around here, why?"
"I don't know," Mimmi shrugged rising and walking across the beach again to stand in ankle deep water. She pointed to several of the small rocky islands several hundred meters from shore. "Those were as close to shore as the pod leaders would allow us."
"Really," Chris tilted his head as he walked out to join the mermaid. "That's strange, this place is deserted, it doesn't look like a whole lot of people come out here, you could always turn invisible."
"I know," Mimmi answered brow furrowing. "But they told us never to go to shore, even seals and sea otters don't come to shore around here, and if they do they don't stay too long."
Chris turned and scanned the cliff side. "That's kind strange don't you think? Now that I think about it we haven't seen any elk or deer or anything around here."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Chris shook his head. "Just weird, I mean the news had that report of missing hikers, and you said the pod and seals don't come to shore here, and we haven't seen any other wildlife. It's…it's just weird, I'm sure it's nothing, just weird."
"I think it's just a way for the all the pod leaders to keep track," Mimmi smiled and made her way back to the log to sit down and gingerly pull the yellow rubber gloves off her hands. "If they kept us restricted to just a few islands, they'd always know where we were. I don't suppose you brought anything to eat in that backpack did you?"
"Changing the subject," Chris teased. "But I do have some granola bars and a couple bottles of water." Digging around the backpack he produced a couple small bottles of water as well as several granola bars. "They aren't that bad," He spoke in response to Mimmi's skeptical look as he handed her one of the bars. "Just try one; seriously, they're better than raw seaweed."
"Whoa," Chris said, opening his eyes to look at the now dark water of the Sound, which had crept up the beach almost to the toes of his boots. Pulling a mobile phone out of jacked pocket he looked at it.
"What?" Mimmi asked from where she sat next to Chris on the log.
"I lost track of time, we've been sitting here for hours," He answered. "But at least we got to spend it alone, nobody else was here."
"No we haven't, you have, I walked around the beach a few times, you dozed off," Mimmi laughed. "And don't be silly we weren't the only ones here, and I knew the tide was coming in so I sat down."
"What?" Chris spoke, alarmed. "What do you mean we weren't the only ones here?"
"Oh," The mermaid shrugged and waved down to a portion of the beach that was flooded. "A land person had walked around down there with no shoes; they left big footprints in the sand. They were probably looking for shells or something like they do on the beaches back home."
Chris stood, scanning the now nearly vanished beach, the tide having submerged it under the frigid North Pacific water. "Mimmi," He spoke calmly, alarms going off in the back of his mind. "You should have told me-" Chris stopped, nose crinkling. "Do you smell something? Like a wet dog or garbage?"
"I don't smell anything other than the ocean air," Mimmi frowned sniffing. "I don't smell anything else, but then mermaids never did have to rely on smell-"
"Seriously you can't smell that?" Chris asked sniffing the air, a faint putrid scent filling his nostrils. "I think we better go." Grabbing the backpack he slung it on, adjusting the straps as he scanned the cliff and path that led to the now vanished beach. Kneeling before the mermaid who still sat on the log he said, "I don't like this, gimme your feet."
"Chris, you're scaring me," Mimmi said bracing her hands on the log as she extended her feet to allow Chris to pull the yellow galoshes off. "What's wrong?"
"Hopefully nothing," He answered sweeping up the yellow rubber boots in one hand. "Let's get back to the car." Leading the way up the cliff side pass he stopped at the top, a hand held up as his eyes tried to pierce the gloom. "We should have left sooner."
"You're scaring me," Mimmi repeated quietly, clutching one of Chris's arms in hers. "What's-" She stopped as the bushes on the side of the trail ahead of them moved, followed by the snort of something hidden from sight. "What was that?"
"I don't know," Chris answered, his blood turning cold as he turned to look at the mermaid behind him. "A deer?"
The woods exploded with a huge howling mass of stinking black hair. Mimmi's scream of terror froze Chris for a second, a second long enough for the huge beast to swing one giant claw. Nails like razors ripped into the backpack Chris wore and send him flying through the air, water bottles and granola bars scattering as he crashed into the ferns lining the narrow trail. Scrambling backwards through the damp spongy dirt Chris felt his jaw drop, his eyes failing to believe what he was seeing; the creature was huge, well over two and a half meters tall, man shaped and covered with black hair, it's face- Chris found himself staring at that face, transfixed, with both terror and awe, was human, almost, if he ignored it's huge canine teeth and red eyes that glowed with a combination of hatred and, and…and hunger. Gazing past the monstrous beast which now stood between himself and Mimmi he screamed, "Mimmi, RUN!"
The creature roared, a horrible ear splitting howl, disregarding Chris it spun with an incredibly fluid movement to face the mermaid who stood paralyzed, her jaw hanging open. Screaming the creature leapt forward.
The sound of Chris shouting her name, as well as the monsters scream, must have rocked Mimmi into action, for as the monster closed in on her she formed one hand into a fist, vanishing from sight.
Shrieking in rage the monster swung its huge arms wildly, beating the empty air, and then eyes gleaming red with hatred turned to glare at Chris who was leveraging himself to his feet, one hand on a Cedar tree.
"Oh shit," Chris managed to squeak and closed his eyes as the monster sprang forward, its razor nails swiping downward in the blow that would end his life.
"Chris," Mimmi's voice, small against the roars of the monsters rage, sounded in the dampness of the forest
Opening his eyes Chris stared, first at the monster that was suspended half a meter above the ground, and then at Mimmi, who stood next to him, the mermaids hand thrust out in a strange twisting motion. The mermaids arm shook, all her attention focused on the beast suspended before her. "I'm alright," Was all Chris gasped risking a quick glance at the pale figure beside him, and then at the roaring creature suspended above the ground.
Taking a step forward Mimmi twisted her wrist, and the creature, shrieking its rage, was flung over the edge of the cliff to vanish from sight, the thud of is body against the rocks silenced its screams. "Chris," Mimmi uttered, her face pale, her shaking arm falling to her side. "What was that-"
"I don't know," Chris barked, cringing inwardly at the sound of his voice. Softening he said, "We have to go- we have to go, get to the car, NOW!"
Not arguing Mimmi fled, racing down the trail toward the parked Jeep.
Following behind Chris fumbled for the keys in his pocket as the outline of the white Grand Cherokee came into view, pressing a button the key fob, he felt flooded with relief when the lights of the Jeep flickered indicating the doors were unlocked. Modern technology, Chris thought as his mind filled with horror movies scenes of people fumbling with keys before they were murdered, was wonderful.
"What was that," Mimmi cried out as they tumbled into the Jeep, she in the front passenger seat, Chris behind the steering wheel.
"I-I don't know," Chris gasped, hand shaking as he jammed the key into the ignition, instinctively his free hand hitting the door lock as the Jeeps engine roared to life. "But let's get out of here."
"It-it looked like a land person covered in hair…but taller and bigger, what was that," Mimmi spoke, voice quavering as Chris swung the vehicle around, slightly faster than he should, the movement causing the young mermaid to brace herself. "But I knocked it off the cliff….we're okay…I think…it can't get us, it's gone…right-"
"Yeah," Chris lied; his eyes glued to the rearview mirror as he watched two more of the hairy giants step out of the trees, their eyes glowing red in the taillights of the Cherokee pulled away. "I think it's gone, let's go-"
"Home," Mimmi finished the sentence. "I want to go home, I don't belong here after all, and I want to go back to Mako."
"Yeah," Chris whispered as he pressed the accelerator of the Jeep down and guided it down the gravel roads toward Port Hardy, and the safety of the Glen Lyon Inn. "Maybe this vacation was a bad idea."
The End.
A/N: I do apologize to any of the older Mako fic folks for being gone for well over a year. My life has been a wreck the past year, so please forgive me. Anyway while writing this I realized I kind of messed up; Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, and Vancouver Island in the Northern, so the season would be flipped. However I really don't know what time of the year Mako actually takes place, the only indication of seasons in the episode "The Trident Job" which takes place on Halloween. Anyway, thanks for reading.
