Discoveries - Chapter 2 of A Meeting of Mermaids


The next morning Rowan woke up to bright sunlight.

"Boy I feel grimy," Rowan exclaimed.

Sitting up she could hear Paul in the bathroom.

"Hey, start a bath for me, will you Paul?" Rowan called out to him. "I think I am going to soak for a while."

Paul turned on the water to the big soak tub and came back out into the main room. He glanced at the clock by the bed.

"Oh crap, I need to meet the rental car guy downstairs right now!" Paul exclaimed and started to hurriedly dress. "I'll be right back," he told Rowan after he pulled on his sandals.

He gave her a quick kiss and hurried out.

Rowan walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Thinking that it was almost time for the maid to arrive she locked the door. After placing a clean towel next to the tub she felt the water and as it was at the right temperature she climbed in and reclined. A couple of seconds later she squealed as she had the surprise of her life.


Tanya was up really early for a swim out to the reef and back. She remembered the beach where Jackie had been relaxing and decided to try swimming there. After placing her towel on the rocks next to the beach she dove in and swam back to the surface. Treading water she turned towards the reef but suddenly the water bubbled around her and a ripple went through her. For a moment it looked like she was made of water. Tanya suddenly found it very hard to tread water; something was wrong with her legs. Looking down Tanya got the shock of her life; instead of her swimsuit and legs she saw from just under her belly button what appeared to be a golden fish tail. Tanya gasped and fell onto her side in the water. By swishing the tail Tanya found that she could propel herself through the water; the tail responded to her like her own body, almost like she had been born that way.

Tanya pulled herself up onto the beach, finding it difficult because of the big fish tail. She was just able to reach her towel before falling back on the warm, dry sand. As the sun started to dry off her upper body and the fish scales that covered the tail she noticed that her normal swimsuit had been replaced by a bikini top made up of golden seaweed.

"What is going on?" Tanya exclaimed. "I better go talk to the others!"

She continue to dry herself off, wondering how she was going to move, when suddenly her body rippled and she found herself back in her normal swimsuit and normal body.

"The girls are not going to believe this!" she exclaimed and hurried up the path towards the hotel.

Stephen was out jogging and stopped to greet Tanya as she approached. He immediately noticed that she wasn't wet at all.

"Hey, I thought you were going swimming?" Stephen asked.

"Um well, I did, sort of," Tanya replied, wanted to go talk with the girls.

"What do you mean sort of; what have you been doing?" Stephen asked, curious as Tanya normally was very open with him.

"Uh, I can't tell you right now; maybe later," Tanya said, surprising Stephen.

"Secrets, huh?"

"Uh, I got to get going," Tanya said and ran off towards the hotel.

As she approached the doors to the lobby Jackie came around from the gardens, and seeing Tanya stopped and waited for her to catch up.

"You are not going to believe this, but…" Tanya started to say just as Jackie asked, "Did something weird just happen to you?"

Both stopped and looked at each other.

"Uh, how do you know?" Tanya asked Jackie.

"Did you get wet?" Jackie asked.

"Yes."

"From diving into the surf?"

"Yes."

"Tail?"

"Yes; how do you know?" Tanya asked.

"Happened to me six months ago, at Muir beach," Jackie confessed. "Took a moonlight swim in a sea cave with the full moon and the next day I discovered, well, you know."

"Oh wow," Tanya exclaimed. "Let's go find Rowan!"


The elevator door opened and Jackie and Tanya came out.

"I still cannot believe what just happened…" Tanya was saying.

The two friends walked down to Paul and Rowan's room. Jackie knocked on the door and Paul opened it up.

"Hi girls; what's up?" he asked, opening the door wide for them.

"Is Rowan around?" Tanya asked as they came into the room.

"Yes, she's in the bathroom. But she won't come out!"

"Let us handle this," Jackie told Paul. "Go over and hang out with Seth for a while."

Jackie shooed Paul out and closed the door and locked it. Then she and Tanya went to the bathroom door and knocked.

Rowan was still in the tub staring at the bottom half of her body which was sticking out of the tub. It looked like her legs had been replaced by a golden fish tail. She could flap the tail; it felt completely natural, just like it was part of her. She tried closing her eyes and reopening them, no, the tail was still there.

"This cannot be happening," Rowan said.

A knock came on the door.

"I'm still soaking, Paul" she called out.

"It's not Paul, its Tanya," came Tanya's voice.

"It's us, Rowan," Jackie said. "Let us in!"

"Uh, just a minute!"

Rowan pulled herself out of the tub onto the floor with a wet flop, which the girls out in the main room heard. Looking around Rowan grabbed the towel and tried to cover her tail.

"Hang on guys; I'm, uh, not presentable," Rowan said, wondering what to do.

"Is there a hair dryer in there?" Jackie asked.

"Yes; why?" Rowan asked, seeing it by the sink.

"Dry yourself off; trust me," Jackie said.

Rowan wondered at that but took the blow dryer and aimed it at her tail and body. Once she was dry there was a ripple and for a brief instant she turned into water and then found herself lying naked on the floor, back to her normal self. Rowan stood and wrapped the towel around her and opened the door. Seeing the other girls she went out into the main room.

"You guys are not going to believe this," Rowan said.

"Oh, I think we will," Jackie said.


As Rowan dressed the girls talked about what had happened.

"So right after we got wet we grew, uh, tails," Rowan said.

"About 10 seconds after, right?" Jackie asked.

Rowan and Tanya nodded.

"And not just tails; what about that bikini top?" Tanya asked. "You know what I think? I think we turned into, well, mermaids."

Rowan laughed.

"Don't be silly; there's no such thing!" she exclaimed.

"What's your explanation, then?" Tanya asked.

Rowan didn't have an answer.

"Mermaids? How?" she muttered.

"That moon pool," Tanya said. "Remember the bubbling and tingling; that must have been it."

"What a minute!" Rowan suddenly said. "You didn't go into the pool, Jackie!"

Tanya gave Jackie a 'your turn to talk' look.

"I didn't go into the pool last night because I didn't want to grow a tail," Jackie explained. "That's why I have been avoiding the water for the last 6 months; I accidentally found a similar pool near Muir Beach when the moon was full on that vacation and have been hiding being a mermaid from you guys since then."

"So when you've been sitting out on the rocks you've actually been…" Rowan said.

"I was swimming and then hiding until I dried off so I would change back."

"This is so weird!" Rowan exclaimed. "Does Seth know?"

"He's been the only one until now," Jackie replied.


"How about an experiment?" Jackie asked.

"What?" said Rowan.

"Let's go down to the ocean and see what happens," Jackie explained.

"Okay, but let's not tell the guys; they'll freak," Tanya said.

"Sounds good, let's go now before they come looking for us!" Rowan exclaimed.

Rowan opened the door and seeing no one in sight beckoned to the others and they hurried to the elevator and down to the lobby. None of the guys were in sight so they headed out down the path towards Jackie's beach near the rocks.

At the rocks the girls looked around but still didn't see anyone around so they stepped out into the water, still in their sandals.

"10 seconds you said," Rowan asked.

"Yep, 3, 2, 1," Jackie said, counting down.

Just before 1 there was a ripple through all three girls and suddenly the mermaid tails and seaweed bikini tops were back and they fell over into the surf. Jackie immediately dove and swam around the other girls. With a little effort Rowan and Tanya found that their tails propelled them easily through the water, just like Jackie. Jackie swam to the bottom and beckoned. Tanya took a deep breath and dove underneath the water and found that she could see clearly; something was over her eyes like a second eyelid. Rowan followed her and discovered that she could easily hold her breath without feeling the urge to breathe right away.

Jackie indicated to the others to surface and everyone followed her up.

"I think we should go back to the moon pool and look around," she told them.

"Good idea!" Rowan said.

"Great; race you there!" Jackie said and took off under the water.

Caught off guard the others followed and found that they could swim underwater faster than a speedboat. Up ahead they caught sight of Jackie's wake; her passage through the water left a trail of bubbles. In a very short time the three mermaids found themselves back at the reef surrounding Mako Island. Jackie was waiting for them to arrive and let Tanya lead the way into the underwater passage.

Tanya was waiting for them when Rowan and Jackie surfaced in the pool. There was a narrow ledge just under the water that made a great platform to rest their arms on. With their tails stretched out behind them the girls looked around the cavern and up the throat of the volcano. In the daylight they could see more clearly the passage through which they had originally come in from the chute. Other than that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Rowan ducked her head down into the pool and looked at the sandy floor. All she saw was a couple of rocks and was about to give up when a glint of something shiny caught her eye. Rowan swam down and found what appeared to be part of a shiny silver chain buried in the sand. Pulling it out she discovered a locket attached to the chain and surfaced again with it in her hand.

"Hey, look at this," Rowan told the others and showed them the locket.

There was a clasp on the side and Rowan opened it and discovered a small slightly water-damaged photo of three girls posing together.

"Hey, look at that!" Tanya said, indicating the background of the photo.

Behind the girls Jackie could just make out the tips of mermaid tails. "Looks like this happened here before," she said.

"Well, I think I will keep this," Rowan said and reached behind and fastened the necklace around her neck.

"Hey, that looks good on you!" Tanya told her.

The girls pulled themselves out of the pool onto the sandy floor of the cave. There was a warm breeze flowing through the cave that dried them off pretty quickly; once they were dry they rippled and found themselves lying on the sand in their beach wear and sandals. The only difference about Rowan was the locket; it was still in place around her neck. Rowan leaned over and took another look in the pool. Just then the clasp of the necklace slipped open and the locket plunged back into the water. Rowan reached towards the locket and suddenly the locket stopped sinking, hovering about a foot below the surface of the pool.

"What are you doing?" Tanya asked.

"I don't know; I just reached out my hand to stop the locket and it stopped," Rowan replied.

"Bring it up," Jackie said.

Rowan twisted her hand and the locket rose through the water to the surface and then rose up above the surface of the pool on a growing tower of water.

"Wow, are you doing that?" Tanya asked as the tower of water began to weave back and forth like a snake.

"I think so," Rowan replied.

"Let me try," Tanya said and reached her hand out.

Rowan let go of the column and Tanya found that she could control it just like Rowan. With a motion from her the column of water shot out of the pool, propelling the locket towards the girls. Rowan flung up her hand to protect herself from the water and with a crackling sound the entire column of water froze into ice and dropped to the ground of the cavern.

"Did you do that as well?" Tanya asked Rowan.

"I think so," Rowan replied.

Rowan and Tanya noticed that Jackie was grinning. "What, can you do something like that?" Tanya asked.

Reaching out her hand Jackie clenched her fingers and suddenly the frozen ice column melted, bubbled, and boiled away into a cloud of steam.

"The cloud of steam down at the beach yesterday!" Rowan exclaimed as Jackie nodded.

"But that is all I can do," Jackie said. "Now it appears Rowan has 2 powers; I wonder if Tanya has another one?"

Tanya looked at the others and shrugged. Reaching out her hand she started to clench her fingers. As she did so the moon pool started to bubble and steam.

"Awesome, just like you, Jackie!" Tanya said, giggling at the thought of having special powers.


Rowan retrieved the locket from the ground and fastened it around her neck, making sure the clasp locked.

"Let's go up the chute," Tanya suggested.

The three girls headed back to the sandy cave room just below the chute and carefully climbed out. Once back out onto the rocky area around the waterfall they rested before hiking back down into the jungle. The followed the stream back down to the beach where they had first landed the day before.

"Well, unless any of you want to explore more of the island I say we head back," Rowan suggested.

The others agreed and they all ran back into the water. Sure enough, about 10 seconds after getting wet there was the ripple and they turned back into mermaids and fell over into the water. The girls then swam back towards the mainland with powerful strokes of their tails. Back at Jackie's beach the three mermaids were just getting ready to pull themselves out onto the beach near the rocks when they heard someone nearby. The girls ducked into a pool behind a low rock and peered out. It was Paul and he looked like he was searching for them.

"What do we do?" Rowan whispered to the others.

"You're not going to want to keep this from them," Jackie said.

"I think it would be better to explain first and then show them," Tanya replied.

"Okay, let's go figure out a way to tell them," Rowan said.


To be continued in Chapter 3, Revelations