A/N: I'm sorry I took so long. I had tests to write at school and then I had a writer's block on top of that. Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone. The next one I'll try to upload sooner.

Chapter 10: Fishy Business

Emily was up early as usual. She got dressed and left the cabin. Near the mess hall, she ran into Daniel. "Morning," he said, holding the cool bag in one hand. "Morning. You work this early?" she asked. "The early bird catches the worm or the fish in this case," Daniel answered, "I have to go to the market near the docks." "Can I come along?" Emily questioned. "You want to come with me to the market? You interested in fish?" he replied. "No, but there's nothing to do here this early in the morning," she said. Daniel thought about it for a moment and told her, "Okay, I guess as long as Mrs. Rose doesn't find out, it's okay."

Emily and Daniel were about to leave when two men in chef uniform hurried up to them. "Daniel, wait. We need other fish," one of them said. "Why so suddenly?" Daniel asked. "We decided to make a different meal and need different fish for that," the other answered and handed Daniel a shopping list. With a shrug, Daniel said, "Okay. I'll bring the stuff to you when I'm back. " The cooks thanked Daniel and left. "Then lets get going. We have a lot to buy now," Daniel told Emily. Emily nodded and they got into the pick-up that belonged to the camp.

After a short drive Daniel parked the car near the docks. Many stalls stood there showing their goods from fish to cloths. Emily was amazed at how big it was. She looked everywhere as she followed Daniel through the crowd, who said, "The stall is right up there." Abruptly Emily stopped in front of a newspaper stand. There on a pile laid a magazine about nature. The cover had a solar eclipse on it and read, "There will soon be a solar eclipse."

Spellbound she stared at the magazine. For some reason it made her feel uncomfortable. Emily wasn't sure how long she looked at the magazine, but then someone snapped her out of it. "I finally found you," she heard someone say. Emily turned around to see Daniel. He had a full cool bag in his hand. "I thought I had lost you," he told her. "Sorry. You done?" Emily asked and Daniel nodded, "Just a minute." She dug out her purse and paid for the magazine she had been looking at. "You interested in astronomy?" he questioned. "You could say that," Emily answered as they headed back to the car.

Back at camp, Emily sat down on the beach and began reading the magazine. "There you are. We've been looking everywhere for you," she heard someone say. Emily turned to see Sarah and Amber walk up to her. "I was here the whole time," Emily lied. "What are you reading?" Sarah asked as they sat down next to their friend. "A magazine," Emily answered. "And where did you get that? It looks brand new," Amber questioned.

"Well, I accompanied Daniel to the docks where I bought it," Emily confessed, turning a bit red. Sarah and Amber looked at each other with an interesting expression. "I see, you accompanied him," Amber repeated in a sly voice. "You do realize that he would not do that for any other girl at this camp, don't you?" Sarah added. "It's not like that. We just met by chance, I asked if I could come along since there was nothing else to do here," Emily explained. "Sure," Amber said in the same sly tone.

"Stop that! There's nothing going on between Daniel and me. Besides I think we might have bigger problems soon," Emily told her friends annoyed. "What do you mean?" Sarah asked. "On the next full moon there will be a solar eclipse directly above Mako," Emily answered. "A solar eclipse? That's when the Earth goes between the sun and the moon, right?" Amber questioned. "No, that's a lunar eclipse. In a solar eclipse the moon goes between the sun and the Earth and blocks the sun," Emily corrected. "That's cool," Sarah said. "But why does that mean big trouble?" Amber asked. "I'm not sure yet, but when I saw this magazine, it was almost as if it put me into a trance. I just had to buy it," Emily told them.

"Why don't we ask Ryan? He's a scientist. Maybe a solar eclipse has a special impact on the Earth," Sarah suggested. "Bad idea. Ryan is already too close to us. Ask him and he might get too suspicious," Amber objected. "I have to agree with Amber. Ryan knows too much. Why don't we ask Jessica?" Emily proposed. "Ask me what?" the girls heard someone ask. Startled they turned around to see Jessica.

"How much did you hear?" Amber demanded, narrowing her eyes. "Only the last sentence. I'm only here to tell you that breakfast is done," Jessica replied quickly. "Oh, it's that late already. Thanks for getting us," Sarah said as the girls got up and were about to leave when Jessica asked, "What were you going to ask me?" "That's right. Jessica, what do you know of solar eclipses?" Emily questioned. "Solar eclipses. Sorry, except that the moon blocks the sun, I don't know anything else," Jessica told them. "It's okay. You're interested into marine biology, not astronomy," Emily replied, "Thanks anyway. We should go to breakfast before we get in trouble." Emily and Sarah walked off, but Amber looked at Jessica. "You don't like me much, do you?" Jessica asked. "I don't," Amber answered curtly and then walked after her friends. "You're right to fear the solar eclipse," Jessica smiled quietly as she touched something that was making the pocket of her shorts bulge.

*

After the morning activities, the girls had lunch. Today's menu had a fish option. The fish that Daniel had bought that morning. "I can't wait. I love fish," Amber smiled as she, Sarah and Emily stood in the lunch line. "How can you eat fish?" Sarah asked and then added so quietly that only her friends could hear her, "You're practically a fish yourself." "I agree. I'm going with a salad," Emily concurred as she placed a bowl of salad on her plate. "Fine," Amber gave in and followed Emily and Sarah's suite.

As they sat down, Amber saw that almost everyone else was eating fish. Ryan sat down opposite of them. "How's everything, girls?" he asked. "Good," Sarah answered. She looked at her friends and then questioned, "Ryan, what do you know about solar eclipses?" Amber's and Emily's head shot up and looked at their friend astonished. "Solar eclipses?" he repeated, "You mean because there will be one soon? Unfortunately I can't help you. Sorry." "That's okay," Sarah said.

After lunch Amber and Emily pulled Sarah into their cabin. "Are you crazy?" Amber asked enraged, "Didn't we agree not to ask Ryan?" "But Jessica didn't know anything," Sarah objected. "Sarah, I know you did it for us, but you have to remember that if Ryan figures out our secret we're all exposed," Emily said, calmly. "I'm sorry. I was only trying to help," Sarah muttered, hanging her head low. "Don't worry. I think Ryan won't find out our secret," Emily comforted her and put her arm around Sarah. "I guess you're right. I lost my temper. I'm sorry," Amber added. "I forgive you," Sarah smiled.

*

The next morning the girls entered the mess hall for breakfast. They were just on time, but for some reason, the mess hall was almost completely empty. "What's going on here?" Emily asked, looking around, confused. "I have no idea, but we aren't too early," Amber replied. "Then where is everyone?" Sarah questioned.

Just then a lunch lady came up to them and said, "At least you three are alright." "What do you mean?" Emily asked. "It seems the fish from yesterday was bad. Almost all the campers are in the infirmary," the lunch lady answered. "So even Mrs. Rose and the other councilors are sick?" Sarah questioned. "No. Luckily they didn't eat the fish. Mrs. Rose is the office with Daniel. He was the one to buy the fish. He'll be in trouble," the lunch lady replied and then left.

"Looks like we saved you from becoming sick, Amber," Sarah said, looking at her friend with a smirk. "Okay, okay. Thanks," Amber replied, annoyed, "So what now? Morning activities must be cancelled." "I don't know. What do you think, Emily?" Sarah asked and looked at her friend. Emily just stood there wide eyed.

"Hello," Amber said, waving her hand in front of Emily. "This is bad. Mrs. Rose will fire Daniel," Emily muttered. "Why do you say that?" Sarah asked. "Because it's his responsibility to make sure the fish is good, when he buys it," Emily explained and then ran off. "Emily!" her friends exclaimed.

After searching for a while, Emily found Daniel on the beach. He was staring at the ocean. Emily sat down next to him. "She fired you?" Emily asked softly. "Unless I can prove that the fish I had gotten was good by tonight, but that's just like saying fly to the moon by tonight," Daniel answered. "What about the cooks? They prepared the fish," Emily questioned. "They said they trusted my judgment and prepared the fish," he replied and sighed, "It's time to face the music. It's over." "But you liked it here, didn't you?" she asked. "Of course, I did," Daniel answered, "But every good thing must end at some point."

Emily stood up and left, shaking her head. "If you're not going to help yourself, I will," she muttered and headed to a secluded part of the beach. "And just where do you think you're going?" she heard someone asked. She turned to see Amber and Sarah. "Daniel has given up, but I won't. I'm going to find that stall and talk to the owner," Emily replied. "We're coming with you," Sarah said. Emily smiled a thanks at her friends and they dove into the water.

*

Arriving at the docks, there were less stalls and a smaller crowd. "So where did Daniel buy the fish?" Amber asked. "Good question. I wasn't paying attention, because I saw that magazine," Emily confessed, "But it should be around there. Lets ask some stall owners." The girls nodded and split up.

Amber and Sarah had no luck what so ever. Emily was about to give up, when she vender came from behind his stall and asked, "You're one of the girls looking for a fish stall, right?" "Ah, yes," Emily answered. "I might have something for you. Yesterday there was a fish stall here that's almost never here, but they're not here today. They seemed weird," the vender told her. "Really? Thanks so much," Emily replied and hurried towards her friends.

After they had returned to camp, Emily told them, "Listen, I may have found a lead. There was a stall there that was usually never there." "Emily, I think this is ridiculous. Maybe Daniel was just inattentive and he accidentally bought bad fish," Amber retorted. "That would never happen to Daniel," Emily said. "Faults are human. It could have happened to anyone," Sarah added. "So you both think it's his fault?" Emily asked her friends. Slowly Amber and Sarah nodded. "Fine, I'll help Daniel on my own," Emily said and walked off. "You think she only wants to find out where the bad fish came from?" Amber questioned. Sarah shook her head.

Silently Emily snuck into the mess hall and into the kitchen. She searched for any kind of clue, but to no avail. Just then she heard someone enter the mess hall. Quickly Emily hurried out the back door. Outside she found garbage cans standing. It stunk of trash such as left over food that was now moldy. Emily pinched her nose shut.

All of the sudden the door opened and one of the cooks came outside. Emily cowered between two garbage cans even though the smell nearly made her pass out. The cook took out a cell phone said, "It's me. You realize what you've done. Most of the camp is sick. If I were you I would get out of here as soon as possible… Okay, I'll meet you on the boat. Bye." The cook hurried away. Emily came out of her hiding spot. She wasn't a hundred percent sure what was going on, but she knew she had to follow the cook.

As Emily quietly followed the cook, she ran into Amber and Sarah. "Where are you going now?" Sarah asked. "Not now. That cook has something to do with the whole fish incident," Emily answered. "I think you're going overboard with all this, Emily," Amber said. "Whatever. I'm following him," Emily replied and hurried away, hoping she didn't lose the cook. "Should we follow her?" Sarah asked and Amber shrugged.

The cook got into the speedboat that belong to the camp and took off. Emily didn't think long and jumped into the water after him. After a short swim, Emily saw the speedboat stop near a fishing boat. Peering out of the water, she saw the cook get aboard the ship and started talking to two men.

After the men went into the cabin, Emily took a closer look. On deck was a pile of fish. A huge pile of fish that were endangered of being over fished. Using the pile of fish as cover, Emily let herself be dried by the sun. When she was a human again, she snuck to the cabin door. "I agreed to take your older fish, but never to the already bad ones," the cook said. "You get a good deal, don't you?" one of the men asked. "Besides you get a part of the money we make with all the fish we catch," the other man added.

Emily backed up, quiet. They weren't only over fishing, but selling bad fish. She needed to get the police. Just then she saw a cell phone laying on deck. Quickly she dialed the police's number and said, "Hello. There's a case of…"

Suddenly the phone was knocked out of her hand. Emily turned to see one of the men. "You weren't thinking of calling the police, were you?" he asked and grabbed her hand. Struggling, Emily was pulled into the cabin. "Looks like we have a spy. We should get out of here. I'll tie her up," he said and opened a small door that led to a closet. There he tied her up with a thick rope, placed tape over her mouth and then locked her in.

Emily heard the motor start. Fear went through her. Who knew what would happen to her? Just then she realized that the boat wasn't moving, although the motor was on. She heard indefinite curses and word exchanges.

Suddenly the door opened and Emily looked up at Amber. Amber quickly pulled the tape from Emily's mouth and then began untying her. "Ow. What are you doing here?" Emily asked. "Making sure you don't get in trouble," Amber answered as she finished untying Emily, "Come on. Sarah is stopping them from going anywhere." Quickly they hurried out of the cabin, on the deck and dove into the water.

There they found Sarah, who was using her power to stop the propeller from moving. "We need to call the police," Emily said. "You mean that police," Amber smiled and pointed towards a police boat heading towards them, "We call them from that cell phone." "We should get out of here," Sarah told them and the girls nodded as they submerged.

*

That evening Emily walked along the beach. Just then Daniel ran up to her smiling. "The police captured the real criminals. I'm innocent," he told her. "Really?" Emily questioned, acting surprised. "Don't act so surprised," he said. "What are you talking about?" Emily asked. "One of the men described a girl that looked just like you that was on their ship," Daniel answered. "And how would I get there?" Emily questioned. "That's true, but I'm sure you would find a way. Anyway I want to thank you," Daniel replied. "For what?" Emily asked. "That you believed in me," he said and kissed her. After the first moment of shock, Emily responded the kiss.

After Daniel left, Amber and Sarah appeared out of no where. "We saw that," they said. Emily blushed a bit. "Was is good?" Amber asked. Emily only nodded, but then said, "Now we have to be careful around Daniel as well. Although he didn't see me, he could figure it out." The girls nodded. "But I think it was worth it, wasn't it?" Sarah questioned. "It was," Emily smiled and they walked back to their cabin.

A/N: With Emily and Daniel now together, things couldn't be better, but then a canoe trip comes along. Please review.