Chap. 11

Will

"I can explain."

Although her voice is quiet, it rings through the cave as the only form of noise. I'm stricken dead silent at the sight of the teenage girl who I've never seen before, seeing my sister and her best friend as a mermaid. But nothing has raised more inside of me than fear.

I wonder who this girl is and what is about to happen, but I don't dare move. One of my questions is answered by Jessie. "Anna…"

Anna. The girl Mary and Jessie have been telling me about. The suspicious one and their other best friend. And most importantly, the only other person who saw what really happened. I gulp.

The shock and fear Anna's obviously possessing is too much for her. She begins to shake her head and slowly back up.

Mary and I see what's happening at the same time. "Will, grab her!" she yells to me.

I don't hesitate to obey. I lunge for Anna and grab her around her waist. She screams. "Shh!" I say.

She struggles in my grasp, but I don't let go. "LET ME GO!" she yells at the top of her lungs. I don't. I pray to God that we're the only ones on this island and no one else heard that.

"Anna," Jessie tries. "You have to calm down." She looks to me. "Will, turn her away."

I do. I can tell by the noise that Mary and Jessie are getting out of the water and changing back. They don't want Anna to see any of that. Anna's still struggling, but my grasp doesn't lighten in the slightest. She's panting heavily. She's not taking this well.

I try to distract her from the noise behind us. "Anna, you need to listen to me. You have to calm down."

She shakes her head violently. "No! Now let… me… go!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't. Just please, relax. We can explain. All of us can explain." She stops struggling briefly. I'm hoping my words meant something to her.

"Ok," I hear Mary's voice again. "Turn her around." I do so.

Anna and I, her still in my grasp, are now facing Mary, Jessie, Bella, Cleo, and Rikki. They don't look happy. Jessie speaks. "Anna, let us explain."

She shakes her head in disbelief. "What's… what's going on?" she demands. "You guys are… are…"

"Mermaids," Mary says, pain showing in her voice at having to say it out loud. "We're mermaids."

I don't see Anna's face, but based on the others' faces, it's not exactly a favorable result. It's a look that tells me I need to keep holding on.

Mary crosses her arms. "What are you doing here?" she asks her sternly. They're obviously not going to mess around.

Anna switches gears. "I believe you have some explaining to do first," she shoots back. I can tell y her attitude now that it's safe to release her. I let go. As I hoped, she stays put, but I keep my guard out in case she, for some reason, decides otherwise.

Jessie raises her eyebrows. "We'll see where we get with this," Jessie says. "But you have to explain first."

Anna crosses her arms now too. "Fine," she reluctantly agrees. "I came here for answers." That's all she says.

My expression turns sour. This isn't going well, and I don't see it getting better anytime soon. Now seeing what's happening, I can easily see why Mary and Jessie rejected the idea of telling her so quickly.

We're all silent for a while. By the looks of their faces, they're all really deep in thought while I'm still trying to figure out how to handle this. I mean, what should we do? I shake my head behind Anna. The others look at me. They understand.

Mary finally speaks. "Answers to what?" she asks suspiciously.

"To whatever has been up with you guys," Anna retorts. She looks Mary and Jessie up and down. "Guess I found my answer." She says it with edge that makes my stomach drop. "Now are you ready to talk?" she says, motioning with her head to the girls.

I step up. "Don't," I tell them. I don't see this going well, no matter what they say or don't say. I fear we're all going to be stuck here forever with this ultimatum.

Anna turns on me. "What are you even doing here?" she snaps at me. She whips around again and motions to Bella, Cleo, and Rikki. "And them?"

Uh-oh. I gulp. I never prepared for what we would say; I was too concerned about Mary and Jessie to even think about it. Luckily, to my relief, Mary snaps an answer at her. "That's not important."

I realize that for Mary and Jessie, acting this spiteful won't make it better, if anything, worse. I speak up. "Guys, calm down. You can't act like this."

Jessie's face softens. Mary, on the other hand, still seems angry. I try to reason with her. "Acting like this won't get you anywhere."

"He's right," Anna says with attitude.

"You too," I tell her sternly. She looks back at me. "If you act like this and honestly expect them to tell you what's going on, you're sadly mistaken."

She frowns and rolls her eyes, a reluctant acceptance that I'm right. She looks to the other girls with pleading eyes now, trying to change her attitude. "Why won't you tell me? I know most if it already."

Jessie narrows her eyes, but now it' more in peace. "What do you mean you already know?"

Anna shrugs. "I know you're mermaids and I know it happened here. What else could there possibly be?"

Mary scoffs under her breath. "You don't know the half of it…" she mumbles.

Jessie shakes her head. "Maybe we should do this later."

"Is that really a good idea? I mean-" Anna cuts me off.

"Maybe you're right," she concedes.

Jessie's face turns serious. "But Anna… you can't tell ANYONE. Not a soul in the world. NO ONE. Understood?"

Anna's eyes narrow. "What if I do?"

Mary speaks up, in a way that's still hostile, but it's at least an appropriate time for it. "Then you can forget us telling you anything. In fact, you can forget us entirely because we'll end up in a science laboratory." I cringe at the thought of my little sister ending up a science experiment, more of one than we've seemed to already make her.

"Is that clear?" I say sternly.

Anna turns to me. She nods feverishly. "Crystal," she responds. I smile in my head. The irony.

Mary turns to me. "Will, take her out of here." She turns to Bella, Cleo, and Rikki. "You guys stay." They nod understandingly.

"Wait-" Anna starts, but I'm already leading her out.

We eventually get out of the cave and hike through the jungle in silence and not looking at each other. I guess she's thinking. She must have gone inane in her mind because it pours all out. She screams and falls to her knees. She turns to me. "What's going on?"

I don't know how to respond. I kneel down beside her and put a reassuring hand on her back. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry."

She groans. "I don't understand… not any of it. Why won't they tell me what's going on?"

I shrug. "It's a matter of trust. They need to know they can trust you."

"They should know by now that they can," she counters.

I nod. "But this is a whole new thing. What's happened in the past doesn't matter. They need to know they can trust you now."

She looks at me deeply. "How can I tell them they can?"

I remember my own experience with Mary telling me she's a mermaid. "You can't just tell them. You have to show them."

I help her to her feet and we walk the rest of the way to the shore. We get to the boats. I turn to her in all seriousness. "You have to do two things for me," I tell her, holding up the number with my fingers.

She nods. "Anything."

"First. Don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody anything. Understood?" She nods. I move on. "Second. Don't come back to this island. Don't come back here, don't do anything, don't say anything. Are we clear?"

She looks hesitant. "But…"

"Absolutely no buts," I tell her. "If you want this to work, you have to do as I say. Are we clear?"

She nods. "Ok," I finally say. I motion to her boat. "Go on."

She heads towards her boat. As she walks away, she turns back to me. I look back at her. "Thanks."

I nod once. She goes on and gets in her boat, then she goes and heads back to shore.

Now I jump in my boat, shaking from fear at the future.