Oh my goodness readers I am so very very very very very sorry for the late update. It has been a crazy couple of weeks with some exciting new things happening in my career. Anyway enough about the troublesome author and on with the story.
Karai gently turned the delicate pages of the book soaking in all the information she read about the mythical creatures known as mermaids. The girl quickly became fascinated by what she was reading and how she could use them for the benefit of both her and her father to accomplish their plans.
With a smirk Karai took the book over to the photocopier in the room and printed off several pictures before gathering up the pages and returning the book to its place on the shelf.
"Footbots!" the girl called over her shoulder.
In a matter of seconds several robotic ninjas came into the room before bowing in front of Karai waiting for her instruction.
Karai walked over to them and handed them the pictures that she had copied out of the ancient book before leaning against her father's desk.
"Find the mermaid for me, bring it to me in no less condition then alive and uninjured. The blood is valuable so for every drop that's spilt I take off a piece of you," Karai demanded.
The footbots nodded their heads obediently before standing up and quickly leaving the office to search for what their master desired.
…
Splinter was ripped from his meditation by the sounds of laughter and pounding footsteps. With a huff he opened one eye open to see his youngest son and his tiny silver haired friend running towards the tree in the middle of the dojo.
"What did you two do now?" Splinter asked almost afraid to know.
"Let's just say the guys may have gotten a makeover…with sharpies," Mikey said with a beaming grin adorning his freckled face.
As if on cue Leo, Raph and Don burst into the dojo while Mikey and Maya stealthily climbed up to the top of the tree holding in their laughter. Master Splinter was trying desperately himself to hold in his own snickers when he beheld his three oldest sons.
Leonardo tried to not show his embarrassment as he stood before his father. In place of his blue mask, blue marker adorned his eyelids with red lips drawn across his mouth. Raph was silent holding in his fury as he stood beside his brother. His mask was also missing, replaced by orange marker drawn over his eyes like eye shadow and bright red lips drawn on his mouth. Donny couldn't hide his shame as he hung his head trying to hide his purple eyelids and red lips.
"I see you left yourselves unguarded…I would punish you but I see your brother and Maya saw to that," Splinter commented calmly.
"You cannot seriously be telling us those two chuckle heads are gonna get away with this," Raph hissed angrily.
"Of course not however I will be the one to decide their fate," Splinter replied.
All three boys nodded their heads satisfied with their father's answer before he added, "go now and clean your faces while I meditate on a suitable punishment to fit the crime."
Leo, Raph and Donny could have sworn they heard the sounds of nervous gulps as they got on their feet. As soon as they left the dojo however the unmistakable sound of Master Splinter allowing himself the laughter that he had been holding back while his sons were in the room.
"I am never sleeping again," Donny said as he walked over to the bathroom to wash his face.
"It's gonna take forever to get this stuff off," Leo complained as he reluctantly looked at himself in the mirror.
"Don't get your panties in a twist. It's not like anybody is gonna see us or nothin'," Raph replied grabbing a wash cloth.
"You're being awfully calm," Leo said giving his brother an odd look.
"That's cause I'm planning a slow, painful death for those two and it's makin' me feel all warm and fuzzy inside ok," the hot head said scrubbing his face.
A knock at the door interrupted the three brothers. They looked at each other cautiously before Donny slowly unlocked the door and opened the door to reveal the culprits themselves. The purple masked turtle glared at the pair accusingly.
"What the hell do you guys want?" he demanded angrily.
Mikey huffed before he replied, "Master Splinter said because we drew on you so you get to draw on us…no drawing bad words or anything dirty though."
"Seriously?" Donny asked in surprise.
"Punishment was lenient since we demonstrated improved stealth skills by not being detected in the dojo by you all," Maya said holding out the markers.
All three turtles seemed to debate whether or not the trouble makers were telling the truth before smirking evilly. Raph was the first to pick up a black marker before turning his gaze to his baby brother who looked very unhappy.
"Ready for your close up Mikey?" the red masked turtle taunted.
…
Master Splinter walked out of the dojo to find all five teenagers sitting in front of the television watching some action film. Leo and Donny were sitting on one couch while Raph sat on the floor with his back against the other couch. All three boys still had the permanent marker stuck on their face from the prank pulled on them.
When he looked up to see Maya and Mikey on the couch he couldn't help groaning in annoyance. Both teenagers were lying on the couch sideways facing the television fast asleep under a blanket. Mikey was laying behind Maya with one arm draped over the girl's stomach holding her to his chest.
The part of this sight that disturbed him most was the fact that both of them were covered in marker. Maya had a mustache, goatee and a monocle drawn on her face while Michelangelo's face had 'I like to smell farts' written on his forehead and red marker makeup on his eyes and lips.
"I thought I told you I would decide their punishment," Splinter said mildly upset.
The three boys looked at each other horrified before Leo replied, "but Master Splinter they told us you said we could draw on them."
"It's true they said you were going easy on them because of their improvement in stealth," Donny added quickly.
Splinter sighed before he explained, "I told them they were to apologize and make it up to you three accordingly."
"No wonder they let us pick the movie," Raph said looking over to the sleeping pair.
"Starting to feel bad about the fart thing," he added.
The sound of talking had woken up the sleeping girl laying on the couch before the mermaid slowly opened her eyes and began rubbing them with the heel of her hand.
"Good morrow to you sir sleepyhead," Donny greeted in an awful impression of a British gentleman.
"Whattime is it?" Maya grumbled.
"Seven o'clock," Raph replied after checking the time on his T-cell.
Maya's eyes suddenly looked as though they were going to burst out of her head. Without another thought the tiny girl threw the blanket over Mikey's head before flying off the couch at an impressive speed. She then ran into the orange masked turtle's room to grab her bag before running towards the entrance of the lair.
"ohmygoshthisoneisveryverylateGOODBYE!" Maya yelled as she ran out.
"Anybody catch that?" Leo asked looking confused.
"She was supposed to meet her tutor at seven," Mikey stated with his eyes still closed.
"Oops," Raph chuckled.
"I'll say she still has marker on her face," Mikey added with a smirk making his brothers all burst out laughing.
…
"Oh my god, it's finally happened!" April squealed in excitement.
The red head had never in her life felt so much fulfillment from accomplishing something until this very moment. April felt like she could fly she was so happy.
"Casey! You finally got an answer right!" the girl cried in delight.
The boy in question gave the girl an annoyed look as he tapped his pencil against the wooden table they were sitting at.
"Geez Red you act like I've never gotten a question right before," Casey said not sure if he should feel insulted or flattered by the girl's excitement.
"You've never gotten a question right on the first try before. This is a good thing Casey it means you're understanding the formula to answer the question," she explained.
"Really?" Casey asked sounding unsure.
"Of course! Casey I'm really proud of you," April said giving the boy a big smile before she wrapped her arms around him to give him a hug.
The black haired teen was in shock by his tutor's words. Up until this point everyone outside of his dad and sister had called him a useless, dumb loser. Up until now he had never had anyone outside of his small family tell him that they were proud of him.
"Thanks Red," the boy replied returning the hug.
Those two words were the only ones his mouth would allow him to say since his mind couldn't find any other ones to tell the girl in his arms how much those words actually meant to him. The pair stayed like that for a few minutes until they both heard something and within seconds the two teenagers ripped themselves apart to see what it was.
Maya ran all the way to the park before stopping to catch her breath. Casey and April were sitting at a picnic table when she arrived.
"So…sorry…this one…lost track of time," Maya said between deep breathes.
When she looked up at the two teenagers the mermaid became confused when she noticed they looked like they were trying desperately not to burst out laughing.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"Gidget have you looked in a mirror?" Casey replied before he started chuckling.
April started laughing as she dug into her bag and pulled out a compact before handing it to Maya. The girl looked at her reflection a little surprised before bursting into laughter herself.
"This one was with her friends…we were being silly and this one forgot the time…this one also apparently forgot about her makeup," Maya explained as she giggled.
"Don't sweat it. Monopoly man is a good look for you," Casey teased as he walked over and gave Maya a noogie.
"Come on Maya let's get to your lesson. The sooner we finish up here the sooner we can walk you home so you can wash that marker off your face, I know a trick," April explained kindly leading her to the table.
"Apologies again for the tardiness," Maya replied as she sat down.
"Oh don't even worry about it Casey apparently needed the extra one on one time. He answered the questions I gave him all on his own," April said proudly.
Maya's face lit up in excitement as she turned to the boy and said, "Well done my friend! This one knew you could do it."
Casey's pale face suddenly became bright red with an uncharacteristic blush. He wasn't used to hearing words of praise sent in his direction. The boy said nothing in reply but smiled gratefully at the girl before Maya turned back to April.
"Okay so let's see how you're doing with your journal entries and then we'll go over that essay on Hamlet that's due next week," April instructed.
Maya nodded before she pulled out a notebook with a decorative cover that April had bought her from a book store. The idea was that Maya was to write about her day, anything she was comfortable with other people reading, to practice using proper English and grammar.
April took the book from her and quickly skimmed the pages and was quickly surprised by the latest entries of the journal. Normally Maya wrote about her sister and nephew, the new things the baby was discovering and the silly things they did that day. She would also write about school, the things she had learned in classes that she found interesting and what she did with her friends. This time though she seemed to be writing about something very different, or someone rather.
She still wrote about the usual things that she wrote about but every so often she would mention a friend, a boy named Michael. The more April read the more she suspected that her innocent little friend liked this 'friend' a lot more then she probably realized.
"Ooo Maya! Who's Michael?" April teased gently before giggling at the girl's blush.
Casey also noticed the blush on the silver haired girl's face and glared suspiciously at his friend before he asked accusingly, "Ya who's Michael?"
Maya quickly looked between April's knowing 'somebody has a crush' expression and Casey's protective 'I'll kill him slowly if he tries anything' look before she suddenly felt nervous.
"J-just a boy…he is this one's dearest friend. Her first friend actually since living in New York," Maya explained hesitantly not realizing she was blushing.
April gave a girlish squeal before she said, "call Isla we're having a girl's night I want to hear everything about this boy!"
"Screw girl's night I wanna know who this guy is. Did he draw all over your face?" Casey demanded sounding very unimpressed with what he was hearing.
"Perhaps we should return to the essay portion of tutoring," Maya said desperately trying to change the subject.
April's demeanor suddenly changed as if she had just remembered where she was. With a nod she turned her attention to the essay in front of her but the excited expression never left her face. The silver haired teen quickly texted her older sister before she hesitantly turned her eyes towards Casey who sat fuming in silence. With a smile on her face Maya gently placed her hand over the black haired boy's before giving his hand a squeeze.
She waited for Casey to look at her before she said, "Thank you for worrying about this one."
The boy said nothing in reply but gave the girl one of his signature smirks and a nod. April smiled as she continued to edit Maya's paper not only from finding little to no spelling errors but also from watching the interaction the strange pair. Between Maya's shyness and Casey's cockiness, they seemed incompatible as far personalities go. These two though seemed to bend the rules and acted as though they were long lost cousins or something. Either way the red head was happy to see she wasn't the only one keeping an eye on the tiny odd ball.
"Okay Maya this looks great. Just a couple of mistakes but otherwise you did a fantastic job on this," April explained showing the girl where she went wrong.
After working for a bit longer the three agreed it was time to make their way back home. Casey was more than happy to walk the girls home since it was late. Their first stop was April's apartment so that she could grab a few things for the night. They then made their way to Maya's apartment, a small building behind a comic book store. Normally Casey and April would watch from the sidewalk as Maya walked into her building but today was the first time they were going upstairs with their friend.
As they approached the door both Casey and April quickly noticed the two guys standing outside the entrance that looked an awful lot like Maya and her family. Both men suspiciously eyed both teens before turning their gaze to Maya who nodded to them before they entered. Casey and April gave each other an odd look as they walked into the apartment building when they heard one of the men mumble, "m'lady."
'What was that about?' April had mouthed over to Casey who only shrugged in return.
The two men weren't the only ones who were giving strange looks. Everyone they passed in the building whether they were a man, woman or child stared at the trio. Almost as odd was the fact that all these people seemed to all have silver hair, with matching eyes and tanned skin. Maya didn't seemed to not notice when people nodded their heads towards her as if bowing their heads in respect.
"Pretty close knit around here huh?" Casey chuckled nervously."
Maya chuckled before turning to face her friend and replied with a smile, "A bit."
Soon enough they made it up to the apartment where Isla greeted them at the door with a warm smile on her face. April and Maya quickly scurried into the apartment but Casey stayed where he was at the front door.
"Not coming in?" Isla asked the boy.
"Uh no I need to get home I just wanted to make sure they got here ok," Casey explained feeling a little nervous around the older woman.
"Thank you for that. Please be safe on your own way home," Isla said kindly.
After saying goodnight to the girls Casey felt uncomfortable in the building on his own and quickly made his way out. As he did he tried desperately to ignore the glances through doors and whispers aimed in his direction. When he finally got outside he couldn't have felt more relieved to get some fresh air.
After taking a deep breath the teen noticed the two guys from before staring at him intensely. He gave them a nervous wave before he turned and started walking towards his own home.
"You watchin' out fer that girl?" a deep voice rumbled and Casey immediately stopped in his tracks before turning to face the owner of the voice.
Casey gulped when he saw the 6"5 beast with intense grey eyes and silver hair staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face. The man looked like he could break someone's neck with his thumb and forefinger.
"Y-yeah…she's my friend," Casey answered embarrassed by his sudden stutter.
The man nodded to him before he replied, "good on ya boy, ya keep lookin' out fer her and we'll be watchin' fer ya both."
Casey didn't know what to think of that but nodded his head gratefully unable to form any actual words to come out of his mouth.
"Best get goin' boy it's late and a school night…See to it ya get home safe there Casey Jones," the large man said staring at the teen as if staring into his soul.
Without another word Casey turned and walked as fast as he could to his apartment building completely freaked out by the encounter. Along the way he tried not to think about the fact that he never gave the man his name or the fact that there were five guys from Maya's building walking behind him until he got into his building.
All done for now but please review and tell me what you think...that is if you're still reading it. Till next time which will be sooner then later if I have anything to say about it!