Once Sheshe and Mimi got to the shore, they had changed into their fully human forms. Not much different from their usual appearance, aside from the lack of horns, lack of microphones/tails, cuspids that no longer protruded, and the appearance of human ears. They also had new clothes to help them blend in further. Ideally, they would appear to be two ordinary young women.
"Sheshe, how much further is the hotel? The heat is killing me!" They clearly didn't expect it to be this hot today, and it was a pretty humid one, too. Mimi looks over at a digital sign by the Interstate. "90 degrees?! No wonder the mermaids survived the boiling water."
"Just relax, Mimi. There's a bench and a water fountain over there. We'll rest for a bit." As Mimi made a beeline for the fountain, Sheshe noticed a small, quaint, low-rise building a few blocks away. It stood out amongst all the skyscrapers and new condos.
"Mimi, I think that's it over there. Hopefully the mermaids can talk to us." As they enter the Pearl Pier Hotel, they are warmly greeted by Nikora at the front desk. It was not that busy at that time, so they easily got served.
"Welcome to the Pearl Pier Hotel! I am your hostess, Nikora! How can I help you two ladies?"
"Hi! I'm… ummm…" Just as Mimi was thinking of a name, she saw a pot of marigold flowers on the front desk. Marigolds… Mary! That's it! In Mimi's head, it sounded perfect. "I'm Mary, and this is my sister, Sherri. We we're just lost and…"
"Hmmm, I can tell. Why don't you two take a seat at our lounge over there? There are complimentary water bottles in the mini fridge." Sheshe only had $150 on her in various bills and coins, most on which was taken from their previous victims. It didn't feel right spending it, but it was all they had.
"Thank you, Nikora. We we're just curious, did you know of a Pastor Maxwell Church? You know, the one on TBN?" As Sheshe asked this question, Nikora's smile quickly disappeared.
"I did. Hard to believe that he's been missing for several days now. God willing, I pray that he will be found safe. I really hope he's still alive." Of course, Sheshe and Mimi didn't have the heart to tell Nikora the truth. Pastor Max really did mean a lot to her and many others.
"We're sorry to hear that. Are the mer- I mean, girls here?"
"You mean Luchia, Hanon, and Rina?" Nikora shook her head. "Sorry, but they're at school now, then will be visiting friends after school. Are you friends of theirs?"
"Umm, yes. We're a little older than they are, so that's why we're not in school now." Mimi gave a good cover story, and Sheshe played along.
"Yeah, we just graduated from high school. We know those girls from our youth group. What about Karen, Noel, Coco, and Sara? Are they nearby?"
"I'm not sure where Coco or Sara live. I do know that Karen and Noel are not far from here. Maybe they can help you out. Here's a map, they're just a few blocks away."
"Thank you, Nikora. Have a good day."
"You too, ladies!"
It didn't take them long to reach Karen and Noel's house. It also didn't take Noel long to answer the door as Sheshe and Mimi ring the doorbell.
"Oh, hello. We weren't expecting anyone today. How can we help you two?"
"Hi, I'm Mary, and this is my sister, Sherri. We may not know you, but we have some important information to share with you about a certain Pastor friend of yours. May we come in?"
"Well…"
"Noel, who's that at the door?! If it's that water filter salesman again, tell him we're not interested!" Karen was on the couch in the living room watching a rerun of Our HOPE Ministries on TBN while eating a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. It was clear that she wasn't anticipating visitors either.
"Oh, don't worry sis. They're two ladies who would like to talk to us about Pastor Max, because they apparently have information about him." Karen nearly spit out a mouthful of Cap'n Crunch at this news.
"They can come in, just let me go up and brush my teeth." Karen then runs upstairs as Noel welcomes Sheshe and Mimi into their home.
"Please take a seat, I bet this is very interesting news. Before you two start, can I get you something to drink? You look like you could use a cold drink."
"We would both like that, please." Mimi accepted Noel's request, and she brought out two cans of cola from the fridge. This and the air conditioning were a godsend on a day like this.
"So, what do you ladies have to tell us?"
"Well, we found this by the beach." Sheshe shows Noel my old pocket Bible, which added teeth to their claim. "It has his name on the front page, so we hope it helps."
Noel smiled. "Thank you, I will be sure to keep it safe. Noel then looked down with a sense of sadness in her eyes. It's what our Pastor would've wanted. I sure do miss him. It's nice to see that his show is on. Millions tune in to hear his take of the basics of Christian living and the Bible. It seems here he's talking about salvation."
"Well, what we wanted to say was…" Before Mimi could finish her sentence, Karen came back down.
"Sorry, just wanted to be prepared."
"Karen, this is Mary and Sherri. They seem nice." As Karen greeted them, she took a closer look at the two.
"Hmmm. Have we met before? You look like people we already know. You don't happen to know Sheshe and Mimi, do you?" This made Sheshe and Mimi nervous as Karen's eyes narrowed. Was their cover about to be blown?
"Heheh. Sheshe and Mimi? Never heard of those two. I bet they're nice though…"
"Nice?! They killed our Pastor! He was our friend, and they and their band of criminals killed him!" Karen cut off Sheshe with her emotional howl. "If I ever get my hands on those two, I ought to…" Karen picked up a couch pillow and began to shake it in a strangling motion.
"Karen, please calm down! These folks here clearly mean no harm, and we ought to pray for our enemies! Mary, Sherri, I'm so sorry about this." Noel tried to bring the peace.
Karen let out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm sorry too. I'll try not to get worked up like that. Please, keep telling us more." As Karen put the pillow back in place, Mimi continued.
"Well, we heard that Pastor Max's body is still being held by his captors in the sea."
"Right, the same ones who imprisoned and tortured us as well. Say, how do you know about where he is?" Karen only became more confused.
"Ummm… We found out from, uh… excuse me, I need a sip."
"Of course." As Mimi took a sip of cola, Sheshe took over explaining things.
"We did some snorkeling recently and went down to this strange place. In this building, we saw what looked like this man nailed to a cross. Wasn't expecting that, but that's what we saw."
"We do know about that. We had the misfortune of witnessing his crucifixion. He may have gone home to be with the Lord, but I know that Karen and I will see him again one day."
Mimi interrupted Noel's train of thought. "See, that's another thing I wanted to talk about. I had this dream last night where an angel came to me…" Mimi then went on to explain her dream to Karen and Noel.
"So, you saw Pastor Max in Heaven, singing God's praises?" Both of the mermaids were intrigued by this. "Did he say anything to you?"
Mimi shook her head at Noel's question. "No. Apparently, he couldn't see or hear me because he was in a place that was completely sinless. It was an amazing sight, but I was told that a lot of people I know are not there. They went to this other place where they are eternally separated from God and are suffering because of it." Mimi then began to shiver as she recalled what she saw there. So many people were suffering! "They had all these bad things that I didn't think anyone would do. It was noisy and chaotic. I couldn't believe it…" Sheshe went over to console Mimi. Every hair on her being was standing up straight.
"So, who was it you saw there? You said that some people you knew were there. Who were they?"
Mimi wasn't sure how to respond to this. If she told them their names, they might be given away. Karen and Noel would know that they were linked to Gaito and the Dark Lovers before.
"Um, I don't remember all their names, they were friends from years ago. All were warning me to tell everyone about Jesus." Just before Mimi could give more information, all four of them turned to the TV. A portion of my sermon gave Sheshe and Mimi the chills.
"But let me warn you folks: As for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death (Revelation 21:8)! It is unfortunate, but many people are on the path to death and destruction by turning away from the Lord our God!"
"I can't take this anymore!" It became too much for Mimi to keep this charade up. Karen, Noel. "There's something we need to come clean about." Mimi then revealed the true nature of their identities, much to Karen and Noel's shock.