Chapter 9: Clamming Up
Back on the beach, the other mermaids (along with Steven and Connie) saw Lapis, Jamie, Pearl, Peridot, Sapphire, Stevonnie, and Rainbow Quartz approaching them from the jungle.
"Hey, look." said Smoky Quartz. "They're finally back."
"Everyone, back to the water!" Pearl cried out as she, Lapis, and the other transformed mermaids used their talismans to turn back into mermaids the moment they went back into the ocean.
"Why? What's wrong?" Amethyst asked, confused.
"Well let's just say: that island's not the safest to set up camp." Pearl simplified.
"Let's go find some other-" Lapis tried to say, but was cut off when she felt a sharp contraction in her chest that was almost like heartburn. She groaned in pain.
"Oh no." she hyperventilated. "Jamie, i-i-it's h-h-h-happening again!"
"The Oceanic Heart?" her boyfriend asked with worry in his eyes, the blue princess nodding weakly in response.
Suddenly as if reacting to her pain, the water around the group started to get choppy.
"What's going on?" Iris questioned in alarm. "The ocean isn't supposed to swell around this time."
"It's the damage of the Oceanic
Heart." Lapis explained, panting. "The tide cycle here is being thrown off."
"These waves are out of control!" Sapphire exclaimed.
The unruly sea caused her to bump into Jamie and to his dismay, he felt something slip out of his pocket. At the same time, Lapis was completely unaware that the clasp of her birth locket had come undone and her trinket fell off her neck.
"Oh no!" her boyfriend cried.
"What happened?" the young princess asked.
"I dropped a very important box." the human boy told her.
"Well, I'm sure we can-" Lapis tried to say, but realized that her neck was bare. "Oh no, my locket's gone too! Where did they go?"
She submerged and saw the her precious locket and what looked like a small, red box sink deeper into the water until they dropped into a giant clam. The blue princess returned to the surface to alert her boyfriend.
"They sank into that giant clam down there." Lapis conveyed as she was preparing to dive again. "I'll go get them."
"Wait, maybe I should send one of your friends to retrieve them." Jamie said, stopping her.
"No, I can go down and get them." his true love insisted. "Is there something wrong?"
"It's just that the thing I dropped was supposed to be a surprise for you." he explained. "Can I just trust you not to peek until the right time."
"Of course, Jamie." Lapis promised, smiling. "You can always trust me."
The blue mermaid dove beneath the choppy water's surface and swam right into the mouth of the clam. She grabbed her locket and placed back around her neck. Then, she grabbed Jamie's little red box and realized, upon studying it that it was a ring box. Lapis drew her breath and thought that there could really be an engagement ring inside. Though as tempting as it was for her to peek, the mermaid princess remembered that she made a promise not to. So, she silently vowed to keep her word. Besides, she didn't want to get her hopes up too much.
Just then, she heard a soft thud from above her and realized that the shell of the clam had closed over her. Now, Lapis had no way out!
This was almost like the nightmare she had last night. For all she knew, one of the malicious mermaids from the Black Scale Clan could hiding near the giant clam. Then, once the coast was clear; she would take the clam (with Lapis inside) and bring the princess to the rest of the Black Scale Clan... and Jasper.
"Help!" she cried as she frantically banged her fists on the clam shell. "Somebody please help me! I'm trapped!"
"Why hasn't Lapis come back to the surface?" Pearl wondered aloud.
"Maybe something went wrong." Stevonnie guessed. "We should go check on her."
"Not without us." Connie's voice chimed in.
Jamie and the mermaids turned to see her and Steven swimming towards them with confident looks on their faces. Once the two younger kids got their magic bubbles, the group dove down to look for the missing princess.
"Help!" the almost faint sound of Lapis' voice cried out. "Is anyone out there? I'm trapped in here!"
Iris, who was closest to the giant clam heard the sound and said, "Lapis, is that you in there?"
"Yes!" the blue princess answered from inside the clam and everyone surrounded it. "Oh, thank goodness you're here!" It was so good to hear a friendly voice.
"Lapis, what happened?" Steven asked, greatly concerned for his sister. "Are you alright?"
"I was trying to grab some lost things from inside this giant clam, but the top shell closed on top of me and now I'm stuck." the trapped mermaid said back.
"Don't worry, Lapis." Jamie told her. "We'll get you out of there."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Smoky Quartz inquired.
"Maybe we can pry the clam shells open with something, like a big piece of driftwood." Padparadscha suggested.
"No, you'll hurt the clam." Lapis rebutted. "It has it open itself up."
"But what will make the clam up its shells on its own?" Ruby questioned.
Without thinking, the red mermaid kicked up sand from the sea floor in the direction of the giant clam. Then, there was a sneezing sound coming from inside the clam.
"Everything okay in there?" asked Pearl, confused.
"Oh, yeah." Lapis sniffled. "I just sneezed from some kicked up sand."
"Sorry about that." Ruby apologized, blushing in embarrassment.
"Wait, that's it!" the mermaid princess exclaimed excitedly. "Amethyst, Peridot, do you remember that octopus infestation a while back?"
"Of course." Peridot answered. "How could we ever forget?"
"Uh, you lost us there." said Stevonnie.
"During the last time I stayed in Iridesca, a bunch of octopuses got into the castle and I didn't notice it until I started sneezing because they were squirting ink clouds all over the place." Lapis disclosed. "It took the royal staff days to get them out. I couldn't stop sneezing for weeks."
"So Lapis is allergic to octopus ink?" said Connie.
"I know, weird; right?" Amethyst commented.
"Okay, but how does that apply to this?" Smoky Quartz questioned.
"If we can get a big group of octopuses and get them to spray ink, it might trigger my allergies and my sneezing might irritate the clam, the shells will open; and I can escape." the young princess told her friends.
"You want us make you sneeze like crazy?" Steven said, feeling unsure. "That sounds kind of mean."
"I know, but it's the only way I'll get out of here." his adopted sister said.
"Opal, Rhodonite, Pearl, Stevonnie, Iris, and I will gather as many octopuses as we can and bring them back here." Rainbow Quartz said as she and her group swam off.
Fifteen minutes passed and the group who stayed with Lapis in the clam were getting a little bored. Jamie, who was right next to the clam heard breathing sounds from inside the shells.
"What wrong, Lapis?" he asked the trapped princess.
"It's just getting really stuffy in here." Lapis answered tiredly between pants.
"Hang in there a little longer." her boyfriend encouraged her. "Rainbow Quartz and the others should be coming back any minute now."
"We got the octopuses!" Opal's voice sounded off.
Everyone turned and saw the group of six return to the giant clam, corralling a group of young giant Pacific octopuses with them.
"Finally." said Steven. "Now, how do we get them to spray ink?"
"You have to scare them." Lapis told her friends. "Octopuses spray ink to escape from their natural predators."
"Sharks and sperm whales like to eat octopuses." Connie said. "If only one of those were nearby."
"Look at those silhouettes." Sapphire alerted, pointing up at some black shapes. "I think those are orcas.They like to eat octopuses too."
The timing couldn't have been more perfect. A pod of orcas were swimming towards the clam that the octopuses were swarming. The cethalopods immediately saw the killer whales as a threat and sprayed a giant, dark cloud of ink to mask their escape.
The mermaids and humans covered their faces to protect their eyes from the ink's poisonous chemicals. Inside the giant clam, the octopus ink had seeped into the shells where Lapis was. She felt the scent of the ink tickle her nose and a big sneeze started building up.
"I-I-I I think it's- HA- HA- HATCHOOOOO!" the young mermaid sneezed, loud and hard.
"Sounds like it's working." Peridot commented.
After a few more big sneezes, the giant clam shells slowly but surely started to open up. Once the opening was wide enough, Lapis saw her chance and swam out her bivalve prison.
"You're free!" Steven cheered, hugging his sister.
"Yeah, it was getting hot in there." she sniffled. "Now let's get out of here."
Without haste, Lapis and her entourage swam as far away from the ink cloud and the giant clam as possible.
Meanwhile, Hessonite, who was hiding just a few feet from the clam trap was angry to Lapis swim away.
"That was so close." she grumbled, furious at her failure to capture the mermaid princess.
Meanwhile, the mermaids and humans stopped to catch their breath as soon as they were far enough from danger.
"Oh, here's your box back." Lapis said to Jamie, handing him his trinket. She was so occupied with escaping from the clam, she had forgotten about the ring box. "I didn't peek, I swear."
"I believe you." her boyfriend smiled reassuringly as he put the box in his pocket. "I'm glad you're alright, by the way.
"Thanks." the blue princess said as she gave the kind boy a hug and sighed contentedly, snuggling into his chest.
That was enough excitement for one day. Considering how late it was getting, all the mermaid princess was settle down for the night, sleep while cuddling with her boyfriend, and dream about the perfect wedding that would officially make them a married couple.