Hi everyone! :-)
Thank you so much for reading the first chapter and for 5 follows and 5 favs! That's amazing and I'm so glad that you're enjoying Mila's adventure so far! :-)
I hope you'll like the second chapter as much as the first one and I'm excited to hear what you think! :-)
Have fun! :-)
A few moments later there was muffled scream and at first I didn't even realize it was Aaron calling me from outside the first cave where I fell. He shouted, once, twice, and before he could do it again, I glanced back at the now peaceful pool of water one last time and carefully made my way back down the stairs.
Whatever happened in that bigger cave, I couldn't tell anybody about it. All they would do was think that I was weird – even weirder than before. Especially Aaron. Every single day he would tell me how crazy I was and imagine me trying to explain what I saw. Imagine me going on and on about a pool in the middle of a volcano and magical bubbles of light which flew up to the moon. Although it shouldn't really surprise him, I mean on our way here I was convinced that there were werewolves living on Mako Island (which I still believe), so he should be used to me talking about this kind of stuff. Anyway, I wasn't planning on finding out how he would react, so I decided to remain silent.
"Mila? Are you still here?" Aaron asked and his voice started to sound a little panicked.
I finished climbing up the stairs and suddenly he appeared in front of me. A big breath left his mouth and he immediately pulled me into his arms. "Thank goodness, I thought I had lost you!"
"Which wouldn't have happened if you wouldn't have left me alone in the first place," I answered angrily before I reminded myself that in the end nothing dangerous had happened and that he was only trying to find a solution to get me out of the cave.
He grinned a little and put his hands on my shoulders. "I'm glad that you can still act annoyed. Can't be that bad then."
"I'm fine, yes. But honestly, I can't wait to get home. Screw our dinner, I'm so sorry, but I think I've lost my appetite."
We slowly walked to the hole and I looked up. Somehow Aaron had managed to get a rope and had attached it outside so that we would be able to climb up and leave this scary cave once and for all.
Aaron smiled. "I can't blame you. It must have been extremely scary down here all by yourself. I'm very proud of you for surviving on your own. By the way, what exactly did you do in the last hour while waiting for me to come back?"
My eyes widened in disbelief. "What?! You've been gone for an hour?!" Did I seriously stare at a pool of water for almost 60 minutes?!
"Well, duh. It took me a long time to get back to the boat, find the spare rope and run all the way back here. How come you didn't notice the amount of time that you've been in this cave?" Aaron's eyes narrowed in confusion before he started to check my head for a concussion or something.
"I – I um … I was just -," I started to explain but I couldn't go on further because there was no chance in hell that he wouldn't detect my lie. So I simply kept quiet, hoping that he would let it go and not try to walk up the steps behind me and discover the moon pool.
Apparently Aaron wasn't too thrilled by my incomplete answer. He grabbed my hand and almost pushed me to the exit. He had obviously activated his 'Aaron-Shafer-Overprotective-Worry-Mode' because he said, "Let's get you out of here and into your bed. First thing tomorrow morning we'll go to the doctor to see if you've accidently hurt yourself more than we think."
"I'm fine, really!" I exclaimed but even I didn't believe myself. Whatever happened in that moon pool was everything but normal. Maybe I did hit my head too hard and got unconscious without remembering. Maybe it was all just my imagination and no magic at all. Maybe I had simply lost it.
Aaron raised one eyebrow. "Okay, if you say so. Then let's get going."
I nodded in agreement and we both climbed up the hole. First I grabbed the rope and Aaron followed, taking care that I wouldn't fall again. After that we walked all the way back to the beach, through the billion bushes and spider webs but I couldn't care less anymore. Aaron carried the food and his rope whereas I had wrapped my blue knitted blanket around me, trying not to trip or hurt myself or Aaron in any way. We threw everything in the boat and before I realized we were in the middle of the ocean again, quickly getting closer and closer to the mainland. When we arrived at the docks behind my garden, we grabbed the food and left the rest in the boat. The sudden fatigue was too hard to handle so we simply took our clothes off and fell into my bed.
I sighed. That … was a total disaster. I bet Aaron was even more disappointed than me. He put so much effort in the dinner and hadn't talked about anything else for the last two weeks. And then my stupid, clumsy self happened and destroyed all his hopes.
I snuggled up to Aaron and he wrapped his arms around me. Before he could fall asleep, I hesitantly whispered, "Are you mad at me?"
"Me? Mad at you? Why would I be?"
"Because I fell into the hole and ruined our Moonlight Dinner. And now we're both so tired that we can't even talk properly and spend quality time together."
"Man, Mila," he smiled, "stop constantly blaming yourself for everything. Even though the evening didn't work out the way we wanted, I still enjoyed every second of it. Except for when you fell, of course. I really missed you and I feel like we don't see each other a lot anymore. Maybe I should step back from tutoring and swimming for a while."
"No!" I almost shouted. "Don't do that! I know how much you love it, that wouldn't be fair on you! We'll find a way."
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" he grinned.
I grinned back, "Maybe once or twice."
"Then let me make you a promise. I will always love you, no matter what. Even if you suddenly turn into a werewolf." Aaron locked his eyes with mine.
His suddenly serious face made me laugh out loud, "I'll remember that," which led to Aaron joining in and asking, "Well, aren't you gonna promise me the same?"
"I'll think about it," I answered and couldn't cease my grin from getting even wider.
These were the moments that I loved so much about our relationship. We were able to joke around but at the same time I knew that I could always count on Aaron to stand by me and I would do the exact same for him.
As if he had read my mind, he started grinning too, "Then let me help you think."
"Someone, SOS!" I giggled and Aaron kissed me passionately before pulling me even closer to him.
The next morning I woke up way earlier than I wished to, just because last night when Aaron and I came back from Mako we must have forgotten to draw the curtains close. Consequently, the awesome sun shone mercilessly into my bedroom, stopping us from getting a good night sleep.
I carefully lifted my head and had a look around my room.
"Morning, Gollum!" Aaron greeted me cheerfully and all I did was letting out a muffled groan and immediately falling back into my bed.
How were we even a couple?! He definitely was the most annoying person on the entire planet!
"Yes, I did sleep very well, thank you so much for asking, Mila, that is so kind of you," Aaron started teasing me and only one second later I grabbed my pillow and threw it into his face.
He laughed loudly. "Ow, what did I do to deserve this harsh sign of affection?"
Because I knew that I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep again, I decided to get out of bed and at least brush my teeth. They felt so disgusting because last night after coming home we were so knackered that we skipped tooth brushing and went to bed without it. Worst decision of my life. I couldn't even remember when we fell asleep in the end. It must have been something between 2 am and 5 am and now it was what? 9 o'clock in the morning? Thankfully it was a Sunday, so we didn't need to go to school and were able to relax a bit longer.
"Is it possible to love and hate a person at the same time?" I asked after I went into my en suite bathroom and had a look into the mirror. I felt dizzy and Gollum really could have been my cousin at that moment. My hair was messier than ever, I was covered in dirt and dust, my face had a few scratches and I was too scared to check for my bloody elbow.
"Love you too, Babe!" Aaron exclaimed and I could almost see how pleased he was with himself, even through the closed door.
A big sigh left my mouth. It would be better to take a shower before my parents could see me like this. But all I wanted to do first was to clean my teeth and get this nasty taste out of my mouth. So I took my toothbrush and the toothpaste off my shelf and rinsed the brush with water before applying the toothpaste and starting to brush my teeth. A few water droplets ran down my chin and fell into the sink. I watched them as they made their way to the plughole. As soon as the first one disappeared, I suddenly felt a tickly feeling throughout my whole body which began out of nowhere in my toes and then crawled upwards like hundreds of ants. Next thing I knew I lost my balance and fell onto the bathroom floor with a loud crash.
"Mila?" Aaron asked irritatedly.
What the hell happened now?! Something definitely wasn't right.
I slowly turned my head around, only to immediately turn it back to the front. Then I dared to have another look to make sure that I wasn't losing my mind – again.
But nope. Not just my imagination. There was big, bronze-coloured, scaly tail where my legs were supposed to be.
"Holy shirt!" I screamed and pressed my hands onto my mouth.
A knock, then another knock. "Mila! Are you alright? Do you need help? I'm coming in now!" Aaron's voice showed how stressed he was. But he shouldn't be the one panicking, I was allowed to panic, I had grown a freaking tail!
"Stop!" I shouted, "Don't you dare come in, Aaron!"
"Why not? You sounded like you need help! What happened?"
"I don't know!"
"What do you mean, you don't know?! Did you get unconscious? I'm gonna call an ambulance, just stay calm!"
I heard him dial a number on his phone and panicked even more. "Aaron, I'm serious! I'll break up with you if you really call an ambulance! I don't need anybody! Just … go! Leave me alone!"
"I'm not gonna leave you! I promised I'd stay with you!" He began pushing down the door handle.
"AARON! If you open that door, I'll kick you out of my life! You have to respect my boundaries!" My eyes had widened in shock, tears ran down my face and I was pretty sure that I was already hyperventilating. I couldn't risk him seeing me like this! Like a freak with a tail! Like a god damn fish!
"But not if you're hurt!"
"I'm not hurt! You're the only one hurting me right now! Please, just go, okay? I'll call you later, I promise."
Aaron scoffed, I knew that he was hesitating but finally I heard steps moving away from the bathroom door and then the front door opened and closed.
He left. He actually left. At last. I didn't realize that I had held my breath while he walked away so I exhaled and inhaled again slowly while keeping on crying silently.
That was too much for me to handle. I didn't want to argue with Aaron however I didn't want him to see that his girlfriend apparently was a fish either. That was why I freaked out completely, kicking him out of my home.
I didn't move for a few seconds and thought about the most intelligent thing to do next which obviously was to find out what the heck was going on with me. I let my hands move over the scales from my tail and realized that my bra had changed too, into something that kind of had the appearance of a scaly bikini top in the same bronze colour as the tail.
I mumbled to myself, "I have scales. And a tail. Which is usually something that normal humans shouldn't have. So what if I'm not normal anymore? What if I'm … supernatural?"
My hand almost gave my face a facepalm on its own. There probably was a logical explanation for this. Just like there would be a completely logical explanation for the magic bubbles in the moon pool on Mako yesterday and … oh my god! Mako!
It suddenly seemed so obvious! Whatever happened in that cave on Mako must have turned me into a fish! And now the only question left was: How was I supposed to turn back into a human?!
/ / / / /
At the same time, in that little cave that was filled with magic light just a few hours before, there were two girls in scaly bronze-coloured tails lying in the turquoise pool of water. One of them was rather tall with blonde pixie cut hair, the other one was shorter and wore her long, black hair in a high ponytail. She fixated the blonde one with her brown eyes and nervously said, "This is bad, Eleanor. Really, really bad."
The blonde girl on the other hand seemed to be more relaxed. "It's not that bad."
"Of course it is!"
"It really isn't, Lucy."
"Are you kidding me?! We don't even know who that girl is and now she's sharing our secret! She didn't seem like someone who's very good at keeping secrets! She will be exposed and then all of us will be treated like lab rats!" exclaimed the black-haired girl, Lucy, and swam to the edge of the pool.
"Lucy. You're overreacting again," tried Eleanor her best to calm her down.
"I'm not!"
Suddenly Eleanor started grinning. "You definitely are. But don't you worry, child, I'm here to save the day. I know who she is."
Lucy turned around to her friend. "Well, then spit it out!"
Eleanor's grin widened. "Beg for it."
"Eleanor! This is serious!" Lucy almost screamed. She had a low resilience and didn't know what to do with the new situation. Not at all.
Her hands raised in defense, Eleanor kept on grinning. "Okay, okay, no need to shout, girl. Her name's Mia, Maya, Maria or something, she's the girlfriend of my brother's best friend Aaron and I have Biology and PE with her."
After hearing that, Lucy's head tilted in confusion. "PE? But you and I have PE together. So she and I have PE together too. How come I've never noticed her?"
Eleanor just shrugged, "I guess because she's mostly very quiet. Doesn't talk a lot and keeps to herself. She's kind of weird, in an adorable way," which led to Lucy shaking her head. "She is so not adorable."
"You're just saying that because you're overwhelmed by the fact that there's going to be a new mermaid and we need to befriend her," Eleanor answered.
"We need to WHAT?!"
"Think about it. The easiest way to keep her from telling everybody is to make sure that she already has someone to talk to, aka us. Plus, the closer we are to her, the better we can prevent any water-involving accidents," the blonde girl explained, and she could see how even the last piece of happiness was about to leave Lucy's face. "I don't like it. This makes everything so much more complicated."
Eleanor put her hand on Lucy's arm to comfort her bit before she said, "I'm right and you know it."
A little sigh left Lucy's mouth. "Yep, unfortunately you are. But what if she doesn't want to be friends with us? I mean, it would be so sudden, she'll realize that we only approach her because we have to."
"Then we need to use our best acting skills. And who knows, maybe she's actually really nice. After all she's Aaron's girlfriend and to be honest, he could date any girl he wants, so if he chose her that must mean at least something," Eleanor thought out loud, started grinning again and Lucy watched her in disbelief. "Man, how are you so chill about this?"
After that, Eleanor had to laugh, "Because she has no choice. Sooner or later she has to accept and talk to us, if she wants to or not. She'll quickly see that in the end we are the only ones who can and will help her."
"You sometimes can be very manipulative, you know that?" Lucy asked but had to grin too.
"I know, and I love it. Now come on, let's get going and see if we can get her address from my brother. Unless she's an extremely dirty person, she must have already touched water somehow and changed into her new mermaid-form," the blonde one suggested, waited for Lucy's agreement and then both of them dove under swimming out of the magic cave and away from the little volcano island that once again turned someone's whole life upside down.
