Maria looks right in Charlie's eye. They stare at each other. Charlie goes under, Maria and Ariel follow. They continue to stare at each other, Charlie seeing her clearly. This humanfish definitely looks perfectly human from the bellybutton up. She appears near adolescence, has large brown eyes, and her dark-brown hair half the length of Neri's. Her bottom half is a perfect fishtail, fines and all, shiny gold scales as if she's been kissed by the sun. Before they know it, they are swimming circles around each other, Ariel getting a little jealousy and swimming between them. The three of them soon realize they can play together, Maria even practices doing backflip over Charlie, something that Neri's never done. Ariel practices leaping and spinning over Charlie as well, and it doesn't take Maria long to figure out that she can hold onto the front fin as he pulls her along, just like with Neri.
Charlie takes his time before he tries connecting with Maria again. After a couple failed attempts, Charlie connects, and as before, she gets an extreme headache, suddenly reminding her as to way she was seeking Charlie out in the first place. Ariel swims around Maria as she clinches her head, concerned. Charlie, hearing her screams and seeing that she's hurting, quits. Maria swims to the surface, breathing heavy, head still pounding. Charlie decides to give her some space as Ariel surfaces, asking her partner if she's ok. With her head still pounding, Maria decides to try it again. Seeing Charlie surface, she waves to him and makes a hand signal. Charlie realizes what she's asking, and calls to her again.
Throughout the day, Charlie occasionally makes contact, everytime, however, Maria's head hurts, although less intensely .
"What's going here Ariel? Way does my head hurt so much?"
Ariel guess that Maria's trying too hard, and encourages her to breathe and relax instead of bracing herself so much and fighting the pain. Maria tries, although relaxing and letting go of her anxiety is difficult for her. While confused, Charlie can feel that she's tensed and frustrated. Much of what Charlie's hearing is either screaming or a scrambled song, not even a dolphin song, but more like he's own type of song. He knows it, he can hear her, and she can hear him, however, she doesn't seem to understand him. The song coming from her is choppy and scrambled. The connection is there. Charlie's sure with time the words will become clear, he just needs to be patient.
After several hours, Ariel informs Maria that they are near that island again. Maria's apprehensive at first about returning there, although she knows now that it was Charlie causing her headaches. After another half hour or so, she surfaces again and stares at the island. Something magnet seems to be pulling her towards it. She feels a nudge from Ariel, telling her to go find out for herself. Charlie appears next to her and nods, as if telling her to go. Ariel feels safe around Charlie and promises not to get to close to the shore line. Maria finally decides to go.
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Neri looks out as the helicopter passes by her island. It's a shame they can't stop and let her off right now, however, she needs to get her regular dress and give her family a proper goodbye. Her civilian clothes will be laundried and put away for the next shore trip, which may be soon as Diane's family invited them to Brisbane for a weekend soon, although only the boys and Neri plan to go. The boys will deliver her gifts to the island so they won't get wet.
After passing her island, she sees Charlie break the surface. She's so excited and eager, but doesn't contact him yet. She wouldn't be able to hear him in this helicopter, plus he'd just become confused and too impatient if she called him too soon. As they pass Neri sees something of a very light color also jump out of the water, leaping over Charlie.
"Did you see that?"
"See what?" asks Jason.
"Look."
They all look back where Charlie breaks the surface. Again, just barely still in view, something of a blush or cream color leaps out of the water again next to Charlie. It appears to be a dolphin leap. Neri wonders if it's one of those pinkish dolphins that usually don't wonder into Charlie's territory. Was that one or a pair of them? They usually get on Charlie's nerves with their over cheekiness. Neri tells of the time when three of them got stranded on her island. Fortunately, her and her father got them back into the water. On more than one occasion, she and Charlie had to save some from predators. Has Charlie made a new friend or two? He had to do something with himself while she was gone. She'll be finding out soon enough.
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A barefooted Maria inspects the footprints again. Aside from her own from her previous visit, it seems no new additional prints have been made. She once again explores the campsite and the nest. Somebody's definitely been staying here recently, within the last month. She finds what appears to be a couple holes in a tree, covered by large leaves. Inside these cubbies, she finds some interesting and completely unexpected items. There are what appears to be two old and well-worn garments, in the form of some sort of dresses. The fabric Maria can't identify. Other items in the cubbies are mostly stuff from the sea, such as seashells, rocks, coral, clams, and sand dollars. Other items, very interesting. A ballerina music box? Very odd indeed. There's also a few children's books about animals, various people of different groups and cultures, as well as postcards of locations in Sydney and Port Douglas. The most interesting thing, however, a small photo album containing only a few pictures.
The first picture she sees is of a woman and two boys in ORCA uniforms. Has she seen them before? She's not sure. She doesn't recall seeing them on ORCA, them again, she rarely pays attention to any of the males (except Winston now) aside from avoiding them, especially over the age of ten. The lady looks familiar, is this lady whom they briefly met when they arrived on the pontoon? Maria thinks of a couple other pictures she's seen on ORCA, one an administrative staff photo, the other with Winston. Is this the same lady, Dr. Diane Bates and her boys? What's a picture of them doing on this island? Is she the mermaid? What about the boys? How do they all fit into this?
Maria flips the page and there's another picture. It's of the same boys, a little older than in the previous picture. However, there's a different lady in this one, a teenage girl of high school age, dressed in an employee's uniform. Who's this girl? Wait a second, Maria studies the picture intensely. This girl also seems familiar. Maria thinks back to that day. Yes, a teenage girl also greeted them. Yes, the two of them had made eye contact. Yes, there was some strange vibes coming from her. Is this the same girl? Winston did mention that he and Dr. Bates sometimes had a part-time lab assistant. What was her name? She keeps staring at the girl, wondering.
Maria then hears a helicopter coming. Despite being under the trees, she drops the album and dives for the bushes. She waits until the helicopter passes. She gets a brief glimpse of it and realizes it's an ORCA copter. After the interruption, she was going to pick the album back up, however, something else suddenly gasp her attention. It's a sixth sense magnetic draw. Without even trying to resist, she follows.
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Back on ORCA, the Bates have returned to their cabin, sharing hugs with Winston and Cass. After talking a little about their trip, the two fill them in with what's been happening on ORCA, Cass even mentioning that Winston's been getting "friendly" with the new scientist on board. The boys in particular laugh and Brett makes fun of Winston. Cass also mentions that a few strange things have been happening since they left.
"What kind of weird things?" ask Jason.
"Well," replies Cass; "Just things like water floating in mid-air out of the cooler, Herold's glue freezing to his hand, a cold soft drink turning boiling hot in a split second; things like that. Oh, and a pink dolphin hanging around ORCA."
"A pink dolphin?" ask Neri; "There was one playing with Charlie."
"She's an Aussie Humpback dolphin;" adds Winston; "Dr. Hernandez tagged her a week ago. She's been hanging out here ever sense. Seems really attacted to Maria."
"Who's Maria?" ask Brett.
"Oh, Dr. H's daughter;" answers Cass; "I knew them back in FL. I know Dr. H pretty well, but her daughter's, well, eccentric would be the word I think. Extremely shy and withdrawn too. But she's finally starting to open up to me a little, although finding her at times is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, or catching her is like trying to nail a speedy mouse."
As much as they want to stay and chat, Winston urges Cass that they need to let their friends get resettled and will meet up with them later. Brett inparticular wants to hear about Cass's sort of friend. Neri would love too as well, she sounds very interesting, but she hears Charlie calling to her as he sensed her presence.
Changing into her ORCA uniform, Neri stares at her clothes. Diane joins her; "You'll get to wear them again darling." Neri nods, "I know. It's just, I enjoyed all of it. I feel, normal in them."
"I know what you mean." They warmly embrace. Neri has always felt like part of the family, but these last two weeks really made her feel like one of them. Now, it's time to return to the sea and to Charlie.
Jason escorts Neri to the diving deck. She exchanges her uniform for her normal dress. Putting it on seems surreal, even a little bit strange. The duo look at the water opening.
Jason sieges; "Well Neri, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yes. It was so lovely Jason."
"I'll admit, it'll be strange not having you with us tonight. And not seeing you first thing in the morning."
"I'll miss it too, but they'll be others."
Jason nods; "You're right. Spend the night here again soon."
"I will. Charlie calls." Neri gives Jason a little kiss and tells him she loves him, Jason quickly replies, awkwardly. Taking Neri's hand, they slowly let go as she dives into the water. Taking one last look at each other, they wave goodbye and Neri disappears into the water.
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Maria continues to follow the magnetic pull. After avoiding some quick sand and crocodiles, she finds what appears to be a large rock in the middle of a pond. This rock is the size of a two-story house. The feeling Maria's having is similar to what she feels when she finds a moon pool or something merfolk related. Could it be? Unfortunately, there's a large saltwater crocodile in front of the rock, looking intently at her. From what she can tell, this croc appears to be 16 or 17 foot long, maybe larger. There's at least two other smaller crocs in the pond as well, most likely an apex male and his females. When the big one growls and submerges, she quickly runs away. In water, she can easily out-swim crocodiles; on land next to the water's edge, however, she's a goner if that big male attacks. Even though salt water crocs don't eat much during winter, they'll still aggressively defend their territory.
After running some distance, she just manages to catch herself from falling down a hole. A closer look shows that the hole has a rope going down it, and the edges are made of metal? What could this be? A bunker? There's only one way to find out. She slowly makes her way down the rope. It's somewhat dark down here, but Maria's got "night vision." It seems huge! Maria lets go of the rope and places her feet on the floor. The second she does, however, it feels like a small puddle of the floor, and her bare feet are now wet.
"Darn it!"
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Neri swims gleefully. It feels wonderful to be swimming freely again without a snorkel! She meets up with Charlie (Ariel having gone off for a meal), and they both start talking at once overlapping each other. They are over ecstatic to be reunited. They stop, then say in unison; "You go first." They both laugh. Finally they relent and Neri goes first. Charlie listens with intent, although he doesn't know many of the things she's talking about, he's so happy she had such a good time. While she has so much more to tell him in detail, Neri catches herself and allows Charlie a turn, as he seems so excited about something has well.
Charlie first tells her about saving little Neri from Orcas, then the pink dolphin, which Neri asked about. He also confesses to colliding with Henry.
Neri shakes her head; "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. You know better than that. Why did you go over there?"
Charlie, who's been deliberating holding off the juicy part, now starts to tell the story.
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Maria climbs back out of the hole, breathing heavily. Climbing with a tail of pure muscle, weighing twice as much as her whole human body, isn't easy. Before she finishes dragging herself out of the hole, she's dried off just enough for her tail to change back into legs. She'll have to bring water resented shoes and probably a rain coat if she wants to explore this bunker. It's too wet down there. Before she climbed back up, she took a moment to look around. It was huge. It also didn't look like what she'd expect a bunker to look like, although it was probably only the entrance way. She'll have to wait another day, her Mom will want to explore it too.
Maria wonders why there'd be a bunker on this island. Did the mermaid use it? Maybe for bad weather? Maybe this island was used during a previous war, but as the guide book said, none of these islands in this sector have ever been inhabited, yet war history is often kept secret. She's never heard of any mermaid pods using underground land shelters, they usually just away from the storm. If it's a huge storm, they'll stay under water or caves till the storms pass.
She probably needs to get back to the ocean soon. However, she spots a small fresh water river. Needing a drink and a wet down, she decides to swim in the fresh water, a treat for her.
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Neri's stunned shocked. Did she hear Charlie right? He just told her that he's meet a humanfish and the dolphin's her friend. Neri's confused by the word at first, Charlie's description, however, sounds like that of a young mermaid. She ask Charlie to please repeat, and he tells her that the creature looks perfectly human on top, and that he had just formally meet her a few shorts hours ago.
Neri's can't believe it! Can it really be? A mermaid? Here? Charlie assures Neri that she just appeared while she was away, and that whale word is there haven't been any seen anywhere near hear in several decades, long before Neri's people arrived. Before Neri can really wrap her head around it, Charlie adds that the humanfish accompanies a lady in a boat, she speaks to dolphins, she's mostly been in Henry's territory up till now, and that she grows human legs on land! "Please repeat that Charlie." He does, and informs Neri that she's currently on her island!
Neri's ecstatic! She immediately races towards her home, her head still spinning with what she's just been told. After learning about these mythical creatures in Sydney, she comes to discover that one's actually arrived here!
MERMAIDS ARE REAL!
Maria's enjoying the fresh water river, watching some fresh water fish she's never seen before. Suddenly, she hears Charlie and her head throbs once again. "Charlie? What is it?" She swims up river, knowing that it will get her close to the 'safe' beach.
Neri arrives home. She's too excited to stop and take in the sweet island sea breeze. She immediately catches sights of footprints that don't belong to her, they are too small. Are they the mermaid's? Neri follows them into the jungle, headed towards her campsite. As she heads that way, it suddenly hits Neri; this mermaid grows legs on land? What does that mean? She thinks over the movie and the tails from the book. Ariel got legs first from drinking the potion that lasted three days, then permanently from her father's magic stick. There were a couple of legends from the book of them gaining legs to search for human love, some missing the sea so much they returned. Could they really change from tail to legs and back again at will? What's she doing on Neri's island? Curiosity?
Charlie also said that she talks with dolphins, and the pink dolphin seems to be her companion. He also said they've connect. Can she talk to Charlie the same way Neri dose?
Neri arrives at her camp, the same smaller footprints all over the sight. Some things have touched and moved. Neri finds her picture book in the sand. The mermaid's found her personal stuff! Good or bad? She sure hopes not bad, though Charlie seems to trust her. She then remembers that Charlie said that the pink dolphin's been hanging around ORCA, and that the mermaid was usually accompanied by a human lady in a boat. Does she go to ORCA too?
Maria drags herself out of the river through the bushes, and hears the waves. As much as she really doesn't want too dry off just to get wet again a few seconds later, a slow drag up the hill and through the sand is such a, drag. She does so, regains her legs for just a few seconds, runs into the sea, and transforms again. One of the not so pleasant things about being magic, drives her crazy sometimes.
Neri follows the footprints, noticing where they're heading. She hopes that the mermaid hasn't gone to the Bad Lands. Charlie then calls, informing her that the mermaid has returned to the sea.
Maria spots Charlie and Ariel, smiling at them. Ariel tells her that she's been hearing those "vibrations" that come from her mother's boat for the past hour. Maria gasp. She didn't realize how late it was getting, she usually doesn't. She looks Charlie in the eye and waves goodbye.
NO! Thinks Charlie; Not yet.
As Neri runs back to the sea, she sees the mermaid through Charlie's eyes! There she is! She's real! Neri can see the golden scaled tail and the perfectly young human upper body. She does look like a normal human girl! She's not scary looking at all! She's cute and beautiful, especially those big brown eyes.
She also sees the dolphin next to the mermaid. Then she looks like she's waving goodbye to Charlie and starts swimming away. What? WAIT! Charlie's call confirms her suspicions. Neri picks up the paces and enters the water.
Maria and Ariel follow the vibration sounds of her mother's device and finally catch up to the boat.
"Maria, where have you been?" says Barbara; "I've been looking and signaling you for over an hour."
"Sorry Mama, I was on this strange island."
Barbara tilts her head; "I thought you were looking for Charlie."
"I did. I found him!"
"Well, come on board and tell me about it."
"But I can't be seen returning to ORCA with you today;" reminds Maria; "Isn't that right?"
"Well, yes…."
"That means I can swim all the way back to ORCA!"
"Ah," Barbara relents; "Yes, I suppose so."
"Great! I'll race you!"
"Maria!" Maria and Ariel dive and swim away. Barbara sieges and gets the boat going.
"Honestly. How am I going to keep tabs on her when she's a teenager?"
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Back on ORCA, the Bates are having an early dinner in the galley with Winston and Cass. They swap stories back and forth, the Bates looking at each other perplexed as Cass describes Maria.
"Really, she actually does that?" ask Jason in response to Maria's odd taste and eating style.
"So she's a vegetarian?" ask Brett.
"More like a pescetarian it sounds like;" replies Diane; "She eats fish, but no other meat."
"Land meat as she calls it;" adds Cass.
"Actually;" adds Winston; "I'd call her an ovo-pescetarian. She eats eggs, but not many dairy products. I believe she drinks coconut milk however."
"That's not dairy Winston;" says Cass.
The Bates laugh. "Where's her Dad?" Brett suddenly asks.
Winston and Cass get puzzled looks on their faces, look at each other, and shrug their shoulders. "I do not know;" answers Winston; "Barbara hasn't mentioned him, and I don't dared to ask. She is reluctant to talk about things too personal, and I do not press her for details."
Cass had asked Maria about her dad and she looked shocked. She then looked at the floor, cringed her fists, and looked back up at Cass shaking her head no. Cass apologized and told her to forget it, and Maria had replied with "Thank You."
"Maria won't talk about him either;" adds Cass; "she hardly talks, but hardly is better than not talking to me at all."
Diane sighs. Poor ladies, it sounds something really bad must have happened to them in the past.
"What about these weird things happening onboard?" asks Jason. The Bates keep looking at each other as Cass describes them, far weirder then anything Neri dose. She also talks about the dolphin, assuring them that it's an Aussie and not an Indo. It's been hanging around ORCA for about a week and a half and seems intently attached to Maria, following their boat every time they leave and returning with them, waiting for the next time Maria comes back out.
Diane's not too surprised; some dolphins do develop close bonds with humans and stay close to them, although this one seems to have formed rather quickly, and seems more intense them other bonds. Winston adds that Ariel's been providing tons of information on her rare known species, including hypnosis that she may be special amongst her bred. It's also curious that she swims alone.
"I think she's chosen Maria to be her partner;" says Winston with a little chuckle.
Cass thinks about Maria. They've talked little since last Sunday, meeting up only a couple of times. Cass has been wondering if Maria and Dr. H are somehow connected to these incidents. Maria definitely acts like she's got more to hide them just abuse. She's even wondered if they're anything like Neri, considering the amount of time they spend on the water as well as on the pontoon, plus the way Dr. H prefers to work alone aside from her daughter, and those amazing video images they take. Maria also seems to be thirsty often, and seems to disappear from ORCA often even when her mother's onboard, although Herold often dose too.
Speaking of Herold, he's largely been avoiding both her Cass and Maria this past week and hasn't bothered either of them, which is very unusual for him. He does, however, gives Maria weird looks from time to time, she just turns her head or looks down. Then yesterday, Herold finally approached them and asked Maria why she's been invading his dreams so much, and he has suddenly become so weary about anything cold.
Going back to her theory, despite Cass's suspicions, Maria's declined three times to go for a swim or dive with her. Despite hearing that she loves water, Cass has never seen Maria anywhere near water. Now that she thinks about it, Maria seemed to avoid getting wet in the past. Something doesn't seem to be adding up. Until Cass is more certain, she keeps her suspicions to herself.
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Maria sticks her head above the water of the diving hole and nearly freaks out to see somebody sitting there looking at her.
"Well hello Magali Marie;" Barbara says in a sarcastic tone.
"Oh, hey Mama."
"You're late."
"Sorry;" Maria replies sheepishly. Ariel pops her head up as well.
"Ariel;" says Maria in dolphin; "You need to quite diving this deep."
"So you don't do what I say, and she doesn't do what you say;" chuckles Barbara; "What goes around comes around as they always say. Wished I listened when my mother told me that."
"Grandma says you were, and still are, a lot more hard-headed then me."
Barbara nearly chucks up; "Don't remind me. And I've begged her to quite sharing those stories with you. Come on out, please."
As her daughter climbs out and dries off, Barbara remembers something; "Oh, speaking of Grandma, she sent me an e-mail. Jane saw Gabby a few weeks ago and informed her of our whereabouts. Said that she may head this direction."
Maria looks at her mother; "Gabby's coming here? All this way?"
"She may head here, but can't promise that. You know how she is."
"Yea I know."
As the they go through the doors, Neri climbs aboard unnoticed.
