Principal Santos and, to Marcus's confusion, her nieces joined him on the woman's porch only a few minutes after Zach and Evie showed him there. "Hello Marcus." Principal Santos said, striding confidently onto the porch and extending a hand. "As I'm sure you can guess I am Principal Santos."
"Sort of guessed that." He said, getting quickly to his feet and shaking her hand. He waited until she sat down opposite him before retaking his seat. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for inviting me to meet like this."
"Not at all," She said, smiling warmly. "You've only been here a few days, correct?"
"That's right." Marcus nodded.
"And what do you think of our little town?" She sat back comfortably in her chair. Her pleasant smile seemed to be a permanent fixture on her face, which was at odds with the suspicious stares that the others were giving him.
"It's very nice." Marcus said, glancing in the direction of the nieces, Evie, and Zach and frowning slightly. "Most people seem to be pretty friendly. And that island out there is pretty interesting."
"Oh, you mean Mako." Rita nodded. "Yes, Evie told me that you had already been there. I was going to recommend it myself."
"The rock climbing there is pretty spectacular." Marcus said, now trying to avoid looking at the still suspicious glares directed at him. "And the view from the top is spectacular."
"Did you by chance see a hole in the top of the rocks?" Principal Santos asked casually.
"Actually, yes." Marcus answered, surprised by the question. "It went down to this cave with a small pool in it."
"Did some exploring did you?" Rita asked pleasantly. "Oh, forgive me, you are probably thirsty. Can I get you something to drink?"
"I'm fine." Marcus politely declined with a small wave of his hand.
"I insist." Rita said, nodding to one of her nieces. "Mimi, would you mind getting some tea out of my study? The green container right below-."
"I know it!" Mimi said eagerly, disappearing into the house.
"Now, back to the question at hand, did you do any exploring in that cave?" Rita asked, steering the conversation away from the topic of tea.
"Uh, yeah." Marcus said, blinking in confusion with the suddenness of the subject changes. "I dropped a rope down and checked it out. How, exactly, did you know about that cave again?"
"I have lived here for a very long time." Rita told him. "I have explored every inch of that island. I very much doubt there is any secret cave or anything there that I am not aware of."
Accepting the explanation, Marcus relaxed in his seat. "Oh. So are there any other places to explore there?"
"Apart from a few caves beneath the water, not many at all. There are a few other caves, obviously, but they don't extend too far into the island. All in all it is not a very interesting place." Rita told him, obviously displeased with giving him such bad news. Her face brightened when Mimie returned with a tray bearing two mugs. She set the tray in front of Rita, shooting Marcus a glare as she did so, before retreating back to where the others stood. Rita reached for a cup and passed it to Marcus who took it reluctantly and stared into its liquid depths.
Marcus pursed his lips and arched an eyebrow as he examined the contents of the cup. "Something wrong?" Principal Santos asked, sipping appreciatively at her own tea.
"This is some, uh, interesting tea." Marcus said.
"What do you mean?" Rita asked, setting down her mug and leaning back in her chair.
"I don't mean any disrespect," Marcus said hurriedly as he realized that he may have unintentionally insulted the woman who would most likely be able to make his life hell for the next couple years. "I've just never heard of blue tea…"
"Do try it." Rita said encouragingly, taking another sip of her own drink as an example. "It's rather good."
"If you say so," Marcus said, raising the mug to his lips and taking a careful sip of the beverage. He immediately wished he hadn't. The 'tea' was ice cold and tasted absolutely horrendous. It made him think of what eating fish that had been left to fester in the sun for a week would be like. His eyes watered as the beverage traveled down his throat, but he managed to keep the vile concoction down. He very delicately placed the cup in front of him on the table, vowing to never again accept a single thing offered to him by the Principal. He suppressed a shudder as the coldness from the drink began to seep throughout his frame. "Thank you. It was… something." Marcus said, forcing a grateful smile.
"I'm glad you liked it." Principal Santos said. "So you start school tomorrow, correct?"
"Yup." Marcus said feeling the eyes of the others on him yet again. He sighed internally and continued his effort to ignore them to the best of his ability. "I know school started a few weeks back, but I should be able to catch up pretty quickly."
"I'm sure you will." Principal Santos agreed. "You seem to be a very intelligent young man."
"I appreciate that." Marcus smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not much of a trouble maker. You shouldn't see me around all that often. By the way, do you by any chance know any places around here that are hiring? My parents are sending me enough money for food, but I have to earn my own money for other things."
"As a matter of fact, yes, I do believe I know a place that is hiring." Principal Santos said after a moment. "Sirena, is David still looking for someone to fill that waiter position?"
Marcus turned to see one of the blonde nieces frowning. The other silent audience members were frowning as well, but they were frowning at Marcus whereas the blonde girl that Marcus assumed was Sirena was frowning at Rita. "Yes." She said after a moment. "I think so."
"Would you mind introducing the two of them?" Principal Santos asked happily. "I believe that we may have solved David's lack of employee issue."
Marcus turned back to the principal just in time to see her hide a look that he couldn't place. But just as fast as the look disappeared, the normal warm smile reappeared and she stood up from the table. "Well, I am sorry that we could not speak longer but I have matters that I must attend to." She walked around the table just as Marcus stood up and placed her hand on his back. "Please, let me show you out."
"It's fine, thank you for speaking with me." Marcus began to turn away from the table and in that motion he saw the depths of Rita's cup. The blue tea was untouched in the least. His brow furrowed in confusion as he recalled the principal drinking from her cup at length. True to her word, Rita walked him to her gate and bid him farewell before turning back and disappearing back inside her house. Her nieces, Evie, and Zach quickly followed her inside leaving Marcus alone outside with the rapidly dropping sun.
He began to walk down the street, reaching for his cell phone in his pocket to check the time. His fingers came across nothing but the fabric of his pocket and he groaned as he remembered that he had left his bag on Rita's porch. "Well, they won't mind if I run back and grab it." He muttered to himself, turning back around and jogging back to the Principal's house.
He slipped quietly past the gate and made his way onto the porch, sighing in relief when he saw his slightly dry bag sitting right where he had left it. He swung it onto his shoulders and began to walk back to the gate when he caught the unmistakable sounds of arguing coming from within the house.
He stopped immediately and berated himself just as fast. "Come on Marcus," He muttered to himself. "Just leave. It's not your business."
But he nonetheless stayed where he stood, his ears straining to catch any more of the conversation. Sure enough, a few moments later the raised voices continued.
"I know, Ondina, I know." Principal Santos was saying, clearly agitated. "I don't like the fact that he found the Moon Pool either, but if we made a big deal out of it then he would almost certainly go back!"
"Moon Pool?" Marcus repeated under his breath. "What's a Moon Pool?" His thoughts quickly flashed back to the pool at the bottom of the cave and his frown grew more pronounced just as the voices continued.
"Who knows what he is going to do now!" A girl, who Marcus assumed was Ondina, was saying. "He can go there any time now!"
"I doubt he will." Rita said, clearly trying to calm her down. "He didn't seem impressed by the Moon Pool chamber at all. If anything he is going to start looking through the other parts of the island. But you are right, we should keep an eye on him for the time being. Just in case he came into contact with water from the Moon Pool."
"Do you think he did?" Mimi asked. "He drank the tea after all."
"And he nearly choked on it." Rita said gravely. "He may have truly not liked it, or his body might have rejected the poison."
Poison? Marcus mouthed incredulously to himself. What is up with these people?
"I can ask Cam to buddy up to him tomorrow." Zach offered. "It shouldn't be a problem. Cam gets along with pretty much anyone. With him being a new kid and all, it should be pretty easy to make friends with him."
"That would be very helpful." Rita said, clearly thankful for the idea. "Even if he isn't interested in the chamber, we should definitely try to keep him busy with other things just in case."
"That's why you wanted me to ask David to get him a job." Sirena said, comprehension dawning in her voice. "I see now."
"Exactly. Well, all of you should get back to your homes." Rita told them, her words accompanied by the sound of someone clapping their hands. "Evie, Zach, the two of you have school tomorrow and girls I am sure that the mermaid council has some manner of lessons planned for you."
"Mermaid council?" Marcus breathed, confused. "What in the world…?" But any further eavesdropping he might have done was cut short by the sound of people stirring within the house.
Cursing softly, Marcus crept around the side of the house and out of the driveway. Once he got onto the road he began to sprint, and continued to run until he rounded the corner. He paused there, and peeked back around the trees. Curiously however, though they had been dismissed none of them used the gate to leave the house. After a few minutes Marcus stopped spying and turned back around, his mind buzzing with everything he had just overheard. "What in the hell is going on here?" He demanded, but no one save the trees and the wind heard his request.