Marcus's alarm was going off again, however this time he had a sneaking suspicion that his alarm would take exception to him hitting the snooze button. "Marcus, come on man wake up!" Cam was saying, giving his shoulders a gentle shake.
"No." Marcus moaned, burying his head deeper into the depths of his sweat shirt. "Five more minutes."
"School ended five minutes ago." Evie told him. "Come on, we're going to the café to hang out with the girls."
"What girls?" Marcus asked irritably, finally raising his head and rubbing his eyes. Even as reluctant as he was to admit it, he had to admit that he was actually rather enjoying spending some time with Zach, Evie, and Cam. With that being said however, he still had every intention of uncovering whatever it was they were hiding.
"Rita's nieces." Zach told him as Marcus got to his feet and followed them out of the door. "They want to meet you."
Marcus didn't comment on the fact that the last time they had met the nieces, along with his current companions minus Cam, had spent the majority of the time glaring daggers at his back. "Well, I need to go to the café to speak to David anyways." He said with a careless shrug. When they stepped outside Marcus gave a small shiver and looked up into the sky, frowning.
"Something wrong?" Cam asked curiously, noticing Marcus's change of attitude.
"No, not really." He answered, frowning at the sky and contemplating. "It's about to rain in about an hour."
"Rain?" Zach asked as he looked up at the sky. "What are you talking about? There isn't a cloud in sight."
Marcus didn't bother arguing. He was used to such a reaction from people when he told them such news. But as he glanced up at the sky he knew very surely that rain was on its way. "So why do they want to meet me?" Marcus asked. "They didn't seem all that friendly last time."
"Well, they aren't really all that social." Evie admitted.
"Uh huh. That much I could tell." Marcus admitted. "Oh, by the way, Evie?"
"Hm?" She asked, her wingers tightly interwoven with Zach's.
"Here." Marcus pulled the keys to her father's boat out of his pocket and tossed them to her. "Your dad let me borrow your boat yesterday. He wanted me to give the keys back to you today."
"Oh, well, thank you." She said, storing the keys in her pocket.
They stepped onto the wooden planks of the pier just as an ominous sound of thunder rolled across the sky. His three companions looked at Marcus suspiciously, awaiting an explanation. "What?" He asked defensively. "I knew it was going to rain."
"How?" Cam asked.
"Intuition mostly." Marcus said, frowning at all of them in turn. "I don't see what the big deal is honestly. You guys are acting like I made it rain."
"Yeah, that would be crazy." Cam said with a strained laugh. "Come on, let's get inside before it starts. I don't feel like getting soaked."
"Yeah, me either." Zach agreed, holding the door open for the others.
"Rain doesn't bother me." Marcus said fairly, walking into the café with a grateful nod to Zach as he passed. "But apparently it bothers other people." The café was almost empty, the only occupants being a brown haired man behind the counter speaking to a girl with long blonde hair and three girls sitting at a table. Marcus instantly recognized the three girls as Rita's nieces. Just as he saw them, the three turned to look at him. One of the blonde girls stood up and strode across the café to Marcus, a pink juice of some sort in her hand.
Marcus decided to try and be friendly and raised a hand in a friendly greeting. He had just opened his mouth to say hello when the pink juice from the girl's cup made the transition from its plastic vessel to all over Marcus's face. He blinked several times in mute shock before very slowly wiping off his face with his hands, flicking the pink juice onto the floor. His vision was slightly tinged with red, although that had nothing to do with the drink that he had just had thrown in his face. He glanced around the café and saw that everyone was watching him with very rapt attention. "Well," He said through gritted teeth as the icy liquid began to drip from his chin. "It's nice to meet you too."
"I'll, uh, I'll get you a towel." David said, reaching under the counter and tossing him one.
Marcus caught it with one hand and used it to wipe his face off, though he couldn't do anything about the juice that had gotten down the front of his shirt. "Thanks." He said as he tossed the towel back to David. "Well, it's been fun." He said, turning around and beginning to walk out of the establishment.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Zach said, grabbing his arm before he could leave. "Listen, I'm sorry about that. Ondina's sorry too, aren't you?"
"Not really." The girl said carelessly. She took her seat again and lounged in her seat, clearly much more at ease than she had been when he first walked through the door. "I am sorry I ruined my juice though."
"At least she's honest?" Cam offered. He slapped Marcus on the back reassuringly. "Don't worry, she grows on you."
"I'll take your word for it." Marcus said sourly. "Anyways, David, Principal Santos said you might be interested in giving me a job?"
"Yeah," David nodded. "You mind if I speak to you in the back for a moment?"
"Sure." Marcus said, following him into the back room without sparing so much as a glance towards the others. When David closed the door behind them he raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?" He asked curiously.
"No, not wrong." David told him, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "But I ran a background check on you. Standard policy I am trying to enforce with new people."
"I see." Marcus nodded, knowing immediately what David had seen. His parents happened to be one of the top one hundred wealthiest people in the world. Not combined, separately. "Did you tell anyone?"
"No," David shook his head. "It's not my place to tell. But I do have a question. If you have so much money, why would you bother getting a job?"
"Because I don't like people assuming that because I have money means I can get whatever I want." Marcus shrugged. "I like to earn my own."
David processed this for a minute before nodding and extending a hand. "It can get pretty crazy here." He warned him. "You'll be working every day after school as soon as you can get here."
"That's fine." Marcus said, shaking the proffered hand.
"The guy whose position you are filling had an issue with coming to work on time." David told him. "I am a fair guy, I'll give you one chance if you mess up."
Marcus immediately thought of exactly how he would use that one strike, and moreover when. He smiled at David and said, "I appreciate that. We all make mistakes, right?"
"Exactly." David nodded.
They exited the room and Marcus immediately made his way around the bar and began to pour himself a glass of water. Sipping it casually, he stepped out from around the bar and pulled up a seat at Zach's table. "Well, I am the newest employee here." Marcus said cheerfully.
"Want to tell us what David talked to you about?" Evie asked curiously.
"Not at all." Marcus said, still very cheerful. "But, he did tell me something very interesting."
"And what's that?" Zach asked.
Marcus smiled and leaned back in his chair giving the appearance that he was stretching. In truth, he was not stretching at all, he was setting up his revenge. He had taken the seat he was now at for a very important reason; He was sitting back to back with Ondina. The blonde haired woman was engrossed in conversation with her two friends and didn't seem to notice the glass of water that was directly above her head. The other two at the table however did, and their shouts of warning were an instant too late. Marcus tipped the cup over and the contents washed over Ondina's head, soaking her instantly.
"What did you just-." Ondina began, whirling in her seat and glaring at Marcus.
"Ondina!" One of the girls exclaimed, genuine fear and worry in her words.
Whatever else she was going to say was quickly forgotten as the same fear and worry flashed across her face. She bolted from her seat and made for the door, but she never made it. The remnants of her pink juice proved to be extremely slippery, quickly halting her progress and making her fall. She landed on her back and Marcus got to his feet, worried about her. "Are you…" He began, not noticing the looks that were being exchanged by the rest of the café's occupants. The reason the normally observant young man was not seeing their looks was because something that should have been impossible was on the ground before him. Ondina had fallen to the ground with two legs, but she now lay on the ground with a long beautiful green fish's tail.
Marcus couldn't find any words to speak, staring silently at Ondina. Her eyes were filled with rage whilst his were filled with fear and wonder. He glanced back to the others and saw that they were all on their feet, clearly waiting for Marcus's reaction. "Start talking." He told them. "Why are you trying to keep me away from Mako? What is the deal with the water in that pool in the cave? What is going on here?"