Thankfully, by the next morning the rain had cleared up and a bright blue sky met Marcus when he woke up. However he was anything but bright eyed and bushy tailed. He had spent most of the night browsing the internet, reading up on anything and everything he could find on mermaid lore. Most of what he found he thought was rather unlikely, like the idea that a mermaid's kiss could prevent a person from drowning. The first light of dawn had peeked through his bedroom window when he had finally managed to turn away from his task and get some sleep. He had only just fallen asleep when his alarm clock began to insist that he get up and go to school.
Somehow, he managed to rouse himself and get himself dressed before zombie marching his way to school. To his surprise, he managed to make it past Zach's house without being accompanied. He had just turned the corner on the street that led to school when he felt something sandy get blown into his face. He staggered and rubbed at his eyes, suddenly exhausted. He felt his body succumbing to sleep and soon after his eyes rolled back into his head and he blacked out. He didn't know how much time had passed before he woke up again, but when he did he found himself being dragged by an invisible forces. His hands felt tight, as though someone or something was using them to drag his body. He gave a sudden violent twist and felt the pressure release on his hands. He scanned the area in front of him, his eyes narrowing when he saw no one. He thought back to the lore he had studied the night before and a specific memory stuck out in his mind; mermaids could cloak their presence according to early sailors.
"You might as well show yourself." Marcus said, feeling rather foolish at speaking to apparent air. "I know you are there."
"How?" An all too familiar annoying voice asked.
"Ondina." Marcus recognized. "Why am I not surprised? To answer your question, I spent all last night reading everything I could on mermaids."
"So that's why you look like a zombie." Evie's voice came from the space off to Marcus's right.
"Evie?" Marcus asked, genuinely surprised. He didn't think Evie was the type to do something this extreme. He had suspected that she was a mermaid after he had mentally reviewed their first encounter, but this confirmed it. "You are in on this too?"
"Sorry about this, but when you didn't show up last night we all got worried." She told him. "We thought that you might have broken your promise and told someone."
"It's fine." Marcus waved away the apology. "But, come on, putting some sort of magic spell on me and dragging me away? You two are invisible. How would that have looked if someone looked outside and saw me being dragged along by my arms with no one pulling me. They would set an exorcist on me."
"We didn't think that far ahead." Evie admitted. "We could have cloaked you too, if it came to that."
"You know, after being kidnapped and basically roofied it does not make me feel any better." Marcus told her. "You could have just asked me. I didn't come over last night because I got preoccupied with research."
"Researching mermaids?" Ondina demanded. "Why would you do that?"
"As much as I am enjoying looking like I am arguing with my imaginary friends, why don't we have a little change of scenery?" Marcus suggested brightly. "Where were you planning on dragging me? Your secret lair?"
"Well… Kind of." Evie told him. "It's more of Rita's secret lair."
"Well let's go then." Marcus said. "I'm guessing that we aren't going to school today, are we?"
"You can go later if you want," Evie told him.
"I don't think anyone wants to go to school." Marcus pointed out. He heard the sound of footsteps walking away from me and sighed. "Still invisible. The whole walking away silently away thing loses its luster when I can't see you."
"That's not our problem." Ondina said dismissively.
Marcus's face morphed into a glare as he kicked at a stone in the road. "You are making me really consider investing in a water gun." He told Ondina. "And the more you talk the better it sounds."
"You wouldn't dare." She said dismissively.
"Clearly you don't know me very well. My judgement about decisions like this is brash at best and clouded at worst." Marcus said. "To put it in better terms; Try me."
"You two are getting along very well." Evie said brightly.
"If this is well for her, I really don't want to see what it is when she doesn't get along with someone." Marcus stifled a yawn and gave his head a shake. "I feel bad if you ever have a boyfriend."
He expected a snide response from Ondina, but none were forthcoming. Smiling triumphantly he hummed quietly to himself all the way to Rita's house, reveling in his victory over the pushy mermaid. To his annoyance, neither Evie nor Ondina dropped their invisibility once they were inside. Marcus stepped through the front door and turned around to close it, expecting to see two girls standing in front of him when he turned back around. Unfortunately, it appeared as though they had other plans. "Still invisible." He called. "Not sure where to go from here."
A very fluffy white cat jumped up on the counter in front of Marcus, startling him slightly. He stared at the cat for a long moment, and the feline stared back at him. "Alright cat," He said, scratching its soft white head. "They have fish tails. You should have cat ESP on them. Search!"
The cat either did not care for Marcus's request enough to actually give a decent response, or its loyalties to the fish tail humans trumped the request of the young newcomer. It leapt off the counter and padded out of the kitchen, its tail held aloft and twitching slightly. "The cat's on their side." Marcus observed. "Good to know."
"Oh, hello Poseidon!" Marcus heard Mimi's exclamation from the next room and immediately went to investigate. He immediately wished he hadn't. Poseidon was held in the arms of Mimi, obviously enjoying the attention from the brunette woman. Marcus saw the cat first, but then the rest of the picture became obvious. Mimi was garbed in nothing but a towel, having clearly just stepped out of the bath. Marcus stood, stunned, and for a long moment before Mimi's bloodcurdling scream broke him out of his stupor.
"What are you doing here?" She shrieked, her surprise sending the poor cat several feet into the air. Poseidon yowled in protest as he twisted in the air before landing on all four feet. He shot out of the room, clearly annoyed at his rough treatment.
"I-I, uh, Evie… Ondina… they-." Marcus stuttered for an answer, looking away from the woman through sheer respect.
"Get OUT!" She screamed, opening the bathroom door and stepping through.
A rather odd thought struck Marcus and his mouth was asking the question before it consulted with his brain over the wisdom of said question. "Wait, I thought water made you change. How do you shower?"
"OUT!" Mimi roared again, slamming the door.
Marcus followed her advice, darting out of the room and resuming his place in the kitchen. He tapped his foot rapidly, his face a ghostly white as he awaited any further instruction from anyone. Poseidon returned to the counter Marcus had first met him on and looked at Marcus expectantly. Marcus glared at the evil feline, certain that the cat had set him up. "You little bastard," He muttered, shaking a finger at Poseidon. "I told you to find me a mermaid, but you just had to be an asshole about it didn't you? You do realize that this means war, right cat?"
"Are you arguing with Poseidon?" Zach asked, skidding into the room and taking stock of the situation. "I heard a scream. What happened?"
"The cat started it." Marcus insisted, glaring daggers at the white beast. "I asked it to lead me to you guys because Evie and Ondina just left me here when we got here. It led me to Mimi instead and she, uh, she wasn't decent per se."
"Wait, what?" A look like a thunderstorm passed across Zach's face and for a moment Marcus found himself actually worried. "What did you do?"
"I did nothing." Marcus insisted again, pointing at the cat. "It's the cat's fault. Really."
"What's going on up here?" Rita asked, striding out of the same room that Zach came from and crossing her arms. "Where did that scream come from?"
"Marcus walked in on Mimi." Zach fumed.
Rita's mouth dropped open and she looked at Marcus disbelievingly. "I did not!" He raised his hands defensively. "I followed Poseidon because I thought he might know where you guys were because Evie and Ondina left me alone when I got here. Mimi had just gotten out of the shower and she was wearing a towel and she was petting Poseidon and I didn't know and I am really really sorry." Marcus paused for breath after the last statement.
"Yes…. Well," Rita said, clearly still unclear about the situation. "Marcus, follow me. And please, don't get lost. I would prefer no more… mishaps."
"It wasn't me," He muttered under his breath, "That stupid cat set me up."
Rita led both Marcus and Zach to a bookcase and reached forward to pull one book from the shelf. A clicking sound emanated from a mechanism hidden somewhere in the bookshelf and suddenly a large panel swung open revealing a set of stairs. "Whoa." Marcus whistled softly. "A secret entrance. Thought they only had these in movies."
"Come along," Rita said, sweeping confidently down the stairs.
"And no tricks." Hissed Mimi in Marcus's ear, nearly making him jump out of his skin. He took a rapid step forward and nearly pushed Zach down the stairs, catching the dark haired man at the last moment. "Sorry about that." He apologized quickly, righting himself as well. He deliberately did not turn around to face Mimi, not quite ready for that particular confrontation. He had enough to deal with as it was.
The stairway wound its way down several stories into a small grotto of sorts, complete with a small pool Marcus was certain connected to the sea. "Cool," He breathed, looking around at the treasures and other oddities that filled the cavern.
"Well Marcus," Rita said, turning to face him and crossing her arms. The rest of the mermaids and Zach stood behind her, watching the newcomer with wary eyes. He heard the secret entrance close behind them and felt slightly trapped. "You said you have questions."
Author's note: Thank you all for your continued support. It means the world over. Truly it does. If there is anything at all you don't like in any of my chapters, please, do tell me. I take both positive and negative criticism in equal amount. Thank you in particular to MermaidOdair and Izi Wilson for their continued reviews. You two are awesome.