Somehow Marcus and Ondina found themselves back on Mako after exploring the reef near Mako for a while. Ondina had even managed to coax an eel out of its home and the creature had swum in circles around the mermaid while Marcus watched, intrigued. After that Ondina had shown him a truly beautiful collection of shells that had formed into a carpet across the sea floor. In fact everything that Ondina showed him was amazing to him. Foreign. But that unknown aspect of the sea floor made it all the more spectacular. And Ondina was no exception. On land she was snarky and somewhat unpleasant, but in the water she was something else entirely. Marcus couldn't describe the change that he saw in her, but he found that he liked this part of Ondina just as much as he liked the other part. This was a profound observation as it forced Marcus to admit to himself that he actually liked Ondina, a fact he had been deliberately avoiding for some time. Their time in the water seemed to stretch on forever and yet was over in an instant. Ondina had pointed to the island and off they had went.

"That was…. Something else." Marcus admitted quietly, gazing over the calm blue water. They had swam well into the night and now the moon and stars were illuminating the water. He smiled warmly at Ondina and gently nudged her shoulder with his own. "Thank you. You were right. That was an amazing date."

"You're welcome." Ondina smiled back at him. "I'm glad you liked it. I have to say, it was nice not arguing for once."

"I agree." Marcus chuckled. "But don't get used to it. I'm sure I will end up arguing with you soon enough."

"Maybe." Ondina shrugged. "Mimi says that she and Chris don't argue very much, and I have never seen Serena and David argue."

"That last one might be because they barely talk." Marcus said wisely. "But I see your point. Some couples never argue."

"Do you think we will?" Ondina wondered. "I know the arguing we do now-."

"Whoa, hold up." Marcus cut her off. "'We' as in 'we'?"

"As in you and I." Ondina said, now frowning slightly. Her eyes widened slightly and her cheeks went crimson. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-."

"No, no!" Marcus stammered, his cheeks now equally crimson. "I totally-."

"Just thought-." Ondina looked away embarrassedly.

"I didn't want to-." Marcus stared down at the sand, searching desperately for a way to convey his thoughts. Romance was new territory for him, as was conveying accurate thoughts on said matter. His initial statement questioning the 'we' Ondina had used had not gona over swimmingly as it had in his mind. Evidently Ondina was not much better at these types of conversations than he was.

"Ondina, listen I-." Marcus faltered and then took a deep breath. "Listen, I know I give you a hard time."

His breath whooshed out of him when Ondina grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him against the sand. She leaned over and stared down at him, tucking her hair behind her ears with one hand. Very slowly, excruciatingly so, she leaned down and pressed her lips to Marcus's. His mind went blank the instant the contact happened, but just like last time it was over just as suddenly as it began. He blinked several times and sat up, looking at her with a slight confusion. "I know I said I probably wouldn't do that again…" Ondina's voice trailed off temptingly. "But I changed my mind."

"I'm glad you did." Marcus managed. "What made you change your mind?"

"I don't know." Ondina leaned back on her hands and closed her eyes. She raised her face to the moon and seemingly was lost in the bliss. "But it was… nice."

Several meters away, two hidden audience members grinned and exchanged grins. "So they do like each other." Zach muttered under his breath to Evie.

"Of course they do." Evie said as though it should have been more obvious. "They just act like they do around us."

Marcus laid out on the sand and put his hands behind his head, yawning and closing his eyes. "I guess I'm not going to go back home tomorrow." He told Ondina. "It's too nice right now. I'm comfortable."

"Well I'm going to the Moon Pool." Ondina told him, rising from the sand and looking back down at him. "Are you sure that you will be alright here?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Marcus reassured her, not rising from the sand. "Good night."

"Good night." Ondina told him. She strode into the sea and disappeared beneath the moonlit waves.

Marcus yawned and stretched again. He opened his eyes and glanced to where he sensed magic being used. With a sudden jerk of his muscles, he extended his hands towards them and pushed off their invisibility spell. "Thought so." He told Zach and Evie. "Having fun spying?"

"How did you know?" Evie asked, clearly baffled.

"I don't know." Marcus admitted. The larger the moon was it seemed the more in tune he was with his magic. It had been that way ever since he had accidentally turned his tail silver. He had been worried about the increased magical awareness at first, but it had given him no trouble thus far so he disregarded it. "Just sort of felt it. But back to the matter at hand, why were you spying on us all night?"

"You knew all along?" Zach repeated.

Marcus rolled his eyes and pushed off the sand. He glanced up at the moon, which was three quarters of the way full, and breathed in the night air. He felt truly alive then. Powerful. "Maybe you guys aren't as sneaky as you thought?" Marcus suggested. "I mean, come on, it was pretty obvious when we had two random bubble trails following after us."

His explanation had the desired effect and both Evie and Zach visibly relaxed. "So how was your date?" Evie asked slyly.

"Since you were there for the whole thing, why don't you tell me?" Marcus asked cryptically. "I mean, you've been trying to set up Ondina and I for a little while now, right?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Evie said, reddening.

Marcus smiled confidently. Everything that had happened in the past several weeks seemed to be in much clearer detail now that he thought about it. Is this what the moon does to mermen? He found himself wondering in a distracted part of his brain. This isn't bad at all. I wish I could feel like this all the time.

"Seems to me like things went pretty well." Zach told Marcus with a grin. "Like, really well mate."

"If you consider that well, then yes." Marcus agreed. "She really is an amazing woman… mermaid… person. Whatever. You get what I mean."

"So, what now?" Evie asked. "Flowers?"

"I was thinking oysters." Marcus said. "If I remember correctly, they are Ondina's favorite. I think she would like them better than flowers. But that's getting ahead of myself. There's still no telling if she even wants to continue things beyond where we are now."

"Are you alright Marcus?" Zach asked, the corner of his mouth tugging downward. "You seem a bit off."

"Probably because I just kissed a beautiful girl." Marcus said sagely. "I mean, look at David. He can barely breathe and talk at the same time when Serena is around."

"Fair enough." Zach acknowledged, but Marcus sensed that he wasn't fully convinced.

Growing bored with this conversation, Marcus felt something calling to him deeper in the island. Like a long-lost friend. But he was more wary of the calling than actually inclined to pursue it any further. He pushed away the urge to search out whatever it was that pulled at him and yawned once more. "Look, I would be happy to chat away the night, but I'm going to sleep." Marcus put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, effectively terminating further discussion.

Somewhat baffled by their sudden dismissal, Zach and Evie hesitated briefly before walking into the water together. When he heard the splash of their tails against the surface of the water Marcus opened his eyes. He waited for what seemed like an appropriate amount of time before raising his hand and covering up his view of the moon. His whole body felt energized, almost as though the moon was a battery feeding directly to him. Slightly curious, he rolled over onto his stomach and stared at the driftwood stump he had often tied his boat too. The weathered stump was easily upwards of one hundred pounds and had not moved for as long as Marcus had been coming to the island. Without even raising his hand, he narrowed his eyes and the log floated gently into the air. Marcus extended a hand then and rotated the stump in a small circle before dropping it back onto the sound with a loud thump. He rolled onto his back again and looked at the hand he had extended. He smiled as he slowly closed it into a fist. So this is magic. He told himself as he drifted off to sleep.