Chapter 3

Fenton held onto the newly printed papers as he walked to the bus stop, and he tried to start reading them, but his mind kept wandering back to what Mrs. Quackfaster had said about the mermaid legends and the curse on the McDuck Clan. Then he would think about the mermaid…or as he was beginning to think of her as his mermaid. If he were to believe in mermaids, if he were to believe the legends that the appearance of a mermaid meant that a disaster would befall Duckburg, what did that mean that he saw a mermaid? Did that mean something bad was going to happen to his city?

And was it all due to the mermaid? Or was it all coincidence? He had a hard time believe his mermaid could be the source of the disasters. She looked so innocent and…harmless. But what else could he believe based on what he learned.

But that's only if the legends were true. He still wasn't entirely convinced he hadn't just dreamed the whole thing up, a side-effect of sleep deprivation and working too hard. What he needed was to get some rest, read the journals and think through everything with a clear head.

But when he got on the bus, he did not return home. Instead he got off at an earlier stop right in front of the McDuck Lighthouse, compelled to go back to the spot where everything had happened. He went through the doors, waved to the security guard as he took the elevator down to the below-sea-level lab. He tentatively poked his head out of the elevator, looking for Dr. Gearloose. Despite his boss telling him to have the rest of the week off, Gyro had a tendency to forget things and might put Fenton back to work.

Luckily, the lab was quiet, and Fenton hoped that meant that Gyro had gone home, perhaps sleeping the whole weekend. That meant that Gyro might be half-sane by Monday.

Heading over to the glass windows that looked out over the sea, Fenton stood as close as he could, peering in all directions. With it being daytime, he could see a lot farther, the water a grayish blue with bits of green here and there. Fethry's coral reef grew from just below the window down as far as one could see into the ocean depths and splayed hundreds of feet both to the right and the left. There were several species of coral, anemones and other similar animals that made up a coral reef along with many sea plants. Dozens and dozens of fish darted here and there, most of them no bigger than Fenton's fingers.

The waters around Duckburg were semi-tropical, which meant not a lot of really colorful fish or any of the species that were popular in pet shops, but they were still fascinating. There was one week that the reef had been swarmed by lobsters, coming to warmer water from the murky depths to lay their eggs. And if one was patient enough, they could see a shark or two per week or a pod of dolphins curious enough to look into the windows.

And while the reef was teeming with life, the subject of Fenton's search was nowhere in sight. He sighed, backing away.

"Hey, Fenton!"

Fenton screamed and jumped before looking around for the source of the voice. Almost at his hip, he spotted the red cap that sat on the head of Huey Duck, one of Scrooge McDuck's great-nephews. Although Fenton hadn't met all of Scrooge McDuck's family, they all had access to the entire lighthouse, including the lab. Only Huey Duck took advantage of his access to the lab as he was interested in science projects and always coming by to ask questions or ask for help on one thing or another.

"Oh, Huey. What are you doing here?" Fenton asked, picking up the papers he had dropped in his jump-scare.

"I'm taking one of Gyro's lab rats," Huey said, holding up a small cage with a white rat inside.

"Uh…I don't think you should do that," Fenton said, not wanting to know what Gyro would think of people taking subjects of his experiment. Also, depending on which experiment, children shouldn't be taking the lab rats.

"Don't worry. I made sure to take one from the control group," Huey said, waving a hand.

"Oh, then I guess it'll be okay," Fenton said with a shrug. He was far too tired to care much more than that about a control group rat at that moment. "Are you going to make it a maze to race it through or something?"

"No, I'm studying the psychological effects of using animals for experiments and how the stress of being in a laboratory environment would be detrimental to their health and thus not the most reliable subjects," Huey said, putting his finger in the cage and stroking the rat's back. "But if my uncle asks, yes, I'm making it a maze."

"Oh…That's nice," Fenton said, not sure if he should pry more into Huey's story.

"What are you doing here?" Huey asked, looking up with unabashed curiosity.

Because Fenton was the intern, often times, Gyro would push the responsibility of catering to the owner's great-nephews to Fenton. This he didn't mind because he liked children, especially Huey. Huey was filled with curiosity and hung onto Fenton's every word. It was like having a hero-worshipping little brother, and it seemed to be one of the few positive reinforcements in Fenton's life at that moment.

But at that moment, Fenton's conscience bothered him as he prepared to lie to the young child.

"Uh…well…I forgot something at my desk," Fenton said, heading in that direction to verify his lie. "I'll just get it and go."

Huey bent down and picked up a few papers that Fenton didn't see, scanning them. "Hey, these look like entries to my family's journals. Are you interested in Duckburg history?"

Fenton quickly took the papers away before the subject of the entries could be deciphered. "Uh…a little."

"Mermaids?" Huey asked, handing over a few more papers he found on the floor. He glanced back at the windows looking over the ocean. "Fenton, are you looking for mermaids?"

"No!" Fenton shouted, frantically trying to organize the papers in a neat pile. "I mean, I was just looking at the ocean because it's so beautiful. Not looking for mermaids because they're not real."

"My cousin Fethry says they're real," Huey said as if it were nothing. "He likes to tell stories about them."

"Oh, you mean those silly fairy tales like the…ghost mermaid and…pirates?" Fenton said, trying to remember the more ridiculous tales from his childhood.

"Oh, yeah. My mom tells those kinds of stories, too," Huey said with a smile. "She particularly likes the one about the zombie mermaid, but I think she made that one up because nobody at school has heard of it."

Fenton sighed, thinking that the conversation was over.

"But I'm talking about real mermaids," Huey said. "The ones that live at the bottom of the ocean and warn people about danger."

At that, Fenton paid closer attention to Huey. "Warn people about danger? But…isn't it the opposite? Don't they cause disaster?"

Huey shook his head. "That's not what Cousin Fethry said."

"What did Fethry say about mermaids?" Fenton asked curiously.

Huey looked down. "You wouldn't believe me."

"Uh…Oh, I might," Fenton said, rubbing the back of his head.

"No, nobody believes in mermaids," Huey said. "Everyone says they're legends and make-believe. If I told you, you wouldn't believe me and think that Cousin Fethry is a looney. That's what all of the adults think which is why Cousin Fethry left."

Fenton remembered the rumors and the newspaper article about Mr. McDuck's missing nephew. He wanted Huey to open up to him, but he understood why the child would be reticent about sharing. If Fethry left because of derision, then Huey might be afraid of the same. He could say that he believes in mermaids or tell about the mermaid he saw, but would Huey think he was being made fun of?

"Huey, I'm a scientist," Fenton said, going in a different direction. "And scientists have to be open to the possibility that everything, even things that aren't likely, are real. I can't say for certain that mermaids are real because there's no evidence, but I can't say they aren't real because of the same. Trying to prove mermaids are real would be just as impossible as trying to prove they aren't real. Most scientific discoveries were, at one point, thought to be impossible. Man once thought the sun revolved around the Earth, that the Earth was flat, that man would never fly. And look how far we have come now.

"Huey, we know more about outer space than we do of our own oceans. There is so much we haven't explored and discovered in the oceans, so if there are really a race of mer-people, it's a big possibility that they've been able to go undiscovered all this time, even with our technology."

Huey smiled. "That's true. I just wished that Cousin Fethry could find the evidence so that he will come back home."

"So, your Cousin Fethry is just researching mermaids?" Fenton asked with an encouraging smile.

Huey once again frowned. "I'm not supposed to talk about it."

Fenton didn't push. Perhaps it was the McDuck dirty secret: don't talk about the strange family member that believes in mermaids. Or maybe they just locked Fethry in an institution somewhere.

"But Cousin Fethry left a lot of his research behind," Huey said, his voice turning low. "He always said he already had evidence, but he just couldn't share it with the world. At least, not yet. He kept all his notes in a bunch of journals. I like to read them, but they just make me miss him."

"You were really close to your cousin, weren't you?" Fenton said.

"Well, he's more of my mom's cousin, but he liked learning about things, which my brothers think is weird, but we had a lot in common," Huey said.

"How long ago did he disappear?" Fenton asked.

"About three years ago," Huey said.

"Do you know where he is?" Fenton asked. "I'd like to talk to him. He left a lot of equipment around the lab, and I was interested in his research on aquatic life."

"We're not allowed to talk about where he is," Huey said, looking down.

Fenton nodded. That pretty much cemented his opinion. Fethry must be in a mental institution, hidden away so he wouldn't be an embarrassment for the family.

"But he left all his journals. You could read them," Huey said, brightening up.

"That would be great," Fenton said. "Where did he leave them?"

Huey headed deeper into the lab. "Come on. I'll show you." Holding onto the cage with the rat tight, Huey led Fenton toward the area where several large tanks sat. These tanks had several working parts to allow ocean water to flow inside through the tubes and gates that could stop water and animals from coming and going. The tanks' tops also were mechanically operated so that they could have a complete seal in case the gates were open and the tanks were entirely filled with ocean water so that the ocean wouldn't overtake the lab.

At that moment, the tanks were empty and the gates of the tubes sealed. A lot of Gyro's excess equipment, as well as everything left from the aquatic observation lab were crowded around the tanks to be out of the way of Gyro's work.

"Fethry always kept his journals in a secret place. He didn't need to but he said it was always fun to pretend that your research is a secret until you can publish it," Huey said, weaving his way through the boxes and unused equipment. "It made research feel so much more exciting. I do the same thing so my brothers don't read my journal and science projects. I have a secret spot so they don't find anything."

It was only then that Fenton recalled that Huey was a triplet. Being an only child, Fenton had no idea what it was like growing up with siblings, much less siblings that were the same age as him. He wondered if Huey had his own secrets he wanted to keep from his brothers for personal reasons.

Huey managed to make his way to a supply closet in the back of the lab, setting the cage on a table before going inside. "He made sure nobody would find them in here," Huey said, moving aside a large vacuum and a box of plumbing parts that looked as if they hadn't been used in years.

Fenton didn't even know that this closet even existed, so it must have been a good hiding spot. He watched as Huey revealed a broken tile in the floor, using a pocket knife to pry it up and revealing a hole. However, when Huey reached down into the darkness, his face fell from expectation to disappointment.

"They're gone!" Huey exclaimed, squinting into the darkness before checking one more time, reaching in as far as his arm could go.

Fenton pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight, hoping that that would help, but as the light shone in the hole, it only revealed an empty, cement box and some mold.

"I don't understand," Huey said, sitting down. "Who would take them? Fethry and I were the only ones who knew about his journals."

Fenton was just as disappointed. He was hoping that there was something about mermaids in them, but he didn't know why. Besides Fethry's interest in mermaids and his research based on aquatic life, there was no indication that the journals would have anything about mermaids.

"Perhaps a janitor found them or someone else," Fenton suggested. "Maybe you should ask your uncle or your mom about them?"

Huey didn't seem too keen on the idea. "I don't think so. A janitor would have used some of these supplies or cleaned in here, but nothing looks like it's been touched in years. Besides, who would look under the tile unless they knew something was there."

Fenton chuckled. "You're like a Jr. detective."

"I just notice when things don't make sense," Huey said. "But there's nothing else I can do. They're gone, and I wouldn't know where to look for them. Sorry."

"Well, I'm sorry that you couldn't find your cousin's journals," Fenton said. "They seemed to be important to you."

"But you're the one who wanted to know about mermaids," Huey said. "Fethry wrote a lot about them."

"What did he write?" Fenton asked quickly, his heart quickening. He hadn't meant to get so excited.

Huey shrugged. "That was a long time ago. I don't remember much. I thought it was silly at the time, like a game."

"But not now?" Fenton inquired.

Huey shrugged again. "Fethry was kind of weird, but he never lied to me. I don't know." He grabbed the cage with the rat and started to leave. "I do remember one thing. He always was talking about how much mermaids loved to eat fruit."

"Fruit?" Fenton repeated.

"Yeah. Because all they eat is fish and seaweed and everything is from the ocean so it's all salty," Huey answered. "But nothing sweet grows in the ocean. So out of all the things that come from the land, they love fruit most of all. Well, bye. I'll see you later." And he ran off.

Fenton almost called the boy back, wanting to ask more questions about what Fethry had to say about mermaids, but he stayed his hand. After all, Huey was part of the McDuck family, and it seemed as if there was a lot that he shouldn't be talking about. He didn't want to get the child in trouble by asking a lot of questions.

Instead he went back to the observation area and stared out into the ocean, watching the fish dart here and there, looking for food or escaping from larger fish. The shadows beyond the reef played tricks on his mind as he strained to see something that might not be there. At times, he wondered if there was something moving just out of sight, maybe he only glimpsed at something out of the corner of his eye.

It wasn't until then that he had been hoping to see the mermaid again, that he had a longing to look at her, not only to make sure she was real, but to get to know her. Perhaps it was a part of him that wanted to be special, to be known for something other than Dr. Gearloose's apprentice, that he wanted to interact with the mermaid, to be able to show the public that there was intelligent life in the oceans.

Just as he was about to turn away, just when he had had enough of staring out at the water, he saw the flick of a tail, a splash of color that was out of place from the usual. He pressed his beak against the glass, straining to see what he thought he had seen, guessing that whatever it was might be swimming up to the shore.

Not wanting to chance a slow elevator, Fenton raced up the emergency stairs three flights, slammed into the swinging doors and turned to the rocky beach around the lighthouse. He had to grip tight the papers of the McDuck journals lest the wind blow them away. Once he was at the surf's edge, he gazed out over the water, painted warm colors from the sun hanging over the horizon, not yet setting but no longer high in the sky. He cast his gaze over the water, looking for any deviation from the gentle waves.

Other than a red and white buoy to guide boats away from sharp rocks, there was nothing breaking the ocean's surface. If he really did see a mermaid, she wasn't coming up to the surface. Why would she?

Fenton rubbed his face, feeling as if he had been acting on pure prediction, taking shots in the dark that hit nothing but speculation and dead ends. He wasn't acting like a scientist; he was more like a mad man with an obsession. He was cool-headed and logical but frantic and manic. It was no wonder that Dr. Gearloose hadn't believed him last night. He hardly believed his own eyes.

All he had to go on was a bunch of urban legends, a late-night sighting, and a young boy telling him that mermaids liked fruit. At this, Fenton reached into his pocket and withdrew an apple, the last of his "breakfast" that he grabbed while running out the door several hours ago. He had eaten his sandwich and drank the water, but the apple had sat in his pocket this whole time.

He fingered it for a while, testing the red skin, before throwing it as far as he could into the water, watching it plop down and causing ripples. It bobbed to the surface, floating in the tide aimlessly. Fenton didn't know what he expected or what his purpose was. It wasn't as if he were going to use the apple as bait or sit there and watch. Once again, he had acted rashly and now didn't have an apple anymore.

He turned around, climbing up the rocks back to the lighthouse parking lot and the bus stop. Perhaps it was time to go home.

But then something whizzed passed him, bouncing off a few rocks. The flash of red against the gray rocks and white sand was stark to Fenton's eyes, and he bend down to pick up his apple, astonished at its reappearance. And he was even more surprised that there was a bite in the apple.

"Screw the scientific method," Fenton said, racing down to the water and jumping in.

The water was cold and the salt stung his eyes, but once he could no longer touch, he dove below the waves and looked around. It was harder to see than in the lighthouse observatory, and his eyes wanted to close from the bitter salt, but he kept going, farther and farther down. He wasn't much of a swimmer, and soon the pressure of the water made his ears ache and his lungs burned from needing air, so he had no choice to go back up.

Breathing the fresh air deeply, Fenton found he had traveled as far as the buoy, and he held onto the cold metal, looking all around for a sign of the mermaid. But there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hey!" a voice shouted from the shore. A couple was walking along the sandy part of the beach a little way's away from the lighthouse. One was waving and shouting. "Are you okay? Do you need any help?"

Embarrassed that someone was watching him, Fenton waved and shouted back, "I'm fine." He then swam back to shore, sea water dripping down his clothes and weighing him down. He was not looking forward the bus ride home.

As he wrung out his shirt, he caught sight of a large eddy in the water near the buoy, as if something was swimming just below the surface. And was it his imagination, but was there something blue just peeking around the buoy?

Keeping an eye on the buoy, Fenton bent down and put the remainder of the apple on a rock near the beach before turning around and walking away. When he had hiked back up the rocks to the parking lot, he turned around to find that the apple was gone.