Scared of what

The marine park

Cove for the last few days had been staying with Ondina and Mimmi, declining using the grotto and invading Weilan's space as she explained. In reality she just didn't want to deal with the mess the eastern mermaid had been causing.
"What happened here?" Ondina asked as they walked into the grotto.
"Rita told Weilan to make herself at home." Mimmi explained as she began looking for her bag.
"We live here too." Ondina reminded her.
"I don't think Weilan realizes that." Cove said honestly.
"That girl needs a serious talking to." Ondina stated and Mimmi couldn't help but smile.
"As much as I'd like to stay and help, I have to go to work." Mimmi said picking up her hat.
"Good morning." Weilan said smiling.
"Hey! So how'd you sleep?" Mimmi asked.
"Ah great. It's so quiet in here not like Shanghai." She said smiling.
"So what's Shanghai like?" Mimmi asked interested.
"Big and modern, it's the city of the future." She added admirably.
"I'd love to go there, wouldn't you Ondina?" Mimmi asked hoping to get the two to be friends.
"I thought you had to go to work." Ondina said frowning.
"You work?" Weilan asked surprised.
"At the marine park." Mimmi nodded.
"I still don't understand why you have that job. If you wanna see dolphins take a swim in the sea." Ondina rationalization.
"You should come. Ondina will tell you how to get there right Ondina? Bye." Mimmi said and grabbed Cove's hand pulling her with her.
"Wait Cove you're going too?" Ondina asked and she nodded.
"Sister bonding." Mimmi said and they waved and left.
They walked to the Marine park together and Mimmi got ready for her shift.
"Mimmi?" A woman said walking up to them.
"Hey Mrs Harper." She smiled.
"Who's this?" Mrs Harper asked curiously.
"Oh this is Cove, she's my sister." Mimmi introduced.
"Very nice to meet you Cove." Mrs Harper smiled.
"Nice to meet you too Mrs Harper." She smiled and shook her hand like Mimmi explained that morning.
"So are you looking to get a job here?" Mrs Harper asked trying to make conversation.
"Oh uh I dunno." Cove said honestly.
"Awe you have to Cove! We could work together." Mimmi said smiling.
"Is that really such a good idea?" Cove asked quietly.
"Of course we'll look after each other." Mimmi assured her and she finally nodded.
"Great! You can start now. I'll get you your uniform, uh what size do you wear?" She asked and Coves eyes widened and she looked to Mimmi.
"Small is good." Mimmi said and Cove nodded with a smile.
"Great you can follow me." Mrs Harper replied and Cove followed her smiling back at Mimmi.
A few minutes later Cove returned wearing similar attire to Mimmi.
Mimmi was set to train her and then they'd both be working the toy booth.
"Here you go." Mimmi said smiling to a young girl handing her two dolphin bath toys.
Then two land boys walked up to them. Explaining something to the girl about what real dolphins liked.
"Chris?" Mimmi asked frowning.
"When did you get back?" She asked rejecting a hug from him.
"Yesterday-" he began when the other land boy coughed.
"Sorry Mimmi, this is Carl, Carls new here he trained in sand Diego as well but his specialty is sharks." Chris introduced his friend.
"Nice to meet you." Mimmi said shaking his hand and smiling.
"So you're the famous Mimmi? I've heard a lot about you." Carl said and Chris awkwardly said "all good things I promise."
"Hey uh notice anything?" Chris asked holding up a whistle.
"You're a dolphin trainer now." Mimmi said smiling.
"Congratulations." She added.
"All thanks to you." He smiled.
"Oh uh this is my sister, Cove." Mimmi introduced them.
"Hi." She said feeling nervous.
"Cove." He smiled and repeated her name.
"I didn't know Mimmi had a sister." He admitted.
"Long lost. We uh just recently reconnected." Mimmi explained.
"Interesting. So I'll see you around?" Chris asked hopefully.
"Are you Mimmi's boyfriend or something?" Cove asked bluntly and both their eyes went wide.
"Uh no." Chris said awkwardly.
"Things didn't work out that way." Mimmi added giving her sister a stern look. Cove just shrugged.
"Hey we better go we don't wanna be late on our first day." Carl said smiling again at Mimmi, who smiled back.
"Yeah I'll uh catch up with you in a minute." Chris said.
"It was great to meet you Cove." Chris said smiling.
"Yeah great to meet you too." She smiled back.
"You gotta tell us about San Diego sometime." Mimmi added.
"Yeah of course." He agreed.
"Chris! You coming?" Carl shouted a little ways away.
"Yeah." He called back and turned back to them.
"I'll see you around." He said to them both before jogging off.
Mimmi turned to Cove who had a sly grin on her face.
"Why didn't it work out with the land boy?" She asked smirking.
"It just didn't." Mimmi said sighing.
"Mhm. Now what's the real reason?" Cove questioned.
"He left for San Diego, for a few months for the dolphin training program, I kinda moved on. I used Rita's phone to tell him it wouldn't work if he was even still interested." She explained.
"He's cute though." Cove admitted.
"You two should totally hang out." Mimmi suggested.
"No way." Cove scoffed.
"I've only been on land for a few hours, just found out I've been lied to my whole life and I have a brother and a sister. That's too much for any mermaid to deal with without adding a land boy into the mix." She explained and Mimmi nodded understanding.
The two went on working.
Cove got the hang of it easily, selling just as much as Mimmi before their lunch break.
"So what do land people eat anyway?" Cove asked as they walked around the park.
"Uh it depends." Mimmi admitted.
"On what?" Cove frowned.
"What they feel like eating." Mimmi shrugged.
"Let's try some pizza and popcorn." She suggested and Cove shrugged nonchalantly.
They passed by the dolphin pools as they went.
Cove watched as Chris smiled at the two dolphins in the pool waving at them. The dolphins slapped back. She smiled and continued walking with Mimmi. Mimmi bought their food and they thanked their coworker before Mimmi lead them back to the dolphin pools.
"I like eating lunch here. There's something about listening to the dolphins talk and play that just calms me." Mimmi explained with a smile.
Cove nodded agreeing as they sat down and she began eating.
"Chris?" Their boss called him out of the pool.
"It's probably nothing but I want you and Carl to take a dive out on mako. Just look around for me." He requested and Chris nodded.
"No problem. What're we looking for?" He asked curiously.
Mimmi and Cove finished their food and returned to their cart quickly.
Chris walked up to them again.
"You don't think this l-boy, really meant sea monster do you?" Cove asked catching her slip up.
"Of course not but he obviously saw something." Chris chuckled.
"You know scientists, think the Loch Ness monster is a plesiosaur living inside caves in the loch there's caves under Mako." Chris explained and Coves eyes widened.
"What's a sc-" she began to ask Mimmi who cut her off.
"I'm pretty sure there's nothing there." She said.
"Yeah but you can't be certain." Chris reminded them both.
"So when do you leave?" Cove asked.
"Pretty soon, right after our shift is over. I'm going to tell Carl right now. Why you wanna join?" He asked and she shook her head no shyly.
"No I'm not super big on you know, diving." She lied and he shrugged.
"See you tomorrow then." He said and she nodded.
"Cove your shifts over for today, next shift starts tomorrow morning if that works for you." Mrs Harper asked and she nodded with a smile.
She said by to Mimmi and followed their boss to the locker room. She grabbed her dress and changed into it holding her clothes over her arm.
"What now?" Cove asked Mimmi as she returned.
"You remember how to get back to Rita's?" Mimmi asked.
"Yeah I think so." She shrugged.
"We'll see you back there." Weilan said smiling.
"I think I may go for a swim." Cove said.
"Just stay away from Mako, Chris and Carl are out there with some sciencey things." Mimmi explained and she nodded though not understanding exactly what she meant.
She dropped her clothes off at Rita's then left through the grotto pool she began exploring mor around the mainland before the curiosity of Mako islands moon pool overcame her.
She swam fast to it. Slowing down when she noticed a boat not to far above her.
She cloaked and swam under it easily.
"Hey what's that?" Carl asked looking down at the heat sensor.
"I dunno." Chris said seeing it swim by but they each saw nothing as they looked over the side of the boat.
"There's nothing there." Chris said frowning.
"Let's just get going." Carl shrugged and they finished putting on their gear.
Meanwhile Cove swam through the entrance of the moon pool.
"Cove? What're you doing here?!" Ondina asked confused.
"Just thought I'd go for a swim. The marine park gave me a job." She said smiling.
"Oh sorry was I interrupting?" She said seeing the hatchlings in front of her.
"No way!" One of them said in shock.
"Is that the western mermaid!" Another asked excitedly.
"Can you do cool tricks?" The third asked.
"Why's your scale more pink than ours?" The fourth finally asked.
"Waters around Hawaii where I lived are warmer. That's why it's more pink, eventually it may turn more orange." She said chuckling.
"As much as I'm glad to see you Cove, we were kinda in the middle of a class." Ondina explained.
"Of course. Sorry to interrupt again." She said and waved to her and the hatchlings before ducking back under the water. She swam around for a bit before she caught a glimpse of a fin. Though she'd never seen anything like it. But as she slowly cloaked behind a rock she realized it was a land boy. Chris to be exact. He held a sort of square contraption in one hand and had a dive tank on his back. Cove at least knew what divers were. She crept behind the rock as he turned to look behind him. Just as a mako shark swam by.
Then she noticed something on the reef floor.
It was a pearl, a pinky orange color.
She swam forward and picked it up. Then she noticed the hatchlings swimming from the moon pool. Just as Chris was about to turn around again she swam forward and passed him, brushing him with her tail purposefully he turned back towards her and she uncloaked herself as she swam behind a rock. Chris held up his heat sensor and pointed it to her. He caught a glimpse of her head shape before she swam quickly around a different part of the reef.
Meanwhile Ondina was watching in shock. Sure she'd been nicer to Cove because she was Mimmi's sister but she still didn't understand her sudden appearance here and secretly thought it meant something bad would happen so she followed her.
Ondina looked back and realized the hatchlings were now far enough away from the moon pool that they could seek refuge in there
So she grabbed Coves hand uncloaked herself and dragged her to the moon pool again. Chris followed nervously.
He came up with a gasp seeing as he no longer had his oxygen tank on his back, just a snorkel.
He looked directly at Ondina and Cove.
The two of them jumped to the side, trying to stay out of his sight but when he turned directly to them again they realized whatever contraption he had in his hand was letting him know they were there.
They swam away as fast as possible after that, well Ondina did. Cove stayed for a second, watching as Chris's mouth dropped open and he took off his mask.
She furrowed her eyebrows as he put the contraption down attempting to see her with his own eyes.
She felt something stir in her stomach and then silently ducked under the water with barely a ripple and swam away.
Chris looked at the heat sensor again and watched as whatever it was he saw, swam out the way they came in.
Meanwhile, Mimmi and Weilan asked Ondina if she was okay.
"No, there was a land boy in the moon pool." Ondina shook her head.
"Did he see you?" Mimmi asked.
"We cloaked but he kept looking at us as if he knew we were there." Ondina explained.
"Us?" Mimmi asked nervously.
"Yeah me and Cove. She lead him away so the hatchlings could get away unseen." She explained.
"Where is she?" Mimmi asked nervously.
"She was right behind me." Ondina said and they ducked under the water again.
"I don't see her." Weilan said frowning.
"Looking for me?" Cove asked swimming up behind them.
"Cove!" Mimmi shouted pulling her into a hug.
"Where did you go?" Ondina asked hugging her next.
"I stayed for a second. To make sure you got away." She admitted and Ondina hugged her tighter.
Chris was back at the boat with Carl. Both were talking about what Chris saw.
"I'm going back in." Chris said smiling as he looked down at the water.
"I'm too low on air to dive again, and you can't dive without me." Carl reminded him.
"Sorry buddy but we're heading home." He said and Chris sighed beginning to take off his gear.
They began coming up with a plan, to keep them away from Mako.
They used their powers to create a water spout.
"Woah." Chris said in shock.
"What is that some kind of current?" Carl asked.
The water rose and then sprayed on them.
They all laughed entertained as the two drove away.
They ducked beneath the water all turning back to go to the moon pool for Cove's official tour.
"You should go talk to Chris." Ondina suggested to Mimmi.
"Oh no, we're just friends nothing more." Mimmi protested.
"I can talk to him." Cove shrugged.
"Are you sure you can handle that?" Ondina asked seriously, no sort of jab intended.
"Sure, he's a land boy how hard can it be to convince him not to go to an island?" She shrugged and they agreed.
"Meet you back at Rita's?" Mimmi asked and she nodded. She ducked below the water and found a secluded place on the beach to pull herself out and dry off.
She walked towards the marine park fiddling with the pearl she'd grabbed.
"Cove hey!" Kyle called as he and Chris offloaded their diving gear.
"Hey." She smiled at him.
"So did you two find anything on mako?" She asked curiously.
"He thinks he did." Carl chuckled and walked away sensing Chris wanted to talk to Cove alone when he glared at him.
"We saw something, or at least I did." He admitted.
"Really?" She asked sounding surprised.
"I don't exactly know what it was. But it had this tail, it was orange, but also pink, I dunno, I saw it then looked at the heat sensor." He said and pulled it off the boat spinning it around for her to see.
"Wait how does this work?" She asked curiously having never seen anything like it before.
"Well.." he began to say with a smile at her curiosity.
"You know how a phone works right?" He asked and she frowned.
"Uh not really, I've kind of never had one before." She admitted honestly.
"Okay well mobiles aren't just for calling and texting people.
You can take pictures on them as well." He said grabbing his phone from the boat.
He turned it around and showed her.
"Smile." He said and held his phone up, she looked at the phone and smiled slightly out of pure entertainment and curiosity.
"Okay so this heat sensor is like the same thing.
You hold it out in front of you and when you get a heat signature you take a picture using this button." He said holding it towards the dolphin pools not to far away.
It captured their heat signatures easily.
"So did you get a picture of this thing you saw?" She asked.
"No, I wasn't even completely sure what I saw. One minute it was there swimming around a rock and the next it was gone. It's like it was invisible." He admitted.
"Invisible?" She asked and he sighed chuckling.
"You probably think I'm crazy now don't you?" He asked nervously.
"No, no I don't, the oceans a huge mystery, you could've seen anything out there." She said looking away as his smile grew the more he looked at her. It cause that same feeling in her stomach and made her feel nervous.
"I'm glad you think that. Because I think it was a mermaid." He said smiling.
"A mermaid?" She asked in an unimpressed tone.
"Yeah like you said the oceans a mystery, scientists haven't even discovered the half of it. Who knows." He shrugged.
"Are you planning on going back?" She asked nervously.
"Of course I have to figure out what that thing was." He said excitedly.
"You shouldn't." She protested instantly.
"What? Why not?" He asked confused.
"Well Makos a huge breeding ground for Mako sharks, and sea turtles too which inadvertently caused shark frenzy's sometimes, it's not safe." She reminded him.
"I'm not afraid of sharks." He said giving her a look.
"And this mermaid thing? What happens if you go around talking about them? If there really was one out there like you believe? Every fisherman, every person, would be out there on Mako looking for it, imagine the impact on the reef from so many divers. Besides if you do catch this mermaid, what do you think would happen to it? It'd go on living in peace? No, every person in the world would come just to gawk at it. Is that what you want?" She asked getting slightly annoyed.
"No." He argued honestly.
"Some things are better left a mystery." She said sternly.
"Yeah you're right." He nodded frowning.
"Course I am." She smiled, feeling better about the whole situation.
"You know, you seem to know a lot about Mako for a newbie." He said smiling teasingly.
"You seem to think you know a lot about me, for a newbie." She replied smirking before turning around.
"See you tomorrow?" He called as she walked away.
"Count on it." She called back holding back a smile.
She fiddled with the pearl as she walked. Chris caught a glimpse of it in between her fingers and realized it was almost the exact same color as the tail he saw earlier that day. He was lost in a deep thought the rest of the day. He realized there was a lot more to Cove than meets the eye, and he intended to find out everything.