Chapter 3—Coral and Crystal
Bella Hartley leapt off of the dock and hit the cool ocean water with a sigh of relief. The meeting at the café was just plain awkward. It was lovely to be back in the ocean after she’d spent a few weeks landlocked in Alice Springs.
At the end of the summer, she had said her goodbyes to Cleo and Rikki and spent a month travelling through the outback with her family. She’d missed her friends, the ocean, and Will so much by the end that she’d come back a few days early just to see them. Now she was at uni with her best friends, she had the best boyfriend, and life was great.
Bella could see Rikki and the other mermaid, Emma, several meters in front of her. She’d heard a lot about Emma and was excited to get to know her. She seemed a bit cold, though. Fitting that her power was freezing things.
She slowed down and let Cleo pass her, too. The reef around Cairns was extraordinary. There were so many colors—fish, coral, plants, and the mermaids. It was strange, almost unnatural, to have four mermaids instead of three. Everything felt a bit uneven.
Bella got lost in her own world, and then became literally lost. This part of the reef looked just like the others. Where were the other girls? Where was shore? She had no idea.
She didn’t worry about it. At some point she would just turn around until she reached land. But for now there were so many interesting things to look at.
Bella followed a few fish into a darker part of the reef. The coral seemed to form a cave opening, with a sandy bottom and sharp coral sticking out of the sides.
She swam along the cave, staying away from the pointy pink coral. It sloped upwards and continued for several minutes. She was just starting to wonder if she should turn around when the coral cave widened and revealed a bigger area made of stone.
Well, mostly stone. There was coral everywhere. But that wasn’t the shocking part—blue crystals covered the bottom and sides of this pool. Not just any crystals—crystals from the Moonpool.
Bella looked around her more closely. It appeared that she was in a lagoon on some sort of island. The half sand, half moon crystal pool was almost completely circular and was in the middle of a sandy beach. Except beaches weren’t supposed to occur in the middle of an island.
Bella turned around and swam quickly back through the crystal cave. There was no doubt about it. This place was magical.
She found the other girls and led them back to the magic lagoon.
“It’s so…big.” Cleo said in awe. “Was the moonpool you were turned in this big, Bella?”
“No.” Bella replied. “It was the size of the Mako Island pool, or even smaller.”
“I wouldn’t let Zane know about this.” Rikki said bitterly, grasping a handful of sand and crystals. “He’d destroy this place in days.”
“What are you talking about?” Emma asked.
“Long story.” Rikki murmured, examining three different crystals.
“I could make you a necklace like ours, if you want.” Bella offered Emma in an effort to be nice.
Emma glared at her. “No thanks.” She said coldly. Bella flinched. She was just trying to include her more. She knew how it felt to be the odd one out.
“It’s getting late.” Rikki commented as the sun started to set. “We should go.”
“Can we meet back here later? Maybe at the next full moon?” Bella asked.
“Sounds like a plan.” Cleo said before swimming back into the tunnel of coral. The others followed, but Bella hung back for just a moment. She gave the lagoon one last look before swimming away.
