Mysteries of Mako

Chapter 12: Supersized

It was just a quiet day in the Grotto. Mimmi and Sirena had gone out to the cafe, Ondina was looking through a few things, and I was practicing my magic. We hadn't had any great ideas on what to do about Zac, and there wasn't much we could do with helping Evie until she can overcome the moon spell. However, tonight wasn't a full moon, so I continued to review my spells.

"I'm surprised you chose not to go with Sirena and Mimmi today." Ondina suddenly says.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"You know what I mean," she says, "I thought you would want to go see Erik."

"I see him every other day," I respond, "and besides, you also could have gone to see if Jasper was there."

"Why would I go to see Jasper?"

"I dunno, but you seem to hang out with him as much as I hang out with Erik." I pause for a moment. "Although, I can't help but feel like there's something else about them, something that they're hiding."

"And what could that be?"

Before I could answer, the doorbell rang. "I'll go get it," I say, exiting the Grotto. When I open the door, I see Erik standing there with our usual order of seafood from the cafe. "Hey," I say.

"Hey. David says sorry it's late." Erik says, handing me the box, and my hands brush against his as I take it. "My shift ends in an hour, and the sad thing is I have absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the day."

"That is sad," I respond, "maybe we could do something about it, together."

"Maybe. Well, I should get back. See you then?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you there."

As Erik leaves, I turn to take the box inside when Sirena rushes over.

"I need that back." she says.

"What?" I ask, "Why?"

"Bad fish." she says.

"They smell fine to me."

"It's the wrong box. David sent me here to get it back."

"It says 'Principal Santos.' What's going on Sirena?"

Sirena sighs before saying "Mimmi's lost her moon ring."

"How did that happen?" I ask

"We were using it to make crayfish bigger. We think it might have fallen in here."

Reluctantly, I helped her get some gloves before taking the box down to the Grotto to search for Mimmi's ring. Ondina of course was curious about what we were doing, and Sirena once again explained it to her. We had pretty much emptied out the box, but the ring wasn't there. Rita then came in and asked what we were doing, but this time I explained the situation. As I helped Rita clean up, Sirena and Ondinda started to get into a dispute about the situation.

"You don't think using magic on the crayfish might have been a touch, how shall I put this, stupid?" Ondina asks.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Sirena reasons, "I just wanted to do something nice for David."

"Why would you want to do anything nice for a land boy?" Ondina asks.

"He's not just a land boy. He's special!"

"How do you figure that, exactly?"

"Girls!" Rita intervenes, "This is no time to argue. Losing a moon ring is a serious matter. If Mimmi doesn't find it, she won't get another."