Conjugated - A Jonnor Tale

Chapter Fifty-five: Day of the Dolphin

Chapter Fifty-five: Day of the Dolphin

The next morning it was Connor who was uncharacteristically shaking Jude awake. "Get up cakes, I wanna check out that cenote before Monte takes us on our 'cultural experience,' okay?"

"Okay," Jude said blearily, wiping his eyes. Connor already had his swimsuit on. He swung out of bed and had just donned his swimsuit when there was a knock at the door. He looked at Connor.

"I asked Jay to come in case we need his super vision thing," Connor said. "I don't even know what we're looking for, or if there's anything there. But he might be able to spot something, if it's there."

Connor opened the door and Jay walked in carrying some curious-looking mask things. "Taylor provided these, oxygen rebreathers or something, good for about ten minutes underwater."

"Oh nice," Connor said. "You ready cakes?"

"Yeah, just let me hit the bathroom real fast." He disappeared into the lavatory.

"How you feeling?" Jay said to Connor.

"My joints are a little achy, but fine other than that. I'm not really even telling Jude that cuz he's been super-worried about this whole thing."

"Gotcha," Jay said. They waited for Jude and then they headed down to the beach to where they could swim out to the cenote. They put the rebreathers on and Connor swam down into the hole.

It was deeper looking, Jude thought, than it had initially appeared. Schools of fish passed by, seemingly unconcerned by this invasion of their realm.

Connor looked around in the stunningly clear water, but did not see anything out of the ordinary. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jay waving him excitedly over. He swam over, there was a rock protruding from the side of the wall, worn smooth by the water. He saw nothing exceptional about it at all, but helped Jay tug it out. He was surprised to see that there was a small hole behind it. As Jay held the rock, Connor searched around inside with his hand, and brought out what looked like a thin plastic sheeting with rectangles cut out of it. It was clear and almost hard to make out, only the faintest of shadows cast by the rectangles showed that it was a solid object.

Jude swam over and Connor excitedly showed him this likely important but puzzling discovery. The three of them swam back up to the surface. Jude pulled his rebreather out. "What is it?"

"I have no idea," Connor said. "I don't even know how Jay noticed it."

"There was some faint discoloration around the edges of the rock, where it had been moved before," Jay said. "There were a bunch of rocks like that though, it would probably be difficult to find for anyone with normal eyesight."

Connor looked to the shore. "Mariana's beckoning us," he said. "Probably time for breakfast."

The three of them swam to shore and joined Mariana. "You boys are getting a swim in early," she said.

"You should have joined us," Jay said.

"Are you kidding?" Mariana said, in one of her typically over-dramatic tones. "My skin shrivels in salt water."

Jude winked at Jay, who smiled but didn't say anything back.

They filed into the restaurant for breakfast. Taylor, Nicole and Monte were already at a table, sipping orange juice, although it looked like Monte's was probably a mimosa instead.

"Get a load of this," Connor said to Taylor, handing her the plastic cutout.

"Where did you find this?" she asked. "Was it in the room?"