Magic from the Sea

The Answer

Hunter, Claire, and I walked back to the Raven Point hotel, where my parents were.

I told my friends to wait outside, and I turned the handle. Instead of a frenzy of OMGs, my parents were perfectly normal, as if I had only been gone for an hour.

"Hey hon, how was your hike?" my mom greeted me.

"Did you see any snakes?!" my dad joked with me, as he did spider fingers on my arm.

I giggled. Not a "that's funny" giggle, but a nervous giggle. That happens sometimes. (Who can relate?😜)

"It was great! And no, I didn't see any snakes, dad." I did see a half eel though! I thought to myself.

Wait a sec, why are my parents so dressed up? I suddenly thought. My mom was in a nice emerald dress, with silver shoes, and a diamond necklace to match. My dad was in a black suit, with a light blue tie.

"What's the occasion?" I said, looking them up and down.

"Well, it's the anniversary of our first date," my dad said, a bit uncomfortably. My mom just beamed at me.

"We are going to the local bistro for dinner. We'll be back by ten. Keep your room key, just in case you want to go down to the pool or anything." My mom told me as she gave me a hug.

She had the biggest smile as she walked out the door. My dad gave my an uncomfortable look as he was dragged out the door. He was never the romance man.

As soon as they left, Hunter and Claire walked in, laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes. They both ran, hands locked, towards my bed. Then they flopped on the bed, and let go of each other's hands. Out popped their tails."What happened?" I asked them, grinning.

"We heard your parents coming out of your room, and knew we couldn't be seen." Hunter started off. "So then we sprinted into the nearest hiding place, which happened to be a janitors closet. When we were hiding, Hunter accidentally stepped into the mop water. And after that, is right now." Claire finished.

We were all cracking up.

It made me think of old Kobus' wrinkled face.

"What is it?" Hunter asked.

"I just wish there could be a way to get all of those merpeople back to their homes." I told them.

Claire and Hunter both looked deep in thought.

Hunter had a blank look on his face, but was staring in space.

Claire had her eyes closed and brow furrowed. She looked like she was trying to picture something she had seen many years ago.

Hunter sighed and looked over at me. "If we kill Estella, we can't teleport the other merpeople. But if we don't, we will have no idea where she would be taking us. Also, we can't find any other mermaid or merman with the same power. There is only one mer person with a certain power in a lifetime. Once she dies, a new mer person will have that power, but we can't use them either, because they will be a baby." Hunter explained to me.

"Is there anyway to extract a mermaid's power?" I asked him.

"Nope, a mermaids cell is made up almost the same way of a human' and a fish's. It has one extra chamber where the power is stored. We would have to get each cell and take out the power chamber. Mermaids have over nine trillion cells in just their tails."
Hunter told me.

Suddenly Claire shouted.

"I've got it!"