Lapis Lazuli: the Lost Mermaid 2 Save the Oceans

Chapter 9: Clamming Up

Back on the beach, the other mermaids (along with Steven and Connie) saw Lapis, Jamie, Pearl, Peridot, Sapphire, Stevonnie, and Rainbow Quartz approaching them from the jungle.

"Hey, look." said Smoky Quartz. "They're finally back."

"Everyone, back to the water!" Pearl cried out as she, Lapis, and the other transformed mermaids used their talismans to turn back into mermaids the moment they went back into the ocean.

"Why? What's wrong?" Amethyst asked, confused.

"Well let's just say: that island's not the safest to set up camp." Pearl simplified.

"Let's go find some other-" Lapis tried to say, but was cut off when she felt a sharp contraction in her chest that was almost like heartburn. She groaned in pain.

"Oh no." she hyperventilated. "Jamie, i-i-it's h-h-h-happening again!"

"The Oceanic Heart?" her boyfriend asked with worry in his eyes, the blue princess nodding weakly in response.

Suddenly as if reacting to her pain, the water around the group started to get choppy.

"What's going on?" Iris questioned in alarm. "The ocean isn't supposed to swell around this time."

"It's the damage of the Oceanic
Heart." Lapis explained, panting. "The tide cycle here is being thrown off."

"These waves are out of control!" Sapphire exclaimed.

The unruly sea caused her to bump into Jamie and to his dismay, he felt something slip out of his pocket. At the same time, Lapis was completely unaware that the clasp of her birth locket had come undone and her trinket fell off her neck.

"Oh no!" her boyfriend cried.

"What happened?" the young princess asked.

"I dropped a very important box." the human boy told her.

"Well, I'm sure we can-" Lapis tried to say, but realized that her neck was bare. "Oh no, my locket's gone too! Where did they go?"

She submerged and saw the her precious locket and what looked like a small, red box sink deeper into the water until they dropped into a giant clam. The blue princess returned to the surface to alert her boyfriend.

"They sank into that giant clam down there." Lapis conveyed as she was preparing to dive again. "I'll go get them."

"Wait, maybe I should send one of your friends to retrieve them." Jamie said, stopping her.

"No, I can go down and get them." his true love insisted. "Is there something wrong?"

"It's just that the thing I dropped was supposed to be a surprise for you." he explained. "Can I just trust you not to peek until the right time."

"Of course, Jamie." Lapis promised, smiling. "You can always trust me."

The blue mermaid dove beneath the choppy water's surface and swam right into the mouth of the clam. She grabbed her locket and placed back around her neck. Then, she grabbed Jamie's little red box and realized, upon studying it that it was a ring box. Lapis drew her breath and thought that there could really be an engagement ring inside. Though as tempting as it was for her to peek, the mermaid princess remembered that she made a promise not to. So, she silently vowed to keep her word. Besides, she didn't want to get her hopes up too much.

Just then, she heard a soft thud from above her and realized that the shell of the clam had closed over her. Now, Lapis had no way out!

This was almost like the nightmare she had last night. For all she knew, one of the malicious mermaids from the Black Scale Clan could hiding near the giant clam. Then, once the coast was clear; she would take the clam (with Lapis inside) and bring the princess to the rest of the Black Scale Clan... and Jasper.