“Merpeople?” inquired Amanda as Emiko nodded her head.
“Merpeople?” repeated Kelly as Emiko nodded her head again.
“Sorry but that is impossible.” Countered Rose
“I can’t blame you, I would say the same if I hadn’t seen those creatures attack my boyfriend and my friends.” Stated Emiko “They where swimming in a small lake we found after our ship wrecked on this island and thought they would be safe from things like Sharks and Jellyfish but instead they came out of the water and attacked them. They almost got me, but I got away.”
“Are you sure you didn’t see them get attacked by something like a shark or…” started Amanda as she tried to make logical sense of something that made no logical sense at all.
“NO…” said Emiko before she started to speak quickly in Japanese before switching back to English. “No…I thought the same as you for a while but after a couple of days they returned with tails instead of legs.”
“You did say you say some of our friends can you take us to where they are?” inquired Nate
“No…they are gone…they are merpeople now…you can’t save them.” stated Emiko as she noticed everyone looking at her. “You don’t believe me…but I can prove it, I know a place where we can see them without being spotted. Come tomorrow I’ll take you but you have to be quiet.”
It was a long night but just before dawn they headed out following Emiko into the jungle, they headed toward the middle of the island where the mountain was located. It took until midmorning but they soon found themselves climbing up the side of the mountain. It wasn’t a hard climb per say but one had to watch where you stepped or you could slid down a few feet, that happened to almost everyone but in time they reached the mouth of a small cave.
“Follow me but be quiet.” Ordered Emiko as they journeyed into the darkened cave, they had expected it to be pitch black but instead it glowed with veins of some unknown mineral which cast a bluish light inside. The cave itself while the mouth was small was actually not bad, Nate and Kenny had to watch their heads being the tallest two but for Emiko was had to be just over five-foot-tall there was plenty of room. It was also wide enough for them to walk side by side. They kept going upwards at an angle with some water running down the floor of the cave. The sound of flowing water filled the cave as it opened up again into a much wider area. Before them was a large cliff and a maybe five feet off that cliff a waterfall came roaring down never touching the rock itself but covering it with water.
Emiko crouched down as she turned around.
“On the right side is a cliff we should all be able to lie on and watch them, just don’t make a sound.” Ordered Emiko as she all but crawled toward the waterfall. Everyone looked at each other and took off their packs and followed her. Emiko made a turn and then got on her belly; the turn led to an edge which wasn’t blocked by the waterfall. Everyone followed her lead and began to crawl forward, as they neared the edge over the roar of the waterfall, they began to hear voices.
“So how are the four humans doing?” inquired a male voice
“Overall ok, two of them did take knife wounds from themselves but they are healing well.” Said a female voice “The first group should wake up in a few hours, most are out of at least a day more likely two. Then there is the whole process before we send them to live out their new lives in our community.”
“Where are the other humans?” added another female voice
“Exploring the island, we have teams waiting at each of our pool waiting for them to enter.” Stated a third female voice
“Or Emiko to enter one.” Said a sad male voice “I wish she would join us already.”
“It will happen in time my friend, just wait for her.” Said the first female voice
By then the six humans had reached the edge of the cliff and saw what was below them. Maybe 50 feet straight down was a large pool which filled the entire chamber. Natural sunlight filled the chamber as it was open to the sky but in the middle where a series of low sand bars and rocks.
“My God.” Whispered Amanda as she noticed the first one, a mermaid with a long bronze tail lying on the rock getting a suntan.
“That can’t be.” Added Rose
“Impossible.” Added Nate
“Quiet.” Hissed Emiko as they all looked over the edge of the cliff into the pool. She then broke her own word by speaking again and pointing to a small pool where a creature which wasn’t a merperson but was being tended by one lied. It had to be at least six-foot-long and was pure white, with a large fin at the end but lacked anything else. No side fins no eyes, but as it moved, they saw a large mouth full of teeth.
“I wish the humans hadn’t attacked this poor one with a knife, it was luckily it wasn’t too bad.” Said the merman tending to it.
“Well it will heal up in a day or two.” Added a mermaid as she swam nearby. “The rest of them look ok.”
That is when a large school of those creatures broke the surface of the crystal-clear water for a moment before going back down.
“Alright…we believe you.” Whispered Nate to Emiko “let’s get out of here…”
The sound of breaking rocks filled the air as the ground below them began to give away, it had been a thin cliff and while it could support Emiko’s light weight with ease the combine weight of Emiko, Nate, Rose, Amanda, Kelly and Kenny was causing it to break and the only thing below them was a pool full of merpeople and those strange creatures full of sharp teeth.