by D. G. Driver
“Well, I care,” Haley said weakly. “We’ve both wanted this since elementary school.”
I shook my head. “No. I haven’t. Just you.”
“If we’re so different, then why have we even been friends?”
Now I was the one hurt. “Because I like you, Haley. I wanted to be friends with you. Only you. Not them. And I thought you wanted to be my friend too. If I’d known you would dump me the second Regina offered to include you in the Use and Abuse Club, I’d have done things differently.”
Her voice dropped to a crackly whisper so quiet I could barely hear her. “They don’t use and abuse.”
“Really?” I asked. “Then how did they get here? Do you think I invited them? When this mermaid thing is over, they’ll be done with you and you’ll be nothing to them again. Go back home and forget about it. Tell them the mermaids are gone and we have no idea how to find them.”
A spark flashed in Haley’s eyes, a kind of intensity I’ve never seen before. She took a step toward me, and I took a step back, stumbling over Dr. Schneider’s office chair. “But if we found the mermaids it would be different, June. If we found them, we’d be popular and famous as a whole group. We’d have a stellar senior year. Go out as Queens of the School, leaving a legacy behind us. Come on, June. We’ve been losers our whole lives. Do this for me. Please, I’m begging you.”
“I don’t want...”
And just like that the flash was gone. Her eyes filled with that sadness I’ve always known in her. That hopelessness at being permanently on the bottom rung of the social ladder. She plopped onto the upholstered chair in the corner, right on top of all the papers and files.
“I’m not going to California,” she said. “I’ll be stuck here going to the same college they’ll probably go to. I’ll have to deal with them for a long time. And I won’t have you anymore. Please. I need this. Let me be part of the rescue or whatever it is that you have to do to find the mermaids.”
I didn’t know what to do. Haley had been the center of my life for so long, and I didn’t want to let her down. Carter was new to me, and I didn’t want to let him down either. He would be furious with me if I dragged Haley and the high school crew along with us. It would be one more mark on my “too immature for him” list. Then, of course, there was my mermaid. I had to consider what would happen to her. Would seven teenagers barging into the building up there be effective or stupid?
“You’re not going to let me join you, are you?” Haley said, her voice cracking and tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
Carter opened the office door a crack and stuck his head in. “Time is slipping away from us, June. We’ve got to get moving.” He looked at Haley and saw that she was crying. I caught the very quick irritated sigh he gave, but I also watched him stifle it as he stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind him. “You two all right?” He pulled a tissue from a box on a shelf and handed it to Haley.
“Yes, thanks,” Haley said, her eyes wide with adoration for this guy who had in one gesture treated her better than any boy she’d ever met in her life. “We’re fine.”
“She wants to come with us,” I said. “I know you probably don’t want that.”
Carter smiled that charming smile at me that I loved so much, and I knew he was about to make everything work out. “Actually, I think we’re really going to need that blond dude’s truck. If we find our silver girl, how are we going to get her away from that place?”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” We both smiled at Haley. She looked from Carter’s face to mine and back again trying to understand what we were saying exactly. When the clarity popped in, she practically flew toward me for a hug.
“Really? Thank you! Thank you, June! Oh my gosh! I love you!” Then she hugged Carter, who kept his face toward me as he laughed. “I love you too,” Haley said. “I hope you and June fall in love and get married and have little perfect babies.”
Regina slammed the door open. “I am so tired of sitting out there. It stinks, and I’m bored.” She looked at all of us hugging and laughing. “Did I miss something?”
Carter pulled away from Haley. “Call your parents to get permission. We’re all taking a road trip north.” He pushed past her and walked over to Ted and Gary to discuss using the truck.
“Is this some kind of joke?” Regina asked.
“Nope,” I answered. “We’re going to try to find the mermaid. You’re going to help.”
“That is what I wanted to hear,” she replied. She threw her most winning popular girl smile at Haley and thrust out her arms for a hug. “You are such a great friend, Haley. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Haley grabbed my hand and said, “I think you’re a great friend, too,” while pulling me right past Regina and out the door.
Chapter Seventeen
Ten minutes later we were loaded in the cars with some fast food and every cell phone in use as everyone called their parents to announce we would be getting home pretty late. Haley chose to ride in the back seat of Carter’s car. Regina and Marlee followed in their car, and the boys rode in the truck behind them. We all decided squishing five of us into one car was not going to be fun for anyone, even though Regina was pretty ticked off that she was going to be out of the conversation for the next three hours.
Haley didn’t actually tell her mom where she was going specifically, just that she was still helping my parents and me. It wasn’t a total lie. She knew her mother would never be okay with her driving all the way up to the islands just below the Canadian border. The others didn’t have any problem getting permission for whatever stories they made up. They were the stars of the school, after all, and that made for trusting parents. I don’t know that they would have been so enthusiastic if they’d known I was dragging their kids to a secret aquarium to barge inside and perhaps get us all arrested for trespassing. That knowledge might have garnered a different response.
I called my own mom to let her know what was going on. She picked up the phone after two rings. “No comment,” she said before I could even get out a hello.
“Mom! Wait! Don’t hang up!” I shouted into the phone. I could sense my mom raising the phone back up to her ear.
“June? Is that you? I’m so sorry, honey. If I made you feel bad. I didn’t mean to do that.” It was an unusually panicky tone for her, so I figured she meant what she was saying. Still, I didn’t say anything when she paused for a response. “Where are you? Your father and I have been worried sick.”
“Look,” I didn’t have time to ask permission or deal with parental issues. “Carter and I are going to the San Juan Islands up near Vancouver to find Dr. Schneider and the mermaids. I don’t have an exact address, but when I get it I’m going to send it to you. When I call you I want you to immediately send that address to every news correspondent on our list. Don’t do anything until then but have it ready to go. Let’s give those mermaid seekers out there a target. That target is going to be Affron. Got it?”
My mom started in with all her usual criticisms and suggestions. I was too young. Maybe she should go with me. Or instead of me. I didn’t have time for all that. I still had to get hold of Juarez Peña. I told her I had everything under control and hung up on her. I’m sure that put her in a snit, but what else could I do? She’d get over it one day. And if my whole plan bombed, as it very likely could, she’d have this moment to pick at me with for the rest of my life.
I pulled up Peña’s number on my contacts list. He was thrilled to hear from me. I told him what I suspected about Affron having a secret aquarium, that Schneider was there, and that we thought they knew about the mermaids.
“You know that your story gets more outlandish every day, right?” he said to me. “Especially after the porpoise thing this morning and you taking off right afterward. Everyone’s been calling you a fake and a liar. Your mom’s going nuts trying to keep your story fresh, but she has no new details to add, and your dad’s screaming at anyone who talks to
him because all the mermaid seekers are out in rented boats stirring up all that oil. The traffic is out of control along the whole coast, and now you want people to believe that Affron Oil is collecting mermaids in a secret tank up near Canada?”
“I know it sounds farfetched, but I thought if anyone believed me it would be you. You’re the one who told me about all that mermaid tradition stuff up there.”
“Oh, I believe you, June. I might be crazy and the only person who really does, but I definitely believe you.” Then he gave me a plan to follow. He said to stay on the 5 freeway all the way past Mount Vernon and then to Anacortes where he’d meet us at the ferry station and go with us to the aquarium. “I’m pretty sure that if it is anywhere, it is probably on the Orcas Island. I know San Juan Island pretty well and can’t think of where it would be hiding. Orcas Island is the next biggest island, and its name is so cleverly coincidental.”
I laughed and agreed to meet him.
When I got off the phone we flipped on the news radio station and listened for updates on my parents. It was hard hearing all those reporters say such awful things about my parents and me. A couple times I punched the button to turn it off, and we’d all sit in the car silently for a few minutes. Then, because I couldn’t stand not knowing more, I’d creep my finger back and turn the damn thing on again. The reporters made me out to be nothing more than a clever prankster. They flat out made fun of my mom and all her efforts. They laughed at her attempts to make Affron the bad guy in this whole mermaid/oil scheme. They said she and my dad needed to get their hippie liberal noses out of big business and go live in a tree house somewhere.
“That would be best for the Sawfeather family,” the talk show host quipped, “because they wouldn’t have any electricity to make their computers work. You love your redwoods and screech owls so much? Go live with them.”
I felt really guilty for not being back at the beach to help my folks fend off these horrible insults, but I would have been useless to them. Finding the mermaids was the only thing that would help now. It would help keep my mom’s reputation and integrity intact, my dad’s mission from failing, and the mermaids alive.
Before we knew it, we were past Seattle and heading toward the mountains. The trees were lush and beautiful. All our cell phones were dying because we hadn’t been able to recharge them, so I turned mine completely off to save what I had left for that emergency call to my mom. We finally got to Anacortes and parked side by side in the ferry lot. Everyone got out stretching after being cramped up for so many hours.
“You guys drive slow,” Ted said. “I could have shaved half an hour off our time if I’d been in front.”
“You’d have gotten lost if you were in front,” Regina snapped. Ted looked like he was about to snap back at her, but at a glance from her he dropped his head and stared at his feet. Gary smacked Ted and walked away. I guessed what they had talked about during their ride and I wondered how long it would take before Ted listened to Gary and broke up with Princess Regina. I knew another pretty blonde girl who would treat him a lot better.
Her Royal Highness looked at me, “So what’s going on?”
“We’re meeting a reporter here,” I told her.
“Just one?” She seemed disappointed. “Where are the rest?”
“Still bugging my mom and dad at the beach. Haven’t you been listening to the news?”
Marlee sneered. “News? Ugh. Boring. Who listens to that?”
Carter just threw up his hands and laughed. “Really? Haley, I don’t get what you see in these people.”
Haley mumbled only loud enough for me to hear, “Me either.”
I smiled but didn’t let on that I’d heard her say anything. “Let’s look into the ferry schedule and get some tickets.” I ushered everyone toward the ticket window.
The lady behind the glass peered over her bifocals at me. “Shouldn’t you all be in school?”
“We’re in college,” I lied. Carter waved his college I.D. at her.
“And it’s after 3:00 in the afternoon,” Regina informed her.
The ticket lady snorted. Maybe everyone under forty looked like a kid to her.
I asked, “Do you know of an aquarium on one of the islands?”
“There’s a zoo in Vancouver,” she replied. “I think they have a small exhibit there of some tropical fish and amphibians.”
“No,” I said. “That’s not what I mean. I’m talking about something more like a place where marine biologists take care of and study sea creatures.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” she answered plainly. “You still want tickets?”
I paused, not really sure how many tickets to get. Did we need to take all three cars? “We need at least one for the pick-up. How long does it take to get to Orcas Island?”
“An hour and a half.”
I turned around and bit my lip as I shook my head at Carter. “That’s pushing it. What if they close before 4:30?”
“We never close at 4:30.”
“I don’t want to have come up here for nothing.”
The lady leaned closer to the window. “Do you want the tickets or not? The ferry will be here in about fifteen minutes.”
A loud whirring filled the air, and wind began to whip at us. The Channel 4 News helicopter lowered into view and prepared to land in the empty end of the parking lot.
“Ah! My hair!” Regina screamed, frantically trying to grab her blonde hair with her fists to keep it out of her face. Marlee screamed too. Gary laughed at the girls, and Ted turned his back to Regina and also burst out laughing.
I loved it. My hair blew wild like Pocahontas. I almost broke into a rendition of “Colors of the Wind”, but Carter grabbed my hand to pull me toward the helicopter. Juarez Peña stepped out. He was all smiles when he saw me. Chuck Emory was right behind him, waving.
“Bet you thought I wouldn’t make it,” he said, patting me on the shoulder.
“Never entered my head,” I lied.
“Well, let’s do this.”
“Do what?” I asked.
“You’re coming with me on the helicopter,” he informed me, “so we can get there as quickly as possible. The rest will have to ferry it over.”
Carter raised his hand and pointed at himself. “Can I come with you?”
“Not enough room.”
He shook his head and blew out some frustrated air. But just as quickly, he overcame that with his fabulous smile combined with a wink to me. “You so owe me for this.”
“Whatever you want!” I shouted at him as he took off toward the others. When I felt certain he was out of earshot, I added, “I love you!”
But he turned back toward me one more time, both his arms wide open as if to offer me the world as he walked backward, and then he brought his hands into his heart before pivoting back to my high school crew again.
Despite the breeze from the helicopter blades, I felt hot all over.
“That guy seems like a good one,” Juarez Peña said to me. “You should hang on to him.”
“I plan to.”
I boarded the helicopter and seconds later we were over the water. There were a lot of islands; I didn’t know there were so many. So much for paying attention to state geography in 4th grade. Peña had the pilot fly us over San Juan Island just to be sure we were headed to the right place. The rain from this morning had finally moved out, making it a fairly clear afternoon for Washington. We had a good view. He pointed out most of the buildings he saw along the coastline and told me what they were. Nothing struck him as unfamiliar or new.
Orcas Island is nearly cut in half by East Sound, and at first I thought it was two separate islands, each as large as the other. Both halves were equally covered with forest and not terribly populated. A gorgeous resort area marked the shore on the southeastern corner of the island, and I really wanted to be on the ground to check it out. I daydreamed about having a honeymoon with Carter there.
I had a particularly nice image
forming in my mind of Carter stepping into the hot tub to join me on our secluded deck, when Peña shouted, “There!” He pointed at something in the distance, and the pilot swerved the helicopter that direction.
Nearly hidden by trees on one side, a flat, one-story building jutted into the water as though at least half the building was floating. I’d heard of a public aquarium in Monterey, California that had some of the tanks built right into the ocean, basically cutting off a real slice of Pacific for show. They had kelp forests and all the indigenous water creatures in them. What I saw below looked like it might be built in a similar way, with views that looked straight out into the water. I wondered how deep the structure went.
“That has to be it,” I agreed.
Peña had the pilot fly the helicopter back to the resort where we could land it. There wasn’t any place for us near the aquarium—too much woodland. Plus, the noise of the helicopter would have brought a lot of attention. Some quick phone calls were made back to the local news station, and resort staff met us quickly and provided a van for us to use.
Chuck drove this time while Peña and I kept an eye out for a sign or driveway that might lead us to that building we’d seen from the sky. We found ourselves on a two-lane road that wound along the coast. It was quite thin but well paved, like it wasn’t terribly old and hadn’t been used too much. We didn’t see any mile markers or signs for tourists at all.
The two-lane road dead-ended at a small parking lot for the aquarium, the kind only big enough for the staff and no guests. It didn’t have any signs on the front of the building to announce itself, and there hadn’t been anything on the road for the tourists like “Aquarium” and an arrow pointing the way to tell of its existence. Most aquariums have murals painted on them or some flashy architecture to draw the eye and make the place inviting. Not this place. The building was square, flat and white. It could be any office building anywhere in the world. This place was a secret and not meant to be visited. I did catch an address, however, and I asked Peña to text it to my mother but to let her know not to do anything yet.