“Don’t worry about tickets. I’ll hook you up,” she said.
Thankfully, Macy and Nick were happy to trade their extra Taylor ’n Tyler tickets for a personalized autograph, so things were starting to come together.
That night, we had an early dinner with the Martins at a diner by the pier, so that afterward we could walk to the concert at the Wonderment cruise ship, which was docked a half mile or so away.
“Oh, before I forget—here,” Cori said as our parents went to pay the bill. She hunted in her bag and pulled out three badges on strings and handed them to Luke, Trey, and me.
“What are these?” I asked, but I had a feeling I should know since the string looked so familiar.
“The Taylor ’n Tyler ticket passes,” Cori replied.
I studied the passes. The cards had the concert information along with a Wonderment Cruiselines emblem and a black magnetic strip on the back.
“What’s with the strip thingy?” I asked.
“It’s a security thing. We probably need to swipe the cards to get on the ship,” Cori replied. “We had the same kind of passes on our Alaskan cruise.”
“Oh!” I said in realization, dangling the pass from its neon blue string. “This is so weird!”
“What?” Luke asked.
“The string on this badge,” I said, holding it up. “It’s the same type of string I found in Dillon’s speedboat at the shipyard the other day. Look—” I showed Cori— “it has the same metal clip.”
“Why would Dillon have a string from a Taylor ’n Tyler concert pass?” Luke asked.
“Not a concert pass but maybe he has a ship pass,” I said. “Cori, you heard Kiki say how badly he wanted to get on the ship. What if he swiped a pass from someone?”
“Rayelle’s mom did say he got caught pickpocketing at the market once,” Cori said thoughtfully.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t take four days to look around a ship,” Luke said. “So, why is he still missing? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Nothing about this situation makes sense—all the more reason to get on that ship to see what the heck is going on,” I said, stashing the concert pass in my bag.
“Then let’s bounce,” Trey said.
We joined our parents at the cash register to say good-bye.
“Say hi to my mom and dad when you guys meet up at the comedy club,” Cori said.
“We will, sweetie,” Mom said. “You guys have fun but be careful.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “Between two fourteen-year-olds, a fifteen-year-old, and a sixteen-year-old, it’s like we’re practically as responsible as a senior citizen.”
“Hey, don’t let Gran hear you say that!” Dad said with a laugh.
“Here, take my phone and stick together,” Mr. Martin said. He reached into his pocket and handed his phone to Trey. “We’ll come meet you in a cab once the concert’s done, but call if you need anything.”
We said our good-byes and headed down the waterfront to where the Wonderment cruise ship was docked. I wasn’t sure what we’d find out about Dillon once we got there, maybe nothing, but all the clues we had so far pointed to that ship.
Along the way, Cori kept dropping hints to Trey about how Taylor ’n Tyler did the soundtrack to an upcoming romantic comedy, but he was engrossed in a game of Angry Birds on his dad’s phone.
“So, I was thinking maybe we could all go to the movie when we get back home,” Cori said.
“Ohhhh! That was close!” Trey exclaimed, staring at the phone’s screen.
“That’s it.” Cori stopped dead in her tracks.
“What?” Trey asked, looking up from the phone to see what was going on.
Luke and I glanced at each other, preparing ourselves for whatever wrath Cori was about to unleash on Trey.
“First you ruin a perfect moonlit walk on the beach, then you wreck a potentially romantic stroll around the marina, and now you can’t stop playing on that stupid phone long enough to have a normal conversation with your girlfriend?” Cori asked.
“But—” Trey started, looking completely confused.
“You, Trey Martin, have no clue when it comes to being a boyfriend. Right, Jade?” She turned to me.
I cringed, not knowing what to do.
Trey finally found his voice.
“Well, maybe your definition of ‘boyfriend’ is a little whacked,” he said.
“Whacked? Is it whacked to want a little romance?” Cori asked, her eyes welling with tears as she stalked away.
I dropped Luke’s hand and jogged ahead to Cori’s side to put an arm around her.
Trey called after her. “Not when ‘romance’ means comparing me to all those guys in your teen magazines.” I looked over my shoulder and saw him turn to Luke. “Back me up here, bro!”
Luke looked from me to Trey.
“Come on,” Luke said, slapping his brother on the back. “Let’s just get to the concert.”
We walked in silence for a while, with Cori and I up ahead and Luke and Trey lingering behind. If this was how it was going to be with Trey and Cori, what did that mean for Luke and me? I could see Cori’s point, but was it fair to fault Trey for just being Trey? Was there a right and a wrong side to all this?
We were almost at the ship and I could hear music pumping from the upper deck, making my ears ring. Or was that another kind of ring?
Help…
I spun around, looking to see if Luke was talking to me, but his face was just as confused as I felt.
Help…
“Are those the dolphins again?” I asked Luke.
“I’m not sure,” Luke said.
“What are you guys talking about?” Cori asked.
“A ringing sound,” I said, straining to hear.
“Don’t forget us mere mortals,” Trey joked. “You mind clueing us in?”
I looked around to make sure it was safe to speak. A couple strolled a few dozen feet ahead and a family with a dog played in a nearby park with their backs turned to us, but other than that, the coast was clear.
“Luke and I can hear something calling for help in the water down there.” I looked into the harbor to see if I could spot anything. There were no signs of dolphins as far as I could tell, yet the ringing continued. I turned to the others.
“You’re getting that look in your eyes again,” Luke said.
He was right. It was like one of those ancient mer laws that forced mers to help people in need, but this time it wasn’t a human who needed me. Was it a dolphin? Another mer? Something else? I had to find out what was happening down there and see if I could help. “There’s something wrong.”
I looked along the dock for a place to climb down into the water then ran toward a ladder.
“Jade!” Cori called after me. “Not this again. You can’t go chasing after every stray dolphin in the ocean.”
“That’s just it,” I said as I flicked off my flip-flops, ditched my bag, and made my way down the ladder into the water. Thankfully, I’d worn a sundress with pockets, so I disrobed from the waist down and slipped my unmentionables in my pocket before anyone could notice what I was doing. “I’m not sure this is a dolphin.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll hold your bag,” Cori said, clutching it to her chest.
“And we’ll be your lookouts,” Luke said as he and Trey sat on the side of the pier, their backs to the pillar.
“Thanks, guys.”
I dove into the water and tried to sense the sound, but I couldn’t hear the ringing just then. After a couple of deep breaths of water, I was tail-ified and swimming deep into the harbor to see what I could see.
Help, the voice came again. It was definitely not a dolphin.
Hello? I called out, trying to swim in the direction of the sound.
Then I saw him a few dozen feet underwater. A mer abo
ut Dad’s age at the base of one of the dock’s vertical pillars, with a green backpack at his side.
I could hear several dolphins now, off in the distance. They were staying away, probably because of the double whammy of mers in their midst. This was the other mer the dolphin had talked about the night before! It had to be.
Are you okay? I said as I reached him.
Who…who’s there? Where did you come from? The mer blinked quickly and stared past me through the water.
My name is Jade. Is there something wrong with your eyes? I asked.
I can’t see you. His face creased into a pained expression.
You’re blind? I asked. How can you survive underwater if you can’t see?
My sight has been getting worse and worse since I was forced underwater with this thing. He reached out and searched through the water until his hand rested on the backpack beside him. At first, I could see in shadows but now everything is dark.
What do you mean? Who forced you underwater? I asked. Whoever it was, it must be a human to have access to a backpack. The mer uttered the next few words in low, garbled rings, as if trying to make sense of his situation.
No hair. He let go of the backpack and touched his face. Goatee.
Bald with a goatee. The guy we saw at the marina?
Wait a second, how do you know the word “goatee”? I rang to the merman. That’s when I noticed he didn’t have long hair and a beard like all the other mermen I knew. Are you a Webbed One?
Yes. My name is Henry. The merman forced out the next few sentences. That bald man found out my secret back in Florida and kidnapped me. He forced me onto a ship and threatened to hurt my family unless I helped him smuggle this bag onto the island.
How long have you been underwater like this? I asked.
Four days, I think, Henry replied. It feels like forever.
I did the reverse engineering on that and realized Henry had been stuck underwater since Monday. The same day we arrived in the Bahamas and I met Dillon at the Straw Market. My mind worked to connect the dots on everything that must have happened since then.
Did this guy toss you into the water from the ship’s porthole? I asked on a hunch.
Henry nodded.
So, that body Dillon and I saw being thrown overboard from the cruise ship wasn’t a body at all. It was a mer! A mer with a backpack.
I was supposed to deliver this backpack to a yellow hook below a place called Señor Frog’s so the bald guy’s customer could pick it up, Henry rang, rubbing his eyes. But as soon as I hit the water, my eyesight went bad and I couldn’t find the drop-off.
He explained how the blindness was the reason he became a Webbed One in the first place. It reminded me of how my old boss Bridget was given Land Status because of a tail condition called scaliosis. She couldn’t survive in the ocean as a mer because her tail would swell to the point that she couldn’t swim.
I’m supposed to meet the bald man at the marina once I make the delivery, so he can take me back to my family in Florida, but I can’t find the marina either. Henry blinked again. I’ve been staying close to the ship ever since, so I don’t get lost.
So Baldie from the marina and Baldie from the porthole were the same guy. And that’s why he’d been at the marina the night before. He was looking for Henry, trying to figure out what happened to his package.
I thought for sure he was leaving me behind when the ship left port the other day, so I tried to follow it back to Florida when I could at least see shadows, but it only led me back here, Henry continued. Now I can’t see anything.
My mind suddenly flashed to earlier that week when we were Snuba diving and saw a lone scuba diver with the green oxygen tank on his back off in the distance. It had not been a scuba diver after all! It was a merman with a green backpack.
What’s in this thing, anyway? I unzipped the backpack. It was hard to see in the dim light but inside was a bunch of colorful packages wrapped in sealed plastic.
I have no idea, but if I don’t deliver it to the bald guy’s customer, I’ll never get home, Henry said.
I think I can help you. I have some friends up on the pier. Luke! I rang but I could hear the music getting louder, and I wasn’t sure if he could hear me.
Who are you calling? Henry asked, waving his head back and forth but still unable to see. You’re the only other mer I’ve come across since I got here. Did you dive into the water to save me? Are you a Webbed One too?
Kind of, I rang back. My mom’s a mermaid and my dad’s human so I get to trade in my tail for legs a lot easier than most mers. Wait here.
I swam up to the surface and called out to the gang back on the pier. “Hey, guys!”
“Shh!” Cori brought a finger to her lips and whispered down to me. “There are people around.”
Luke, can you hear me? I rang in my mer voice as Cori winced at the high-pitched ring.
What did you find? Luke asked, peering down into the water.
A mer is in trouble down here. He’s the guy who got tossed overboard from the cruise ship. Can you guys call your grandpa so he and Bobbie can help him?
We’re on it! Luke motioned to Trey for the phone so he could make the call.
I dove back down into the water to catch my breath and check on Henry. He had pulled the backpack onto his back.
Wait! I called out. Where are you going with that?
I was hoping you could help me get it to Señor Frog’s before the ship leaves again, Henry rang.
Forget about the bag. I explained about Eddie and Bobbie and how they could help him turn back into a human once they got him back to Florida.
But if that bald guy finds out I ditched his stuff and escaped, he’ll just come looking for me in Florida. He told me he’d hurt my kids.
You have kids? I asked. In all my time as a mermaid, I’d never met anyone else like me. Someone who was part mer and part human. And now Baldie was threatening them?
Yeah, Alex and Amanda. Henry’s pained expression softened. They’re twins. So I really need to deliver this thing.
The only thing you’re going to do is wait here for Bobbie and Eddie to come so they can help you. As far as the backpack? Just leave that part to me.
I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to deliver the backpack like I’d promised Henry, but I picked up the heavy bag from the ocean floor and hooked it onto a spike partway up the pier’s pillar before I got out of the water. That way, I could find it again when I had the chance. First, though, I had to get on the cruise ship to figure out if there was a connection between Baldie and Dillon.
If Dillon had a ship pass, was he onboard? Had he been there all week? Was something (or somebody!) keeping him there? I had to find out. Kidnapping, smuggling…what else was Baldie capable of? Would he hurt Dillon if he caught him poking around?
Cori and Trey stayed behind to show Bobbie and Eddie where to find Henry once they got there with the sailboat. I’d told Henry to hang out by the surface of the water so he could hear Bobbie and let her lead him back to the shelter of the marina, where she and Eddie could help him.
Meanwhile, Luke and I continued to the cruise ship.
We stood with a group of spectators with Sparkle Wish T-shirts as they milled around the dock, waiting to board the Wonderment cruise ship for the Taylor ’n Tyler concert. An awkward silence stretched between us, neither of us sure how to act after being put in the middle of Trey and Cori’s fight earlier. I figured I could kiss that moonlit kiss good-bye.
“So…” I began, trying to break the ice. “How are we going to find our way around once we get in there?”
“I dunno. But are you sure we should do this? This bald guy sounds kinda dangerous,” Luke said. “Besides, how do we even know this Dillon guy is here?”
“We don’t,” I replied as I strung the concert pass around my neck. “That’s wh
at we’re here to find out.”
“Either way, maybe we should call the police,” Luke suggested.
“And tell them what?” I asked. “Like you said, we have no idea if Dillon is actually here.”
“Well, isn’t this bald guy trying to smuggle something onto the island? I’m sure that’s something the cops would like to know.”
“Think about it,” I said. “How do we explain that we know that? A guy with the tail of a fish told us?”
“Good point,” Luke said. “But we should at least call our parents.”
“Let’s just check things out first,” I suggested. “If something’s up, I’ll be the first to dial the number. But if this turns out to be nothing, all the better. Then my parents can keep enjoying a night out with all their closest friends before their wedding day. Deal?”
“All right. Deal,” Luke agreed reluctantly.
“Now we just have to find our way around,” I said.
“Good news.” Luke pulled out his dad’s cell phone. “We have the power of Google on our side. Plus now Cori won’t end up pushing Trey into the harbor for playing Angry Birds.”
“Win-win,” I replied.
“What do you need to know?” Luke asked, his finger poised over the phone’s screen.
“Maybe you can pull up some information on this particular ship so we know what we’re dealing with,” I suggested.
“Already on it,” Luke said, scrolling through his search results.
“I overheard one of the organizers say the concert is on the upper deck,” I said. “We know that at least.”
“And it looks like there are two rows of portholes and three decks with balconies as far as I can tell, so six decks in all,” Luke said.
I scanned the ship to try to find the porthole where I’d seen the bald man throw Henry overboard.
“The porthole where we saw Henry being dumped is on the other side of the ship,” I replied.
“That might be worth a stop on our tour,” Luke said.
“Definitely,” I replied.
A dozen or so Sparkle Wish organizers herded us all behind a roped-off area, and minutes later, several policemen arrived in cruisers, accompanying a long, black limousine.
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