A Fishy Tale, The Sequel - Fanfiction for H2O Just Add Water

Chapter 97

Chapter 97

"Do you think she changed in this room?" Arieta asked, looking around as if she was trying to see something she missed.

"Maybe...but perhaps in the previous room - there was a hole in the ceiling moon light could shine through. But then again, magic is anything but predictable, so..." Bella trailed off.

As Rikki pushed off from the wall she had her hands against, the rocks glowed brighter. Her eyes widened.

"Is it just me, or did the light get stronger?" Rikki asked. It faded a few seconds later. She moved forward and repeated the action - pushing off the wall backwards. Again, the rocks glowed blue, but this time, the tip of her tail fin accidently clipped the wall as she did.

"Ow," Rikki grumbled.

Suddenly, ripples appeared on the surface, a low rumbling could be heard from under the water.

"What did you do?" Emma asked in exclamation.

"I don't know! The only thing that was different this time was the fact that my tail touched the wall!"

The rumbling stopped. Arieta was excited. Freaked out, but excited. This was magic in action.

Rikki dipped beneath the water. Her mouth dropped open. She quickly shut it, remembering she was underwater.

Before her was a dark opening, an entrance to another tunnel or cave, a place hidden by magic. She surfaced again.

"I don't know how it happened, but I managed to open a cave," she said in disbelief. She did think briefly that in all her years as a mermaid, she really should not be so surprised.

"Epic," Arieta whispered.

"Should we explore it?" Bella asked.

"We don't know what's through there," Emma said. "It could be a bad idea..."

"But it also could be a fantastic idea," Jessie said, excited. "It opened for a reason, right?"

"It shouldn't be unstable," Arieta said. "The caves have been solid for hundreds of years. I might wait here though, I would need to know if there is an air pocket."

"Fair point." Emma said. "Maybe you stay here with the kids..."

A chorus of moans from the little mers interrupted her. "For everyone's safety," Emma continued.

"If it is safe, we promise to let you through," Bella reassured the youngsters.

"Why don't I tell you some legends about this place while we wait?" Arieta asked the kids. They all gathered around her eagerly.

Rikki, Bella, Emma, Cleo, Jessie and Anna submerged beneath the water, their head torches illuminating the entrance to the tunnel.

'This is exciting,' Jessie communicated. The others nodded in agreement. The mermaids tentatively swam forward, Rikki in the lead.

The tunnel was tight, easy for the mermaids to swim through, but narrow nonetheless. It circled around them, the flickering shadows dancing ominously. The tunnel took just over a minute to swim through, and the mermaids continued into the next cavern. Rikki swam up, her aim to figure out how deep the water level was and whether Arieta could comfortably swim through. The other mermaids followed her. Fortunately, it would be manageable for a free diver such as their companion.

They looked around. Although this cavern had a tall ceiling, it was a small space, maybe four metres in width. They felt slightly disappointed in it. Jessie swam over to the wall opposite the tunnel they had emerged from. Her torch highlighted a picture akin to a cave painting, just above the water level. The picture was drawn and scratched onto the rock; it displayed a silhouette of some kind of creature. It seemed similar to a scorpion, but its body was longer and it had ten legs, two of which seemed to have fins. Where the pincers of a scorpion would be, instead of being crablike, they looked like two circles. Its tail did not look to have a barb, but seemed more like a seal's tail in the silhouette. When Jessie called them over, Rikki joked it looked like a 'boxing scorpion.'