Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells (7 page)

Cori perked up. “Oh, right! The waterslides at the Eutopia are supposed to be amazing. There's this one where you go through a tunnel right through a
shark
tank.”

“Again with the sharks?” I muttered. Why, why,
why
did I have to mention the waterslides? I kept sorting through the rack of funny T-shirts and willed myself to keep my mouth shut before Dad and Cori planned any more death-defying activities.

“Is that something you girls would like to do?” Dad asked.

“Totally!” Cori exclaimed.

Too late.

“Well, if that's the case, you two are going to like the surprise I have planned for tomorrow,” Dad said, his eyes gleaming. “I just booked a catamaran ride for Micci and me as a wedding present, and I was thinking I could get you guys day passes to the Eutopia Teen Club.”

“Teen Club?” I asked, looking up from a “Life's a Beach” T-shirt. I was pretty sure that whatever “Teen Club” was, it was going to be lame.

“Oh, I saw that on their website!” Cori said.

I was about to say that
actual
teens wouldn't be caught dead in a place called Teen Club, but Cori looked so darn happy, and I really wanted her to have a good time this trip no matter what was going on back home, so I decided to keep my trap shut.

“I'm told you can use all the facilities, including the waterslides, so you're sure to get your fix,” Dad said.

“And we can pet the stingrays and swim with the dolphins, and oh! Maybe we can do that aquarium dive, Jade,” Cori said. Honestly, I wondered if I should keep reminding Cori I was an aqua-phobic mermaid because that fact didn't seem to be on her radar at all this trip.

“Great, then,” Dad replied. “It's settled.”

“Yeah, great.” I tried to agree with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. Mom and Dad deserved a nice day together during their wedding slash honeymoon trip. If I had to suffer a day in something called “Teen Club,” I guess I could suck it up.

“Oh, and perfect—Oreos.” I snatched the pack of cookies before heading to the cash register.

Might as well carbo-load before our big day sliding through shark-infested waters.

Cori and I did end up chilling out by the pool that Tuesday afternoon, but the Oreos were stale and the frat boys were still up to their shenanigans. But something had been nagging at me about the cruise-ship business ever since Kiki told us about Dillon and her boyfriend earlier on the beach.

Was Dillon trying to sneak onto that cruise ship? Was he on some kind of vigilante mission because no one believed him? I really needed to check things out before we got stuck in Teen Club the next day because even though Dillon had been kind of a jerk, calling me a “rich princess,” if he did something stupid, I was afraid I'd feel guilty for not backing him up for the rest of our vacation.

The fact that Mom and Dad still needed to go into town for their marriage license was a convenient excuse for me to casually suggest we could drop in at the Straw Market too.

“And how are the plans going for the happy couple?” Faye asked as Cori, Dad, Mom, and I rode in her shuttle van on our way back to town. It was already Tuesday and the wedding was supposed to be in four days, but the only thing Mom and Dad had managed to rebook was the beachside gazebo at the Asylum.

“I called the town just before we left, and they said they couldn't guarantee an officiate because of all the weddings happening this weekend.” Mom pulled off her sunglasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. “If I can't find someone to marry us before Saturday, I'm afraid we're going to have to cancel the whole thing. In front of all our guests, urg…”

“Don't worry, Micci,” Dad said. “I'm sure it will all work out.”

But it wasn't fair that after all this time, their plans kept getting messed up just because our reservation at the Eutopia got bumped. I was beginning to feel the same growing rage Cori had for Taylor 'n Tyler for wrecking everything.

“I hope so,” Mom replied.

“Now, don't worry. It ain't over till it's over,” Faye replied, grinning at us in her rearview mirror. “Tell you what. Town Hall isn't very far from the Straw Market. Why don't I drop you two off there to see if you can sort things out, and Rayelle can hang out with the girls at the market until you're done?”

Mom didn't seem convinced. “I don't know. Are you sure you girls will be okay?”

“Don't worry, Mrs. Baxter,” Faye said. “My granddaughter Rayelle is very responsible—plus her mama is there if they need anything.”

“We won't be able to get into too much trouble with Rayelle there. She is stricter than three moms and a grade-school principal,” Cori said.

“I can vouch for that,” Dad said.

“Well, okay, if you're sure,” Mom said.

By then we were downtown. Faye slowed the van to let Mom and Dad out in front of Town Hall and texted Rayelle to tell her we were coming.

“Rayelle says she is on her way to meet them now,” Faye said, putting down her phone.

“Thank you, Faye.” Mom put her sunglasses back on before looking back to Cori and me in the backseat. “You two be good, and we'll meet you at the market in about an hour.”

Faye continued onward to the Straw Market, and we said our good-byes when she let us out at the top of the lane where we met up with Rayelle.

For a late Tuesday afternoon, things were bustling in the Straw Market. I veered around the group with the shell necklaces, remembering what Rayelle had told us about them last time. The same girl who had tried to sell me a necklace bumped Rayelle in the shoulder as she brushed by.

“Hey!” Cori yelled. But I caught her arm before she went all postal on the girl.

“Forget about her,” Rayelle said. “Let's just go.”

We walked a bit more, past Señor Frog's and a few of the outside booths.

“What's her problem, anyway?” I asked, looking back at the girl as she hid her mouth with her hand and said something to one of her friends and laughed.

“She's just part of a group at school that likes to make my life hell,” Rayelle said. “They pick on me 'cause I'm tall, or they pick on me 'cause I get good grades. They really don't need a reason—they're just jerks.”

“Well, if that's all they can find wrong with you, I guess they have more of a problem than you do,” Cori said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Rayelle said. “It just got really bad at the end of last year. That was when Dillon was still in school and he had my back.”

Aha. So that's why Rayelle didn't chime in when her mom was trash-talking Dillon. I wondered if Rayelle's mom knew Dillon was actually looking out for her.

“So why isn't Dillon in school now?” I asked.

“He's sixteen and his mom wants him to work more. There's a lot going on at home,” Rayelle said, walking ahead as if wanting to put an end to the conversation. “Let me just tell my mom I'm going to hang out with you guys, and I'll come find you in a sec.”

Fair enough. Not like it was any of my business.

“Hey, isn't that Officer Ensel?” I asked Cori when I spotted a man in a familiar dark blue uniform on the stairs of a nearby building. I really wanted to go ask him if there were any new leads on the Wonderment Cruiselines case, but he was busy texting someone on his phone, and by the serious look on his face, it looked important.

“Who? The police officer? Didn't you say you were going to forget about all that stuff?” Cori whispered as we walked past him. “No drama, remember?”

Even if I couldn't get to talk to him, I was glad Officer Ensel was investigating the situation. Maybe it would make Dillon feel better.

“Yeah, you're right. We need to get ready for this wedding! Let's go look at the conches first,” I suggested. That way, I could give Dillon the heads-up.

“Way to let it go.” Cori glanced at me with a knowing look and laughed.

We wove our way through the stalls until we got to the harbor side of the market, but there was no sign of Dillon or his colorful blanket full of shells. I walked up and down the pier, looking for his green beat-up speedboat, but the only boats there were a few water taxis.

“Wasn't this where he was yesterday?” Cori asked.

“He was right by that entry we just came through.” I pointed back to the lane where we'd exited. “I don't see his boat anywhere.”

“So that's that, then?” Cori asked.

“I guess so,” I said softly as we turned back for the Straw Market stalls.

That
was
that—I'd done what I could. I tried to find Dillon to tell him not to worry, that Officer Ensel was on the case. I'd even intended to apologize for not backing him up but Dillon had obviously moved on.

With my conscience semi-clear, I guess it was time for me to move on too.

•••

After not finding Dillon anywhere, we explored the market until we connected with Mom and Dad. We continued shopping while Rayelle went back to her mother's stall to give her a hand.

“How'd it go at Town Hall?” I asked.

Dad produced an official-looking document and beamed. “Marriage license!”

“So you're all set, then?” I asked hopefully.

“They still don't have anyone available to marry us on Saturday,” Mom said, looking as disappointed as ever.

“I'm sure everything is going to work out,” I said, trying to reassure her, but even I could tell that things were looking grim.

“Let's just work under the assumption that we're still having a wedding on Saturday,” Dad said, trying to be encouraging.

“Yeah, all the fun is in the planning anyway, right? And you can't go wrong with the right accessories,” Cori added.

Mom smiled and gave us each a kiss. We made a plan to divide and conquer until we found all the things on our list.

Cori found the shell ring for Lainey like she was hoping she would, and we picked out necklaces for the wedding party in the process. I also found a wrap around floral skirt I could wear with a shirt I'd brought with me (thanks to Cori's help). We reconnected with Mom at the end of the market an hour or so later, long enough for my stomach to start grumbling and signal that it was probably time to head back to the Asylum for dinner.

“Did you find a shirt for Dad?” I asked.

“Yup. What do you think?” Dad held a Hawaiian-type shirt up to his chest. He was also sporting a floppy straw hat.

“I think the shirt is perfect, but that hat is going to make you look like even more of a tourist than you already are,” I joked.

“Well, I need something to keep him from burning to a crisp,” Mom said, kissing Dad on the cheek. “Let's see if we can get a cab back to the hotel, shall we?”

We made it back to Rayelle's mother's booth to see if she could call Faye to pick us up.

“I'm sorry but my grandma just called to say she had to run a really important errand and she won't be able to pick you guys up after all,” Rayelle said.

“That's okay,” Mom said. “Faye has been wonderful but we can always call another taxi.”

“Or I guess there's always the water taxi,” I said, remembering the water-taxi driver ready to shuttle tourists anywhere their hearts desired.

“Oh, can we?” Cori asked. She had turned into a bit of a water nut.

Mom smiled and folded Dad's shirt under her arm. “That sounds like a fantastic idea.”

We walked back to the edge of the pier. I figured it was only fair to pick the same water-taxi driver who had given me his sales pitch the day before. Turns out his name was Raymond.

We sailed along the island's coast, back toward the channel that led between Nassau and Paradise Island, and passed half a dozen cruise ships docked at the shipyard. The Wonderment Cruiselines ship must have left port already because it was nowhere to be seen. A little farther down the pier, a much smaller boat bobbed in the water, looking like a thimble next to the massive ships.

“Hey, isn't that Dillon's speedboat?” I yelled over the noise of the water taxi's outboard motor. Cori shot me a look, which I ignored.

“Who?” Dad asked.

“That guy who was selling conches yesterday. He's the one I was telling you about.” I turned to Raymond. “You know him, right?”

“Yeah, I know Dillon,” Raymond said. “He helped me untangle a rope from my propeller once. Dove right in and cut it free. That boy swims like a fish. I'm not sure if that's his boat, though.”

I remembered how Rayelle's cousin said Dillon had tried to get her boyfriend to sneak onto the cruise ship the day before. Had Dillon come back to try to do it himself? Rayelle said he hadn't been around the market. Had he been hanging around the shipyard since yesterday?

But the cruise ship was gone.

So, if that was Dillon's boat, where was Dillon?

I could barely get to sleep Tuesday night, partly due to the hotel's broken air conditioner, partly due to the balcony's sliding glass door shuddering in its doorframe from the growing wind, and partly due to the college frat-boy party happening next door.

Plus, my mind kept whirling with everything that had happened since we touched down in the Bahamas not even two days before, especially where that guy Dillon was concerned. What if that really was his speedboat at the shipyard? But maybe there was a simple explanation for his boat being there. Maybe (and I'm sure Cori would agree) I should just leave well enough alone.

But when I finally fell asleep, I dreamed Cori and I were standing in a green speedboat bobbing in the middle of the ocean surrounded by dolphins. We both had Wonderment Cruiselines baseball caps on our heads with our beaded braids swinging in the breeze.

“Look! They're all around us!” Cori kept squealing and jumping around in the boat, excited that the dolphins were close enough to touch, but I kept screaming for her to stop freaking out as the boat bobbed wildly in the water, threatening to tip over.

By the time I woke up the next morning to the sound of my cell phone's Video Gab alert, I had a headache that felt like a harpoon had been embedded in my cranium. I pressed the Connect button so Video Gab could load (
if
the hotel paid its Internet bill, that is) but couldn't muster the energy to peel my head off the pillow.

“Hallumph?' I said through squinty eyes, trying to figure out who was calling me so early in the morning.

“Jade?” The image finally loaded and it was Luke, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. And alarmingly cute. There was a lot of background noise so his voice echoed when he spoke, and something that sounded like announcements blared around him, making it hard to hear.

“Luke?” I asked, wiping the drool from the side of my mouth. Charming. “Where are you?”

I looked over to the other bed, expecting to see Cori, but from the sound of the running water in the bathroom, I guessed she was already in the shower getting psyched for our day at Eutopia's Teen Club. The brochure said we could swim with dolphins at Dolphin Lagoon in the afternoon so that's all she'd talked about ever since.

Oh, right. Dolphins.
My dream was starting to make a bit more sense.

Luke looked like he was adjusting a few settings on his phone to see and hear more clearly.

“My dad got back from his trip a day early and Mom got someone to cover for her at the flower shop so we got earlier flights,” Luke answered brightly. He looked really excited to be heading our way. It was almost as though we hadn't had that weird conversation in the elevator where I pretty much told him his brother was a loser.

“What time is it?” I mumbled, but I could see it was almost 8 a.m. from the clock radio beside my bed. I vaguely remembered Mom popping her head into our room earlier to let me know they were leaving for their catamaran trip and to get up because Teen Club was expecting us by nine. “Are you at the airport or something?”

“Yeah,” he replied but I could already see he was sitting in the airport lounge, with other passengers milling around him. “Our flight is supposed to board in about an hour but we're connecting through New York so we won't get to the Bahamas until about three-ish.”

It would be Luke's first time flying too. I bet
he
wouldn't need deep breathing techniques just to get through takeoff.

“Too bad you're not here now. Cori and I are going to hang out at something called ‘Teen Club.'” I rubbed my eyes and yawned.

“You look so excited by the prospect,” Luke said with a laugh.

“Cori's pumped, so I'm sure it'll be fun,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster that early in the morning.

“Hey, how's it going?” Trey photo-bombed into the video screen and flashed me a peace sign. All of a sudden I felt like a total jerk for saying those things about him to Luke. Trey really was a good guy. He'd helped us out
so
much that summer, often putting his life on the line to get us through all the mer drama. The guy might be a bit of a goofball, but at least his heart was in the right place.

Speaking of drama, the dream about Dillon's speedboat was still fresh in my mind. Should I clue the guys in to everything that had been happening in the Bahamas since we arrived? No. What was there to tell, really?

“Hey there, Trey. You want to talk to Cori?” I looked over to the bathroom door and tried to listen to hear if the water was still running. “I can get her if you want.”

“No,” Trey said quickly. “That's okay. Just tell her I said hi.” Then he disappeared out of the picture.

“Um, so I guess we'll catch up when we get there?” Luke asked, looking off screen as though he was trying to catch something Trey was saying.

“Yeah. Cool,” I replied, getting up to step outside onto the balcony to get some fresh air. If I craned my neck, I could almost see the ocean, reminding me of our water-taxi ride from the night before. “Do you have the address for the new hotel?”

“Actually our reservation at the Eutopia is okay, so we're still staying there,” Luke replied. “My mom and dad must have booked it separately from yours.”

“Oooo…Cori is
not
going to be too happy about that,” I joked. “She's pretty bitter we got bumped.”

“Well, what can I say?” Luke said, leaning back and draping his free arm across the back of the bench where he was sitting. “I'm sure they'll have the celebrity suite all ready for us.”

“Sorry, dude. Taylor 'n Tyler already beat you to it,” I replied. “Anyway, that Teen Club thing is over at the Eutopia, so come find us when you get here.” But my mind wasn't on Teen Club just then. I took one last look at the ocean then glanced back at the clock radio and did a bit of mental math.

“Cool. See you then,” Luke replied, putting on his sunglasses. “If I don't get mobbed for autographs, that is.”

•••

“Get your stuff,” I said to Cori as soon as she got out of the shower.

Now that I was wide-awake and could process the dream with the green speedboat, I had to go check things out at the shipyard before I lost my nerve. It reminded me of the time I'd dreamed of floating in the ocean with long strands of silk pulling me underwater—right before I turned into a mermaid for the first time! Not that I thought I was some kind of psychic or anything, but the speedboat dream seriously had me freaked.

“What do you mean, get my stuff? Teen Club doesn't start for another hour. My hair is still soaked,” Cori said.

“Just trust me,” I said, tossing a few things in my bag. I hustled Cori into mismatched clothes (under much protest), and she peppered me with questions as I rushed her out the door. “You'll see when we get there.”

•••

“I
cannot
believe you made me wear this just so you could drag me all the way out here. This tank top was never meant to be seen with these palazzo pants, you know.” It would take a long time for Cori to forgive me for that particular fashion trauma but I just couldn't help it. I had to see if the speedboat we saw the night before was Dillon's.

“It's got to be around here somewhere,” I said, hunting around until we saw the green speedboat bobbing in the water along the shipyard pier. Thankfully, we'd only had to walk a mile or so from our hotel to get to the shipyard, but we really needed to hustle if we wanted to get back to Teen Club at the Eutopia before nine.

“And so what if it is?” Cori asked.

“I'm telling you, the dream has to mean something. Don't you think it's weird that a speedboat just like Dillon's is abandoned here after he witnesses what he thinks is a murder?” I asked.

“A murder? Seriously, Jade?” Cori shook her head and narrowed her eyes in a look of exasperation.

“Well, okay. Maybe not a murder,” I said as I started to climb down onto the boat. “But it's still weird.”

“What are you doing?” Cori whispered, shooting furtive looks along the shipyard.

“I have to find out if it's really Dillon's or not,” I replied as I stepped onto the boat. It shifted beneath me just like in my dream as I hunted around the gas tank and under a tarp in the bow. Sure enough, there was the colorful blanket Dillon used at the Straw Market. I pulled it back to reveal the seashells tucked away inside. I looked up at Cori and gave her an “I told you so” eyebrow wiggle.

“So fine, it's his boat,” Cori replied, glancing at her watch. “But if we're late for Teen Club, they'll be sending Officer Ensel and his SWAT team out for us.”

“Okay, I'm coming,” I replied. But I was reminded of something when Cori said Officer Ensel's name. Should I call him to tell him about Dillon's abandoned boat? But if Dillon was actually doing something stupid, maybe I should email Rayelle first to see what she thought.

I was about to climb out of the boat when a neon blue string caught my eye. At first, I thought it was part of the tarp, but it came free when I pulled on it.

“What's this?” I asked, holding up the loop of bright blue cord. It was about the length of a necklace and had a metal clip attached to one end.

“Is that a whistle or something?” Cori asked, squinting to see from her vantage point up on the pier. “Maybe it's a boat-safety thing.”

“No, this metal part is a clip. Like to attach something. It looks like one of those badge holders my dad gets whenever he goes to engineering conferences. Why would Dillon have one?” I asked.

“Maybe he just got back from a Caribbean conch collector conference or something. Seriously, Jade—who cares? Just hurry!” Cori called down to me. “Someone's coming.”

“Hold your horses,” I said as I stashed the blue cord under the tarp and scrambled back up to the pier just as two dockworkers turned the corner and headed in our direction.

“Come on before they see us.” Cori tugged at my shirt.

“These flip-flops weren't built for speed, you know!” I said, trying to keep up.

“No kidding!” Cori said over her shoulder as she ran ahead in the direction of the Eutopia, as fast as her mismatched palazzo pants could carry her.