Mako's P.O.V.

I didn’t know why Kimbell had chased me to the beach. I mean, why was he so fixated on me? Did he need more help with English? I thought I had explained it pretty clearly during lunch…

I decided to shrug it off and delved down, away from the shore where a fuming Kimbell stood, and deep underwater.

I followed the ocean floor until it dramatically dropped off underneath and I followed it down. Soon I deemed myself far enough down that there wouldn’t be a chance that Kimbell would see me and I rocketed it towards the open ocean.

My tail pumped furiously as I could feel myself creeping up onto the average speed of a jetski. I cried out another sonar, coaxing all who could keep up with me for a game of chase. I dipped down, diving deeper into the ocean as I sensed a larger presence below me.

I torpedoed past a large animal and when I whipped around, a young Mako shark was giving me a look. And when it swam at me and the chase was on. I wailed at the shark and it gave chase, snapping its jaws at me when I let it get close.

I ducked down, bobbed up, and even flipped over the shark as I teased it in the chase. Eventually the shark got tired of chasing me and gave up. I watched it go smugly, feeling proud that I had beaten the predator.

I looked around to see that I couldn’t see the California coast no matter where I looked. I decided that it would be safe if I just popped my head above the water to take a look and swam to the surface.

I slowed as I got closer, spotting the hull of a boat a few hundred feet from me. I gently peeked up and saw that, although distant, the shoreline was visible to my left. I glanced over at the boat and saw that they were using nets to fish.

I frowned.

I didn’t like people eating fish, and while Mom had explained that a typical merfolk diet consisted of fish and seaweed, I just couldn’t bring myself to eat seafood. Fish were my friends, Whaley, dolphins, and sea turtles, I just couldn’t eat anything that came from the sea without getting sick from the thought that I could’ve met those creatures before.

And I liked it even less when fishermen use nets that were illegal. We were most definitely not three miles off of the California coast yet, and yet this fishing boat was using drift gillnets.

I ducked back down below the surface and swam towards the fishing boat. I made sure to stay far enough below them that they wouldn’t catch sight of me. I immediately came across one of those illegal nets, clearly larger than the legal limit, and grit my teeth when I saw a struggling sea turtle. I quickly raced towards it and hovered by it.

The turtle was frantically struggling, only managing to get more tangled and I acted quickly. Putting a gentle hand on its head I tried to soothe it as I used my claws to cut the net. The sea turtle began to get more wiggle room and calmed down a little as it attentively watched me. Once I had gotten it free, I nudged it to the surface and it swam eagerly back up for air.

I then proceeded to spend the rest of my afternoon destroying the drift gillnets. I managed to separate the gillnet from the buoys all the while freeing the trapped sealife it had captured. I had then proceeded to wrap it up in bundles that I attached to my waist to form a small train of rolled up net. Just as I was freeing the last of the marine life from the last sections of the net, I felt the gillnets begin to get pulled up.

My head snapped to where the drift gillnet was still tied to the final buoy and therefore still tied to me but began to prioritize the still trapped dolphin.

I furiously cut and tore apart the rest of the net trapping the dolphin, and when I finally managed to free it, the net it was trapped in was yanked up, having made it in just the nick of time.

But now I had another problem. The buoy I had yet to cut had been plucked out of the water and now the confused fishermen were currently pulling out my rolled up nets that I had fastened to my waist. I struggled to quickly cut through the thick cord I had used to fasten the whole net caravan to my waist, cursing myself for attempting to bring home the evidence.

Suddenly the line got taunt and I was forced to pump my tail to prevent myself from getting reeled in. I managed to surprise one of the fishermen and yanked them off of the boat as I heard a splash a few dozen yards away from me.

But just as quickly as the line had gone slack, it tightened up again as I assumed more fishermen were attempting to reel in their illegal nets. I grit my teeth, and pumped my tail hard, all the while giving up with the cord around my waist and beginning to try and saw through the cord right in front of me.

Suddenly I felt an even greater force begin to yank at me and I realized that the ship was beginning to move. I let out a roar of protest, broadcasting a cry of distress as I pushed myself into full gear. The ship began to struggle to gain any momentum as I fought as hard as I could.

Suddenly I heard a response, a sonar cry that hit my cranium and I grit my teeth. Whaley had just responded to my cry for help. I let out another cry, and soon a dark shape appeared out of my peripherals. Whaley had arrived.

Now, Whaley was probably one of the smartest whales to have ever lived, according to my mom, and I only had to tell her about the boat in order for her to know what she had to do. Just as I was reeled in another couple yards, Whaley took off at full speed.

She let out what could’ve been perceived as a warcry to the ignorant, but to me it was a plea to let go of her friend. Whaley pushed the fishing boat up and out of the water with her back, no doubt causing the sailors on board to freak. Once the boat landed back in the water, the line finally went slack again. I managed to finally free myself from the line and breathed a sigh of relief.

Whaley swam back to me proudly and I gave her head a hug.

“Thanks, Whaley,” I sonared to her and Whaley moaned happily back. I looked at the boat that had been flipped upside down and at the swimming passengers.

‘They sure got what they deserved,’ I huffed and gave Whaley another pat on the nose.

Whaley nuzzled my chest again, happy that I was okay, before she swam off. I also needed to hurry out of here, as the coast guard would surely get called in order to rescue the tipped boat and its crew. I saw that those nets had begun to sink, escaping from the ship as gravity pulled them down as they were no longer attached to the buoys.

I took in a deep breath and torpedoed towards the ship.

I quickly reached my top speed and spread open my arms. Thankfully, none of the fishermen were still underwater as they clung to their boat. I snatched up the net with my arms and kept swimming, dragging the net away. I managed to snag a glance at the name of the boat since the name was now underwater with me.

‘Fallen Star, huh? I’ll have to inform Dad about it,’ I noted to myself as I sped away from the ship, the last buoy still attached to the rest of the net. I made for the research lab, managing to bundle up the net a bit better as I got the buoy underwater to avoid alerting the humans on shore.

I flew past where I had first dived in and kept going south. The research facility wasn’t that far away and I slowed down. I came up a little closer to the surface and scanned the underside of where part of the research facility sat underwater before I located the moonpool connected to one of the labs. I swam full speed and popped my head up into the lab area, scaring one of the only researchers allowed in the section of the building, Corey.

“Jesus, Mako!” Corey yelped as I shook out my hair.

“Hey, Corey, help me out,” I told him as I heaved the first roll of net onto the lab floor.

“Y-Yeah, sure thing Mako. Hold on a second,” he said as he set down what he was building and scrambled over to help me pull up all of the net.

“Jesus, Mako, where did you get all of this?” Corey asked me as we pulled out the last of the net, the singular buoy coming along with.

“A fishing boat named ‘Fallen Star’. They were using these illegal drift gillnets. It was horrible, a lot of sea turtles, sharks, and dolphins had gotten trapped. And the worst part was that they weren’t even three miles from the shore,” I told him, getting a little heated about it, and Corey tapped his chin.

“I’ll let Gordan know. We’ll make the story that one of our subs found the net sinking into the ocean. I’ll go tell one of them to patrol the area. Do you know where it was?” he asked.

“It’s about two knots north of here around two and a half miles off the coast,” I replied.

“Got it. Thanks kiddo, good work finding that. Still can’t get over that Gordan’s got a mermaid for a son,” he chuckled, and I frowned a little.

“Merman,” I tried to correct him and he smirked at me and ruffled my hair.

“You’ve gotta wait a couple months for that man part, bud. You’re still a kid in both the government and I’s book,” Corey joked and I pouted a little at his comment.

“Well, go back to having fun kiddo. Oh, make sure that at some point you get Whaley to come over here. Rebecca has been dying to do another check up on her pregnancy,” Corey told me.

I nodded before ducking back underwater.

I then made my way back to my diving spot.

There were only around seven faculty including my dad who worked at Dad’s company, Moore’s Marine Life and Oceanography, that knew of my true nature, Rebecca and Corey being included in that.

Corey was the head of technology at the facility and was always trying to find new ways to build deep sea diving equipment, and Rebecca was one of the top marine biologists as well as veterinarian’s at the sight. When I had found out that Whaley was pregnant, she had begged me to let her check Whaley out.

Only two members of Corey’s crew knew of me since I would often use that moonpool without any warning. All of the researchers had signed a contract with the company and in the middle of that huge contract, if one bothered to read it word for word, detailed that if they happened upon any new species that it would be up to the CEO on whether or not they could go public with it.

Failure to comply with that request would lead to a punishment that resulted in losing millions. And according to Dad, I was considered to be a new species, funnily enough, so that contract essentially protected me.

I had just returned to where I had left my belongings, popping my head out of the water. Only to duck it back underneath and zoom away.

‘What is Kimbell still doing there?! It’s been hours!’ I freaked, getting a little nervous. Kimbell had thankfully been preoccupied with his phone to see me pop out of the water, but what a close call that had been.

My mind flitted between going back to my room or continuing to swim around when I remembered my conversation with Izabella last night.

“If I ever hear that you go out swimming for hours on end and miss dinner again I hope to God you know that I will do more than just slap you, Mako! And not only will I do more, I’ll shove your head under fresh water, got it?”

I paled when I recalled her words. I couldn’t breathe in freshwater, and when my gills tried to function on land it was excruciatingly painful. So, I trembled as I made the swift choice to rush to my moonpool in my room.

I could pick up my stuff later, it wasn’t important right now.

I swam over to the underside of my room, returning to the research facility, and proceeded to haul myself out of the water. I rolled onto the water-absorbant mat and felt myself return to human form. It was always a pretty weird feeling, having my tail split into legs.

I stood up and proceeded to grab a fresh pair of sweats. Luckily, I didn’t have that much homework, and none of it was due today. I could always just grab my things after Izzy had gone to sleep.

I hurriedly dried my hair with a towel and when I looked in the mirror, I could tell that it was dry enough that Izzy wouldn’t suspect anything. I then proceeded to leave my room, thanking whatever God there was that Izzy hadn’t gotten home yet.

Dad was in the kitchen though, cooking dinner like he always did, and it smelled pretty good.

“Hey, Mako, how was school? Izzy texted me saying she saw you with a friend today,” Dad commented.

“I’m tutoring Kimbell. He’s in three of my classes, and I guess he also has Mr. Quin as his English 11 teacher. Mr. Quin asked me to tutor him,” I responded. Dad hummed, his salt and pepper hair a little messy today. He had probably been working in the lab today instead of his office.

“Well I think it’s wonderful that you’ve finally taken an interest in other kids your age. If you two do manage to become friends, invite him over sometime,” Dad told me.

I began to set the table, seeing that Dad was making beef stroganoff, omitting the mushrooms that Izzy disliked.

I heard the front door slide open and I snapped my head over to see Izzy holding two little bags from her shopping trip. She rushed to put them in her room before just as quickly returning.

“Oh! Something smells good. Is that stroganoff?” Izzy asked as Dad smiled at her.

“Yup. I wanted you guys to have leftovers since I’m taking a business trip tomorrow to Hawaii to visit our sister company. It seems they made a breakthrough in deep sea tech and I’m taking Corey with me to go an check it out,” Dad told us.

I never liked it when Dad went on his business trips. Izzy always got a bit overbearing during Dad’s time away from home which wound me staying in the lab with Rebecca more often than not.

As Dad began to portion out servings for us, I didn’t dare bring up the incident that happened today with the ship. Not with Izzy around.

There was some casual chatter during dinner. It was mostly Izzy who talked though, telling Dad all about her shopping trip earlier. Soon I was finished eating and excused myself from the table.

As I washed my bowl, I wondered if I should wait until Izzy had fallen asleep before I tried to go get my things or wait until the morning. I pursed my lips, recalling that my phone was still there and decided against waiting as I wanted to charge it before I left for school.

Dad patted me on the back as I went to go back to my room.

“I’ll see you guys in about a week Mako, since my plane leaves tonight,” Dad told me.

“Okay, have fun, Dad,” I told him.

“Oh, and don’t forget to ice your face again tonight! I can’t believe you got hit by a dolphin last night…” Dad called after me. I gave him a thumbs up and continued my retreat to my room.

And so I spent the rest of the night mindlessly watching TV on my computer, waiting.