Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells (8 page)

We made it to the Teen Club with only seconds to spare. Emailing Rayelle would have to wait because the rest of the day ended up being a minute-to-minute micromanaged busy-fest with enough activities jammed in to last me a lifetime. Cori seemed to welcome the distractions, though, from the archery to the rock climbing to the Behemoth Shark Waterslide, especially after she found out Luke and Trey were arriving that afternoon.

“Dude,” Cori said once we'd finished lunch and were getting ready for our swim with the dolphins at Dolphin Lagoon. “You ready for the main event?”

We walked out onto the gorgeous white-sand beach of the lagoon in our short-sleeved blue wet suits.

“Totally!” I said, giving her a high five. I had to admit that I was kind of looking forward to it too, especially after spending the morning coming nose to teeth with a kajillion sharks through that death-defying Behemoth Shark Waterslide fiasco, confirming
once
and
for
all
that I never, ever, ever wanted to come in contact with a shark again in my life.

Ever.

“It's too bad Luke and Trey are missing out on all the fun, though,” I continued.

The look on Cori's face was enough to tell me that I'd just put my flipper in my mouth.

“Ah, what's the matter, Cori?” I asked. “Is it Trey?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Cori replied. “I don't think I was ready for the fact that he's coming a day early. I was hoping to have things figured out by now.” She looked around at all the swaying palm trees and took a deep breath.

“Are you guys going to be okay?” I asked.

“All I know is that if he can't step it up in the boyfriend department in a place like the Bahamas, we're probably ‘Splitting to Splitzville' just like
Totally
Teen
Talk
magazine predicted.”

Just then, the counselors gathered everyone from a few different age groups and broke us up into teams of six for the dolphin swim. Our group included two fifteen-year-olds and a thirteen-year-old girl with her little brother who was super quiet and looked a little shy.

“Okay, everyone. Let's get started,” the trainer in the black wet suit said in his lilting Caribbean accent. He looked like he was in his early twenties. “My name is John and I'm a dolphin trainer.”

John went through a few rules and regulations before we all got into the water. As soon as I stepped in, an odd sense of familiarity swept over me, which was weird since I'd never been to Dolphin Lagoon before. In fact, I'd never seen a dolphin before.

“There they are,” Cori squealed, pointing out a few dolphins playing on the other side of the lagoon.

“Oh, wow.” I couldn't help it. The sight of the dolphins' sleek gray bodies and smiling mouths took my breath away. “I never realized how beautiful they'd be.”

The dolphins swam around the lagoon in graceful circles, showing off for the crowd with high flips and waving their flippers as they swam past. They were almost human-like in the way they moved and interacted with the crowd.

Our trainer took a few pieces of fish out of his satchel and lured a couple of the dolphins our way.

Fish!

I looked around, trying to figure out if I'd actually heard what I thought I'd heard.

Fish! Fish! Fish!

“Um, Cori?” I tugged her arm, but she was already wading onward, trying to get a chance to pet one of the dolphins.

“Cori!” I said more forcefully through clenched teeth.

“What?” she said, turning to me.

“I think I can understand them.” I hid my mouth with my hand so no one could see what I was saying.

“Well, the trainer has a bit of an accent but it's not like he's speaking another language,” Cori whispered.

“Not the trainer. The…” I waved my other hand in front of my body like a swimming fish to signal I meant the dolphins. Cori looked at me, confused at first, but then her eyes popped open when she finally clicked on what I meant.

“How can you do that?” Cori asked.

“I don't know. It's like the squeaking they do is on the same frequency as you-know-whats or something,” I replied.

“That's just
weird
.” Cori snatched her hand back from one of the dolphins, realizing there was more to them than met the eye. “What are they saying? Are they plotting against us?”

“Mostly they're just excited about the fish, I think,” I replied.

Fish! Fish!

The trainer made a few hand signals to get the show started and the dolphins swam like lightning bolts across the lagoon, turned back, and shot up out of the water into the air in front of us, splashing us all in the process.

“Well, they certainly know how to put on a show.” Cori laughed and sputtered water.

“Okay, everyone,” John said, handing out small silver fish to each of us while another trainer rounded up the dolphins. “I'm going to give you each a turn to feed a fish to a dolphin.”

The fifteen-year-olds, Kylie and Sylvie, went first, tossing a fish in each of the dolphins' mouths.

Fish! Fish!
the dolphins squealed.

“Seriously? ‘Fish'? Is that all they can say?” I whispered to Cori. “I thought dolphins were supposed to be the ocean's most intelligent creatures.”

“No, that would be
you
,” Cori said with a wink. “Still, you must admit they're pretty cute.”

“They've got that going for them,” I agreed.

When it was our turn, Cori just about passed out from excitement.

“I can't believe I'm feeding a dolphin. Oh my god! Jade! Are you watching this?” The dolphin stuck its snout out and pecked her on the cheek. “He's giving me a kiss! That's more romance than I've seen in weeks.”

At first, the dolphin wouldn't come near me, but John the trainer managed to coax it to come closer. It was still a bit skittish as it approached, checking me out to see if I could be trusted.

“Just hold the fish up in the air for him to take it,” John coached.

I smiled and held out the fish.

Here's your fish
, I rang in my mer voice to the dolphin without thinking.

The dolphin must have decided I was okay because it took the fish from me and gobbled it up.

Thanks, dude
, the dolphin replied.

I stared at it as it swam away, wondering if I'd heard what I thought I'd heard.

“I really mean it,” Cori said as if finishing a sentence.

“
What
do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean thanks for doing this with me,” Cori said as she kept feeding fish to the dolphins.

Fish!

“It's, er, not a problem,” I replied, giving my head a shake for thinking the dolphin had actually called me “dude.”

“Thanks for the whole week, actually,” Cori continued. “I really needed to take my mind off things, and you made it really easy. You're a good friend, Jade.”

“Aw, likewise,” I replied.

Cori nudged my shoulder just as the dolphins swam over to the thirteen-year-old girl, Macy, and her little brother, Nick.

John the trainer rubbed the top of one of the dolphin's heads and whispered something then smiled at Nick.

The dolphins calmed right down around Nick instead of splashing and calling out for fish. One of them rolled over onto its back so Nick could pat its belly.

“Go ahead, Nick,” John said quietly. “You can pet him if you like.”

Nick held out his hand to pat the dolphin's belly. For the first time since he joined our group, I thought I saw Nick smile. John offered him the bucket of fish. Nick took one shyly and held it in his hand for the dolphin to take.

Fish!

I shook my head, laughing to myself that of all the superpowers I could have gotten out of this whole mer thing, it had to be the ability to communicate with an animal I'd probably never see again. Why not a cat or a dog? I could make a killing if I could communicate with household pets. I could imagine people paying good money to find out what was going on inside Whiskers's or Fido's head.

Instead I ended up being the completely useless Dolphin Whisperer.

I looked up at the blazing sun overhead, wishing I'd worn a hat because the part between my new braids was starting to get hot. I wondered what time it was, and I was about to ask Cori, but she was busy with one of the dolphins. Then I saw that Macy was wearing a waterproof watch.

“Would you mind telling me what time it is?” I asked.

Macy looked at her watch and smiled brightly. “It's two forty-five.”

“Thanks,” I said, thinking that Luke and Trey should be landing at the airport at any time. Then I watched Nick pull back his hand again when the trainer told him he could hug the dolphin if he wanted.

“Is your brother okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, he's okay,” Macy said. “He's just been in the hospital a lot lately, so this is all kind of new for him.”

“So it's your first time here?” I asked. “Me too.”

“Everyone's been really nice, and the concert Friday night will be the icing on the cake. Taylor 'n Tyler are Nick's favorite.”

“There's a concert Friday night?” Cori interrupted. I could tell that despite the hate she'd had for them since they sang her and Trey's song, she was still very much a fan.

“Yeah, but it's a private concert, I think. Just for the other Sparkle Wishers,” Macy replied.

“Sparkle Wishers?” I asked. Then it finally came to me. “Like the Sparkle Wish Club?”

The Sparkle Wish Club granted wishes to critically ill kids. It sounded like the club had flown Nick and his family to the Bahamas to go to Taylor 'n Tyler's benefit concert. Despite the fact that Taylor 'n Tyler probably took our reservation at the Eutopia without knowing, I was beginning to think they were pretty good guys.

“Yeah,” Macy replied. “Coming here to see Taylor 'n Tyler was Nick's Sparkle Wish. That and swimming with the dolphins.”

“Those are some pretty great wishes,” I said.

“We've had to back out once before because he wasn't well enough to come, but when they got a cancellation last week, they invited us plus our two sets of grandparents,” Macy said.

“Are they all here with you?” I asked. “My gran was supposed to come with us but she couldn't travel.”

“No, we thought they might come so we got concert tickets for everyone, but it's just us and our parents after all,” Macy replied. “We still have the four extra tickets if you want them for you and your friends.”

“No, that's okay,” Cori said quickly. She was still bitter about Taylor 'n Tyler ruining our Eutopia experience.

“Well, let me know if you change your mind,” Macy said.

By then, the dolphins had all been herded and they were giving the campers tow rides on boogie boards. I handed a boogie board to Nick with a smile.

“Time to make this part of your wish come true, buddy.”

•••

Once the dolphins had finished their show at the end of the day, Cori and I helped the trainers collect the wet suits and gear from some of the younger participants. We brought the equipment over to a row of hooks on a nearby shed to hang them up to dry.

“It must be really cool to work with dolphins like that,” I said as I handed a few face masks to John, our dolphin trainer. “You really have a way with them.”

“I guess it was something I was always meant to do,” John said with a smile. “Even though I almost messed it up.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

John was thoughtful for a moment as if trying to decide how to phrase something. “Well, I was once in a really dark place and couldn't see my way through. It was only with the help of a good friend and these dolphins that I survived. It's kind of like a wish I never knew I had came true.”

“Sort of like that little guy Nick,” I said. “You really had a way with him too.”

John flushed with embarrassment. “It wasn't me. The dolphins somehow know when they need to take special care. I just give gentle guidance.”

I thought about that for a second. Did the dolphins somehow know Nick was sick? If I could somewhat understand them, could the dolphins also understand humans?

Cori must have picked up on that too, because she piped up.

“Hey, John. Do you think dolphins can understand humans? Like understand what we're saying and stuff like that?” she asked.

I nudged her. “What are you doing?”

“Just asking a question,” she muttered back.

John laughed, then joined his other trainers, but he called over his shoulder. “Let's just say—dolphins and humans probably aren't as different as we think.”

“So there you have it,” Cori said as she walked back to the water's edge to get her bag and flip-flops. “Maybe you
can
talk to dolphins after all, lucky girl.”