Chapter 12

Mermaid Falls

    The boys sighed in relief. They finally made it to Mermaid falls. Zane turned to speak to the mermaid, “We’re here because I made a wish on a genie and three of our friends got turned to stone. We were told that if we came to you guys then we could get magical water that will turn them back.”

    The mermaid smiled, “Ah yes. The healing waters of the falls. But it comes with a price.” she warned.

    Zane nodded, “Name your price. We need to save our friends.”

    “Are you sure? It could be dangerous.”

    “Anything.”

    “Uhh. Guys?” Zane turned and saw Jake was beginning to turn to stone.

    “Oh no! Jake!” He quickly turned to the mermaid and asked frantically, “I’ll accept your challenge now what is it I have to get?”

    “The magic golden conch shell. It’s located in the deepest part of the lake and it is guarded by a great serpent. Are you sure you would like to take on this task?”

    The second she said serpent, Zane’s hopes fell. The last thing he wanted to do was battle down with a giant serpent. He couldn’t even handle the little snakes on land.

    “Zane!” Jake called out to him. He saw Zane’s crestfallen face and remembered his fear of snakes was equal to his fear of spiders. His legs were entirely stone at this point. “Zane, I know you have a fear of snakes, but you can do it! You’ve come this far!”

    “No I can’t! I messed it all up and I can’t even fix it!”

    “Dude, I know we haven’t gotten along this whole time, but you can do it. I believe you can do it. Do it for our friends too, Zane. You can do it!”

    Jake could say no more as his head was now entirely stone.

    Zane was now all alone in this adventure. But Jake’s words got to him. They hadn’t gotten along at all until now. If this was enough to push Jake, he could push himself. “I started this and I’m gonna end it. I accept the challenge.”

    “You have a brave heart, keep it safe.” She said kissing him on the forehead and disappearing beneath the falls.

    Zane blushed, “I'm never washing this check again! Oh wait,” He said looking down at the water. “Well here goes nothing...”

    He took in a deep breath before jumping into the waters.

* * *

    All around him, the water was bursting with life as fish swam left and right and beautiful mermaidens swam by, guiding him downwards and wishing him luck.

    But at last they had made it to the end of all that life, the pit of darkness now sitting directly below them.

    “Are you sure you want to do this?” She asked.

    Zane looked to her and nodded.

“Here. Take this.” She handed him a tiny shell, “May there be light in the darkest times.” She kissed his cheek and swam away.

Zane smiled to himself. He pocketed the shell and took a deep breath, “It’s all or nothing now.”

* * *

    Black. Black was the only thing he could see as he made his descent. He could feel his heart beating at his throat. He pulled the shell out of his pocket. The mermaiden wouldn’t have given it to him for no reason.

    “Come on. Light up or something.” he muttered to the shell.

    A soft blue light emitted from the tiny shell. It was just enough light for Zane to see. There was no plant life in the dull abyss. Any fish that appeared into the light quickly swam away from it.

    An ominous feeling hit Zane. He felt as if someone, or something was watching Zane. He swam to a nearby opening between the rocks, shining the light into the cave. As he swam deeper and deeper into the cave, he could see large gauges marking up the cave walls. Bones were scattered throughout the cave floor. Most of them were fish’s bones, but he saw a few human skulls.

    Zane gulped in fear. The image of his bones joining these bones only worsened his fears. But Zane knew he had to save his friends. He didn’t want their journey to end here. Not like this.

    He swam deeper into the cave and found what he came here for. A coil of scales and flippers and fins lied in the center of the cave. Its gargantuan head rested amidst the coils, its body slowly rising and falling with every breath it took.

    Guarded by its head, was a golden conch shell, glittering even under the pale blue light Zane held. Gold, bones, and mollusks surrounded the serpent as it slept.

Zane took in deep, shaky breaths. Here it was. The great serpent that held the key to saving his friends.

The only problem now was retrieving this shell without waking the beast.

Zane thought of one of his favorite movies, Indiana Jones, and how he replaced the treasure with an object of equal size. Zane looked for a rock about the size of the conch shell.

He shined the light around to see a pile of rocks. He swam down and examined them guessing which one would work the best. He made his choice and swam back up to the serpent.

There was one problem though. The serpent was gone.

Oh no... where’s the monster? Zane thought to himself. The monster wasn’t there, but the conch was.

Was it a trap? was it pure luck? all these questions rushed through his head. I need to go for it!

Zane began swimming as quickly as he could for the golden conch, but felt a brute force ram into his side. He sailed across the cavern room and hit the wall, knocking the wind out of him. He then was yanked by what seemed to be it's tail. He was drawn right in front of the beasts face.

Zane knew it was all over, that there was nothing he could do. But then, he felt his fingers begin to tingle.

He looked at them to see electric blue sparkes starting to form at the tips of his fingers. Somehow, he knew what to do. A lightning bolt shot out of his hand shocking the beast. It screeched in pain releasing it's grasp on Zane. Zane darted towards the shell. He grabbed it and swam up for the surface when he was dragged back down. The serpent now furious took a snap at Zane barely missing him as Zane dodged it just in time.

Zane flung his free hand up and bolts of lightning shot out at the creature once more. The creature cried in pain like before and lost consciousness sinking to the darkest of depths.

I did it! Now I better get the hell out of here before I run into another slithery creature. . .

It took him a while but Zane finally made it to the surface, taking in a big gulp of the fresh air. He then looked at the golden conch shell in his hand, it was magnificent. There was not a scratch or ding of any sort. It was absolutely perfect.

"Um... Mermaid lady?" Zane called out. He spun around to see the Mermaid, shocked to see him.

"You-you made it out alive and-and you have the conch shell." She said in great amazement.

"Wow you seem surprised."

"Well uh-"

"You thought I wasn't gonna make it! You sent down countless souls who've all failed to retrieve it and you thought I was just another one of them!"

"Well yes, but I was wrong… You defeated the serpent. So here's your water that I promised." She said placing a handful of the glistening water in a leather pouch.

Zane took the pouch, said his thanks, and swam towards the shore. He looked at Jakes statue and the pouch in his hand he opened it and sprinkled some water over the top of the statue. Slowly but surely the statue process began to undo. Jakes face was free.

"Oh Zane you did it!" Jake cheered. He's arms now free. "How was it."

"Oh just peachy." he chuckled. Now Jakes legs were the only thing left. Jake was now able to walk again, he was free!

"Oh man." Jake said stretching, “I was beginning to get really stiff.”

"How did it feel being a statue?" Zane asked.

"Well it's like, you fall into a sleep, it feels like I just got turned to stone a minute ago and now I'm free!"

"Now let's go free Amber." Zane said charging in her direction.

"Wait! Before you go!" The boys turned and went to the water's edge. The mermaid pulled out a compass and handed it to Zane. "To whoever holds this compass, the arrow will point to where your heart most desires to go"