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CHAPTER4
Vivien stopped beside her and turned back to the Mer-bar hostess. “I have questions.”
The hostess giggled. “Our sea creatures have their own two-story swim tube inside the tank, separate from you girls. They can’t get to you, but that doesn’t mean they want their habitat riled. But don’t worry, they’re totally sealed off. You two just have fun.”
“What marine life is in there?” Vivien’s brown eyes sharpened. “Vertebrates? Invertebrates? Bony fish, jawless fish, cartilaginous fish? The online consent form said nothing about swimming with sharks, or eels, or…”
The hostess shrugged. “It’s just fish.”
Thinking about the exchange, Calista had questions too, mostly about stability and the material strength of the fish container tube. She resisted voicing them. Except… “How do you feed the sea creatures if they’re totally sealed off?”
The hostess’s chipper smile dimmed. Not the first time Calista had seen that impatient expression. She thought Vivien’s questions were worse.
The hostess curved and lifted her hand as if raising an airplane window shade. “We open their hatch when there aren’t swimmers in the tank. They roam, clean the water, and eat their dinner.”
More questions bubbled to Calista’s mind. The hostess wouldn’t be that annoyed, curiosity was healthy. “How do you get them back in the tube?”
The hostess stepped back until she held the doorway with the tips of her fingers. “That’s all the time I have down here, I have to escort the first group of fishermen to their fishing pier now. If you want in the tank…” She pointed to the flight of stairs with her free hand, “You’ll run up those steps, and dive in.”
Calista opened her mouth to ask the names of the fisherman in the first group, but the hostess released her hold, and the door swung shut, closing off their view of the locker room.
“Good luck you two.” Olivia yelled from the other side.
Calista climbed the first step. “Not as informative as I would have liked.”
“Agreed.” Vivien trailed her, thumping her flippers against her thigh as she climbed.
As they reached the halfway landing, muted musical beats became audible, and portholes appeared. The round windows provided brighter light and a view of the tank. The aquarium was a semicircle that faced the bar and backed up against the wall where they stood. The two-story tank was exactly like the pictures online, except for no mermaids. Rocks covered the aquarium floor, and human-sized fish toys were spaced throughout: a rock archway to swim through, wavy green plants, a clam, and a treasure chest against the back wall.
There were fish in the central tube as promised, vibrant, multi-colored, constantly moving, and contained.
Looking through the tank, a rounded front wall revealed the club. The first floor held customers rocking out on a dance floor. Pulsing, circular blue lights floated around their bodies as if the customers were amid bubbles. The second level held booths with people having drinks, while the same blue lights bounced around them as if they were all in the aquarium together.
Interesting.
Calista continued to climb, and the echoes of giggling feminine shrieks came from above accompanied by loud splashes.
Vivien rubbed her arms. “That must be the group ahead of us going in.”
Calista nodded. They continued on and reached the top. The last step transitioned to a square platform with a waist-high half-wall. The only visible worker, a man wearing a white t-shirt and red swim shorts, was leaning over the top, staring at the women in the water. “Welcome to the tank,” he said, without looking away from the dancers. Beside him, a stack of fishing nets on extendable poles were propped against the wall. The rods were twelve feet in length and each ended with a wide webbed net, big enough to scoop up a human.
Calista wiggled. Wild mermaid adventure ahead.
The concept was self-explanatory, go over the ledge and into the water before the guests, who’d bought fishing tickets, climbed up from the bar area and fished for a mermaid. Calista leaned over the wall, and the plastic faux wood edge pressed into her waist as she looked down.
Inside the depths, ten or so Snowers’ dancers, wearing puck bikinis, helped each other reach the rocky floor. Once the last one landed, they went into an underwater version of their daytime dance routine with synchronized shimmies and high kicks. On the other side of the glass, onlookers stared in at them.
Vivien fiddled with her oxygen tube. “That’s a lot of eyeballs. And I don’t just mean the fish.”
“No marry, no cherry,” Calista said, though the words didn’t really fit the moment.
A blue and yellow striped slim fish swam to the top of the central tube and opened its snout revealing rows of pointy teeth. He took a gulp of air and circled the top lazily.
Vivien shook her head. “Nope, I’m out.”
“Oh.” Calista wavered and looked down at the tank again.
Beyond the glass, club guests turned to stare at a group of physically stunning men coming into the bar. The Snowers ice hockey players had arrived.
Calista caught her breath, but she was only looking for one. Ronan. There. His build was unmistakable even through the distortion of water and distance. Her heart picked up, beating hard in time with the pumping pulse of the music. She slipped flippers on her feet and climbed atop of the ledge. Kneeling there, the rough plastic bit into her knees and the water in front of her bubbled.
“Wow. Go for it, aqua woman, you do you.” Vivien backed toward the host and removed the harness holding her oxygen tank. She offloaded the O2 and set her flippers by the worker. He didn’t look up. “I’ll find Olivia.” Vivien saluted her. “See you back at the hotel.”
Calista nodded and waved. She put her mouthpiece in and dove forward into the cool Canadian Mer-bar water.
