Having met up on the shore after coming up empty handed in the sea, the group of hunters each stuck to their pairs and were designated a particular spot on the island to look for clues. Zagreus and Styxx looked around the freshwater sources, Willow and Pandora around the beaches and Aries and Icarus headed inland.

The island was very lush, and the seals living on the beach were very calm and didn't seem to mind the group walking right by them as they continued to nap in the sun.

Trudging through the lush greenery, Icarus was falling behind as usual.

"What have I told you about appropriate shoes?" Aries sighed.

"I only have like one pair of sneakers from school" Icarus replied.

"And you didn't wear them because?"

"I'm not wearing sneakers when I have to walk through the sand, they'll fill up with the stuff"

While sand in your shoes is indeed very annoying, she really should be wearing something that is at jelly sandals for days like this.

"Plus these are way cu- AH!"

Aries heard Icarus land in the dried leaves behind them, not surprised at all she managed to trip. Luckily for her, Aries learnt a long time ago that if they were going to be hanging around with these idiots they better bring bandaids.

"Fucking dumbass" Aries sighed, turning to find Icarus pushing herself back to her feet.

"Eewww there's probably tons of bugs in those leaves..." she complained, brushing her dress off.

"Did you cut yourself? I have hello kitty bandaids"

Icarus looked herself over, seeing no cuts or bruises, just some dirt stains.

"No I'm good, definitely need to wash this dress in stain remover though" she replied.

"What did you even trip on?" Aries asked.

She looked around in the leaves behind her, trying to see what she'd caught her foot on in the first place. She noticed something in the leaves and when she reached down to pick it up, she found what looked like a broken tool.

"The fuck is this?" She muttered, holding it up.

Aries took a look, lost for answers at first, but it was upon closer inspection they realised.

"It's a spear, a broken one but a spear" they replied.

"How can you tell?"

"It's had all the bark shaved off, and it's the right shape and length"

"Is it Izroulian?" Icarus asked.

Aries took it from her, looking for something like a sigil.

"It might be, it looks like the kind we use for spear fishing. Although with the tip broken off. The tip is usually a shark tooth, one that fell off the shark naturally" Aries explained.

With a lead, they two kept looking around the general area for something else. Sure it could be made by a human, but what human would be out on this random island spear fishing? With a hand carved one nonetheless. Spear fishing done by humans is usually done with a manufactured spear gun made with metals. This was wood, hand carved and clearly made from completely natural materials you could pick up off the ground and use.

"Aries this looks like charred wood" Icarus spoke up, looking down at a pile of ash and charcoal.

Aries came over to look, sure enough it looked like an old campfire.

"I think we're onto something, this all looks somewhat recent" they said.

A campfire and a spear on this island and a burnt sigil on the last one. They were definitely getting closer and their island hopping theory looked to be correct.

"Let's meet up with the others, show them the spear" Aries said.

"I won't trip this time" Icarus replied.

"We'll see about that"

The two made their way back to the meeting spot, finding Willow and Pandora already there watching some of the seals flop around.

"Guys look! We found something!" Icarus called out.

The seals weren't even phased by the noise, they just looked over at her for a moment and went back to sleep.

"What is it?" Pandora asked.

"Spear, broken but it's a spear. There should be a shark tooth on the end but it must've snapped off" Aries replied, handing it over for the girls to look at.

"Woah... was this all done by hand?" Willow asked.

"Yep, definitely Izroulian. We also saw the remains of a campfire"

"Guys!"

The group turned to face the male voice, Zagreus and Styxx rushing up with something in their hands.

"We found stuff by the creek!" Zagreus said.

They had a big conch shell and the broken handle of a bucket. Two things that don't naturally occur in a creek.

"Oh that's definitely Izroulian" Aries said.

"That's what I thought. Looks like conch filtering stuff" Styxx replied.

"I'm human born please?" Icarus asked.

"It's a super old method of filtering water. You scoop it up with a conch shell, pour it into a bucket with filter paper over it and then heat it up to kill germs. Conch shells actually hold a lot of water if you find one big enough, that was what we used before buckets were a thing and we kinda just kept using them for tradition purposes"

Willow was very intrigued by all this, it made complete sense for a different realm to have different traditions and methods of survival. She'd never thought of using big conch shells as buckets.

"We found this, it's a broken spear. As well as an old campfire" Aries said, handing the spear to the boys to look at.

"That's definitely a spear fishing spear. My dad makes them" Styxx commented.

"Definitely, it's just missing the tooth on the end"

"So the pod we're definitely here somewhat recently then?" Zagreus asked.

"For sure" Aries replied.

They felt they were getting closer and closer by the day at this point. Any one of these islands off the coast could be the place they find the pod. It was a matter of catching them at the right time since they clearly hopped from island to island.

"I wonder how many there are, they seem to be good at covering their tracks if there's a lot of them. From everything we've seen so far it only looks like a few people have been here" Pandora asked.

"There's gotta be more than a few. Tons of people fled before the war broke out and during it, some of them probably died from other things outside of the war like old age or sickness, but that still means there's gotta be a handful out there" Styxx said.

"That's what I'm hoping, we've got our evidence for this island. We'll have to search the next one next weekend or something. We also better report to Haru we're getting close" Aries said.

In agreement they'd hunt again next weekend, they headed back to the boat with their evidence and we're off back to pointbreak. Pandora and Willow were back at the drivers seat, navigating back home sitting beside each other.

"That was fun, I've never been that close to seals before" Willow commented.

"The wildlife is definitely a bonus. Although you do get jump scared by sharks sometimes" Pandora replied.

"They won't hurt a mermaid though, right?"

"No they're cool, just kinda scary to see when you turn around and suddenly there's teeth in your face"

Willow had only encountered a shark once, when the sirens went off and she had to quickly get back to shore while out surfing once. They may not mind mermaids but humans were a different story, if you leave them be they won't hurt you but if a human splashes around near one- your leg is coming off. Basically, don't fuck with sharks until you're a mermaid or a professional.

But that's beside the point, Willow had been close to wildlife while out surfing before, but never as close as she was today swimming with Pandora. It was like having a mermaid nearby told the fish that you were safe, you were with the mermaid so it was cool.

"How deep can you go?" She asked.

"With breath hold training, we can get down to the midnight zone. Anything past that it's too dark and the water pressure is too much for our lungs. Although there could potentially be a species of deep water mermaid still alive in the abyss and trenches" Pandora explained.

"No way, there was a species that can withstand that?"

"Yep. We have no idea if they're still around since exploring down there is kinda hard to do and no exploration has been done since the war. Weather or not there's still some alive dorm there is a mystery, I think there is, I mean the ocean is huge and it's super dark down there, it'd be easy to hide"

"Can they even come up to the surface?"

"They can but not onto and. They're the only merfolk with gills rather than humanoid lungs. And their eyesight would be really shit up here in the sun"

Now THAT was something she wanted to see. What would a mermaid that's more fish than person look like? How would they talk to each other under the water? See each other in the darkness? Would they have those little lights like angler fish do? Would they be bioluminescent? Would they use echo location like whales and dolphins? So many questions...

Willow didn't want the day to end as she pulled back into the docks and tied up the boat, it was just so much fun hanging with magic people and going into the open ocean with them. And of course, she didn't want to say goodbye to Pandora for the day. But it was getting late, they all had to be home soon.

Being thanked for the boat access and help, one by one the group began to head back home with plans to meet up again next weekend.

Pandora was the last there, helping with the boat maintenance after docking.

"Alright I gotta go, dad'll want me up early to help get all the fishing stuff ready. Thanks for all the help though, it was fun" Pandora said.

"I had fun too, I'm glad I'm somewhat trusted" willow replied.

"You'll be 100% accepted into the group, I know you will. The Izroulian borns are just a little skeptical of new people"

"I understand why, I'd be skeptical too"

Pandora liked Willow, she was trustworthy and so willing to help. It was nice having a human friend amongst all the magic people too.

"I'll see you later, who knows maybe tomorrow if you're out by the boat" Pandora said.

"Maybe, see you" Willow replied.

"Bye"

They parted ways down the docks off to their own homes, Willow smiled having had a lot of fun that day. She hoped she had a chance with Pandora, because she couldn't take her mind off the mermaid.