They looked into the chest and saw gold coins and a scallop shaped locket. It sounded like the music was coming from it. Umi picked it up and looked at it. It had her name spelt in Japanese Kanji on the front of it. She opened it and saw a picture of a woman with red hair with her dark haired father in it. It looked like the woman was pregnant. "I wonder who that is," Dave said.
"I think it's my mom. That's definitely my father in the picture. I wonder why they left it in the ocean," she answered. The music from the locket sounded familiar to her. Eventually, there was a click and the music stopped. She closed the chest and grabbed her sweatshirt. "Do you want to stop by my house and dry off? My dad probably won't mind," she said. Dave shrugged and stood up, brushing the sand off his legs. He put his shirt back on and lifted one side of the chest. Umi took the other and they walked back to her house.
Her father was home when they walked in. "Where have you been, young lady!" her father exclaimed.
"I was at the beach with Dave. We found treasure!" she exclaimed with a fake smile. Umi knew how to trick her dad into not being mad. She just had to act innocent. It works every time. Her father looked at the chest, then at Dave. He motioned for them to come in and they set the chest down on the living room floor. They dried off and Umi showed the locket to her father. He looked shocked when he saw it.
"Where did you find that?" he asked in Japanese.
"It was in the chest. Look, it even has my name on it!" she replied in Japanese. Dave looked at them. He couldn't understand what they were saying at all.
"There's a reason why it was there!" her father exclaimed.
'How was I supposed to know? You never told me anything about it!"
"That was to protect you! Put it back where you found it," he answered. Umi ran outside and jogged to the beach. She didn't want to put it back. She walked along the shoreline until she heard someone running from behind her. She turned around and saw Dave, panting.
"You run fast," he panted. Umi chuckled and walked with him until they came across a fishing net. It was covered in seaweed and crabs. She walked up to it. It looked too large for regular fish. As she approached it, she saw something breathing in it. Was there a person trapped in it?
"Dave. Come check this out. I think someone's trapped in this net," she called. Dave walked over and noticed something.
"It might be a dolphin. I can barely make out it's tail."
"Who'd trap a dolphin? Let's move it in the water so it doesn't get dehydrated," she replied. They lifted the net and moved it waist deep in water. Umi tried pulling the net open with no luck.
"Go get my dad. Tell him to bring scissors. He'll help us," she said. Dave ran back to the house. Umi noticed the animal moving around in the net. She started humming the music box's tune and it seemed to calm down a bit. She looked around and saw a fog starting to roll in. It looked like someone was walking in the fog. She squinted her eyes and saw two figures. One was holding a light.
"I got him!" a boy exclaimed. She turned towards the voice and saw Dave coming with her father.
"Hurry! Someone's coming!" she whispered. Her father took out a pair of scissors and started cutting the net.
"This is a little big to be a dolphin. Are you sure it's not a baby whale?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. It's hard to tell through the seaweed," Umi replied. She looked towards the fog and saw the two figures running up to them. Just as they got closer, Umi's father finished cutting the net and the animal swam off.
"Dammit! Why'd you let it go!?" one man asked.
"That looked like a good catch too!" a woman exclaimed.
"Because that dolphin did nothing to deserve that kind of treatment. You're lucky it wasn't injured!" Umi's father exclaimed.
"We caught a dolphin? That was unexpected," the girl said. Umi squinted again and saw the girl was wearing a white lab coat and had purple hair and green eyes. She looked familiar.
"What were you trying to catch?" Dave asked.
"Sirens, boy. They're all over Ireland's oceans."
"Ha, ha. Very funny. If they're everywhere, why haven't I seen one before?"
"They shapeshift, idiot! They can change their tails on land and look human. That girl with the blue and green hair could be one! Everyone knows they have unnatural hair colors!" the man exclaimed. Umi scoffed at him and went deeper in the water. She floated on her back and stuck her legs up.
"Then why are my legs still here? It just shows I'm human," she said.
"Proves nothing. They can change their tails and legs whenever they want," the girl said. Umi swam back angrily and grabbed her father and Dave's hands and started walking off.
"Let's go. There's no sense in talking to crazies," she said. When they got back to Umi's house, they all dried off and looked at Umi.
"What?" she asked.
"Did you put the necklace back?" her father asked.
"No, I'll do it tomorrow. It's getting late," she said.
"I'll make an exception this time. Just hurry up. Dave, do you want to call your parents and let them know you're here?"
"No, I don't live too far from here anyways. I can just walk home," he replied. Dave waved and left the house. Umi put her sweatshirt on and walked back to the beach. She saw a set of staircases heading up a cliff. She walked up there and noticed the railing looked rusted and weak. She took note and stayed away from the edge. She watched as the moon was rising and heard someone coming up the steps.
She turned and felt someone push her into the railing. She instictivly grabbed it and felt one end pop out of place. She clung onto it and looked at her attacker. It was hard to see him in the dark, but she noticed he had a gun. He pointed it at her. She looked down and noticed she'd land in the sea if she angled herself right. She let go and tried landing in the water, but she hit her head on a rock in the process. As she started blacking out, she saw a man swimming towards her.