She went inside the motel and a giant orca with Swedish horns and an unnerving laugh told her it would cost 30 Steem Dollars for the night. Minnow hadn't thought too much about money but she remembered she’d set up a free account at the Fishbank earlier. She opened her account booklet and discovered that there were already three deposits in it which totally surprised her.

10 Steem dollars was from the Nerd Shepherd, 10 was from the donkey-eared tuna and 10 was from the tiny clam that she helped get unstuck from a crevice. She had exactly the correct amount to stay at the motel.

The big Swedish orca gave her room keys and told her that funny songs and videos played on channel 3. But the orca also told her that if she watched the videos, she would have to pay an extra fee.

Minnow thanked him and quickly retired to her room for the night. She couldn't watch the videos because she had run out of money.

In the morning she was shocked awake by the big orca's booming voice and bangings on her door. He said she had slept 10 minutes over the checkout time and that she now owed him an extra five Steem dollars.

She told him that she didn't understand and that she was not aware she had to check out at a certain time. She gathered up her things and told the orca she was sorry but that she didn't have anymore money right now. The orca started screaming and cussing her out, calling her a “Bucking Fishfitch!” and a “Cucking Spotted Funt!”

Without wasting a millisecond, Minnow swam as fast as she could away from the angry orca, gasping for breath, adrenalin pouring into her veins, helping her harness whale-like strength and speed. That was certainly the last time she would be staying at the Swedish motel.

After she calmed down a bit, she remembered that she was supposed to be in school. She knew her parents and her classmates might be worried about her. She also knew she might be in trouble but she was just having way too many adventures and couldn't see any good reason to leave the cave yet. Plus, she hadn’t found the Octopus yet. And she hadn't figured out the meaning of the shimmering whale's symbols. There were too many mysteries needing to be solved.

Instead of going back to her school, she decided to go in search of the Octopus. She saw more unusual creatures on her way to the Octopus’ lair.

Then a very small Fangfish appeared out of nowhere.

Minnow instinctively knew to dart away from him for his face was dark and scary and had two long, skinny fangs hanging from each corner of his mouth. As she was almost in the clear, the Fangfish made a quick dash for her and one of his fangs pierced her metallic scale, ripping it off. The flesh underneath the absent scale began to bleed and sting. As she swam away, she briefly looked behind her. She watched the Fangfish slither away, back into his dark hole in the seabed, her shredded metallic green scale clinging to the corner of his hideous mouth.

After her close call she immediately took notice of another small fish who was waving hello to her. She recognized his scales because they were from the same school as hers.

The small fish approach Minnow and said, “Hello there. You may not know me, but I know you. I saw you leave our school and I decided to follow you here. You do good work and I'd like to help you with your mission. I also saw the complex structure that the shimmering whale was building. I don't yet understand all the symbols, but I figured out the meaning of a few of them.”

Minnow said, “Fintastic! I'm so glad you found me because it was awfully lonely in here. I'm really excited to hear what you discovered about those complex whale symbols, too. Hey do you want to come with me to find the Octopus? Have you visited her yet? That's where I'm headed right now.”

The small fish whose name was Data replied, “No, I haven’t found the Octopus yet, either. Let's go together!”

So Minnow and Data swam on in search of the Octopus. After many twists and turns they finally arrived at the sunken ship. They entered the ship and immediately saw a purple tentacle greet them.

“I've been waiting for both of you,” said the Octopus.

Minnow replied, ”Thank you for welcoming us here.” Data also expressed his gratitude.

Octopus led them to a lavish guest room and they all sat down and were served tea and crumpets by a little blue crab.

The Octopus pointed her long tentacle to a window and told Minnow and Data to look out. They saw huge stretches of tiny fish waiting in long lines for the whales’ soup. Many fish were waving signs that read “PLEASE READ AND FEED ME” and they were kneeling on their fins begging for attention from any creature who happened to pass by.

The Octopus looked Minnow and Data dead in the eyes and said,

“Do not do as they do. Do not beg. Do not make yourself less than you are. The cave will not benefit if you think small. Take these electric black swan amulets and wear them every day around your necks from now on. As long as you show the amulets gratitude and pay attention to your dreamworld, they will guide you to the internal treasures. But the day you take your amulets for granted or start ignoring your dreamworld, is the day your external and internal treasures will begin to fade away. Go now. I have nothing more to say to you both.”

........TO BE CONTINUED

Part 1 is here

ALL ART AND STORY BY STELLABELLE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©2016 STELLABELLE