That Saturday was particularly windy. Ursula, Giovanna, Angelo and Sarah have gathered on Mole Street. They were all staring into the bridge meant to be undergoing maintenance. There were no workers working on it at the moment. But it was not the effect of the weekend break.

“So you’re saying something’s underwater?” asked Angelo.

“I think so,” said Ursula. “If there was a wave so big then something had to cause it.”

“And we’re going to dive and try to see what that was?” Angelo said.

“Precisely,” said Giovanna. “Sarah, do you have the potion?”

“Yup! Just as ordered.” said Sarah as she was taking her backpack off.

Angelo looked into the river. He felt kind of melancholic.

“Looking for a magical disturbance and finding a way to deal with it,” he said. “I don’t remember the last time I did something like that without an order from  Mr. Ovid.”

“Try treating it as fun,” said Giovanna. “When did we swim together last time?”

“Not in a pool?” said Angelo. “True. I missed the feeling of wild water. Although I guess I’d prefer to get in a swimsuit.”

“I will dry our clothes after we finish,” said Ursula. “I took the figurine of Fan Man with me.”

“Fan Man? From Funk Man?” asked Angelo. “That seems a bit out of your taste.”

“It did change a lot,” Ursula admitted. “But I guess I will always have some nostalgia for Funk Man.”

“Alright. Are you ready?” said Sarah.

She was smiling and holding four vials of a blue potion.

“I’m as ready as I can be,” said Angelo.

He took a vial from Sarah.

“You were saying you made those yourself?” he asked.

“Yup,” said Sarah.

“Wow, congratulations!” said Angelo. “Magic was never my thing, but it’s nice to know you want to learn.”

“Thank you,” said Sarah. “I hope they’re gonna work. This is possibly my second successful batch.”

“Well… I guess I know the perfect way to find out,” said Angelo.

He drank the potion in one gulp. Giovanna and Ursula also took their vials and drank them. Finally Sarah drank her potion. It was her first taste of her creation. It tasted really salty. The taste in fact kind of startled her. But Sarah’s pride made it feel kind of pleasant.

“So when does it start working?” asked Giovanna.

“When you put your head in the water I think,” said Sarah. “I’ll go first to see if it works.”

Sarah walked to the river. She really hoped her potion worked. She took a breath of courage, closed her eyes and put her head in the river. For a moment she felt she couldn’t breathe. Then she felt her cheeks splitting. It was a bit painful, but not more than a mosquito bite. And through these splits in her cheeks she could breathe again. She opened her eyes and touched her cheek. Gills. She had gills. The potion has worked. Sarah felt so happy. She has made a successful potion her friends could use. She brought her head to the surface and showed her gills to her friends.

“It works!” she shouted.

“Wonderful!” said Ursula. “Let us go then.”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on,” said Angelo. “Let’s discuss how we’re gonna communicate before we dive in.”

“Good idea,” said Giovanna. “We won’t be able to speak after all.”

“Alright,” said Angelo. “Look closely. I suggest we use at least these three.”

The girls gathered to watch. Angelo formed a circle of his thumb and index finger.

“This will mean that everything’s OK.”

Then he straightened his fingers. He put them together and spread out his thumb and little finger.

“This is how we’ll show we have a problem.”

And finally Angelo made a simple pointing gesture.

“And if you see something of interest then immediately point at it. Is everything clear?”

The girls nodded in response.

“Well then, let’s go,” said Angelo.

All four jumped into the river. After a little shock and the splitting of their cheeks they found it surprisingly easy to move in the river. Angelo turned to the girls and showed the OK sign. Each of the girls also showed the OK sign. Suddenly Ursula noticed something in the corner of her eye. She looked that way and saw a mysterious dark shape. From that distance and with so little light reaching her eyes through the water it looked kind of like a sack of potatoes. But it was swimming in the water. Not floating above it or sinking on the bottom, but swimming. And even getting away from the team. Ursula momentarily pointed at it. Her friends turned around and saw it too. Ursula tried to swim towards it. But just when she got just a bit closer it started swimming away. Really quickly. Ursula couldn’t catch up to it. Angelo tried to catch it too, but it was too fast. Not only that. It was swimming up. As if it wanted to emerge. Angelo stopped when he noticed he couldn't swim fast enough. He simply swam to the surface. The girls followed him because they couldn’t really do anything else. On the surface they all needed a moment to get used to breathing air again.

“Holy shit… What was that?” said Angelo. “It was swimming at… like… the speed of a motorboat!”

“Whatever that was, I think it is causing the waves,” said Ursula.

“But if that’s so then how are we going to catch that?” said Sarah.

“I guess we simply have to find some way,” said Giovanna. “Although I don’t think I know any ritual that can help us here.”

Sarah looked to the right. In the direction the mysterious swimming sack of potatoes went. It was satisfying that they have found the source of the problem. But it was disappointing that this was all they managed to do about it.

“Unbelievable,” said Ursula. “Is that really all we can do? Do any of you know any spell or something that could help us?”

“I doubt it,” said Giovanna.

Suddenly Angelo noticed some movement. A woman sitting at the riverbank. On a closer look he noticed she was dressed in a light beige dress. There was something in this colour that picked his interest. It looked almost like that thing they were chasing through the river.

“Holy…,” said Angelo. “Look!”

The girls turned to see what Angelo was seeing. They were really confused at seeing the running woman.

“Who is that?” said Ursula.

“I think it’s that something we were trying to catch,” said Angelo. “And I’d like to find out.”

He ran towards the woman as fast as he could.

“Stop!” he shouted.

The woman turned around and stopped. She had long uncombed hair that was the same colour as her dress. The dress itself seemed to be all she was wearing since Angelo noticed she had no shoes.

“What is it?” she asked as if she was angry and in a big hurry.

Angelo stopped and spread his hands in a calm-down gesture.

“Have you noticed the waves on the river?” Angelo asked. “We’re trying to find out what might be causing them.”

“I’ve got no idea what it is or how I might help you,” said the woman.

Angelo wanted to say something, but he had no idea what.

“Alright. Nevermind then,” he said.

Angelo turned back with resignation and walked to his friends.

“Well… This is it, I guess…,” Angelo said. “We can go home for today.”

The girls looked at him with disbelief.

“Are you saying we shall give up?” Ursula asked him.

“Not at all,” said Angelo to make his thoughts clearer. “I’m just saying we should… take a break. We should go home for now and return tomorrow to continue searching.”

“This sounds like a good idea,” said Giovanna. “I guess we can go home and discuss what to do now. After all, we have lost that thing we were chasing.”

“I see…,” said Sarah. “So we shall wait until next morning and come back with a new plan?”

“Exactly.” said Angelo.

“Well… I guess that is indeed the best we can do,” said Ursula. “So… Tomorrow right here at the same hour?”

“Sounds fine to me,” said Giovanna. “Sarah, do you think you’ll be able to prepare more potion for tomorrow?”

Sarah did some counting in her head. Did she have all the necessary ingredients in her house? No. She seemed to be running low on algae. But when she was learning how to make the potion, wasn’t she using sushi algae? Like regular sushi algae that you can buy at a regular supermarket? Yes, it had to be just that. So there was no problem with buying more.

“You know what? I think I can make more,” said Sarah.

“Wonderful,” said Giovanna.

“But… Let’s try to find out the answer by tomorrow, OK?” said Sarah thinking about her wallet. “This potion has many expensive ingredients, you know?”

“Sounds fine to me,” said Angelo. “But let’s not forget that the mystery can go on for several days.”

“I hope it does not,” said Ursula.

After some words of farewell, the four friends went to their homes. They couldn’t wait for the next day and the answer to the questions bothering them. What was that mysterious thing they were chasing? Was it responsible for the waves in the river? The only thing they were sure of was that they needed to find it out.

Unbeknownst to them the woman in the brown dress has overheard them. She heard them saying everything about what they were trying to do. She sat at the riverbank thinking what she should do about it.