A Tale of Two Masks

Had she replied too quickly? Too slowly? Summer was a bundle of nerves as the seconds ticked by. It was only three, maybe four when the icon appeared to show that Ashton had read her message. Only a few seconds after that when he sent his reply.

“Where do you want to meet?”

She hadn’t thought that far ahead. Summer tried to think of a good place for their date. Ideally it would be somewhere fun and distracting. Distracting for her, so she wouldn’t lose her mind, and distracting for Ashton so he might not notice any probing questions she failed to disguise. With very little time to think, she replied with the first thing she could think of.

“The aquarium?”

She had even typed a question mark in her answer. Face flaming from a ridiculous and unnecessary sense of embarrassment, she awaited his response. Never had a simple conversation wrecked her emotional stability so fiercely.

The seconds dragged on before the bubble with its three little dots appeared. Those ever ambiguous dots that left her hanging on the edge.

“Which one?”

A short, two word response, and luckily one Summer had a ready answer to. Her mother often spoke about the aquarium that her father had proposed to her at, in the romantic scenery of the underwater tunnel. Walter’s Waterview: See the Undersea Aquarium.

The name of the aquarium was actually split because the aquarium itself was split. Walter’s Waterview featured water mammals, amphibians, and freshwater fish. See the Undersea Aquarium showed everything from the ocean surface to the darkest depths and trenches. There were two underwater tunnels. One that was brightly lit, featuring the coral reefs, and a a dimly lit one that showcased the various luminous creatures of the deep.

Summer quickly types the full title of the aquarium, as well as all of its best features. She left out the part about her parent’s proposal, though. She was confident with the endless sights to see, Ashton would be more than distracted enough for her to slip a couple loaded questions in without him noticing.

The aquarium was slow at this time of night, with only a few hours until closing time. Most people opted to visit during the day when they could better appreciate the outdoor exhibits. It was also past the time for any live shows Walter’s Waterview was famous for, but there was a recorded version of the otter show by their large viewing windows. On the plus side, Summer did get to witness the adorableness of sleeping otters.

Ashton didn’t seem that interested in the clearly inactive exhibits, but he waited patiently for Summer whenever she lagged behind. As for Summer, she was on the lookout for souvenirs. She needed something to bring back the mood in case she got caught asking uncomfortable questions.

Between the amphibians and freshwater fish, there was a large counter displaying various souvenirs and aquarium approved snacks and drinks. Among them were adorable matching otter sets, and Summer immediately knew that was exactly what she was looking for. The set had one otter floating on its back, and another standing on its feet. Summer immediately gave the back floating one to Ashton.

“A souvenir!” she told him, before he could come up with any kind of refusal, “You otter take it!”

The terrible pun slipped out before she could stop it, and she was grateful when Ashton silently accepted the stuffed animal. There was a bit of a pause before he tried his hand at a reply.

“I guess I have no otter choice.”

Summer let out a wild giggle before she managed to contain herself. “That’s right,” she told him, “And you are very welcome.”

Now in a bit of a lighter mood, she headed deeper into the aquarium, passing by a lake themed display with sunfish in both bluegill and pumpkinseed varieties. It was time to start fishing for some information. She looked into the water current and tried to think of a good way to broach the subject.

“Did you hear about that one villain dying?” she asked, then quickly backtracked, “Sorry, that must be sensitive information for your company.”

This was awful! She couldn’t have used a less subtle method! Summer glanced over to see Ashton’s reaction, only to find him as calm as ever.

“I’m sure everyone has heard of it now,” he replied, “After that, I can’t see any villain aiming for those artifacts.”

The artifacts. Summer had forgotten about those in the flood of everything else going on. “That one I had to deal with was dangerous too,” she recalled, “I am glad Shadow Phoenix was able to deal with it better.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Ashton agreed. He was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. “I just can’t help but find it odd that he went out of his way to save you.”

He didn’t know either. Of course he wouldn’t. He was still just a new employee regardless of his higher security clearance. Summer felt a bit bad for trying to squeeze information out of him. Then she realized something.

“Ashton, did you tell that to anyone else?” There was a certain panic to her voice as she couldn’t help but think of the worst case scenario.

“What do you mean?” Ashton asked her, surprised by her sudden change in attitude.

Summer dragged him deeper into the aquarium, checking for cameras, people, and any other threats of secrecy. “There are rumors SI is hiding a big secret,” she whispered, “A secret about their villains. If they think you are onto them you might be in danger.”

“Danger?” Ashton asked, visibly shocked.

She nodded, unable to stop herself from glancing around her again with suspicion. “Be careful.”

Despite her warning, Ashton didn’t seem concerned. “I’ll be fine,” he assured her, “The most they will do if I find out their secrets is force me to sign some kind of nondisclosure agreement.”

His hyper-realistic view did oddly set Summer more at ease. She cracked a small smile. “I guess I had better be careful too. Can’t let them catch me in the terror of contracts.”

With the heavy conversation out of the way, the pair continued through the aquarium, inevitably finding themselves in the first underwater tunnel. The glow of the artificial sunlight was several times brighter than the corridors had been. The two of them were the only ones there, each holding an otter plush and seemingly muted in the vibrant environment behind the glass.

First was the carefully replicated landscape, dotted with colorful corals and various anemones. Naturally, the anemones came with clownfish and other native reef fish in a variety of vibrant colors. Since this was a tunnel, the breathtaking scene wasn’t contained by a tank embedded in the wall. Rather, the walls and ceiling were all made of glass in a curved arch, ending in an intricately carved archway made to look like coral at both entrance and exit.

“It’s beautiful,” Summer breathed, barely above a whisper, “Let’s go see the other tunnel!”

She dragged Ashton deeper into the aquarium, finally arriving at the second tunnel. This one was so dim she could barely see in front of herself as her eyes adjusted to the new lighting. The first thing she caught sight of was a jellyfish. Unlike the tunnel before, this one was sectioned off to safely display the various kinds of luminous sea life. The tunnel also gave the impression of going down a steep slope, even though Summer was certain the ground was level.

Looking at all of the glowing fish was cool, but Summer decided she preferred the reef above. Ashton, on the other hand, seemed taken in by the creatures of the deep. Unfortunately, before they could explore any further they heard an announcement over the intercom warning that the aquarium would be closing shortly.

Once she was alone in her room, Summer collapsed on her bed, carefully stroking her new otter friend. She hadn’t found out anything about SI, but she was now confident that whatever was going on, Ashton wasn’t part of it. That was good enough for her. Still, her desire to sleuth had not been quenched. If she wasn’t going to find anything about SI through Ashton, she might have to find another avenue.

Summer pulled open her computer and switched to an incognito tab, applying a VPN just in case. It was time to see how much she could dig up on MysteriousMaskz with her amateur skills.