Author's Note: Hey guys, this is my first story...so yeah.. anyway, hope you enjoy it :)
After Graduation: Chapter 1
A week after graduation everyone was relaxing over at Cleo's house. Except for Rikki and Bella, this also included Will and Lewis. Cleo was over the moon (no pun intended) that her boyfriend was back, and not just for a short visit either. Turns out that they had offered him to transfer back to Australia within the same program, and was starting at the institute of biology in Melbourn later this year. This gave him the chance to spend the whole summer with his friends. Lewis had heard all about what had happened while he was gone and he had apologised over and over again that he hadn't been there for them. Cleo had to assure him multiple times that it was fine and that it wasn't his fault.
They had only been back at the moon pool once since the incident, they had mainly gone there to clean up a bit and to examine the damage, to see if it was safe to go there at all. What they had found was that the rock surrounding the pool was severely damage from the explosion, according to Lewis the structure was reasonably stable, but there was a chance it could collapse. Therefore they would have to be cautious if they wanted to be there. Cleaning up proved to be quite difficult. There were pieces of rock everywhere. Furthermore the moon pool seemed kind of lifeless, it might have been because of the mess, but it seemed to have lost its magic. They didn't get the same vibe anymore, and thus didn't enjoy spending much time there anymore. For now they were just spending time with each other and relaxing after an eventful year.
Whatever happened to Emma, you may wonder. Well as far as they knew she was still traveling the world with her family. They had kind of lost touch quickly because she didn't always have cellphone connection and because of the major time differences. To that all the past events can be added, so they didn't exactly have time to give her much thought. As for Ash, he now lived somewhere in the middle of nowhere with his aunt. So they hadn't seen him either.
That evening Bella went for a swim by herself. Both Cleo and Rikki and even Will had offered to go with her, but she had declined. She needed some time on her own after she had been with the others for what felt like 3 days straight. She was just enjoying swimming in the calm water when suddenly a figure raced past her a couple of meters away. Bella was quite stunned. It had seemed to come out of nowhere. When she had calmed a bit she realized it must have been a mermaid. It was the only fishlike creature that could travel at such speed, and it definitely had a tail. Now that she thought about it, she remember seeing something blond. Could it have been Rikki who had decided to join her? Then it hit her, whoever it was was heading straight for Mako Island. She made a quick decision to follow the mystery mermaid. It would answer her questions. At the speed only mermaids can travel, she headed for Mako.
When she neared the opening she slowed down. She carefully entered through the underwater entrance and kept as still as possible. As she had suspected, the other mermaid was indeed there. She definitely had long blond hair and the bright orange tail like herself and the other mermaids she knew, but this most certainly was not one of them. It was not Rikki.
She thought about what she could do. She could make herself known and find out where the new mermaid came from. She could go back and get the girls to help, or she could just do nothing and leave. She decided to go with the last option. It seemed the safest. The mermaid could be dangerouse and evil and threaten their whole existence as far as she knew. So she left as quietly and swiftly as she had come.
Bella's spying had not gone as unnoticed as she had thought. The mermaid had been fully aware of her presence. Maybe it was that she had almost always been around people for the last year that had caused her to be more alert. Bella or 'the new mermaid' concerned her though. After past experiences she knew they were nothing but trouble. Where had she come from, who was she? Did her friends know about her? Or worse, had their powers been taken and was she next? She knew she was probably overreacting as usual, but she had good reason to worry. The moon pool was a disaster and was clear evidence that something powerful had happened there, and she assumed the worst. However, there was still some time till she could find out more, she was only there for a short visit.