Demonika: Boy this is what my 5th or 7th name change? So hi everyone it's Aegis/ Nexus/ Karen/ Tania/ god knows what name potentially, back after what I can only describe as the longest time I have been away from here for multiple reasons.
I did not think I would work up the courage to publish this story as it's one of my more longer ones and definitely a lot darker than my previous works. As a heads up, this is rated M for the future chapters as nothing early on is too bad, but later on it gets worse so just a heads up on that. So the long and short of this story is literally, take the cast, flip some roles and species around, and see what awesome story we can make with some similar premises and all new wacky ideas to bring to Mako.
Zac: I'm actually kinda scared about what you're gonna do to us... Especially with your track record
Demonika: Well you have no reason to worry really do you. You're a merman turned human turned merman, not much we can do there
Now I don't want to make the role switches feel too similar, each character will still act like they would. This is a slightly AU story, still set in the same area but... you know me, I can't stick to the full universe. There will also be a few OC's in this one again since Mako only has so many characters, I need one or three extra to help me out. Now in terms of seasons, this goes up to 2/3, so no Weilan. I had envisioned this story just before season 2 came out and honestly cannot find much room for her. So sorry this time Weilan.
But with all that said, I do hope you enjoy!
A Reverse Tail
Chapter 1: Why did it end up like this?
It was just another beautiful morning right across the Gold Coast, the early morning sun beams dancing on the surface of the lively waves that collided with the shoreline. A few kilometers north from the main beach is a rather secluded an unknown section of canal, and within it stands the house of three sisters: Lyla, Nixie and Sirena, living with their mother Lillia. The three of them were as inseparable as they were daring and ambitious; if they had an adventure planned, nothing was going to stop them from going. Their challenges accomplished already at the age of 17 were impressive indeed, but there was still one thing that eluded their long list of triumphs, and that was surviving a night on the mysterious Mako Island. Given that it was their collages summer vacation time, they had plenty of trips to go on. Many people who had been there had never stayed for more than an hour or so, and they wanted to prove it wasn't as deadly as everyone thought.
Lyla began to stir as she heard her annoying alarm clock go off. She stumbled out of her bed to walk across to the other side of the room and turn it off, letting out a rather long yawn as she stretched. The next thing she did was wake Sirena up.
"Sirena," Lyla cooed to her, giving her a quick shake on the shoulder. Soon after, Sirena sat up, letting out her own yawn and stretching her arm.
"Good morning Lyla," Sirena greeted, still sounding a little groggy. Lyla flashed her a smile and turned to face the bed in the middle of the room only to find that it was empty.
"Huh, Nixie must have spent the night in the shed again," Lyla said out loud to herself, noticing the immediate absence of her other sister. Besides the house they lived in, there was also a small anex like accommodation on the land that the three sisters called the shed, as that is what it was initially used as. It has enough room for 3 beds in case the girls didn't feel like sleeping in their room with each other. Sure they loved each other as sisters but it's only natural for them to get on each others nerves a lot.
Lyla threw on her dressing gown and headed downstairs. Unlocking the side door, she headed over to the shed and began banging on the door. "Nixie! Nixie are you awake?"
"Hang on will ya?" A voice called from within. A few seconds later, Nixie appeared, looking as pale as a ghost. "Is a woman not allowed to sleep around here?"
"How come you spent the night our here? Something on your mind?" Lyla asked dodging her question. Nixie wouldn't usually come sleep here unless something wasn't right.
"Yes... today's trip," Nixie replied bluntly, letting Lyla inside. A minute or so later Sirena appeared to join in the conversation.
Nixie gave herself a few seconds to gather her thoughts. "I don't want to be a bother, but I just don't think this trip to Mako is a good idea any more."
"Why not?" Sirena asked with a worried tone in her voice. "You've been looking forward to this trip for 3 weeks, and now on the day we're supposed to be going you bottle up and think it's a bad idea? Why?"
Nixie took a deep breath to compose herself. "I've just- just been having this weird feeling, like a sixth sense, that something is going to go horribly wrong if we go there."
"Nixie what could go wrong? We've been to stranger places than Mako," Lyla pointed out.
"Yes but unlike those places they've actually been charted out and visited more frequently. You don't exactly hear many people saying they'd want to try and spend a night on that Island," Nixie defended.
Lyla let out a sigh. "It'll still be fine."
"She's right Nixie," Sirena said putting a hand to her sisters shoulder. "We've done stranger things than spend one night on an Island. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"
Nixie gave her a death glare. "It's an island hardly visited, we have no idea what could be out there, or even in the caves supposedly under the Island. What if there are dangerous creatures out there? We live in Australia you take a look at a picture of the outback and there are over 60 things that could kill you, you think that Island will be much better?"
"I highly doubt that there are many creatures living on the Island, it's not like we're going to be close to the shore," Lyla replied. "If you honestly don't want to come with us then that's fine, don't come, scaredy cat."
Nixie shot Lyla a disgusted look. "Did you just call me a scaredy cat?" She asked in disbelief. "Alright you know what then? I'll come. But if something dangerous happens then it's not on my head."
"Yes, thank you Nixie," Sirena cheered giving Nixie a quick hug. She stood up from her place on the floor and pulled Nixie up with her. "Come on, we should get some breakfast."
- Just after lunch -
The girls were now busy making their final preparations for their journey out to Mako Island. About halfway through, Lyla got a text. As she was reading it, Nixie could tell just by the way her eyes lit up and her mouth curved who it was.
"Jason wanting to meet up with you by any chance?" Nixie called out, knowing she'd be right.
"Maybe," Lyla replied, her body wavering from side to side, a sure giveaway it was.
"If he wants to meet you then go see him, we can handle the rest of the packing," Sirena spoke up. She then turned her head to Nixie. "Can't we Nixie?"
"What?" Nixie asked in disbelief. Sirena could be too nice to Lyla sometimes. A sight followed as she tried not to let her annoyance get the better of her. "Yes, we'll be fine. Just go see your boyfriend."
"Thank you," Lyla replied with a huge grin on her face, grabbing her smaller bag and keys before she set of.
Once Lyla was out of hearing range, Nixie had to confront Sirena.
"Are you seriously okay with letting her leave like that? She roped me back into going out to Mako this morning and then you just let her ditch us so we have to finish all the work, just so she can go see her boyfriend?"
"I don't see the problem in doing so," Sirena replied truthfully, Nixie looking at her dumbfounded. "Think about it Nixie, Lyla is always looking after us both, more than mother can in her condition. Isn't it only fair that she gets to go out and see Jason?"
"I guess you have a point," Nixie replied, even though she didn't want to admit that Sirena was right. Ever since Lillia had fallen ill, Lyla had been the one to take charge over the household, looking after them and their mother where she could.
- At the Ocean Cafe -
Lyla walked through the doors, immediately greeted by Jason with a hug and a kiss. Jason was her boyfriend of about 8 months or so. He was 2 years older than her, and a science teacher in training at her old school. He wasn't actually a teacher yet, he was still on a course to become one. He had dark brown hair, the fringe swept to the right of his face, the rest of his fine hair falling down to around the back of his neck. His eyes were a light hazel colour and his left eye in particular had a long scar running over it. To cut a long story short a dissection went horribly wrong and during the same incident, the same eyes was pierced with a small knife, and needless to say, it didn't look pretty. Jason refused to have any kind of operation or removal done, so he just help that eye shut all the time. Even Lyla didn't know what the pierced eye looked like.
He sat her down at the nearby table he'd take up, Carly bringing over their drinks that Jason had ordered before she got here.
"Mhh, Watermelon and Lime Frappe, my favourite," Lyla cheered happily, taking a big slurp of it through the straw. "Now just how did you known that it was my favourite flavour of them all?" Lyla and Jason never really hung out much at the Cafe, and if they did, it was to eat.
"It's kinda obvious to me really," he replied. "I mean you and your sisters are always drinking it whenever you come here together so I just assumed you must really like it."
Lyla thought on that for a second, and turns out he was right. "Yeah, I guess we do end up always ordering it," she admitted, letting a small giggle out at the end. "So what did you call me out for anyway?"
"I want to ask you out on a very special date," he began to say taking a hold of Lyla's hands. "There's a really posh restaurant out on the edge of the town that my cousin runs and despite being packed he offered to keep a table open for me at some point. So I thought since it's been a while that you and me have been out anywhere special together, that I would take the opportunity.
Lyla let out a small gasp when he mentioned a posh restaurant. She never got to go out to fancy places and eat expensive food. "It sounds lovely. What day and time?"
"I was hoping for tonight," Jason replied, Lyla's face dropping a little. As much as she wanted to go, they'd finally gotten their Mako all sorted out, with all of the agreeing to go together. Jason immediately noticed the shift in her facial expression, taking a pot shot at why she seemed sad about that. "Did you, Nixie and Sirena have another one of your trips set up for tonight then?"
Lyla just nodded her head refusing to look at him. He grabbed her face and turned it towards him. "If you and your sisters have something planned then I'll just re-book it for tomorrow. I'm sure Tim won't mind. I know it's tough to split the three of you up if you've planned a trip."
Lyla suddenly cheered up hearing it. She thought it would be a hassle and she didn't want to miss out on either, but now it was perfect. Mako tonight, come back the next day and go out for a fancy meal with her boyfriend, it was all too perfect.
"If I may ask, where are you guys going this time?" Jason questioned.
"Nowhere special," Lyla replied avoid his question.
Jason let out a small huff of disappointment. "Of course you're not going to tell me. You never tell me because you think I'll follow you, am I right?"
Lyla began to blush a little. "It's not like that at all I promise! It's just... we always keep it a secret so no one can disrupt us on purpose. I promise I'll tell you where I went after I go there tonight. Sound like a fair deal?"
"Yeah it sounds fair," Jason replied bringing Lyla's face closer to his for another cheeky kiss. "That's kinda all I had to say, and to buy you a drink of course."
"Well thank you for the free drink, and thank you for being so understanding about the whole trip and restaurant thing. You have no idea how much I appreciate it," Lyla stated as she stood up, grabbing her drink. She walked round to Jason to give him a goodbye hug, then left to go back and help with the final checks that would need to be run on the boat.
Just after she'd left, Evie came through the doors, the other person Jason was hoping he'd run into today.
"Evie," Jason called, grabbing her attention. Evie immediately heading in his direction, taking residence in the seat where Lyla had sat.
"What do you need from me this time?" Evie asked, letting out a small sigh at the end. The two of them couldn't go one meeting without Jason asking for some kind of favour.
"I'm pretty sure you know what's coming up next then," he said, giving his head a quick scratch. "Are you going out on any dives near Mako Island any time soon?"
"Why do you ask?" Evie responded, rather suspicious of why he would ask something like that.
"Well," he began. "I sort of accidentally left behind the camera that had all of the important images from mum's recent exploration on the Island, and I really don't want her to find out that I left it there. Do you think if you go on a dive sometime soon near there, you could get the camera from the South Shore?"
Evie crossed her arms, thinking on it for a moment. "You really are lucky when it comes to stuff like this, I'm going out on one later this evening around that area.
Jason let out a long sigh of relief, and then looked up to Evie with puppy dog eyes. "So will you get the camera back for me please?"
As much as she wanted to say no to teach him a lesson, she couldn't say no to such a good friend. "Okay fine, I'll get it back for you."
"Yes!" Jason cheered. "Thank you so much Evie, I'll find a good way to repay you for this!"
"Mm hmm, and it'd better be good at that," she warned him. In previous times, he wasn't exactly known for being fair in his deals like this.
With that conversation over, Jason headed outside to call his cousin and rearrange his date with Lyla.
After he'd left, a fairly tall boy with fluffy slightly dark chocolate coloured hair and a pair of eyes the same colour to match walked in, Evie rising up out of her seat and running into his arms.
"Zac," Evie greeted. "It's been too long since I last saw you."
"Yeah sorry that it's been so long. I meant to try and come here last week to see you but I got caught up in some family stuff," he replied.
She seated him at the table where she was once sat and ordered a couple of drinks for the pair of them along with some prawns for Zac, his favourite odd snack. Within seconds of the prawns being put down, he immediately dug into them, disposing of them in record time. It received him a weird look from Evie, but it was nowhere near as weird as the face he was given by her when they first met.
"I will never understand your addiction to prawns," Evie said as Zac wiped his mouth having polished off the whole bowl.
"Can't help it," Zac replied truthfully.
"So why did you come here today anyway?" Evie asked. "You didn't call to arrange or anything. Just a... surprise visit?"
"You could say that," Zac replied, resting his head on his hand. "I just came here on a whim, taking a break before tonight.
Evie suddenly remember what night it was tonight. "Oh yeah, tonight's a full moon, your family get-together night."
"Yup, the one night a month when all the Blakely family is free for once," Zac replied distantly, his mind a little focused on something else.
"It must be awkward with so many of you, especially when you're the son of the heads of the media company," Evie pointed out.
"Meh," Zac replied. "It is a little, but at the end of the day when we're all together, nights like tonight are really special to us."
Evie couldn't help but smile at him. He was always so bright and cheery even though his family life seemed extremely complicated, meaning he usually never got time to come out and see her.
"I never thought to ask, but how come the night your family is always so free is the night of a full moon? Is there something special about it?" Evie questioned.
"You could say there is," Zac replied, trying to be careful about what he said next. "I guess... it's just kinda been a tradition in the family from what I've been told, most of us are never busy with work on the nights they fall on. I think to stick to that a lot of us work our schedules around the dates they're set to fall on. I was told a daughter of another division leader that a few generations ago, they used to gather on a full moon to cleanse their bodies and find peace with everyone in the family, something about the full moon having magical properties or something. Maybe they're right though, it is very relaxing to have everyone together in such merry spirits unlike the normal day to day madness."
Evie shrugged her shoulders and replied, "fair enough." She then remembered about her promise to Jason. "Listen Zac. I know you have to prepare for tonight, but would you consider coming out on a dive with me in a while?"
A lot like when Lyla was asked about her date, his face dropped, and almost became filled with worry. "I'm sorry but I don't do dives. You know that."
It was worth a shot. "Well I don't really know at all. Whenever I ask you out on one, you always say no. Do you have some kind of fear of water or had a bad diving experience in the past?"
"Nope," Zac replied a little sharply. "Diving just doesn't interesting me at all. But I do love hearing your stories about all the different sea life you see." That made Evie brighten up a little after his sharp response to her. "Where are you diving later then?"
"Mako Island," Evie replied, Zac's face dropping a little once more. Evie let out a small sigh. "What's wrong now?"
"What? Nothing. Nothing is wrong just..." Zac stuttered. "I've hear that- Mako Island is a little strange on a full moon."
Evie shook her head. "I'm sure everything will be fine. I've been there before on a full moon and nothing bad has ever happened."
Zac seemed a little shocked by this. "Seriously? You've seen nothing weird?"
"Where are you going with this Zac?" Evie asked back, getting just a wee bit tired of him being cryptic.
"Nowhere. It's just stories that I've heard. But like you said, if you've seen nothing then everything will be fine," Zac replied, regaining his confident demeanor. He glanced down at his watch, realising he would have to leave to begin on preparations. "I've got to go now but thank you for the drink and prawns."
Evie leaned over and have him a kiss, bidding him goodbye as he stood up and left. As soon as he did, Carly asked one of the girls on duty to watch over the bar for a little while, as she came and sat down with Evie to have her break.
"So, I see fish boy came back to see you," Carly began.
Evie let out a small laugh. "Why do you always call my boyfriend fish boy?"
"Because every time he come here, he eats nothing but prawns, tuan and lobster. Come on, you can't tell me that is not fishy," Carly replied.
"I see your point," Evie admitted. She did find her lover's eating habits a little odd but she didn't mind. "Did you hear what's happening with Jason?"
"Yeah, you gotta help the poor sap yet again," Carly replied. She had to make this next point. "Why do you always help him out anyway when half the time he doesn't thank you or give you any sort of reward?"
"Because-" Evie began, having to stop herself to think of something. "Because he's just a big goofball. On his own, he'd be completely screwed over and over, and for some reason, I can't help but help him get himself out of tight spots."
Carly let out a huff. "Evie you are too kind for your own good sometimes, especially with Jason," she pointed out. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow since you've gotta go prepare for your dive and all that."
Evie stood up and gave her a goodbye hug. "You have no idea how tempted I am to just leave it and not get his camera."
"Do it, he could do with being taught a lesson," Carly reminded her as she went back to her work behind the bar. Evie headed out and began the walk down to the docks to prepare her boat and diving gear.
- Out on the beach -
Instead of heading out for the town or residential areas, Zac had instead come straight down to the beach. Checking that no one was around to watch him, he dove into the clear blue water, his clothes melting away and his legs replaced by a long elegant blue tail. You see, Zac isn't who he's believed to be. To all humans, he is Zac Blakely, mystery son of the Blakely Media Corporation, the biggest unknown business in the industry. But to those of the Ocean, he is just Zac, the only merman born from Mako Island.
As he began making a B-line back to Mako, he was joined by a friend of his.
"Zac, you up for a race?" The man called.
Zac smirked back at him. "Game on Cam!"
"First one to enter the Moon Pool wins!" He shouted, as both of them kicked off, torpedoing through the water.
Cam was one of Zac's greatest friend, knowing him since he was 5 years old. Came too was a merman, with the exact same tail, but his fin had a fairly large chunk missing from the left side of it from when he'd gotten into a fight with a shark in his younger years. His hair was fairly short, blonde and slightly curly in some places. His eyes were almost as blue as the Ocean itself, and he had one of the cheekiest grins you'd ever seen to top it all off.
Within the space of 6 minutes, they'd already made it to Mako Island, and headed straight round for the moon pool entrance. Zac was the first to surface, letting out a small victory cry, Cam appearing all but a couple of seconds later, annoyed that he'd lost. Zac turned around to see his face and slung an arm over his shoulder. "Oh do I need to go make up for the loss now do I?" Zac asked, Cam trying his best look away but Zac's arm had reached round and was stopping him from turning his heady away.
"Would be nice," Came replied, eventually getting Zac to move his arm.
"How does a swordfish sound then?" Zac asked back.
Cam's ears perked up and so did his face when Zac mentioned Swordfish. "I know it's your favourite," Zac cooed.
"Alright! Yes swordfish would be absolutely lovely. Now go find some you sore winner."
Zac just shook his head at Cam and let out a small laugh before diving back under the water, wondering how on earth he was going to find some swordfish around this time. There was only one port of call, and that was to find David.
Zac headed around to the east shore of the Island, finding a slightly secluded area of rocks. Sprawled out on one of em basking in the sunlight was yet another merman. This one had very curly hair, a slightly lighter brown colour than Zac's own, and his eyes a strange colour that was inbetween brown and green.
David let out a yawn and stretches his body out, opening his eyes to see Zac staring at him. "What do you need this time Zac?"
As Zac opened his mouth to begin speaking, David sat his body upright and interrupted him. "Actually don't. I'd say by you coming here... that you and Cam had a race, he lost, and now you need to find something to cheer him up."
"Spot on as always," Zac replied. David knew him and Cam all too well. "Think you could help me find a good spot for some swordfish?"
David thought on it for a moment, eventually slipping off the rocks back into the water, beckoning Zac to follow him. "There should be a good spot somewhere off the south shore at this time of day given the weather, better hurry though.
Zac grinned and dove under following David to the hopeful swordfish spot. After a few minutes they'd reach the area David was thinking of. To Zac's happiness, there was a fairly decent sized group of them, and something else. Looking towards the middle of the group, there was a fishing line with bait attached to the end of it, and looking up to the surface you could see the boat that it was from.
David glanced over at Zac who was unable to take his eyes away from the boat, most likely he was curious about it. After David looked up and saw the symbol on the boat, he immediately grabbed Zac's hand to stop him from moving upwards. "I wouldn't if I were you, don't want your girlfriend to spot you."
Zac was quite surprise by David's words. "How are you so sure its her? You didn't even know she was coming out here today."
"I don't have to, I know the symbol for the old fishing company any day, 100% sure that's her boat. I know deep down you'd love to just be able to tell her and not keep it all a secret but there's no way she can find out, it's too dangerous," David said giving him a lecture.
"I know that," Zac replied with a slightly sad tone. He looked towards the fishing line and noticed a swordfish flying straight for the bait in the end. The moment it got the hook caught in its mouth, Zac rushed forward to rip the hook out and slice its neck with it, blood spilling out into the vicinity. It looked like quite an old aged one too, should make Cam feel much better.
"Thanks David!" Zac called out as he swam back as fast as he could swordfish in hand to meet Cam.
David just stared dumbfounded but eventually looked back to the boat to see a new line being cast with fresh bait. He felt rather bad that Zac had just taken it like that, and so grabbed a nearby unsuspecting swordfish, jammed the hook into its mouth, and watched as the line ascended back up out of the water. Curiously, David followed it upward and poked his head carefully out of the water. He was right though, it was Evie's boat. He waited silently until she'd put the fish in a nearby ice cooler and was about to call out her name until she turned back around, letting out a small gasp in shock when she saw him.
"Jeez do you think you could have said something instead of just sitting there like that?" Evie asked as her tried to get herself back together after that.
"Please believe me when I say I didn't mean to scare you," David pleaded.
"Wait a sec." Evie took a moment to stare at the figure and run that voice through her head. "David?"
"Been a while right?" David replied.
"Yeah it's been like 3 years since I last saw you, how are things?" She asked back.
"Same as usual, not that much happens around here. How about you? You finally taken care of the company issues?"
"Yeah finally sorted out the work to dissolve the business and focus on my diving shop instead. I know Dad's fortune was decent but I still need to keep myself busy," she replied, something crossing her mind. "And, if not much happens here, then why don't you just swim somewhere else?"
"Oh trust me we'd all love to but certain affairs that I can't talk about means we can't," David replied a little sharply. He didn't like to talk about what had happened at all.
"'We' huh?" Evie asked picking up on that specific word. "Not exactly surprised if there are more of you but it's not really a humans problem as you said."
David just smiled back at her and said sorry anyway. They had a brief chat before Evie left to go park up her boat and get ready to go diving, David heading back to the moon pool.
When he got back, Zac and Cam were lounging around, a pile of bones next to Cam from the swordfish that he had devoured. "I see someone readily enjoyed their loss reward?"
"Oh yeah, swordfish is just the best. Thanks for helping find it by the way David," Cam replied.
"Hey," Zac spoke up. "You just assume I asked David to help me?"
"Come on Zac you are completely hopeless when it comes to fish locating. Why search yourself when you can take five minutes to find the expert who was used for 7 years as a fish finder?" Cam questioned in response, sparking David to speak up.
"I know I have knack for it but it's not like I wanted to. If I didn't, who knows what Elliot might have done to me," David said in his defense.
"If I were you back then I'd have threatened them and be done with it," Cam replied. "If needs be, if they'd have ever threatened to spill the secret they wouldn't be alive on my watch."
Zac perked up in detest at the statement. "Cam I get you have a burning hatred for humanity but that's a bit far isn't it?"
"Is it?" Cam asked with a tone of anger, ready to grill him. "It was humans who revealed Mako Island to the world destroying the veil. It was one human who fell into the Moon Pool and caused the entire pod to flee, and it was that one human who's the sole reason why we're still stuck here guarding this Island after all this time. They've done that to us and yet you still insisted on using that moon ring they entrusted to you to do what? Grow legs and make friends with them? I don't see how after all that why you'd still want to even socialise with them."
Zac fell extremely silent after that, unable to respond.
"I must admit, Cam does have a point there," David said breaking the silence, Cam looking over and flashing him a grin of thanks.
"Regardless of what happened, there's a natural curiosity that I can't get rid of. And besides, you know I owe part of my life to that couple that saved me. It's the least I can do for them," Zac responded eventually. "I understand that what a few have done has ruined us in a way, but that doesn't mean all of them are horrible monsters."
Cam would never admit that Zac was partly right about that. Evie never ratted David out, and yes there was that couple who saved him. But a couple of good eggs in the basket of humanity was not enough for him.
"Come on David, full moon patrol should be starting now," Cam said in a low tone as he ducked under the waves to leave for the northern shores.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then Zac," David said as he followed Cam out of the moon pool to make his way back to the southern shores.
- Later on into the night -
The girls had already set up camp with Nixie practically forcing Lyla to set the up the tent after ditching them earlier with prep for Jason. They'd eaten their dinner and were already settled down for the night in their sleeping bags. Whilst Nixie and Sirena were pretty fast asleep, Lyla laid there restless. When Nixie told her this morning that something didn't feel right about today, she was beginning to feel it as well.
It was something about the Island, and boy was she determined to find out what it was that was making her feel like that. She tired her best to crawl out of the tent without waking up either of her sisters and slipped on her shoes. Just as she was about to head off, she heard Sirena calling her name, and poked her head back into the tent.
"Lyla where are you going?" Sirena asked.
"I'm just going to do some exploring," she replied seeing no reason to hide that fact.
"Will you be okay by yourself?" Sirena questioned. "If something were to happen to you neither of us would be nearby for you, and we might not hear you at all."
"Sirena I'll be fine trust me. As I said earlier, we've all done weirder stuff. Doubt this Island has much in the way of danger seeing how we've been on it for a few hours with nothing bad happened." Lyla replied. Sirena felt somewhat assured by her words and just nodded her head in response, snuggling back down to sleep. "I'll try not to wake you up when I get back."
With that, Lyla began making her way up the Island into the forest area ahead.
On the south side of the Island, Evie had finished up her dive and was currently digging into the swordfish that she presumed David had helped her catch. Once she finished it, she looked at her boat she'd anchored down, and then looked back to the Island behind her. She'd been on Mako's shores plenty of times, but never had she actually ventured any further up into the forests ahead. After disposing of the fish bones, she grabbed her jacket from the boated, and headed on in.
Meanwhile around the outer perimeter of the Island, everything seemed okay for David and Cam with full moon patrol. Seemed. Both soon came across sights that troubled them a bit. Since the trio of sisters were camping on the north shore, Cam had found their fancy speedboat anchored down and 3 set of faint footprints in the sand going off into the forest area. As for David around on the south, he eventually came across Evie's boat with no sign of Evie. All of her gear was in the boat and he noted the footprints from the sand going off into the forest as well. Both fearful of them still being here, they decided to rush back to the moon pool to consult Zac.
Within a minute both of them rushed in, Zac rather surprised by their sudden appearance.
"The full moons going to be up any minute what are you doing back here?" Zac asked with concern.
"Between what me and David saw, there's a combined total of 4 humans on the Island right now. Your girlfriend, and 3 unknown strangers, all headed off into the forest area," Cam reported.
"Well nothing should happen right? They're probably all just exploring and camping, it's not the first time this has happened," Zac replied, honestly thinking there wasn't an issue.
"That may be true but we've never had humans around on the Island on a full moon. You know what that moon does to this place there are loads of secrets we still don't know but we know the full moon is the key. You really want those humans stumbling across something?" David asked.
Zac pondered on that for a few seconds. David was right, the Island on a full moon was too unknown to them, there was no telling what would happen to humans on there. But he had his duty as a merman born there. There was no way he could leave it exactly. He had to break it to them. "If we're going to do anything, it's going to have to be you two." He handed David his moon ring. "Use it to get legs and go into the forest land on the hunt for them."
"I'm sorry you expect me to get human legs?!" Cam shouted in protest.
"If there was any other way I would never expect you to, but in this situation we don't have much a choice. I can't leave here on a full moon anyway, I'm the only of us who's allowed to bathe in the moonlight as someone born of this Island, I can't leave you two in here on your own. I'm sorry."
David took Cam's hand and dragged him out of the moon pool asap.
"What are you doing?" Cam questioned as David kept his grip tight.
"Following Zac's orders!" David said rather sharply back. "I don't care how much you detest humanity I'm not putting our lives or theirs at risk on this Island."
Cam just shut his mouth and went along with it. Once they surfaced near the shoreline they dragged themselves out, David placing the moon ring in front of it and following the steps that Zac had once shown him should he ever need to do it. Within seconds a bright light overwhelmed the pair, and before they knew it, their tails were gone and in place were human legs. Thanks to doing it how Zac had done it, they also appeared with clothing on. Just a simple black t-shirt, black jeans and black boots.
"This feels so disgusting," Cam said as he rose to his new feet.
"Quit your whining already," David replied getting a bit tired of the human hatred Cam carried so hard. He looked over to Cam who seemed to be struggling to keep his balance, and after one step forward, found himself propping Cam's body up as he was about to fall over. "Just take a moment to get stable okay?"
"And how exactly are you so easily doing this then?" Cam asked rather jealous.
"I've been around humans before, got a rough idea how this walking business works. Anyway, we'd best hurry." To help out, David took a hold of Cam's hand until he was more used to walking.
- Further up the Island -
Lyla hand ended up going much further away from the camp than she expected, wondering around aimlessly hoping she might find her way back. She decided to take a break, leaning against a rock wall. She looked up to the sky to see the full moon rising over the island, just passing over her head. Seconds later, she felt the back of the rock wall vanish, hitting the ground with a mighty thud, letting out a cry of pain.
Not too far from where she was, Evie was also just as lost. After hearing Lyla's faint cry, she decided to head in the direction of the noise.
Down further in the forest Cam and David were trying to find their bearings. They decided if they followed the position of the full moon, it eventually lead to the peak of the volcano over the moon pool. With any luck they might find something heading that way and up a bit of higher ground too.
Lyla sat herself upright, giving her back a quick rub. What she was though was amazing. The rock she was resting against now had a huge chunk missing out of it, almost like it was a doorway. As far as she could see, it seemed like there was a tunnel in the rock formation, natural light flooding out of it. She slowly rose back up to her feet and began walking slowly through the tunnel in amazement. She couldn't believe something like this existed on the Island. How she only wished that Nixie and Sirena could be here with her to see it. She did consider going to find them, but considering how lost she was, there was no point.
As she walked through the tunnel, it eventually came to a rounded open area, a strange dial on the wall with a glowing symbol in the center of it. For some reason, and she wasn't sure why, Lyla felt drawn to it, like something was calling to her. "Just what is that?"
Just as Lyla had reached the circular room, Evie had found the entrance as well, immediately stunned by the opening in the rock wall with natural light shining out. After hearing another voice again, she wasted no time and ran straight through the tunnel to see who else was there. Yes she was in shock seeing this tunnel, but she really wanted to know who else was on the Island.
Slowly but steadily Lyla lent forward, her arm stretching out and her hand touching the strange symbol on the dial. When she did, it glowed even brighter for a moment, and she began to hear noises akin to rocks shifting around.
Down in the moon pool, the full moon had risen over, the water heating up and bubbling violently. Zac laid back a bit and basked in the glory of the moonlight. It felt amazing, almost indescribable to anyone else. Though his glory was broken we he too began to hear the noise of rocks shifting around somewhere, looking up to see something was weird with the peak of the volcano.
"Lyla?" Evie asked with short breath as she ran into the room, focusing immediately on her.
"Evie?" Lyla asked back in shock. Evie was on the Island too?"
Before they both knew it, the floor beneath them turned to jelly as their feet began sinking, their whole bodies eventually being pulled through the rocky floor and both found themselves falling, both of them screaming as they did. Before they knew it, they hit the water beneath them, falling unconscious the second they broke through the waters surface.
Zac meanwhile was in major shock. Two girls had just dropped down through the top of the volcano somehow. And to top it all off, the moon was still overhead when they had fallen in. He made haste and pulled their bodies back up to the surface, in utter shock at one of the two girls he found. "Evie?" He asked himself, his breath taken away when he saw her face. This was bad, there was no way to describe just how bad this was. He dragged their bodies up onto the side and comptenplated what to do for a minute with them.
Meanwhile back up on the Island, following the source of the moon for the boys was going well, and before they knew it, they'd stumbled across the same open rock formation the girls had with the light flooding out of it. Both curious, they stepped inside and followed the tunnel down until they reached the open circular room too, immediately taken back by the dial on the wall.
"David? Why is the symbol of the trident carved into that dial there?" Cam asked, quite fearful of it for various reasons.
"How do you expect me to have a clue why?" David asked back, the same bit of fear in his voice. Both had heard from their pod about what the trident had done in the past and that it had been sealed away somewhere, but no one had much of an idea as to where.
Before they had time to question it, the light of the moon had fully passed over the head of Mako, and shenanigan time was over. They both heard the sound of more rocks moving and wondered what on earth it was. They headed back down the tunnel towards the entrance only to find that it had closed over on them.
"Well this isn't good," David stated obviously.
"Any bets the full moon is what was doing this? It was pretty far overhead by the time we got in here," Cam noted.
A spark of genius hit David. "If it was the full moons doing then..." He pointed the moon ring Zac had left to him at the door and concentrated, the ring glowing bright with moonlight. Within moments, they heard rocks shifting again and the rocky door dissolved giving them a way out.
"Smart thinking there!" Cam said praising him. "I would hate to think what would have happened if we got stuck in there."
"Indeed," David replied for a sec composing himself. "Well, we didn't exactly bump into the humans at all. Think its safe to say we should try and find our way back to the shore and back to the moon pool to report to Zac.
"Best idea I've heard in a while, I hate these damn legs," Cam said as he started walking down in the direction they'd come from.
"Yeah yeah," David said getting over the annoyance of Cam saying that stuff.
Back down in the moon pool Zac was still panicking, and was even harder when he saw another body swim back through the entrance to the moon pool. If it was Cam or David he was screwed. He quickly placed the hands of the girls over each other, and placing his hand on top of theirs, used his invisibility to cloak the three of them.
Who he saw though, was a merman he didn't recognise at all, one he'd never seen before. He noticed the merman staring directly in his direction and let go of his invisibility over him and the two girls, staying extremely cautious.
"Well well, that's quite the predicament you have there behind you," the merman said openly.
"Just who are you exactly?" Zac questioned. He wouldn't trust the man until he knew more.
"Oh right, you haven't seen another merman in a while have you. Don't worry, I'm a friendly, a runaway outcast from the moon island pod," the man replied.
Zac tensed up upon hearing that name, anger filling his head.
"Calm down, I'm not one of the ones who participated in the war! Remember every one who did go to war with your pod died on our side. I ran away from them before the war was even set in motion, I only learnt of it when I began travelling in these parts again," the man explained, trying to get Zac to calm down.
Zac seemed to let up. "If you had no part in it then that's good. Sorry for getting so worked up straight away."
The merman smiled back at Zac and put a hand to his shoulder. "I wouldn't worry, you had every right to after all. Besides all this, you're gonna need some help getting those two out of here. You take the brown haired one, I'll take the blonde on."
"And what exactly are we going to do?" Zac asked. Did this man have some sort of plan. "After all they've just fallen into the moon pool on a full moon you know what happens right?"
The man paused for a moment and turned to Zac. "I know fulwell what happens, that's why I said it's quite the predicament you have. I can't tel you what to do about them in the long run, all I can do is help you get them back to the shore out of here."
Zac just nodded his head in response and picked up Evie's body whilst the man took the body of the other girl who was with him. They went around to the south shore and dropped the two girls up on the beach there.
"That's where our little meeting ends, I have to get going before they figure out where I am," the merman said openly.
"They?" Zac asked confused. "Is something wrong?"
Realising what he'd just said, he took a moment to get his words right. "Long story put short, I did something a while ago that a certain group of individuals weren't too happy with me doing. I thought if I came to Mako I might be able to throw them off my trail, but I fear not for long. I'd better be off elsewhere."
"Is there nothing I can do?" Zac asked worried for him.
"Nothing you or your two friends can do. Besides, you'll have your hands full with these two humans for now," the merman replied, reminding him and warning him of what was going to happen. "See ya around kid."
And with that, the merman disappeared at top speed before Zac could even say a proper goodbye or thank you for helping in carting the humans to the shore. He took one last look at Evie's body, terrified of what was to come.
He went back to the moon pool only to find Cam and David inside, almost like they were waiting for him.
"And where exactly did you go?" Cam asked with a tinge of anger.
"Well the full moon had passed so I went out to see if I could try to find you two, but I didn't see anything so I came back here," Zac lied.
Cam took a deep breath. "So nothing happened here right? No humans no nothing?"
"Nothing at all, just another regular full moon," Zac replied, lying through the skin of his teeth again. "What about you two on land?"
"Don't even make me think about that," Cam said angrily.
"Just quit it already Cam," David said. He was still a bit fed up of his reaction to the whole thing. "Other mermaids had to do it in the past to protect the Island and this was no different." Cam just scoffed and shut his trap. "Anyway, we didn't find much nor did we see any sightings of the humans. Everything sounds like it went okay then."
Cam had spoken to David on their trip back into the moon pool. They'd tell Zac eventually about the trident symbol they found carved into that dial into tunnel; as the only sole merman of Mako Island, he had a very deep connection to the Island and anything within it. They wanted to look more into it on their own first.
"Well if there's nothing that happened anywhere, then it was a success," Cam said.
"Yeah, one full moon survived without anything going wrong," Zac replied.
Neither hand a clue that both were lying like there was no tomorrow. One half of the party had two humans fall into the moon pool and bathe in the moon light of a full moon, the other party had found the potential resting place of the Trident. Come the next day, both would be looking into their issues.
As the moon sank over Mako Island, there was a general feeling of unrest between the three boys. Neither side knew of the extreme trouble that lay ahead of them. The wheels after this night had been set in motion. These next four months, would be testing and hectic.
Demonika: Oh dear lord I can't believe that I actually just re-wrote the entirety of chapter 1 to fit the new set up and direction this story is going in!
Zac: You did a good job though. Gotta ask, why did you cut out the bits about Evie's dad and the background the the veil? You did mention them still after all
Demonika: I wanna fit those in to later story portions as I go, plus there will be some things that are a bit different related to those two topics.
I just hope anyone who reads this enjoys this semi-revised version and will look forward to the next chapter. I have a bit more time and a bit more passion to write again so hopefully I'll be able to get somewhere with this all!