Set after Season 2 of H2O: Just Add Water. Please read and review! This is my first fanfiction so I'd love it if you told me what you thought.

Chapter 1: High Seas

Emma's alarm went off at 6:30 am. Already awake, she climbed out of bed and switched it off. 20 minutes later, she was walking downstairs in her well-pressed uniform; her blonde hair neatly clipped back, sensible sandals on her feet, ready for work at the JuiceNet café. Except that she hadn't had breakfast, so Emma made herself a bowl of cereal. She sat down at the table, next to her younger brother Elliot to eat it.

"What are you doing today?" she asked Elliot.

"I'm gonna go to the marine park with Kim."

Emma laughed, "Again? I thought it didn't go too well last time."

"I told her that she was paying for herself today - and I invited a few other people," Elliot replied.

Emma glanced at her watch. "Well, that's me. I have to go, so see you later."

Emma arrived at the café a few minutes early, so she wasn't in a hurry to unlock the doors. When she did open them, all she could do was gasp. And stare at the water everywhere.

The counter was dripping with it, and the whole café was flooded with water several inches deep. The sound of water running directed Emma's gaze back to the counter. A sink was overflowing and the tap wasn't just dripping. There was a steady gush of water coming out of it.

"Oh no," she thought. The tap was working fine as far as she knew, so why was water pouring out of it? The water was creeping slowly towards her feet. Emma couldn't step any further into the café because with the sandals she was wearing, she would get wet in seconds. And turning into a mermaid in the middle of the JuiceNet café wasn't the brightest idea, unless she wanted the whole town to know about her being a mermaid. And once that was out, there would be no way to stop people - doctors, scientists; from finding out that her best friends Cleo and Rikki were too, and eventually the whole world would know; and pictures of their mermaid selves would be splashed across every newspaper cover in the world!

Okay, that's not going to happen, Emma told herself. Just calm down, she thought. All you have to do is freeze the tap-

Her hand was almost level with the sink when she heard footsteps behind her. She swung round, pulling the café door shut with her. A dark-haired head appeared from behind the stand of trees near the café. Emma let out a sigh of relief. It was her boyfriend, Ash. He was the manager of the JuiceNet. Ash smiled at Emma as he walked up and gave her a quick kiss.

"You're here," Emma said when they broke apart.

Ash looked confused. "Is that a bad thing? Aren't I allowed to be on time to work?"

Emma smiled. "No, it's not that."

"So, what are we standing out here for? We should get to work."

"About that," Emma said. "Um, the café's kind of...

"Locked?"

"No, I have my keys."

"Well what then? Have globs of green goop taken over the café?"

Not today, Emma thought. She realised that she would have to tell Ash what had happened eventually, so she might as well get it over and done with.

"The café's flooded," she said.

Ash started laughing. "You're joking right?" But then he looked at Emma's face. "Oh - you're telling the truth?"

Emma nodded frantically.

"How did this happen? Hang on that doesn't matter. We'll have to start cleaning it up then."

Emma looked at him, eyebrows raised. "We?"

"Oh I mean I will. Is it that bad?" Ash asked.

"Uh huh. I could swim in it. Not that I'm going to. I don't think you'll get it tidied up too soon, by the look of it."

"So why don't you just get Rikki over here?"

"Why? It's not like she can clean it up any better than you-" Emma cursed her stupidity. "Right, she can just boil the water away!"

Emma reached into her bag for her cell phone and started dialling Rikki's number.

"Tonight, tonight, tonight…" Rikki's cell phone bleeped out the chorus to her favourite song on Kate Alexa's new album. She yanked her bedcovers up over her head, but her phone just became louder. Groaning and still half asleep, she pulled herself up into a sitting position and held her cell phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she yawned.

"Hey Rikki, it's Emma. I need you to-"

"What time do you call this?"

"7:26. Rikki, you have to get here now!"

"Em, it's Saturday morning. You know I'm not a morning person."

"Well you'll survive. The JuiceNet's flooded and I need you to give it a steam dry."

"So Miss Perfect finally made a mistake, and left the tap running. We all knew she would crack eventually…" Rikki laughed.

"Just get over it, and get over here!" Emma snapped.

"Oh, okay. Because I know you need my special power to do it. See you there as soon as I can get myself out of bed." Rikki switched off her cell phone and swung her legs on to the carpeted floor of her bedroom.

When Rikki appeared from behind some trees a way off from the café, Emma let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Hey, do you want me to go turn off the tap?" Ash asked. "The less water there is, the faster it can be cleaned up."

"Yes, if you can turn it off." Emma replied. "It might be broken. I can't think of any other reason why it's on. You did turn it off last night before you locked up, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course I did." Ash opened the door to the café. Emma stepped back, aware of the water lapping around the bases of the chairs and tables inside. Just then, Rikki came rushing up.

"Wow," was all she could think of to say. "There's going to be a lot of steam in here once I get going. It'll be like the inside of a kettle soon. What time does the café open?"

"Eight o'clock." Emma hurriedly answered.

"So I've got half an hour."

"Twenty-seven minutes."

"That's what I said…"

Emma decided not to argue. "As long as you get it done before someone arrives."

Meanwhile, Ash had picked his way across the café, trying to stay dry. "The tap isn't broken," he called out to the girls. Indeed, the tap was now silent.

Rikki rolled up the sleeves on her top and stretched her hand out towards the first patch of water in front of her. Slowly, she clenched her hand into a fist and the water rapidly heated up, bubbles already rising to the surface. In a matter of seconds the water had evaporated and all that was left was a slightly steaming - but dry - patch of tiled floor.

"Oops," Rikki said, "If you don't want your customers' shoes melting off their feet, I'd suggest you cool that down."

Emma nodded and held her outstretched hand over the steaming floor. She could feel the power coursing through every atom in her body and flowing into her hand.

But water was defiantly rushing into the space that had been dry seconds before, and though some evaporated off the hot floor with an angry hiss, other water simply heated up, bubbles rising to the surface and then popping.

"You know what would be worse than turning into a mermaid right now?" Rikki asked.

"What?" Emma huffed.

"Turning into a mermaid - and getting scalded in the process!" Rikki replied.

"Ha ha," Emma said sarcastically. Suddenly she realised what she could do. She lifted up her hand again and drew a line with her finger. Now there was a line of ice, stretching from the doors at the back of the café that led to the cool room, to the doors where the three stood. "What was the point of that?" Ash asked.

"Now I've got a path to the cool room," Emma explained. "Rikki, can you boil away the water on this side of the ice first, so I can check it out?" she asked.

"Whatever you say, boss," Rikki said, clenching her hand into a fist and sweeping it over the left side of the room. Somehow, she still found it hard to believe that she had such an amazing power. It had been more than a year ago when the three girls had stumbled on the moon pool at Mako Island and transformed into mermaids, and Rikki was sure that it had changed her life like nothing else ever would.