Like every evening, he sat by the pier and watched the moon set around Mako.
It was a peaceful sight, it reminded him of the good old days, the adventures and miseries they had shared all together, especially on full moon nights. He missed them, even Lewis. His calm, geeky attitude had really been annoying.
Remembering Lewis, gave him a little sting. He wasn't proud of the things he had done, the betrayal. Purposely or not, in the end he had betrayed all of them.
Zane wasn't the kind of guy who got torn by remorse, but the one thing he regretted was to never have been able to apologies.
The same day sixty years ago, he had been the one who had revealed them to the wrong kind of people. These crazy fanatics had been all over the place, searching for his friends, looking for their trophies. Zane had been able to guard them off long enough until they had vanished, but he never had the opportunity to talk to them, not even to say goodbye.
It was the biggest mistake he had made, and even after all this years, where he had done nothing but think about it, he still had no idea why he had done it.
He and Rikki had been in a fight, but they always where bickering about something. This time though it had been different, at least he believed it. Because at some point he had just left. Zane had taken his Bike and drove away. The next thing he knew was that, when he returned to the Café, three guys laid on the ground, all of them dead, all of them dry to the bone. Rikki must have used her powers to defend herself, it was the only plausible reason for him. There had been no sign of her, where she might have gone or who her attackers had been.
Similar things happened to all of them. He found four guys at Cleo's place, totally soaked and unconscious. Bella and Will had not been so lucky, they found there body's floating near Mako island, two days later, both of them shoot.
When he heard the sound, he turned around, just to freeze in the movement. It wasn't possible, his old eyes were deceiving him.
"Hello Zane." Cleo's voice was as clear as ever, it hadn't changed in all this years. She hadn't changed at all. He couldn't believe what he saw. The same tall, dark haired girl he had known for more than five years, the same old Cleo, was standing before him.
"How?" He couldn't think of anything else to say. "How is that possible?"
"It's nice to see you too." She was smiling, the same innocent smile that suited her so much. "How have you been?"
"Fine, I guess." She did change. He couldn't quite point it out, but there was something different about her. A bit of that innocent naivety was gone, the way she looked at him, kind of exhausted, tired and kind of sad. Zane was wondering, what it was that made her so sad, when he remembered the only possible thing. "How is Lewis?"
He didn't expect an answer, he didn't get one, just a sad smile and he knew. Lewis and Cleo had been inseparable, there was only one reason why he wouldn't stand by her side. He was gone.
"How is business?" She looked at the Café. "The place has really changed a lot."
She was right. Rikki's had started with just a juice bar, know it had a restaurant attached and on the other side a cocktail bar. In the end he had been his fathers son.
"It's good."
The silence felt nice. He could see how much she had missed this place. Her eyes were filling with tears as she looked at a pier in the far corner of the canal. Lewis had always been fishing there. He couldn't imagine how she felt.
"How are the others?"
"Hmm" She tried to man up a bit, wiped away her tears, returned from her memories. "They are fine. Emma is in California, teaching a swim team and Rikki is somewhere in Europe, I don't know exactly what she is doing. It has been some time since I last saw them."
"Do they know that you're here?"
"No" again that sad smile. "They definitely wouldn't approve."
"Are you planning on staying?"
"I don't know yet. I mean there is nothing here that would keep me besides Mako, and you for instance, but it feels so great to be home again."
"Then how would you like to stay at least for one day. I got a spare bedroom you can use and I could tell you about the things that have happened around here."
"I'd really love to!" With a big smile she hugged him, it made him kind of wonder if that had been her goal all along.
With her help he got out of the armchair, dammit he really had gotten old. Together they walked back, the moon was nearly full and a light breeze came from the ocean, a truly magical night.
At first Zane just enjoyed the cool fresh air, and Cleo's company. It was as if he was dreaming.
He started to tell her about Nate and Miriam and how the two had gotten engaged, but never married, in the end the two moved both to different cities and Zane had lost contact to both of them. It was a different matter for her little sister Kim, she had never been able to forgive Cleo for leaving her, and neither could Elliot, Emma's brother. It must have been a year after the incident that the two of them started dating, four years later until they got married. They had three children, a girl and two boys, one of them still lived in the old Gilbert house. The girl had moved to America, the other boy to Sydney. The Marin Park was still a very popular place. Cleo was totally thrilled when he told her that a pair of Ronnie's descendants still were part of the show. She really had missed the dolphin.
"What about my old House?" She asked as they entered his home. Cleo hadn't missed the fact that it was still the same one he had lived in sixty years ago.
"It's still there, a couple bought it four years ago."
"What happened to my dad?" It was a simple question. She didn't ask it cheerful as all the others before, but it had an great impact on Zane. His hands began to shake, his legs went numb and for a moment, there was nothing but silence in his head. Steadily he went to the fridge in the kitchen, and poured himself a big glass of vodka. He drank it all at once.
The truce was that her dad completely lost it.
Don Sertory had always been a cheerful man, a bit clumsy and sometimes just plain stupid, but he had always been a loving father, good to his two girls. That his wife had left him, had been hard for all of them, but when his beloved Cleo had just vanished, something inside had just broken. To see him walk around with those hollow eyes was more than devastating. The worst part for Zane had been that Don had no idea why she had left, that till the very end he believed that she would come home to him.
The mere thought of it was more than Zane could bear.
"He died, more than thirty years ago."
Cleo could feel how uncomfortable the subject was for him. He really looked exhausted.
"So what about the bed you promised me?" She knew there was something he didn't tell her, but he wasn't a young boy anymore, and she didn't want to upset him any further. The one thing she already could tell, was that what ever happened to her dad, she wouldn't like it at all.
With a grateful look in his eyes Zane straightened his back, and with a simple wink he gestured her to follow him. He didn't trust his voice not to crack.
The room was cold, no one had entered it since a long time. There were no sheets on the bed, but Cleo didn't complain. It took them a while to find some and after everything was ready he wished her a good night and turned to leave the room.
"Cleo?" She looked at him. "I'm sorry!"