Dangerous When Wet
Carly, Sam, and Freddie were getting ready to do their regular web cast in their colorful studio. The two stars of the show, Carly and Sam, were bouncing up and down in the center of the room while their friend and technical producer, Freddie, was tapping his equipment. The nerves in the room was undeniable. The web show they were about to do had to be perfect. They had the chance to win another iWeb Award: one of the biggest internet awards around! A judge by the name of Brian had notified them that he and his fellow judges would be looking for the best comedy shows on the web, and that they had an outstanding chance of winning. Sam did a sort of nervous twirl around the room, her long blonde curly hair flying around her. At that point, Carly was at a standstill with nerves as Freddie continued to play around with his camera and computer. "Okay guys here we go," Freddie said in an unusually high voice, "In 5, 4, 3, 2..." And with that he pointed at the girls to start the show; a red light on the camera blinked on.
Everyone was sitting on the couch in the loft in the main part of the Shay's apartment. Except for Sam, who was at the fridge as usual. "Ah fudge, you people are out of bacon." she said irritably. "Well it's not my fault you ate it all yesterday!" Carly exclaimed. It wasn't unusual for Sam to eat a lot. She was often seen snacking, even during the web show sometime! "Well waiting around for people makes me crave meat! Will that Bryson or whoever just get off his chiz and call us already?!" Sam shouted from the kitchen. A moment later, the phone rang. Carly rushed over to it, leaping over the table in front of her. "Hello?" She said, slightly out of breath. Sam swept past her and sat next to Freddie on the couch. They shot nervous glances towards each other, then looked away. Carly's phone conversation continued. After she hung up with Brian, she looked at her friends, clearly excited. "We won! We're going to Australia for the iWeb Awards!"
"So will this flight be better than the one to Japan?" Sam muttered under her breath to Carly, who gave her a knowing look. Carly merely nodded and continued packing her bag. She was sure this flight wouldn't have possums on it.
Australia was paradise. After a long flight overseas, the went to their hotel and checked in. "Just look at that beach and all the palm trees!" Freddie said excitedly, pulling out his hand-held camera and looking all around through it. Sam smirked at him. "You know I heard there's an island around here with a dormant volcano!" Freddie continued, ignoring Sam's annoyed look. "So let's rent a boat and go exploring, Captain Techno." Carly said quickly to stop Freddie from talking. And out to sea they sailed. It was a glorious day; the crystal blue waters sparkling below, the cloudless sky, the warm salty breeze blowing through their hair. Carly checked the map they'd gotten at the boat rental kiosk. "Are you sure we're going the right way?" "Absolutely, we should see the island soon!" Freddie said, trying to hide his excitement. They soon approached the island. The white sand beach was glistening in the blazing sunlight. Overgrown plants could be seen and unknown wildlife heard. As they made their way through the jungle-like overgrowth, a strange rumbling could be heard. "Shh what was that?" Carly said in a whisper. Another gurgle. "There it is again!" She exclaimed. "That," Sam said with an annoyed look on her face, "was my stomach. I haven't eaten in over two hours! I'm starving!" Freddie rolled his eyes, "Come on, just keep walking" So on they walked
They'd been exploring the island for hours, no sunscreen, no food or water, no nothing. Except each other. They passed palm trees swaying in the breeze, mosses, bugs, rivers, any kind of creature imaginable. It seemed like they were walking in circles. Eventually, they stumbled upon a small opening in the ground. It was nearly midnight now; a full moon casting its light down on the trio. "Come on, let's jus-ba-aaaah!" Sam yelled as she lost her footing and fell down a gaping hole. "Sam are you ok?!" Freddie yelled down at her. "Yeah, I just can't get back up, it's way to steep." "Alright, Freddie, you go find a long vine, I'll stay here with Sa-aaaaah!" Carly screeched as she, too, fell in the hole. Freddie, panicking, ran away to get a vine as Carly instructed. Carly and Sam looked at each other, and went to explore the cave. The rocky interior formed step-like angles. "This must be the volcano Fred-weird was telling us about." Sam said. Carly merely nodded. As they climbed the rocks, they came across a small pool of water as blue as sapphires. There was an underwater route out of the cave; it's walls to steep to climb. A little circular opening at the top was letting the moon's rays shine on the water, which was now bubbling. "Oooh, jacuzzi!" Sam said jokingly. With a loud splash, she hopped in. "Come on in, the water is fine!" Carly reluctantly entered the water. As they swam to the center of the pool, the water had a peculiar reaction: it was bubbling even more now as gleaming golden bubbles floated in a circle around them. The full moon was directly overhead. The girls looked around in amazement. A tingling spread through their bodies as they stared at the moon in amazement. The bubbling stopped as soon as it had started: the moon had passed. The water was now completely still and eerily quiet. "Well that was scary," said Carly, "and wet." "I wonder what the water's deal is?" Sam said, looking slightly interested. "I don't know but maybe is we-" Carly was interrupted as Freddie's voice called down, "I have a vine! I can pull you up!" He pulled them up individually after they'd secured the vine around their waists. They silently walked back through the jungle towards their boat, thinking longingly of their hotel and food for Sam, the water still swimming in their thoughts.
Bright and early the next morning found the iCarly gang grouped around a low table on the floor, talking excitedly about the award show later that night. After much conversing about what to wear and who could be performing this year, Carly excused herself to use the restroom. As she was washing her hands, she noticed the strange tingling sensation in her body once again. She toppled over backwards and landed with a thump on the floor. Carly looked down at herself and couldn't believe what she saw. A long sleek orange tail had formed where her legs had once been. She tried lifting it up, but it was to heavy to move. Where a regular shirt had once been was now replaced by a scaly orange top that was much like a bikini. She reached for a towel and dried herself off furiously in utter disbelief. The moment she was dry, her legs came back into place like nothing had ever happened. Carly rushed out into the main room, trying to wrap her head around things. The water. The cave. "Sam, come here!" she said, pulling her friend behind her. Sam shot Freddie an 'I don't know' look and followed Carly back into the bathroom. "What's this all about-" Sam started, but was interrupted by Carly throwing a cup of water in her face. "Why'd you do tha…ack!" She fell over just like Carly had, and her legs, too, were replaced by a tail. Sam stared at herself in amazement. "What the chiz is going on?!" Sam exclaimed. "I don't know, but when I get wet, I have the same problem you're having now." Sam thought for a second. "That whacky water! What if it did something to us?" "That's what I was thinking too," Carly said, "the only way to find out is to go back to that island.
Carly and Sam were walking along the pier and getting ready to take off. "Should we get another boat or-" Carly started, but was interrupted by a loud splashing sound. Sam had jumped into the water. Carly was staring at her like she was crazy. "Oh come on, we have these things, we might as well try them out!" Sam said mischievously. Her orange fins were spanned out behind her, moving in little circles to keep in one place. Hesitantly, Carly jumped in after her. Swimming underwater was incredible. Shoals of multi-colored fish swirled around them; their fins shining in the sunlight that was seeping through the water. The water wooshed past their ears and their hair swirled behind them in arrays of nonsense. They found that they didn't need to breathe, just hold their breath. They came across dolphins, turtles, and bright coral along their way. They swam slowly as to admire all the beauty. After about a half an hour of pleasant water play, they came upon the fissure in the cave they'd seen the night before. Swimming upwards, they broke the surface of the water. Looking around the cave, they quickly realized they were not alone.
Three other girls were in the moon pool, idly talking and waving their fins around. They all had the identical orange tail Carly and Sam had. They gawked at these other girls in surprise. The trio turned around, a look of equal surprise on their faces. They simultaneously looked down at Carly and Sam's tails and back at their faces. "What are you doing here?" Said a girl with medium-length brown hair. The mermaid to her left had shorter blonde hair that was wispy even when it was wet; on her right sat a girl with long dirty-blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. "We were here last night," Carly started to explain, "We got in the water and it did this sort of weird bubbling thing. This morning, when we touched water, these things appeared." She gestured down to her tail. The trio gave them a knowing look. "We went through the same thing you did not long ago. I'm Rikki." the girl with wispy hair said. The brunette introduced herself as Cleo, the dirty-blonde was Bella. Sam and Carly moved closer, causing tiny bubbles to ripple on the surface of the water, and introduced themselves. "So did you discover your powers yet?" said Bella excitedly. "Powers?" the duo said at the same time. "Yeah well you're mermaids now so you get powers," explained Cleo, "Here we'll show you." With a simple twist of her hand, a dome raised out of the water. As she raised her hand, it grew and changed shape. Bella shook her hand as if shooing away something annoying. The dome turned to a jelly-like substance. Another movement hardened it and sent it back in the water with a splash. As Rikki made a fist at the water, the temperature grew; the water was boiling. Shocked, Carly tried making hand gestures as well. When she held out her palm, the water turned a shocking color of royal blue and hardened around the girls. "Woah, wicked!" exclaimed Rikki, who was now boiling the water again to break it up. Sam tried these movements as well. After a while, she got frustrated and sighed. The sound filled up the cave like a song, ricocheting around them. Sam's eyes lit up; she started singing experimentally and the results were incredible. The song was glorious. It echoed off the cavernous walls and filled the cave with a sweet powerful noise. As she kept singing, tiny jets of water jumped furiously around her, causing her to stop abruptly. "A right siren you are there" Cleo said, looking impressed. "Well I guess there's just one thing to say," Bella spoke in a proud voice, "welcome to Mako Island."
The trio of mermaids explained how they got their tails and powers similarly to how Sam And Carly did. The only exception was Bella, who had gained her tail at the age of nine when she still lived in Ireland. After much chatter about adventures underwater, harnessing their powers, and a past mermaid who had to leave, Carly had realized something. "The award show! It's tonight! "Aw chiz, that means we have to swim back and meet up with Fred-lumps to get ready for the show." Sam whined, clearly annoyed. "Wait, so you didn't come here alone?" Cleo stared. They shook their heads. "We came here for the iWeb Awards; we won for best comedy show," Sam explained hastily as her eyes grew wider, "the ceremony is tonight, followed by a victory...swim at the hotel's pool…" Rikki reacted to this immediately, "Well you can't go, obviously! You can't let anyone know you're mermaids. You want some scientist finding you and experimenting on you or something, do you?!" "We'll go to the awards, but come up with an excuse so we can't go swimming…" Carly said decisively. "What about Freddie, though? He's our best friend-" at this, Sam gave Carly a knowing look, for she had a little secret of her own. Carly went on anyway, "We can trust him. We promised to each other: no more secrets." "I guess you'll have to break that promise, then," Cleo said, her kind eyes suddenly fierce, "No one must know. You'd be endangering us all! We could be turned into sushi for all you know!" The duo nodded in agreement. "When you go back to America, you have to promise to keep your secrets to yourselves as well. No telling anybody, and mind your powers, tails, and full moons." Bella said. She knew what she was talking about, being a mermaid the longest. Nodding again, they ducked back underwater and swam away. The trio followed. They found a secluded area on the beach where they pulled themselves out of the water and dried in the ocean breeze. All of them eventually had legs again. They exchanged numbers so they could keep in touch. As Carly and Sam started back up to the hotel, Rikki called out, "Watch out for that water. It only takes one drop to pop a tail."
Back in their room, dusk was falling as Sam and Carly put on nice clothes and were brushing out their hair. "This is some real crazy chiz going on," Sam said absentmindedly as she fingered her curly golden locks. Carly nodded, pulling her auburn hair into a braid. They continue to prepare silently. The digital clock now read 7:30PM. "Time to get going," Carly said with a small sigh. Sam huffed out a short burst of sudden music. Her eyes growing wide, she put her hand over her mouth to stop the noise. This would take some getting used to.
Brian took the stage with the iCarly crew. Freddie in a tuxedo, Sam in a long shimmery blue dress, Carly in a sequined black frock. They accepted their award to gratuitous applauds; they had the audience standing on their feet. "Thank you!" Carly said into the microphone at the front of the stage. Her voice was booming throughout the arena as she spoke again. "Though we've only been in Australia one day, we've had some insane adventures. Thank you for this award, and remember, iCarly makes you laugh, which is healthy," She looked at Sam, who ran up and finished for her, "So kick back with a pound of bacon and enjoy the show!" More applause echoed. People cheered. They headed backstage to unwind and relax. "That was great you guys, really nice stuff!" Brian said happily. They thanked him and moved on with much on their minds. Sam had a bottle of water in her hand. As she went to take a drink, somebody bumped into her behind, causing the water to spill all over her. Panicking, she ran away to a nearby closet, Carly close behind her. She slammed the door as Sam crashed to the ground, her orange tail appearing once again. "You ok? Carly asked. Sam nodded, looking disappointed. Carly, knowing her friend well, she said, "Come on, what's up?" Sam looked up at Carly and said, "I almost blew our cover on the first night! How are we going to do this?" No answer. Someone knocked on the door. "Carly, Sam, are you ok in there?" Freddie asked, his voice muffled by the wood. When they didn't answer, the doorknob started to turn, Sam's tail still in full view.
Carly remembered her power. She ran her hands along Sam's wet tail, touched the doorknob, and flattened her palm. The water hardened instantly and turned blue. With a thump, she fell to the floor next to Sam, her tail appearing. Though Freddie was trying desperately to open the door, he found it impossible. "Okay, I'll just…wait here then." He said, backing away. Silence. "We'll figure something out," Carly said, sounding more sure then she looked. After a few more minutes of awkward silence, their tails dried and their legs once again showed themselves. They opened the door to their new life of secrets.