CHAPTER ONE: A NEW TAIL

THIRD PERSON POV

Four mermaids swam rapidly towards Mako Island, leaving a bubble trail behind them as they raced each other. Two of the mermaids were competing for first place, while the other two were fine with third and fourth, they knew they couldn't beat the others anyway. Not much time later, two blonde heads broke the surface of the water at the Moonpool, almost at the same time.

"I won!" the curly blonde exclaimed

"Ha. You wish, Rikki" the second mermaid argued

"You're jealous because you're always second, Emma"

"No, you're always second"

"I'm faster"

"You're a turtle"

"How dare you-"

"It was a tie!" the brunette said, she hated seeing her friends fight, even if it was playfully

"Fine" Emma said "But I'll sure win on the way back"

"In your dreams" Rikki rolled her eyes

The fourth mermaid swam in

"What took you so long?" Cleo asked

"Just admiring the ocean, unlike those two who only race each other" she pointed to Emma and Rikki, who were laughing about something.

Rikki seemed to be more cheerful since Emma came back. Her and Emma were more alike, while Cleo and Bella were basically the opposite of them, so while she was away, she sometimes felt misunderstood. Emma was the only one that was competitive, the other two would let her win. Though they constantly argued, they were very close. Since Bella came, they were pairs, though they would always be the inseparable quadruplet, Emma and Rikki just got along better. Cleo and Bella were the other pair.

All four started talking about random things: school, relationships; so neither noticed a girl entering through the land entrance, until she spoke.

"So it is true" she said as she walked towards the edge of the pool "the legend's true"

The mermaids slowly backed away

"Wait! Wait please!" the new girl cried "I don't mean any harm"

Rikki, who has always been the bravest, spoke up

"Yeah right. You'll turn out to be a freaking marine biologist"

"No! I swear, I have no bad intentions. I don't wanna experiment with you"

"Okay then, prove it!"

"How? Oh right" she stood on the edge of the pool "Veridia is gonna kill me" and she jumped into the water. Ten seconds later, her legs were replaced by a tail.

"Wha- How? We never saw you before"

"Are you still gonna leave?" she asked, ignoring Emma's question

"Not anymore" Bella answered

"The name's Rowell" the new girl said "Leah Rowell"

"Bella Hartley"

"Rikki Chadwick"

"Emma Gilbert"

"Cleo Sertori"

"So, how did you transform?" Cleo asked

"I went camping to Mako, and went exploring, and around midnight I fell into the pool. I got my tail at the age of fourteen"

"How come we've never seen you?" Emma said

"The short version? Well, the next day after I was transformed, I came looking for the MoonPool again, and instead I found a different one. A pod lived there, I grew close to them and they accepted me. I was especially close with a girl named Sirena" for some reason, tears glimmered in her eyes "and few years later, this boy, Zac, fell into the pool, becoming a merman. The pod council got angry, and outcasted Sirena, Lyla and Nixie. Since I lived on land, I couldn't go with the pod. The trio tried to find a way to take Zac's powers away, and it ended up with Cam almost destroying their MoonPool. Nixie and Lyla gave up, and went to try and find a new home for the pod. Then two other girls Ondina and Mimmi, came to help. And Zac's girlfriend, Evie, turned into a mermaid too. And some other merman came, Eric, and he opened this chamber to take mermaids powers away. It had been made since the mermaid vs merman war, and all that mess. Anyway, Eric stole Zac's powers and activated the chamber, but Zac, Evie, Mimmi, Ondina and Sirena stopped him. Ondina and Eric broke up, and the pod returned, and they accepted Zac. That was about two months ago. I, for some reason, became obsessed with finding the MoonPool were I transformed. Veridia said it was just a legend. I just kept looking, and I found it today!"

"Wow" Cleo said "Me, Emma and Rikki just fell into the pool two years ago. And Bella in some Irish caves at the age of 11"

"And we've never had adventures like that before" Rikki added

"No?" Emma complained "Lemme think... Oh right! Zane, Dr. Denman, Charlotte, Water Tentacle, Meteorite-"

"Okay. Fine"

They started arguing, so Bella spoke up, trying to relieve tension

"So, what's your power?"

"Power?" Leah asked, confused

"Yes. We each got one different. Emma got ice, Rikki fire, Cleo water and I got jelly"

"Oh right. I forgot!"

"What do you mean you forgot?"

"Well, at the pod, the mermaids have all, I was the weird one. Anyways, I got light and bubbles"

"Bubbles?" Rikki snorted

"Yes, bubbles"

"And what are their uses?"

Leah sighed exasperated

"Instant lanterns"

She put four fingers together, her thumb underneath. She slowly started lowering her thumb, keeping her other four fingers pressed tightly together. A bubble started raising from the water. She then pushed her hand forward towards the floating bubble, and it filled with light.

"I can also reduce or increase the amount of light in a room, but these are more useful"

Rikki's eyes widened "You are so cool"

"That's awesome!"

Cleo complimented her.

It was strange on how they easily accepted Leah, normally they didn't trust anyone. The other four girls showed her their powers, and after that, they were chatting cheerfully like old friends. But they didn't know the dark secret Leah Rowell kept hidden under those layers of kindness and happiness. She wasn't who they thought she was. She had done terrible things, and could not be easily forgiven. Let's just hope she doesn't ruin another friendship, another adventure, another life.

a/n Hi! It's me again. I based this story on my old fanfic, 'a new tail', which I eventually deleted. Rikki was acting just so OOC, and it was boring. I have good plans for this one though. Please just give it a try.

Coralia Prescott is Leah Rowell, if you read the other fanfic, you'll know what I'm talking about. And I recently decided to give it a plot twist making Leah evil. You'll discover more about her on the next chapter, that is, if you want me to continue.

Thanks for reading! And leave a nice review!

~ Emma