Chapter Two
Lewis lost all sense of feeling. He watched quietly as Cleo and Ronnie conversed, like it was second nature to her. He only snapped out of his trance-like state of mind when he saw Cleo frantically trying to get his attention, alarm in her voice. However, everything she said didn't make sense to him.
"Why are you speaking like that? Can't you stop?" Lewis couldn't find the right words or explanations to process the situation. Cleo evidently didn't know the answer either, the expression on her face giving away that this was the first time something like this had happened to her.
After several more attempts at speaking in English, she shook her head solemnly. She had only just discovered this power, but was starting to hate every second of it. Lewis couldn't understand her, so she had to talk through other means.
Cleo frantically kept on speaking, trying to get her regular voice back, but instead, she kept on squeaking. She paced back and forth, concluding in her mind that if she didn't go back to normal, there would be no way for her to do her job. She gave Lewis a look of distress.
He caught on to this, and tried to get her to calm down. "Hey, it's going to be okay. We'll try to sort this out. You can call Laurie and tell him you need a sick day."
"Do you really think that I can call him right now? How would he react when I'm trying to speak in him in DOLPHIN? He wouldn't understand me!" She knew Lewis wouldn't know what she was saying, so she let out a click in annoyance.
"Oh, right. Sorry. I guess I'll call him. Here, let me see your phone. He wouldn't know it was me if I called from mine."
Cleo handed him her phone and went over to Ronnie, who looked at her with a worried expression, if a dolphin could ever pull that off.
"I'm really sorry, I'm going to have to miss training, you could get one of the other trainers to do it today."
"It's okay. I understand your current… predicament. Although I am going to miss doing tricks with you." Ronnie reassured her, and Cleo smiled. It was incredible being able to finally understand Ronnie. She questioned whether this newfound ability would work with other dolphins, and more importantly, if she'll be able to fix this. She couldn't imagine living her entire life where people were not able to understand her.
"Okay, Laurie said that it's fine. Let's go to your house and try to get you back to normal. I'll call Rikki and Bella." Before she could protest, he grabbed her and they started towards the exit. The park was about to open, so they didn't have long. They made it to the gates just in time- people were beginning to line up to enter, when they sprinted towards the house
When Lewis called, Bella responded saying she was on her way to Cleo's. Rikki was still undertaking her mission to eavesdrop on Sophie and Ryan, at Will's house. She stood at the doorstep, listening through the walls as Sophie recounted what she overheard from Bella and Will.
"We need to go back to Mako."
"Sophie, I told you, I'm not going to go back there. It's too dangerous, it wasn't stable."
"Come on, Ryan! Those crystals are still there! If the foundation wasn't stable, then the entire cave would have collapsed. I didn't hear anything when we came out."
"Still, what about what we saw-"
"What about what we saw? The tower of light from that volcano? Listen, I heard straight from my brother that it was caused by three girls, one of which I know pretty well. And from what I've seen, I think you might know someone else who was involved." Sophie explained, let Ryan soak it in, then continued. "They said they have a secret. I say, we find it out before anything else happens, and the only place we can find it out is Mako."
"I-I still don't know. This isn't right."
"What wouldn't be right is if someone got to that cave before we did and took advantage of the work we already put into this! You don't want those girls to mess up what we fought for, for them to get the fame, do you?" Her toned start to soften. "All I'm asking for is two hours, to get in, get the crystals, maybe run a few tests on the surroundings at your liking, then get out. Please." She tried to hide the desperation in her voice. Without Ryan, Sophie had no way of going back, and she was longing to head back there after what had happened a few days ago.
Ryan sighed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt go back and survey the damage." He bit his lip. "Alright. Tomorrow evening."
Rikki felt her heart jump. She had to tell the others.
Sophie grinned. "Sounds good to me. Let's get out of here, if my brother finds me here messing with his stuff, then he would kill me."
Ryan nodded. Rikki took this as her cue to leave, and started running away from the shack before Sophie could find her. Ryan took a look around the area, and found several papers on a wooden table, including a drawing of a mermaid tail, a journal analysis, and a few quick sketches of the design of the crystal necklaces, before putting it all into a folder he found labelled 'Mako Island' and leaving.
Bella knocked on the door to Cleo's house, and was pulled inside by Lewis up to the bedroom. Confused, Bella said hello and looked to Cleo, who was sitting on the bed. Cleo waved and felt around her throat, trying to convey the message that she couldn't speak, however, Bella didn't catch on.
"I came as soon as Lewis texted me, what's the problem?"
Lewis answered for the both of them. "Cleo can't exactly speak at the moment."
"Why?"
He looked towards Cleo, waiting for her to show Bella what had happened at the Marine Park. Cleo hesitantly tried to communicate with the golden blonde, but ended up squeaking instead. Bella opened her mouth to try to say something, but couldn't formulate a sentence that didn't start with 'how'.
Lewis then took the time to explain what exactly happened, Bella listening attentively to all the details.
"So, now Cleo is stuck speaking dolphin?" Bella repeated, trying to debate whether she was in awe or disbelief. They had never been able to do this beforehand! She imagined hearing the chatter of fish and sea creatures as she swam through the ocean, and the endless possibilities that awaited if she also inherited that capability.
Cleo and Lewis both nodded.
"This must be a new power. What could have caused it?"
"We were thinking that it might have been the comet that triggered the ability."
"That would explain why we felt the water changing while the comet was actually heading towards Earth. We could be gaining a stronger connection towards marine life and the sea."
"We need to start figuring out how to reverse this, and fast. Cleo can't be like this when her family comes home."
"Have you tried anything yet?"
"So far, we've tried drinking water, reading, and trying to repeat the alphabet. Nothing's worked."
Bella pondered for a moment, trying to figure out what they could do, when a knock came on the door. Cleo started moving to get to it, but Lewis stopped her, and before she could object, he jumped down the stairs to greet the guest. What he found wasn't a surprise.
"Hi, is Cleo here?" Ryan asked, looking around. Lewis couldn't help but glimpse at a folder he held within his hand, but then hurriedly looked back up to avoid suspicion.
"Hey, um, yeah, she is, but-"
"Great! I need to talk to her."
Ryan let himself in and went to the steps, climbing to Cleo's room. Lewis tried to catch up with him, however, he couldn't make it in time as Ryan entered the room uninvited. Bella and Cleo turned to see him, and immediately scowled.
"Cleo, can I talk to you for a moment?"
Cleo looked to Bella, as Bella knowingly answered.
"She doesn't want to talk to anyone right now, especially you."
"Well, you're here."
"Yes, because I'm her friend."
"And I'm not? Listen, I really have to talk to her. It's incredibly important."
"Can't you see that she isn't in the mood to talk?"
"Yeah, she's right. I think that the best course of action is for you to go." Lewis began pushing Ryan out of the entrance of the room, but before he could grasp him, Ryan looked towards Cleo, and saw her crystal subtly glowing. The door of her bedroom closed, and as she heard the door to the house close, Cleo let out a huff in anger. However, she didn't stop there.
"Who does he think he is, barging into my room and demanding that I talk to him? He definitely had his share of talking last night!" She exclaimed loudly, and Bella immediately shushed her squealing.
"Cleo, you have to be quiet, they still might be here."
Ryan hadn't left the house, but instead, Rikki had come in, and had slammed the door shut, only to find Ryan and Lewis staring at her tensely.
"I.. have to go speak to Cleo…"
"Of course you do.." Ryan sighed.
All three of them rotated towards the upstairs quarter as they heard dolphin noises coming from Cleo's bedroom. Rikki noticed Lewis letting out the breath he had been holding in, and immediately realized there was something in that room Ryan couldn't see.
"What was that?" Ryan inquired, heading straight up the stairs again, Rikki and Lewis immediately following after. Opening the door, Cleo and Bella saw Ryan coming in (again) as he began interrogating them about the source of the sound. Cleo opened her mouth to form a sentence, but then immediately shut it, knowing that she had no say in the matter.
"It was my phone." Bella explained calmly as Ryan gave her an are-you-sure look. "Cleo was just showing me a video she took of the dolphin show at the Marine Park." Cleo smiled and nodded, agreeing to her friend's cover up. They had gotten better at lying over the years, keeping a mermaid secret definitely called for it. As much as they didn't want to admit it, they had become used to it.
"Yeah, why don't you go sometime? I heard that it's really good. At least it'll keep you from here." Rikki went along, (muttering the last part) shoving Ryan down the steps and showing him the door.
"But-" He began, as Rikki and Lewis smiled at him from the other side of the door. Once they were positive he was gone, they exhaled in relief, then Rikki began.
"What the heck was that all about? What was up there? What was he doing here?"
"He just showed up uninvited and long story short, you guys have a new power."
"What do you mean 'new power'? I haven't noticed anything different." They rushed back to the bedroom to find Bella and Cleo on the bed, Cleo struggling to read from a book Bella had chosen on, ironically enough, dolphins, figuring that it might prompt her response to be English. Instead, the words on the page translated effortlessly into clicks and other noises. She groaned despairingly.
Bella filled her in. "Apparently we can understand and speak dolphin now."
"And she can't talk now?"
"Nope."
"How delightful.." She moaned, sarcasm clearly showing through her voice. However, she took a moment to think about the issue. "Wait a moment, if we can understand dolphin, then why can't we understand what she's saying now?" The three of them looked at Rikki, not expecting such an analytical question from her.
"My guess is that you guys can only understand it if it's coming from another aquatic creature." Lewis replied after thinking it through, but realized that what he said could be tested. "Wait a moment, if we just.." He went to the bathroom that was connected to Cleo's bedroom and retrieved a cup of water.
"Wait, can't we just try something else? We don't really need to.." Cleo started but cut herself off.
"Why don't you two get off the bed for a moment." Lewis suggested, as Bella and Rikki sat up and took a step backwards. He then proceeded to pour water on her arm, causing the transformation.
"Great…" Cleo complained, looking at her golden fin, before clasping her throat. She could talk normally again! "…wait, you can understand me, right?" She continued, before propelling herself up against the back part of her bed.
"We don't hear the sounds of a dying dolphin, so yes." Rikki joked, resulting in a nudge in the shoulder from Lewis.
"Thanks goodness…"
"I don't get it, how is she speaking normally now? It's like the power only affects her in her human form."
"But that wouldn't make sense, Ronnie said that he knew several dolphins from the ocean that could speak to mermaids." Cleo contradicted, leaving the others partially stunned.
"Wait, there are other mermaids?"
"Surely we can't be the only ones, there was that cave in Ireland where I was changed, and Mako Island, who knows how many others there are and how many people were affected."
A long, drawn out pause that must have lasted minutes on end was only interrupted by Cleo transforming back to normal, but as soon as she did, her necklace began to glow, then the light faded, and once again she was back to speaking dolphin.
"Did you see the necklace? It started to glow as she transformed, and then she started speaking dolphin again. Do you think the necklace was causing it?" Bella theorized, before looking to Lewis.
"Possibly. She didn't have her necklace on in her mermaid form, and then she was speaking as she usually does. As soon as it came on again, that changed."
"So it's cursed…?" Rikki sat down beside Cleo, and began staring at her crystal.
"Maybe, but I think the comet might have done something to it. It could have enhanced the crystals' ability, and given them new ones."
"So, do we just take the crystal off?"
"Something must have activated it on accident, like when you were with Ronnie," Lewis looked towards Cleo, who nodded. "So if you were the one to activate it, you must have the power to deactivate it. In theory, that is.."
Cleo squeaked again, holding her crystal and shrugging. She didn't know if she got the message across, but by the puzzled look on her friends' faces, she assumed she didn't do a very good job. Only when they heard the door of the house open did she begin panicking. Bella looked towards Rikki and Lewis, who glanced at each other.
"We locked the door, didn't we..?" Rikki nervously asked.
"Yeah, we did. That must be Sam coming back from work." Lewis had been to Cleo's many of times, and knew that her stepmother usually came home around 4.
"Cleo! Are you home? I heard that you came home from the Marine Park early. What happened, honey?" Sam put down her belongings on the couch and began walking to her room.
Fidgeting with her hands, Cleo desperately tried to do something to her necklace to fix her voice. She twisted her hand just as would do when controlling water, and noticed the crystal lighting up and dimming once more. Unsure of whether it worked or not, she turned to see Sam at her doorway and took a deep breath.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, I just, lost my voice and needed to come home." She said shakily, and while she didn't necessarily intend it, it actually made her story more believable. After hours of unintended squeaking, her throat was killing her.
"Oh. I'll go make you some tea, it'll help. Would you guys like any?" She asked, referring to Bella, Rikki and Lewis. All three of them nodded graciously, and Sam happily fetched them some tea. All Cleo could do was stare wondrously down at the crystal, then look to the rest of the group.
"I don't think we should be wearing these for quite some time." She looked down, then went on. "If the crystals really have new abilities, then until we know how to control them, we should keep them safe, they could cause some trouble." Bella and Lewis agreed, leaving Rikki to argue against it.
"No, I think we should continue wearing them. Cleo, you saw that you were able to turn it off with your powers, that must mean that we can learn to control the effects. Whenever we gain a new ability through the necklace, we should be able to learn how to use it properly instead of just putting it away."
"Well, whatever happens, we know we can't let these fall into the wrong hands. There are tons of them at Mako, and who knows if they all possess the same kind of power, or who can wield them. So we need to be careful." Bella reassured them. She turned to Rikki, and then saw the worry in her expression.
"What's wrong?" Cleo asked, catching on as well.
"I forgot all about it, as soon as I came over, I had to tell you something important, but with Ryan here and this situation, I couldn't tell you right away, otherwise he would've known.."
"Slow down Rikki, start at the beginning and tell us from there." Lewis spoke, and Rikki took a few breaths and told the group the news.
"I went to follow Ryan and Sophie to Will's boathouse…"
"Yeah, you told me at the café you would, what did you hear?"
"They're going back to Mako Island tomorrow evening."