Rikki leaned on her tiptoes, trying to peer around Zane and another tall boy in her way. Her boyfriend saw her trying to look and moved out of the way, creating a small window for her. "Thanks." she whispered. They were behind the tall netting near their office in the cafe, surrounded by a clump of pale, pool blue balloons. People were ducked behind chairs, excitedly whispering to each other about Emma's return.
"Do you think she'll be surprised?" Zane asked her, eyeing the teenagers waiting to welcome her back. Rikki considered it in her head. It was usually hard to surprise Emma, but there was no way she'd see a surprise party coming. Ash was supposed to be leading her here, and then they'd do the cliche 'Surprise!'.
"Probably." she replied, holding her breath and squishing herself against the netting as a shadow passed the bead work opening. Everybody tensed as Cleo hopped in, brown eyes wild with excitement.
"Cleo!" Rikki whisper shouted at her friend. The whole group groaned as they realized who it was, besides Nate who just catcalled. What part of we're-waiting-for-Emma didn't she get? 'C'mere!" she tugged her friend over to where they were, and felt annoyed as her fellow mermaid whispered in her ear. "Rikki I have a great idea-"
"That's great, but not now!" she hushed, trying to see between the mesh. Cleo snapped her mouth shut and practically danced in place, but kept silent. For several heartbeats the whole place was silent, and then finally Emma emerged through the beads with Ash optimistically at her side.
"SURPRISE!" Everyone leaped up, shouting. "Ohmigosh!" Emma yelped, practically stumbling back through the doorway. Everyone laughed and rushed to her, hugging her hard. Rikki and Cleo were the first to get to her.
"You guys!" They group hugged, squeezing each other like they would never let go. This, Rikki thought, is what bliss feels like. They finally untangled their arms from each other and Emma hugged other people, chattering like a dolphin the whole time. Rikki, Zane, and Cleo all smiled at each other, knowing they had nailed it. There was no other way Emma could've come home.
"Now, what was your idea?" Rikki asked Cleo, practically shouting above the noise. But her friend shook her head, already starting to sway from the beat of the music blasting overhead. "We'll talk about it later." Rikki dipped her head and danced with her two best friends and boyfriend, laughing and smiling so much that she wouldn't be surprised if she were never sad again.
Emma rolled up to them, beautiful smile gracing her features. "Thank you so much for this guys! I can't believe you managed to pull this off. I was expecting a free juice or something, but not this!"
Her friends smiled at her, exchanging glances. "You deserve it!" Rikki shouted, grinning as Emma's favorite pop song came on and Ash wheeled her away towards the very heart of the dance floor. Cleo giggled to Rikki, "I see he's happy to have her back!" Rikki grinned and mock shook her head. "No way, he's not happy at all." They laughed and continued to dance until the moon replaced the sunset gleaming on the water.
"Come on, I want to see Mako! It's been forever since I've been there." Emma was begging her friends, already casting glances out towards the rocky mountain that was jagged against the navy, star speckled sky. Her fellow mermaids reassured her they would as soon as the party was over, but she still anxiously kept her gaze glued to it. It must've been hard, Rikki thought. The merpool is like, the one good thinking place for a mermaid. It must've been torture. She still remembered the last day Emma went swimming with them, and the glazed tears in her eyes.
"So?" Rikki prompted Cleo. "What was this ground breaking idea?"
"Well," Cleo began, liquid brown eyes wild with excitement. "Emma's back and I think we need to get the whole team back together again." She took a deeeeeep breath and let it out loudly. Emma and Rikki swapped looks, not sure where this was going.
"I think... I think we should visit Lewis!"
Rikki's frost blue eyes widened to the size of mangoes. "What?!" Emma looked bemused. "We don't even have tickets!"
Her friend's laughter cut her off. "No, not tickets silly!" They looked confused for a split second before regret replaced it. "No, nooo way are you suggesting we swim across the Pacific Ocean!" Rikki almost yelled, but kept her voice down low enough. Disbelief swept across Emma's face, as if her best friend had gone crazy while she was away.
But Cleo just laughed again, grabbing her hands. "Yes! I do mean that! We've been working on our stamina, and-" a serious look replaced her playfulness. "I think we could really do it."
Rikki shook her head over and over, not believing that her friend was actually suggesting that. It was totally nuts. Emma, on the other hand, felt a little bit hopeful. Maybe it was just Ash's never ending optimism rubbing off on her..but she felt like they could actually do this.
"Well," Emma started cautiously. "It wouldn't hurt for a little swim."
Rikki whipped to stare at her friend, mouth dropping. "You can't be serious! The Pacific?! We'd be lucky if we lasted a day in there!"But the cheerful expression on Cleo's face made the hard demeanor melt a little. She almost looked as if she were moonstruck, and the thought that with how realistic Emma usually was meant that it actually might be possible...
"Fine. I'm in. But you do realize that this'll be really, really hard, right?" Emma gave a sharp nod. "Of course. But Cleo's right. We have to get the originals together again. And besides." she cast a soft glance at Cleo. "It would be good for us to see Lewis again. I haven't seen him for a year and I think we should change that. I've read about survival. We could plan out details for food later."
Rikki thought about it for a moment, before slowly starting to nod. "This might actually be not so much of a fish brained idea." Cleo took the joke and grinned. "Not that it'd matter. We're fish anyway." The three giggled and continued to catch up, barely waiting for the wonderful journey they were going to have ahead of them.
*****Page break*****
"Okay, so let me get this straight." Zane said, trying to keep a straight face into full out laughing. He had the feeling that Rikki wouldn't appreciate that very much. "You want me to buy a raft, fill it with food to last you for two weeks, so you can swim across the Pacific Ocean to go visit Lewis because you simply feel like it." Rikki thought for a second, before nodding dutifully. "Yep."
He tried so hard to keep his composure, but then he let it drop. He let the laughter ring out, and Rikki crossed her arms across her chest and narrowed her sea blue eyes at him. "I can see why we broke up in the first place." she snapped, knowing it was a low blow but doing it anyway. It did the trick, and Zane shut his mouth quickly. He spun a pencil in his fingers, looking at her with a more considerable gaze after that.
"I mean, I suppose I could put together something. You do know how dangerous this might be though. I don't want you hurt." his light windswept blue eyes caused her heart to melt a little, but she still kept her demeanor crisp.
"Thanks, but we'll be fine. We'll have each other, and our powers. And besides, have we ever failed?" she gave him a small smile, and he returned one. Then, after a heartbeat, he shook his head and started typing on his computer. "Okay, okay. I'll get something whipped up." Rikki's grin took up her face and she rushed around the desk to throw her arms around her boyfriend. "Thank you!"
Zane laughed, hugging her back and giving her a peck on the cheek. "Knock them dead babe."
She exited the café and walked the short distance to the Marine Park, stifling a laugh as she saw Ash and Emma at the entrance.
"Ash, you aren't coming! I'm sorry, but this is something that the girls and I have to do." Emma had desperation creeping into her tone, and Rikki walked faster to go and stand by her. But Ash barely noticed she was there as he replied.
"But you just got back! I don't understand why you want to leave again." he protested, taking her hands in his. Emma sighed, pursing her pearly pink lips like she did when she was frustrated. "It's not that. I haven't seen Lewis in a long time, and-" she sighed, shooting an exasperated glance at Rikki. "You can't keep up with us swimming."
His brown eyes were agitated as well, but at last he sighed in defeat. "Alright." he said sullenly. "But if you think I'm going to let you plan this all by yourself, you're letting the water get to your head." Emma smiled at him and he smiled half heartedly back, nodding to Rikki as the three of them paid admission and walked inside. They traveled past the old pirate ship where Mr. Setori had played pirate and the dolphin show, until they reached the small tank where Ronnie was housed at. Cleo stood near the water's edge in her swim shirt, and smiled as her friends walked in. Her usually bright smile had an extra ounce of sparkle in it.
"Hey guys!" she chirped. "Ready to get started?" Her brown eyes zeroed in on Ash and she cocked her head, asking as politely as she could, "Er... what're you doing here?"
Ash stubbornly planted his cowboy boots on the deck, replying as he trained his gaze on her. "I'm here to help plan your journey. I already went without Emma for a year once- I'm going to savor every moment." Cleo nodded fiercely. "Oh, I understand. Stay as long as you want." Rikki and Emma exchanged glances; their fellow mermaid knew all about being away from someone she loved.
Cleo crouched down, reaching down to her leather brown bag that Rikki faintly recognized to be Max's, and pulling out a large weathered map. It had the world printed on it, with dozens of different hashes all over it. Rikki pointed at them, confused. "What're these?"
Her friend replied while the rest of them squatted down to look at the piece of paper. "Times when we'll have to take a break, refuel, go on land for a little while." A big mark in permanent marker had FULL MOON scrawled above it. "The big mark's the full moon." Cleo said unnecessarily, taking out a ruler from her bag. Rikki eyed her friends, swallowing hard. "What do you think we should do about that?"
Ash switched his gaze from girl to girl. "I thought you already had that taken care of." Emma shook her head, running a hand through her long blond hair. "We do, but it's still risky. We shouldn't chance it." Rikki nodded, looking at her friend. "She's right. We'll have to go to a hotel or something." She snapped her fingers and joked, "Darn."
The three grinned at each other, before they realized that Cleo hadn't said anything. Rikki bumped her shoulder to her friends. "Cleo?" The mermaid stared down at the map, fingering her locket. Rikki looked at it for a split second, realizing that she had switched the moonstone necklace for it, before squaring her gaze to her friend's face. It was distraught.
"I don't know... Lewis will be anxious to see us." Emma, ever direct, exclaimed, "He doesn't even know we're coming!" The answer then hit Rikki; Cleo was the one who was anxious to see Lewis. What did she think, that he was cheating on her or something? The way he had kissed at her after graduation said otherwise.
"Relax Cleo. We'll see him soon." she soothed, but the look on Cleo's face said she wasn't reassured.
"So is Zane going to provide the raft filled with the food, water, and money?" Emma asked Rikki, going back to the main topic. Rikki nodded a yes, feeling her throat close a little at the word money. "About the money..." she swallowed. "Do you guys... um... mind if..."
Her friends didn't even need her to finish her sentence. "Of course we can supply it." Emma nodded, hardy. You don't need to put a cent in." Cleo added. The mermaid leaned back on her heels, relief pumping through her. She really did have the best friends. "Thanks."
"Did you guys check for any shark grounds or bad weather? Hurricanes?" Ash asked, pointing to a spot near Hawaii. "I heard they have some bad conditions rolling in from my uncle who lives there." Rikki grinned sharply. "Like it matters. We can out swim any of those."
Ash looked dubious. "Hurricanes?"
Emma nudged him, knowing that her boyfriend still didn't know much about mermaids and all of their powers. "We can swim at lightning speed if we want to." she explained gently. "Faster than hurricanes."
Ash nodded after a second, and Cleo put her palms on her knees, tan face breaking out into a wide smile as she stood up. Her friends stood up with her, grinning at the happy expression that hadn't graced her face for a while. "Then we have everything?"
Emma nodded coolly. "Yep. We leave at dawn."
A/N: That ended cliché, but oh well! Time for the part that puts 'adventure' in the genre. :D