First things first: Thank You so much for the reviews!
H2o25: Glad you like the idea!
lyokodreamer: Hope that this chapter does not disappoint.
As I should have included in the first chapter, I do not own H2O or any of the characters, just this idea. If I owned it, the boys would already be mermen. : ) Enjoy!
The house was dead silent as they all stared at each other. The boys were on one couch and the girls were standing around, trying to decide what to do.
Ash couldn't take the silence anymore. "Does someone want to explain what happened back there?"
Will looked at Bella and could see the dread in her eyes. "Why did the moon pool act like that?"
Silence.
Will stood up and walked over to Bella. "We need to know what happened."
Bella couldn't look up from her feat. How were they supposed to confirm what the guys were thinking?
"Look. There's only one conclusion any of us can come up with right now." Rikki played with her braid as she stared at Zane. "But in all likeness it's probably not right." She looked away. "Probably."
Cleo stared at Lewis. He was uncharacteristically being quiet. She could see that pensive look on his face. He was thinking hard about something and she wanted to know what.
"Lewis?" He looked startled as he looked up to her voice. "What do you think?"
The quiet mutterings that had been going on disappeared as everyone turned their attention to the young scientist. He looked around, running a hand through his hair. How was he supposed to tell them? He had more than enough experience with the moonpool. And he had gotten accounts from all the girls many times of what happened that night that they became mermaids. He didn't need to be a scientist to know what had happened not even an hour ago.
He looked around, noticing the anxious and nervous faces. "I think we all know what happened. There is no point in trying to deny it."
Will was furious. "Deny what? That the moon pool went crazy? That something has happened to us and we don't know what?"
Ash walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. "You don't see it do you?"
Will brushed him off. "Can someone please clue me in?"
Bella grabbed his hand and looked up into his face. "Do you remember that day you found out I was a mermaid?" He nodded. "Remember how I told you what happened in Ireland? How I changed?"
They all watched the gears move in his head. Will's eyes grew wide and then his face fell into a look of anger. "No." He shook his head. "Absolutely not."
Zane looked over at Lewis. "You sure?" Lewis nodded. "There's no way you could be wrong?" Lewis shook his head, causing Zane to sigh. "Then there's only one thing to say."
Everyone looked at him. Rikki grabbed his hand. "You guys are going to be mermen."
-h-2-o-
Emma woke up in the morning and almost wished she could just fast forward to the next day. The events of the previous night came flooding back and she frowned. As soon as Rikki had voiced what everyone was thinking the room had erupted into chaos. Emma and Ash were trying to calm down Will, who kept going off on how his life was ruined. Zane was trying to figure out how to keep such a huge secret from his dad. He knew about mermaids. What would happen to them if he ever found out? Cleo was hugging Lewis, trying to keep him from getting too depressed. He had always been fascinated by the girl's mermaidness, but that didn't mean he ever wanted to experience such a thing himself.
In the end everyone had gone home exhausted and with a promise to meet up around eight the next morning at the Café. The girls told the boys not to touch water until they met up again. The first time was always a shock. Plus it was best if they proved the theory at the ocean rather in a bathtub.
-h-2-o-
Rikki lay in her bed as her alarm beeped annoyingly on her dresser. She didn't want to leave. If she got up it meant she would have to face Zane and the others. After Will's reaction the night before she didn't know how they would all be feeling once they had a chance to think it over. She knew Lewis wasn't taking it too well. He had been the first to be let in on the mermaid secret. Never in a million years had he thought he would be part of the secret. She almost felt bad for him.
But at the same time she couldn't help but feel excited. Rikki had always felt that the boys were left out. Most of the time when they went out swimming, the boys were left on the beach to talk, while the girls explored the ocean. But now, she realized, the boys would be able to join them. They would be able to finally show them their side of the ocean. Sure Will knew some of it. But so much more opened up to you when you didn't need goggles or have to hold your breath.
-h-2-o-
Ash, Emma, Rikki, Zane, Bella, Will and Cleo stood in front of the Café, waiting for Lewis to show up. Cleo had called and he said he was just running a bit late but he would be there soon. An awkward silence had fallen among them. They knew what they had to do, but no one was about to say it.
Fifteen minutes later they were all at Lewis's old private fishing spot. It had become their unofficial meeting place. Cleo had gotten a call that Lewis was going to meet them there. Sure enough he had been sitting on a rock, gazing out at the water when they all showed up. He didn't acknowledge them at first, but they had been pretty quiet. Lewis finally looked up.
"Hey." He went over to Cleo and kissed her cheek.
"Is everyone ready?" Zane dropped the towels had had been carrying. Ash followed suite and they all walked towards the water's edge.
The waves lapped just out of reach and no one seemed to want to get in first.
"Why don't us girls go first?" Emma looked up at Ash. "No sense in all of us changing at the same time."
Rikki nodded. "That would just be a mess of tails."
"And that way we can help you too." Bella grasped Will's hand and gave him a quick kiss.
Bella, Cleo, Emma and Rikki waded into the water a few feet and ten seconds later, like clockwork, they were falling into the water. They swam closer to the shore, ready for the boys to make their move.
But they didn't budge.
"How should we do this?" Zane looked over at Lewis. "One at a time or all at once?"
"All at once would be best." Lewis stared at the water in apprehension.
"Yeah, that way no one can chicken out." Will looked like he was ready to bolt at any second.
"Alright, on the count of three." Ash took a step forward and the others followed. "One," another step forward. "Two," they were almost to the waves. "And three!"
Lewis held his breath as they felt the waves wash over their feet and up to their ankles.
Cleo started counting quietly. "One, two, three…"
Zane joined in. "Four, five, six…"
Lewis finished it up out loud. "Seven, eight, nine…"
"Ten!" As the three of them reached the final count the boys felt a strange sensation overcome them.
Ash couldn't describe the feeling. It was like a surge of energy and power. He looked down and felt his mouth drop as his body turned into a mass of bubbles and water.
Lewis watched in awe and gasped as the power of the change flowed through him. Then his body turned into water and bubbles and he couldn't help but gasp again. This was it.
Zane wanted to curse as his body solidified from water and he looked down where his legs and feet should have been and wanted to scream to the heavens. This could not be happening. Not to him. His dad was going to kill him.
Will kept his eyes closed as the sense of power and energy flowed through him. It was when he felt himself lose balance that his eyes flew open as he hit the water. All four boys landed with a splash. Will was the first to recover, pushing himself up on his hands and shaking the water off his face, staring into the waves. He looked over at Ash who was struggling to flip over onto his stomach and prop himself onto his elbows.
"Is everyone okay?" Ash looked over at the other three.
Lewis was trying to pull himself up onto the beach, surprised at how hard it was when he didn't have legs to help. Zane seemed to be in shock, staring back at his tail and not moving at all.
Will watched Lewis make slow progress, but he never made it fully out of the waves. Lewis collapsed in exhaustion, the water still covering most of his tail.
The girls staid back as they watched. A mix of emotions ran through them as they watched their boyfriends fall into the surf. Cleo couldn't stand it anymore and swam over to where Lewis had given up. She placed a hand on his back in sympathy and he stared up into her eyes.
"I don't want this," he told her. "How am I going to be able to go fishing if I can't even touch the water? Fish are covered in water!"
Cleo rested her head against his shoulder, wrapping her arm around the other one. "I know. But you'll get used to it, you'll see. It's really a good thing."
While Cleo was trying to comfort Lewis the other three had swum up to their boyfriends. Emma began to tug Ash farther into the water, helping him get used to the way his tail moved.
Rikki was with Zane, admiring his tail that he didn't know whether to despise or enjoy. All four of the mermen had tails shaped like the mermaids, but completely different in color. Their tails were a dark aqua blue on the back which wrapped around the sides. On the front it was a cool white that tapered into the dark blue of their tail fins. These were different from the girls as their tail fins had fewer ridges and fanned out more. They were meant for speed. Smiling at her boyfriend Rikki helped Zane as they followed Emma and Ash farther out.
Will and Bella were already on their way to the moon pool. As soon as Will had realized everyone was okay he had gone over to join Bella, a big smile plastered onto his face. Bella was a little surprised. She knew how against the idea Will had been. But now that he was half fish and in the water, he seemed to be enjoying it as much as possible.
"This is incredible!" He grabbed her hands and stared with earnest into Bella's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me the power and control you feel in the water?"
Bella just laughed. "I've been like this since I was nine." Bella rested her head against his chest. "I hardly remember anything different."
Will realized that his position on the whole idea had done a complete circle. But now that he was in the situation, he saw this as an amazing gift. His whole life he had been training to dive and hold his breath. People had told him over and over again he was like a fish when in the water. He gave a silent laugh to himself. Now he really was. He could feel all the muscles in his tail, the way in pulled at the currents and worked to move him around in the water. It was amazing. He had no other word to describe it. And he had the most amazing girl and mermaid in the world to share the ocean with. He didn't think he could ever be happier than he was at that point.
As the other three couples made their way to the moon pool, Cleo was still trying to coax Lewis to get into the water and embrace it. But he flat out didn't want to.
"Come on Lewis. I would think you would take this as an opportunity to do research." Cleo only got a funny look in return from him. "Admit it. For the last two and a half years you've only been able to experience the magic from the outside. Now's your chance to finally see what it's like from our perspective."
Lewis still didn't budge. He knew he was in denial. And he acknowledged the fact that Cleo was right. But his mind was having the hardest time wrapping itself around the idea that he, himself, was now a merman. That he probably even had his own unique power, just like the girls. The implications of it were just too much for him to handle at the moment.
Cleo, seeing that she was making no progress with Lewis, decided to take things to the next step. Lewis needed to come with her. He needed to experience it. She knew that hiding from it and trying to avoid it was not a good way to live. She would have missed out on so much if she hadn't decided two years ago to embrace her mermaid side.
Swimming a bit out from where Lewis lay, she turned and began to focus her magic on him. Her hand twisted in the air as she controlled the pocket of water Lewis was resting in and began to pull it her direction. As the water began to move under him, Lewis turned to look over at Cleo in shock and maybe a little bit of anger.
"Cleo! What are you doing?" Lewis tried to pull out of the water but Cleo kept wrapping it around him.
"You need to face this. I know you, Lewis. You're not one to run and hide. You've helped me so many times when I've needed it, now I'm doing the same for you." Cleo released him from the water when he was resting next to her and dropped her control.
Once the hold was gone, Lewis sank into the water, unable to keep himself afloat at the top. But after a second of floundering he had his head back above the surface, a scowl written across his features.
"I don't know about this Cleo." He looked out towards the distant speck that was the island their friends had probably already arrived at.
She wrapped her fingers through his and gave him a sweet smile. "Where's your sense of adventure?" Giving him a soft kiss she pulled him under the surface and they started a slow reassuring swim towards Mako.
-h-2-o-
So what do ya think? I know I didn't describe what they look like in the greatest of detail, but I figured I should save that for a later chapter when Lewis decides to start doing research on the differences between a mermaid and a merman. Reviews are love, and encourage faster fingers on the keyboard. Thank you all so much for reading! Laters!