Chapter 2
Cleo was wrenched from her slumber by the incessant screeching of her alarm clock. Groggily, she reached out to her bedside table, knocking various nicknacks to the floor as she scrambled for the off button. She relaxed as silence once again washed over the room, allowing her to collect her thoughts and shake the cobwebs of sleep from the edges of her mind. Rising from her bed, Cleo noted the absence of the usually soft fabric of her pyjamas, instead feeling the more coarse material of the clothes she had worn the night before. Instead of bare feet meeting carpet, a set of pink converse hit the floor. She frowned, glancing around at the familiar room expecting it to hold the secrets of the missing night before.
I must have been too tired to change…
Making her way to the kitchen, Cleo wracked her brain trying to piece together how she got home. Her brows furrowed as she grasped at the loose threads of her memory, stretching her arms above her head as she walked. She was roused from her struggle as she entered her living room. Her father greeting her as she passed the kitchen doorway.
"Ah, the finest fish in the ocean." Don exclaimed with a great amount of affection.
"A what?" Was the only response that Cleo could muster. A small amount of panic rising in her chest.
"You. The shiniest pearl. The perfect jewel." Cleo relaxed at this, kicking herself for thinking her father meant anything else. "Did you sleep well?" Cleo grabbed a glass from the breakfast bar, frowning slightly as she did so.
"Uhh" She hesitated, not knowing how to explain that she had lost a solid twelve hours of her memory. "Alright." Not wanting her father to ask anymore questions. Don, getting ready to leave for work, was happy to oblige.
"Cleo," Starts another, younger voice from the sofas. "I want some toast." Cleo simply shakes her head at her younger sibling, irritated at the thought that Kim expected her to dote on her every whim.
"Make it yourself" She said, grabbing the orange juice that was on the counter and pouring a glass for herself.
"You're supposed to be taking care of me! Dad said." She snarks, making Cleo grit her teeth in irritation.
"I'm not your slave, Kim. Make your own toast."
"Dad, tell her!" The younger girl turns to her father, who was in pursuit of one of his shoes, whining slightly.
"Sorry girls, I have to run, you work it out." He responds half heartedly, pulling on his shoe and making for the door before another argument between his daughters flares up. Kim climbs out of the arm chair she was sat in, striding happily up to the counter where her sister was sat.
"I'll have one jam and one honey." she commands with a sickening sweetness.
Snapping slightly, Cleo responds with "I said get it yourself." Glaring at the younger blond. Kim resignedly gives in and, without missing a beat, grabs the glass of orange juice from Cleo's hand, smiling cheerfully.
"Fine, I'll have this then." Tilting her nose up slightly and beginning to walk towards the stairs. A grin plastered on her face that clearly showed she was pleased with herself. Cleo briefly glared at the spot where her glass had been, trying to control the anger that was rising to the surface. Tilting her head as she thought to herself.
If that's the way you want to be. Then fine.
She whirled around, arm outstretched toward the oblivious blond, her hand curled like she was gripping something unseen. She willed the orange juice to simply spring from the glass and into the face of her sister. However, all she could muster was a small tremor, enough to make Kim pause and look at the glass, but certainly not the payback that she intended. Cleo doubled her efforts, putting more force into manipulating the fluids, making the tremors of the glass to double, wrenching it from Kim's hand. The glass shattered on the tiled floor as the front door swung violently open, smacking against the wall of the entryway. A great gust of cold air swept into the house, hitting Kim square on, clawing at her limbs and tugging her hair in every direction. Cleo's eyes widened as the gale reached her, gently caressing her as it grazed over her skin. She yanked her hand back to her, staring wide eyed and horrified at her curled fingers. Kim was looking around the room confused, out the front door looking for any kind of answers before visibly shaking herself and closing the front door. She left Cleo with her own thoughts as well as the mess left from the orange juice.
Something definitely happened last night then. I need to see the others. She thought, sending a quick text to Rikki, Emma and Lewis to meet her at Juicenet ASAP.
As it turned out, the sudden wind was not the only bizarre weather related incident that morning. In hushed tones, all three girls had described the power mishaps that had occurred in the hour that they had been awake. Emma, after having discovered that most of her freezer had been defrosted, attempted to salvage its contents with her powers. She managed to do so successfully while also freezing half of her kitchen. Rikki, on the other hand, had tried to dry some clothes with her powers, as she usually does, but ended up calling a bolt of lightning and setting fire to a significant chunk of her laundry.
"My clothes are toast" Rikki whispered in a rushed, harsh tone, leaning further into the counter.
"And I iced up a whole room." Added Emma in the same anxious voice. Cleo glanced around briefly, noting the quieter atmosphere of the Juicenet in its earlier hours. Most customers were either hurriedly gathering their morning smoothies or engaged in the news report that was playing on the old TV that has been mounted on the wall since the café first opened.
"It's like our powers have changed." Cleo offered.
"And they're out of control." Rikki agreed, glancing between Cleo and Emma. Neither, of course, had any answers. A beat of tense silence passed between the girls, allowing the faint bustle of the café to dominate their senses.
"Did anything go on last night?" Emma asked, attempting to break down the night into what they could remember. Cleo shrugged, shaking her head slightly and rubbing the back of her neck.
"There was a full moon," Cleo offered, "but I don't remember anything else." Unrest once again swept over the young mermaids, uncomfortable with the lost time and the fact that Lewis' ever logical presence was missing. Cleo, especially, did not want to think about what had happened to him. However, it was, naturally, all that she could think about. Her phone vibrated, letting out a high pitched beep as it did so.
I'm sure he's fine. She thought, pulling the the heavy plastic device from her pocket. He's probably still sleeping because he was up all night playing with his astronomy programs.
"What did we do?" Rikki asked the open air, not for the first time that morning. The question had been at the forefront of all of the girls' minds from the minute they woke up, only to be met by the same silent reply. Instead of their memories from the night before, the girls were met with nothing but the white noise that comes with being moonstruck.
"Was Lewis with us?" Emma asked, still trying to dissect the night to gain some new information. Cleo had finally retrieved her phone, slowly making her way through the menu screens to check her voicemails.
"There's a message." She sates with no small amount of trepidation, moving the phone to the centre of the table and hitting the speaker option as Lewis' panicked voice comes through.
"Look, Cleo, I know you won't get this message until you transform back to normal, but I'm sorry and I'm coming. I'm nearly at Mako." The girls all looked between one another, Rikki glancing over her shoulder at the word transform. Their shared anxiety not dimming for a second, their minds raced at the small amount of new information they gathered.
"Transform back?" Rikki repeated to herself, staring off into the distance slightly.
"Why was he going to Mako Island at night?" Emma asked incredulously, knowing how dangerous that journey could be on a regular night, let alone a full moon.
"Maybe he was looking for us." Cleo supplied, scrambling for answers, any answers, about where her partner was.
'-are already calling the Mako Island Cyclone.' That got the girls' attention. Whipping around to face the TV, Cleo watched a graphic of the weather conditions the night before as the news caster continued to explain the mysterious event.
'Sudden and severe electrical storm struck the Mako Island are last night, with wind speeds reaching over 200 kilometres and hour. Meteorologists are puzzled by the sudden weather event, and have no idea what caused it.' The girls looked at each other, realising that it had to have been them that caused it. One mystery solved.'Police have recovered a small aluminium boat adrift in the water nearby. Investigations are continuing.'
No, no, no. Cleo thought, the anxiety that had made its home in the centre of her chest erupting into full blown panic. He jaw dropped alongside her stomach as dread rose up her throat like bile. She was the first to stand up, pushing on the counter top to steady herself, and run straight toward the marina. Her blonde counterparts following quickly behind her.
Lewis had been in the same position for far too long, his legs ached and he could feel a single stick poking him in his ribs. Yet every time he sat up, another wave of nausea washed over him, making him curl further into himself. He was still shivering, though he was slowly becoming used to the chill that wrapped his damp body. The stick in his side was his main gripe. He cursed under his breath as he pushed his way into a sitting position, bringing his knees up in front of him to rest his elbows on. He waited for the nausea to come as he hung his head between his knees, waiting for it to pass. In the end it never came. Good, now I just have to worry about the cold.
While the cold was very much at the forefront of Lewis' mind, a feeling of unrest had also taken root, making him feel as if he had forgotten something important. Running over the events of the night again, he was certain he retained all of his memories, there were no gaps. So why did he still feel as if he had overlooked something? He was pulled from his whirring thoughts by another blast of frigid oceanic air, wracking his body with tremors. Is now really the time? You should be more worried about the girls. Lewis roughly rubbed his arms, trying to alleviate some of the chill that still clung to him, only to cause sand to scratch up against his skin and make him more uncomfortable.
The sound of a small engine woke him from his musings, as he looked up to see a small tin boat, not dissimilar to his own, arrive a ways down the beach. Lewis could barely make out the silhouette of a person climb out and jump down onto the sand, running into the tree line. Lewis shouted to them, only to be wracked by a coughing fit. I guess staying out in the cold all night is not good for your health then. He thought sarcastically.
Cleo returned to the Western beach of Mako Island, having found nothing but a crumpled torch that once belonged to Lewis. She approached the blonde girls to hear them discussing what they found.
"I've searched the other beaches and the lagoons." Emma stated, dejectedly. "No sign of him. What about you?"
"Not a trace." Rikki replied, putting her arms out to the side of her, shrugging as she did so. "I didn't see a thing." The jungle had been completely torn to shreds, if there was a trail to follow, it had long been covered by debris.
"I did." Cleo shouted, her voice dripping with worry as she held up the battered remains of the flashlight. "Lewis' torch." She finished simply, tossing the destroyed tool to Emma. "I found it by the rocks."
"Are you sure it's his?" Emma asked, knowing that if it was found there it was not a good sign for their friend.
"I gave it to him last Christmas!" Cleo replied quickly, clearly distressed. "You don't think-"
"No." Rikki cut in, not wanting the group to consider those implications until it was a last resort. "We'll keep looking until-"
A short sharp noise cut her off, making all three mermaids snap their eyes to the tree line.
