03.
Rikki pulled the unconscious Erik further on the sand and away from the water, seconds before Cleo and Bella finally arrived.
When they got a better view of the sight before them, their eyes widened.
"Rikki, what happened?" Bella asked moving her eyes from Rikki to Erik still unconscious. "Wait - isn't he that guy from the cafe that asked for your name?!"
"Later, Bella. Now I need you two to help me take him to the flat."
"What?" Cleo's eyes widened.
"You heard me." Rikki's tone was firm. "Look, once we get there I'll explain everything."
"Fine." Bella nodded. "We don't have much time before it starts raining anyway."
She moved to help Rikki to put one of Erik's arms around her neck, then she put his other around hers. Cleo moved to stand behind them so she could help if needed. Erik was muscular thus quite heavy, but somehow they managed to take him to the small flat they were ranting.
They carefully placed him on the couch and while Rikki was cleaning the wound on his head, she told Bella and Cleo everything word by word.
"So..he's like us? A mermaid?!" Cleo asked trying to assimilate the shocking news she'd just received.
"A merman, Cleo." Rikki corrected her, throwing off the now dirty piece of cotton she'd just used and sitting down on a chair.
"Yeah, right, whatever."
The brunette sat down on the other chair, running her hand through her hair.
"So what is your plan?" Bella asked Rikki. "I mean..why did you bring him here?"
"Because I couldn't leave him there, Bella. Unconscious with tail and all." Rikki sounded irritated.
"And what are we going to do with him?" Cleo asked from the chair, still trying to assimilate everything.
"We'll wait for him to wake up and we'll check on how he is. After we make sure he's fine, we'll tell him to go."
"Just like that?!" Cleo raised her eyebrows. "He doesn't look that dumb to me, Rikki. He'll probably want to know how did he get here and how did you find him!"
"Well..we're going to have to think of something." Rikki answered quickly. "But he can't know we share the same secret and that we know about him."
"Why not? It's not like he's going to expose us, he's like us after all." Bella lifted her eyes.
"I don't know if we can trust him."
"That sounds meaningful; you don't know if we can trust him, yet you bring him here." Cleo rolled her eyes sarcastically.
"Oh, stop it, Cleo, will you now?!"
Their conversation was interrupted by quiet moan from the couch. Erik was coming into consciousness.
He moved his head a bit and his eyelids started trembling, until he lifted them and opened his eyes. His hand immediately shot up to his head that he felt like it was going to explode.
"Where am I?" He murmured quietly, travelling around his surroundings with his eyes. "How did I get here?!"
"Easy." Rikki was the first to speak. "You were hit on the head pretty bad, so my friends and I brought you to our place."
The curly blond handed him a glass of water with a straw.
"Here, drink some water."
Erik took it but frowned.
"What's the straw for?"
Rikki and the other two girls were taken aback for a moment not knowing what to say, but the curly blond was the first to react.
"Back at that café you asked for orange juice with a straw, so I thought you'd probably want a straw for the water too."
"Café? What café? I don't remember going to a café. Actually..I don't remember anything." Erik took a sip of the water with the straw, trying to recollect something, anything.
"Look, Erik.." Rikki began sharing a look with Cleo and Bella, when he interrupted her.
"Is Erik my name?"
Rikki frowned realizing the consequences of the hit on his head were way bigger than they'd originally expected. She shook her head and took the glass from his hands leaving it on the drawer next to the couch.
"I think you should get some rest. Try to get some sleep now. We'll be in the kitchen, so if you need anything just call us, ok?!"
"Yeah, thanks for everything.
"Don't mention it."
The curly blond stood up motioning for Cleo and Bella to follow her into the other room. Once in the kitchen Cleo closed the door behind her back and turned to Rikki.
"He probably has amnesia. Now what do we do with him?"
"We are going to help him remember everything, but until then he has to stay here and live with us. He doesn't remember being a merman and he doesn't know he should be careful around water. He could be exposed the minute he goes out of here."
"I think Rikki's right, Cleo." Bella said shrugging her shoulders. "We can't leave him on his own. It's dangerous for all of us."
Cleo nodded.
"Yeah, you're right. We won't be staying here forever though. And if he doesn't regain his memory until we have to go back to the Gold Coast..what are we going to do then?"
"I don't know." Rikki shrugged deep in thoughts and looked at Cleo. "But we've got to hope for the best."
Bella nodded quietly.
"We've got three weeks until we have to get back." The dirty blond said hopefully. "He's going to remember everything until then."
"That's right." Rikki nodded. "We'll help him remember and everything's going to be ok."
The brunette looked at her uncertain.
"Are you sure about that?"
"I'm not sure of anything anymore."
The curly blond crossed her hands in front of her chest.
"But we don't really have a choice, do we?!"
As much as Cleo hated to admit it Rikki was right. Bella was the first one to break the tense silence.
"But what are we going to do with him? I mean..he doesn't remember that touching water for him means growing a tail. We can't keep him away from water forever and we can't be around him all the time either. While we're gone he might want to wash his hands or take a shower and the second water touches him he'll flash a tail."
"Bella's right." Cleo nodded. "The shock of touching water and growing a tail could be really dangerous in his condition."
"So what're you saying?! That we should tell him he's a merman right away?!" Rikki lifted her eyebrows high, hands crossed in front of her chest.
"No, of course." Bella said shaking her head.
"All I'm saying is we should just..try to prepare him."