Affected

Cleo was the first of the four to arrive in the moonpool. Instead of swimming to the edge of the moonpool, she surfaced near the center of the moonpool, and simply stayed there, staring at the opening at the top of the volcano. One by one, the other three joined her vigil, until Emma, the last to arrive, joined them.

As the first sliver of moonlight became visible, the girls closed their eyes. When the full force of the full moon was shining down on them, they simultaneously opened their eyes, blind to everything but the silvery orb that was the full moon, aware of nothing but its presence and the light filled bubbles spiraling up from the churning water and to the moon.

The next morning, Emma awoke with a start. A glance out the window told her that the sum was far too high in the sky for this to be the time she normally woke up; she must have overslept by several hours. According to her clock, it was 10:30. '10:30! Why on earth did I sleep that late?' She wondered. '…and why am I still wearing yesterday's clothes?' Then it hit her. She had been affected by the full moon.

Half an hour later, the four girls were gathered at Cleo's house. "What was that!" Bella wondered. It's been years since I've been—" "Hold on," Rikki interrupted. "Is anyone else home?" she asked Cleo. "No, Kim and Sam are out shopping and Dad's at work," Cleo replied. "Good," Rikki said. "Because something tells me this isn't a conversation we want them overhearing". "Good point," Bella said. "Alright, we still don't know what happened last night or why… maybe there was something special about last night's full moon?" Emma pondered. "No, it's perfectly normal for us to have been affected like that, it isn't like that hasn't happened for years or anything," Rikki replied, sarcasm dripping from her words. "Alright, calm down, you two" Bella intervened, seeing that Emma had been about to make a retort. "Let's see what we can find out," Cleo said, pulling out her laptop. "Let's see… I had Lewis's planetary alignment program installed to my computer… it might be able to help us" "Doubt it," Rikki replied. "Since when have any of Lewis's ideas been of use to us?" "They helped when the program showed him that the moon was going to be aligned with all the planets, didn't they?" Cleo snapped. "Besides, we don't know whether it can help or not until we try it!" And with that, she turned her attention back to the screen. "Well, here's something," Cleo said. "According to this, last night, the full moon was aligned perfectly with the planet Venus." "And that helps us how?" Rikki asked. "Well, it means something was definitely up last night…" Cleo started. "Wow, shocker," Rikki interjected. "Rikki! You could at least let her finish," Emma scolded. "What are you, my mother?" Rikki asked. Just as Emma opened her mouth to reply, Bella quickly asked "So, what does that mean for us?" "Well, it could mean a lot of things… but I'm pretty sure it was an isolated incident" Cleo replied. "That makes sense… if it was because of the fact that the full moon was aligned with Venus, it shouldn't happen again… at least, not until Venus aligns with the full moon again," Bella reasoned. "Which shouldn't be for a while," Cleo said. "So… we're all set then?" Rikki asked. "Well, there's still one thing that bothers me," Emma said. "Last time we were in the moonpool on a full moon, our powers changed." "Good point," Cleo said. "Maybe we should test them out?" "Fine by me," Rikki said. "Alright," Bella replied.

Cleo got up, went to the kitchen, and got a glass of water. When she came back, she placed it on the coffee table. "All right, Emma, can you try using your powers on that please?" Emma obliged, freezing the water in the glass. "Well, it felt the same as when I used my powers yesterday," Emma said. "And you didn't freeze anything beyond the glass… I'm no expert, but I'd say your powers are the same as they were before last night" Rikki replied. Cleo and Bella nodded in agreement. "Rikki, can you try heating the water up?" Cleo asked. "Why? We already proved that our powers are the same as before" Rikki wondered. "No, we proved that Emma's powers are the same as before. We still need to make sure the rest of our powers are the same," Cleo replied. "All right…" Rikki replied, and even though she thought it was a waste of time, she heated the ice in the glass slowly, until it melted, and then began to boil. "Well, mine's the same as before," Rikki said. "Alright, I'm going to try mine out," Cleo said, and proceeded to make a ball of water rise from the glass, circle the room, and fall back into the glass. "I guess mine's the same as yesterday too," Cleo said. "Well, I guess that just leaves me," Bella said. And with that, she turned the water in the glass into a gel, then solid, and back to a regular liquid again. "Well, now that that's settled," Rikki said "I could really go for a snack." "Settled? We haven't settled anything yet!" Emma replied. "All we did was prove that our powers are the same, we haven't figured out why we reacted like that last night, or how it's affected us" "Maybe it hasn't affected us! Maybe it was an isolated incident, like Cleo said! Ever think of that?" Rikki asked, irritated. "Of course I have," Emma retorted "But we don't know for sure, so we ought to try to figure this out, don't you think?" "I think Rikki's right," Bella interjected. "We don't know much about this, but until we get some more information, it's going to be impossible for us to figure anything new out." "I guess we're done for now," Cleo said, "but if any of us notices anything weird, we'll have to tell the others about it right away." "Agreed," said Emma. Bella and Rikki nodded, and the four headed to the kitchen for a much needed snack.