ZANE

Zane was working behind the counter. Ever since the falling out with Sophie and Rikki Zane had found help to be in short supply. There was barely any money to hire anyone else, so even in the middle of the summer he had to take shifts. The morning hadn't been too bad, Bella's rehearsal had brought in a few extra customers, but once the music died down so did his profit margin.

An older man walked in then, wearing a fedora hat and carrying a briefcase. "I'm looking for the owner of this cafe, where might I find him?" He had an interesting accent, but seemed like he was here for more than the tourist attraction.

"I'm the owner, Zane." Zane said, extending his hand, a little embarrassed to be wearing one of the cafe's aprons.

"Hello, Zane. I run a video game theme cocktail bar and lounge in Brisbane, and was looking to open a new location here. Can we talk business?"

"We can." Zane took off the apron and closed the door, flipping the sign to "closed", and sent Will to one of the tables outside. He led the man back to his office and the two began to deal. At the end of everything, Zane had the money he needed to keep running, while his new business partner got his new store.

"The new signs and such will be coming within the next two weeks, until then, make sue everyone knows what's going on."

"All right, sir. I look forward to all of this."

The man headed out, driving away. Zane reopened the cafe and stepped back behind the counter, when Sophie walked in.

"Hey, I saw the place was closed, and wondered if you needed a hand." Sophie's ambition was evident in her words.

"Just had to meet with a potential business partner. No worries."

"Business Partner?"

Zane quickly filled the girl in on the events of the past several hours. The deal, the rebranding, all of it. "So this means we have the money to bring you back on part time, if you wanted." Zane didn't want to make that offer, but he was tired of making smoothies in a cafe that would eventually become a video gaming lounge.

"I'll take it, it's always nice to have work." Sophie smirked, but, Zane, No more romantic stuff between us."

She wasn't going to let it go, Zane was sure, but he nodded anyway, and the two went to his office to fill out the paperwork.


TAKURA

Cleo, Rikki, Bella, and Takura were sitting around the living room talking about nothing when the doorbell rang. Takura went to get it, and invited in his new guest.

"Lewis, how was the fishing?"

"Not so good, I managed to catch a few, but they were too small to keep. How was the Island?"

The two joined the others in the living room, "Lewis I have merman powers too. just so you know."

"I expected as much, but I came here to deliver bad news. I got a call from my new boss, she's slated to arrive in the harbor tomorrow evening, with her research starting on Monday morning."

"Wonderful, everyone should arrive at much the same time then. Emma called and told me she got an earlier flight. She left twelve hours ago."

"That puts her arrival about twelve hours from now, right?" Cleo asked with a bit of anticipation.

"That's right, she's arriving in Brisbane then making her way here by bus. In the meantime though, there's some lore for me to share with everyone."

"Mermaid lore is a specialty of mine." Lewis noted. "What have you got for us?"

"The north side of Mako Island is home to a large population of sharks, as you know, but if you go to the seafloor there's a large stone door. I haven't been through it yet, but it looks to be about the same as the one back in Japan. That one led me to this." He held up his hand to reveal a ring with a large yellow gemstone set inside.

"The Japanese island had a small shrine inside, with this on a pedestal. It amplifies my powers to nearly immeasurable levels."

"And you think there are more behind the door underneath Mako Island." Rikki smiled. rising from her chair. "It's worth investigating, but what about Emma?"

"Emma found hers on display in a museum in the upstate of South Carolina while we were there. We were able to get our hands on it, but we can't go back there."

"What about the moon pool in Ireland, where I got my powers?" Bella questioned. "I haven't been there since I was nine, and back then I didn't even think to look for anything like that."

"Conveniently enough, the exhibit that we were able to successfully liberate Emma's ring from was an Irish collection. The curator thought it was an old Celtic relic, though she admitted it didn't really fit the style of the time."

"I've never heard of any powerful rings in any of my research." Lewis admitted

"That's because they aren't strictly speaking, mermaid lore. There is a legend of a golden boy named Kentoki who was raised by a witch on a mountain. He became a very powerful warrior, so powerful that the mother of all, when he died, broke his spirit into seven pieces and scattered them. I hold his thundering spirit."

"I guess I'll start looking for more information. Give me a call if you need me." Lewis stood and headed out.

"Your temple feels more powerful than the others. Care to come unlock its secrets with me?"