Ghost

x

The Moon Pool was a few pieces of camping gear lay scattered across the sand but their owners were nowhere to be seen.

Hopefully they wouldn't return too quickly or they'd mess everything up. Getting caught was not part of the plan, not yet at least. There were so many more things to do before that! The most important one: find the mermaid. The boy wouldn't give up the Trident that easily, not without a fight. And a fight was out of the question when one's powers were so weak...The mermaid would have to take it!

But first, catch the mermaid. But how...? How to catch the mermaid? Ah, stalk her! Of course! She had to come into the water at some point, right? But don't scare her! No! Scare her! This way she knows her place from the beginning. The mermaid won't be trouble if you scare her. She's all alone...

With a nod the intruder disappeared back under the water, speeding out of the cave.

x

Zac's eyes shifted from one side of the cave to the other, repeatedly, but nothing seemed out of place. Except maybe for the mountains of trash which had piled up since the last full moon; he'd have to clean those up. Despite Cam swearing up and down he saw someone go inside the cave, everything was just the way they had left it the previous day. Even the tower they had built out of Dr Pepper cans was still standing, and that thing would have collapsed the second someone went on land.

Aside for the two of them, Evie, Lyla and Miss Santos nobody else knew about the Moon Pool so nobody else could have come looking for it. Lyla sure as hell wouldn't have come anywhere near the underwater sanctuary, not alone at least. From what Zac knew the other two were nowhere in sight - they'd probably never return to Mako. A slight pang of guilt hit him as he remembered Lyla's distress during the first few days she had been all alone. But it was quickly dissipated by memories of her previous lies. How he had trusted her...

Miss Santos was almost always in school and during her free time she had other duties to attend to - she couldn't have joined Lyla on a scouting mission. To both boys' surprise the principal wasn't even giving them a harder time at school, just treating them as usual - ok, maybe slightly colder but it was to be expected. They had ruined her nice's life.

However he'd have to check if Nixie or Sirena were back, he couldn't risk it even if he was only going on one of Cam's crazy hunches.

"I'm telling you mate! I saw someone! Must have been a fish person 'cause nobody else dives around Mako." The blonde boy had surfaced behind Zac, causing him to flinch slightly when he spoke. He didn't think his best friend would catch up with him so quickly, he's swimming skills had clearly improved since they began patrolling around the pool. Rolling his eyes one last time the merman turned to face him. The other boy's eyes darted frenetically around the room making him look a bit crazy as he chased a flock of wild geese.

"Will you calm down? You look like Buster whenever someone drops food on the ground." Zac teased now looking amused rather than worried. Clearly Cam was wrong - again. "You need to stop hanging out around here so long, the lack of oxygen is starting to affect you."

Without another word (he did let out a silent growl thought, thinking Zac wouldn't hear) Cam put his mouth piece back in, disappearing under the water with a splash. Clearly he was annoyed, he wasn't used to being wrong and that seemed to happen a hell of a lot lately. With a bright grin on his face Zac dived after him, zapping back to the boat and leaving a trail of bubbles behind for Cam to entangle into. Payment for making him waste a trip.

x

It felt eerie, being back into the ocean after so much time on land. And for the first time ever - frightening. She never thought she'd arrive in the point where she'd be afraid of her own home. Every sound, every ripple of the water made Lyla flinch nervously and look over her shoulder expecting to see him there, displeased, signaling her to return the way she had come. Too close to Mako - the blonde thought as she abruptly stopped beside a larger section of the reef, squeezing herself as close as possible to the coral as if she were trying to be assimilated into it for better coverage.

The landscape was so familiar it hurt, leaving a hole in the blonde's stomach; everywhere she looked she thought she saw glimpses of either Sirena or Nixie's tails, taunting her, tempting her to follow them towards their home. Every time she had to squeeze her eyes shut, count to ten and remind herself they were no longer there. Not them, not any other golden tail. Not as long as Zac still had the Trident and with it the Moon Pool.

How little it takes to ruin a friendship...Lyla thought as she stood there, grazing against the coral, all her senses still on high alert. Now that she had had so long to reflect on it, perhaps the three mermaids should have been honest with Zac to begin with. That would have avoided many useless conflicts. But how could they know what he would do if he knew the whole truth about their world? About the Trident? All they wanted was their family back, why didn't he get that? What if he was in their position? What if he had been the one to lose everything?

A wave of anger rushed over Lyla as she rubbed her sore shoulder. Tiny streaks of blood stained the water red as they rose from thin cracks in the skin. Rita would have to bandage her again that night...As she turned round to make her way back home Lyla caught a glimpse of a tail disappearing behind a rock not two meters to her left. In the dim light she could not distinguish its color...But with her being the only mermaid left around Mako it couldn't have belonged to anyone other than Zac.

Despite her heart pounding so hard it threatened to break loose from her chest and swim away Lyla tried to appear calm, pretend she had not seen anything. Zac wouldn't actually hurt her, right? She wasn't doing anything. Chase her off - most likely. But he wouldn't hurt her! She had never hurt him...physically at least. And she couldn't hurt him, even to save her own life (cruel reality...). Maybe he'd leave her be if she just pretended nothing happened an just headed back to Rita's grotto. Or maybe she had just imagined it, the stress of the physics test, and life in general, having finally gotten to her.

So focused on her rants, Lyla didn't notice the weeds wrapping themselves around her tail until her swimming was brought to an abrupt stop. Panicked the golden haired mermaid forgot her powers for a moment and wriggled around like a fish caught in a net, unable to breathe or think. Just fear. Then slowly her heart rate went down and her brain began to function again. It was just some seaweed.

With a quick flick of the hand she untangled herself from their grasp, a deep frown present on her face. Did someone do this? Or was she just being paranoid and had gotten stuck in some tall grass on her own? It did happen before - she even rammed herself into a rock one night. The map of the ocean's landscape was beginning to fade away from her memory. Oh how she could use one of Rita's headache potions in that moment. Banishing all negative thoughts to a tucked away corner of her mind the young mermaid resumed her swim towards her home.

What she didn't know was that she had not tangled herself into tall grass, not without help at least. From behind a rock someone was watching her, amusement present on their features. As soon as she swam away her stalker turned invisible following her all the way to the underwater entrance of Rita's grotto but did not dare go any further.

x

The first attempt at catching the mermaid had failed...Seaweed...What an idiotic invention! A new plan had to be created and set into motion as quickly as possible. Time was beginning to run out and the Trident was still not acquired. The others weren't looking for explanations, they were looking for actions! Something needed to be done...But what?

Going on land...Maybe that was the solution. For a mermaid the gold tail spent awfully little time in the ocean. But how to get legs?...What had that magic? You can't go on land without legs, can you? No...Legs! Get legs then get the mermaid! Gold tail seems like an easy enough prey, she's all alone poor thing. Good! Her pod would have been an inconvenience. Veridia...Veridia would never let the Trident fall into wrong hands. Where was Veridia? No! Not important! If Veridia came then the Trident would be out of reach forever. Mako as well...

Mako had to be destroyed!