Full Disclosure - Chapter 7 of The Meredead


Rikki led the way out and around the back of the café, to where an old pier jutted out a little way into the canal. Bonnie could see how it could be a great place to enter the water unseen, as the café itself blocked the view from the deck to the old pier. Rikki walked right to the end of it and looked around, waiting for the others to join her. Bonnie walked up and looked down into the water.

"Give me your hand, Bonnie," Rikki told her and after Bonnie held out her hand Rikki grabbed it in a handclasp. "Okay, everyone, on three, we all dive in together."

Since Bella was joining them Bonnie gathered that she was a mermaid as well. Nodding she indicated that she was ready to dive in.

"One, two, three!" Rikki said and they all dived in, all hitting the water at about the same time.

Once under the water Bonnie opened her eyes and looked around, counting to herself. She had discovered earlier that day that about 10 seconds after getting wet the change happened. Just as she got to 10 the familiar ripple took hold of her. At the same time she saw ripples go through the other four girls and a second later she was looking at four mermaids, all with the golden tail and seaweed tops. Bonnie didn't have to look down at herself; she could feel that her tail had appeared and used it to stabilize herself in the water.

On seeing the Bonnie had a tail as well Rikki gave her a smile and beckoned for her to follow. Bonnie kept pace with the four mermaids as they swam faster and faster until they were all shooting through the ocean leaving bubbles in their wake. Bonnie recognized where they were going; it was just as she had expected. They were going to Mako.


Bonnie followed the others into the underwater passage and found herself back in the moon pool. Surfacing she found that the others were resting their bodies on the shelf with their tails out behind them. Bonnie followed suit, although with five mermaids in the pool there wasn't a whole lot of room.

"Hello, Bonnie," Elena said from the side of the cavern where she and Caroline were waiting, practically unseen.

"Its okay," Bonnie told the others as they prepared to bolt. "These are the friends I told you about."

"Yes, don't worry, we won't tell your secret," Elena said. "We just want to get some answers for Bonnie here. I'm Elena, by the way."

"And I'm Caroline," Caroline added. "Wow, this is incredible. Mermaids! And I thought it was weird when Bonnie grew a tail; now there are five of you."

"Caroline, shush!" Bonnie told her. "Let me introduce you guys. This is Rikki, Emma, Cleo, and Bella. Elena and Caroline, my friends from back home."

"So what were you guys doing here last night anyway?" Rikki asked once they had all acknowledged each other.

"Oh, just exploring," Elena replied. "Bonnie slipped down the lava tube and we followed down after her."

"I've been there," Emma said, winking at Cleo.

"After seeing you guys in the pool I followed, trying to see where you had gone to."

"And let me guess: while you were in the pool the moonlight hit the pool and it started to bubble," Cleo said. "And you felt a tingling and saw the magic."

"All true," Bonnie said.

"So what happened this morning?" Bella asked. "When did you realize something was different?"

"I was washing sand off a piece of jewelry," Bonnie said. "About ten seconds later I…"

"Flopped," Rikki finished. "Yep."

"So what's your power?" Cleo asked.

"Power; what do you mean?" Bonnie asked, confused.

She looked to Elena and Caroline, who just shook their heads.

"Mermaids have control over water," Cleo explained. "For instance…"

Cleo made a gesture with her hand at the pool and a tendril of water rose up then bent to hover over the sand next to the pool.

Cleo looked at Bella who made a different gesture with her hand at the water tendril. There was a slurping noise and the water solidified into a gelatinous ball and fell onto the sand, bouncing once before coming to rest.

Emma thrust out her hand at the ball and with a crack it froze solid, becoming a ball of ice. Rolling her eyes Rikki then clenched her hand at the ball and in a burst of steam it melted clean away.

"Wow," Bonnie said. "How do you know what power you have?"

"Just try the gestures until something happens," Cleo explained. "Just not at us, please."

"Here, let me get you a target," Elena said and from a small stream of water that was running down the wall of the cave she got several handfuls of water and poured them on the sand, where they formed a little puddle.

Bonnie tried to remember what each of the other mermaids had done to bring forth their power. First was a twisting motion, then a flat palm motion, then a clenching motion, then a twist and thrust. But nothing happened so she tried making random gestures at the puddle. When she pointed two fingers at the puddle there was a flash and the puddle turned into a pool of fire and sat there burning on the sand.

"Whoa, that's a new one," Emma exclaimed. "Water to fire!"

"Of course Bonnie's power would be fire-related," Elena whispered softly so that only Caroline with her enhanced hearing would pick it up.

Elena then went and looked closer at the burning puddle of flame.

"So how do you put it out?" Elena asked.

"I could douse it," Cleo said.

"Let me try something first," Bonnie said and twisted her fingers around.

As she did so the flames died down and went out, leaving only a slightly glowing depression of sand. It was still hot, but as they watched it began to cool and the sand lost its faint reddish glow.

"Pretty cool," Bonnie said.

"Don't get too used to it," Elena told her. "We're still trying to figure out how to change you back."

"Why would you want to change her back?" Rikki asked. "It definitely is better being a mermaid."

"Why?" Bonnie asked. "Well, 'cause… I don't know. Didn't you guys want to change back?"

"At first, but then we realized that it is awesome!" Emma replied.

"Besides, there won't be another planetary alignment that removes powers for another 50 years."

"Seriously?" Bonnie asked. "That long?"

"Every fifty years or so the planets all line up to take away tails," Cleo explained.

"Do you know of that happening to anybody?" Bonnie asked.

"There have been other mermaids over the years," Cleo explained. "50 years ago three mermaids all chose to lose their tails."

"And then there was Charlotte…" Rikki said.

"Don't remind me," Cleo said with a frown.

"Just a couple of years ago this new girl found out about the pool and became a mermaid," Rikki explained. "But she couldn't handle it and lost her tail during the alignment."

"Moral of the story – learn to control your powers and keep it secret!" Cleo said.

"I can keep it secret, that's no problem," Bonnie said, giving Elena a little glance.

"So what are you going to do now?" Bella asked Bonnie.

"Go home, I guess," Bonnie replied. "And be careful."


"If you don't mind me asking, when did you four become mermaids?" Caroline asked when there was a pause in the conversation.

"Go ahead, Bella," Emma told her.

"I became a mermaid when I was nine years old," Bella replied. "In a similar pool in Ireland."

"I wonder if there are any pools in the States?" Elena asked.

"I haven't heard of any," Rikki said. "Just this one and Bella's in Ireland."

"Were you guys that young when you changed?" Caroloine asked, indicating Emma, Cleo, and Rikki.

"Actually, we were changed only about five years ago," Cleo said. "Me, Emma, and Rikki changed right here in this pool."

"Was it an accident like me?" Bonnie asked.

"Very similar," Cleo explained. "We ended up on Mako 'cause Rikki ran us out of petrol."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" Rikki protested.

"Just teasing, Rikki," Cleo said with a grin. "Anyway, we were trying to get to higher ground so Emma could use her phone and I accidentally slipped down the tunnel."

"Just like me," Bonnie said, glancing at Elena.

"We were trying to find a way out of the pool when the full moon shone on it and, well, you know."

"It seems like it's pretty easy to accidentally slip down that tunnel," Caroline said.

"Yeah, maybe we should hide the entrance or something," Emma said. "Something that we could remove if we needed."

"Well, why don't we go take a look," Rikki said. "We don't want everyone to be able to find this place; it's too magical!"


Rikki pushed herself back off of the shelf, and then with several strong flicks of her tail propelled herself up onto the sand, completely out of the pool. Emma and Cleo quickly followed their friend out of the pool, leaving only Bonnie floating in the water.

"Come on, Bonnie, it's easy!" Rikki said, wiggling her tail.

Bonnie admitted that it looked easy, so she pushed herself back off of the shelf and tried to push herself out of the water. With a squeal she found herself shooting out of the pool and landed with a thud on the sand, well away from the pool.

"You okay, Bonnie?" Elena asked, trying not to laugh.

"Fine, did you see that?" Bonnie asked, elated at her feat.

"Newbies," Rikki and Emma said in unison.

"Now hold still everybody," Rikki told them and clenched her hand.

Bonnie felt an odd sensation on her body as the water on her skin and scales heated up and turned to steam. Suddenly the now-familiar ripple went through her and she found herself back in her human (okay, human/witch) form. Next to her the water was steaming off of the others, and then with ripples all of the mermaids had returned to their human form.

"That is handy!" Bonnie exclaimed as she picked herself up off the sand. "I wonder if I could do that?"

"Try it on someone else, first!" Rikki exclaimed. "I don't want to catch fire!"


Continued with Chapter 8, The Trouble With The Trees

As usual, comments and thoughts are welcome!