A/N: Thank you so much for all your awesome reviews! Here's the next chapter! :)

CHAPTER 7

Bella's POV:

"You did? Oh god, what's wrong? Is he going to be okay?" I gasped, standing up quickly. Lewis just motioned for me to come outside. I turned back to Will, but his eyes were closed once again. He appeared to be asleep.

"But what about…" my voice trailed off and I motion to Will. Lewis shook his head.

"Just come with me for a second, He'll be alright." His voice sounded strange and he looked upset. This only scared me more and I numbly followed him out the door and into the living room. The minute I stepped outside the door, I knew something was seriously wrong. Cleo was staring at the floor, and Rikki looked like she was about to cry. Zane had his arm around her, and I turned to Lewis in fright now that Will was safely out of earshot.

"Lewis, tell me, what's wrong with him?" I cried, feeling my heart beginning to race.

He sighed. "Bella, the tentacle wasn't an ordinary tentacle. If it had been, we wouldn't have had anything to worry about. It's known as the Cantata Moon Tentacle. It appears only during a special planetary line-up that occurred last night. I'm so sorry Bella, I should have been more careful in my research. I miscalculated this line-up and thought that it was occurring next month. I've been so caught up with Cleo, and being back that I did the research in a rush. Even then though, I've never heard if this tentacle before."

I shook my head. "Lewis, it's not your fault, but how did the tentacle do…this?" I motioned in the direction of Will's bedroom. "Is it normal? Will he get better?" I didn't like the look on his face. I didn't like how horrible this situation was. I didn't like the idea that I actually had to ask these questions.

And I didn't the fact that he didn't answer me.

"Lewis," I asked again, fighting off panic. "He will get better, won't he?"

Lewis looked at Cleo and they exchanged glances. Then I couldn't take it anymore.

"Lewis, tell me!" I cried, tears spilling out of my eyes and down my cheeks. "What's wrong? What's happening to him?" I looked at him pleadingly, and he shot Cleo a defeated look.

"Bella, I think you should sit down." He said softly, motioning to a chair. I sat down and wiped my eyes roughly. Lewis sat beside me and Cleo came over and sat down too. She intertwined her fingers with his and rubbed his shoulder lightly. He paused for a second; soaking up the encouragement she was giving him, and then he turned to me.

"Bella," he began slowly. "The Cantata Moon Tentacle's bite is fatal. Sometimes if there is only one bite and if the victim is in good health there's a good chance that they'll recover if the bite is relatively small. Will was bitten several times, and there's no cure for that except for an ultimatum."

My mind was spinning. "What do you mean an ultimatum?" I choked. "That's something isn't it? An ultimatum for what?" I tried to grab hold onto even the smallest glimmer of hope, but the sinking feeling in my stomach told me that there was barely anything to grasp.

Lewis turned away, like he didn't want to look at me when he told me the truth. "The ultimatum is between life and death." He said. "The only antidote for the poison of the tentacle is the combination of three of the powers of the mermaid; shaping, heating, and jelling will all work. You girls would have to focus your powers on Will for a certain amount of time. If we catch the poison before it takes over his whole body, we can cancel out its effects. He'll be weak, but at least he'll be alive."

"But what if we don't?" I whispered. "What if it doesn't work?"

At my question, he turned and faced me again. He expression was sad. "If it doesn't work.' He said slowly, "his weakened state will make him vulnerable to the negative forces of your powers." He looked me in the eye, "your powers will kill him, and if they don't, the tentacle's poison will anyway."

I stared at him. "No…no," I gasped, not believing what I was hearing. "No, you're lying!" I screamed, hysteria taking over. "No, it's not true!" I started sobbing, and I felt Cleo wrap her arms around me. Rikki stood up and came over too and soon we were all hugging each other.

I refused to believe it. Will couldn't die. He couldn't. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was a nightmare, that's all. It was nothing more than a stupid nightmare. I would wake up soon and Will would be all right. I kept telling myself that, but even as I said it again and again in my mind, I knew in my heart that I was in denial. This was reality, and no matter what was happening, I needed to face it. I calmed down a bit, but I was still crying, Cleo and Rikki were crying too, and I even saw Zane and Lewis wiping the corners of their eyes.

"So now what?" I said finally, pulling myself together for what must have been the tenth time today. "What do we do now?"

"There's not much else we can do unless he gets worse, but let's not think about that until we have too." Lewis said. "For now, we'll just keep him comfortable and hope that maybe by some miracle his body is strong enough to fight the effects of the poison," He paused, "but I really mean it when I say it would take a miracle." He placed his hand on my arm. "I'm so sorry that I can't do more." He said softly.

I shook my head. "I know you're doing all you can." I said kindly. He smiled sadly at me and then stood up.

"I'm going to see how he's doing." He said simply. I followed him, wiping my eyes gently, trying to remove all traces of tears. When I walked into the bedroom, Lewis had his hand on Will's bare chest and was looking at his watch.

"His heartbeat is a bit slow." He said quietly. "I don't think that's a good sign, but then again, it might not be anything at all. Could you run out and check those sheets I printed from online? Someone actually had a website on mermaids, I'll bet a mermaid created it, because you have to have the right keywords to find it. It had a sheet of symptoms regarding the Cantata Moon Tentacle."

I nodded and went back out to the living room. I was just pulling the sheets from the printer when I heard Lewis call my name. His voice sounded urgent and I nearly tripped as I rushed back into the bedroom.

"What's wrong? What's going – " I broke off my sentence abruptly when I saw Will. "Oh my god," I cried, dropping the papers and rushing to his side. He was shaking and just as I reached him he let out a moan that made my heart ache. His eyes fluttered open and he looked at me soundlessly. He looked scared and I took his hand in mind.

"It's okay, I'm here," I murmured softly, gently tracing patterns on his palm. His eyes closed again, and I looked at Lewis in terror.

"Lewis, what's happening?" I asked, my voice shaking.

He had picked up the papers I had dropped on the floor and was scanning them hurriedly.

"He's in the final stages. The poison is slowly spreading through his bloodstream. Once it reaches his heart, it can't be stopped." He spun around and opened the door. He called Zane, Cleo, and Rikki and then came back to stand beside me as I sat down, still holding Will's hand.

"Why did you call them for?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

"If he gets worse, we're going to have to make the decision of whether or not to try the ultimatum. It could save his life."

"But what about the alternative?" I gasped.

"Don't think about that," Lewis said forcefully. "Just don't, it scares me like hell to think that I could be responsible for making you guys kill someone."

I was about to comfort him when I realized his point.

We could kill him.

I would have to be one of the three powers.

If it didn't work, it would be like I had killed Will. Not on purpose, but that really didn't matter. What did matter was that in the end, he would be dead, and it would be partially because of me. It WAS already partially because of me anyway. If I hadn't left the house when I had Will wouldn't have had to come after me. He never would have been hurt, and his life wouldn't be hanging on a thread this moment. Cleo, Zane and Rikki rushed in just then.

"Lewis, is he…?" Cleo's voice trailed off, and she looked with terror at her boyfriend. Lewis rushed to put his arms around her.

"No, sweetheart. He's not, but he's getting worse. We have to decide now: are we going to do this?" He looked at the three of us. A deathly silence fell onto the room.

"I think…that we need to try everything we can." Rikki said slowly. Zane nodded in agreement and held her tightly. Cleo unburied her face from Lewis's shoulder and caught my eye.

"I think Rikki's right. Bella, what do you think?" She looked at me questioningly. I looked at them, and then at Will. He looked so weak, so helpless. I realized that we didn't have much time with which to decide. I swallowed hard as I realized that the decision now rested solely on me. If I said no, it would be impossible for the girls to do it without me; Lewis said clearly that they needed three powers. If I said yes, and if it didn't work, I would blame myself for the rest of my life, but if I said no, I would always think about what could have happened if we had only tried. It was then that I made my decision.

"I'll do it," I said firmly, looking up into all the eyes that were staring at me. Lewis let out a long sigh.

"Alright, but we're going to have to work fast. I don't know how much time we have, but it says that shaking is a late symptom."

"What exactly do we have to do?" Rikki asked, pulling slightly away from Zane.

Lewis scanned through the paper in his hand. "You girls have to focus your powers on him for 11 seconds times the day of the month, plus the number of the month. It's October 6, so it's seventy-six seconds. When the time is up, you thrust your powers at him, releasing every ounce of force that you have in you. Don't hold anything back; this is going to take everything you've got. We'll know immediately if it's worked or not."

"When do we do it? Does it say exactly?" Cleo asked. Lewis flipped through all three sheets.

"It seems like it can be done at anytime; it mainly just gives the specifics of the process." Lewis continued talking but I tuned him out momentarily. I was looking at Will closely. Something was wrong – I could feel it – and what scared me the most was that the last time I had had this feeling I had been right. I turned to call Lewis over when Will suddenly groaned loudly and shifted from his previously still position. Immediately everyone in the room was alert. I placed my hand on Will's forehead and felt it turn burning hot and then icy cold under my palm. Whatever was causing these suddenly temperature changes was obviously causing him pain too, because he cried out softly and clenched my hand in his.

Lewis was now by my side and was reading something off his paper.

"Guys I think this is it," he said seriously, turning to all of us. 'It's now or never. If we let the poison spread anymore, it'll be to late." I gulped, and turned to look at him.

"Are you sure?" I asked urgently.

"I'm sure," he responded. "You need to line up on one side of him. Come on now, hurry!" Cleo and Rikki came to stand beside the chair where I was sitting. I leaned forwards and gently kissed Will's forehead, tears filling my eyes when I thought about how it might be the last time. I think he was to ill to even notice me at this point. I gently eased my hand out of his and stood up. Lewis moved the chair away and pulled out his phone.

"I have the stopwatch set. When I say go, focus your powers." He said, quickly pressing a few buttons on his touch screen.

What if this didn't work?

"One,"

What if he didn't make it?

"Two,"

What if I messed up, what if I did something wrong?

"Three,"

This was it; it was now or never.

"GO!"

I snapped out of my own thoughts at the sound of Lewis's voice and flicked my hand palm up in Will's direction. Beside me, Cleo and Rikki were doing the same. I could feel the power flowing out of my body and I kept my focus on pulling every bit of magic out of me. It was an exhausting effort, and even a bit painful, but I didn't stop. Seconds ticked by and it seemed like eternity, especially since nothing special seemed to be happening. Then suddenly everything started whirling like instant chaos.

Will groaned again and seemed to be uncomfortable. He shifted a few times, moaning softly. It was pure torture to see him suffering, but if this would save his life, it would be worth it, and it would all be over soon. Then things began to escalate. Will started shaking violently, and then began twitching strangely.

"Lewis, what's wrong with him?" Rikki asked shakily, never letting her force stop, but afraid enough to dare to speak.

"I don't know," Lewis said, a scared look on his face. "He looks like he's having a seizure, but he seems fully conscious and…" his voiced trailed off. He hurriedly flipped through all three pages once again.

"There's nothing here that talks about this." He said, beginning to pace back in forth, his eyes once again fastened to his phone.

"Forty seconds,' he said, "Only thirty left to go."

I didn't know if I could take it. Will's body began having spasms, and when he cried out in pain, it was too much.

"We have to stop!" I cried, tears pouring down my face, "We're killing him!"

"No! Bella, stay focused!" Lewis shouted, "If you stop now, you can't try again; it'll kill him instantly. This is his only chance; you've got to keep going!"

I was hyperventilating, and yet I felt like I couldn't breathe, all at the same time.

"I – I – I can't!" I sobbed, my hand wavering,

"Sixty secon – Bella, no!" Lewis cried, seeing me falter, "Only sixteen seconds left left, come on, you can do this, you HAVE to do this," he said through gritted teeth. Cleo and Rikki were both crying softly by this point and Zane was pacing nervously on the other side of the room.

Lewis looked at his phone. "Five seconds left, get ready to pulled them on full force." He warned, not taking his eyes of his stopwatch. I sniffed and pulled myself together. I could do this. I was going to do this. Will was going to make it; he just had too.

"Three,"

How did it come to this?

"Two"

Will's life could be over in just one second.

"One,"

Two lives could be over, because I knew that I couldn't live without him.

"NOW!" Lewis shouted. The three of us drew our hands back at the same moment. As if we were one, we thrust our hands forward, throwing the last bit of our magic out. I could feel the electricity like a shock go from the tips of my toes to the top of my shoulder and then through my arm and out through my fingers. I felt drained, dizzy and lightheaded. Will thrashed violently, and cried out loudly in pain.

Then he was still.

To still.

He didn't groan; he didn't cry; he didn't move. Lewis approached him cautiously and leaned down to listen for a heartbeat. Sweat was pouring down my back and down my forehead, and I could hear the girls gasping for breath beside me. I didn't look at them; I didn't look at Zane or at Lewis even. My eyes were only on Will and he had yet to make any sign that he was still alive. Then Lewis stood up slowly, his face grave.

I began panicking, every second without movement on Will's part just increasing my fear, and now the expression on Lewis's face…that's when everything began to spin. I felt sick to my stomach and the agony of what had just happened was too much. Everything began to get dark and I felt myself beginning to fall.

"Zane, catch her!" I heard a voice shout, but it seemed so far away…

Rikki's POV:

"Zane, catch her!" I cried, reaching for Bella as she fell with a pitiful moan. Zane caught her carefully in his arms and eased her gently onto the floor.

I looked up away from Bella and at Lewis. I caught his eye, and he shook his head. My breath caught in my throat and I heard Cleo gasp and then begin to sob. Lewis hurried to her side and wrapped his arms around her.

"You – you mean he's…" I refused to say it. I couldn't say it.

Lewis nodded sadly.

"He's not breathing," he said quietly. "And I don't hear a heartbeat."

A/N: OMG! Third cliffhanger in a row, you guys must hate me! Sooo…is Will really dead? If he is, what's going to happen to Bella without him? Review to find out! The next chapter is already written, and as soon as I get some responses I'll post it! :) Hehehe I'm EVIL! }:-}

Thanks for reading!:)

Ella:)