Season 4 episode 5: Tension
Sorry it's been sooo long! I've decided to do this in 2 parts so you won't have to wait even longer for the whole thing! Next part soon and episode 6. Thank you for however can be bothered to read this after so long!
Will had caught a case of OCD as he buzzed around his shack, tidying his treasures and piles of drawings. He was hosting a get together at his shack in the afternoon and wanted his home to be as tidy and pleasing to the eye as possible. Besides, he had to fit everyone in. His guest-list had been very easy; Cleo, Rikki, Bella, Sophie, Lewis, Zane and Emma. However, he hadn't ever hosted any get together of any sort, before.
He was freaking out.
I have to make sure everything is ready. I need straws for the girls because Sophie doesn't know…towels and finger food… Will felt very out of character. He had been told this was what Emma usually did. But, he wanted to try and create a relaxed atmosphere. He knew way too much about Emma and Bella's rivalry. And he frankly didn't want it ruining the afternoon. Plus, he didn't want to get involved.
Rikki swam gracefully over the coral, the spires of living rock creating the wild, coloured alcoves and lagoons of the Mako reefs. Shoals of fish swam past her from the shadows. Their scales refracted the light of the sun into millions of shining, secondary beams. Rikki grinned to herself. The sunny gold coast always provided her with perfect swimming conditions. Upon arrival at the moon pool, she caught sight of another figure, sitting on the sand. Rikki drew back to be concealed in the shadows of the small tunnel. There was enough air and head room so that she could peer clearly into the large cavern. The figure, identifiable as a female, was sitting cross-legged against the wall where the waterfall was. She had short, red hair, the ends flared out in short spikes.
Sophie.
What that hell if she doing here?
"Who are you?" Emma asked.
Rikki jumped as Emma's voice carried through the cavern. She hadn't seen her there. Sophie stood up and smiled innocently.
"What are you doing here?" Emma persisted, folding her arms unintentionally challengingly.
"Vice Versa" Sophie replied in a generally friendly tone.
"I'm Emma, I recently came back to gold coast" Emma said, seemingly unsure of whether she should have said that.
"Oh you're one of Rikki and Cleo's friends, I'm Sophie, Will's sister" Sophie out a hand out and Emma shook it.
Who still shakes hands? Rikki thought incredulously, still concealed. She couldn't risk Sophie seeing her. Emma shook her hand, smiling lightly as if debating whether she should be making friends with someone who shouldn't be here. Someone who could be a threat to the secret. They'd found the moon pool after all.
"What are you doing here? How did you find the moo…this cave?" Emma questioned, her heart beating faster now she considered the flame haired girl a possible intruder.
"I've known about this place for a while now. It's weird! The cave walls are made of this rare crystal that is possibly worth millions. Here." Sophie pointed to the rectangular incision on the cavern wall.
Emma scrutinised it. It was man made. But only something as powerful as burning to tear away the top layer of rock.
"Me and my friend Ryan were going to harvest it. Sell it for millions. I did it for Will though!" Sophie explained indifferently.
Emma gritted her teeth with a minuet grinding sound. Sophie had burned away this Sophie, had burnt away the rock of the wall just to harvest the moon crystal. She was the reason the moon pool was dead. She'd murdered it.
"I'm, I'm sorry does this place mean something to you?" Sophie inquired, seeming actually concerned.
Rikki smirked. If only she knew.
"No no. Not at all. I suggest you leave, I heard that there's a lot of rare insects that can cause very bad diseases." Emma hissed.
Sophie hesitated for a moment. She'd never seen any insects. But how was she to know if she had only be here what, three times? Sophie frowned at Emma's accusing glare and scuttled off back to the tunnel, returning the look as she took a final glance at the angry blonde. What's her problem? She must be with Bella and that lot. They all act strange.
Emma calmed herself down. Her emotional outburst hadn't down her any favours. Now she had seemed alarmingly protective over the cavern, Sophie was bound to be back and possibly maul the place a bit more with her tools and whatever else she had used to destroy hers, Cleo's and Rikki's most treasured place. Emma sighed harshly and approached the edge of the moon pool. She threw her arms forward and dove athletically into the royal blue water.
Rikki flinched as Emma landed quite close to her hiding place. After a few seconds, Emma arose from the water.
"What are you doing here?"
"Keeping an eye on Sophie" Rikki replied.
Emma frowned.
"How did she find the moon pool?" Emma asked, eyes narrowed.
"Zane" Rikki said blankly.
Cleo and Bella knocked on Will's door. Balancing plates of party food, they stumbled into his shack, when he answered with a welcoming smile.
"We got the food!" Cleo smiled, laying the plates across the coffee table. They covered the entire surface area of it.
"Pork sausages; mature cheese cubes and dairy free cheese cubes for Cleo, tortilla chips and two other plates for desert" Bella grinned at her boyfriend.
Will put an arm around her and sat down with her on the sofa. Cleo sat opposite with a teasing smile pasted on her tanned face. Bella stuck her tongue out.
"So Emma is coming too right?" Will piped up suddenly.
Bella gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, bristling like ice had been poured down her back. Cleo's eyes widened and she folded her arms.
"Yes, she is" Cleo smiled tightly, not at all pleased or appreciative by Bella's reaction.
Cleo glared as Bella sighed, trying to be secretive in her disapproval. But Will had picked up on it too.
"What is it between you and Emma?" He demanded in a reasonable but pressing tone.
"Nothing" Bella said disbelievingly.
Cleo arched an eyebrow and crossed her ankles over. Bella wasn't half being secretive. If she had a problem she'd have to say it shortly or all hell could break loose at the party.
"What time is the party tonight?" Bella inquired, changing the subject.
"In two hours" Will smiled, his eyes not reflecting his smiled.
Urm…Emma's coming. What's the deal, she's another mermaid?
"We'd better get ready" Cleo announced, on her feet and moving towards the door.
She motioned to Bella with a strained smile that softened as she turned back to Will.
"See you later Will!" She waved sweetly, closing the door behind her and Bella.
Cleo paced across the wooden walkway a few steps before she spun around and crossed her arms.
"Bella, what is this between you and Emma?" Cleo demanded, her voice hushed.
Bella's eyebrows furrowed and she bit her lip. Should she swallow her pride and confess? Should she ditch the party?
No. Emma left and she can't just come and spoil everything by expecting to be welcomed back into the group like nothing has changed. I'm their friend as well so she can't push me out. I saved the earth from a comet. Not her. Bella thought, resenting the jealousy that tortured her.
"Well it's going to ruin Will's party. Do you really want to ruin your boyfriend's party?" Cleo asked.
"Of course not! What do you think I'm going to do?" Bella threw her hands out at the sudden accusation.
"I'm not accusing you. Emma isn't off the hook either. You guys need to just suck it up and except there is four of us now. Please." Cleo said, running out of breath.
She turned away without another word. Guilt softened her hard expression and she ran a hand over her hair-band controlled hair. Maybe I was too sharp…oh! I can't seem to get the importance of this across without seeming mean. All I want is the best for the group!
Cleo turned round one last time to see Bella jump off the dock and the echo of the surface of the water breaking.
"I hope Emma isn't still like this" She mumbled to herself.
Rikki pulled her hair up into a bun, her pale locks reflecting a spring-time look with her grass green strap dress. She slipped her mobile into the zip pocket of her purse and exited her trailer home. The night air was cool and refreshing. Hopefully it was a good omen that the party would go to plan without Emma and Bella bickering or even worse…playing tricks on one another with their powers. That could mean bad news since Sophie was going to be present at the party. Rikki shook her head and bit her lip, trying to dismiss the doubts. It wasn't a long walk, as per usual, to Will's shack and she could see it illuminated by Chinese lanterns and fairy lights. Rikki smiled. It was rather sweet.
Someone looked out of the small box window and rushed to the door. Rikki didn't even have to knock as Cleo held the door open for her and she entered the shack. Cleo had an ocean blue tye-dye dress on, strappy most likely because of the humid evening.
"Sophie, Zane and Bella are here already, Emma texted to say she'll be here in five minutes" Cleo smiled, closing the door behind her and Rikki as they entered the dramatically decorated lounge area. There was bean bags spread ALL around the shack, all different colours and even up the stairs on the raised platform.
"Nice!" Rikki marvelled. "Great job on the decor Will"
"Thanks Rikki!" Will was casually slumped on a blue bean bag, lemonade in hand.
Rikki walked over and joined him with Sophie and Cleo, taking the red bean bag, ironically.
Bella grabbed her drink and sat beside Cleo, perfectly happy in the yellow bean bag.
"Why have you got all these towels everywhere? I thought you'd cleaned up?" Sophie chastised, shifting as she pulled out a towel from underneath her.
Will's eyes widened before he realised he was looking suspicious.
"No reason."
"Then why…"
There was rampant knock at the door and Sophie sighed, getting up to answer the door.
"Oh hey, Emma right?" Sophie opened the door widely and smiled generally as she allowed Emma into the party.
Emma had a silver dress that flowed like slivers of moonlight over her skin. Bella pressed her lips together as she saw Will's smile widen.
"Hey guys!" Emma jumped lightly into the pink bean bag in the middle of Rikki and Cleo.
"Hey Em" Cleo beamed and Rikki nudged Emma playfully.
Emma gave everyone a smile as she looked around at all her friends. Her smile wavered at Zane and then crippled as she saw Bella who stared at her neutrally.
"Bella" She said, having to swallow.
Rikki and Cleo rolled their eyes.
The room buzzed with conversation. Sophie was debating with Zane over the workings of finance and Will spoke with Emma, Rikki and Cleo. Bella sat listening, quietly. She hadn't been able to get a word in edgeways as Emma explained how she'd become a mermaid with the others.
"Rikki stole Zane's boat…""I didn't steal, I temporarily borrowed it and when we landed on Mako it got washed out to sea…"
"Yes you did. We ended up running out of gas in the middle of the ocean in front of Mako and had to paddle to the island. We had to fight our way through the jungle and reached this waterfall and had to climb across this massive rock ledge and jump the small gorge. However, Cleo fell down a hole into the moon pool penultimate cave…" Emma explained in detail, clearly highlighting that it was Cleo and Rikki who had got them into the situation in the first place.
"I had to dive down through the moon pool because we couldn't get back up the tunnel. I ended up out at sea and swam back to tell the others. We had to get Cleo into the water and that's when the moon came over…"
Bella ran her tongue along her teeth with her mouth closed, in thought. This was boring. No one had bothered to talk to her since Emma had started with the history of the girls transformation. She'd left out the part about mermaids, powers and the full moon's magic since Sophie was in ear shot but, Will seemed to get the general idea.
"So that's how you know the cavern" Sophie interjected with interest.
"Oh yes, we made it out all right. It was just…" Emma hesitated.
"Beautiful when the moon came over. Like fantasy" Cleo smiled, covering up effectively.
Sophie turned away then.
That could've been awkward.