Chapter 7
The servants had never seen such an awkward dinner in their life. The elegant long table sat twenty people but Azure and Bella were sitting at opposite ends. Bella refused to meet her captor's eyes. Azure stared at her coldly.
"Look at me." He demanded. Bella ignored him, continuing to eat her meal of scallops. "Damn it, look at me when I'm talking to you!" he yelled.
Bella glared icicles at the Prince. "I will not submit to your demands," She said menacingly. "If you would treat me with some respect – if you would treat me as if I am a person not an object, I may reconsider."
The silence was deafening.
"May I leave now?" Bella demanded once she had finished her meal. Azure nodded after a pause, returning her glare.
OoOoO
The shark moved forward and the mermaids dodged quickly. Why were things never simple? The blood-hungry and frenzied shark dived at them again. Rikki pushed Emma out of the way, putting herself between them and the predator.
'Go!' Rikki screamed via mindspeak. Emma swam away as fast as she could in her present state. She hesitated in the doorway. Rikki was leading the shark away, swimming deeper into the houseboat. The shark collided with the furniture and walls of the boat as it pursued Rikki. Emma swam to the surface. She was beginning to tire. She needed to find some where to rest.
Rikki was cornered. The shark charged. She closed her eyes waiting for the impact. The mermaid began to boil the water in front of her, creating a wall of protection. When she opened her eyes a minute later, the shark was gone. Rikki grinned in satisfaction. A moment later, dread filled her heart. Was Emma okay? Was the shark now chasing her? She sped from the Lorelei to the surface.
'Rikki,' she heard Emma calling. 'I'm so tired,'
'I'll be with you in a minute, Em. Hold on," Rikki replied. Emma was moving slowly on the surface of the water, the blood loss making her feel weak. She smiled when her friend arrived. Rikki aided her fellow mermaid to reach the Beach of Mako Island. Once there, Rikki proceeded to dry Emma off and then her own body. Once exposed to air, and dry, the wound began to clot. On the upper thigh of the right leg, there was a cut about ten centimetres in length. It was looking much better.
"We'd better get down there," Emma said after a while.
"Are you up to it?" Rikki asked. The colour was returning to Emma's cheeks. She nodded. "Let's just give it ten minutes, okay?" Emma nodded again.
OoOoO
Soon, Emma and Rikki were back in the depths of the sunken Lorelei. After a precautionary look around for sharks, they re-entered. They were amazed at how much damage the large shark had caused. Other than now splintered wood and broken shelving, the peaceful environment in which the fish had been living had disappeared. The fish that had been swimming lazily around the girls was nowhere to be seen. Miraculously, the special bookshelf was untouched. Emma cautiously removed the third book along. The book's cover was still somewhat intact but the pages were non-existent. This was the case for majority of those in the shelf. Indeed there was a button behind it. Eagerly, Rikki pressed it. There was a loud click, to some extent muffled by the water. A panel began to slide across – painstakingly slowly. They were disappointed when the contents were revealed. There was a small rusty tin and a handful of ancient Greek Drachma.
'Where could it be?' Emma asked with a frown.
'Hang on,' Rikki began. She began to feel around the wall of the secret compartment.
'What are you doing? As if it is going to have a…' There was another click and a second panel began to move. 'Secret compartment,' Emma finished. Rikki gave her a smirk. Rikki grabbed the scroll triumphantly.
'Let's take this to Miss Chatham,' she said.
'Hang on,' Emma replied. 'What's this other stuff here? Maybe we should take it with us – after all, Miss Chatham went to the effort of hiding it…'
Rikki nodded in reply. There was a smooth stoned paperweight with a ship carved into it, its sails rising out from the rock. There were a pile of clear marbles and there was also a feather quill. The significance of these things they had no idea, but Emma picked them up and she and Rikki swam from the wrecked Lorelei.
OoOoO
"Hi Miss Chatham," Emma said when the old woman opened her door.
"Get in here!" she exclaimed, seeing the magical items out in the open, just in Rikki's arms. Before closing the door, she looked down the corridor to see if anyone was watching.
"You should be more careful,"
"Sorry, Miss Chatham but you never told us to keep them out of sight,"
"I told you to retrieve the scroll. Those other items are much more precious, I thought they would have been stolen years ago,"
"Well, they didn't find it – we almost thought we had the wrong place," Emma replied.
"Oh yes, the secret compartment," Louise said. "I had fun creating that hiding space, I did," she smiled cheekily.
"You said we would need you help to operate the scroll?" Emma pressed.
"Oh, yes!" Louise exclaimed, "Pass it to me, dear?" Rikki did so. "Ah, yes, I need the quill also. It was a good thing you picked this up; I forgot it was essential to the working of the scroll," Rikki rolled her eyes. "Right, what was it you wanted to use this for? I'm sorry, I'm becoming more and more forgetful,"
"We need you to find a way to break an infertility curse," Emma replied patiently.
"We need to energise some water," Miss Chatham began seriously. Emma found a bowl and filled it carefully with water from the sink, placing it on the coffee table, Emma froze the water and then Rikki melted it and heated it until it was boiling. Miss Chatham dipped the tip of the quill into this 'energised' water. On the parchment of the scroll, she began to draw a shape reminiscent of a mermaid. Suddenly, it began to glow golden. It truly was enchanted.
A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks so much for reading! I'm terribly sorry for the incredibly long wait. I've been busy with university life and its workload. Today however, I did not have an assignment to work on! Therefore, here is Chapter 7! I hope it was worth the wait, and that you enjoyed it.
Thanks so much everyone for reviewing! Reviews are like rewards - they tell me that people like and actually read my stories. They mean a lot to me :-) I would like to acknowledge Mermaids Forever, your review reminded me and inspired me to finish off this chapter. Here it is! :P
Thanks so much to the following for reviewing!
Sunset17: Thanks!
Kate: I've been intending to reply to this review for a long time (you don't have an account so I couldn't message you.) How Bella can revert hardened gel to water is indeed my own creation (it wasn't mentioned in the show) but you can see how it could work in the show and wouldn't be too far fetched. For example, when Bella falls off the stepping stones she created, instead of it just 'running out' as it looks, she could have changed it herself. Think about it. She wouldn't have wanted Will to see them...and she had no more use for them already being wet. Also, Charlotte is seen creating fire and then putting it out without dousing it in water - surely Bella could do the same thing with her power...Yes this was my own creation but there are grounds within the original series for me to be inspired to create it.
CrazyHayniac: Thanks so much for the constant reviews - the loyalty means a lot.
ObssessedwReading:Yeah :-) Thanks so much.
AinsleyWright: Thanks so much! What a compliment!
TheWickedrae: That actually made me smile - haha - thanks :-)
Acgisme: Awesome! Thanks.
Mermaids Forever: Thanks for reviewing TWICE! OMG love you. Thanks for reminding me ;-)
SEE YA NEXT TIME!
