June 21st

Cleo opened her eyes groggily to find no light beating down on her, much to her surprise. She got up, ruffling her hair. She peeked out of her cave. It was dark out. Then what had woken her up?

She just sighed and put it down to anxiety. She grabbed her bag and headed out of the cavern; a starlit walk sounded pretty good right now. She walked across the soft sand, the wind blowing in her hair. She looked up to the star filled sky. There's no moon out, she thought idly.

She ran a brush through her hair and plaited it, just so it was out of the way. She looked out to the dark sea, reflecting the stars. She smiled as it churned, climbing up the sand. She walked up to the waters' edge and sighed as the liquid ran over her toes, ignoring the fact that she fell face first into the surf seconds later. She let the air dry her off and walked back into the cave.

She wrapped her dark blue blanket around her and closed her eyes, succumbing to her weariness.

Cleo awoke with a jolt. She looked around. Where had that noise come from? She checked her phone – which she had by then changed to American time. 8 AM. That's not too bad. She thought with a shrug.

Ding!

There it was again. After ten minutes of searching and five more dings, Cleo finally realised that the noise was coming from Lewis's laptop.

She rubbed her eyes and picked it up, flicking her messy slept-in braid over her shoulder. She opened up the laptop and squinted at the little notification shining on the screen.

Cleo's birthday.

What? Cleo thought confusedly. It's not my birthday! She frowned at the screen for another five minutes before doing a little calculation in her head.

She frowned. Could it be my birthday and I haven't realised? She scrambled over to her phone and turned it on. June 21st.

"I forgot!" She cried in horror, "I forgot my own nineteenth birthday!" She sat down, dazed.

She fingered her messy plait. "Wow, I'm nineteen..." She murmured.

She shook herself. She didn't feel any different, so there wasn't any need to fuss over it. Her top priority needed to be Lewis.

Regardless, Cleo took a trip into town. She decided to buy herself something nice, because it was her birthday, after all – and she needed a little assurance that she wasn't turning into Rikki. Maybe a T-shirt? A new phone cover? A hairband? Cleo walked into a pleasantly red and green themed store.

"Hello? Can I help you?" A woman in her thirties said from the counter. She wore a red t-shirt and green cut off jeans, and her hair was a nice brown, cut just above her shoulders.

"Oh, I'm just looking," Cleo replied.

"Anything in particular?"

Cleo turned to the woman with a sweet smile. "Just something little," She said.

"Perhaps a bracelet or necklace?" The woman questioned. "Oh, no matter. I see you already have a necklace. It's beautiful. May I have a look?" She asked.

Cleo fiddled with her locket for a second before hesitantly handing it over.

"Oh my, it is beautiful." The woman said, opening Cleo's locket and closing it again. "Where did you find it?"

Cleo opened and shut her mouth like a goldfish. She couldn't just say 'oh, my mermaid friend found it at the bottom of a magical moon pool,' now could she?

Cleo gave the woman a weak smile. "A friend gave it to me," She said. That was truthful enough.

"Ah," The woman said, handing Cleo back her locket. She quickly refastened it around her neck, glad to have it back where it belonged.

Cleo turned away from the woman and continued looking at all of the items on offer.

In the end Cleo just bought a headband. It was very beautiful, blue with intricate swirling patterns on it.

"Is that all?" The woman asked as the purchase went through.

"Yes, thank you," Cleo said with a smile and went out the door. She walked back to her cave, the headband dangling in her hand.

Cleo decided she was going to check out that building again. She was almost sure Lewis was in there, so she needed to go back as soon as possible.

Cleo brushed her hair out and retied it up in a plait. She placed her headband and brush up onto a shelf of rock that jutted out from the wall. She walked out of the cave, grabbing her bag. She walked all the way back up to Sovereign Street and lay in wait.


Cleo yawned. She wished she'd brought a book. Okay, she decided. Staying here isn't going to accomplish much. So she ventured out of her shadowy spot. If she got caught again, so be it.

She ran out of her hiding spot, glad for the shadows to slip into. She found herself in some sort of hallway, except it was large, and had about six rooms scattered throughout it. Maybe Lewis is in one of these? Cleo thought uncertainly. She knew if she made a mistake she could be in big trouble. She wavered; she didn't know what to do. The hallway was clear – now that she looked at it, it seemed more like a room – of any life.

Cleo was about to step out, when a man walked into the empty room. She muttered under her breath and ducked back into hiding.

The man – he was dressed casually, not in any sort of uniform or work clothing, as Cleo had expected – opened a door at random and tossed a tray into it. Cleo could hear the faint sound of it clattering to the floor.

"Here's your food, good for nothing." The man said, rolling his eyes and sealing the door shut before walking off, the key deep in his pocket.

Cleo frowned. Was there someone else here besides Lewis? Whoever it was, she needed to help them. She couldn't just leave someone to be held captive and treated like this by these monsters.

Cleo looked around cautiously, making sure no one was about to come out any time soon. She slowly crept out of the corner of the room, making sure to stay in the shadows. Cleo crept up to the door – but she knew it was locked. She had seen the man use a key to open it.

Cleo's curiosity got the better of her, and before she made any attempt of rescuing this person, she just wanted to see what they looked like. There was a window at the front of the door, one you could pull back and cover at your will. Cleo tugged back the cover curiously.

She gasped.

There, in the corner of the room, was a huddled up figure. A figure she knew well.

Lewis?

"Lewis!" She whispered. He didn't look up – he must have been sleeping.

Cleo frowned and pulled a pin out of her hair. She had no idea if it would work on the lock – it always did in the movies – but she tried regardless. She stuck the black pin in the lock and twisted and pulled.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her.

Oh no.

Cleo whipped around to see a man behind her, looking rather alarmed.

He has a gun.

Cleo ducked out of the way as the man raised his weapon.

Wait a second, that doesn't look like any gun I've seen before...

Cleo's twisted out of the way as the man fired another shot.

Her third attempt wasn't so lucky. The shot hit her in the shoulder, but it felt cold, not searing and painful as she had expected.

Cleo fell to the ground, suddenly extremely drowsy.

"What have you done to me?" She murmured sluggishly, reaching up to her shoulder and seeing something green, mixed with only a little bit of blood.

The man leaned over her as Cleo's fatigue worsened.

"Well, at least we know how this works on mermaids now..."

The man's murmur was the last thing Cleo heard before everything went black...


Cleo woke up in a dark room, her head pounding.

Ugh. What happened? She thought as she pushed herself up. Right. That man shot me.

She got up slowly, clutching the wall as everything span. She reached for her shoulder. It was bandaged, but it didn't hurt at all. That wasn't a bullet.

She walked to the door and started banging on it. "Hey! Let me out!" She yelled, "Someone get me out of here!"

She screamed and pounded for another fifteen minutes, but no one came. She was beginning to suspect no one would.

She huddled up in the corner, shivering. It was cold, but there was no source of water for her to use her powers on to try and even attempt to free herself. She pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and rubbed her legs to try and warm herself up. Strange. The ground was damp, but there was no water.

Cleo soon fell asleep, in a futile attempt to get away from the fear and the cold.

She woke up sometime later, sprawled across the ground. She got up and tried banging at the door again. When she again got no response, she sat on the ground, extremely discouraged.

She wiped at her eyes. I don't want to be stuck here forever! I still need to rescue Lewis!

She hugged her legs to her chest and rocked back and forth. She buried her head into her knees and cried.

She hopped up and traced the wall, searching for any source of water she could use. Nothing. She sniffed and slammed her fists against the walls.

"So you're awake!"

Cleo whipped around to see a curious face peering through the window of the door. Cleo raced up to the figure.

"Let me out!" She screamed, "You have to let me out!"

The man – Cleo realised this fact after she stopped screaming – shook his head. "Sorry, no can do." He said.

Cleo glared at him. He seemed so easy going. So casual. She was being held against her will! How dare he be nonchalant!

"I can see you're angry," He chuckled. "Exactly why we gave you no water."

Cleo frowned. Okay, so they knew about her powers. That she figured. But she wasn't expecting him to be so up-front about it.

"Are you letting me out or not?" Cleo scowled, being sure not to let out the fact that inside she was trembling.

"We will soon,"

Cleo raised an eyebrow. She kicked hard at the door, making the man jump back.

"You're a feisty one," He laughed.

Cleo glared at him. If only I had some water, he'd be so dead...

"So, how do you live with being a mermaid?"

Cleo scowled at the man. "I'm not telling you anything," She spat.

"Ah, you're smart too."

Cleo stared at the man venomously. She wondered if she could manage to punch him through that small window...

"So, when were you going to let me out?" Cleo asked. She could play peaceful if it would get her information.

"Soon."

"Yes. Very specific." She said bitterly. She started pacing around the room, running her hands through her hair.

The man suddenly looked behind him and talked to someone. He looked back at Cleo. "Okay. We're ready to let you out now."

Cleo looked around and backtracked to the end of the room as three men came into the small room.

They grabbed her by the arms and took her out while she struggled.

"Where are you taking me? Put me down!" She demanded, trying to squirm away from the two men who were carrying her.

All of a sudden she was put down, and she dusted herself off, looking for any chance of escape.

"Is she coming?" One of the men asked his companion.

He nodded.

"Wait, what?" Cleo asked, getting a little frightened. "Who's she?" Oh no, Denman? Please tell me it's not Denman. I thought we tricked her!

Fear got the best of her and a fierce wind started up, bewildering all the guards.

Little did they know, this was Cleo's doing. She started backing away, making sure to keep her power constant.

Unfortunately, one of them caught sight of what she was doing.

"It's her! She's doing it! Grab her!" He yelled.

Cleo broke into a sprint, scrambling out of the building and losing track of the guards.

She ran all the way back to her cavern, never faltering for a second. Happy birthday to me...