AN: I think this chapter's okay. I hope you like it. I also hope I'm not dragging out the rescue too much, I'm just trying to make it more exciting by building up the tension a bit that's all. But do let me know if I'm dragging it out for too long so I can improve on that.

Unlike Cleo and Rikki, Emma didn't make it back home before her parents noticed that she wasn't there. Emma had tripped over a badly-parked bike on the way. She hadn't been hurt or even bruised by it but it had slowed her down just enough to miss her mother's 'wake up call'.

That's it, She thought to herself, I'm done for. I'm never going to be allowed out of the house again until I'm a grandmother.

She ran faster now, slamming right into another girl in a hurry. It was Charlotte.

"Watch where you're going." Charlotte barked at her.

"You watch it." Emma frowned at her.

"Where are you going?" Charlotte asked her.

Emma didn't owe her an expiation. She tried to walk around her.

"If you're going to see your friend, don't bother." Charlotte said. "I heard she got taken away by some scientist. Tough break." She shrugged and started to walk away.

Suddenly a light bulb went off in Emma's head. Just how did Charlotte know that? Unless she was in on it herself... "Do you have something to do with that?"

"Me?" Charlotte asked in a phony-shocked voice, putting her hand to her heart. "Me? Honestly Emma, it's not nice to go around blaming people for things."

"I swear Charlotte, if you had anything to do with this..." Emma was getting more upset by the second. "This was cruel even for you."

Charlotte started to walk away but then whispered in Emma's ear. in a voice that gave her the chills "You lose some, you win some."

Emma wasn't about to let her off that easy. She grabbed Charlotte's arm and pulled her back. "Tell me where they took her."

"I don't know." Charlotte said in a snotty voice. "And I don't care."

"Charlotte, how could you?" Emma asked. "After all that happened?"

"She deserved it." Charlotte said.

"Why?" Emma shouted. "because unlike you, she knew how to be kind to people?"

"I thought you three wanted to be the only mermaids?" Charlotte said smugly. "Three powers, three girls, remember? Isn't that what you said when I became a mermaid? I was too powerful and so was she."

"Don't play games with me." Emma said. "You didn't do this to help us. You did this to hurt us. You knew we cared about her."

"You'd better get home." Charlotte said. "I think your mommy is worried."

Emma shoved passed Charlotte angrily. This just got worse and worse.

As Emma raced up the path to her house, Charlotte continued her early morning walk. She ran into right into Miss Chatham and Peter.

She didn't know who Peter was as she'd never even seen a picture of him but she knew Miss Chatham was one of the last people she wanted to run into. It almost made her feel guilty as Louise was one of her grandmother's best friends. But then she thought about Susan being able to control water in the same way she no longer could and the feeling passed.

"Hello Charlotte." Miss Chatham greeted her coldly.

"Hello, Miss Chatham." Charlotte answered back. She turned to Peter. "Who's this?"

"A nephew of mine." Miss Chatham lied quickly. "He's come to visit."

She smiled at him. "I'm Charlotte."

He wondered if he should give her his real name and almost didn't but decided there was no harm in it. "Peter."

Charlotte tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "So I'll see you around?"

"Huh?" Peter hadn't been listening he was too busy thinking about how best to find out what lab Susan was in.

"I said, I'll see you around?" Charlotte repeated in a kind voice that was nothing like the snotty one she used on Rikki, Emma, Cleo, and even Lewis now that they weren't together anymore.

"Sure." What did it matter?

"Okay." She said. "It was nice meeting you, Peter."

Meanwhile, back in the lab, Susan was being lifted out of the tank and on to a stretcher.

"Don't let her get dry." Dr. Denman told them. "If she dries off even a little, dump some water on her so we can run these tests."

Susan lay still as one of the workers came at her tail with a pair of tweezers and ripped off a scale.

"Ow!" She whimpered. "That hurt."

Everyone ignored her and two of the workers started looking at the scale under a microscope while about four other started studying the end of her tail itself. One of them yanked on her fin too hard.

"Hey, there is a person under here!" Susan reminded them.

"Can it, Mermaid." One of them barked. "Or does Dr. Denman have to put you to sleep to finish this?"

"Maybe you should, Linda." One of the kinder workers offered. "We shouldn't have to hurt her with out reason."

"Well, Lisa, if that's how you feel, maybe we should." Dr. Denman gave in. "Someone get me a needle with some anesthetic in it."

One of the workers handed her a huge needle that was the size of a small dog. Susan gulped, they weren't really going to stick her with that thing were they?

"That's enough anesthetic to put down six whales." Dr. Denman hurled a piece of equipment at him. "Why do you make my job so hard? It's a mermaid you moron, not a giant!"

Another worker handed her a smaller needle. "Here you are."

"Thank you." Dr. Denman turned to the worker who'd handed her the poodle-sized one. "You're fired. Clean out your cubby!"

The worker shuffled out of the room, muttering that Dr. Denman was the not so nice word for female dog under his breath.

"And where the heck is my new intern?" Demanded Dr. Denman. "I was informed he'd be arriving an hour ago!"

The said intern was not a bright fellow. He was sitting at the Juice Net next to Lewis blabbing about the new job he was going to start.

Lewis wasn't paying attention at first. He'd been up all night and was extremely tired. But then he heard the man next to him say the word, 'Mermaid'.

"What about a mermaid?" Lewis asked him.

The man lowered his voice. "Well, don't tell anyone but my new employer, Dr. Linda Denman has got a mermaid locked up in a tank at the John Malcko Lab."

Lewis was about to burst out with happiness. Thanks to this big mouth they finally knew where Susan was. He called Cleo right away.

"Cleo, I know where she is!"

"You do?" Cleo cried joyfully. "Where?"

"The John Malcko Lab." He whispered. "I'm going to call Miss Chatham and Peter right now, can you call the other girls?"

Cleo started calling them right away. Rikki picked up. Emma didn't.

"I can't get a hold of Emma." Cleo said in concerned voice after she had told Rikki the good news.

"Me either." Rikki told her. "I hope she's alright."

Emma was sitting on the couch with her mother and father standing in front of her with their arms folded across their chest.

"Explain young lady." Her father said crossly.

"I-" Emma started before her cell phone rang. She reached for it but her mother got to it first and hung up.

"Mum, that could've been important." Emma protested.

"What's important." Her father glared at her. "Is that you tell us where you were all night long."

"I was..." What could she tell them. "Looking for a friend of mine." She explained weakly. "She's gone...missing."

"What friend?" Her mother asked looking a little surprised. "I was under the impression that you were out partying with you're friends."

"Why would you think that?" Emma asked. "We were trying to find Susan."

"Your friend Charlotte called us and said that you-" Her father started.

"Wait, isn't Susan that nice old woman who's friends with Miss Chatham?" Her mother cut it.

"Yes." Emma told her. Then she turned to her father. "Charlotte's a liar. She hates me, she was just trying to get me in trouble."

"What were you thinking?" Her mother demanded ignoring the comment about Charlotte. "Going looking for a missing person in the dead of night? You could've been hurt. When you found out she was missing, you should have called the police and let them deal with it."

"We only wanted to help." Emma blurted out suddenly wanting to cry.

"We?" Her parents asked at the same time. "Who were you with?"

"Rikki and Cleo." Emma confessed. "They were worried about her too."

"Who else?" Her father wanted to know. "Charlotte said there were boys with you."

Emma hated Charlotte more than ever now. "Ash, Lewis, and Zane might have tagged along."

"Look," Her mother said. "I believe you. Because you are my daughter and have never lied to me before. But I don't want you going out in the middle of the night again, got it?"

"Got it." Emma said wondering if she might have to sneak out again that night.

"Now did you call the police?" Her father asked.

"Well, Zane was going to..." Emma didn't want the police to get involved but she couldn't lie to her parents.

"Going to?" Her mother snapped. "If someone's missing you call the police, end of story." She picked up the phone and called the cops. After talking to them for a bit she turned to Emma. "Dear, you're friend is fine, her vacation just ended and she went back home."

"No, she didn't." Emma insisted. That Dr. Denman was a sneaky one. "All of her things where still there."

"I guess they were just things she didn't want." Her father shrugged.

"Right, like she wouldn't want photos of her dead family?" Emma said recalling the precious black and white photos that Susan lived to look at and all those small funny objects she kept so close to her heart. Susan would never leave those behind.

"I don't know. It's none of our business what she left behind and why." Her mother said. "Now go get ready for school."

That's right, it was a school day. Emma had forgotten all about that. Before she went upstairs she reached down to where her mother had placed the cell phone and called Cleo back.

"Emma?" Cleo asked nervously. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Emma sighed. "Charlotte saw us last night somehow and she called my parents."

"What?" Cleo gasped. "Why didn't she call ours?"

"Maybe the little witch didn't have time." Rikki offered. "She was too busy spying on us."

"Well all that matters is that we know where Susan is now." Cleo said. "Look, let's all meet at the juice Net in ten minutes."

Emma gulped. She'd have to skip school and she'd be in trouble but there was nothing she could do about it.

Peter, Lewis, Zane, Cleo, Ash, Rikki, and Miss Chatham were all waiting for Emma when she arrived at the JuiceNet.

No one else was there. The place was closed because all the kids were at school. Not that it mattered because Ash had the keys due to working there.

"Peter, what are you wearing?" Emma asked when she saw him in a white lab coat and surgeon's mask.

"I'm Dr. Denman's new intern." Peter said lifting the mask to reveal a smile. "Didn't you hear?"

"Yeah, what did you do with the other guy?" Rikki wanted to know.

Peter laughed. "First I brought him a few drinks then when he was woozy beyond belief, I may have shoved him in a closet." He looked a little bit guilty as his eyes turned to the closet behind them.

"Nothing Personal buddy." Lewis shouted in the direction of said closet.

"Alright." Rikki said. "Let's get this show on the road. Everyone know what to do?"

Everyone cheered. They were going to save Susan at last.

They weren't the only ones planning a rescue though. The Janitor was also making some plans of his own. "Hang in there Phyllis."

AN: Okay, whatja think? Tell me! Tell me! I would love to know! so click away on that review button!