For Lyla, the next few days passed in a joyful blur and she often had to remind herself that the events that evening on the beach had not been a dream.

In retrospect, she knew that there had been so many signs that Zac had been harbouring feelings for her— but she had stubbornly brushed them off, convinced that Zac would never see her as more than a friend. She had been certain that he was still fixated on Evie and, even if he didn't manage to reconcile with his old flame, she had always assumed that he would settle down with a nice, normal land girl. She had never dreamed that he would be willing to build a life with her. Lyla loved being a mermaid, and Zac knew that she wasn't like Rita or Sirena—she never wanted to give up her life in the sea to stay permanently on the shore, no matter how tempting it was at times. But, amazingly, he didn't seem to care.

"I don't care where we are, as long as we're together." He had told her earnestly.

Those words had brought an irrepressible smile to her face and Lyla had been unable to stop her imagination from running wild. Finally allowing herself to succumb to girlish fantasies, she had thought wistfully about their future—she pictured them exploring the seas together, finding a place to settle.

Starting a family of their own…

As a child, she never could have imagined herself falling head over heels for a merman. But ever since Zac had come into her life, she had realized that she had been foolish to listen to the fear inducing stories that other mermaids told. Despite his early misguided attempt to capture the trident, Lyla knew that Zac would never dream of threatening her or the pod. Like them, he cherished the sea and wanted to live a peaceful life.

Although she still was not terribly optimistic, she still held out hope that the council would have enough sense to see that. Serina had told Aquata about Zac's family connections, and she was on her way back to the pod now.

It was hard not to spend time worrying about what the pod would decide, but Lyla did her best to stay focused on things that she could control.

Today had provided many good distractions so far. She had spent last night at Zac's, sleeping in a human bed for the first time…and trying out some new human experiences. It had found it all pleasantly peculiar— and she had loved waking up to his tender kisses, their bodies still entwined.

She didn't think that she had ever experienced such happiness before.

After a relaxing afternoon on the beach they had made their way to Mako with the others, readying themselves for the regrettable, but necessary, task at hand.

There would be a full moon that night and, since Cam's attempt to get to the moon pool several months ago, they had agreed that they had a duty to thwart his future efforts. During each full moon since, Sirena and Nixie spent the night in the pool, while Lyla and Zac guarded the land entrance.

So far, no one had ever seen any signs of Cam, but they knew that continued vigilance was necessary.

They couldn't let down their guard.

And that was why they had come to Mako now.

Lyla felt Zac reach out and take her hand and she shot him a quick smile. Walking together like this felt so natural now, and she was glad that many of her former anxieties were now gone. He still had an effect on her, of course, and her stomach still filled with butterflies when he was near—but now, it wasn't about hiding her secret crush. She could finally embrace her feelings and simply enjoy their time together.

"I can see it up ahead." Zac noted, nodding his head towards the rock wall that contained the magical entrance to the moon pool.

The moon had not yet risen, so it still looked like a regular patch of rock—but they had been there enough times to know exactly where the door would appear later that night.

As they finished climbing the hill, Zac threw off his backpack and pulled out a soft red blanket. After spreading it on the leafy ground he took a seat and reached out to direct Lyla to his side.

"Might as well make ourselves comfortable."

This was all part of their routine now—they had spent several long nights on that blanket during previous full moons. But, now that things had changed, Lyla was certain that they would come up with new activities to keep them occupied during their night of guard duty.

With a smile, she joined him. His arm wrapped around her body, and she placed her head on his strong shoulder.

For a moment, they sat in silence, simply enjoying each other's warmth.

"Sirena says that Aquata is probably back at the pod by now. It takes about three days to swim to their new location from here." Lyla noted, trying to mask the hint of anxiety in her voice.

Zac nodded. "That's good, I guess." He began hesitantly. "When do you think we'll hear back from the council?"

"I don't know." Lyla replied honestly, wrapping her right arm around his sculpted torso. "We might not hear back at all. Although I suppose we'll get some sort of news from Aquata, even if Nerida and the council aren't willing to rethink the case."

She felt her companion's shoulders slump. She knew that he was even less optimistic about the outcome than she was, but she didn't think it was time to give up all hope.

"And maybe Nerida will want to come here to gather more information," Lyla continued. "She might want to meet you. After all, you're a tie to her daughter—someone that she loved and lost. And if she does meet you, she'll see that there is no reason for the pod to be afraid."

Zac let out a sad chuckle. "I doubt it will be that easy." He remarked. "I don't think my existence is enough to overcome the deep hatred between mermaids and mermen. I mean, we know what the council did to my great great grandmother for falling in love with a merman…and I have a feeling that attitudes haven't changed."

The young man paused, looking thoughtfully down at the girl by his side.

"Wait…" he began again. "If they banished my ancestor to the land permanently for falling in love a merman, does that mean they'd do the same thing to you?" His eyes widened as he the possible consequences of their new relationship dawned on him.

Lyla paused for moment. To be honest, she hadn't thought of things in those terms yet, and she wasn't really sure what the council would do. Perhaps she had become too accustomed to the commonality of male-female relationships among land dwellers recently, but their affection did not feel the least bit forbidden or wrong to her now. She didn't see Zac as an enemy merman—he was just smart, funny, handsome Zac Blakely. Her Zac. How could that possibly be bad?

Suddenly, she understood how terrible things must have been for his exiled relative. She shuddered to think about being faced with the same estrangement. The thought of having to leave him forever was almost unbearable.

"I doubt it." She replied finally, deciding to go with the most optimistic assessment. "I'm already partially exiled, so the council doesn't have full power over me anymore. And if they allow you to live with the pod, they won't be able to stop us from being together."

He looked somewhat unconvinced, but nodded anyway.

"Okay."

Silence fell as they both tried to push their darkest thoughts aside.

They would be okay.

They had come too far to let anything stop them now.

"Anyway," Zac began again, clearly eager to change the subject. "We should probably be on high alert tonight—ever since I saw Cam at the café last week, I can't shake the feeling that he is up to something. And chances are, it involves Mako."

Lyla nodded, recalling what he had told her after he last saw his ex-friend. Cam had been patting something large and rectangular in his bag while sending Zac a knowing smirk.

"I've been trying to think about what he had that day." Zac continued, his brow furrowed. He always looked angrier when he talked about Cam nowadays. The betrayal was still fresh in his mind, and Lyla knew that it was not something that he would ever fully recover from.

Losing your best friend and realizing that he was out to seize power and destroy you was a pretty awful thing. Lyla would have been devastated if Nixie or Serina had done something like that. Nixie's misguided alliance with Cam had been bad enough—but thankfully, she hadn't really known about his true plans.

"It might have been a book." Zac mused. "I can't think of many other things that would be that shape. But I don't know what sort of book he could use against us. It's not like he could go to the local library and sign out something about the moon pool. Humans don't even know it exists."

Lyla nodded, equally stumped.

"Who knows." She said with a sigh. "But you're right, we should probably be extra careful tonight. He might actually try something."

"Maybe we—" Zac was about to reply, but a new sound caused him to stop in mid-sentence.

For a second, Lyla thought it was the sound of something falling off of a nearby tree but she quickly realized that was not the case.

It was the sound of someone slowly clapping.

And they both jumped up in time to see a third figure emerging from the bushes, a confidant smirk on his spiteful face.

"Cam." Zac hissed, his fists now clenched. The tension between them was impossible to miss.

Cam gave a final clap before folding his arms across his chest. He seemed completely unaffected by Zac's aggressive stance and Lyla had to hold back a shudder. Cam was calm. Too calm.

There was something undeniably ominous about it all.

"Well done, fish brains." Cam said, staring down his former friend. "I applaud your intrepid sleuthing."

Zac took an aggressive step forward and Lyla worried that the two would quickly come to blows.

"We're not letting you into the cave." The young merman growled. "You're stupid to even try. You know you won't win in a fight."

Rather than buckle under the verbal threat, Cam simply laughed.

"I have no interest in fighting you, Zac." He said coolly. "And I don't care about the moon pool anymore either."

Despite himself, Zac balked. "What?" He asked, confused.

Lyla's heart was racing as she watched. She had been keeping one eye on the rock wall as the boys confronted each other, but now turned her full attention towards them. His retort was surprising—after all, the entire feud had started because Cam was jealous, and was determined to get mer powers for himself.

Perhaps his new disinterest in the moon pool was a bluff.

"You heard me." Cam continued, casually putting his hands into his pockets. "I don't care about your stupid pool anymore. Sure, the powers have a certain appeal, but I decided that I'd rather not be a freak." He looked between the two others, a clear hint of disgust in his gaze. "And besides," He continued, "I don't need magical powers to give you what you deserve."

Lyla's felt her stomach sink.

What happened next was a blur.

Zac launched himself at Cam, but the shorter boy was nimbler than his muscular friend and managed to dodge him easily. Zac stumbled, and Lyla was about to bolt to his side when she felt an unexpected hand grab her arm.

Cam had come up behind her, and she had been caught fully off guard.

Roughly, he pulled her towards him and she caught sight of a small bottle of red liquid in his other hand.

"Your time here is up." Cam hissed, his blue eyes narrowed dangerously. "You've already done enough harm."

Before she could pull away, he splashed her legs with the red liquid, grinning as he watched the pain spread across her face.

He legs felt as if they were on fire, and she quickly sank to the ground, unable to take the agony of standing.

Hearing her cries, Zac ran to her side, pushing Cam onto the ground as he passed. The other young man fell hard but miraculously managed to pull himself up in no time. His arm was bleeding badly, but he didn't seem to care.

Thinking that Cam was temporarily out of the way, Zac fell to his knees at Lyla's side, the worry apparent on his face. Unfortunately for the two young lovers, however, Cam was not out of commission yet. With lightening speed, he pulled out a second bottle and dumped the sickeningly green liquid it contained onto Zac.

Zac jolted in surprise before springing to his feet—but it quickly became apparent that it was too late.

Cam had, apparently, done what he had come to do and was bolting for the trees. Before Zac could begin to follow after him, a wave of pain stopped him in his tracks and his knees buckled.

Breathing heavily, he crawled towards Lyla, reaching out for her hand.

That was the last thing she remembered before the world faded to black.

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A/N- Let me know what you thought!

What did Cam do? What is going to happen next?

Stay tuned!