Hey guys! Well here's the first of the new chapters! Reminder, this takes place immediately after Will finds out that Kaylie turned herself into a mermaid. Anyway, I hope you like it! Enjoy!

I stared at her for only a moment, then I sped away. Did I really see what I thought I just saw? It must be the curse getting to me again. Suddenly, I saw and orange blur coming up behind me. Nope, I was not dealing with her right now.

I began to swim faster, and being that I've had my tail for much longer, I easily lost Kaylie. Before I knew it I was back at my house. As I hoisted myself up onto the dock, a sharp, agonizing pain went through my stomach. I immediately dropped to the ground and started breathing heavily. I guess I didn't heal completely from last night's events yet. I hovered my hand over my tail and steamed it dry.

When I got up, my whole body started to ache. I was clenching my stomach as I walked inside. Before I could escape to my room, my mom saw me. "Oh my God! Will are you okay? Come, sit down," she said as she led me to the couch. I slowly sank into it, and my whole body burned from doing this simple act. "What were you thinking when you went out there this morning?!" my mom asked. I could tell that she was in full out protective mode. "You literally died last night!"

"I'm sorry..." I muttered sheepishly. My mom ran to the cabinet and came back with a couple pills.

"Here," she said. "Take these. They'll make you drowsy, but they'll help you feel better, I promise." She gently rubbed my forehead. "Now just relax. I'll be in the kitchen cleaning up. If you need me, just shout." And with that, my mom returned to the kitchen. She was right about the pills. They did make me drowsy, because before I knew it, I was out like a light.

I was at the moon pool, floating in the center. I could feel the rage within me. It was slowly building up, growing, ready to pour out at any moment. That's when I heard a voice. "Will, are you okay?" I looked over and saw Lauren.

"No," I shook my head. "I don't think I am."

Lauren slowly inched her way closer to me. "Let me help you," she said.

"There's no helping me, I'm stuck with this burden forever..." That's when I felt Lauren's hand brush against my arm. I shivered, not because Lauren was cold, but because I knew what I could do to her if she stayed any longer. "Lauren, for your sake, please leave."

"I'm not going anywhere," Lauren said softly. I could feel it starting to take control. I wouldn't be able to hold it back much longer. Suddenly, I felt my irises flood with the familiar, but dreaded yellow color. Before I knew it, I was overwhelmed with anger. It was unbearable. My free will slowly left me, little by little. I couldn't control myself. Without warning, a lightning bolt manifested itself within my hand. I saw the fearful look on Lauren's face. I wanted so badly to stop, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't regain control of my actions. Before Lauren could get out of the way, I buried the lightning bolt in her chest. I saw the blood flow from her body into my hands. That wasn't the scariest part. I was actually enjoying this. I enjoyed seeing the life drain from Lauren's eyes. She tried uttering a word, but pulling the lightning bolt out of her chest cut her short. I watched silently as her body slowly submerged into the deep, blue abyss.

Satisfied with what I had done, I was about to leave the moon pool, but that's when another mermaid stood in my way.

Bella.

I began feeling something with Bella that I didn't feel with Lauren. I felt fear. I feared that I would hurt her as well. It was strange. With Lauren, I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I didn't fear hurting her at all. I was thoroughly confused by this. "This isn't you, Jay," Bella said. I could see the pleading look in her eye. "Please don't let the curse take over your life."

I felt a single tear trickle down my cheek. "I can't control it," I whispered.

"I'm your best friend," Bella said confidently. "I know you won't hurt me."

I felt sick to my stomach. "I'm afraid that's where you're wrong," I managed to say. I raised the lightning bolt up to Bella's neck.

"Will... please..." Bella begged.

"I'm so sorry," I said before I screamed in despair and swung the lightning bolt at Bella's throat.

Before I could see the end result, my body jolted upward. I was breathing heavily, I was drenched in sweat, and my heart was racing.

"Jay, are you okay?" I heard a familiar voice say. As my vision focused, I saw Bella sitting on the couch beside me.

I rubbed my head and groaned. "Yeah I'm fine," I muttered. "I just had a bad dream."

"What was it about?" Bella asked with concern written all over her face.

I shivered as remnants of the dream flashed through my brain. "I'd rather not talk about it," I said with a sigh. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Well I came by to see how you were doing," Bella answered. "You did kind of... y'know... die yesterday."

I could see the guilt that Bella was subjecting herself to. She probably still thought that last night was her fault. "Hey, listen if you still think what happened last night was your fault, stop. You were moonstruck. You didn't know what you were doing."

"I know..." Bella said as she averted her gaze from me, holding her head down in shame.

"Bells, look at me," I whispered as I picked her head up softly with my finger, her eyes meeting mine. "It wasn't your fault. Do you understand?" Bella nodded slowly as her eyes remained focused on mine. Our eye contact never wavered, that is before my mom walked into the room.

"Oh Will, you're awake!" she said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

My body ached a bit still, but other than that I was fine. "I'm feeling better," I said with a reassuring smile.

"Good!" my mom said in delight. Suddenly, my mom replaced the happy look on her face with a more serious one. "So... while you were asleep, Kaylie filled me in on what happened last night. She feels really bad about what she did, especially after she learned what you went through."

"Yeah I bet she does..." I said through my clenched teeth. That's when I heard someone walking down the steps. Speak of the devil.

"Look Will," Kaylie began as she began fiddling with her fingers. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I guess I was... jealous of you," Kaylie revealed. "You look like you're having the time of your life out there, swimming in the open ocean."

"It's not all fun and games Kaylie!" I snapped at her. Now you have to watch out for anything wet. There's water everywhere! You could easily reveal the existence of merpeople!"

"I know..." Kaylie answered with a frown. "I'll make sure to be extra careful. Please, can you forgive me?"

I stared at her for a second, then shook my head. "No, I can't forgive you! I don't think you realize how much danger you just put yourself in! If you pop a tail in public just once, your whole life could change! You could be experimented on, dissected, and even put on display! This is your burden now, and it's your job to figure out how to deal with it!" Before Kaylie could rebuttal, I stormed out of the house. Bella quickly followed.

"Jay, wait up!" she called after me. "Don't you think that's a little harsh?"

"Not at all," I grunted. "She knew what she was getting into, she needs to deal with it on her own." Without another word, I dove off the docks and sped off to Mako Island. As I was flying through the water, I kept thinking about the possible ways Kaylie could accidentally reveal herself. Thinking about all of that made me all the angrier. When I made it to the moon pool, I saw that I wasn't the only one there. Cleo, Emma, and Rikki were there, but I saw no sign of Lauren. "Hey guys," I said with a small wave. "Where's Lauren?"

"Oh hey Will!" Emma greeted with a smile. "And uh... we actually don't know. She was with us earlier and then just left without warning."

"Huh..." I said with a confused look on my face. "I'll give her a call later. Oh yeah, guess what?"

"What?" Rikki asked.

"Last night, Kaylie went into the moon pool," I revealed.

"When the full moon was over it?" Cleo asked for clarity.

I nodded. "Yep."

"So what are you going to do?" Emma asked curiously.

"Nothing," I said flatly.

"Are you sure that's the best thing to do?" Cleo asked cautiously. She probably thought I was being too hard on Kaylie.

"Absolutely. She's gotta figure this out herself."

"Okay..." Emma said slowly. "So how are you feeling? Does anything still hurt?"

"Not at all," I shrugged. I didn't want to tell them about the little incident earlier because it was unnecessary and it would only worry them. "Well, I'm gonna go swim around for a bit. I'll see you guys later." I dove back under the water and swam out into the open ocean. I needed to clear my head. Was I being too hard on Kaylie? I guess if I were in her shoes I'd be pretty jealous. Her twin brother is a mythical creature. For the majority of our lives, we've done everything together, and ever since she found out about my tail, I guess she felt a little left out.

My train of though was broken when saw the familiar glint of a mermaid's tail. Something was wrong though. A cloud of red was surrounding it. Blood. When I got closer, I saw the reason for the blood. There was a fishing hook wedged in the mermaid's tail. The line was still attached to the hook.

"Hey boys I got a bite!" I heard a man call from the boat above. As I inched even closer to the mermaid, I saw how young she looked. She had to be no older than ten years old. I could see the fearful expression on her face. That fear grew exponentially when she laid eyes on me. Suddenly, the fisherman began yanking on the line, which pulled the hook and the mermaid let out a painful cry that was masked by the air bubbles floating to the surface.

Without wasting another second, I held my hand out towards the boat and made the water around it real rough and choppy, causing it to rock back and forth. The sudden jolts were enough to make the fisherman drop his rod in the water. "I don't know what's going on, but we'd better get outta here!" I heard another fisherman call. Seconds later, the engine revved up and the boat sped away.

I slowly made my way over to the mermaid. She still had that look in her eyes. I put my hands up as a sign that I meant no harm. She seemed to get the message, and she let her guard down. Once I got close enough, I grabbed hold of the hook and froze it. I then flicked my fingers open and the hook shattered into pieces, dislodging itself from the mermaid's tail. The bleeding had slowed down, but I still needed to get her help. I held out my hand in front of her. She hesitated for a moment, then grabbed onto it. I smiled slightly and then we both swam to the surface.

"Are you okay?" I asked as we broke the surface of the water.

"Yeah... I think so..." she said inspecting her tail. "Thanks."

"No problem," I smiled. "But hey, we still need to get you some help to patch that up. Where do you live?"

"With my pod," the mermaid revealed. "I lost them." So this was a natural born mermaid.

"Well I can help you find them," I offered.

"Are you sure?" the mermaid asked uneasily. "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea."

"I'm not gonna leave you alone with a bleeding tail," I said. "That would make you an easy target for sharks." The mermaid nodded slowly in understanding. "By the way," I began. "My name's Will. What's yours?"

"Mimmi," the mermaid said with a shy smile.

"Well Mimmi, let's go find your pod," I grinned.

Mimmi?! As in Mimmi for Mako Mermaids? This should be interesting. The next chapter will introduce (or reintroduce) Charlotte, although things are going to be a little different this time around. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!