Sorry this took so long in comparison to the other chapters. I've been out of town for a week. But don't worry I'm back with a brand-new chapter whitch also happens to be the longest chapter yet! This chapter resolves some things before the big trip. In the next chapter or so we'll be getting into the main plot. Enjoy!

Cleo desperately needed a girls' day, that's what she kept telling herself. Thinking about her dead friend wouldn't help anything. The last thing she needed to do today was wallow in self-pity and grief. She talked to Sam about this and she suggested a beach day. Not wanting to ruin their relationship right before the big reveal when she returned home, she reluctantly agreed. She invited the other mermaids and Hermione. Lewis also weaseled his way into going after hearing what was going on.

That was why Cleo was currently traipsing down the worn path to Lewis's special fishing spot toting a picnic basket. She led the way, closely followed by her worried-looking boyfriend carrying a fishing pole and tackle box. Rikki and Bella were holding beach chairs and Rikki was not hiding how heavy it was. She stopped every thirty seconds or so to set it down in the sand, groan, roll her eyes, and pick it right back up. Hermione and Sam took up the rear, each pulling a cooler, so that the mermaids wouldn't get splashed. It'd be terrible if they got wet, but they were better off getting revealed to one person rather then the dozens of sunbathers on the public beach.

Once Cleo finally found a perfect spot, she pulled a worn blanket out of her basket and laid it down on the warm sand. Lewis didn't exactly agree with her placement of the blanket. In a hushed voice that ended up sounding more like a stage whisper he said, "Cleo don't you think that's a little close to, you know..."

"What Lewis? The water? Why, you afraid of it or something? Last time I checked, this is a Girls' Day Lewis. Where is your bikini, exactly?" she asked with her hand on her hip.

"I was just making a suggestion," he mumbled, pouting.

"Look, it's fine, I'm sorry I snapped at you. Why don't you just go on down to the water and catch a nice, big fish? Us girls will stay up here and eat lunch."

"Are you sure you don't want me to-"

"Go Lewis!" Rikki interrupted. He trudged down to the water with his fishing pole in hand. "Well, now that he's gone, who's up for a sandwich?" The girls and Sam laughed. "Could you hand me one, Cleo?"

"Sure," she said, tossing one to Rikki. It flew straight over her head. Cleo winced. "Sorry, I'm not exactly athletic."

"I've noticed," Rikki retorted as she reached behind her for her ham-and-cheese. She subtly heated it up as it sat in her lap before taking a bite. "Thi i a goo anwich," she managed to say in between bites.

Sam smiled. "Why thank you."

Cleo continued to pass out sandwiches. "Rikki, would you like something to drink?" Bella asked while opening the cooler.

"Yeah, just a water please." She turned back to her sandwich.

Bella opened up the cooler and rooted around in the ice for a bit before successfully finding a water bottle. She dried it off with a towel and handed it, along with a straw, to Rikki. "Here you go," she said smiling. Rikki took it, too engrossed with her sandwich to notice Bella's glistening hand.

Hermione had watched the whole thing go down. "How did you...?" she whispered.

Bella turned to face her and mouthed "Impervius."

Hermione's eyes widened. "That's brilliant."

"What's brilliant?" Cleo asked.

"Uh, those sandwiches. Brilliantly assembled, aren't they, Bella?" Bella nodded. "Could you pass me one?" Hermione said.

"Sure..." Cleo answered, confused. Hermione held out her hands, waiting to catch it, but Cleo handed it to her instead.

Once everyone had finished, Sam attempted to make conversation. "So, who's up for a swim?" Immediately, she was hit with a chorus of "no's." Bewildered, Sam asked "Well, why not?"

"Clearly I'm in desperate need of a tan," said Rikki gesturing to her pale body.

"Yeah, and I've been waiting to read this magazine for a while now..." offered Bella.

"And you know I hate water. It's, scary and, you know, wet," Cleo said. "Sorry, Sam."

"Hermione?"

"Well, I guess I could for a little while. Do you guys mind?" The three mermaids shook their heads. "Okay. Lead the way, I'll be right there." She watched as Sam headed down to the water. "You three gonna be alright?"

Rikki rolled her eyes. "I think we'll manage. Go bond with your adopted mummy."

Hermione stripped off her gray tank and denim shorts, revealing a purple bikini underneath. She set down the shorts on the blanket then balled up the shirt and threw it at Rikki's head. "Hey, watch it!" Rikki yelled. She threw it back sending her and Hermione into a fit of laughter. "Glad someone has better aim than Cleo round here."

"I'm not that bad, am I?" Cleo asked them worriedly.

"Of course not, Cleo," Bella smiled. "You're worse."

"Cool, guys." Cleo laid back on her towel in a huff. She crossed her arms and put her earbuds in.

"Someone's a bit crabby today," Hermione said causing the other girls to laugh. "I better go, Sam's waiting," she said glancing at a head of curls bobbing in the waves. "Stay dry," she said mock-sternly, her hands on her hips. She walked down to the water, leaving footprints in the sand behind her.

Bella rolled over and shook Cleo. "Wake up..." she said in a sing-songy voice.

"What?" Cleo asked.

"Stop being so cranky, it's annoying," Rikki said.

Cleo's eyes narrowed, then she smiled. "Sorry, I guess Kim's rubbing off on me."

"Speaking of Kim, where is she today? I'm sure she would've loved to participate in our beach day." Bella said sarcastically.

"She's shopping with Dad."

"Your dad? Wouldn't she rather go with Sam?" Bella asked.

"Your dad's more likely to buy her stuff, am I right?" Rikki asked. She was lying on her back with her eyes closed, determined to tan instead of burn.

Cleo sighed. "Yep, it's ridiculous. Remember that sleepover we had at my house during the last full moon?" The girls nodded. "Kim convinced Dad and Sam to take her and her friends to an amusement park for the weekend."

"Wow, what a brat," Bella said, surprising Rikki and Cleo. Bella usually had nothing bad to say about people. Bella noticed the incredulous looks on their faces and said, "What? She totally is!"

"It's okay, Bella, we completely agree," Rikki said. She laughed. "Cleo, remember that time she found your little mermaid diary?"

"Rikki, that's not something to joke about!" Cleo said, playfully shoving her.

"Wait, I wanna hear about this," Bella said. Rikki complied, launching into the story, leaving out the parts involving Elliot and Emma to avoid an awkward situation. They had never really had the perfect opportunity to tell Bella about their best friend, so they just forgot about telling her completely.

By the time Rikki was wrapping up her account of what happened with "So the moral of the story is, don't keep a diary full of details on your biggest secret, or things will get messy," Sam and Hermione got back. Hermione was made sure not to get the girls wet by giving them a wide girth. Sam, however, was not so careful.

As Sam wrung out her hair with a towel, a single drop of water escaped. The girls watched it, in what seemed like slow motion, land on Cleo's thigh. Cleo was unaware of this happening until Rikki shoved her in the direction of the water and mouthed, "Go."

Cleo immediately tore down to the water. Lewis, seeing this, threw down his fishing pole and took off after her. Cleo resurfaced behind a large boulder in the water and, thirty seconds later watched Lewis come up next to her, gasping for air. "That's a far swim," he sputtered.

"Listen, if you're here to lecture me, don't bother. I realize I took a big risk coming here and I could've exposed us all. Doing that was wrong on my part. It's so irritating having to worry all the time."

"I just came to see if you're alright. I know you're already stressed out about Sam and I figured you be upset."

Cleo sighed. "I'm more frustrated than upset. I'd really just like to swim right back up to shore and get this whole thing over with..."

"But...?"

"But I can't, not now. I'd probably just scare her. Besides, Hermione offered to help tell her next week."

"Next week?"

"Well, actually, I'm going to be away this weekend..."

"Away where, exactly?"

"Just, you know, the UK."

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"Well I just made the plans- Hold on, can we continue this conversation on this rock?" A portion of the boulder was carved out low to the water and hidden from view from the beach.

"Sure," he replied. Cleo hoisted herself up onto the rock, followed by Lewis.

"Where did they go?" Sam asked.

"My guess is they're on that rock," Bella said.

"Well we should probably go see what's going on..." Sam said, heading towards the waves.

"No, no, no you can't do that!" Rikki leapt into her path.

"Why not?" Sam asked slowly, crossing her arms.

"Well you see-"Bella started.

"She...erm-" Hermione tried to help with an explanation.

"You can't because..." Sam raised an eyebrow at Bella.

"Look, you just can't, alright?" Rikki interjected. "Truth is, Cleo doesn't want you over there. We aren't going to let you over there, okay?"

"We're sorry and everything...we just...you can't." Bella said, not wanting to anger Sam.

"That's a terrible reason. It's not even a reason at all, in fact. What is going on, girls?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Bella stammered. Rikki rolled her eyes at Bella's pathetic attempt at lying. She drew the attention back over to herself.

"Nothing important is going on Sam. It's just that you got some water on Cleo and-oof!" Bella had kicked her. "What the hell was that for?" Rikki hissed in her ear.

"Just stop talking! You're making it worse!" Bella whispered back.

"I got water on her and...?" Sam prodded.

"And she doesn't like when that happens. She's trying to get over her fear of water so she-"

"Ran into the ocean? Sorry girls but your story just doesn't make any sense." She sidestepped Rikki and continued walking towards the water.

"Wait!" Bella shouted after her. That got Sam's attention. She was used to Rikki being outspoken and Hermione being borderline bossy but Bella didn't usually voice her opinion like this. She turned around in the ankle-deep water she now stood in and walked back up to the sand. Bella casually took a step backwards, all too aware of the water dripping down Sam's ankles and landing in the sand. "Do you think you could just trust us with this? Please, for Cleo's sake. What she needs right now is Lewis, not us, not you. Don't go over there."

"Well alright," she said in defeat. The girls sighed, relieved. "However I will be expecting a legitimate explanation later. Please make sure to bring Cleo home straightaway," she said, eyeing Hermione. She took off down the path. "No explanation, no holiday, got it?" The three girls somberly nodded their heads.

"What 'holiday' is she talking about?" Rikki asked once Sam had left.

"Oh I completely forgot to invite you today," Bella said. "Would you like to come to Britain with us?"

Rikki sighed. "You know I don't have the money for that. And besides, I really need to patch things up with Zane. This time, it really is my fault and I need to fix it. Have fun, though."

"I'll fix everything between Sam and Hermione. "Worst comes to worst," her voice dropped down to a whisper, "Obliviate."

Bella nodded slowly.

"Huh?" Rikki asked.

"What?" Hermione said back, confusing Rikki. Rikki convinced herself she was hearing things and shook it off.

"Look I better get going," Rikki said heading towards the water. "Coming, Bella?" Bella nodded and followed.

"Send Cleo and Lewis back over, will you?" Rikki gave her a thumbs-up right before she dove into the waves.

Soon, Cleo washed up onto the beach dragging Lewis behind her. "Care to help me, Lewis?" Cleo asked. Lewis took hold of Cleo's arms and pulled her up to a dry bit of sand. "Least Rikki could've done was stick around to dry me off," Cleo grumbled.

"Cleo, she did the best she could do under the circumstances. She couldn't say you were hurt or scared or anything like that because Sam would've swam right over and saw your tail."

"I should probably go I've got some tests to run before the full moon tomorrow," Lewis said.

"Great, just what we need, more problems," Cleo said sarcastically. "Call me if you find out anything." Lewis bent down to kiss her before walking away.

"I'm sorry, Cleo, but I just don't see a way out of this one. Either you tell Sam you're a mermaid, or you stay home while the rest of us go on holiday. She's not going to let you go, not after today," Hermione while tossing Cleo a towel.

"What if she takes it poorly?"

"If she takes it poorly," Hermione said slowly, "I can fix it, but you'll have to trust me. Sam's not going to take it poorly, though. She's going to be fine with the whole thing like I am, like Lewis is, and Zane and Will. It'll be fine."

"Okay, okay. I'll do it. I'll tell her. Will you stay with me, though? For support?"

"Of course. Now hurry up and get your legs back so we can walk home."

Cleo stepped tentatively through her door. "Sam?" she said hesitantly, not ready to face her.

She saw Sam at the top of the stairs holding a basket of clothes."What is it?"

"You're not busy are you?"

"Not terribly."

"Good, then I have something I really need to talk to you about. Do you want to go sit in the kitchen?"

"Okay. Might this be your explanation for what happened today?"

"Yes, and trust me, this is a huge deal. Do you want to come, Hermione?" she asked with a pleading look in her eyes. Hermione nodded then followed. "Um, so, have a seat." She winced as Sam's chair made a loud squeaking chair as she pulled it across the tile.

"Alright. I'm just going to start by saying that you can't say a word about this to anyone, got it?" Sam nodded, thinking she knew where the conversation was going. "If word got out about me..." she shuddered. "Sam, I'm-"

"You don't have to say it Cleo. You're pregnant aren't you? You have been acting strange lately, and Lewis seems to know what's been going on with you. Don't worry, sweetie, I won't tell. I can help you with this," she smiled a painful smile. "Although I don't see how this explains your behavior today..." she added thoughtfully.

Hermione burst out into laughter. "Oh, is teen pregnancy a laughing matter where you come from?" Sam said angrily. "How could you possibly see this as funny?"

"You seriously think I'm pregnant? Sam I am definitely not pregnant. Not even close."

"Then what is it you're trying to tell me?"

"Well the day at the beach does have something to do with it. You see I was hiding something and Lewis just came to see if I was alright."

"What were you hiding, Cleo?"

"My," she hesitated, "My tail. I'm a mermaid, Sam."

"Those aren't real."

"Remember yesterday how you were saying you'd believe in mermaids if you had proof? Well, here I am. Living, breathing proof."

"But you're just a normal teenage girl. Normal teenage human."

"No I'm not. Do you mind if I show you?"

Sam took a deep breath, then nodded slowly. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Where shall we go," she said, "The beach?"

"That's not necessary. Unfortunately one drop of water is all it takes. Hermione?" Hermione nodded her head at Cleo. She made her way over to the sink where she filled a cup with water.

"Do you want to move to the floor?" She asked Cleo. "I don't want you falling and getting injured." She smiled, "Lewis wouldn't be too happy with me."

"Good idea," Cleo replied as casually as possible, although her voice was trembling. She stood up, pushed in her chair, and sat on the floor. "I'll take that," she said gesturing to the cup. Hermione handed it to her. Cleo was squeezing it so hard out of nervousness that her knuckles were turning white. "Now don't be too concerned when nothing happens," she told Sam smiling, "The tail takes a few seconds." She dipped her hand and the water and set the cup on the floor.

"Ten, nine, eight-" Hermione counted.

"Oh, stop it!" Cleo playfully protested. They could see Sam continue to count down silently.

A second after Sam mouthed the word one, Cleo's two perfectly toned legs turned into a long bronze fin. Her clothes had disappeared as if by magic and a scaly bra covered her chest. Each individual scale glimmered under the fluorescent kitchen lights.

"How?" Sam whispered.

"It's sort of a long story," Cleo smiled apologetically.

"And just when did your father plan on telling me this?" she asked angrily. She searched Cleo's face and her expression softened. "He doesn't know does he?" Cleo shook her head. "Well who does?"

"Hermione, Lewis, Bella, and Rikki. And now you."

"And how much longer will it be before Kim becomes one too?"

"Kim?" Cleo asked with a puzzled look on her face. All of a sudden she started giggling. "Never if I can help it. It's not some kind of genetic disorder or anything like that. I mean relatives of mermaids are more powerful than say me, for example, but they weren't born to be part fish."

"Could you just give me an idea of how you became this way, then?"

"Basically if you're at the right place at the right time, magical things happen."

Sam bit her lip and nodded. "Okay, you can trust me."

"That's it?"

"That's it. Regardless of your parentage, I consider you my daughter and I will protect my children until the day I die. Don't worry, Cleo, I'll take care of you."

"Come here," Cleo said with her arms outstretched. Sam knelt down next to her slowly, all the while staring at her tail. Cleo hugged her. "Thank you," she whispered into her shoulder. They pulled apart. "You can touch it if you want," Cleo laughed. She guided Sam's hand over her scaly fin.

"This is utterly ridiculous," Sam laughed. She pulled her hand away as the tail turned back into legs. "Woah, that'll never get old."

Cleo stood up and brushed off her hands. "Does this mean I can go with Bella on holiday?"

"Is that what all of this is about?" Sam laughed. She searched Hermione's hopeful face."Fine, I suppose this is a pretty good explanation for what happened today."

Cleo squealed and ran over to hug Hermione. "Hermione, we're going," she exclaimed as she bounced up and down. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she embraced Sam.

"You're welcome," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

Cleo's voice became serious. "I mean it," she said, "Thank you for understanding."

"You don't have to worry about me keeping this, Cleo. Go have a great time with Hermione and Bella tomorrow."

"Love you, Sam," Cleo yelled as she skipped out of the room.

"You'll keep her safe, won't you?" Sam turned to Hermione.

"Of course," Hermione responded.

"There's more of them aren't there? She made it sound like there were."

Hermione bit her lip and nodded slowly. "Yes, there are others but I can't..." she trailed off.

"That's okay, I just wanted to make sure she's not alone in this."

"Even if there weren't, she's definitely not alone."

"You're an amazing friend to her."

"She's an amazing friend to me," Hermione laughed.

"Well you better be getting ready, too. Thanks Hermione, I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Hermione said as she exited the kitchen.