Thank you so much to ObsessedwReading, WannabeeAussie, and Magic for their awesome reviews. I really appreciate them. So you're all in luck! This isn't the last chapter! However, the next chapter will definitely be the last. Over the course of writing this story I've learned one thing: I am absolutely horrible at writing two stories at once. I should never try it again. Haha anyway, I hope you all like this chapter!


Juliette POV

Finally. They were getting somewhere…slowly. Not nearly as fast as Juliette would have liked, but at least they were starting to figure out what was wrong. While patience wasn't her strong suit, at least she wasn't as bad as Leah. The girl was bouncing more than the Energizer Bunny. She couldn't understand how Marguerite dealt with her.

She glanced over at Ella, who was secure under Mason's arm. She sometimes wondered how Ella put up with her. She knew she wasn't the calmest person to be around, but she liked to think she was more in control than Leah.

And yet, that didn't mean she wasn't excited. This was their first real lead in weeks. And, in her opinion, the first real contribution Lewis had made since arriving. She probably could have figured out the whole compass thing on her own, but the whole "magical force pulling the crystals?" Yeah, definitely not. While she considered herself in tune with inner mermaidness (for lack of a better word), she fully acknowledged that there was magic out there she would never understand nor did she want to understand.

Unless said magic screwed with her own.

Lewis was still throwing crystals in the lagoon. Every one he found ended up in the water. Between Leah's bouncing and Lewis's plopping, her fingers were eager to start yanking clumps of hair out of both their heads. She watched as Lewis collected a handful of stones and tossed them in the lagoon. Each one spun in circles and was then pulled onto the wall by this magical force. He then straightened up and looked around the group.

"I need a laptop," he said, eyes flitting from person to person.

Juliette was not his errand girl, and neither were the rest of them. If Lewis wanted something, he could go get it himsel—

"I'll go grab one," Leah volunteered, disappearing once again.

Well, at least the bouncing was gone.

Lewis, however, seemed to think there was a need for incessant movement and began pacing while he waited for Leah to return. Juliette wanted Leah to return too—just so she could use the girl's thin limbs to strangle Lewis with.

"Will you stop that?" she demanded as he threw another crystal in the pool. She glared at him. There was excited and then there was little kid excited (and beyond that there was Leah). But Lewis exemplified the latter, minus the endless chatter.

"Stop what?"

"Throwing the crystals, already. We know what happens."

"I'm trying to gage a more direct direction," he said.

She scoffed. "Oh that's real scientific. 'Direct direction?' I thought you were supposed to be smart. Couldn't come up with any other jargon?" She knew she was being mean, but it was easier than letting herself board the train of "what ifs." Because there was always a chance Lewis was wrong and then they'd have to go back to the drawing board. There was also a chance that this—whatever it was—couldn't be fixed. There was a chance she'd never be a mermaid again.

"I am smart," Lewis said simply. "I could have gone into detail, but I didn't think your tiny brain could handle it."

She shot him the dirtiest look she could muster up then glanced over at Ella. Her friend was giving her her own dirty look. She was sure she was about to get a lecture when Leah returned and it was as if the last two minutes were erased from history.

"Here," Leah said, thrusting a sleek laptop Juliette recognized as her own at Lewis. She'd worry about that later.

Leaning over one shoulder, Juliette watched him bring up Google Maps. "Uh, Lewis?" she said, staring at the tiny dot that was the Institute's island. "I know Google's a pretty impressive company, but I'm pretty sure they have yet to track magical things."

In front of her, Lewis let out a long sigh. "Juliette," he said. She could hear him grinding his teeth. She hoped he ground them into dust. "Will you please make yourself useful and find out exactly which direction the stones are being pulled in?"

She didn't like being ordered around, but since this involved her mermaid abilities, she bit her tongue. Whirling around at the rest of the group, she asked, "Does anyone have a compass?"

Sticking his hand in his pocket, Mason pulled out his phone. "There's one on my phone," he said.

"That'll work." She snatched the sleek phone from his hand and unlocked it. Finding the compass, she tilted the phone until it was pointing in the same direction as the stones were being pulled. "220 degrees Southwest," she reported.

"Southwest," Lewis repeated back to her as he leaned in closer to her laptop screen, eyes squinting.

Had this not been so important she would have told him to watch his nose. She didn't want any nose smudges on her screen. But, again, she held her tongue.

While Leah leaned over Lewis's one shoulder, she hovered over the other. With a finger, Lewis traced a line Southwest of the island.

"Maybe something on the Yucatan peninsula is drawing our magic?" she suggested, indicating to a spot on the online map. It was in line with their island.

Lewis shook his head.

"Or it could be further out," Leah said, pointing to spots in the Pacific Ocean, "like one of these islands."

"I think you're right that it's an island drawing the power," Lewis told Leah, "just not any of those." His finger continued along the line, forcing him to zoom out on the map twice. When he hit the Australian coast, he zoomed back in. As the features on the map grew larger, the clearer the spot his finger hovered over became. He stopped zooming once we could read the label over the island.

"I was hoping I'd be wrong," Lewis whispered.

"Mako Island?" Juliette asked as she stared at the map. "What's so special about Mako Island?"


Lewis POV

He did his best to explain how Mako Island was where his version of the crystal lagoon was located, how it was where his friends back home got their powers, and how things had gotten weird right before he left. While he talked, he called Cleo three times, but she wasn't picking up. With every unanswered ring he became more and more nervous.

"I don't get it," Leah said. "What's a water tentacle?"

"I don't really understand it either," Lewis admitted as he pressed the button on his phone to call Cleo…again. "It's magic. It looks like the water's come alive, but it only happens on a full moon."

"And that's why we lost our powers on the full moon," Juliette said.

"Most likely." He wasn't really listening to the other girls. Their excitement only seemed to fuel his anxiety. Why wasn't Cleo picking up? Where was she? Something had to be wrong.

"But why is this water tentacle stealing our power?" Leah asked.

"It must be for something important," Ella said.

Juliette picked up another blue stone and threw it in the pool. "Who cares if it's important?" she snapped. "It's our power. I want it back. And what's the deal with these blue crystals?"

Blue crystals? Lewis froze where he stood. Hadn't Cleo mentioned blue crystals when he last talked to her? Yes. She'd said something about them causing a power outage. But she hadn't specified what kind of power outage? An electrical one? A magical one? He had to know. He had to talk to her.

He listened as his phone connected to Cleo's voicemail again. This time, he left a message. "Cleo, it's Lewis. Call me as soon as you get this. It's important. I need you to tell me about the blue crystals you found."

He hung up the phone but he didn't feel any better. Why wasn't she answering? Something was definitely wrong. And he couldn't sit here and wait to find out what. He had to help her. If everything that was happening at AMBI was indeed connected to what was happening back home, then he was in the middle of it all. Yes, he was supposed to be helping the girls here, but, right now, Cleo had to take priority. He had a bad feeling about all this. Whatever Mako needed all this magical power for, it couldn't be good.

It was settled then. He had to get back to Australia.

He was going home.


Also, one last little note: WannabeeAussie, you were right! Extra points to you! :)