Chapter 14: The Doctor is In

"Hey man. What…are you doing here?" Zane asked once he opened the door to his home. Ash was standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets and he was rocking back and forth on his heels. It was strange to see Ash standing there. They were friends, mainly because of the secret they had to keep for their girlfriends, but it was still odd because he didn't know Ash that well despite being in the 'club' with him.

"Is it a crime to want to see my friend?" Ash asked with raised eyebrows. Zane looked over his shoulder as he shook his head. "So are you going to let me in or not?"

"Yeah, sorry." Zane stepped out of the way and let Ash into the house. Once he was in entirely he led Ash through the house and into the living room where Nate was sitting on the couch. "Uh, Nate, you remember Ash. Ash, Nate," Zane said as he pointed to each person.

Nate and Ash merely nodded at each other. If Zane had his way they wouldn't be in the same room together, knowing that a fight was sure to break out, but he couldn't be rude and make Ash leave when he just go there.

"So…what are you guys talking about?" Ash asked, looking back and forth between the two. He didn't know if he really wanted the answer. When Nate and Zane were together, something bad usually comes out of it.

"None of your business," Nate replied instantly.

"Nate," Zane sighed in a warning way. "We were talking about the super humans that my Dad is looking for."

"You actually believe in super humans?" Ash asked, chuckling and shaking his head. "I told you all ready, psychics are fake and there are no such things as super humans."

"If there weren't any my father wouldn't be studying them," Zane told him slowly, as if speaking to a little kid. Ash opened his mouth but Zane interrupted him. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"I was going to ask you if you knew where Emma was," he replied.

Nate made a scoffing sound. "Why would Zane want to associate himself with a loser like her?"

Ash bristled. "You shut up about my girlfriend!"

"Or you'll what? Throw a smoothie at me?" Nate asked, laughing. Ash clenched his hands into fists. Nate noticed and stood up, staring eye to eye with Ash. They glared at each other, not willing to back down from the other.

"Guys, please!" Zane hissed. "The last thing I–"

"ZANE!" Zane sighed when his father screamed his name from somewhere in the house.

"I'll be right back. Try not to kill each other," Zane sighed, rushing out of the room. He followed his father's voice down into the basement that looked like a science lab. "What is it, Dad?" He asked, walking over to him.

"Son, I think I discovered something that could put our family down in History," Harrison whispered as he looked down at a rock that was sitting on the table. Zane looked at it himself as he got closer. The color of the rock changed in the light as he kept walking. It went from red, to purple, to gold, to silver, to blue, to gray, to pink, to green, and back to the normal brown color it was before. Zane blinked and stared at the rock, not understanding that it had changed colors right before his eyes. "Someone is coming over to look at the rock and break it down. In the mean time, don't tell anyone about this discovery."

"Well, Nate and Ash are here and I told them a little bit about what you were doing and–" Zane was cut off by his father shooting his hand out and clasping Zane's throat. He began to squeeze as Zane brought his hands up to his throat and tried to pry his Dad's fingers off of him. He choked for air, kicking his legs, as his eyes rested on his father, wide with fear. Harrison snarled and let go of his son's throat, causing Zane to fall to the ground on his hands and knees. Harrison brought back his foot and kicked him hard in the side. Zane let out a muffled scream of pain as he clutched his side.

"That'll teach you to keep your mouth shut," Harrison growled, glaring down at his son. Zane kept his cheek pressed up against the cool floor as Harrison stepped over him. He paused briefly, only when he heard a faint ringing bell. "Tell your friends to leave," he hissed before rushing up the stairs. He moved quickly to the front door and yanked it open.

"Ah, we meet again, Harrison," Linda Denman said with a smile.

"Dr. Denman," Harrison said shortly with a nod, closing the door behind him.

"I've come for the sample," she said getting straight to business. Harrison started to turn around. "I think you should know that we found him in our yard," she added. Harrison came back to the porch and looked at who Dr. Denman was referring to. Her partner, Eric, pulled a struggling boy onto the porch. The boy looked at Harrison and his eyes hardened.

"I know you," Harrison said slowly. "Robert Jackson's eldest son. Julius." He chuckled when Julius glared harder at him. "How'd I know you'd eventually turn against your own father?" Julius' eyes widened in shock before narrowing in anger. "Get him out of my face. I'll go get the rock." He paused. "There are two other boys here. Would you like to get them out of the way?"

Dr. Denman weighed her options. "Put them with the girl," Dr. Denman replied. "Chances are they'll be useful too."

-----

"This isn't a good idea," Sydney muttered. He, Patrick, and Noah stood around the still Moon Pool in awe and wonder. Sydney couldn't believe that a simple area of water and the moon was what caused the girl to become mermaids. Even seeing them for himself didn't fully convince him that there were such things as mermaids.

"When is anything that comes out of Lewis' mouth a good idea?" Rikki muttered, earning an elbow in the ribs from Cleo. Rikki rolled her eyes and sat down on a rock, resting her chin in her palms as she watched Lewis moving around the space as if on autopilot.

"Remind me why we agreed to this," Riley said as she rolled her neck so she was looking at Crystal. Rhuben did the same. Crystal's eyes shifted back and forth between the two.

"You're the one who said that Mako Island might have something to do with our Elements going out of control," Crystal grumbled as Riley squeezed her eyes shut. Here it comes…

"What do you mean they're going out of control?" Sydney asked, moving over to them and looking at them with his big blue eyes. He was looking at them in a way that he knew they couldn't lie to him, he mastered that look and it worked every time.

"It's nothing major, just a few flare ups here and there," Riley said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Her eyebrow rose when a single flame erupted above her palm. She frowned slightly as she closed her hand, a small line of smoke rising into the air before it disappeared.

"I still don't think I understand about you guys," Emma spoke up, the reflection of the moonlight on the dark surface reflected on her face.

"Which part? The fact that we're constantly being chased? The fact that we can never be normal? The fact that we can't give this up? Or the fact that we can't ever settle in one place?" Rhuben asked with a trace of bitterness in her voice.

"That's just it, why are you the only ones of…your kind being chased around?" Emma asked slowly, choosing the right words so she wouldn't upset them. "Judging by what you're saying, then a lot more people in the world are Elementals. So why are you the only ones being followed?"

"Prophecy," Noah spoke up in his quiet voice. They could barely hear him over the sound of the moving water, he spoke so softly. "Core, the one who tells people to chase us around, wants to stop us from fulfilling it. So far he's failed each time…"

"We're lucky he's failed each time," Patrick corrected him, elbowing him in the side and grinning. Noah smiled a little bit in response.

"Now," Lewis said so suddenly it caused everyone to jump. "If my studies are correct, which they almost always are, when they touch the Moon Pool at the full moon they wouldn't turn into mermaids."

"So why are we still here?" Rikki asked in annoyance. "You know what the moon does to us!"

"Which is why I brought a precaution," Lewis replied, handing out sunglasses to each of them. "You need to see this too. We could make a discovery here."

"Don't tell me you're one of them!" Rhuben growled, saying them as if she would say snot-sandwich. He looked at her in confusion. "Someone who only wants to be around us for fame."

"If that were the case I would've dropped Rikki to the press months ago," Lewis replied as Rikki reached for her shoe to throw at him. Cleo grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Your boyfriend is pushing it, Cleo!" Rikki growled.

"You know Lewis is like this. Why can't you accept it?" Cleo asked with a sigh. It was about time she spoke up about the way Rikki treated Lewis. She hated how the two always fought, especially with sarcasm. Rikki may not show it all of the time but Cleo knew that Lewis's words hurt her. Call it intuition. She knew not to bring it up though, it would cause more problems between the two and she didn't want to be put in the middle of it.

"Can we hurry this up, please? Ash and I were supposed to go out to talk," Emma said impatiently tapping her foot all the while.

"The moon should be passing over in the next two minutes," Lewis replied, looking at his watch.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Rhu?" Noah asked, walking over to her. "You don't know what it could do to you. It could take away your powers."

"Or it could help them," she replied. "We won't know if we try. Whatever happens, we can handle it, ok?" She ruffled his hair and he nodded solemnly.

"One minute," Lewis called.

"What a coincidence. That's how long it will take for us to get rid of you," Koto commented as he, Reihu, and Kotaro came into the cave area. "Underneath a volcano, why didn't I ever think of finding you here, Riley?" He asked in a teasing tone.

"Ugh, we don't have time for this so let's make this short," Riley said as she held up her fist, flames snaking their way up to her shoulder, covering her entire arm in flames.

"Can we deal with them, actually? I have some anger I need to work off," Rikki said as she cracked her knuckles, grinning evilly.

"Be my guest."

Rikki turned to Emma, who sighed, "Ok, but let's make this fast. I have to–"

"We know, you have to talk to Ash," Rikki interrupted.

"Your talking is really starting to get on my nerves!" Koto growled, curling his hands into fists. 'They're just girls, there's not much they can do!' He told himself as he, Reihu, and Kotaro ran at the three.

They smirked as they held up their hands. Kotaro faltered slightly but that was enough for them to cause wind to kick up and knock him off balance. He tried to get back to his feet but the wind that the girls were conjuring was too strong. Koto had his unusually long nails digging into the ground to keep himself from flying away and Reihu was grabbing onto the back of his jacket to stay on his feet. Kotaro's feet left the ground and he slammed into Rhuben.

It caused a domino effect and the next thing she knew water blurred her vision and her soaked clothes were pulling her down to the bottom of the pool. Shouts were muffled from the now bubbling water as she tried to swim to the surface. She didn't have to look to know that Riley and Crystal had fallen in with her. Her feet touched the bottom of the pool and she struggled to push her way to the top as bright light surrounded her.

For someone who was drowning, she felt strangely at peace.