*Nicole Paige*

I had left the room when Lainey started because it was just too funny. I was about to pee my pants. I'm totally serious.

I walked downstairs to meet a groaning Blake, the ice pack still plopped on his forehead where I had hit him with the metal bowl. I winced as I looked at the humongous lump on his forehead. I noticed that the ice pack was starting to melt, so I sat down next to him.

"Here," I said as I re-froze the pack with my power. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pressed the coolness onto his bulging forehead. The lump was this gross purple-y color with yellow blotches on it.

"Thanks," he said. Then he gazed towards the stair steps that led up into Bella's room. "I wonder how the hypnotism is going."

"Well I had to come downstairs because I was trying so hard not to laugh." I plucked a piece of popcorn kernel out of his hair and tossed it into the garbage bin.

"Cool." He walked to the fridge with the cold pack in one hand and opened it. I walked over to grab something too.

I looked around before I spotted a bruised apple. I grabbed that and threw it into the garbage bin. "That kind of looked like your forehead, Blake." I chuckled and grabbed a carton of orange juice and a cup from the cupboard. Then I grabbed a spoon from a drawer.

"What are you doing?" asked Blake. "I don't think I've ever seen someone drink orange juice with a spoon."

"Who says I'm drinking it?" I filled the glass with orange juice and then stuck the spoon halfway into the drink. Then I positioned my hand above the glass to freeze it. With a quick pull, my orange popsicle slid out easily.

Blake looked impressed. "Smart," he commented. I froze at his words. Smart. Hardly anyone has ever called me smart. I licked my popsicle slowly as I realized something. Becoming mermaids not only changed how water affects us, but it changed our personalities. Bella, I realized, became more outgoing and daring. Reckless, even. I became more smart and careful. And Lainey… well… she became more… dumb. But she also became more of a leader, which is definitely a good thing.

Once I was finished with my popsicle, I returned the juice back to the fridge and Blake spoke up.

"Want to see how it's going up there?" He pointed towards the ceiling, so I assumed he meant upstairs.

I shrugged. "Sure." I made a silent promise to myself that I wouldn't laugh as I walked up the steps.

When we came in the room, I could hear Lainey's ridiculous monotone voice whispering things to Bella. "Good. This is how it should be. Now let yourself drift into a restful state as we proceed…" She was quiet for a moment before she turned to us. "She's in the trance. She's ready." She told us. I grinned as I walked over.

"Why don't I test it?" I asked innocently. She rolled her eyes but let me try. "Now," I said to the unconscious Bella in the same monotonous voice that Lainey used. "Every time that you hear the word 'Smoothie', I want you to hiss like a cat. Do you understand?" She nodded gently. It was a little creepy, but I tried not to think about it. Otherwise I would start laughing and ruin the whole thing. "When I clap my hands, it will be true. Do you understand?" She nodded again so I clapped my hands. Nothing seemed to change. To make sure it worked I leaned in close and whispered, "Smoothie". She hissed through her teeth and I started laughing uncontrollably. Lainey gave me a hard stare so I stopped and quickly glanced at Bella to make sure she hadn't woken up. But she was so deep in a trance that she was fine.

I stepped away and sat by Blake as Lainey proceeded. "Now," she said. "I want you to imagine yourself going through the underwater channel to the moon pool. You swim in, and you see a golden tail. When you reach the surface, whose face do you see?"

"I don't know," said Bella in a creepy voice. I got the chills. "Her face is covered by her hair and everything is so sparkly and bright in the cave. I can't focus on anything." I frowned. That must have been the effects of the full moon.

"What can you see?" asked Lainey.

"I see the full moon bright, clear and sharp in the sky above me," responded Bella. "There are glittering crystals all around the cave. So beautiful. There is the mermaid next to me, giggling, and a figure that isn't as sharp as the rest of the cave and the mermaid, in a lump on the cave floor a few feet away from us."

"Look closer. Do you know who the person on the floor is?" asked Lainey.

"No," said Bella. "But she's human. Her essence is very dull to me, so she must not belong in Mako Island. She needs to go." Her fists balled up and the room starts to get hot. I turned nervously to Lainey. "She must be mad. Calm her down!" I told her. She nodded to me.

"The girl is fading into the cave," said Lainey as she tried to calm her down. "You cannot see her, feel her, hear her, or even smell her. It's just you and the mermaid in the cave, the full moon glowing onto you both." Bella smiled as her fists unclenched. I breathed a sigh of relief as the room returned to its original temperature. That brought memories of the night before where Bella heated us so much we passed out, and I shuddered at the memory. "Look at the girl," said Lainey commandingly. "Really look at her. Look at how her hair falls over her face. Keep on focusing at her until you can see her face. Keep focusing. Keep looking. And then give me a name." Lainey waited. I waited. Blake even waited with his throbbing headache and aching forehead. And then we waited some more. A few minutes went by, and Bella was still silent. I was about to say something about it to Lainey, but she shushed me. I frowned and sat back in Bella's chair next to her desk.

Another few minutes went by before Bella opened her mouth. We all leaned forward anxiously as we waited for her to tell us who the mermaid was.

"Jean," she whispered. I raised my eyebrows and let out a whistle. We were right. Amy had lied to us.

"Do you think Amy lied to us?" asked Blake as if he could read my thoughts. I shrugged and then noticed the room getting hotter again. I sighed and turned to Bella to see what was wrong now.

Her fists were clenched together as she spoke through gritted teeth. "Amy," said Bella. "She's woken up. She's coming towards the pool. The moon…" The room was getting really hot. I was starting to sweat. Not just from the heat either. What if Amy had gone into the pool…?

As if to answer my silent question, Bella spoke up again. "She didn't come in the pool. She just wants to get Jean out of the pool. But now she's seen me. She's telling me to leave. I. Don't. Want. To. Leave." The room was getting really hot. I grabbed a notebook from Bella's desk and started to fan myself with it as I spoke to Lainey. "What's going on?"

"She's getting mad," whispered Lainey. "Don't distract her."

"Distract her?" I yelled. "It's fricken hot in here!" That did it.

Bella started screaming as she jammed her fists into tight balls. The room went from very hot to unbearably hot. It was even worse than last night. My vision got blurry right away and black dots were squirming around my eyes. I felt like I was being boiled from the inside. I started choking as I fell to the floor, Blake right behind me. Lainey kept her ground as she sat on her knees dizzily.

"GET OUT NOOOOW!" yelled Bella, obviously talking about Amy. "We DON'T want you here! You're not one of us!" My stomach started to churn as the temperature became hotter and static built up inside of me. I reached my hand forward to grab Bella's chair to get back on it, but I was shocked when I touched the metal chair. Literally. A spark jumped from my finger to the chair and I jolted backwards. The room started to spin as I lost consciousness.

Then I realized the room stopped increasing in heat. Was there a limit to her powers? I thought, although I seriously doubted it. Even though I was on the brink of being unconscious, I looked up to see Bella breathing heavily and her fists flat by her sides. I thanked God as the room cooled down. I had no doubt in my mind that Bella wouldn't have killed us right there.

"What is the boy doing here?" asked Bella. At first I thought maybe she had woken up, had amnesia or something and didn't remember who Blake was but then I saw her still closed eyes. She must still be in her hypnotic state of what happened the night before. The thing was, what boy was she talking about then? Blake was unconscious the night before.

"Jean and I are hiding. He can't see us. I've never seen him before," Bella was worried, her brow creased. I had to admit that I was a little worried too. I turned to Lainey and Blake with a confused look on my face. They returned it.

"He found Amy and is taking her back to the mainland." Bella gasped. "He's seen the pool. He wants to check it out. Amy's warning him not to…" The room started to get hot again and I groaned, but decided not to aggravate her any more. Honestly this switching between hot and cold came so suddenly and dramatically I literally felt like I was going to throw up.

"He touched the pool. Jean and I are leaving so he doesn't see us." The room got hotter and I started panting again. This went on for a few more minutes until Lainey whispered, "When I snap my fingers, you will awaken from your trance." And she snapped her fingers.

Bella's eyes shot open as the room cooled down just a bit. It was still pretty hot. She looked confused as she looked down at Lainey, me, and Blake. She tried to get up but just wobbled around. "Woah," she said dizzily. Lainey softly pushed her back down onto the bed and mouthed something to her. Probably "Sleep" or "Rest" or something.

Then Bella said something. I wasn't sure what though. Her voice was crackly and seemed dry. No wonder. The room was hot and she had been so relaxed for such a long time. I wondered how much she remembered.

"Who?" She spoke up again. This time I heard her. I was going to answer but Blake did first.

"Jean," he said. Bella raised her eyebrows, then looked confused again. She was probably wondering why we were so shocked. "O-kay. So?" she asked.

"There's… more…" said Lainey as we began to explain the boy in the cave.

(A/N: So this chapter is basically last chapter in the perspective of Nicole. The next chapter will be a very short one where Bella sort of thinks about what had happened while she goes to Lilly's. The chapter after that one though might be a little longer, and probably in Amy's perspective as she tries to help the girls without her sister's knowledge. Bella is trying to find the boy who was at Mako Island to make sure he didn't become a mermaid- or merman- while Lainey and Blake are trying to sort out their issues in between Blake trying to explain to his parents why he was missing the night before and came back with a big bruise on his head. Then, just to make matters worse, Nicole's parents find out about how Nicole and Lainey said they were allergic to chlorine and start to ask questions. They even try to test them for it but without Bella around- since she's looking for the mystery boy- they can't fake the rash. Oh yeah, and in the meantime, Amy is stuck in the middle between her sister's side of things and her new friend's side of things. In fact, her friends don't even know she told her sister about them! And, the cherry to the pie, Destiny is being a total brat, making everything more difficult. So the next chapter will definitely be chaotic. By the way the other chapter was supposed to be up sooner which is why this chapter is up already. Well, I hoped you liked the chapter and don't forget to favorite and review! Happy summer! 3 3 3 3)