School was somewhat of a madhouse the next day. Everyone was excited about the arrival of the four new Australian exchange students.
Rikki, Cleo, Bella, Lewis, and Will were all exhausted by the time they made it to Hadley's class at the end of the day. They exchanged nervous looks with one another as they took their seats. Hadley had texted Rikki during lunch to let them know that Denman would be in his class that afternoon.
"I still think you guys should get out of here while you can." Rikki spoke quietly through gritted teeth.
"No way." Cleo replied with a confident smile. "I only wish I'd brought a camera to catch her face when she sees all of us."
"Hey...hey." Lewis spoke up from the end of their row. "I think I found it."
"You found the necklace?" Rikki asked excitedly, hurrying to lean over Lewis's shoulder.
Lewis held the heavy book up to her as Hadley walked into the class room.
"Hello, class." Hadley said loudly as he dropped his bag into his desk chair as he surveyed the room. "I see we have some new students with us today."
Rikki hurried back to her chair with the book as Hadley had each of her friends introduce themselves to the rest of the class.
"Thank you, Cloe." Hadley said politely.
"It's Cleo, actually." Cleo corrected him, rolling her eyes slightly.
"My apologies, Cleo." Hadley turned to the next student.
Rikki had to stifle a small smile as she watched Hadley and her friends pretend not to know each other. No one else in the room would ever guess that Bella and Will had spent the night in Hadley's guess room last night, or had eggs with him that morning.
Nick burst into the room at that moment. "Sorry I'm late." He muttered as he pushed his way through the row of full desks. He paused at his usual seat near Rikki, the moved on to drop into a seat near the back of the class. He avoided Rikki's eyes, though he gave Will a nod of recognition as he walked past.
Rikki watched him go, sparing only a couple thoughts for him before turning back to look at the dusty book Lewis had handed to her.
"The Siren's Amulet." She read aloud breathlessly. There was a hand drawn picture beside the words. No doubt about it, it was the necklace Rikki had found on the night of the full moon. A paragraph accompanied the drawing.
'Rumors of the existance of a mythical necklace known to have the properties of the Siren have existed for hundreds of years, perhaps dating back as early as 1750.' She read to herself. 'It's origins have been traced back to Ireland, specifically to a ruler who met an early death at the hands of a mysterious siren named Minova.'
'King Mikale of Ireland fell in love with the beautiful siren one day while boating. Though his family and servants begged him to cut off all ties with the water creature, he pledged his undying love to her if she would agree to be his forever. Minova swore her love in return, but only if the king would agree to live with her in the water. The king tried to protest, saying that he would surely drown if he took to the water permanently. However, Minova's song was too strong to resist. That night, King Mikale was chained in his own basement by his closest friends as many young men were drawn to watery graves by the Siren.
King Mikale screamed and clawed to be released, but he could not get free from his shackles.
Unbeknownst to the King, his royal sorceror, Cabo, had set a powerful spell into place. The sorceror held a pewter chain up to the sky as he called out incantation after incantation. A blue stone appeared as the siren's voice became louder. Then, as the stone glowed a brilliant clue, Minova's voice faded forever. Cabo had trapped her magic in the necklace, trapped where she could no longer be of any danger to the lovesick King.
Legend has it that King Mikale threw himself into the water the next day, in search of his love.'
Rikki could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she finished reading the paragraph. She quickly wrote Lewis a note and slid it across the desk to him.
'So... the necklace is the soul of some Siren?' She waited as he read it.
Lewis jotted down a quick reply and passed the note back to Rikki.
'Diff source to show you when we get home.' Rikki read. 'No soul, but definitely powers.'
Rikki puzzled over Lewis's handwriting, barely noticing as the classroom door opened. Several seconds passed before Rikki realized that her friends were sitting frozen beside her.
Dr. Denman froze as she stood in front of the class, a look of shock evident on her face. She quickly pulled her lips into a smile as she made eye contact with Rikki. "I see we have a few new students with us today." The smile turned cold as she looked down at Lewis, who swallowed hard.
"New students." Dr. Denman cast a look in Hadley's direction, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes ma'am." Hadley's face remained neutral, betraying nothing.
"I'm very much looking forward to our meeting, Rikki." Denman's eyes were piercing. "In three days, yes?"
"Four." Rikki's voice caught in her throat as she spoke up. She felt unnerved by the expression on Denman's face.
Denman no longer appeared shocked. Now she looked out at the group, a picture of calculating thoughtfulness clear on her face. "Four then." Denman echoed.
Rikki sank down into her desk chair as Denman began speaking to the rest of the class about the research she was conducting. Denman took up the rest of the class period, finally leaving as the ending bell sounded. The group watched her go, letting out a collective sigh of relief as the door swung closed behind her.
"She's even more evil than I remembered." Cleo shiverred as she folded her arms across her chest.
"When is Zane going to draw up that contract?" Will spoke up.
"I'm not sure, exactly." What with all of the excitement from her friends' arrival and the full moon, Rikki hadn't given much thought to Denman's ultimatum.
The friends made thwir way outside the school, chattering about their day as they went.
"Lewis!" Rikki said suddenly, remembering the information he'd found about the necklace. "Spill, where did you find that book?"
"I had it with me already, actually. I just hadn't looked through it yet." Lewis adjusted his heavy backpack.
"And this necklace, you think it has powers? Like a Siren?" Rikki asked excitedly.
"I guess." Lewis sounded unsure. "I dunno, though. It doesn't seem like Hadley and Zane obeyed you because they were enamoured or love struck, more because they were forced to obey your command."
"Still..." Bella said thoughtfully as she skimmed the page. "A Siren's song can make people do all kinds of things against their will, right? What if the stone in the nexklace is the Siren's song, but it's concentrated? You know, all that power crammed into one stone is bound to be pretty intense."
"We really need to know where you found it." Lewis said to Rikki. "You're absolutely sure you have no clue?"
"No idea." Rikki spotted Nick on his way out of the school. "Be right back." She jogged to catch him. "Hey." She caught Nick's elbow, forcing him to stop.
"Oh, hi." Nick said glumly, looking down at his shoes.
"Hey." Rikki felt suddenly awkward as she looked at him. "Um, I was just wondering if maybe you knew where I found that blue necklace? The one from the full moon?"
"I would have told you already if I knew anything." Nick answered matter of factly. "No, I have no idea where you found it that night.
"Right." Rikki deflated slightly, turning to head back towards the group.
"Wait-" Nick stopped her. For just a moment, it looked like he was going to say something, but changed his mind at the last second.
"Yes?" Rikki raised her eyebrows, waiting.
Nick shuffled his feet awkwardly. "I, uh, was just going to say that... you bumped into Hadley and Zane on the shore that night, right?"
Rikki nodded.
Nick shrugged his shoulders. "Sounds like you'd probably been out in the water."
The group buzzed excitedly as they congregated around Hadley's kitchen table. Each of them had a different idea for the smartest way to search out in the ocean without being seen.
"I still think we should be swimming along the coast." Bella put in. "If there's a moon pool in Florida it's bound to be coastal."
"But I don't think it's possible for there to be a cavern on the Florida coast." Hadley repeated himself. "The water table is too high."
"I say we search out in the open water, along the ocean floor." Cleo spoke up. "Maybe the necklace didn't have anything to do with a moon pool, maybe someone just chucked it out there."
"Do you have a boat?" Rikki turned to Hadley.
"No, but maybe we could rent one?" He raised his shoulders.
"Nick has a boat." Rikki spoke up. "But let's check on renting one before we ask him to use it." She added quickly.
"No, that's perfect." Will cut in. "I mean, Nick already knows everything about you girls, we won't have to worry about explaining ourselves or-"
"Rikki said to check out the rental places." Zane said firmly as he picked up the thick yellow phone book. "So that's what we're going to do."
"Even on the full moon, it's not very likely for you to have swam too far out." Lewis reasoned. "You were only gone about forty-five minutes before Hadley and Zane found you out on the beach, so we can limit our search to just a couple miles off the shore."
"None of these places rent boats after six in the evening." Zane hung up the phone, clearly disappointed.
Every eye in the room landed, expectantly, on Rikki.
"Fine." She put her hands up in surrender. "I'll call Nick."
Two hours later, just as the sun was beginning to set, the group found themselves congregated on the dock behind Nick's house. Nick walked slowly out to meet them, his hands shoved into his pockets.
"Are you sure there's room for all of us on board?" Hadley asked skeptically as he surveyed the small boat.
"I expect the five of us guys will have more than enough room." Nick said unenthusiastically as he untied the docking anchor. "The girls will only be on board for a bit, once they jump into the water we'll be fine."
Nick was right. The boat was crowded, but they had no trouble manuevering out of the port.
"Perfect!" Bella called from her perch on the railing. "Just dark enough that people can't see us."
"But light enough for us to search." Cleo finished.
The girls each dove off of the boat after they'd travelled a bit out to sea, each carrying a large underwater flashlight with them for the darkest parts of the sea floor.
Will, Hadley, Zane, Nick, and Lewis exchanged looks with one another before wordlessly agreeing to maintain a comfortable silence with one another.
Rikki flew through the water, waiting for some flash of memory from that night to guide her, but it all just looked like plain old sand. Rikki could not even summon a flicker of a memory of swimming that night. In fact, the only memories she had from the full moon were of Nick.
Rikki shook her head, forcing herself to focus on her search. Those images were probably just dreams, not memories at all. Still... Rikki shivered as she remembered the touch of his skin on hers.
An hour passed before Bella surfaced at the boat's edge. Night had fallen, making the water look an inky black.
"Nothing." Bella said before the guys had a chance to ask. "All I found was ordinary ocean floor."
Cleo and Rikki surfacced about twenty minutes later, both agreeing that the ocean floor had not held any surprises. With some lifting by the boys, they all piled back onto Nick's boat and headed for home.
"Well that was a waste of time." Rikki muttered.
"We'll just have to test it best we can." Lewis tried to sound optimistic. "We'll start tomorrow."
As the boat skimmed over the water, Nick couldn't keep his eyes from flickering over to the passenger seat, wehre Rikki had ridden with him to the carnival only a few days ago. He smiled briefly as he remembered the night, snapping himself out of it a moment later. He had no way of knowing that Rikki was lost in her own happy memories from that Friday night with him, remembering how easy it had been to spend time with him.
There was a general feeling of disappointment as they all climbed out onto the dock. They'd taken both Hadley and Rikki's vehicles over to Nick's place, and Hadley and Will began carrying equipment back over to them.
"Here." Rikki tossed her keys to Lewis. "You guys go on ahead, I'm right behind you."
"But how will you get home?" Zane's eyes narrowed in Nick's direction as he took a step forward. "I'll wait with you."
"I can drive her home." Nick said, a bit too quickly.
"There you go." Rikki crossed her arms over her chest, daring Zane to push the issue.
Zane slunk out to the car, followed by a whispering Cleo and Bella. Rikki waved them on, waiting until the cars had pulled away from the curb to turn back to face Nick.
"I've got to talk to you." She said finally, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "I have to know what happened between us on the night of the full moon, Nick. I keep having these memories... and I know you told me a little bit, but I need to know everything."
"Come with me." Nick took her hand in his and gently led her into the house. He closed the door to his room tightly, gesturing for Rikki to have a seat on the bed. He waited until she was comfortably seated before speaking. "I really didn't want to have to tell you about the other night." He began.
"Oh man." Rikki rubbed her temples. "How bad was it?"
"No," Nick said quickly, moving a bit closer to her. "It wasn't bad at all."
Rikki held up a hand, stopping him. "Just tell me everything. Don't leave anything out."
Nick took in a deep breath, and then he began to talk. He told Rikki about how she'd shown up in his bedroom that night, and how she'd kissed him. And then he told her about how they'd done a little more than kiss.
"What?" Rikki exploded as he recounted the way they'd touched each other on the bed.
Nick's face was flushed a deep purple from embarassment as he met her fiery gaze.
Rikki was humiliated. "Why didn't you tell me to stop it?" She paced angrily back and forth. "I mean, did you just think that it was alright to take advantage of me because I was moon struck? In what world is it ok to-"
"I did." Nick said quietly.
Rikki froze, breathing hard, as she turned to face him. "You what?"
Nick stood, walking to her slowly. "I tried to talk to you, but you told me not to speak."
"And you couldn't say anything after that." Rikki whispered, realization hitting her like a brick. She'd been wearing the necklace. Nick had had to obey everything she'd told him to do. She'd told him to stop talking, he'd been silenced. She must have told him not to pull away from her, or told him not to stop kissing her, or something to make him continue.
"I did try to stop you at one point," Nick spoke. "But you-"
"No, you can stop right there." Rikki resumed her pacing. It was all too clear now. He'd tried to stop her but she'd forced him to continue. How many times had Nick told Rikki that he wasn't interested in her? And here she'd forced herself onto him against his will. Rikki felt like she might throw up. Her heart pounded in her chest as feelings of guilt replaced her embarassment. "Just answer one more question." Rikki locked eyes with Nick. "You've told me about some of the... other... things we did besides kiss." She swallowed hard. "But did we... you know, did we..."
Nick's eyes shot open. "No." He shook his head firmly. "I pushed you away, and you fell asleep in my bed." He shuffled his feet. "I, uh, redressed you and then I tucked you in. I slept at my desk, don't worry."
"No, you don't have to worry." Rikki's voice felt thick. "I sincerely apologise, Nick. You don't have to worry about anything like that ever happening again, I promise."
"No, Rikki." Nick walked to her, reaching for her waist. "I want for that to-"
"Thanks for all your help." Rikki said cooly, pulling away from him. "I won't be needing your help anymore."
"What?" Nick's face fell. "What are you saying?"
It was painful for Rikki to say the words, but she knew it was the best thing she could do. Nick didn't want her, she was only doing him a favor. "I'm saying that I appreciate all that you've done for me, but I don't need you. I have my friends and Hadley, and I'm sure between all of us we can handle Denman."
Hurt flared in Nick's eyes. "So you're just done with me? Just like that?"
"Yes." Rikki said simply, enable to meet his gaze. She was sure if he looked her dead in the eye he would know she was lying. "I'll see you at school, Nick." She started out the door and down the steps.
"You told me you loved me." Nick shouted after her. "Does that mean a thing to you?"
Rikki froze on the steps as a fresh wave of humiliation washed over her. Then, without a word, she continued down and out of the house.
Nick slammed his bedroom door closed, making the door frame shake from the impact.