It was June. Rikki and Zane, twins terrors in tow, had decided to stay on their mainland house until Rikki's babies arrived, giving them peace (this being a relative term when toddlers are concerned) and time to sort out Harrison's affairs.

On Mako, the others prepared for the annual mid-year race. As per usual, Emma and Ben were taking it very seriously, training daily in the ocean for a month beforehand.

As was fast becoming tradition, Ash, Will and Lewis were essentially left in charge of the cooking, cleaning and child-caring during the week leading up to the race. Anna, whose morning-sickness was by no means limited to the forenoon, decided to opt out of this year's race and help out the non-mer guys, whose previous lack of success in the culinary area needed rectification.

So it was to be that, in the absence of both Rikki and Anna, and aside from the younger children's far less competitive race, two semi-finals and a final would be the only major events of the evening.

Separating Ben and Emma, who would undoubtedly meet in the final, easily decided the pairings for semi-finals.

Bella and Cleo, who by no means took the race seriously, laughed together when, at eight in the morning on the day of the race, discovered Emma and Ben doing laps of the island. Anna, who tended to be a morning person, beckoned them over to where she sat on an Adirondack chair looking out over the sea.

"They've been out there since five," she giggled, "It's ridiculous!"

oOoOoOoOo

Rikki was fast adjusting to Vanessa's calm, warm presence in the house: she was a wonderful cook, an kind comforter and, of superlative importance, an expert babysitter. Rikki marveled at the ease with which she managed Leila and Charlie, who, up until this point, she truly believed had never sat still since their infancy.

Now well into her third trimester, Rikki was very grateful for her mother-in-law. She watched quietly from the sofa as Vanessa masterfully swept through the living room, dusting here and there, popped into the kitchen to check on the evening's casserole, attended to the twins who sat colouring (actually colouring! Rikki marveled) at the dining room table. Her graying russet hair was pinned back with a clip, her lightly wrinkled face pink and smiling, Vanessa managed in a few moments the tasks it would have taken Rikki the entire day to accomplish.

Rikki sighed, contentedly and annoyedly.

oOoOoOoOo

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Lewis proclaimed from the little platform set up on the beach, "Welcome one and all to the third annual mid-year race!"

Anna (holding Thomas), Ash (holding Arianna) and Will cheered from their seats.

"Let the games begin!"

The first race was that of the toddlers. Max, Lucy, Danielle and Matthew, each accompanied by their respective mer-parent, swam out and around Will's boat, anchored some thirty yards offshore. As they turned, it was clear that Matthew and Lucy were leading. The narrow gap between them expanded as Matthew, free from his father's coaxing, shot across the finish line.

The crowd cheered, and Emma smiled (only slightly begrudgingly) at Ben and his winning son.

"Congratulations, Matthew!" she said sweetly.

"Kon-gwaa-ju-laaaayyyy-shuns!" repeated Lucy, more sincerely than her mother.

Next to follow, Jennifer, Eric and Jacob. In the absence of Leila and Charlie (who was his only true athletic rival), Jake won easily and planted a kiss on Jennie's cheek to congratulate himself.

Now came the big races. Each adult semi-final race would lap Mako, finishing in front of the mermaid-owned beach. Emma and Bella now prepared themselves at the start line, tails swishing in the dark blue sea. The sun was in its last moments above the horizon. Emma wore a cap to contain her long blond hair, but Bella let hers flow freely, not caring if it slowed her down.

With the sharp pierce of the whistle, they were off, faster than could be seen by the naked eye. The entirely predictable result was not long awaited. Within two minutes, Emma arrived at the finished line, Bella following about ten seconds later. She smiled at Emma and congratulated her.

Now Ben and Cleo prepared to race, Ben with serious eyes and a hard-set jaw, Cleo laughing about the fact that she hadn't even trained at all. She frowned, realizing that in the past few weeks she'd not even been in the ocean.

Before the whistle blew, Cleo looked back at her tail and noticed that it had retained a faint blue tinge from the incident in the fairy cavern. Up until this point, aside from the biological and magical knowledge acquired thanks to Beasts of the Ages, Cleo had ascertained no noticeable difference in her person. She was rather irritated that the fairy magic hadn't done anything special to her after all (except for turning her blue). Anyway, Cleo thought, mustn't get too distracted. Ben will get a big head if he wins by too large a margin.

Her thought train was interrupted by the cry of the whistle, and Cleo realized that Ben had already shot off.

She swam.

Cleo flew through the water like never before, arriving at the finish line less than a minute after taking off. She saw people's eyes widen as she pulled herself up onto the shore, smiling brightly.

"Cleo?" Lewis asked, looking strangely at her, then again at the stopwatch, "You do realize you were meant to swim around the entire island, right?"

"I did," Cleo said, "Why?"

She looked around her and realized that Ben was nowhere to be seen. What? Cleo thought, I can't possibly have arrived before him!

A few moments later, Ben's dark blond head popped out of the water, grinning at his expected triumph. His expression shattered horrifically when he saw Cleo sitting on the beach, drying her tail with a towel.

"Um, Cleo?" he asked breathlessly and confusedly.

"Don't ask me!" she said, "I don't get it either."

Emma now returned to the start line to race Cleo for the final. Ben sulked childishly on the beach, horrified and resentful that he had lost to Cleo. CLEO! He shook his head perplexedly.

The whistle blew. The competitors took off. The sun set on the horizon.

Cleo, underwater, was amazed by herself. She had never swum so fast. She realized that she had past the finish line but decided to circuit around the island once more. She lapped Emma about a dozen yards before the finish line, and popped her head out the water jubilantly.

Emma surfaced beside her.

"Did you lap me?" she exclaimed in an awe-filled tone.

Cleo raised her eyebrows and grinned.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen," Lewis proclaimed from the platform, "It looks like we have a new champion!"

Dazed and awed by this strange turn of events, the applause from the beach was thunderous.