The expanse of beach slowly meandered its way around another curve. By now Carly could hardly lift her feet and her mouth was drier than the sand beneath her.

Then finally she saw it. The first recognisable landmark. Mako Island. The island lurked behind a roll of cloud over the sea, no doubt from some little Mermaids practising their Powers. This was not the weather for low clouds to be there themselves. Which would mean it was the north side she was looking onto. The Mermaids only practised out in the open on the north shore.

So she was heading south. Back down towards the Gold Coast. Back towards home. She was going the right way. The flash of hope renewed her spirit and she set onwards picking her feet up and lifting her head.

Mimmi was right.

Evie had hoped beyond hope that Mimmi was wrong. That there was some trace left. Some footprint. Some scuff in the sand. Anything.

But Mimmi had been right.

Anything that was there was gone now, the tides taken it away and spread it across the ocean.

Evie scooped up Carly's shirt and shorts. The shorts dropped from her grasp as she took in the state of Carly's shirt. The entire back of her shirt was torn. Deep rips across the shoulders and up both sides like something had grabbed her.

"Mimmi," Evie held the shirt up. Worry pooled in her stomach. Nothing about this situation was good, but this was the rotten cherry on a melted ice cream.

"Let me see," Mimmi held out her hand. Evie handed the ruined fabric over and once again picked up the shorts and gave them a check over. As far as she could see they had not suffered the same damage as the shirt.

The worry eased only slightly.

"I have never seen marks like these before but those are some serious claws," Mimmi announced.

"Claws?" Evie did not like the thoughts that flooded her head with. Zac and David's earlier spitballing of 'werewolf' started to look more likely.

"All I think of is a crocodile but they tend to go for teeth, not claws. And there's no blood. It's more likely something found this and ripped it up."

Was that comforting? Not really. Not really. Carly was still missing. Her clothes were still on the beach and they still had no idea what happened.

"It still doesn't explain why her clothes and phone are here and she's not," Evie was on the verge of snapping. Mimmi didn't deserve it.

"If she was a Mermaid I'd say she took off in the water."

Really Mimmi? Carly was most definitely a land girl. It was a pretty established fact.

"But she's not," Evie pointed out.

"It's worth a look," Mimmi shrugged. "I'll head out from here, the main current goes north - if she went in the water she's probably gone north. I'll follow the coast up and see if I find anything."

"I'm coming with you."

"What about the shop?" Mimmi asked. It was an innocent enough question but there are more important things right now than her shop.

"Carly's more important. Let's go," Evie kept Carly's shorts clutched in her hand and easily crossed the short bar of sand, diving into the water, Mimmi on her heels.

With every slowing step Mako grew larger.

One.

Little.

Fraction.

At.

A.

Time.

Carly took another deep breath and tried to reinstill some of that hope from earlier. It faltered with her step. The sand rose up to her and only slightly cushioned the impact of her hitting the ground.

Evie followed Mimmi to the surface. The ocean had zipped past in a bubbled blur as Evie stuck close behind Mimmi all the way up the coast. According to Mimmi there was a currant this way but Evie felt nothing, just plain ocean. Still Mimmi had lived here all her life and knew the waters. Who better to trust about the ocean than a Mermaid?

Evie broke the surface and took a breath, relishing the fresh oxygen in her lungs. She'd never come this far up before, Mako was just a speck to the south and the shore was unrecognisable.

"Where are we?" Evie asked.

"North."

Useful. Being out in the middle of the ocean was not helping. Carly could swim but to be out here? That was beyond even the strongest of human swimmers.

"If we head closer to the shore and swim back south we can keep surfacing and if there's anything we'll see it."

"I guess."

Carly stayed down where she fell, letting the warm sand comfort her as she rested her feet. Just for a little bit. Then she'd get up again.

By now her parents would have noticed she was gone and she had no way of letting anyone know she was okay. She had to get up and get back home. She had to.

Once again struggling upwards, Carly got to her feet. She re-adjusted her towel from where it had slipped down when she fell and set out once more. She wanted to be home more than anything.

They set up a pattern. Surface. Check the beach. Submerge. Swim. Surface. Check. Submerge. Swim. Surface. Check.

The beach passed quickly with no sign of Carly. Or anyone at all. Evie let Mimmi set the pace until she worked out the timings in her head and took the lead.

Evie surfaced for easily the hundredth time to a beach with nothing. She buried her face in her hands and the thought of just slipping below the water and giving up crossed her mind. If the police couldn't find people, couldn't find Carly, how could two Mermaids?

"Evie, is that her?" Mimmi asked.

Evie lifted her head. A blonde girl was walking along the beach. All the rocks must have hidden her from view.

She was dragging her feet and hanging her head but that walk - it was Carly's walk. It had to be. It had to be Carly.

"I think it is!"

Evie dove back under, slapping her fin against the surface as she shot forward, speeding towards the shore. She didn't slow even as the sand sloped up and the water grew shallow. She only slowed once she hit the sand, all but throwing herself up onto the shore.

Evie quickly dragged herself clear of the waves as Mimmi appeared in front of her in the shallows and began the same process. Drying faster than she ever thought possible Evie leapt to her feet and ran up the sand.

The blonde girl's head shot up. That face. She knew that face.

"Carly!"

Carly thought she was hallucinating. She was tired. She was dehydrated. She was not good. She saw the lines in the water but shook it off as her eyes playing tricks. The same with whatever she thought she saw moving behind a clump of rocks. And the same when she saw Evie come running up the beach from nowhere.

"Carly!"

"Evie?" Carly blinked. Evie stayed in her vision, running up to her. She was here. She was really here.

"Where have you been?" Evie threw her arms around her and Carly collapsed forwards into her. She was saved. Someone was here to help and get her away from this nightmare.

"I have no idea," Carly admitted.

Carly stared at the shower box trying to decide which button to press or dial to turn to get the shower to stop. Mimmi had turned it on and forgotten to tell her how to turn it off. Carly wiped the water away from her eyes and gave up, getting out the shower leaving the water running.

The pull switch with the silver seahorse handle stopped the water. Her mum always told her it was bad to turn the shower off that way, if it had been any other day she'd feel bad about possibly damaging someone else's shower but today everything was too much of a mess to think too much into it.

Drying quickly Carly pulled on the fleecy pjs Mimmi had leant her and twirled the towel around her hair. Her phone lay on the sink taunting her with dozens of unread messages and missed calls. She couldn't keep ignoring them - it wasn't fair on her parents. The whole way back she'd been desperate to let them know she was okay but now that it was time - different story.

Carly forced herself to pick up her phone and called her mum. Her mum answered on the second ring.

"Where the hell have you been Carly? Do you have any idea how worried we were? You can't just disappear like that - especially not after the last couple months."

That brought back memories.

Two Months Ago

Carly slipped in the door and shut it behind her as quiet as humanly possible. Still not quiet enough from her mum's bat like hearing. The moment the door clicked her mum appeared from the lounge and descended upon her, smothering her in a hug. Her dad right behind her, but remained lurking at the door frame.

"Where the hell have you been Carly?" Her mum broke away but kept her hands on Carly's shoulders, looking her up and down.

"I was ... at Evie's," Carly lied.

Really she had no clue where she'd been, she'd woken up on the beach without any clothes and zero memory of the night before. The only upside was that in whatever possessed state she had been in to get herself in that position was smart enough to leave her in one of the secluded coves the Mermaids used. One of the secluded coves where the Mermaids stashed spare clothes for any newbie Mermaids to come to land and one where they'd all gone swimming a couple of times since the Pod came back.

"No you weren't because I called Doug and asked him."

Fuck.

"Turns out Evie was staying with whatever her name is - Mima or something and got home two hours ago," Mrs Morgan said. "So where were you?"

"I stayed at Cam's," Carly lied again. She never lied to people. Now two lies in less than two minutes and to her mum of all people. She didn't want to unnecessarily worry anyone so thought it best to keep her mouth shut about the reality of last night. Especially when she didn't have the truth to tell.

"Carly Morgan I have told you before about staying out without saying anything."

"I know, I'm sorry. It won't happen again," Carly promised.

That had been a lie. The next Full Moon her parents had been the ones who found her on the beach further down the coast this time, closer to home.

"I'm really sorry mum," Carly apologised. She really didn't mean for it to happen again but something seriously fucked up was happening to her and she didn't know what. "I was out helping David and the boat died and my phone died and David didn't have his and -"

"Where are you?" Her mother interrupted Carly's long winded and complicated excuse.

"At Principal Santos'. Her niece helped get us back to shore and it was closer than home to get my phone charged to call you."

"I'm coming to get you. Stay there."

Her mum hung up before she could get another word out.

Carly sighed, gathered her old clothing and made her way back through the house, praying she wouldn't get lost.

She got lost. Mimmi had to come and find her and lead her to the kitchen where Evie greeted them with three mugs of tea.

"What happened?" Evie asked softly.

Carly took a sip of the tea Evie had made her, letting the warm flow over her tongue and down her throat, warming her up inside, "I woke up on the beach with no idea how I got there. No clothes or anything."

"We found your stuff under the dock at the cafe," Mimmi said.

Back on the beach Evie had given Carly her shorts that had been warmed and dried, then soaked through again as the two Mermaids helped her swim back down the coast. The shorts stuck to her legs while the top Mimmi had lent her had billowed and flowed under the water. No mention of her own top though.

Thankfully once arriving at Rita's house Mimmi had dried her off, let her use the shower and then given her a pair of really, really warm fleece pajamas - dark blue ones with rainbows all over them.

"I don't remember being there." She never went under that dock. As far as docks went - it wasn't a nice one to be under let alone get undressed under and apparently go swimming from.

"What do you remember?" Evie asked, holding her own cup of tea.

"Leaving the cafe. That's all."

She wished she knew. It was the same last month. And the month before that. Every month since that thing attacked her.

Three Months Ago

Carly jogged down the dock, balancing the large stack of boxes in her arms to where David was waiting in his boat. By now the sun had set, the rays that graced the sky all day were now gone. The Moon had taken it's place, the silver light catching on the waves.

She blamed Erik. He took off after everything that happened, once again leaving them short on help. Usually Evie would help out but tonight was the Full Moon and Evie was off out with the Mermaids. So Carly was left helping David load up his deliveries to drop off on his way home.

Least he paid her overtime. She was supposed to have been home by now for a relaxing Tuesday night in.

"Is that it all?"

"Finally," David replied, "Thanks Carly. See you tomorrow."

"Bye David."

David started the boat's motor and set out across the dark water. If his parents knew how often he went out after dark on the boat doing deliveries - they'd take his boat away.

Carly sighed and made her way back towards the land. She should really get a moped or something, the thought of walking all the way home was not a happy one.

Something splashed to the side of her. Carly followed the noise with her eyes but saw nothing. Probably just a Mermaid. The little ones were becoming out of control and on a Full Moon with everyone else celebrating? It was a riot.

Shaking her head Carly continued on down the dock. Mermaids.

A sharp splash sounded again, closer in this time.

She hardly had time to turn to investigate the noise before something lunged from the water and crashed into her. Carly was knocked to the side, slamming hard into the wooden dock, the air forced from her lungs and would not return to her.

There was something on top of her. Wriggling and shrieking.

Carly twisted round, a silent scream catching on her lips as whatever it was sliced her arm open. She shoved the thing off her. It's skin was cold and wet under her touch. The thing hit the dock and slipped off the side with a loud splash.

Carly lay on the dock unable to move, unable to breathe, blood leaking from her arm.

"This is the third time this has happened," Carly said. "It can't keep happening, my parents are going insane."

She'd never told anyone what happened to her. The wounds had closed over so fast and she had hit her head pretty hard on the dock. She hardly believed it actually happened so how was anyone else going to believe her.

Of course this was before she started having blackouts and waking up naked on the beach.

"Do they know you're here?" Mimmi asked. The Mermaid's concern was touching, Mimmi was so sweet and aside from Sirena, was the nicest of the Mermaids she'd met.

"I phoned my mum after I showered."

"What did you tell her?" Evie asked.

"I told her I was helping David with deliveries, the boat got stuck, phone died and David forgot his. We were stuck until the morning and someone saw us."

"She bought that?"

"Seemed to." Her mum had been more relieved about knowing she was okay than picking holes in her story. For now. It might change later on. She'd have to fill David in in case her mum went interrogating him. No one deserved that, not even Ondina, and if Ondina didn't deserve it then David most certainly did not.