The rest of the weekend is fairly intense and stressful for Lewis, Cleo, Emma, Ash, Rikki, and Zane. None of them have any clue on what might happen, or what exactly Doctor Denman is up to. The six teenagers decide to keep a low profile and stay at home wherever they can, focusing on their schoolwork. A part of all of them still really wants to know what Denman is up to, but as the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. Their interest in what Denman is working on is not worth the risk of any of them accidentally revealing themselves to the marine biologist.
Even Rikki, who was the most against the idea of staying as far away from Denman as possible, hasn't risked leaving her house this weekend. It didn't end up being as bad as she thought it would. It allowed her to spend some more time with her dad, which they haven't done much of lately, so that was nice. It was good to not have to stress about anything and just hang out with her dad, mainly talking and playing card games all weekend. The curly blonde mermaid decides that she will have to make more of an effort in the future to spend time with her dad. Her friends and mermaid life are important of course, but so is Rikki's very small family. It needs to be equal. If nothing else, this weekend has at least taught her that. However, the fiery teenager can't help but hate that Doctor Denman is indirectly the very reason for Rikki and her dad growing closer together again after they had started to drift apart in the last couple of years. Rikki does her best to try and not dwell on this fact.
Lewis' weekend, whilst fairly uneventful — aside from the Friday night that Cleo spent at his house, of course — did start to rack up guilt inside of him. Lenny once again tried to get Lewis to open up about what was going on with him, but of course, Lewis refused to say anything. Eventually, Lenny gave up and walked away, but the look on his face as he did so absolutely broke Lewis. Zac, Jacob, and Daniel also tried to talk to Lewis, but again they couldn't get anything out of him and gave up way quicker than Lenny did. As for Lewis' mum, Lewis knows that she understands that something is up, but doesn't even know how to approach Lewis about it, which just makes Lewis' heart ache. Lewis hates lying to his family like this. He hates that they are worried about him so much, especially Lenny. Lewis wishes that he could just tell them all the truth, but he knows that's just not possible.
Staying over at Lewis' on that Friday night had ended up being a great decision for Cleo, and not just because she and Lewis finally slept together, although that was pretty exciting. But it also managed to get her away from her family too, even just for a short while. Especially Kim. Having the house to herself with Lewis almost felt like a dream. She can definitely see the two of them moving into an apartment together at some point after graduation. The thought makes Cleo's heart leap with joy and anticipation. Unfortunately, the dream feeling couldn't last long, quickly disappearing when she headed back to her own house mid-Saturday morning, regretfully returning to reality.
Cleo and Kim fought for the better part of Saturday, as well as Sunday morning, much to their father's frustration; Don Sertori was at his breaking point with his two daughters for the whole weekend. Cleo knows that her father is immensely relieved that the weekend is over and that everyone will be going back to work and school. The mermaid hopes that her dad doesn't force her and Kim to have some bonding time together, as that has happened several times in the past after major fights. The "bonding" sessions never end well for the two sisters anyway, only causing more arguments. With Denman potentially onto Cleo and her friends again, Cleo doesn't need any other major frustrations in her life right now.
As for Emma, Ash, and Zane, their weekends were extremely mundane and boring, with no groundbreaking revelations about their lives being made, unlike Rikki or Cleo, nor did they have massive family arguments like Cleo or Lewis. Emma spent the entire weekend studying for an upcoming physics test, not wanting a grade lower than an 'A'. Both Ash and Zane mostly just chilled out and watched TV at their own respective homes.
Eventually, the weekend comes to a close much to everyone's relief, especially Lewis'. The six friends are excited to see each other that Monday at school, happy to finally be out of their house again. None of them liked the feeling of being locked down, even though they know it's for their own safety.
After school, the group decides to head on down to the beach that sits right next to the marina, trying to scope out whether or not Denman and her team are still lurking about on the coast, waiting for some sort of miraculous breakthrough in Mako Island or mermaid research. Much to the group's surprise though, Doctor Denman's boat isn't in the marina. The six teenagers ask around about the marine biologist's boat, but according to the locals that live in the houses along the beach, Denman's boat hasn't been seen back here in a couple of days. Could it be possible that Denman has finally given up on her search due to a lack of leads? Lewis and the others certainly hope that is the case.
By the next Friday evening, a week after Lewis discovered that Denman is still continuing with her mermaid research, no one has been able to find Doctor Denman or her team anywhere, neither on the mainland nor on Mako Island; it's as if the marine biologist suddenly vanished into thin air. Lewis and the others begin to relax, feeling like they could be in the clear. They needed some good luck recently, considering how many twists have been thrown at them in the past couple of years, so the group of friends will happily take this victory.
Neither Lewis, Cleo, Emma, nor Rikki has been swimming at all in the past week, just trying to be a little extra precaution in case of the very off chance that Denman is still lurking around the Gold Coast, or has perhaps set up underwater cameras around Mako, just as she did last time. The four of them have desperately missed the ocean though, their tethered connection to the ocean and Mako Island constantly itching at the back of their minds, urging them to go out.
Lewis is starting to get worried that if this is how it's always going to be if he doesn't go in the water outside of a full moon, how much worse will the pull of the ocean be on the night of a full moon, especially if he or one of the mermaids catches a glimpse of moonlight? The consequences could be disastrous and Lewis wants to avoid that potential situation at all costs. The regular moon spells are bad enough; there is no need to exponentially increase the pull and power of them and inevitably becoming more dangerous.
However, having finally decided that it has been long enough since Denman was last seen in town and desperately wanting to stop his mind from being constantly anxious about the marine biologist situation even just for a few hours, Lewis has organised a date with Cleo at Mako Island tonight. He set up the picnic in the moon pool a couple of hours beforehand, knowing that it would take a couple of trips to bring and set everything up. The sandy blond teen wants everything to be perfect for tonight, especially how chaotic has been for him and his friends lately.
Currently, Lewis is on his way back to Mako Island to wait for Cleo to meet him there, satisfied with the certainty of not having forgotten anything back on the mainland. He does wish that. The plan was to meet up by the marina and swim out to Mako together for the date, but Cleo called earlier in the afternoon, announcing that she was going to be held back at work later than expected. Lewis isn't too fussed about that, as it has given him more time to just swim through coral reefs and play around with the colourful schools of fish and a pod of dolphins on the way out to the island anyway. However, as soon as his waterproof watch starts beeping to let him know that Cleo should finally be leaving work now, Lewis grins happily to himself and quickly begins swimming towards the underwater moon pool entrance.
In next to no time at all, Lewis arrives at the entrance of the underwater tunnel and swiftly swims through, still a little surprised at how quickly he has gotten the hang of all of this merman business when looking at the entire scheme of things. Sure, Lewis struggled for the first month and a bit of being a merman, but as he started to accept his new life, it quickly became a lot easier to learn how to manage it. This in turn helped him learn to swim faster as well as master his hydrokinesis powers moderately easily after that.
Lewis speedily makes his way through the underwater tunnel and swims out into the expansion of space of the moon pool. Lewis gives his tail a couple more small flicks and suddenly he emerges from the water with a splash as he breaks the surface of the water, taking his first breath of air in at least 15 minutes. The merman grins as he looks around him, admiring the handiwork that he has put in to make the cavern look cozy and date night worthy. Lewis is impressed with his efforts if he does say so himself. Especially with the battery fairy lights hung up around the back of the cave, making it feel just that little bit more magical. He's sure Cleo is going to love it.
Suddenly, Lewis hears the sounds of footsteps getting closer from somewhere down in the tunnel that leads back up to the land entrance. Lewis is startled by the noise, not expecting anyone to come into the moon pool from that direction, especially not Cleo. Why tumble down the rocks and potentially hurt yourself when you have a tail and can easily swim in? It's so much quicker than navigating through the rough terrain of the island to find the whole in the rocks that lead down here. Perhaps she was trying to surprise him, or attempt to playfully scare him maybe?
"Cleo? Is that you?" Lewis calls out with a mischievous smile creeping onto his face as he swims closer towards the rocky ledge of the moon pool, trying to peer around into the tunnel as the footsteps continue to get closer and closer, crunching against the gravelly sand. Lewis' smile quickly disappears though, as a feeling of horror courses through his body when a terribly familiar voice that isn't Cleo's answers the boy's question, sending chills down Lewis' spine and causing his eyes to widen in horror.
"Hmm, I'm afraid not, Lewis. Sorry to disappoint you." Doctor Linda Denman says as she steps into the moon pool cavern, quickly followed by a burly-looking male assistant. Lewis is completely frozen for a couple of seconds, his mind feeling like it has stopped working as everything crashes down around him and he swears that his heart stops beating while his blood runs cold. Surely this has to be some sort of nightmare that he is going to wake up from any minute.
"So, not only do mermaids exist, but mermen are real as well," Linda comments thoughtfully, her mind whirling with a thousand theories about what the possibility of this could mean.
The teenager finally snaps out of his initial shock and terror of seeing Denman in the moon pool staring menacingly down at him. Not wanting to stick around to try and find out what the marine biologist's next move is, Lewis hurries begins to turn around without saying a word and makes means to dive back underwater and swim away from Mako as fast as his fins can carry him, hoping he can reach Cleo on his way back to warn her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Linda cries out from behind Lewis in a commanding tone.
"Like hell, I won't! See ya!" Lewis yells back aggressively in response before diving back underwater with a large splash, just as he hears a loud bang from somewhere behind him. Within the next second, a sudden wave of burning pain hits Lewis' back and quickly engulfs his body. Confusion quickly turns into horror as Lewis realises that he has become entangled in some sort of tight netting that is almost cutting into his skin.
As the overwhelming surge of panic and terror of the thought of being captured by Denman begins to set in, Lewis furiously tries to untangle himself from the tight netting, thrashing all about underneath the water which is now filled with bubbles, making it hard to see his surroundings. Unfortunately, his desperate attempts of escape only end up making the netting wrap even tighter and more intricately around his body, starting to painfully dig into his scales. Lewis winces and quickly stops struggling against his new restraints, beginning to accept the fact that he is not going to be able to tear his way through this netting and escape. Denman would never allow that to happen anyway. He's trapped; caught up in a fishing net, like some wounded wild animal.
With no other alternatives coming to mind, once the storm of bubbles around him begins to die down, Lewis awkwardly swims back up towards the surface, which he finds considerably harder than usual. He puts this down to the fact that his whole body is being tightly constricted by the netting tangling up all around him, making it hard to even move his tail. Once Lewis resurfaces, he slowly makes his way over towards the rocky underwater ledge by the edge of the moon pool so that he has a place to rest on, instead of struggling to stay afloat whilst ensnared by the netting.
"I was trying to warn you, Lewis. We didn't have to use the net if you hadn't tried to swim away, you know," Linda comments, a smirk plastered on her face as she watches Lewis struggle around in the water. Lewis glares up at her angrily but stays silent. Honestly, Lewis is at a loss for what to say or do right now. He doubts that there are any words in the English language that could even begin to describe what he is currently feeling.
"You really thought that I didn't learn from last time? If you want to catch a difficult fish, the best way to do so is with a net." Linda says as she paces back and forth around the moon pool, keeping her eyes on Lewis the entire time.
"I can't believe that you'd hold out on me so much, Lewis. I never expected that you would eventually become one of those… those things. I always hoped that you'd eventually come to your senses, finally seeing reason and rejoining me in my research to help humanity. Such a shame," Linda continues, shaking her head in disappointment. Once again, Lewis says nothing and merely continues to glare between Doctor Denman and her assistant, who is standing right at the back of the cavern, eying Lewis carefully.
"I have so many questions; I don't even know where to begin. But that's okay. We have all the time in the world to find the answers, Lewis." Linda grins as she kneels down on the sandy floor in front of Lewis, watching as he once again hopelessly tries to pull apart the netting to try and set himself free.
"Useful thing, net guns. Very effective. Plus, my wonderful assistant Troy over here has great shooting skills. Wouldn't you agree, eh, Lewis?" Linda says as she reaches out towards the netting, running a finger over the tightly bound pieces of rope woven together, admiring the winning prize that she has managed to capture within the net.
Lewis flinches and tries to move away from Denman's grasp as much as possible.
"What do you want from me?" The teenager spits out, finally finding his voice as his anger begins to reach a boiling point.
"Oh, you know... Just trying to figure out how something like you can exist. Once we know that, then we'll try to replicate your cellular transformation mutation and use it to benefit humanity. Plus all of the regular observations and research scientists undertake when we discover a new species, of course. The number of scientific journals and articles we could publish about you..." Linda says, glee written all across her face.
"Yeah, that's never gonna happen. You'd have to kill me first!" Lewis scoffs defiantly.
"Oh, Lewis. Don't worry, I'm sure you will be dead by the time that we are eventually through with you. But your sacrifice for the good of science will be greatly appreciated for decades to come." Linda laughs dryly.
Once again, Lewis tries to flip and thrash his tail around as hard as he can in a last-ditch effort to try and break the net, sending water everywhere. To no one's surprise and Lewis' disappointment, his attempts are useless. He makes a grunt of annoyance as he continues to glare daggers up at Doctor Denman. Oh, if only looks could kill.
"Look, here's the deal, Lewis. I'm only going to tell you this once. In case you decide to do anything reckless and impulsive with us, I think that you should at least be aware that we still have plenty of information on Cleo, Emma, and Rikki. Considering you're a merman, I suspect that your friends must have gotten their powers back somehow as well. I'm sure they would also be very interesting specimens to dissect. I'd love to know how they got their powers back." Linda continues, the tone of her voice and facial expression changing drastically, becoming cold and sinister.
"Leave the girls out of this!" Lewis yells threateningly as his tail furiously slaps against the water's surface, hard. The harsh impact sends water flying everywhere, including all over Doctor Denman, but she barely reacts, hardly even flinching. It was completely predictable that Lewis would get angry as soon as she mentioned the mermaids. If anything, his reaction could have been way worse. This leads Linda to suspect that Lewis might not be as comfortable with his powers as his friends yet. 'Maybe Lewis doesn't even know what power he has yet, or how to use it?' Linda wonders silently to herself, deciding that she'll have to dig deeper into that question later.
"That all depends on you, Lewis. If you cooperate with us, I promise that I will leave Cleo, Emma, and Rikki alone. That's my deal. But when I say you have to cooperate, I expect you to do anything we ask of you, without question. If not, well, our deal is up and your friends will join you in a display tank." Linda responds calmly as she wipes droplets of water away from her eyes.
Lewis glares at Linda, unable to believe how insane this woman has become. How the hell did he ever look up to her?
"You can't do this! You can't get away with this!" Lewis shouts angrily as he continues to stare up at his two captors.
"Hmm, see, that's where you're wrong. I can do this, and this whole thing is being funded by someone who I think is going to have a particular interest in you, Mr. McCartney. He has thrown a huge amount of money into this research study, after all; much more than anyone would ever get paid for doing boring fish population counts," Linda says with a sickeningly sweet and false smile.
"You can't just kidnap people!" Lewis hisses back at the so-called 'scientist'.
"Oh, but you're forgetting that you're not a human being anymore; you're a fish. We can do whatever we want to you. And besides, my team and I have been very careful about all of this to be on the side of caution. Thanks to the help of my benefactor, your disappearance will never be able to be traced back to us. It will be as if you simply just disappeared off the face of the earth." Linda smirks sinisterly.
Lewis feels like he is going to be sick. How can any of this be happening to him right now? All he wanted was to have a well-deserved date night with Cleo, but somehow he has managed to be captured in a humiliating and dehumanising way by Doctor Denman, the marine biologist that Lewis used to look up to and aspire to be like for many years.
"Just... just don't hurt my friends. Please. I'll do anything," Lewis cries softly, finally lowering his gaze down towards the water and begins to curl in on himself by bringing his tail as close up to his chest as he can, starting to give in to defeat. How can he try and fight against this? It's impossible; there's no escape for him. All Lewis can do now is protect Cleo and the others as much as he possibly can. The merman refuses to let them meet the same fate that he has.
"As I told you before; their fate is all up to you, Mr. McCartney. Choose wisely." Denman states coldly as she finally gets back up on her feet, sneering at Lewis' cowering position, looking like some sort of wounded animal. Linda then glances over to Troy and gives him a quick nod.
"Hand me the sedation needle, would you, Troy? I'm ready to get this creature back to our lab."