The bright light dies down, and reveals a small room with three cots. Pale beige walls with no art or decoration surround them. The girl's scales are pressed up against a cold concrete floor, with the water they were just submerged in now gone. Emma instinctively looked up at her surroundings, trying to make sense of their new environment. Rikki started pressing her palms on the ground to make sure the floor was real. After all, it had just morphed from water into rock. Cleo couldn't bring herself to do anything but look down at her tail shocked. Emma was the first of the girls to speak, "Rikki, we need to get dry so we can figure out where we are."

"Yeah, yeah, give me a minute." Rikki replied. She held out her hand instinctively, and started to curl her fingers. But instead hearing the sizzling sound of the water on their tails boiling off, nothing happened. "Why aren't my powers working?"

Cleo looked at the girls sheepishly. "Guys, I have a bad feeling about this." But just as Cleo finished her sentence, the girls began to sparkle and turn into water. After the brief second passed, the girls turned back in their human form. Rikki's mouth gaped open, and Cleo flailed out her arms in frustration. She looked as though she'd given up trying to rationalize what's happening to her. "But we were still wet, I couldn't dry us!" Rikki stammered. Emma pondered Rikki's words, and then sighed. She looked down to her feet and said "We gave our powers up Rikki. That's why you couldn't dry us, and that's why we…" Rikki finished her statement for her "Lost our tails. We aren't mermaids anymore."

Emma pulled Rikki and Cleo into a close-knit hug, and tears began flooding from Cleo's eyes. Though she didn't know how to say how she felt about losing her powers, sobbing was the best form of expression. The girls stayed in a close embrace for the better part of a minute until Cleo stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "If we keep hugging, I'll never stop crying. I think we need to focus on getting out of here, and figuring out where exactly here is."

Rikki couldn't help but blurt out, "You know things are bad when Cleo is being the rational one." Emma quickly spun around to look at Rikki, glaring her down in the process. "Rikki! That was rude!" Emma couldn't help but feel overprotective of her sweet friend, and thought she didn't need Rikki's sarcasm at such an emotional time.

But instead of the reaction Emma predicted of Cleo growing silent and uncomfortable, the brown haired girl let out a soft chuckle. "No Emma, it's okay. I needed that." She said with a warm smile. "It made me forget for a second that we lost our powers. Things just felt… normal." Rikki returns Cleo's smiles, and gives her hand a squeeze.

"But Cleo is right," Emma added on. "We need to figure out where we are." Rikki gained a slight grin on her face. "I don't know about you guys, but I think the door might be a way out." Emma rolled her eyes at Rikki's thick sarcasm. She reached for the knob, and opened the door. It reveals a hallway, with the same beige walls and gray floors as the room before. But all hope was not quite yet lost, as the hallway held many new doors. Five other doors were lined against the same hall as them, all of them showing no indication of being an exit. On one end of the hallway was just a wall, no way out. But the other side held a double door with a glowing red exit sign over the doorway. "I'm going to guess it's that way." Rikki said while wandering down the hallway, leaving the other two to follow close behind. As Rikki reached the end, she pushed on the door and it swung open.

What laid beyond the door was not another beige and concrete room, but rather a movie theater of sorts. A large plasma screen that must have been meters long was on one of the walls, with at least forty theater type chairs facing the screen. It was a proper movie theater, only it wasn't empty. There were huddled groups of people dispersed around the theater, all made up of close friends and family. In one group, Don and Bev Sertori whisper with concern, while Kim sulks with boredom nearby. Neil and Lisa Gilbert, along with Elliot and are in another group. Neil and Lisa seem like they're trying to calm down , but it appears as if she is the one talking them off a ledge. Terry Chadwick and Harrison Bennet are standing close together, but both appear to be actively ignoring each other. They seem as if they know no one else, and they've been thrown together due to circumstance. Lewis, Zane, and Byron are talking rather loudly, with Zane and Lewis attempting to reason with Byron.

Cleo breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the people she knew. Wherever she could be, she was with the people she loved and trusted the most. But also the people she lied to, kept secrets from, and emotionally shut out. Lewis caught her eye, and nodded his head to the side. At first she didn't understand his intent, but then it became clear that he was giving her a signal, pointing something out. She scanned the room to see what Lewis was motioning to, and soon felt her heart drop. Dr. Denman.

Among all the people she cared about, was the woman who would have put them into a lab and dissected them if it meant she could write a research paper about mermaids. Mere hours ago, this woman had tried to kidnap them. And here she was, eyes dead set on the girls. "This can't be good." Cleo managed to get out before Denman came marching straight for the girls.

"What did you do?" She said aggressively. Cleo instantly stepped back but Rikki stepped forward in front of the other two girls defensively. "I could ask you the same question, but I don't think we're exactly on speaking terms."

The parents noticed the commotion, and Mr. Gilbert quickly rushed in front of the girls. "You need to leave my daughter and her friends alone." He stated forcefully, but a tone of confusion could be found in his voice. Don Sertori asserted himself next to Neil, and caused Dr. Denman to back down. She sat down in a theater seat with her arms crossed in frustration, but she did silence herself.

As everyone seemed to crowd around the girls because of their altercation with Denman, Mr. Gilbert took the opportunity to address them. "I have questions, and I know you all have questions. And hopefully someone here knows the answers to at least one of them. Does anyone know where we are?"

Quiet whispers were heard among the group, questioning each other of their whereabouts. Despite these whispers, no one spoke up to the group. Mr. Gilbert sighed, and questioned the group again, "Okay, does anyone know how we got here?"

This time there were no whispers, and just silence. Glances were thrown to each other, and a few adults looked like they were thinking deeply about their circumstances. It was then Kim who spoke up with a possible theory, "We were probably kidnapped or something."

Cleo rolled her eyes at Kim's comment, she was always being over dramatic. "Sure Kim, and do you remember being blindfolded and thrown into a van?" Don held up his hands, and got between the girls before they could start a real argument. "That's it. No more fighting here girls. Now, does anyone know anything about where we are at all?"

Everyone in the vicinity shook their heads, and Don sighed. "Alright then, we'll have to figure out what to do next. Anyone have any ideas?" Lisa Gilbert's eyes quickly lit up, and she excitedly shared her idea. "We could investigate. Split into groups, and look around to see if something can give us a clue. We then may find out at least where we are, and why."

Neil beamed at his wife, "That's a great idea Lisa. We'll split into groups. Lisa and I can search together. Everyone should be with at least one other person." Don spoke up next. "Well, Bev, Kim, and I can be another group."

Kim quickly interjected, "No way! Elliot, you're with me." The young boy shrugged his shoulders, "Works for me." Beverly Sertori then amended her husband's proposal. "Terry, if you like, you can join us." Terry Chadwick looked at Beverly gratefully, as he didn't know many of the people there other than his daughter's friends and their families.

Byron was the next to speak. "I guess we could do a kind of guys group. Me, Zane, and Lewis." Emma quickly cut him off by saying, "Sorry, Lewis is already in a group with us." Lewis looked at her with a confused look and said "I am?" Emma gave him a stern look, and signaled that they needed to talk. Lewis then quickly changed his stance. "I mean, yes, I am."

"I guess it can just be me and Byron." Zane said promptly, understanding that the girls needed to talk to Lewis urgently. The blonde scientist who seemed unamused then declared, "Harrison and I can look together. We already know each other." Harrison Bennett nodded in response, and then seemed to take note of Ms. Chatham's presence. "I'm sorry, who are you exactly?"

Emma quickly answered for her, "That's Ms. Chatham. She's with us." Harrison looked confused, but did not question her. Mr. Gilbert spoke once more, "I think that's everyone. We should split up, and search different areas."

Rikki cut him off, right before he finished his sentence. "Our group is going to search the rooms past that hall." She said while pointing to the doors behind her. "Don't wait up, we're going to search...very thoroughly." Lisa, not fully understanding Rikki's intent, nodded in agreement.

Rikki then grabbed Cleo's hand, who grabbed Emma's who grabbed Ms. Chatham's. They walked out in a line, one after the other, leaving Lewis scrambling to catch up behind them.

After they passed the double doors, they quickly ran into the same room they had first arrived in, but ended up dragging Ms. Chatham behind them. She then let go of Emma's hand and said "Girls, you must slow down. I'm not as young as I used to be." "Although I bet I could swim faster if I had the chance." She added with a wink.

The girls, Ms. Chatham, and Lewis entered the room, and began sitting down on the three cots. Lewis couldn't wait until he sat down to start asking questions, and began with "What happened out there? Did you guys lose your powers?"

Cleo looked down, with all the confusion of where they were, she had temporarily forgotten that she was no longer a mermaid. Rikki noticed Cleo's sudden mood drop, and spared her from having to answer. "Yeah, we lost our powers. We no longer have our tails."

Lewis felt bad for the girls, and didn't want to press them on it any further. But he also knew that things had not gone as planned, and he needed to find out more information if they were to figure out their current location. "So what happened out there? Why are we here?"

Emma thought about Lewis' question, but realized she was about as puzzled as he was. "I don't know. The full moon rose overhead, and we jumped in. Then as we were, well..the pool was bubbling. Or sparkling. Denman said something like, 'We need to know. We all need to know.' But that couldn't have anything to do with where we are now, right?"

She looked at Lewis for answers, but he was unable to provide any. He shook his head and replied, "I have no idea. But Ms. Chatham, you knew about tonight being an eclipse. Do you know why this is happening, or how?"

Ms. Chatham smiled at the girls, grazed Emma's cheek with her hand, and then began to speak. "With magic, so many unexpected things can happen. I have learned over my many years that magic does not like to be foreseen. When we expect it to do one thing, it may choose to do another."

Lewis looked at Ms. Chatham with irritation. "Are you seriously trying to convince us that magic is autonomous now?" Emma hit him on the shoulder, and proceeded to ignore his comment. "So Ms. Chatham, you're saying that we might not have given up our powers?"

Ms. Chatham sighed, "I'm afraid that much is still true. The magic took away your powers, but it changed something in the process. You said that this Doctor called out to you, telling you that she wanted to know your secret. Well, maybe the magic listened."

Rikki butted in, "So you're saying we have to go and tell everyone that we're mermaids? No way, not happening." Ms. Chatham took Rikki's hand into hers, and reminded her to be patient. "I'm saying that I don't know. Magic is risky. We may not know what will happen next until it occurs. We cannot predict the future." Rikki huffed out of frustration, "If only that was the magic power I got, it would have been so much more practically then being a human microwave."

Cleo, who had been silently overthinking during the entire conversation, finally spoke up. " What if she tells our families about us? She knows we're mermaids. Or, at least we were. She could reveal our secret at any time."

Ms. Chatham took Cleo's hand in her other palm, and smiled at the nervous girl. Emma then attempted to reassure Cleo, "I think that's why we're here anyway. For them to find out. We may have to tell them, regardless of whether Dr. Denman does."

Cleo turned to Emma, in a timid matter. "But what if she's telling our parents right now. They could already know that we've been living the past five months as fish!" Lewis looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "There's only one way to find out. We have to go back out there."

Cleo sighed, "I suppose putting it off won't do any good. We might as well go back to our parents, and see if they've disowned us yet."

Rikki rolled her eyes, as she had gotten used to Cleo always assuming the worst. But Emma was more patient with her, saying "They're not going to disown us. If they find out, they'll be shocked, but they won't hate us." Even though Emma kept a steady tone to calm Cleo down from her escalating thoughts, she didn't really believe what she was saying herself.

The girls walked back down the bland hallway, and back into the theater. They entered through the double doors, and found the people they had left behind crowded in a huddle next to the large movie screen. The girls began to panic, thinking that they may be discussing the new fishy lifestyle that had learned about from Dr. Baywatch.

Lewis, the only who wasn't paralyzed in fear, called out to them. "Hey, did you guys find anything?" Neil Gilbert turned around, and motioned for the girls to come join the group. "We found a DVD player, and DVD next to it. We're not sure, but we think we're supposed to watch."

Rikki, now calmer, looked confused. "Why would we have to watch a DVD, that doesn't make any sense." Zane smirked at Rikki, "We'll there wasn't exactly a note with an explanation. She gave him a cold stare, but he kept smiling at his joke.

"Well, I think we should watch it." stated Don Sertori. "Maybe whatever's on that disk, might be our ticket out of here." Dr. Denman took a long look at the girls, and then spoke up. "I agree. Whatever's on that tape, I think we're meant to see it. Everyone take a seat, and I'll put it in."

The girls head for the seats, with Cleo chewing her nails from the anxiety. They find that some seats have names on them, and some have none at all. On the left side of the theater, Rikki, Emma, and Cleo's names are on three neighboring chairs. But on the right side of the theater, with nearly ten chairs in between the closet assigned chairs, was everyone else's names. Everybody took their seats, confused, but intrigued.

Dr. Denman put the DVD in the player, and took the remote that was sitting next to it. She took her seat and pressed the play button. The girls took a deep breath, and held it. They did not know what they would be shown, but the were certain that no good could come from it.