Chapter 25

Zane sprinted out of his house, ignoring his father's protests. He had more pressing matters to attend to and he knew his dad wouldn't understand. He hoped he could see Rikki leaving his house so he could simply follow her. She wanted to be left alone, he doubted she would go to the moon pool or her house. It would be too predictable. Zane should have known he wouldn't get that lucky. It looked like he was the first person to leave his house that day.

He ran off deciding to take the direction of her home. He doubted she would be there but he didn't want to overlook the obvious. He wouldn't know where else to look otherwise. Maybe Cleo or Emma's house? That would be a good place, he'd have to push past her friends to get to Rikki. They surely wanted his guts on a stick as bad as anyone.

Zane ran past the JuiceNet but stopped when he heard the beaded curtains rattling and checked his watch. The cafe didn't open for another hour, why was a door open? He reckoned he should go after Rikki and ignore it, he didn't own the cafe, it wasn't his problem. Still, something drew him to the door. If someone was breaking in, maybe he could do the proper thing and call the police or tell Wilfred. At least he could do one good thing today.

Zane was about to enter when he heard familiar voices coming from inside the cafe. He pressed himself against the side of the building as he listened in. There was no mistaking the nasally voice, that was Miriam. What was she doing in the cafe? Who was she talking to? Zane peeked around the corner, still trying his best to stay hidden. He wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He wondered if he was dreaming. Never in a million years would he imagine seeing this combination of people together.

Miriam was standing close to the side entrance of the cafe. Beside her, of all people, was Sophie. Did they know each other? How would they? Sophie just moved here, Miriam had been in Gold Coast all of her life. Still, it looked like they were working together on something. Standing in front of them with her back facing toward him was Rikki, looking oddly small. Zane knew Rikki wasn't scared of Miriam, maybe she was scared of Sophie. Sophie was the one who had stolen Zane away from her. Rikki still wasn't the type to cower away from someone like that. If anything, Zane thought she might start taking swings at Sophie. What the hell was he looking at?

As he looked a little closer, he felt his heart sink into the ground. He noticed the black book Miriam was holding. He had only ever seen that book in Rikki's possession before. He knew that book was incredibly private, she wouldn't even let him or the girls read it when she had been writing in it. Did Miriam steal it? Did she know all of Rikki's secrets now, secrets Zane himself didn't even know?

Whatever this encounter was, it wasn't going to end well.

"H-How'd you get that?" Rikki stuttered. She could only remember feeling more nervous when she was in Denman's clutch. That journal contained her deepest, darkest secrets and memories. It had been missing for a while now, she could only assume Miriam and Sophie had read it, front to back.

"Maybe you shouldn't have spent all that time gawking over Zane." Miriam replied. "It's not difficult to take a book from an empty table."

Rikki thought back to the last time she wrote in the black journal. She was at the JuiceNet and then she and Zane had gone for a walk on the beach and he helped her readjust to her mermaid life. She swore she took it with her but then again, it's not like she left it in the Zodiac or took it in the ocean. She reckoned Miriam was right, she made it all too easy for Miriam to snatch the book.

"See, we just didn't know how to get you and Zane apart until we found this." Miriam said. "In all the time I've known him, I never thought he'd fall for a girl from a trailer park who's own mother didn't love her enough to stick around."

"Shut up." Rikki warned Miriam, quietly. She could feel her blood boiling.

"I never would have thought he'd fall in love with the freak he hunted." Miriam said, Rikki's eyes went wide. "The mermaid. Well, I suppose you weren't the mermaid, that was Emma Gilbert, right? Or maybe the ever so kind Cleo Sertori? Surely neither of them could let someone drown on their watch."

Rikki began beating herself up. She had been so stupid to leave her journal on that table. Why didn't she check to make sure she had it? What was wrong with her? Now, not only Rikki herself, but her friends were in danger.

"See, I never knew that was Zane's type." Miriam continued. "It wasn't like he ever had much of a choice. I knew that wasn't me, he knew that wasn't me. You should have heard how disappointed Harrison was when he learned his son was dating the likes of you. I knew I couldn't let this go on. Zane was blinded by you, by something different. Fortunately, my wonderful cousin here was moving into town. Zane didn't know her. He didn't know she was even more fortunate in many ways than I was, she could be anything I she needed to be. You just dropped a manual right in our laps."

"How much does he know?" Rikki asked her ex-friend.

"Almost everything." Sophie replied, taking the journal from Miriam. "We've been dating for a few months, that's a long time to tell sob stories."

"So that was your plan?" Rikki asked as she sniffed and held back tears. "Pretend to be me so Zane would fall in love with you? It seems like he likes you, what do you need from me? More stories?"

"No, we wouldn't imagine you'd willingly hand that over." Miriam said. "Honestly, we thought Zane would fall for Sophie and forget about you but that doesn't seem to be happening, does it? So we had to resort to Plan B."

Rikki saw Sophie roll her eyes. What was Plan B? Why was Sophie so annoyed by it? It didn't really matter, they were both crazy.

"What's Plan B?" Rikki took the bait. She reckoned they'd be standing in silence otherwise.

"It took a little work and good timing." Miriam said. "We couldn't do it without this journal. Like I said, it's a manual."

"Not a good one." Rikki started. "If you had to resort to a back up plan."

"True, it wasn't as good as we thought when it came to getting Zane on our side." Miriam said. "But it was a pretty good how-to mermaid journal. You just have to be in the moon pool on the night of a full moon, right?"

"No." Rikki muttered as she realized what had happened. "You-you didn't..."

"Oh, but I did." Miriam replied. Rikki heard the tap turn on and then a gust of water flew to her face. It was just like Cleo's powers and there was no doubt about it, Miriam was a mermaid.

"It's cool, isn't it?" Miriam taunted. "Much better than heating up water."

Rikki flopped on the floor as she turned into a mermaid. She could dry herself off easily but she supposed Miriam could just splash some more water on her. She was facing away from the girls and she swore she saw a foot outside of the beaded doorway she had entered the cafe. Was someone listening in? She didn't have time to think about that. She had bigger problems to deal with.

"So that's it?" Rikki asked. "That's your Plan B, turning into a mermaid?"

"Not entirely." Miriam said. "I'm sure you might be aware, a school assembly is in three days. You know everyone will be there, your friend Emma did such a good job organizing it. She even gave me a panel. It would be a shame if the three of you got wet that day."

Rikki wanted to burst into tears. She knew with Miriam's new powers, she could make it happen. She supposed the three mermaids could take her on as well and expose Miriam but that would be incredibly difficult. Rikki had the worst powers when it came to growing a tail, Emma's did next to nothing, it was only Cleo that could do anything. They had more practice with their powers, maybe they could take Miriam down.

"Of course, I'm not completely heartless." Miriam said. "I won't touch you if you just... happened not to be there."

"What?" Rikki asked. "I would ditch the assembly if I could, I promise that much."

"Funny." Miriam said. "I meant if you happened to not be at the assembly or our school for the rest of the year. You could protect yourself and your friends if you just moved away. You're a nuisance anyway."

"Miriam, that's enough." Rikki heard a familiar voice behind her. She watched with great surprise as Zane came into the cafe. How would he know she was here? Maybe he was the foot she saw outside the door earlier.

Miriam stood up straight to face Zane. "Well, hi to you too."

"You know if Rikki leaves, I'll leave with her." Zane said.

"I don't know if it'll be that easy." Miriam replied. "She's got her mermaid soul sisters to think about. Do you really think you can have your mermaid life with just him? Besides Zane, it's not your decision."

Miriam glanced back down at Rikki. She was still in her mermaid form and looked petrified. She looked like she did sitting in that hospital bed. Zane never wanted to see her like that but here they were. It was all because he was a moron and fell for a trap.

"We should get going, the cafe is going to open soon." Miriam replied. "I'd dry off, if I were you. You'd make my plan too easy. Remember, you have three days."

Miriam exited the cafe. Zane bent down to Rikki's level and Sophie kept her eyes on the pair. If Rikki didn't know any better she'd say Sophie looked sorry. Too little, too late in her opinion.

"Here." Sophie said, tossing the journal in Rikki's direction. "You can have this back, I don't think we need it anymore."

Sophie exited too, Rikki could tell Zane was glaring at her. She supposed he had every right, he had been played in this scenario just as much as she had. Rikki thought the two evil girls were right about one thing, Rikki needed to dry off before customers came in. She gently squeezed her hand and saw steam forming at the base of her tail where Miriam had thrown the water. She was back in her human form in no time.

"Here." Zane said as he stood and offered her a hand. She ignored it and stood on her own. She could tell he was about to open his mouth to say something but she didn't want to hear anything from him at the moment.

"I need to go to Emma's house." Rikki told him as she exited the front entrance.

"Rikki, wait." She heard Zane exclaim as she left the JuiceNet.

"What?" Rikki replied, turning around to face him.

"Let me come with you." Zane told her.

"No, I'll handle this on my own." Rikki told him as she turned around.

"No, please." Zane said again as he jumped in front of her. "I want to help."

"How?" Rikki asked. "You're not a mermaid, you don't go to the same school, how could you help fight Miriam?"

"I don't know." Zane said. "You're right, I'm not sure but I want to help, anyway I can. I want to make up for all the stuff I did and the things I said. Please, let me do this."

Rikki sighed. She reckoned she could tell him 'no' over and over but he would never listen. He was just as stubborn as her. Maybe he could be of good use, he had kept the secret and would probably still be with her if Miriam and Sophie hadn't toyed with his head. She'd want to help him if the roles were reversed.

"All right." Rikki said. "But don't be surprised if Emma throws a spare statue at you."