Chapter 52

Rikki's P.O.V

I felt agonisingly sore and violently ill. Someone was shaking me.

"Rikki! I think she's waking up,"

I woke with a start acknowledging how bad I was feeling. I turned over quickly before vomiting. That was bad.

I was back in bed… how did that happen?

"Where's Fi!" I exclaimed.

"Who's Fi?" Zane asked me confused. He was holding my hand. I looked at him weirdly. Had it all been a dream? This was a serious case of déjà vu. Was this the dream instead? I pinched myself. I felt it. "Don't worry," I mumbled.

"We were really worried about you Rikki, you've been out for a day and a half. The sickness must've taken a large toll on your body. It seems your baby caused your sickness. She was a foreign entity so your body was rejecting it. She has a mutant gene,"

"Where is she?" A foreign entity?

"Come on guys, put her out of her misery," Zane said with a smirk. Emma came in carrying my baby girl. She had wisps of brown hair like her father. I began to sit up, confused as to what all the fuss was – she looked perfectly healthy.

"Take it easy Rikki," Emma placed her in my arms.

"She's beautiful," I whispered. Zane leaned over and kissed my forehead.

"You are going to be careful over the next few days, you were in a bad way," Lewis said, "You passed out remember?"

"Lewis, do you have any idea how worried I was? She looks fine." I said.

"I don't know what your reaction to this will be but," I waited expectantly, "It seems she hasn't inherited a tail…she was born human and we have put a little water on her but she hasn't changed at all,"

"Oh," I said simply. To be honest, after my dream, my very realistic dream, this was a welcome development. Of course, I would like all my children to be mers, but there's nothing wrong with being human.

"I think that's the reason you were sick – it's similar to what happens to a mother with negative blood if the baby has positive blood but the other way around, you were worse off,"

"Right," I said.

"Well, I'll tell your twins to come in shall I?" Lewis asked.

"Yeah," Zane smiled. Everyone else left the room to leave us alone. "Any name preferences?" he asked.

"Fi." I said instantly. "What about you?"

"I don't mind," he said pondering, "Fiona Kate Bennett has a nice ring to it,"

"Yeah. Maybe we should have thought more on this ay?" I said with a smile, "It sounds flash compared to what we named the others," I joked. There was silence for a minute.

"Zane, we cannot have any more kids." I said on a more serious note. He nodded.

"It's funny how we only wanted a couple. Thank God we didn't have twins again,"

It was my turn to nod. A few minutes later, Charlie, Leila, Jay and Alex came in to meet their new baby sister.

OoOoO

Normal P.O.V

Rikki told Zane about her dream later on. He laughed and said, "No wonder you were terrified when Fi wasn't in the room,"

Rikki and Zane decided that until she was old enough the consciously decide, they weren't going to make Fi a mermaid. They thought it wouldn't be right to force something upon her unless she really wanted it. Rikki knew that Fi probably would become a mermaid some day because she wouldn't want to feel out of place. Rikki was just happy her baby would be easy to look after.

Three days later, it was Eric's eighth birthday. They had the celebration with some of his school friends on the mainland at the café.

24th May (One week later) -A/N: just as an indication...I even get lost sometimes :P

Jennifer, Eric, Jacob, Charlie and Leila were going exploring in the sea.

"Kids, make sure you're home well before dark, at 7 the moon rises," Cleo instructed them.

"Where are you planning on going?" Emma asked.

"Can we go explore beyond the reef?" Charlie asked. Emma, Cleo, and Bella looked at each other with worried expressions.

"Mum would let us," Leila added quickly. Rikki was one all for adventures. She was at home nursing Fi.

"Please? We will be careful and you can check in with us via mind speak," Jennifer pleaded, seeing their mothers' unconvinced expressions.

"As long as you stick together and come back when we tell you, I have no objections," Bella began hesitantly. They were bright enough after all.

"Maybe I should come along…" Emma suggested.

"Could we go, just us five?" Jacob asked diplomatically.

"Uhh," Cleo began.

'Don't spoil their fun,' Bella said via mind speak to Emma and Cleo.

'But they're only eight and nine year olds," Cleo replied.

'Very intelligent mer eight and nine year olds,' Bella replied.

"Okay," Cleo said aloud. "You can go,"

"We will be checking in with you constantly so keep your minds open," Emma said. The kids all nodded enthusiastically and sped out of the room.

"I hope we didn't make a mistake," Cleo said. Emma nodded in agreement.

"They'll be fine," Bella said.

OoOoO

The five of them raced down to the moon pool and dove into the water.

'Which direction?' Leila asked as the swum along.

'Past the reefs?' Eric suggested

'We could even go around Mako, see if there are any other underwater caves,' Charlie said.

'Shall we do that then? And if we have time, go explore past our known reefs,' Jennifer asked her friends. This is what they did.

They swum around clockwise from the moon pool. As they went more towards the back, the coral began to become more vibrant in colour. Suddenly, Jennifer stopped. She had spotted a cave. They went to the surface for a refreshing breath – they didn't know how long they would be in the cave and then being inquisitive children, entered the tunnel like entrance of the cave. It became pitch black quickly.

'Let's try something,' Jacob mind spoke. He selected certain water particles and turned then into a ball of jelly. 'I wonder what will happen if you use your heating powers on it underwater,' he said, talking to Charlie and Leila. When they used their powers on it suddenly, the ball began to emit a bright light.

'Sweet,' Jennifer said.

'How did you think of that?' Eric asked.

'I was looking through the hidden pages in the purple book. Mum had borrowed it from Rikki. It said that it would only create the light underwater,' Jake replied.

This light revealed that what they were swimming through was in fact a tunnel rather than a cave. Jennifer moved it along with her powers. They slowly swam down it avoiding the large boulders that must have fallen down over time. They could only hear water until Emma's voice entered their minds.

'Are you kids alright?'

'We're fine, Mum,' Eric said.

'Great, you have a few hours before we want you back okay? One of us will check in with you again when you should be on your way back. You have a watch on Jen?'

'Yeah,' she replied. She obviously had put the watch on after her transformation.

'Okay, be careful,' Emma left their minds and again it was quiet in the mysterious tunnel.

A/N: I apologise in advance for the very long authors note: Hey, how has everyone been? I have been really stressed: end of year exams. Only one left! Whoop whoop! That's one of the reasons I haven't been updating any of my stories recently - life gets in the way :P Another reason is that I'm actually running out of ideas for this particular story. I do have a few more story lines up my sleeve do not worry quite yet. I am saying this because storylines are welcome - I may not write them because personally they may not suit my intentions of the story, but, they will all be considered. PM me or write them in a review, whatever floats your boat :-) But as I promised, here was another chapter.

Anyway, about the story: how did you like that plot twist? I thought it was clever myself. Certain people keep guessing my storylines and that takes away the fun, therefore I put a twist on it. That is why the chapter ended so quickly - I couldn't have it all in one chapter could I :P Incase you didn't quite get what was going on: Rikki dreamt that she had a baby that had inherited all fish genes no human genes pretty much so it was a monster. Then she woke up to find that something was different about her baby but not in the way she dreamt - a human - a first for the village :P I'm sorry to anyone who actually wanted a fish baby - I found it a bit creepy myself so...But yay! Two chapters in one day, you should feel priveliged not having to wait a few weeks :P

So, thanks so so much for all the reviews. Over 300 is quite a milestone - its all thanks to you guys. Special thanks to the people who review and especially to those who reviewed chapters 50 and 51: PeacePinkSeddie (x2), Kat238 (x2), xmangal (x2), jeremygilbert12, DisneyCrazed26, BlazingLegend, Waterlily2002, Obwan14, Zikki3, Lauren111, XxRaindr0pxX, Swimngym, Nicole, Tj, theatreandhorses, and an unnamed Guest.

Thanks again everyone :-) I hope you continue to enjoy my writing and please review.

A/N #2: I've edited the kids ages on this chapter because I'm doing a character profile and I realised (as expected) my dates are all up the whop, therefore, bear with me and ive made them older...as they are supposed to be :P Because I don't want to mention everyone's birthdays in the story, its proving difficult keeping track.