Chapter 115

The accepted story was that Jenny had splashed Eila with water in the confrontation. Jenny was gently reprimanded for this, but the main focus was on Eila – on the bullying, how to support her in changing this behaviour, and trying to figure out why she was clearly lying about what had occurred in the bathroom.

In the days following the incident, Andy was having a much better time at school. Andy and Evie played together during breaks and Eila didn't come near her. For that, Jenny felt proud of herself. However, Jenny also felt a bit guilty about how she lost it and almost exposed their whole family for being magical creatures. Her mum, dad, aunties and uncles were always reminding them how important it was to keep their powers and identity as merpeople hidden from people outside the family.

She was ten now – she knew better than to use her powers at school. She knew she couldn't afford to slip up again. It was fortunate that the only witnesses were her sister and a six year old girl who the adults didn't believe. Jenny wondered if Eila would let it go. She would have to wait and see.

OoOoO

When Ryan returned from the supermarket, he went straight to his desk and turned on his laptop.

He determined that it would be perceived as creepy if he approached the child, so he decided to run with the lead by research. He knew it could be a dead end – a little girl making up magical stories, but the surname 'McCartney' really rang a bell and he was happy to take any leads at this point. Maybe this was linked to the mermaids he had already met.

Could McCartney be the surname of someone involved?

Jennifer McCartney on its own didn't bring anything useful up on the search.

Ryan decided to follow a hunch.

Going to , he went to browse the school yearbook collections. He remembered the name of the high school well – he had inquired there about the rock project that Cleo made up all those years ago. He scrolled through the pdfs. There was Rikki Chadwick, Isabella Hartley (Ryan remembered that Sophie often went on about her and Will), and…McCartney. Lewis McCartney. Ryan grinned – that's why it rang a bell. Lewis was the one Cleo had been waiting for. Out of interest, Ryan kept browsing for a bit, finding Cleo's picture as well.

It was a long shot, but this could mean that Cleo was now Cleo McCartney, and her child could have inherited the mermaid gene – like Jessie said was possible. Ryan frowned. He wasn't going to be able to find out which school Jennifer McCartney went to. He realised that this was probably a good thing - he shouldn't go after a child. Regardless, it was great information to store away just in case.

Ryan decided that he was going to get started with the more hands-on part of his plan.

OoOoO

At Rikki's Café, Zane was in the office working on putting the next month's roster together.

"How's it going?" Rikki asked ask she walked over.

Rikki had finished breastfeeding Fi on the couch, and had just put the ten month old in the playpen that was set up in the office.

"Almost done," Zane smiled, looking up at her.

"Great," Rikki said. She bent down and kissed his cheek. "I'm going to go check what we need to order in for the kitchen. Watch Fi for me,"

Zane nodded.

Rikki left the office and headed behind the counter in the café. Customers had been coming in at a moderate pace that afternoon - fast enough that the staff had things to do, but slow enough that Rikki and Zane did not have to be on deck helping. She went into the freezer to do a quick double check.

When she came out of the freezer, Rikki's heart nearly leapt out of her chest when she saw who was sitting in the café.

'Play it cool, play it cool' She encouraged herself.

Their eyes made contact.

Ryan smirked.

'Who am I kidding – 'cool' has never been a strong suit of mine,' Rikki thought. She went over to his table.

"What are you doing here?" Rikki asked Ryan quietly.

"Hello to you too," Ryan said. "I'm just here to order a smoothie. Can I order a Tutti Frutti please?"

Rikki narrowed her eyes. Ryan raised his eyebrows and smirked in response.

"This is terrible customer service, Mrs Bennett," Ryan snarked.

"Tutti frutti coming right up," Rikki said with a forced smile and a sugary voice. Rikki handed the order to one of the staff and went back into the office.

"Zane, Ryan is here!" Rikki said once the office door was closed.

Zane looked up quickly.

"In the café? Has he done something?"

"Yeah…well, no. I don't know. He just ordered a drink,"

"Maybe he really just wanted a drink," Zane said, standing up. "We are a pretty good café,"

"I'd love to believe it's just that, but after what I saw him do with that merman necklace…he can be pretty ruthless," Rikki replied, slumping onto the couch. "The fact that he even found us here…" she trailed off.

Zane walked over and sat next to her, draping his arm across her shoulders.

"Rikki, I hate to break it to you, but this whole place is named after you – and it has been since Ryan first met us. It's not that hard to put together,"

"You're right," Rikki laughed anxiously. She punched his side gently. "You didn't have to answer me so logically,"

Zane laughed.

"Rikki," Zane began seriously. "We have handled some pretty difficult things before, so I'm sure we'll cope again this time, even if he does have ulterior motives today,"

"Okay," Rikki nodded. "I guess we'll just have to see how this plays out,"

Ryan finished his smoothie and left the café.

Rikki and Zane kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. Maybe he really was there for a drink.

An hour later, Rikki, Zane and Fi left the café, leaving a staff member to close for the day. Rikki secured Fi in the car seat, and then they drove away.

A few seconds later, Ryan turned on his car. Time to see what he could find out.

OoOoO

Ryan saw Rikki and Zane pull into the driveway of a suburban house close to the water. He pulled over. Doing a quick search of the address, he found that this house indeed belonged to Z & R Bennett. Now that the Bennetts were inside, Ryan unpacked a tiny drone, and launched it quickly. This drone was state of the art with an impressive zoom, and so small that it would be very difficult for people on the ground to see.

Ryan drove a bit further away just in case, and then continued to operate the drone from his car. He wasn't sure what he expected to see but it would all be valuable surveillance in the end.

That was odd – what family needs two boats? Ryan directed the drone back over to the roadside of the house. A few minutes later another few vehicles arrived. It was like an army of children poured out of the van and went inside. There they were. Ryan grinned. Bella, Cleo, Anna, and the other blonde mermaid he couldn't remember the name of. A few men got out of one of the cars which arrived – Ryan recognised Lewis and Will.

Was there a party on today or something? There was no way that many people could live in that house.

Ryan directed the drone to the water side of the house again. He was surprised to see all the adults and children pouring out of the back door with different backpacks than they had entered the house with. Most of the men, including Zane carrying the baby, boarded the two boats and started driving them away.

The women, one man, and the variety of children, then jumped or dived off the dock into the water. None of them came up for air in the minutes that followed.

Ryan's heart was beating quickly. All of them had to be mers!

He wondered where they could be going.

Ryan called the drone back to his car. The recon was a total success.

He knew where to put the cameras now.

A/N: Hello beautiful people! I hope you have enjoyed this chapter :) Starting to get into the drama haha! Let me know what you think!

Thanks so much to everyone for reading and for those who review - I really appreciate it.

Thanks especially to Rock Mint Swirl 22, YaleAceBella12, samandfreddie, Walker, and CrazyHayniac.

See you all next time.