So this is a shorter chapter than my last one, but at least I uploaded one. It's been a while since I last updated, 23 days to be exact. Yikes. I'm going to make a list of excuses, college is hard, struggling with mental health/anxiety, falling behind in my toughest class, panic attacks. Basically school is so hard that it's scary. Very scary. But yes, the new chapter. I've left the lot of you on a cliffhanger for too long (muhaha), so I now present to you, several suspicious fishes!


[Rikki's P.O.V.]

There was a loud splash, which startled me. I turned to look for the two strangers who I'd seen talking to Zane. It was lucky I had just gotten here, told me that the two of them had been asking weird questions about Mako, specifically the Moon Pool.

"Do you think…?" Zane asked, before I ran to the edge of the pier. The water was still foamy from whatever had fallen in, and the strangers were nowhere to be seen. Rather odd, I thought.

"What were they asking you?" I turned on my boyfriend. This could be really serious. If they were looking for a Moon Pool… After what happened with that marine biologist I'm in no hurry to get exposed again.

"They were asking about caves with water and a hole in it that the moon can shine in. They wanted me to take them there. I told them it was off limits, you've got nothing to worry about." I scowled, the idiot! Like that stopped Doctor Denman, and basically everyone that ever got close to discovering Cleo, Emma and I.

"I've got everything to worry about! They know about the Moon Pool, which means they must know about mermaids! Why they're being so obvious is what I don't understand!" I exclaimed, exasperated. I need to tell the others, and maybe Miss Chatham. She's known for being kind of odd, so if she were watching them for us it wouldn't be too far from the usual.

"Rikki!" Zane called out as I stormed away from the docks, but I didn't turn around. Whipping out my phone, I promptly called an emergency meeting at Emma's house preferably.

I got there around the same time Cleo did, who looked at me worriedly as I pushed open the front door. Emma was sitting on a couch, but stood up quickly when I entered.

"Rikki? What happened?" She asked, nervous.

"I saw a couple of strange people, some kind of tourists, at the dock, Lewis and Zane told me they were asking around about Mako," I said, plopping myself down onto an armchair.

"So?" Cleo asked, taking a seat next to Emma on the couch, "There's all sorts of creepy stories about it, they were probably just curious…"

"They were asking about the Moon Pool." I responded gravely. My friends' jaws dropped.

"M-maybe they weren't asking about the Moon Pool?" Emma asked, dragging out the name of the cave in which we became mermaids. As if I were stupid.

"According to my boyfriend and Cleo's boyfriend," I said, "They were asking about small caves, with water in them, that can be touched by moonlight. Can you think of anything that could possibly be?" I was frustrated, not only by their anxious skirting of the issue at hand and that they didn't trust me. Sure Zane had contributed to our capture by biologists, but he was also responsible for getting us out.

"Okay, so two strangers, who aren't from around here, are asking about the Moon Pool?" Cleo asked slowly, making sure she had the facts down.

"Then they vanished, and there was a loud splash. Sound familiar?" Their eyes widened.

"What?" Emma asked flatly. I nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't see them jump in, but it's exactly like us when we need to get somewhere in a hurry." I added.

"So they're mermaids too?" Cleo asked. I shrugged.

"It was a girl and a guy. I don't know if a guy can be a mermaid."

"What about a merman?" Cleo glanced at Emma, "Miss Chatham might know."

"I was going to ask her to look out for them anyway, she might be able to tell us what they're doing here anyway. Or scare them off so they don't try to expose us." I said, feeling rather confident in my plan. To my happy surprise, Cleo and Emma agreed with me, and we phoned the former mermaid to let her know we needed her help.

[Jacqueline's P.O.V.]

I sighed as I collapsed into the king sized bed back at the rented beach house, or "Home Base" as Pen had taken to calling it. We'd dived into the water to make an impact, and if those boys knew the mermaid they'd tell her right away. Weird tourists asking about a specific pool then disappearing into the ocean? People all over town will be talking about it.

We'd taken a swim out to the island, and it didn't take us long to find the local Moon Pool. It only confirmed my suspicions that there were others in the world, and that there is a mermaid in the area. Pendragon found a pale gold scale on the floor of the Pool, one that matched my belly scales, so we confirmed that the mer we seek is a maid.

"Feel like going out for lunch or something?" Pen called from the kitchen, "One, we don't have anything to cook with, two, I can't cook, and three, there's nothing in the house except for cereal and milk. Did I mention I can't cook?"

"No!" I called back, smiling smugly when he laughed, "Sure we can go out, we'll look for something seafood related. Is there some kind of local restaurants brochure?"

"No…" Pendragon trailed off, "But I saw a juice bar on our swim home. They might have food."

"Or liquid diet drinks?" I asked, sitting up, "What would that look like on a menu anyway?" Pendragon walked into the room and dropped down next to me.

"Cupcakes in a cup?" He asked. I snorted in response.

"You've seen Wall-E?" I asked.

"But of course, who hasn't?"

"Good question, now I hate to be the cruel heartless boyfriend who won't let you turn into a lazy bed-monster, but we ought to head out now." I scowled at him, but couldn't hold the expression. He laughed, and stood, offering me his hand.

When we reached the place, named "Juicenet Café", we promptly happily discovered that the menu included burgers and fries. We purchased our food and settled at a table for two.

"Hey Jack, look who it is." Pen said, subtly aiming a fry at the door. I glanced in that direction to see the grumpy looking blonde from before walking in, followed by two other girls. Her eyes widened when she saw us, but she quickly ushered her friends over to a booth behind me. Wonderful.

"They're looking at us still," Pendragon said softly as I took a bite out of my burger. I sipped on my smoothie, chocolate, strawberry, and peanut butter, a strange but delicious combo.

"Talking?" I asked, licking my lips.

"Yeah, and staring," he said, raising his hand to wave at them. I coughed.

"You're horrible!" I laughed, "You're the worst spy I've ever met."

"I'm not a spy," he said, wiggling his eyebrows, "I'm-" All of a sudden, I felt water down my back. Startled and panicked, I screamed, jumping up.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-!" I turned, pushing past the blond boy from the dock and out the doors. Splashing into the bay, my legs fused into a golden tail.

I swam to a more remote area and pulled myself out of the water, drying myself off with magic. I slunk back to the Café, embarrassed and pissed off. Pendragon was waiting outside with plastic bags filled with takeaway boxes. In his hand was a Styrofoam cup.

"I saved your smoothie!" He smiled cheerfully. I forced a smile, accepting the drink, "That guy who dumped the water on you reported back to the girl from the pier, so he must have been testing us." I frowned.

"I guess it wasn't a good idea to go for a swim after the questioning then," I sighed.

"Nonsense! They knew about the water, they must know about mermaids." We stopped walking. A woman with curly blonde hair piled on top of her head was staring at us from a distance. Her eyes were narrowed, studying us.

"Was she in the Café when I got splashed?" I asked, staring at the strange woman.

"No, she must have seen you run out. She's giving me the creeps, let's go." I nodded, and we hurried back to the Home Base, feeling incredibly paranoid.