Hey guys, I'm sorry its been so long since I last updated. I have had so much work to do. I hope you enjoy this chapter
Chapter 7
The next day came faster than Ash would have liked. He didn't want to face school, the previous evening had been difficult enough as he couldn't remember any of his family.
Flashback:
Lewis had walked Ash back to his house as Ash couldn't remember the way back.
"Thanks Lewis, did I get your name right?" Ash said.
"Yeah and no problem, see you tomorrow and try not to forget to stay away from water", Lewis said.
"I'll try, see you tomorrow, will do", Ash said.
As Lewis started to walk back to his house, Ash opened the door and went inside his house. Ash tried not to panic as he walked in, he didn't recognise the house at all but he knew it was his house. A woman that Ash assumed was his mother, and according to his list was called Rachel, came down the stairs.
"Hi dear, did you have a good time at Zane's house?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah I did thanks", Ash said.
"Are you sure? You look worried".
"Yeah, I'm just worried about all the work I'm going to get", Ash said.
"Ah, if you ever need help managing your work load, you can come to me".
"Thanks mum", Ash said.
"Would you like some hot chocolate?"
"Yes please", Ash said, Ash hoped that the hot chocolate would help calm him down. He followed his mother to the kitchen, when he got there he wished that he had declined the hot chocolate. There were three other people he didn't recognise. According to his list they were his dad Jackson, his brother Andy, and his sister Ally.
"Hey Ash, I've noticed that you're spending a lot of time with Emma, are you two going out?" Ally asked excitedly as soon as she saw him.
"What? No we're just friends", Ash said trying to sound normal even though he couldn't remember who Emma was.
"Just friends? Yeah right", Andy said sarcastically.
"I bet you two are secretly going out", Ally said.
"No we're not Ally", Ash said.
"Andy, Ally leave your brother alone", Jackson said.
"Here's your hot chocolate Ash", his mother said.
"Thanks", Ash said he was starting to panic, pretending to remember who he was, was more difficult than he thought it would be.
"So how is horse riding going?" Rachel asked.
"It's going fine thanks", Ash was starting to freak out he had to get out of there, "I need to finish my homework for tomorrow, see you guys later", Ash said and walked out of the room, it took a lot not to run out.
End of flashback
Ash reluctantly got out of bed and got ready for school, he went down the stairs to have breakfast. His heart sank at seeing his sister in the kitchen, he was going to have to keep up the charade longer than he hoped.
"Hi Ash, are you alright? You were acting a bit weird last night", Ally.
"Yeah, I've just got a lot on my mind", Ash replied.
"Ah, you've got Emma on your mind", Ally said raising her eyebrow at him.
"Not that again, we're just friends", Ash said, Ash had made a note of that inquiry in case Ally asked him again.
"For now maybe", Ally said grinning.
Ash rolled his eyes at her and finished his breakfast, "I'm going to school now, see you later".
Ally was waiting for her friend Lindsey to come to the house and walk to school with her, so she wasn't going with Ash.
"You can't avoid me forever Ash", Ally called after him.
"I can try", Ash called, as he walked out the door he was feeling a bit more confident, he had managed to trick his sister into thinking he knew who he and she was. Ash met Lewis outside his door, Lewis was walking the whole way with Ash as he couldn't remember this route either.
"Hey Ash, how did last night go?" Lewis asked as they started walking.
"It went okay, they don't know I don't know who I am, and I managed to not be in contact with water", Ash said.
"That's great Ash, do you still have the list?" Lewis.
"Yep" Ash said patting his pocket.
"Good, Zane, Emma and I will try to be with you at all times", Lewis said patting his shoulder comfortingly.
"Thanks", Ash said smiling gratefully at Lewis. About ten minutes later they arrived at the school and met Emma and Zane at their lockers.
"Hey Ash, you okay", Zane and Emma asked at the same time causing them to glare at each other. Emma was still angry with Zane for proposing the idea of trying to erase her memory, and she was still mad at Lewis for helping. Zane was angry with Emma for considering turning them in. They immediately looked at Ash in concern though when he answered.
"Yeah thanks, and last night went well too".
Emma hugged Ash causing him to feel very happy, but he wasn't sure why.
"I'm so glad Ash", Emma said.
When Emma released him, Ash smiled at her happily feeling more confident, Emma smiled back at him.
Zane stepped forward and hugged Ash too, he was still feeling guilty for putting Ash in danger and while this hug was primarily meant to comfort Ash, it was comforting him too. After he had finished hugging Ash, he smiled reassuringly at him and Ash smiled back.
After they had gotten their things, the quartet made a schedule to make sure that Ash wasn't alone, Cleo would have to hang out with Ash in his free period in the afternoon, as Zane and Lewis didn't have one until the last class of the day, and Emma had classes all afternoon. But given that Cleo was good friends with Ash they felt it wouldn't be a problem, and because of this they wouldn't have to tell Cleo about the mermen situation. Lewis and Zane were able to spend the last hour of the afternoon with Ash though. After they had finished the schedule, they made their way to registration. While they were waiting for their teacher Zane, Lewis and Emma temporarily put their differences aside to cheer Ash up by chatting and trying to act normal. Ash didn't join in much, though he appreciated what they were doing. He felt very anxious, he was worried that he'd end up alone and wouldn't know what to do, though they had made the schedule things could go wrong.
A few minutes later their teacher, Mr Winters came in, he smiled at the class in greeting and sat in his desk. He got his register from a draw in his desk, and called out names. When he called out Ash's name he didn't respond, he had forgotten that was his name.
"Ash?" Mr Winters repeated looking concerned.
Emma nudged Ash, realising his mistake Ash answered, "Here".
Mr Winters continued with the register, when he had finished he set them a task of thinking about things they wanted to achieve during the year and possible A-Levels they wanted to take the following year. While they were working on the task, Zane, Lewis and Emma continued to comfort Ash by acting normal. Lewis wanted to ask Ash if he was okay, after the register incident but knew that would only make him worry more. So he joined the discussion they were having about the possible powers the trio could develop.
"It would be so cool to be able to time travel", Zane said grinning at Ash.
"Wouldn't that cause a lot of problems though?" Emma asked.
"What do you mean?" Zane asked.
"Well, what if you accidently erase yourself out of existence?"
"I would make sure that wouldn't happen".
"But if it happened accidently how could you prevent it? We know from watching a lot of time travel movies that it is very difficult to change events" Ash inquired smirking causing Emma and Lewis to snicker.
"I would, I would…"
"He's got you there Zane", Lewis said.
"No he hasn't".
"What would you do then?" Emma said.
Zane was saved from having to answer when Mr Winters came to their table, Zane smirked at Emma in triumph, and she rolled her eyes at him in response. They discussed what they had written with Mr Winters and he seemed pleased with what they said. The quartet had maths with Mr Winters next so they didn't need to move. Ash was relieved that they were all together for the morning, they were in their second year of GCSEs so they still had many subjects together. As they were able to stick together, the morning went well. The afternoon came quicker than he liked, and he found himself chatting with Cleo wishing Zane, Lewis and Emma were there to help him in case he forgot something important.
"Hey, I have an hour, want to go to the beach?" Cleo asked.
"The beach?" Ash asked hesitantly, he put his hand in his pocket to get his list but was horror stricken when he couldn't find it. He checked all of his pockets and his bag in a panic.
Cleo stared at Ash, confused by his behaviour, "Ash, what's wrong?"
"I can't find it".
"Can't find what?"
"Um, nothing never mind", Ash had a feeling he wasn't supposed to go to the beach but he couldn't remember why, and he couldn't think of a reason why he couldn't go. So he agreed to go, so that he wouldn't make Cleo suspicious and the duo went to the beach.
An hour later, Zane met Lewis by his locker. Zane texted Ash to ask where he was so they could meet up with him. He froze when Ash texted back saying that he was at the beach.
"What is it?" Lewis asked in concern seeing the look on Zane's face.
"Ash is at the beach".
"What? His list says not to".
Zane noticed a piece of paper by Lewis' feet, and with a sinking feeling he picked it up and groaned when he realised it was the list, "He dropped it". Zane said and showed Lewis the list.
Lewis' eyes widened, "We have to go now!"
Lewis and Zane ran to the beach, fortunately the beach was only five minutes away from the school, so they got there quickly. They spotted Cleo and Ash playing badminton too close to the sea for comfort. They panicked when the ball fell in the sea and Ash went to get it, they ran as fast as they could. Zane couldn't help but remember, the time when they first found out they were mermen and he stopped Ash from going into the water for his swimming lesson, and saved his life. He hoped they would be fast enough this time. Lewis tried using his telekinesis to discreetly move Ash from the water but couldn't, he was still struggling with moving people. Thankfully though, they got to them before Ash could get the ball. Zane grabbed his arm to stop him picking up the ball.
"What are you doing?" Ash asked in confusion.
"You're not supposed to touch the water", Zane explained.
Ash's eyes widened in shock and he straightened himself, "Oh, I didn't realise".
"It's okay, we know", Zane assured him, trying to calm down, "Here's the list", Zane said as he gave it to Ash.
"Thanks, and thanks for stopping me touch the water".
"Your welcome".
"What's going on?" Cleo asked.
"Nothing", Lewis said quickly, Cleo was about to ask them something else but Lewis interrupted her, "Don't you have R.S. now?"
"Oh yeah", Cleo said fortunately she still had time to get back to class on time, but she ran back anyway after saying goodbye.
The trio spent the rest of the afternoon in the Juicenet Café to calm down, they were feeling quite shaken after the incident. Emma met them after school had finished, Ash, Zane and Lewis had already signed out so they didn't need to go to registration.
Through the week the quartet continued to search for a way to get Ash's memory back, they tried spells and potions that they found but none of them worked. Ash was trying to stay calm, but he was getting more scared that he wasn't going to get his memory back. The others tried their best to comfort him, but it was difficult as they were just as scared as Ash was.
Lewis was sitting on a bench at the water park, reading something he had found about getting memories back on his phone. When an old man sat next to him.
"Your friend is in a bit of a pickle isn't he?" The man said.
Lewis looked up startled, "What do you mean?" He asked starting to feel scared, the man couldn't know about Ash could he? If he did, did he know about the three of them being mermen?
"You should give him this. It will save him", the man said handing Lewis a small bottle with white liquid.
Lewis examined the bottle and was about to ask why he should trust him, but when he looked up he saw that the man was gone. Lewis looked around for him, but he couldn't find him. Scared that the man knew about them, Lewis called Zane. When he answered, Lewis explained what had happened.
"I think I know who you mean, he's Max Hamilton. He has an annoying habit of disappearing when you want to ask something important".
"I'm worried that he knows about us Zane", Lewis said.
"I am too, but if this potion can save Ash I think we need to talk to him".
"But how can we without telling him about us?"
"We will try to be vague and find out how much he knows", Zane said. Lewis agreed, he would do anything to save Ash especially as it was partly his fault that Ash was in this situation. Zane knew where Max lived, a boat called Lorelai at the harbour, so they decided to meet outside the boat.
"Are you sure about this?" Lewis asked Zane when they arrived.
"Yeah", Zane said trying to seem confident, they had decided not to tell Ash about this. They didn't want to get his hopes up in case Max couldn't help them. They had told Emma though, she was initially reluctant to let them see Max but after realising that this could be the only way to save Ash, she relented and agreed to stay with Ash and not tell him about what they were doing. Zane nocked on the door and Max answered.
"Can I help you?" Max asked, though Lewis thought that his expression meant he already knew why they were there.
"We would like to ask you about this bottle you gave me earlier", Lewis said, showing Max the bottle for emphasis. Lewis was worried for a minute hat Max wouldn't help them, that he would just slam the door in their faces. But Max smiled at him.
"Of course, come in", Max said to Lewis' relief.
Lewis glanced at Zane who nodded, and he followed Lewis into the boat. The boat was old, and looked big enough for a family to live in it. And Lewis wondered if Max's family had lived there. It looked grand, with beautiful carpets on the floors and there were a lot of book cases in the living room which they were in, but there was also a big TV in front of the couch and an iPad on the coffee table, so despite the fact that the boat looked like it was from the Victorian era Max seemed to be keeping up with technology.
"Take a seat, would you like some tea or coffee?" Max asked.
"No thank you", the boys said at the same time, as they sat on the couch. They didn't trust Max, so they felt it wasn't safe to accept any food or drink from him.
When Max took a seat in a chair beside them, Zane spoke up "What do you know about our situation?"
Lewis felt Zane move closer to him, he looked like he was ready to jump in front of him if he thought Max was going to attack them. Lewis gave Zane a grateful smile, which he returned. Lewis couldn't believe how close he had become with Zane, given that they used to be enemies. But he was very happy that they were friends now.
"Try not to, as I believe they say freak out, but I know that you two and your friend Ash are mermen".
Zane and Lewis gaped in shock at each other, they thought there was a chance that Max knew about them, but they really hoped he didn't. And they weren't expecting Max to be so blunt about it.
"What are you talking about?" Zane asked.
Max sighed, he brought out a water bottle he had been hiding and threw the water at Zane, as soon as the water hit Zane he tried to run for it but Max grabbed Zane with surprising strength.
"Hey, let him go!" Lewis shouted angrily and was about to help Zane but was too late, he had already started to transform. Max let go of Zane as soon as the transformation started.
Zane fell to the floor in merman form, Zane looked at Max in fear afraid of what he was going to do. Lewis stood in front of Zane, "What did you do that for?" Lewis asked.
"You wouldn't believe that I know about you, and this was the only way to do it. Look I know you two are scared, and I'm sorry I had to do that. But I will never tell anyone about you".
"How do you expect us to believe you?" Lewis asked while Zane transformed back into his human form.
"Because I was once like you, and I know how important it is to keep your secret".
Lewis and Zane looked at each other in surprise, they weren't expecting that answer. Max took a photo out of his pocket and gave it to Lewis. Zane looked at the photo as well. There were three boys that looked like they were their age, and all three of them were mermen. Lewis recognised Max on the right side of the group. Lewis looked up at Max in surprise.
"Are you still a merman?" Lewis asked.
"Not anymore?"
"Wait, you can change back to being human?" Zane asked.
"You need to give Ash the potion, he is running out of time", Max said not answering Zane's question, which Zane and Lewis both noticed but decided to let go for now.
"How do you know this will work?" Lewis asked.
"My friend Bobby, the one on the left in the picture, was in the same situation as Ash. And the potion worked. I kept the potion safe in case this ever happened again. Good thing I did".
"Yeah, thank you so much", Lewis said handing the photo back to Max who looked at the photo fondly before putting it back in his pocket.
"We should probably go now", Zane said in a meaningful tone.
"Of course, if you have any questions or need anything I'm here for you. And don't worry you're secret is safe with me", Max said.
"Thanks again", Lewis said, after saying goodbye he and Zane left the boat.
"Lewis wait, I'm not sure if I trust Max", Zane said.
"I'm not sure either, but he was a merman too and he knows the dangers of being a merman".
"What if he's lying about the potion? What if it will hurt Ash?"
"I don't think he was lying about the potion. This is the only choice we have, if we don't give Ash the potion he will never get his memory back".
Zane sighed, "You're right, we have searched everywhere, and we'll never find anything else".
"It'll be okay Zane", Lewis said trying to comfort himself as well as Zane.
Lewis texted Emma to explain what had happened, and they agreed to meet at Zane's house as his dad was out for the day, and they didn't know how the potion would heal Ash.
"Here's the potion Ash", Lewis said as he gave the bottle to Ash.
"Thanks Lewis", Ash said shakily feeling nervous.
Ash was about to drink the potion when Emma stopped him.
"Wait, what if Zane's right, and the potion makes things worse for Ash?"
"This is the only cure we have Emma, we have to try this", Lewis explained.
"That doesn't make me feel better about this", Emma said.
"It's okay, I have to try this", Ash said reassuringly, even though he didn't feel confident himself.
"Are you sure?" Emma asked in concern.
"Yeah", Ash said and smiled at her, Emma smiled back feeling a bit better.
Ash took a deep breath, "Here goes", he said and drank the potion.