Hello everyone! It feels so good to hear from you guys and read your comments (and hear them from people who only read this without reviewing!)

First of all, for my last chapter, I want all of you guys to know, as I said in Chapter 7, that I would be using Kate Alexa songs and have them penned in this story by Charlotte. So, the song sung by Charlotte was "Naked Heart" by Kate Alexa.

ENJOY!

September 20th, 2009...

At Paradise Cove...

Charlotte's POV

Have you ever been cursed out before when someone was angry at you?

For me, yes. Plenty of times actually, though I won't say when.

But have you ever been cursed out by an immortally-vowed mermaid in Dolphin Tongue?

That's a new one, even for me. And a slightly horrifying experience that I won't even dare want to repeat!

So here I was, in the back of the Paradise Cafe, sitting on the couch in the back office, facing the wrath of the Cove family.

Mainly Laguna.

See, after all the girls woke up this morning, we all packed our stuff and decided to leave. Alaine had no memory of what happened in the cave, except for seeing the tunnel. Once we got on our bikes and hit the road, I split from the group, and Thomas and I headed towards Paradise Cove.

It took a short 16 minutes to get there, but once I got to the cafe parking lot, I parked my bike and let Thomas onto the beach.

I know that was against the law, but I hoped I can get Laguna to change it.

Anyways, as I entered the cafe, I was spotted by Karen, who for some reason was wearing a coat and sniffling. She came waddling towards me.

"Charlotte!" she said as she embraced me, "what happened to you? You had me and my mother worried when you didn't show up for training yesterday, and I had to take an ice bath, made by my mother, to keep your location a secret! What happened?!"

Well, that explained to me why she looked like that. Karen was fighting a cold.

"Long story, but let's just say I spoke to my 'sister' and got this!" I said as I pulled a blue crystal from my pocket and handed it to Karen. She took it in her hand and almost dropped it.

I guess she could feel the power radiating from it.

She gave me back the crystal and didn't hesitate to rush me into the back office...right to Laguna.

So here I am, sitting right in front of my mentor, hearing nothing but dolphin noises coming out of her mouth, which was direct towards me. At first, I thought she had some recorder on her and that's where the noise was coming from, but after looking and listening closely, I realized that it was truly coming from her. Yikes!

Karen was giving me a look between amusement and pity, Jonathan was glaring at me as usual, and Brendan looked like he was going to burst with laughter. I'm glad someone's finding this amusing.

Eventually, Laguna had calmed down enough and started talking human English.

"Charlotte Watsford, what were you thinking?! Do you have any idea how worried I was?! It wasn't fair that I had to give my pregnant daughter an ice bath against her will to weasel out your whereabouts only for her to get sick, tear my hair out with worry, and constantly use my powers to make things to put my frustrations upon! Now you have 1 minute to tell me where you were or I swear I'll..."Laguna trailed. But before she could finish that sentence, I pulled out the crystal I had shown Karen earlier and by the look on Laguna's face, it had said it all.

I had found my moon pool.

"I'm not ungrateful nor am I selfish, Laguna," I said, "but my day out with my friends was really my mission to find the moon pool. Only once I did, I almost let my 'sister' convince me to let my best friend be turned into a mermaid last night. So here's the long version of what happened..."

Flashback...

I stood in a trance as I watched Alaine walked towards the moon pool. Marana had a point. It would be much easier if Alaine was like me.

After all, I had lied to her multiple times and I could finally be able to tell her my ugly truths about me. If she truly was my best friend, she would accept me for who I was.

A girl with way too many secrets to handle. A girl who's done many bad things in a short period in a year. A girl who will most likely do damage to others without intending to.

I watched her step closer and closer towards the pool, getting ready to let herself become like me...

WWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFF!

Something snapped in my head and I was once again brought out of my trance. I shook my head and rubbed the temples on my forehead.

What was going on?

I looked at Thomas, who was looking at me like I was crazy and was barking in the direction in front of me. I looked at his direction and my eyes widened as I saw Alaine just inches from the jumping into the moon pool.

Without thinking, I raised both of my hands in the air in Alaine's direction, and, like Laguna taught me, I brought her up into the air.

This was like what I did to the girls in Australia when I rose them from the ground and dropped them from five feet in the air. Bad memory!

Alaine wasn't moving. She was just hanging there. So, I assumed that she was either unconscious or she just was too deep in a trance.

I looked up at the moon and saw that it was starting to go away. Good, but wouldn't that mean...

I felt the ground rumble from beneath me and I knew I had to place Alaine down gently. So, I moved her away from the pool and brought her close enough and laid her down gently. At that moment, I rushed to her side to see that she was indeed unconscious.

So, I picked her up from the ground and swung her arms around my shoulder so I could carry her.

"What are you doing? Isn't this what you wanted? For her to be like you? Someone to understand and accept you?" I heard Marana's voice echo. God, I was going to need earplugs to block her out!

"NO! Even if that is true, what I am is more of a curse than a blessing! It may have some perks that I may be starting to learn to like again, it doesn't mean that someone else has to live like that. I'm talking about another girl's life-changing drastically to fit my needs!" I said. "And I refuse to let you make the choice for me!"

I felt the ground shake from beneath me and I knew I had to get Alaine and Thomas out of here.

"Thomas come on!" I yelled as I started towards the tunnel with Alaine. I heard my dog bark and his feet coming towards me.

"You will regret this..." Marana said, her voice echoing, causing the ceiling to shake. I looked up and saw rocks beginning to fall to the ground and I knew I had to leave when boulders started falling.

"Let's get out of here!" I yelled and started into the tunnel.

Instantly, the cave collapsed entirely above them. The moon pool began to sink into the earth, possibly deeper if possible, the cave wall started to crack up and then fall to the ground, leaving dust and rubble in its place. And in the cave ceiling, with the moon already far away from the center, started to close in.

With Alaine on my back, carrying her to the exit was a little tough, but being buried under a pile of rocks was what drove me to keep going.

"Mmmm..." I heard my friend moan beside me. My eyes widened as I stopped in my Alaine woke up...

I was minutes away from lifting my head and praying to whoever was a higher up in heaven. She could not remember this, like at all! Plus, I don't even know how I'm supposed to explain this to her when she wakes up.

Depending on if she wakes up that is...

I mentally shook that thought out of her head and continued dragging (and I use that term loosely) Alaine through the tunnel as I felt the tunnel shaking. I looked behind me and saw Thomas running towards me. And behind him, the tunnel was falling in right behind him!

"If there's a God...I hate my life..." I muttered as I picked up my pace. I picked up Alaine and was now practically carrying her. My eyes went to see Thomas running by my side.

I saw the exit up ahead as I and I jumped as the collapsing tunnel was catching up to us. I was doing a mental countdown until I got out.

10...

9...

8...

7...

6...

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

"JUMP!" I exclaimed as we jumped out of the exit and landed on the sand. I looked to my side to see Thomas breathing heavily beside me and check on Alaine, to see that she was still unconscious. I turned around to the tunnel and watched as the collapsed and turned back into the rocky wall that it was before.

"Great, just great, now how am I going to get proof of that place?" I asked to myself. The mega moon pool goes to Self-Destruct Mode when the moon passes over. Clever, but deadly. Great...

I picked up Alaine and carried her back to our campsite. I looked around to see that the girls were undisturbed by the events of what had just happened. Almost like they never felt or heard anything at all. I was starting to consider that they were under the veil that my mother was under the night of the Water-Snake.

I placed Alaine back into her sleeping bag and zipped it back up. I went back to my sleeping bag and laid down in it as I thought of what just happened:

-My moon pool was not an ordinary, small moon pool. It was a mega moon pool large enough to turn a team of football players into mermen, and possibly even larger.

-It was as attractive like a magnet. Even a completely, normal person could be drawn to jump in it. It was so easy to feel tempted.

-And the big one: It was under Marana's full control. Or at least, to the point where she can put me and other people in a trance.

I saw Thomas lie next to me and I gently rubbed his right ear.

"Thomas, what am I going to do?" I whispered to him, "I could have gotten any evidence to give to Laguna to show that I didn't skip training for nothing and apologize for not telling her. What now?"

Thomas raised his head and, despite the dim light, I saw something sparkling from his mouth.

"What's that you got there, boy?" I asked.

He dropped the item onto my lap and I got a hold to it. Though it was the reaction I was not prepared for.

It was an oval, blue crystal. It was about the size of my palm, but something was different about it. I felt a large mass of energy coming from the crystal, but just like the cave, it was giving off a bad vibe, almost ...wicked.

I dropped the crystal onto the sand, and like that, the feeling was gone.

I looked at Thomas, who was looking at me exceptionally, and said "I owe you for stopping me back there, don't I?"

In response, he whined and licked my cheek. I'll take that as a: Yes.

Flashback ends...

"...and that's how I got out of the cave. The next morning, Alaine woke up and told me about her dream of how she walked through a tunnel and saw a sparkling, blue pool. I quickly dismissed it as a dream, though I think she's onto me," I concluded.

By now, the whole family was staring at me with wide eyes. Honestly, I wouldn't have cared if they believed me, but the point is that Marana built a pool that she could lure anyone into and I am living proof of that.

Laguna was the first to snap out of it. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a set of keys, and gave it to Jonathan.

"You. Get the boat!" Laguna commanded. "You're going to watch Charlotte and you," she said to Brendan, "are going to be Charlotte's exercise teacher for the day."

Jonathan, no surprise, glared at Laguna. "I will not play babysitter for these two juveniles! And why do I have to watch them anyway? The only reason I came here was that Karen was sick because of the ice bath you gave her because she, " he pointed to me, "decided to skip out on you!"

"She did that because she wanted to be sure the moon pool was real!" Karen defended me. "And last I check:

1.) I can take care of myself.

2.) You know Mother would have done the same thing if she had the vision.

And 3.) You're supposed to have a day off today and since you are here, you have to do it!"

I jumped up, confused at what was going on.

"I'm sorry, what am I supposed to do and why does it require Brendan being my exercise teacher or something?" I interjected.

Karen was giving me a skeptic look while Brendan was looking oddly excited.

3rd POV (written by Return to Neverland!)

Jonathan ordered Charlotte and Brendan to meet him at the pier while he went to get the Cove's boat that was docked nearby. Charlotte begrudgingly obliged to the command before making her way to the end of the pier with Brendan, still unsure as to what they were doing.

While making her way to the end of the pier accompanied by Brendan, she could also hear the distant padding of paws on the wooden planks that made up the pier. Along with the distant barking of Thomas calling out, in Charlotte's mind, this meant for her to slow down and wait for him.

Charlotte then glanced back to see the pitbull with racing towards them with his tongue flying out his mouth, the sight making Charlotte chuckle slightly before she turned her attention back to Brendan to ask him for the sixth time since exacting the restaurant, what exactly it was that they were going to be doing.

Brendan still held the excited look he wore since finding out that his talents would be needed for the first time since the Coves took Charlotte under their wing, helping and honing the newly changed Charlotte's mermaid skills.

Though they were aware of her time as a mermaid previously, it seemed that the mermaids who resided in Australia did not exactly help her properly hone her mermaid potently, leaving Charlotte out in the cold and having abused her powers because she didn't know her strength this lead to the premature loss of her mermaid powers, but the Coves' did not use this against her they embraced who she was and accepted it, all except Jonathan.

Whose voice could now be heard crying out to the two teens who had just reached the end of the pier with Thomas now in tow?

"Hurry it along, I haven't got all day to babysit!" Jonathan yelled venom lacing each word, as he steered the boat closer to the pier.

Charlotte and Brendan both turned to each other, giving each other a "He's-such-an-ass" look, before Brendan's smile returned and he winked at Charlotte before he gave himself a running start and bomb dived right next to Jonathan's boat, creating a huge splash which soaked Jonathan in the process.

Charlotte wasn't sure how she held the laughter in but knew if she were to laugh then, who knew what Jonathan would do. So she simply smiled and Jonathan shot her the Evil Eye before Brendan rose out of the water and Jonathan sent all his anger towards him.

Charlotte then took this momentary distraction to tell Thomas to sit and stay until she got back, knowing that he would do exactly that before she turned to the ocean and dived in much more gracefully than Brendan had, he then waited for the change to take place before she made her way over to Brendan in mermaid form.

"Get ready for Mermaid Boot Camp! Today, I'll be your trainer. Now drop and give me twenty! Move, move, MOVE!" Brendan yelled at her in a commando voice before dropping the facade and giving her a cheeky grin.

Charlotte then gave him an eye roll, before she heard Jonathan booming voice scolding them.

"Brendan, this is not a joke! What she did was stupid and reckless, not to mention she could have exposed your mother and you! Now tell the girl what her punishment for such acts of stupidity is!" he said, not bothering to even refer to Charlotte as an actual human being, but just as a thorn that was stuck to his side.

Brendan gave his stepfather the Evil Eye before informing Charlotte as to what they were doing, finally answering the question she had been asking since leaving the restaurant, but she was not happy with what the answer was.

"We're doing drills, Charlotte. Well, you are and I will be instructing. We will swim out past where the beachgoers are allowed to swim out too, and I will teach you to exercise drills, mermaid style."

"That's ridicules. You have got to be joking," Charlotte expressed with a laugh, waiting for Brendan to break the act at any moment, but he didn't.

"You're not joking," Charlotte's moaned, and her face fell.

"I'm afraid not," Brendan replied.

"Really?!" Charlotte whined.

"So let's get a move on before the grump in the boat gets any angrier, and trust me, he can," Brendan stated.

"Let's get this over with then," Charlotte said. She had a feeling that it was going to be a long day.

As soon as they had started their drills, Charlotte was over it. Though she had gotten fitter since joining the softball team, slimmed down and become much fitter than she was, softball was one thing and mermaids drills, well, they were a completely different story.

You would think it would be easier to do seeing as they were underwater but that was not the case. It took a lot of strength to swim with a tail and though at times it seemed as easy breathing, it took a lot of effort at times especially when doing drills. Brendan had her diving down as far as she could go, making sure that she reached her maximum limits, before allowing her to return to the surface and oxygen. He then had her practicing different types of swimming styles such as water cycles, where he would have Charlotte do underwater somersaults until she was dizzy or couldn't hold her breath much longer.

Charlotte was made to do another number of underwater swim training until she couldn't take anymore and once again made her way to the surface.

"Okay, okay, okay..." Charlotte panted as she gasped for breath once she reached the surface of the water, doing the Little Mermaid style of flinging of her brown hair back as she took in the precious air.

Not two seconds later, Brendan joined her as he took a less exasperated breath.

"Brendan, I know I'm a mermaid and all, and I can breathe underwater, but do you want me to die?!" Charlotte gasped, once the air had returned to her lungs.

Brendan then gave her a look of apology before he looked over at his stepfather in the boat not ten feet away from where they were. Then, he turned his attention back on Charlotte.

"I'm sorry Charlotte, really I am. You know I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for peeping Jon over there," Brendan apologized.

Charlotte then let out a laugh at his choice in phrasing, because as soon as they had started on her training, Charlotte was planning her escape. That was until Brendan informed her that Jonathan would be keeping an eye on them through the use of an underwater camera that had been hooked to the bottom of his boat and was connected to the iPad he had brought with him, thus preventing them from escaping his gaze.

"I know it's not your fault. I know you wouldn't be this cruel to me on purpose, would you?" Charlotte asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at Brendan.

Brendan then let out a laugh before replying "No, I wouldn't. My step-dad, well, he's another story."

"Oh well. I suppose that if we can't escape him, we better get back to you killing me," Charlotte stated with a laugh.

Then, a devilish grin spread across Brendan's face as he looked at Charlotte, then back to his step dad's boat, then back at Charlotte again.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Charlotte asked before realization hit her. "No Brendan don't! I'm already in trouble and I don't want to make it worse, and bring you down with me!"

Brendan just smiled at her, before Jonathan's voice rang out.

"What are you two doing? Get back to your drills!"

They both looked over to the angry man's face before turning back to each other.

Brendan then gave Charlotte a look before saying "Leave it to me," and asking her to begin her water cycles again.

They both dived down into the ocean and Charlotte started her water cycles. Meanwhile, Brendan dived down under the boat out of view of the camera, then with all the force he could muster, he slammed his tail into the camera shattering it while making sure not to damage the boat too bad so his stepfather could be able to get back home.

Brendan then speed swam over towards Charlotte, grabbed her arm while she was mid-somersault, and shot out into the open ocean as far as their tails could take them before finally stopping for air.

Both Charlotte and Brendan rose to the surface and looked at each other in silence until they both started bursting out laughing.

"I c-can't b-believe you d-did that! W-we are g-going t-to be in s-so much t-trouble!" Charlotte managed to say through fits of laughter.

"I k-know b-but it w-was w-worth it!"Brendan replied while, like Charlotte, was struggling to speak through the laughter.

Then once the laughter faded they managed to gin all be able to speak.

"Jonathan is going to be so pissed," Charlotte said, fear starting to replace the joy that had once been there.

"Who cares!? I can handle him," Brendan replied.

"You may be able to. But as you might already know he and I aren't really on the best of terms, for some reason unknown to me, and this little stunt will only harden the hatred he has for me," Charlotte explained.

"Who cares about him at the moment. Just loosen up a little bit because there's more to being a mermaid than stupid drills," Brendan stated.

"Yeah? Like what?" Charlotte asked.

"You know for someone who has been a mermaid before, you don't know much about being one," Brendan replied.

Charlotte's face fell at the mention of her old life, remembering those painful memories as they flooded into her mind for however breath a moment before she turned to attention back to Brendan.

"Well I wasn't one for very long, and even though I was with other mermaids, I was alone and didn't want help. I thought I could get through it on my own so I shut them out when they tried to help and they did try to help me one point, but it only because they were asked and well, I was too consumed in my selflessness to help myself," Charlotte explained.

Brendan was a bit taken back to Charlotte confession but he didn't judge her and knew that she wasn't that person anymore. She was his friend now.

"Well you are not alone now," Brendan informed Charlotte, who then gave him a thanking smile.

"Thank you. It's just that I had to figure it all out by myself the first time I learned how to control my powers and everything. I was by myself then," Charlotte said

"Being a mermaid, or in my case, a merman, isn't just about powers. There is so much more," Brendan explained. She needed to see what an average, natural mermaid saw.

"Like what?" Charlotte asked.

"Let me show you," Brendan replied. He then outstretched hand to Charlotte implying for her to take it, but she just looked at his had like it was a foreign object.

"Come on, just take it," Brendan said.

Charlotte was hesitant but she took his hand and he smiled at her before both submerged into the water and swam slowly deeper into the open ocean.

Brendan then stopped Charlotte and looked into her eyes before gesturing for her to close them, which Charlotte obliged to Brendan, then tapped on her ears which she took as opening her ears to the ocean around her and letting the ocean tell her where to go.

A couple of minutes passed until Charlotte heard a sound, like that of singing she opened her eyes to see two giant whales just in front of her close enough to touch. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen, a smile spread across her face as she took in the sight I front of her, before turning to face Brendan who had the same smile placid on his face, with his hands still intertwined in hers, they then turned their attention back to the whales floating there until they finally passed by them while still singing their song.

And it was in this moment, however brief it was, that Charlotte thought that even though she was a reincarnated mermaid whose sister was after her, maybe this wasn't a curse. Maybe this was a gift like another start over to become who she was meant to be, whoever that was, at this moment she was a mermaid a part of the sea and tomorrow she might come to her senses and realize that she didn't deserve this and she would have to face what Marana had in store for her. But for now, she was free.

A few hours passed after the daring escape. By the time they got back to the beach, they had swum to the end of the beach and crawled behind some boulders to avoid being seen by anyone.

"This won't last long," Charlotte said as she laid on the sand. "I think Thomas is self-trained to recognize my scent from a given distance. Hell, even in my mermaid form, he could find me in a mile from here!"

Brendan laughed. "Haha! Was he trained by the military or something?"

"Nope. In exchange for giving him a home, he'll be there for me to help me keep my secret," she replied. "I swear he trained himself to find me and help me at every given chance he gets. He's never abandoned me, and I would do the same for him."

He just looked at her. "Man, that's deep."

Once they were sure that they were alone, Charlotte closed both of her hands into a fist and started to dry her's and Brendan's tails.

"As much as it stings, thanks for the drying. It's extremely helpful!" Brendan exclaimed.

"Yeah, but like a certain mermaid in Queensland that I knew, this power can make anything hot and potentially kill someone, especially the upgrade powers. So, I try to only use this power unless it's needed," Charlotte said.

After a few minutes, their tails disappeared and they were back in their original clothes.

"Great! Now, all I have to do is get Thomas, grab my bike, and get the hell out of here before I get stopped by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Charlotte said sarcastically as she got on her feet and helped Brendan up.

"Should have figured you were the Harry Potter type of girl. Riley's been going on and on about how you were a Twilight type of girl," Brendan chuckled.

Charlotte did a whiplash and eyed the boy carefully. "What are you talking about?"

"Easy. Riley has an obvious crush on you. You didn't notice?" Brendan asked.

To be honest, Charlotte never saw it as a crush. It was more like "Guy-Hits-On-Girl-In-The-Wrong-Ways". No attraction, at least now, but just a thin line between being friends with him and disliking the guy. Seriously, she hasn't even spoken to him in a while. What type of friends was they?

"Easy. He made me mad and had the nerve to ask me out before he even got a chance to know me. Of course, I turned him down."

Brendan made a look. "No wonder he's got his eyes on you. You don't want him!"

"Oh, he's basically after me to...wait a second! I am NOT talking about my love life to a little kid!" Charlotte said astonishingly.

"Hey! This kid is about 13-14 years old and I know what I'm talking about. Believe it or not, I nearly convinced my folks into letting Riley in on our big secret, but of course, my step-dad had to open his mouth and now, the only guy that I can get along with is practically clueless about me!"

"I'm sorry, but from what I hear, you have a crush on him!" Charlotte stated. "Now if you excuse me, I gotta run!"

Turning her back to him, she pulled her hand to her chest, which rendered herself invisible and walked away.

Charlotte's POV

I'm so mad, I could scream! It's bad enough Riley had to blab his mouth about me to Brendan, who probably told his mom about it, who might have told Laguna. Now, he's stereotyping me! And just because I like to read doesn't mean that I'm OBSESSED with them, especially the pairings!

First off, my decision not to date is still active and I just don't want to get involved with anybody. Trust me, my pride was gone for a while and my insecurities were just starting to die down a little.

Secondly, I have way too much on my plate to even be thinking about dating. I have evil, little visions that can pop up into my head at any moment, have a tail and powers that, despite getting back into the routine, that I don't want, and most importantly, my life is in danger because of me being a mermaid in the first place!

Sometimes, I really regret not begging my mom to stay in Atlanta.

And now, not that I'm angry about it, I have to apologize to Brendan. It was low of me to say. And I have said some pretty low things before.

I came out of my thoughts and looked around at my surroundings. I didn't realize that I was walking towards the cafe. The smell of cooked seafood being served and desserts came to my nostrils and my mouth watered.

I honestly never smelled anything more delicious in my life, and with my mom being a chef, I've smelled a lot of things. Closing my eyes, I slowly started to walk towards the entrance when I suddenly ran into someone and fell onto the sand. I felt my hand drop and I was now visible again.

I looked up at who I ran into and as they say, "Speak of the Devil and the Devil appears".

It was Riley.