Hello guys! I just wanted to tell you guys that the big climax is coming in and I might be posting my longest chapter on Halloween.

Especially since that when the very thing I planned since starting this story will come to fruition! I just wanted to let you guys know: The next chapter or 2 will be at least 4 thousand words long.

P.S. King Saruman: I want a long as hell comment from you on that one!

ENJOY!

Previously...

(Laguna)

"Alright, explain this to me again: Charlotte gave Marana her consent to have her body?!" Karen cried out as she was applying a special lotion to my hands.

...

"Karen, at this rate, we at least know what happened. Or, at least what Marana used to get her consent," I said, gently grabbing the paper Karen had earlier decreed wasn't poisonous, "We've been going about this all wrong. Yes, Marana is using her body, but we can't just 'kick' her out like we thought we could. If anything, we need Charlotte herself to do that."

"Like a landlord kicks out their tenants when they don't pay rent," Karen summarized.

...

"Laguna, it's time you faced Marana."

...

(Marana)

After that stunt Byrne's pulled last night, I decided to rethink my strategy.

...

"Charlotte."

"Alaine," I stated.

"I just wanted to know if you still planned to perform at the dance, or concert, or whatever! I just need to know," the land-girl exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.

"Considering it's mandatory, and a grade, then Yes. I am still performing," I stated, and then decided to mess with the human, "What? Jealous that I might steal the show?"

Alaine looked taken aback by this and I gave her a smirk. As usual, she was so...gullible.

...

I slammed my locker shut and glared at him. "'Trying" is not a word in the dictionary for me! I am giving her an option and if she doesn't pick it soon, then I'm choosing for her! And is there some reason you came to see me or are you just that divulged in my very extinguished friendship?"

...

He nodded. "Practically told her from the moment she'd knew that would be your first answer and as 'insurance', told me to tell you that...well, it goes along the lines of: 'I know who you truly are and meet me at Castaic Lake.' She wasn't time-specific but-"

...

Laguna felt out of place as she walked about the sandy beach on the beautiful state reservoir. She didn't want the chance of Marana coming into her territory and more than one human life being taken, especially on her beach.

...

"Don't be too sure about that!"

Hearing Charlotte's voice, she instantly looked up to see Char-no, Marana, standing far ways from her.

Looking at the possessed mermaid, who was a few shades paler- a far cry from the tan she got on Paradise- and the dark clothing, she knew Marana was taking advantage of her time on land. An aura of power was radiating from the distance between them. And lastly...

...

"You trapped her inside a fantasy. Whatever you had planned, you knew something would cause her to want to take over again. No, you couldn't have that. Not when you had things that needed to be done. So, you trapped her into some kind of illusion she wouldn't want to break out from, one that she believes too easily..." Laguna explained, "...You're making her think she's back in Australia, aren't you?"

...

"No, this time, she'll live. Besides, this time, I'll have a LOT of loose ends to clean up," Marana threatened, "so, I'm going to give you one offer: Get out of here with your family while you still can or you will see casualties like no other."

October 26th, 2009, Monday evening...

At the Coves Residence...

In the Grotto...

Laguna's POV

I felt Karen wrap a blanket around me in the grotto as I stared out into the pool in front of me. I noticed my grandson was swimming around in his tail before he came up.

I had been feeling depressed when Jonathan had come and driven us back home. Marana had left shortly after her threat and, just to piss me off-I assume-she practically dove into the lake. As if to mock me that she now has a destructive foot in both worlds.

"So, she really threatened you to back off and let her be?" Brendan asked, emerging from the pool. He was just as upset about how depressing the meeting went.

"Technically, she gave me an ultimatum, but it's way worse anyways," I started. Not to mention she hinted that she was planning something...

"What I want to know is this: Why didn't you tell us that you believed Charlotte was trapped in her own fantasy?" Karen asked, folding her arms and making her belly pop out more. Ah, I and Jonathan had a silent agreement about this and I had told him my theory, but he made me promise not to tell Karen or she would've have wanted to come with me.

And I did NOT want her and Marana any closer than they were last time! I still shudder at the look of awestruck terror on Charlotte's face when she realized what Marana nearly made her do!

"I didn't tell you because I needed her to confirm it herself," I explained, "everything we have was just pure speculation at that point. Marana's not like those supervillains on TV that just blurt out their master plans. She seemed willing enough to confirm what I already knew- or at least, suspected I knew."

And she did: That was possessing Charlotte, trapping her in her mind, and having the picture to use as the consent.

She weaseled her way in right under our noses and we didn't even see it coming!

"I swear, it's always this time of year when something goes wrong," Karen sighed with a hand on her head.

I perked up at that. "What do you mean by that?"

She eyed me curiously. "Don't you know: Halloween is coming up in a few days. And every year, something around this particular night, something magical happens and it's highly debatable whether it's good or bad."

I groaned, agreeing with her. This couldn't truly have come at a horrendous time.

Halloween. The best and worst time of year to be a creature of the Supernatural. While land people consider it a time of games, candy, nasty tricks, and holding false identities, the real monsters and witches of the night can come out and play. Pretending to be like everyone else while being true to themselves and their natures.

And like Karen, I hated this holiday too. For many reasons. For starters, it was originally a pagan festival where the land of the living and dead can cross over (making Cinco de Mayo look like a cheery event). Secondly, for humans, it was to disguise themselves from evil spirits, should they ever come across any. And thirdly, more land people are in more danger than any other time of year because the real supernatural creatures come out and they aren't as friendly the ones that choose to live within human society. More than often, they come across or become victim to real witches, golems, mischievous fairies, and in my family's case, mermaids that want to drown them.

(Okay, that was overkill, considering the laws, but then again, not all mermaids follow them and draw attention to themselves.)

"At least I have my costume ready," Brendan joked, "I was originally going as a werewolf but then I decided to just go as a vampire."

I rolled my eyes. I normally stripped the happiness of the holiday from my past children, but Karen convinced me to let my grandson have a somewhat-humane experience. At least Jonathan was neutral about it.

"Yeah, and last time, I thought you'd be a wizard. I heard you were going as Harry Potter?" Karen asked. "

"Nah, Riley asked me to as a joke to mess with Charlotte..." he said with a frown.

While those two were musing, or mourning, depending on the mood, I realized something.

"Karen?"

She looked at me. "Yeah?"

"When's the next Full Moon?"

In Charlotte's mindscape...

Charlotte's POV

"So Gracie just told you to not be a mermaid?" Cleo asked me as we laid inside the moon pool. I had come here for some alone time, but some part of me shouldn't have been surprised that one of the girls came swimming in from the underwater entrance.

And to my luck, it was Cleo.

She had sensed something was wrong and pried me into opening up about my dream.

"Not exactly," I said, "it was more like she told me why she gave up her tail. She didn't want it as a lifetime commitment. She wanted to be able to trust people again without second-guessing them. And should she had kept her tail, she didn't want to risk what would happen if it was hereditary."

"Well, I could see her point there. I mean, I want kids someday, and though I am very aware that things don't always go according to plan-"

"we're living proof of that!" I interjected.

She gave me a look."Life happens and we have to take it as we go. Maybe or maybe not, our kids will be like us, but there's no point in dwelling on it now."

"But on that fun note, supernatural girls like us don't have to worry about teen pregnancy," I joked, "seriously, where's the time for boys and sex when you're trying to hide a secret as big as ours?"

Cleo and I laughed, though it didn't reach out to me as I had meant.

If anything, I had a gut feeling that I spoke out of term and laughed over someone else's life story.

"But anyway, what else did she say?" Cleo asked. I opened my mouth to replay only to close it.

Gracie's words to remember kept eating at me, but what devoured my subconscious was what she said earlier:

Flashback:

"Lottie, if you know deep down in your heart that this isn't real, then you'll be one step closer to realizing the truth."

"What truth?" I asked hurriedly.

"The truth that everything you've been seeing isn't real..."

Flashback ends...

"She told me to remember something," I lied. Well, technically, I told a half-lie. I only withheld personal information that only pertained to me.

"Yeah, but to remember what?" Cleo asked.

I looked at her. "To be honest, I wish I knew."

And I did. If anything, it sounded like Gracie was in a hurry (and it was not because the moon pool and the cave were collapsing on itself.) But what stuck to me more than her reasoning behind her deliberately choosing to give up her tail for normalcy was that she said we had seen each other before.

In a hospital.

Now unless she was talking about the day I was born, that couldn't have been true. But between that, and her telling me to remember something, Reality not being real for me is taking the cake!

Nevermind, I needed to take my mind off of this. So I turned to Cleo.

"Are you going to tell me what you guys have planned already?" I begged "I've been a good girl so far. I deserve to not be kept in the dark!"

And she laughed at me. "Oh yes, how could I forget? That attitude exposed you to mermaids in the first place, didn't it?"

I shook my head. "That, and the fact that you guys left me no choice. Seriously, the moment I recognized Gracie's picture in your bedroom, you might as well as set me up for a world-class mystery hunt!"

"And you found this place didn't you?" she asked me rhetorically, still laughing at me.

I joined in with her, but the laughter itself didn't feel right. And suddenly, I felt a feeling of dread wash down my spine.

October 28th, 2009, Wednesday...

At the Watsford Residence...

Marana's POV

I snapped out of that reality, returning to my sister's bedroom, and growled inwardly. That was not what I expected.

Despite being a living legend, I honestly and truly don't believe in ghosts.

Or I didn't until I heard that little conversation.

So, the late part-time mermaid, responsible for putting my sister on her path, visited her?

Just when I start to doubt human intelligence, they spring another one on me!

But then again, that would explain why she seemed so confused when I was finally able to reach out to her that night.

However, that old hag was a little too late in stopping me and waking her up. My plans were finally in place and there was no one to stop me this time.

WOOF!

I growled inwardly. Well, maybe one thing in my way.

I turned around to see the dog my sister was oh-so-fond of and raised my hand, halfway ready to blast him out the room when Annette came in.

I was still planning on how I was going to get the woman out of California and with me manipulating the weather in my spare time, I was still lingering on using the Siren Voice on her and convincing her to drive off instead of coming to the performance.

And I meant it.

WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOOOOFFF!

"Seriously, Thomas, you act like you don't even recognize her," she scolded the mutt.

But said-beast didn't even look sorry! He just kept moving his head back and forth to both of us, as if he was telling her that she was right on the money.

Which she was, but I wasn't nor planning on telling her that!

"Don't worry about him, Mom," I said, making an effort to call Annette by that title, "he's probably upset that I didn't keep my promise to take him out this Halloween. Though, then again, he and the neighbor's cat have this weird rivalry going on."

She just shook her head and turned her head towards the corner of my room. Ah, I see she spotted my finished costume for the performance.

"My God, this looks amazing, Charlotte," she said, walking over and examining the material. "Where did you get the idea to come up with this?"

Personally, I took inspiration from that favored nickname of Laguna's current for me and had taken to various costume designs to find what I was looking for.

"Honestly, after spending so much time on the beach after work- when I have time to kill- I figured that I mostly would go after something sea-inspired. Besides, it was either this or a sea monster and I have a sneaky suspicion that someone would've had liked the latter," I said half-truthfully.

It took me quite early since the possession to make out what I was going to wear. And seeing as land people typically didn't have what I wanted, I took from one of the many jobs/hobbies my sister had in her past lives and decided to create my costume.

Finding the material wasn't hard to do, but it was the cutting, ripping, sizing and find the right accessories and jewelry, plus a lot of glue drying- without catching fire- before it became the masterpiece before us.

"Don't you think that wearing this much will prohibit you from moving on stage?" she asked.

"Not really," I explained, "it's light, easy to remove, and I won't be wearing a lot of makeup. So overall, I should be fine. Plus Ms. Anelies said that it was okay when I showed her a picture."

Plus, I had to use the Siren Voice a little for extra insurance.

WOOF!

I glared at the dog again. Considering that he was supernatural-sensitive, he had not made these last few days a walk in the park.

"By the way, are you sure they're still going along with the dance?" Annette asked, "the weatherman said a nasty storm is heading this way."

Like it's supposed to, I inwardly thought.

"No, there are no words in canceling it. But if you're that worried, you could stay home if you want. I wouldn't hold it against you," I said, tempting to use the Siren Voice to change her mind.

"No, I'm not missing this!" she exclaimed. "I've missed enough already, and this won't be it. Your Senior Year is going to be the one I'm exposed to the most and nothing will change that!"

And what if I did?

At the Coves residence...

3rd POV

After looking through the Lunar calendar the family-owned, the Coves paled in different shades when they found what they were looking for.

Indeed, there would be a Full Moon closing in on them. But what night it would be horrified them.

The current Full Moon was to appear on Halloween night.

This was not good!

Not good at all!

"What the Heck!" Brendan exclaimed. Not that everyone wasn't thinking it.

Once again, this confirmed Laguna's belief as to why she hated Halloween with a passion and why it was coming at the most unconventional time.

Karen quickly rushed out the grotto with her phone in hand while Jonathan, who had just walked in, was genuinely confused.

"Tell me again," he asked, sitting on the armchair next to her, "Why is this a bad thing besides your rightfully paranoiac superstitions?"

The old mermaid glared at him. "First off, Halloween, especially for me since I've moved to land, has always been a sore spot for me. It's the night of tricksters, hypocrites and death always follow. Most don't know it, but even the supernaturals that actually feed on land people come out and then you have your humans that are just plain crazy!

It's the only time of year when the supernatural and the mundane come out and interact, but it comes with a cost of a human coming across the real deal and been sprung into a trap. Normally, this is a bad night because the evil spirits walk amongst us and me- a mermaid whose lives passed her long her supposed death- being visited by them all."

"Like Ane'lie and those who've died over the years?" he asked, stoic as always.

But he was right. By technicality, she should have been reborn so much that there should nothing left behind so she could be born again.

But for every time Ane'lie is born and dies, she has left a family behind. Those that have lived on or died in the wake of her destruction, who have been left with no answers whatsoever about the missing disappearances of the daughter, aunt, niece or whatever family ties Ane'lie had had in those lives.

And Laguna had been plagued with the lives of those families ever since.

"Yes," Laguna answered, "but the other years are tamed compared to this one. Marana being on land on this specific night, on this big lunar occurrence, means bad news and with Marana involved, the bad news is usually terrible news."

"And you'd be right!" Karen exclaimed, waddling in quickly with a phone in her hand.

"Meaning...?" Jonathan prolonged.

She glared at him before answering back to her mother, "I just got off the phone with both Riley and Alaine and learned something I wished I had thought about earlier. You see, there's going to be this big Halloween dance at their school. But due to some complications, a performance that should have been canceled or moved ahead of schedule is happening on the same night. Shared. And guess what: Alaine and Charlotte are both the Choir, which the teacher-in-charge required them to sing a duet or solos at the performance, not a group thing. Mother, this can't be a coincidence."

And suddenly, Jonathan stood up.

"Now wait a minute: We have Marana, who's been on land for about a month, alienating Charlotte's friends and family from her, an event that just so happens to be taking place on Halloween night that Charlotte is supposed to be involved in, a Full Moon on the said-night of the said event, and most importantly a storm that coming in too. Now maybe I'm missing everything I've learned so far with this family or does of these things ring a bell to you, Laguna?"

Laguna was already putting the pieces together in her head before he even stopped talking as her eyes went wide in realization.

Unfortunately, Karen beat her to it. "Marana's creating the storm."

"No, she's not creating just any storm," Laguna concluded, dread filling the air around her, "she's preparing to create a devastating supernatural disaster."