Chapter 3

Zac was avoiding everyone as best he could. He didn't go out swimming, just in case he might bump into someone out there. He would have simply stayed in his bungalow with the door locked and his head under the pillows if his parents hadn't forced him to go to school.

School was a joke, of course. He knew what he really was, so why was he bothering to learn the quadratic equation and Newton's principles? It's not like he was going to be going to university. Or have a real job in the future. No, one day, he'd probably just swim out to sea and never return, whether he wanted to or not. Probably. He thought of baby sea turtles crawling towards the ocean, nothing compelling their movement but millennia of ingrained instinct. Is that what he would be like? Not a man, driving his own destiny, but a baby sea turtle.

Not for the first time, he considered talking to Erik. It was entirely possible that he knew the answers to all of Zac's questions. After all, he was a full merman too. Then again, he had known that he was a merman all of his life. Zac had discovered it by accident. He didn't appreciate the delivery of the message either. That crone Veridia was out for his blood. She had backed down this time, but who's to say if she doesn't come back with reinforcements the next time to finish the job? Zac hated to admit it to himself, but a huge part of him was also scared. He had seen what mermaids could do, had seen just how advanced some of their powers were. He did not want to imagine what it would be like if a bunch of them came after him, together.

And then there was Evie. She had stayed by his side through all of this, had shown him compassion and understanding. She had called and texted him dozens of times in the days that followed. Then the calls and texts stopped and she wouldn't even look at him in school. More than anything, he wanted to go to Evie and find out what was wrong. She was his girlfriend. He loved her and he could tell that she was hurting. But pride was keeping him from submitting to even that impulse.

He briefly considered going to Cam, who was as close to a neutral party as you were going to get, but the old grudge died hard. There was no going back and he wasn't going to be the bigger man in this situation. He especially didn't want Cam to know how vulnerable he was feeling. His smugness wouldn't really help the situation. No, there was no chance he would go to Cam.

So it was unfortunate that just at the moment he was thinking about this, Cam strolled through his door and sat down on his couch. Didn't even say 'hello'.

'Hey!' Zac exclaimed, jumping up from his bed and hurrying over to where his former friend was sitting with one leg crossed over his knee and his fingers knitted together. 'I don't remember inviting you in.'

'Oh, don't you?' Cam said with a grin. 'I do. Vividly. We were 14, you had just moved into this sweet little setup and you told me that your casa was my casa. So I figure, standing invitiation.'

Zac wasn't having it though. He had gone from abject misery to white-hot anger very quickly.

'Get. Out,' he enunciated clearly and loudly, his hand already raised to force Cam out if he didn't move on his own.

Cam simply shook his head and said, 'We need to talk. It's important.'

Zac glared at him and heard himself growl softly. Startled, even Cam realised that he was either about to punch him or use his magic on him to drive him into a wall. Either way, not something he wanted to deal with. He made a sheepish face and raised his hands in truce, standing up.

'I'll go,' he ceded. 'But if you don't hear me out now, you can't say I didn't warn you about that merman chamber.'

Instantly, Zac's ears pricked up. Cam and Erik were friends, so if Cam had something to say about the chamber, that meant that Erik had learned something new. Or it was just bait and he was about to take it just like Cam wanted. Still, he couldn't resist asking, 'What about the merman chamber?'

Cam sighed, lowered his hands and sat down again. He stared right at Zac.

'Erik said it's a bad idea, telling you,' he began. 'He thinks that you haven't got any control over yourself, if you ever had it to begin with and that this chamber on Mako is doing something nasty to you.'

'Oh, he said that, did he?' Zac muttered, feeling himself start to get riled up again.

'Yes,' Cam agreed, 'But I stood up for you and told him that you needed to know what we're planning on doing.'

'And what exactly are you planning, Cam? And who is "we"?'

Cam sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. This might be harder to explain than he had initially thought when Erik had come to him that afternoon.

'Erik wants to destroy the merman chamber.'

Zac's eyebrows flew into his hairline. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't that.

'DESTROY IT?' he shouted. Cam jumped back. Yes, he was definitely going to be dealing with the especially irate version of his former best friend tonight.

'Yes,' Cam continued, trying to be the voice of reason. He hated that he had somehow become the reasonable one. 'Erik thinks it's evil. That there's something dangerous about the place. So, he asked me if I'd be willing to help get rid of it.'

Zac was fuming now. 'You can't destroy the place! No, Erik's up to something, he wouldn't do that. He wants it as bad as I do.'

'Do?' Cam queried. 'Present tense?'

Zac threw him a very dirty look.

'Hey, I just thought you were done with all this fish business,' Cam replied. 'You know, get back to normal?'

'That doesn't mean destroying the most powerful—'

'What?' Cam challenged. 'The most powerful what? How do you know this thing isn't dangerous, Zac? Do you even know why you're being drawn there? Why you're connected to that place?'

Zac shook his head, frustrated.

'It's none of your damn business, Cam,' he huffed.

'Actually, Zac, it is my damn business,' Cam replied. 'Because when it comes to my best friend hurting, I want to help. And you're still my best friend, whether you want to be or not.'

Zac had no reply to that.

'Look,' Cam continued, 'I think there's something nasty going on with you and that chamber. Erik told me about what happened the first time you went in, with Ondina?'

'What happened with Ondina was an accident,' Zac insisted.

'Yeah, but doesn't it worry you that that place made it happen at all?' Cam replied. 'Come on, you know I'm right about this, Zac.'

There was a pause that seemed to go on for ages.

'I don't even know why you're doing this, Cam. I really don't,' Zac insisted. He couldn't help it. He needed to push him away. He didn't want anybody around and Cam… well, especially not Cam. 'Just go. And tell Erik that whatever he's up to, I'm not interested.'

Cam had witnessed this stubbornness so many times. He hated Zac for a moment. He had stood up for him with Erik when he really didn't need to. He had come out here to give him a chance. And he was just pushing him away. Like he had pushed everybody away.

'I'll go,' Cam said bitterly. 'And you know what? I don't mind if you push me away. Hell, you've been doing it for months now. But don't do that to Evie. She's in a bad place right now. You might not have seen it, but I have.'

With that parting sentence, he walked out.

Zac sat down where Cam had been sitting and put his face in his hands with a groan. Whatever he might think about Cam and Erik's schemes on Mako, he knew that at least about Evie, Cam was entirely right.

Erik, meanwhile, was about to have a difficult confrontation of his own.

He stood in front of the white door, breathing deeply and mentally preparing himself. He had to try, at least.

Knock. Knock. He rang the doorbell for good measure.

A few seconds went by and he heard footsteps approaching the front door.

Don't smile, he told himself. Don't intimidate them.

Rita opened the door, saw who was standing there and went to slam it in his face, but he raised a hand and a wind kept it open, just before it could slam.

'Rita—Ms. Santos—please, I need your help,' he said, starting her down.

She looked at him with fire in her eyes.

'Why would I want to help you, Erik?' she nearly spat. 'As far as I'm concerned, you lied to every one of us and proved the stereotype about mermen correct. Not to be trusted and dangerous.'

'I haven't done anything,' he pleaded in response. 'And if you won't listen to me for my sake, will you listen on Zac's behalf?'

'Whatever you have to say about Zac, you can say it now,' she replied, crossing her arms and never taking her eyes off of him.

'Fine!' Erik exclaimed. 'Glad to see you don't just hate all of us indiscriminately. Zac's a danger to himself and everyone around him right now. You don't even understand. Let me explain it to you. Let me help you keep him from getting hurt.'

Rita narrowed her eyes still further and went to close the door.

'Please, Ms. Santos,' he said again, allowing a touch of his despair to creep into his voice. 'Please listen. I want to destroy it. Help me destroy the merman chamber.'

And just as he had hoped, that got her attention in a way that nothing else might have done. She continued to eye him, taking in his tall and bulky frame, mentally sizing up whether she could take him in a fight. She arrived at some internal conclusion because finally she stepped aside and opened the door a little wider.

'Come in,' she said, in a tone that was not very inviting. 'You have one hour to convince me you're not lying.'

Erik followed her into the house, which was cavernous and beautiful. He felt a twinge of envy inside of him when he thought of the dilapidated room he was renting at the moment, just another in a string of dodgy accommodation he had been living in since leaving foster care three years ago. Waiter's salary didn't get you much and there was only so much he could do with magic.

Rita led him into a library, walls lined with bookshelves neatly stacked. She approached it and pulled down one of the books. The wall opened and he stared wide-eyed as he followed her descent into the incredible grotto that she had built for herself over the years.

'You live here?' he asked incredulously.

'This is my home,' Rita agreed. 'Enjoy your stay, it won't happen again.'

They walked into a large cavernous chamber where Sirena, Mimmi and Ondina were ranged around the room, talking. They looked up as one when the pair came into the room and they all had murder in their eyes.

Erik idly wished that he had sent Cam in his place to have this talk. He felt, not for the first time, like they might actually kill him. The old mermaid that had gone after Zac was ready to kill him, after all. Maybe the stories he had been told as a kid were true. Maybe mermaids were deranged killers when it came to mermen. He mentally shook himself for even thinking that. Of course it wasn't true. Stupid rumours like that were what perpetuated this utter breakdown of relations between the two halves of their species.

Ondina was the first to speak.

'What is he doing here?'

There was so much venom in her voice and Erik felt a twinge in his chest. She wasn't just angry with him, she was minutes from gouging out his eyes. She must have felt utterly betrayed. He was so angry at himself when he thought of how he had brushed off Zac's comment about Ondina knowing that he would be in the merman chamber at the full moon.

This is more important, he had assured Zac. Hardly.

Rita replied dispassionately, 'He says he wants to destroy the merman chamber. I thought we should at least listen.'

Mimmi frowned deeply.

'Why would you want to do that?' she asked the question on all of their minds.

Erik looked at the four mermaids and tried to answer. He had practised this so many times in his head on the way over.

'I don't want to be alone anymore,' he finally said, rather pathetically. That hadn't been how he intended to start.

Whatever they were all expecting, it wasn't that response.

'Erik, what do you mean?' Sirena asked gently, ever the bleeding heart.

He just looked at the ground, away from their eyes boring holes into him. Fine. He'd tell them everything.

'I've been running my whole life,' he began. 'Ever since I was a kid and living with my… let's call him my uncle. We'd move every few months. I had no friends—I never stayed anywhere long enough. At school I kept to myself, afraid to be exposed. I was 12 when my uncle finally just abandoned me and then I was in the foster system for another three years before I ran away and just decided to live life on my own.'

He looked at them, wondering if they could ever understand. If they would ever sympathise. It was imperative that they did, or they wouldn't believe that his intentions were good.

'Then I found all of you. And Zac. I thought that finally I had a chance at having a real home of my own. Maybe. I screwed up last week, I know that and I'm really sorry, but I've got my priorities straight now. I know what needs to be done. We need to destroy that chamber and make Mako Island habitable and safe for you guys again.'

He paused, wondering if they believed a word he was saying. Nobody spoke up. Time to tell them about Zac.

'There's more. It's about Zac.'

'What about Zac?' Mimmi asked quickly. 'Is he in danger?'

'Yes and no,' Erik replied. 'He's… he's pretty dangerous himself. And he doesn't realise it.'

'What does that mean?' the brunette asked defensively.

'It means that he's very powerful—more powerful than me—but also unstable. He's not able to withstand the pull of the moon and even worse, the pull of that chamber.'

That got their attention.

'How come he's more powerful than you?' Ondina asked. 'He grew up a land boy. You're both mermen, but you've got years in the sea on him.'

He looked over at Rita before replying. She also looked puzzled. Bingo. They didn't know how mermen had kept from dying out completely. Well, he'd fill that in for them.

'Do you know how mermen have managed to stay alive and carry on the line?' he asked Rita. As he expected, she shook her head.

'Well, it's by having children with human women. We live among humans—hiding from mermaids. I told you I had an uncle growing up, who taught me the basics of what I was and how to hide it. But you'll never see two adult mermen together. We're scattered. That's the idea. Cover as much surface area as we can and stay hidden.'

Rita's eyes had gone very wide.

'You mean you had a human mother?' she asked hoarsely.

'Yes, I did,' Erik replied honestly. 'I never knew her, though. If the child is a son, the merman will take him away from the mother. Make them forget the baby that was born with a fishtail and persuade them that he died.'

'And if the child is a daughter?' Rita asked. She looked aghast.

'The mer gene doesn't manifest in daughters. They live normal human lives,' Erik replied. 'But for someone like me… well, I'm basically screwed. Doomed to hiding and moving and hiding and moving. Not allowed to settle down, not allowed to build any kind of life. That's my fate.'

Ondina suddenly looked away, which did not escape Erik's notice.

'Back to Zac,' Erik quickly continued. He hated wallowing in self-pity. 'Zac and Mimmi are twins and they were born to a mermaid. I don't have to tell you where mermaids normally come from now, you'll know that better than I do. But to be born to a mermaid like they were—like you were,' he said this to Mimmi directly. 'You're incredibly unique and way more powerful than you realise.'

'And the same goes for Zac,' Mimmi finished for him.

'Yes.'

Rita's brows were knitted together and she had her arms crossed, deep in thought. Finally, she said, 'And you believe Zac is dangerous because he's vulnerable to the moon.'

'That's right,' Erik replied. 'He's not learned how to deal with it yet and he's got more firepower than I do. Than any of you might have. And that chamber might be giving him even more. Even if he does learn to resist the moon, that chamber is something else entirely.'

'What made you change your mind?' Ondina asked, seemingly out of nowhere. 'Why aren't you trying to harness the chamber, why do you want to destroy it?'

'I told you!' Erik replied, frustrated now. He thought they'd at least grasp the 'why' once he explained to them his own heritage, and Zac's. 'It's useless to me if Zac does something to hurt himself or any of you. I don't want power, I want a family.'

The last word had slipped out accidentally and they were all staring at him again. Pity in their eyes, mostly, not malice.

'Why should we believe you?' Mimmi suddenly scoffed. 'Zac might come around and he'll be able to control himself eventually. You said yourself, he's more powerful than you.'

'Power and control are not the same thing!' Erik exclaimed. He could feel himself getting aggravated and tried to calm his tone. 'He's a moth to a flame with that damn chamber—I've felt it too, doesn't mean I've just gone traipsing straight in!'

Twice he had said something he hadn't intended to. But this second one was not going to induce pity. He was in trouble.

'What do you mean, you've felt it too?' Rita hissed, her guard up again. 'I thought you had no connection to it. To this place.'

'I… um…' Erik stammered. They were circling around him, sharks before the feeding frenzy. He felt a touch of panic. It was ridiculous, he was so much bigger than any one of them, stronger. But not where it counted. Their magic was stronger, especially collectively.

'Out with it,' Rita demanded.

'I felt the pull of this place a long time ago. At least a year and a half ago,' he admitted. 'It's always been mild. Just a slight breeze through my thoughts. But it's been getting stronger and about seven months ago, it became really strong. I'd resisted and continued to resist for another three months, but finally caved and came to this place.'

'Why did you resist?' Mimmi asked suspiciously.

'Because you don't answer every phone call you get, do you, especially when there's no caller ID!' he replied sarcastically. Mimmi just looked slightly baffled. Of course very little of that made sense to her.

'I've been taught to be cautious,' he elaborated. 'There's a lot of magic and other stuff in this world and going chasing after every pull and tug is a sure way to end up dead or worse. When I felt that island, I just ignored it. For as long as I could. When I came here and I found out more of the detail, I was curious to know why I was being called there. But I still resisted and never let myself just get swept up in the moonspell. The very first rule I learned growing up, I must have been 3 or 4. Zac, however… he activated the thing and that's only made the pull stronger.'

'You're fighting the pull,' Mimmi finally said, a bit of understanding dawning in her voice. 'You want to destroy it because you're worried you'll give in.'

'Yeah,' Erik agreed. 'Because I think that whatever it is that's drawing us there isn't friendly.'

Nobody said anything and Erik looked away, not meeting anyone's gaze. Figures. He had bared his soul and they were still not interested.

'What's the plan?' Rita finally asked. Erik's eyes lit up—he was in.

'I want to go inside and plant some explosives. Blow it up the good old-fashioned way,' he said quickly.

Rita just looked incredulous.

'Where are you planning on getting explosives, exactly?'

'Cam's dad works construction,' Erik replied. 'He figures he can get us some dynamite. We stick it in the chamber and get out, watch it go boom and move on with our lives.'

'Cam's involved?' Sirena asked anxiously.

'Yes, don't worry about him. He's on our side here. He wants to help save Zac from himself.'

'So where do we fit in with this plan of yours?' Ondina asked quietly.

'I need your moon rings to open the chamber before the next full moon. I don't want to wait and risk Zac doing something in three weeks' time.'

Ondina nodded, looked over at Mimmi who gave a wan smile and then turned back to Erik.

'I want to believe you,' she told him. 'I still don't trust you, though, and I think you're dangerous. But I'm willing to give you a chance. If all of you are?'

Slowly, Sirena and Mimmi gave their assent and finally Rita said, 'We'll help where we can. I'm not promising anything after the chamber is destroyed, though. We are not friends. You are still a merman and a danger to us.'

Erik scoffed. Well, if they still felt that way, he'd just have to prove that he meant what he was saying. He'd make them see that he was on their side. He'd fight to win Ondina's trust and maybe more. He'd fight for a real home.

A/N: Thank you for reading. Do let me know what you think by clicking the 'review' button below and typing out a word or two. Always good to hear if I've got something that's interesting to more people than just me, myself and I.