Chapter 4

Evie sat in front of her computer, fingers poised over the keyboard, ready to type. It had always helped her to settle her thoughts by writing them out and she was trying to write what amounted to a speech. Except it wasn't working very well this time, because every time she went to type the word that needed saying, she shrank into herself. Mermaid.

'Urrrgh!' she groaned aloud, just as the doorbell rang. She slammed the laptop shut and rushed to the door, flinging it open and freezing as she saw who stood there.

'What are you doing here?' she said, rapidly going from surprised to angry.

Zac shifted on his feet and gave her that look like no other, the one where he looked like a pleading puppy dog.

'I wanted to come see you,' he said hesitantly. 'I know it's been a few days and I was worried that you had stopped calling.'

Wrong thing to say, and he clearly realised it instantly as he put his hands up defensively and Evie's eyebrows shot upwards.

'Excuse me?'

'No, that's not what I meant to say,' Zac hedged. 'I mean, it is what I was thinking, but… can I just come inside and talk to you? Please?'

Evie looked him over and then rolled her eyes.

'Glad you finally decided to get off the Feeling-Sorry-For-Myself Express,' she said drily and stood aside, motioning for him to come in. At least he had come over, which is more than she had been expecting.

As they settled in the living room, Zac looked around.

'Is your dad home?' he asked anxiously.

'No,' Evie replied. 'He's out until later this evening. We can talk about things. So… why are you here?'

'Like I said, I was worried… actually, what I mean to say is, I realised I was acting like a jerk,' he finally admitted and Evie stared at him impassively as if to say, Go on. 'Cam made me realise that in all of this craziness, you were getting left behind. And I just wanted to see you.'

Evie nodded. 'Well, non-apology accepted, and I'll have to thank Cam the next time I see him. Meanwhile, I have something to tell you, too.'

Zac look puzzled. 'Is everything ok?'

'Yes and no,' Evie said. 'Ondina and Mimmi are a bit caught up in the new developments of you and their own situation and frankly, I don't put much faith in Sirena's ingenuity.'

'What does that mean?' Zac queried.

'It means that nobody is looking for a way to turn me back to normal,' Evie stated firmly. 'So for the foreseeable future, I'm stuck the way I am.'

'I thought you liked it?' he asked gently. He had genuinely believed that to be true, especially after that first day when they had gone swimming together. Who could experience something like that and..? And of course, he realised he himself had spent the last week wishing he could go back to normal.

Evie shook her head vigorously. 'I am putting up with it, Zac, but this is not my life and I don't want it to be.'

Zac stared at her, feeling a bit like he'd been slapped. He thought he could find someone who would understand from his perspective what he was going through. That feeling of wanting to be normal and human again, but at the same time, feeling that pull to the magic of the water, the special gift that they both currently had. Except that Evie didn't see it as a gift.

'So I'm going to tell my dad,' she pronounced firmly.

If Zac had been shocked before, that statement absolutely floored him.

'Evie, you can't!' he exclaimed.

'Yes, I can,' she replied, trying to stay calm but already feeling the ever-present tears rushing to her eyes. She should have realised that Zac was not the best confidant for this. 'I won't tell him about any of you, he'll just think it's me. And I won't tell him about Mako Island. But he needs to know and maybe he'll even have some ideas on how to help me?'

'What, are you stupid or something?' The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself and Evie, aghast, just stood up and pointed to the door.

'Get out,' she said quietly. 'I am not asking your permission to tell my father that something is wrong with his daughter. I am telling you, as a courtesy.'

'Yeah, well, a lot of people have been doing that to me lately,' Zac laughed humourlessly.

'What are you talking about?'

'Cam came by yesterday to tell me as a courtesy that Erik and the mermaids are apparently planning to blow up the merman chamber on Mako.'

Evie stared at him, unable to believe that he was telling the truth. There were a lot of conditional circumstances for any of those things to come together. Why was Cam talking to Zac? Why was Erik working with the mermaids?

No. This wasn't her fight and she was just tired of the whole thing. She was tired of dealing with Zac's problems and getting left behind when things got hard.

'Good for them,' she just said quietly. 'Now please leave.'

'But Evie, I didn't mean to—'

'I really don't care,' she said, looking anywhere but at him. 'Please go.'

Zac stood opposite her, wondering if he could make her listen to him, persuade or force her to see how foolish it would be to reveal her secret. What if Mr. McLaren decided that the best thing that he could do for his daughter was to take her to a doctor? Or worse, a marine biologist?

But he knew his Evie and she wasn't going to budge, from the expression on her face. He just hadn't realised quite how much things had broken down in the short week since the full moon. So he just took her hand, gave it a quick squeeze and left.

Evie, meanwhile, seeing him go, felt her resolve crumble and succumbed to the tears that had been promising to come. She shuffled back towards her computer and opened the cover. The speech she had started to draft was still up on the screen.

Dad, I know that this is going to be hard to believe…

Her father would be home soon. She needed to get ready. Just as she set to typing again, she heard Zac groan outside and ran out to see him on the ground, clutching at his chest as if he couldn't breathe.

'Zac!'

She ran over to him and saw that his eyes were squeezed shut, as if he was experiencing pain.

'Tell me what's wrong,' she demanded. 'I can't help if I don't know what's wrong!'

'Felt… something…' was all he could say. It was a whimper that turned into another groan. Then, all of a sudden, it subsided. Panting, he pulled himself to shaky feet and stared down at Evie, who was still clutching the arm that she had grabbed when she first saw him outside with a vice grip.

'I need to go to Mako,' he announced. His voice was a little bit off, his eyes still unfocused. Evie recognised it for what it was. The strange hypnosis that came over him when the moon was full. Except that it was broad daylight and the moon was on the wane.

Without another word, Zac pulled his arm from Evie's grip and ran for the waterfront, diving in without saying another word. Evie hesitated for just a moment, knowing that she could not move as quickly as he could but also knowing his destination. She could let him go. Whatever had happened, the others would be on Mako, that much was certain. Perhaps they'd done something horrible when they tried to destroy the merman chamber.

Either way, this was her Zac. No matter what the last few weeks had been like, she could not leave him alone when he was in this state. She heaved a sigh and dove in after him.

A few hours earlier, Cam had asked David to borrow his boat for the afternoon, loaded it with a large box and a few bags and set out for Mako Island, where Erik and the others were already waiting for him. He docked the boat on the beach and dragged it out of the tide while everyone looked on. He wondered again whether he had just become manservant to the merpeople, but of course in this scenario, they couldn't exactly walk into the surf and help him.

When the boat was secured further up the beach, Erik came over and helped him unload. Ondina, Mimmi and Sirena hung back, whispering amongst themselves. Cam could tell from the glances that Sirena kept darting in his direction that she had still not forgotten what had happened a few months ago on this island, when he had tricked Nixie and tried to seize the trident for himself. The other two were wary but Sirena looked slightly hostile. If the others didn't trust Erik on the grounds that he was a merman, Sirena didn't trust Cam on the very solid ground of their experience together not so very long ago.

Still, he was helping them now, wasn't he? He was helping his friend, whether Zac wanted to admit that or not. He was trying to fix things with this community of weirdos for whom he had developed a soft spot, too.

The walk to the chamber was quiet except for the occasional grunts that came from Cam and Erik. The latter had taken the bulky box while Cam was loaded down with the bags. The girls walked along each one carrying a smaller bag. This was going to be a big operation.

When they reached the cave, they set the box and bags down and ranged themselves in front of the entrance. The girls were going to go in shifts. He and Erik would need time to go into the chamber and set up the equipment, so they were all going to take turns using their moon rings to keep the cave entrance open. Sirena went first. She exhaled through pursed lips, raised her hand and the blue light shone from the ring, illuminating the invisible door and creating an entrance where none had existed before.

Erik looked slightly pained for a moment, but he hauled up the box again and proceeded inside, Cam following him cautiously. This was not something he had seen before.

For that matter, he knew the chamber did not like mermaids, but who was to say it felt any better about plain old humans? Being male did not necessarily protect him. He kept an eye to each wall and when Erik indicated what looked like a patch of pure blackness, he nearly backed out of his offer to help.

For Zac, he told himself firmly and walked ahead into the darkness, emerging into a magnificent hall, lined with light that came from pillars and a trident carved into the floor. He had seen this before on Erik's phone, but seeing it in person, being in that place, was something else entirely. He drew in a breath and Erik grinned at him.

'Something else when you see it in person, isn't it?' he asked.

'You're sure you want to destroy it?' Cam asked with awe. The chamber was almost buzzing with something. He understood what Erik meant when he said that it contained power. He just hoped that A. the chamber didn't have enough juice to keep itself from being destroyed somehow and B. that it wouldn't seek revenge if they failed. A silly thought that a cave on a little island could be sentient enough to seek revenge but then again… this was magic they were talking about. And the atmosphere he felt certainly suggested something more than just a cave.

'Definitely sure,' Erik said firmly. 'Now let's get to work.'

And they did, slowly moving around the chamber, carefully placing the explosives that he had sourced from his father. Maybe sourced wasn't the right word. It wasn't like he was doing anything really harmful. This would help his friends.

Outside, Mimmi had taken over from Sirena. She stood watching the door while Sirena sat on the ground, worrying her lip as she looked inside. Rita had agreed that this plan might work, but she was also aware that the clever things that humans invented did not always mix well with magic.

Suddenly, Erik and Cam emerged from the cave, rolling a long cord attached to a little box with a tall button.

'Keep it open, Mimmi,' Erik ordered, as he stepped back further. They all moved back until they were standing as far as possible while Mimmi could still keep the cave door open. No telling what might happen if she let it close now.

'Now?' Cam asked Erik, holding the box out.

'Now,' Erik agreed, and the other two girls backed up further while Mimmi stood her ground and leaned her head against her shoulder, pressing the hand that was ringless to her ear.

Erik pushed the button down and a massive noise reverberated around them. However, it wasn't the noise that was most alarming. Cam dropped to his knees next to Erik, who was writhing on the ground and the girls ran over to Mimmi, who was in much the same position.

The cave door had closed when Mimmi had fallen. It looked very much solid and they all looked at one another, wondering what had happened.

Just as suddenly as she had dropped, Mimmi sat up and Erik followed soon after. Their voices were tinged with pain, but it was clear that it was a moment of pain that was now over.

'Do you think it worked?' Mimmi gasped out.

'I don't think I want to know,' Erik replied. 'How come it hurt you?'

'No idea,' she answered. 'Maybe Zac's connection to the chamber and my connection to him?'

'We need to open it and find out,' Ondina said swiftly, rising to her feet and walking closer to the cave, her hand extended. 'Erik, go in and check it out,' she said imperiously.

Cam shook his head in disbelief. 'Hey, fish girl, look at him, he's wiped out,' he told her. 'He's not going in there now.'

Ondina looked over her shoulder.

'It was his idea.'

It seemed like the hurt that she had felt a week ago was still being felt and Erik was not forgiven, especially because it seemed like the plan had failed spectacularly and hurt Mimmi somehow into the bargain.

'It's ok,' Erik reassured Cam, a hand on his shoulder. 'I'm fine, I'll go.'

'Well, I'm coming with you.'

They walked towards the cave entrance together and their faces fell in dismay as they saw that the antechamber of the cave was slightly scuffed. When they stepped into the merman chamber it was completely untouched. Their materials had vanished.

'It absorbed the explosion,' Erik said, with fear colouring his voice. 'This is bad, Cam. We need to get out of here.'

Cam nodded his agreement rapidly and turned around only to come face to face with Zac, who threw him aside with a wave of his hand and would have done the same to Erik had he not moved out of the way rapidly. Zac's eyes were dazed but he was moving towards the raised slab with the carvings with great purpose.

Erik stared in horror. He had made this happen. He looked towards the entrance and saw Mimmi hovering there, eyes wide. She had followed her brother in, clearly, but was careful not to cross into the chamber itself. Before he could make a game plan on how to get Zac, Cam, Mimmi and himself out of the chamber and shut down whatever was happening to Zac's mind, he caught a flash of light from the trident carving in the floor.

Zac had moved his hand over the raised column. A sequence, they had theorised. But what did the sequence do?

The answer to that stood in the middle of the chamber, his long hair falling down his back, his clothes rags and his eyes spitting fire.