Thank you all so much for the nice reviews! I'll take some time here to address some of the reviews that I got sooo:

Emily: Thanks! I thought that would be something Dean would say. And you will get a Mimmi/Zac sibling fluff later in the fic, near the end. So not this chapter but in the next couple of weeks.

Azlyn: Yep, there wasn't enough to really go off of for merman culture so I took what I could and worked with it. Thanks for the review!

Izi: Thanks! Erik does show up in this chapter on his own break and Ondina does slap him, several times, not in the way you'd think though.

Chapter 3

The marine biology class the next day was off to a pretty good start, thought Evie as they went behind the scenes at the marine park. The part that they were in is supposed to be closed today for some kind of convention that they had scheduled. Evie and her group was very lucky to be there even for a very short time. They had to leave in about another half hour.

"So we have our dolphin observations," said Cam. "Now what?"

"We put it in a report," said Carly with a haughty look on her face. The marine biology assignment was to observe a sea creature for an hour every day for a week. Then turn in the assignment for a grade. They were in groups of four and one person for each day of the week, except for Friday. When they all meet to observe and write their papers. It was a relatively easy assignment for Zac; who was already part fish.

"I say we split up," said Evie. "We can find our dolphin and write down the observation and go, is that okay Zac?" asked Evie looking around for her boyfriend. That was when she noticed that he was already watching a dolphin by the gate. Rolling her eyes, they all just followed to watch the dolphins. They were all so beautiful until they made Carly want to pee.

"I'm going to the loo, anyone else need to go?" she asked and Zac left with her. They promised to meet with Evie and Cam at the gate in another 15 minutes. After Zac had done his business, he noticed that Carly was gone. Well, not exactly gone, but standing and peering into a room that said employees only about roughly 20 paces away. The only people around was a blond lady watching the dolphins and a boy with his mum begging her to buy an ice cream.

"Carly, why are you going back here?" hissed Zac as he closed the door behind him, not wanting to get caught. The marine park was going to close this area off soon for whatever the convention was. Evie was going to be looking for the both of them. They were going to get in trouble for this.

"Look what I saw Zac," said Carly pointing to the screen. The group was leaving but Zac only stared transfixed on the screen. Carly was right, there was something important to look at. On the corner of the screen, just enough to make it out, was a blue tail. Exactly like Zac's own.

They had stared so long that Cam and Evie were probably looking for them. A door opened and they heard voices. First they heard a woman and then the voice of Dr. Ross. Oh no they were going to be found in this area. Thinking fast, Zac grabbed Carly's arm and did a hand movement around them. Then they had to find their group. The voices stopped and Zac and Carly took a breath. Until the doorknob turned and the door swung open.

"Tanner you should have saw your face. If we were in wonderland Mitch would have cried out 'off with his head.' You need to stop acting dramatic around him. Otherwise, he will never take your seriously," said a boy with Asian features.

"He already doesn't take me seriously! I mean, do you honestly think he would let me run a booth for northern mermen? I have little to zero knowledge on mermen from around the country. My mother did ice fishing for a job at one point. Ice fishing. I brought home more fish for us than she ever did. Ryan, what you don't get is that maybe being goofy is my thing. Anyway, what are we looking for?" asked Tanner.

Carly and Zac only looked at each other wide eyed under their invisibility guise. Mermen? Booth? Ice fishing? What was going on?! They were confused as Ryan looked around the room for something.

"We are looking for remotes and projectors. Someone is going to have to show the new mermen the ropes. I just hope it's not you. You'd be horrible teacher," said Ryan. Tanner pretended to be insulted before shrugging as they looked around the room for said remotes and projectors. Zac and Carly found themselves holding their breaths as they searched the room. Around them stood a shelf of what they could be looking for and cameras. It looked like they were just about to give up when it looked like Tanner was looking right at them.

"Tanner what are you doing?" asked Ryan looking next to one of the shelves near the door. Looking at them even longer Tanner did a hand movement with his palm facing them slightly curled.

Carly felt the magic of the cloaking fall off as both her and Zac had sudden become visible to the two boys. Ryan stopped and stared at them with his mouth slightly gaped and then at his friend. Tanner looked at both of them with a look of mischief. Ryan quickly got over what he just saw before rummaging around again for remotes or something or another.

"I hate that you have that power," said Ryan staring at Zac and Carly. The boy had powers so he had to be a merman like him. The girl had to be his foster sister. "Keep searching." He threw an extension cord in his arms and turning from the three of them. Zac, Carly, and Tanner only looked at him like he was the crazy one.

"We find a merman and his foster sister hiding in here and you just want to keep looking for extra projectors," said the incredulous redhead shaking his head in amusement. Carly and Zac only looked at each other, nodded quickly to just go along with the foster sibling story. It could very well get them out of here.

All of them grew quiet as Ryan rolled his eyes and successfully found a bucket full of extra remotes to use. The projectors in a box right next to him. All of a sudden the room was starting to feel small as both of them looked them.

"We should probably get going," said Carly looking at Zac. They had to find Evie and the others before they started to get worried about them. Although being in a small AV room with Ryan wasn't exactly a bad thing. Mentally, Carly scolded herself. She had a wonderfully annoying boyfriend named Cam.

"You aren't going to stay for the merman convention?" asked Tanner at those words Zac perked up and looked around. Merman convention? Loads more mermen all in one place together. The last merman that he had meet had nearly killed him. The fact that there were more of them sent a chill down his spine. Mostly in anticipation though. Zac could learn more about being a merman here. "You are invited you know."

"Yea, sure, why not?" said Zac. "I'm Zac Morgan and this is my foster sister Carly."

He sent her a look that Carly got right away, just nodding her head. Carly just hoping that Zac had an excuse for not catching up with his girlfriend after all of this. She needed one to text Cam as well. Both boys waved at her as best as they could with equipment in their hands.

"So this is the wonderful merman convention center," said Tanner spreading his arms looking at his new friend and his boring one. Zac and Carly looked like they were going to be fun. Then Ryan just staring at him. The new people were always the fun ones. At least they wanted to try new things and have fun. It was like taking a kid into the candy store for the first time. He grabbed two merman books from the free table and handed both of them one. "Inside your book is a pocket guide to being a merman. Handling your powers, how to clean your tail, legends and folklore, full moon cycles, and much more. Please do not look at them while on this tour."

Ryan rolled his eyes and Tanner ignore his smooth disposition.

"The center is the world. Southern mermen from Australia, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, and such are in the rooms behind you. To my left is the western pods like the States. To my right is the eastern pods like Ryan's native Malaysia. Then the very back of the room is northern which includes Canada, Russia, and Alaska I think. Each section has booths such as food and magic from each end of the globe. Where do you want to go first?" he asked with a wide smile across his freckled face. He had said this all very fast that made Carly just stare at him.

Zac only looked around at everything trying to take it all in. Everyone here were mermen or knew about mermen. They weren't hiding but instead sharing food and magic spells. How he missed this, he thought, as he looked at a little boy about 5 playing with a ball of water. The smell of lobster being cooked behind him made his mouth water.

"Northern," he said without missing a beat. His (real) mum, told him and Mimmi stories about their father's home in Inuvik Canada. Tanner only nodded in beat to lead them back to the north section. Next to him Carly only looked everywhere in surprise and aw. There was something new that caused an excited shiver down his spine. Zac didn't know mermen had so much culture. He turned to the other boy that came with them.

"So, Ryan, right?" he asked jittery. The boy only nodded at him and not talking. "I'm kind of new to this, so how-"

Ryan smiled at him after a small frown, maybe saying he was new didn't help. "Do we pull this off? I honestly don't know but it's a fun event. There is only one time every five years do mermen meet and learn about each other. It's where we all make our first friends and learn about our tails sometimes before we even get them."

Zac was so focused on what Ryan just said to notice that he had bumped into a woman with long blond hair and orange sundress. He quickly apologized as they tried to keep up with Carly and Tanner.

Around him Zac only stared. He knew he wasn't the only merman, but to be here was something simply amazing. His dark eyes only looked at booths from the western part of the world to the eastern part. Until finally they stopped in front of an area of booths that were clearly labeled northern at the top of the area.

Carly looked at a booth selling bracelets and trinkets. Around him he could smell fudge and other fantastic sounding food.

"Any questions so far?" asked Tanner.

"So this stuff is found in the waters of Canada and such?" asked Carly after paying for a handmade necklace. It didn't seem likely since they were selling scarves and such at the different booths.

"Not exactly, mermen can't really swim freely in northern waters. There is a high concentration of mermaids in that area. So swimming in the Arctic Circle is rather limited. So we focus on the lakes and most everything in this area is what we see on land a lot of the time."

"You don't interact with mermaids?" asked Carly looking up from a table of sweets.

"No, it's forbidden," piped up Ryan. "If we see one we're supposed to run."

Zac thought for a moment. So that's the reason why he never saw another merman before Erik. They weren't supposed to be mingling with mermaids. But why? Maybe if he actually planned on reading the book, he might have his answers.

"We're supposed to run because they'd kill us. Like a million years ago or something, mermaids drove the merman to live on land. I guess we did something to them, but what I'm not sure exactly what. Now, if they see us, they try to kill us. Like the air nomads in Avatar the Last Airbender," said Tanner trying hard to mimic Aang with arm movements.

Carly stopped and looked at him, unsure what to make of Tanner. He sure didn't act like a merman, instead he reminded her of an over excited 17-year-old. It wasn't a bad thing; she was like that at one point too. It was still kind of shocking that Tanner was a merman. It was shocking that all of these people were mermen or knew about them. The fact that they kept it a secret.

"The legend is different in each region," spoke up Ryan, "It's said to the Asian mermen that we caused them harm-"

"If that is code for a painful child birth, I would hurt us too. I've seen the videos and it looks painful," said Tanner as Zac let out a laugh. Neither of the boys were like Erik. They reminded him of Cam and how they hung out all of the time.

Ryan looked pained for his friend. "Again, he will go away eventually."

At the grotto they started with the fighting again. Nixie and Ondina were shouting at each other as Sirena woke up. Weilan and Lyla were nowhere to be seen.

"Well you're just too stupid to admit that you're wrong about us!" shouted Ondina.

"You're too self-centered just to admit that you're wrong as about us," shouted Nixie back.

"There's a reason you never had many friends."

She had been working on helping Evie and Mimmi with a new project. With Evie's investigative skills; they were going to track down Rikki's old friends and surprise her. Rikki had become their friend in a short time that they had knew each other. Everyone had been introduced to her, at least the main girls. Anyway, Rikki was going to come back to the coast to visit family at the end of the week.

Lyla and Nixie were stilling fighting with Weilan and Ondina unfortunately. Sirena and Mimmi had managed to get their selves out of the fight. They weren't saying words to each other that they really didn't mean.

"I can't believe they are still fighting with each other," said Mimmi as she got up the next morning.

"I know," said Sirena. "I hate seeing them fight, but I don't want to be dragged into it myself." Both of them looked at each other sadly, before wincing at Ondina throwing out a harsh word. They shared a look before they made their way to the ocean café. A morning swim really seemed to help clear their minds.

They had made sure no one was around when they dried themselves off and walking in. Inside, Evie was already working her clothes counter. At the end of her till sat a couple of folders. She had gone out of her way to color code her research.

Evie was busy cleaning out a dressing room as the girls sat down. Carly nodded indicating that she would be with them shortly. Evie caught site of them before coming over holding her folders. After making sure she had no customers she came over and handed them the folders.

She had spent all night making them up since she didn't have school the next day. She scanned Facebook and what little she could have the school records for the girls. If they knew a little about them, it would help. Evie handed Sirena a bright green notebook and Mimmi a pale pink notebook. Evie herself kept a blue one.

"Sirena, I figured you would want to call Bella. Mimmi I think it would be okay for you to call Cleo. The folders have some information to get to know them a little bit better." Evie got her phone out of her back pocket and had to decide on who to call first. All three girls seemed to have pretty busy lives.

Bella had gone to school to be a music teacher. So now she was busy making lesson plans. Cleo had gone on to be a marine biologist and lived on the coast. She would be the closest to find. Emma had been difficult. Her Facebook profile is completely private and her school records didn't tell them much about her now.

"I've set it up with David for us to have a private party at the café in two weeks. We call them and set up to meet them here. We tell them that we are some friends of Rikki's and we are planning her a surprise party. We don't tell them about us being mermaids," said Evie. "Who wants to go first?"

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Mimmi and Sirena never really used a phone before. Evie herself was pretty unsure herself about calling Emma. It all seemed too real to find another girl that is a mermaid just like she was.

"I'll do it," said Sirena taking the phone away from Evie. She opened her folder and found a post it note with a phone number on it. Sirena had learned to call someone before and she dialed it into the phone. Nobody was really here, so Evie ushered them into the backroom as she grabbed their folders.

Everyone looked at the phone as they heard the dial tone.

"Hello?" said a voice on the phone.

"Hi," squeaked Sirena. "Is this Bella?"

"I'm sorry, she's in the middle of having an ultras-" They heard the phone being handed over to someone as they were cut off. The sound of a hand over the speaker came next.

"Hello?" said a new voice. This one more feminine and urgent. Sirena looked at the others unsure of how to react to this voice.

"Hi, my name is Sirena," she said finding her voice. "I'm from Ocean Café."

"I'm sorry I don't know the ocean café. I think you might have the wrong number…" she said anxiously. Oh great, this wasn't exactly going well.

"Actually, I have the right number. I think you know our friend Rikki Chadwick," said Sirena quickly. Enough to just hear Bella just breath into the phone. That seemed to have some kind of effect on the girl.

"Rikki," she said, "I haven't heard that name in forever."

"Yea, we're having a bit of a surprise party for her and getting guests together. Would you be interested in coming? It's in two weeks on Friday around three."

There was a pause and some adjusting on their end of the phone. There were some hushed whispers as they exchanged some words.

"I'd love to," said Bella and she paused. "It's a girl, I'm having a girl. Oh, sorry don't tell anyone I'm pregnant. But 2 weeks on Friday I'll be there."

Everyone looked at each other and cheered with one phone call down.

Erik walked along the beach as he watched the sea view. The water really reflected nicely off of the sun. He watched as people swam around and Erik desperately thought of jumping in the water. The thought of running into any one of the three that hated him troubled his mind.

In all honesty, he didn't care if Zac and the others hated him. It mattered what Ondina thought of him though. He wanted her to forgive him and he hated having her mad at him. Even if they didn't get back together, he just wanted to hear it from her and move on with his life. Maybe he was just being a little dramatic like Tanner all of a sudden. He had to be constantly reminded by Tanner that he would probably never get a girlfriend again.

Tanner had to talk like that even if he was joking. If Tanner would be in a relationship, it would be a goofy one. If Dean was in a relationship it would be part of the disgustingly sweet one. If Ryan was in a relationship it would a serious one. Erik had to be a part of a dysfunctional relationship out of all of them. It had to be dysfunctional and it irked him.

He looked out and into the water and thought about the merman chamber. That caused so much trouble and he was being properly punished for it. He passed by a family building a giant sandcastle. A woman in a large sunhat and glasses. A man walking his dog. Nobody would understand the half of what he was going through.

That was when he looked up and squinted. Was? That? No… That couldn't be who he thought it was.

"Ondina?" he asked as he saw the curls on the blond in front of him.

"Erik," she said as she stopped and stared at him. The salty wind tossed her hair and Erik only stepped forward. They just stared at one another unsure about what to say as Erik broke the silence. He took a step toward her and she stepped back. This couldn't go on.

"Listen, I'm a crazy stupid idiot that did stuff I'm not proud of. I was told to stay away but I listened to gut instinct. Punish me as you will, I'm already getting punished as it is. Do something to me right now," he said holding out his arms and closed his eyes. He could just feel Ondina staring at him. Erik dropped to his knees and put his hands on his head surrendering. "I'm the only merman that would do something as stupid as I did. Just- Just punish me!"

Ondina only stared at him unsure what to make of him being here. She had just got in a fight with two of her friends and she just wanted to- Finally she just slapped him across the face, as hard as she possibly could. Erik could feel her really mean in it that slap as his cheek turned bright red. Then again from the other side of his face. Erik winced as it stung but did nothing to stop her from slapping him. Until he noticed that she was starting to cry. Her fists randomly hitting his chest.

"Ondina, what's wrong?" he asked as she slumped over next to him.

"I got in a fight with some of the other mermaids," she said as she sniffled. "We all insulted each other and-"

"You got hurt?" he said as he adjusted to sit next to her. "I know the feeling." He looked down at his shoes as they sat next to each other on the sand. Ondina never looked up at him as they just watched the tide.

Erik thought about saying something to make her feel better. Then changed his mind at the last second. He wasn't going to ruin this moment right now.

"You can hit me again if you want," he said breaking the silence. "Might make you feel better. Or insult me."

She only smiled before punching his shoulder, rather hard. He let out a small laugh before going back to watching the waves. His eyes looked at her briefly and then away. Someone was bound to be around to tell Mitch or someone else from the board.

"Ondina," he said before hesitating.

"If you're asking me to forgive you it's not going to happen-" she said. As she backed away from him. She was not going to fall for him again only for her heart to break.

"Actually, I'm asking if there's anything I can do to make it better. Ondina I know you're not going to forgive me right away, even though I would love it if you could. You know that I think you're special and I don't want to forget that. I want to take it slow and happen on its own. I don't want you to hate me even if that takes a while."

"See this is what you do, you're so manipulative until I'm standing here trusting you and you break that." Ondina sat up straight and started to run away from him. Erik stared before following her and shouting.

"Ondina, wait that is not what's going on. Ondina!" he didn't know where he was running, but he just kept following. Until he caught up to her in the middle of some random park. He took her by her arm and turned her to face him.

She only looked at him and looking for a body of water. She could easily overpower him now. Weilan taught her turning the tide.

Erik looked at her frantic nature before turning away disgusted. With her and then at himself. "This is hopeless. Tanner is right I'm going to die alone," he muttered under his breath.

He just sat down and watched Ondina just stare at him and fidgeted. Erik just moaned and then slumped to the ground. He might as well give up with her. At least now he knew how she really felt about him. Might as well give up now. He sighed and didn't even bother to get up.

"Erik," she said letting her voice trail off, she could run but she didn't. That gave him zero hope however. He got up from the ground and turned away from her.

"Ondina just don't talk to me. I lost enough as it since the incident on Mako. Forget it, forget we ever spoke, forget we saw each other. At least I know how you really feel." The phone in his pocket beeped indicating that he had to get back to the park. "I have to go."

"Erik wait," she demanded. "Listen I was really hurt and bitter and confused. Everything between us felt genuine and I really loved it. Then my trust in people really broke. I just don't want to be hurt again."

He turned around and faced her. He took a deep breath and kept his voice steady. She wasn't exactly leaping into his arms anytime soon.

"Ondina, I don't want to hurt you again either. I've learned from my mistakes and I've seen people hurt that I didn't want to. I understand that now."

Both of them sort of smiled and looked around. That was when Ondina noticed people walking toward him. More specifically they were Weilan and Karl. Ondina froze as she realized that she and Weilan weren't exactly on speaking terms. She could feel Weilan staring at her.

Karl only looked at both of them. He could tell that the girls weren't talking and there was going to be a girl fight. He half waved to the boy that was with Ondina. Erik only halfheartedly waved back.

"Weilan, I'm not here to fight. I never meant to-" started Ondina as she walked up to her friend.

"To call me that? It's the fact that you did Ondina that really hurts. I thought of something that describes you perfectly. Prickly and a control freak, now that's worse than being called boring, rude, and unpleasant doesn't it?"

Erik walked up behind her, letting her fight her own battles. Unless, of course it gets out of control.

"Well aren't you a smart mouth," said Ondina before she could stop herself. She gasped and covered her mouth.

"Well at least I don't act so superior to everyone else. You're so stubborn and immature-"

Karl froze and so did Erik as they watched the girls bicker. Karl knew to keep his mouth shut with Weilan since she could very well handle herself. He didn't want her to not talk to him. That didn't stop Erik however.

"Hey," he said as he stepped in. The girls were almost nose to nose by now and it was not going to end well. "This shouldn't really be going this far."

Karl only sent Erik a look that said get out while you still can. This was a girl fight and nothing usually stopped them from fighting.

"Oh so Ondina has a boy toy now" said Weilan as her eyes grew wide. Now that was when she realized that she was overstepping her boundaries. Ondina had a problem with a boy in the past. She probably didn't need to relive that. "Ondina I'm-"

She had stepped away from the Asian girl and put her hand on Erik's shoulder. Right now, Ondina would rather be with Erik right now rather than the other way around. Weilan looked apologetic but Ondina wasn't having it.

"Erik she's not worth it."

Weilan felt her face change and Ondina's grew rather smug. This is Erik, the one that nearly broke her heart in two? He's a merman and the fact that he's defending her made Weilan grow weary. Could they really have made up and trust each other? Not only that, but he's really cute.

"Right," he said sounding skeptical but turned to her. "Come on Ondina I'll buy you an ice cream."

In the wake of them turning around and leaving a stunned Weilan and Karl, Erik moved his hand. He had noticed that a fire hydrant sat next to the sidewalk. He watched it sway in his hand movement. He had twisted the fire hydrant and watched as it sprinkled in her direction.

Weilan looked in shock and found that she had only a couple of seconds.

"I gotta go Karl, I'll call you!" She darted around the corner and into the water. Karl didn't pay any attention to what just happened. Instead, he had a grin on his face at the idea of her calling him.

"She's going to call me," he said positively elated at the thought. Ondina and Erik only laughed as they watched from nearby.

"I can't believe you used me like that," argued Erik pretending to be hurt. To be honest, her plan was rather brilliant. Right now, he never really thought of being mad at her. It was nice to be with her again- even as friends.

"I can't believe you got her wet in front of Karl," said Ondina with laugh. He didn't mind being late today.