This full moon came too fast for the whole group. They spent the majority of the month just trying to lead the illusion that they all had normal lives. Zac, Evie, Cam, David, and Chris all continued their schooling at Suncoast High while Rita, or Principle Santos as she was known at the school, tried to run things as smoothly as possible. Sirena continued singing with David at the ocean café, who were now the pin up siren couple, and both had musical talent that any pop star would kill for. Mimmi continued her land people research, her job and her relationship. Ondina and Weilan continued to bicker.
It was all blissfully normal.
The afternoon before the full moon was rainy and gloomy, almost like the weather had reflected the anxiety of the group of merpeople that had gathered at Rita's underground grotto. They all were worried for their new land boy friend and the consequences that came with being a merman. Cam and David especially could relate to the fear that he would no doubt feel.
Mimmi had started pacing back and forth along the cavern floor, "Promise that you're not going to freak him out. You know that he's still new to all this. I'm not sure what will push him over the edge." She said for the good of the group, but was mostly just trying to reassure herself. She got a scattered response, a few nods and mumbles of agreement, but they were all distracted when the doorbell rang and a few moments later Rita emerged with Chris not far in tow.
They had tried to brief Chris on what happens during a full moon but tried to steer clear of the topic that he was next. None of them were sure on how he was going to take the news. Mimmi crossed the room and pulled Chris into a tight embrace. He looked around at the room of mermaids and mermen (and cat) and once again felt very much like the outsider looking in.
"Right, so, how does this go?" Chris asked to break the silence. All of their stoic faces told him that this was not going to be good.
Cam and David decided that they would take the lead in answering his questions, since they had been in his the position in the previous months. "Well, we explained to you how the full moon makes us merpeople go a little whack, but we didn't tell you the full story," Cam began.
"Every month, the full moon raises up a water dragon and the dragon tries to claim its next victim to the water. It picks out who it will transform by who it notices first, and the dragon has a sense for magic. The more magic you are around the more danger you are in. The first month it called Cam to Mako, last month it was me. This month, we think it is you." David continued to explain.
Chris looked around shocked, it didn't take a rocket scientist to piece together what they were trying to sugar coat, here was a pod of "mythical" creatures standing in front of his saying that he was about to become one of them.
"But, that's why we have you here tonight, we are going to protect you and keep you here. We are going to fight back against the dragon." Mimmi finished for the boys. "We thought it would be best to bring you down to the grotto where there was no hope for any moonlight of getting in. Half of us will be guarding the exit pool on the other side of the cavern and the other half will be watching over you. The only problem is, we really don't know what you are going to do after the moon rises."
"And how do you suggest that you keep me under control?" Chris inquired.
Ondina held up some old weathered sailing ropes, that they had dug up from the bottom of a trunk in the grotto. "We were thinking these." She suggested.
Chris shrugged not really seeing a much better solution on the horizon; he took a seat in an old wooden chair while Mimmi and Ondina tied his hands together and his feet to the legs of the chair. No sooner had they finished, an alarm went off on Zac's wrist watch. "Alright everyone that's two minutes to moonrise, get in your positions." The oldest merman called out.
Zac, Cam, David and Mimmi, stayed in the grotto with Chris, while the rest of the mermaids left to occupy the cavern and guard the pool (although none of them really knew if they were trying to keep Chris in… or something else out). Rita had left just a few minutes prior to go plead with Veridia and the pod again to ask for their aid in protecting their land people friends.
The pod was no closer to coming around than they had just after Cam had become a merman. The mermaids were not eager to share their moon pool and magic with newly turned merfolk and still felt really infringed upon.
All of this was running through Cam's head while they anxiously waited for the full moon to rise. He still felt extremely guilty for ripping his mermaid friends away from their pod, he didn't want to imagine what it was like to be force to leave the only family that they had ever known.
Chris could feel the pull the second the moon rose, he began to squirm uncomfortably and it wasn't long before a cold sweat broke out across his forehead. He strained against the ropes, suddenly feeling claustrophobic and extremely closed in by the rock cavern. He wanted nothing more than to be looking up to the wide open night sky.
His fingers curled around the ropes that kept his hands tied behind his back, it was only a matter of seconds before he had undone the loose knot. Chris sprung up from his chair, one of the ropes around his feet untying completely and the other one splintering the leg of the old chair, leaving it rather useless with only three legs.
It took the merpeople only a second to process what had just took place, but they quickly recovered and all four of them thrust up their hands to use their powers to force Chris back into a sitting position on the ground. But despite all four of their powers acting at once, the three mermen and mermaid could not keep the simple land boy on the ground. Chris stood up with surprising strength, and effortlessly took a few steps in the direction of the pool.
The four guards back up some more and tried desperately to slow down Chris' progress, "Why can't we hold him? What is happening?" Mimmi whimpered.
"It has to be the moon and the dragon, we can't fight both of them combined," Cam theorized.
A splash came from the pool room, followed by a whimpering Sirena crying out, "Um, guys? A little help, please."
David immediately abandoned his post of keeping watch over Chris at the sound of his girlfriend crying out. The two mermen and Mimmi were not far behind him. When they reached the room with the pool that tunneled out into the ocean, they found the four mermaids slowly backing away from the water.
The water had begun to take on an eerie blue glow, and began to bubble as if it were the moon pool on Mako Island. The water began to rise until it was a mountain towering over the group of merperople. The features began to sharpen and the water melted away until to the form of a sea serpent.
The water dragon loomed above them all, growling as its beady eyes scanned through the cavern for its next victim. Its eyes, though made of water, stared into each one of them as it felt as if they were being looked at from the inside out. It examined each one of them to find the magic pulsing through their veins, until it found Chris standing frozen and forgotten in the doorway.
Chris felt led to this moment, like it was the only one that had ever and will ever matter. He was called and he answered. A sense of relief washed over him and it was as if he and the dragon were completely alone, they stared at one another and a deep understanding was passed back and forth with any exchange of words. Chris took a minute step forward. That minuscule step said only one thing to the dragon: I'm ready.
The dragon located the loan land boy in the group, and its eyes flashed momentarily, the only warning sign that it gave before lunging at Chris. Mimmi screamed as she and Zac tried to fling themselves between the beast and Chris but two water tendrils rose up out of the pool and knocked them aside. They toppled over a few seconds later, their tails replacing their legs from underneath them, although, by the time that they had recovered from their fall, the water in the pool had completely stilled and dragon had disappeared with Chris.
Everyone in the cavern was stunned into silence, no one said a word. The only thing that could be heard was Mimmi's wailing.
Guess who's back, back again Shady's back, tell a friend Guess who's back, guess who's back? Heyyy, hope you guys enjoyed this update! Let me know what you guys think, leave a comment or drop a PM in my box. Follow and favorite if you want to read more of this story or any of the others that I have written (they're really old but maybe you'll like them anyways tehe).
AN: Some people were asking me how long I planned on making this story, so as of right now I have 28 chapters planned and outlined. This might change if I think some chapters could be combined or split up, but that is the number that I have for you guys as of right now.