4.

Zac woke up the next morning momentarily panicked. For a second, he couldn't remember where he was or how he got there, but then the sun shining through the mouth of the volcano above the moon pool registered as familiar and he remembered that he had spent the night there - in mer-form.

Groaning, he stretched and turned his head. Mimmi had gone to sleep on his right and Ondina and Sirena had taken the opposite side of the pool so that their tails all pointed towards the middle of the pool. Sirena had been right - it was a snug fit - but they had managed to spread themselves out.

It had been just as strange the second time as it was the first, to simply lay back and drift off on top of the water. And yet, he thought, as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he felt strangely invigorated. He had no idea what the time was, but seeing as Mimmi was still asleep, mouth slightly open as she floated, he reckoned it couldn't be too late. Her eyelids fluttered in her sleep and she let out a little sigh. Zac smirked.

He reached over and poked her shoulder. She snorted and jerked awake, blinking blearily. She twisted until she was more upright and Zac also sunk down until they were both facing one another. Mimmi yawned and stretched. "Morning, Zac." She glanced over to the other side of the pool. Both Sirena and Ondina were gone. "Huh. How late is it?"

Zac shrugged. "Dunno. I just woke up."

Something rumbled and Mimmi squeaked, putting a hand to her stomach. She grinned ruefully. "Breakfast time, I think."

It was strange, Zac pondered, waking up this way. There was no dragging himself out of bed, or into clothes. There was no morning ritual to observe - no brushing his teeth or washing his face or body. All he did was just...wake up, ready to go.

Mimmi did one last stretch and slipped further towards the exit to the moon pool. "Come on, let's go catch some breakfast."

And that was something else - the whole 'catch your food' thing. It was weird. Mermaids didn't have refrigerators though, so how else were they supposed to do it?

He followed Mimmi out of the pool, content to observe as she collected a woven mesh bag from between two rocks and set off with a strong beat of her tail. He could admit he was hungry, but it just seemed so odd to just wake up and swim off to grab breakfast out in the middle of the ocean. This was how animals lived - from meal to meal, day to day. Zac wasn't so sure he could find any purpose in that. He didn't feel comfortable just...existing.

Mimmi turned her head, catching his eye. Her eyebrows rose, questioning, and he shook his head. She frowned at him, but used her free hand to beckon him on, twisting around to head towards a crop of particularly bright coral. There, she scouted several crustaceans and, with some clever hand signals that took Zac only a few tries to interpret, indicated that he should collect some things as well.

He stared at the reef and the brightly coloured fish, and felt like this was all wrong. He'd been fishing before. He'd even gone diving for clams and other shellfish - he knew how to catch seafood - but he knew how to catch it the human way.

Mimmi swam up to him and shoved the mesh bag into his hands with a roll of her eyes. Stay there, she indicated. Zac turned to inspect the bag as she darted off after something she'd spotted. There were mussels, clams, some shrimp, and a couple of limp fish. He poked at them, but they seemed firmly dead.

A hand on his tail made him startle. He jerked it out of reach and whipped around to spot Ondina smirking at him, one eyebrow raised. She pointed to the bag and clicked her tongue, but if it was meant to mean something, Zac had no idea. Ondina rolled her eyes and shook her head. Mimmi, she mouthed, then shrugged, hand making a small circling motion, palm up, as if to say, where?

Zac pointed in the direction Mimmi had swum off. Ondina nodded and turned to head in the same direction. She didn't get very far. As Zac watched, Mimmi swam back into sight past some rocks, a bunch of slick seaweed in one hand. She grinned when she spotted Ondina, and waved the seaweed. When they got close enough, Zac heard Ondina click and squeak - it sounded like noises a dolphin would make.

He blinked. Of course. They couldn't speak English underwater, it would be too distorted...but they could speak Dolphin. He remembered Mimmi's attempts to teach him Humpback and grimaced. It seemed impossible to learn. It was just a bunch of moaning or squeaking - how was he supposed to know which particular moan or squeak meant what?

Mimmi and Ondina swam past them, Mimmi's hand reaching out to tug his fins playfully as she passed. She shot him a grin over her shoulder and jerked her chin. He sighed, bubbles escaping his mouth, but followed.

All three of them made it back to the moon pool and once they had surfaced, Ondina turned to Mimmi and said, "I told Erik what happened. I was worried Veridia might try to do something to him, as well. He's going to stay away from Mako, just in case."

Zac handed over the bag when Mimmi gestured for it, but his eyes were mostly on Ondina. "But I'm the only one who can access the chamber, aren't I?"

Ondina shrugged. "Better safe than sorry."

Mimmi proffered him some seaweed which she had wrapped around a prawn in a sort of make-shift sushi roll. He stared at it in surprise. "Thanks."

She smiled, biting into her own. Then she turned back to Ondina. "Did you eat?"

Ondina nodded. "I'm good." She sighed, hands cupping the water then releasing it. Her golden tail flicked back and forth. "This is such a...a mess."

"Have you seen Cam?" Zac asked, as he fiddled with his breakfast. When Mimmi shot his hands a look, he bit into it - pleasantly surprised by the interesting burst of flavour - and chewed.

Ondina tilted her head thoughtfully. "He was at the café when I left, why?"

"I need to talk to him." Zac quickly stuffed the rest of the wrap in his mouth, chewing quickly. When Ondina merely raised an eyebrow, he explained, "If my mum asks him about last night, he'll give it away if he doesn't know. Can you ask him to come down to the docks so I can speak to him?" He sucked a bit of shrimp juice off his finger. He found another wrap hovering in his field of vision as Mimmi held it out, lips quirked with amusement.

Ondina sighed. "Ugh. Fine. But you'll want to hurry. It's nearly time for land school."

Zac hastily stuffed his second shrimp-seaweed wrap into his mouth, nodding quickly. "'kay, le's go," he said through a mouthful.

"Zac-" Mimmi began, gesturing to the rest of their breakfast.

Zac tried to swallow, failed, and chewed a bit more slowly. He shook his head, jerking his chin in the direction of the exit. Finally, he finished most of his mouthful. "Be back soon."

After a hasty good-bye, Zac and Ondina left the pool. Ondina sped off to meet up with Cam and direct him towards a secluded part of the docks. Zac headed straight for the docks and found somewhere where he could observe without being obvious. He felt like some kind of criminal, sneaking around in the ocean, ready to duck under the minute someone glanced his way.

He'd always had that fear of discovery before, but it had been tempered by the knowledge that he could simply pull himself out of the water and disappear into the crowd. It had been almost liberating, knowing that he could escape to land or water - that he'd always have a place in either world. Now, he was trapped. The whole ocean was his cage.

He floated under the hull of a boat anchored further out to sea and stared down through the water at his bright blue fish-tail. Part of him wanted to hate it, for trapping him, but the rest of him couldn't imagine giving it up. If Veridia had taken his tail instead, somehow, he knew he would have been equally devastated.

Mimmi's argument from the previous afternoon still resonated with him. He understood where she was coming from - he really did. He was a merman - he belonged in the ocean. That was a fact. What she didn't understand was that he'd grown up on land - he had a life - a family, friends, hobbies, a reason to get up in the morning. Unlike the rest of the mermaids, he couldn't just...give it all up to go frolic with the dolphins forever. He had obligations and ties on land that were strong, nigh unbreakable. His legs were just as much an intrinsic part of him as his tail, and to be deprived of them would be just as horrific as being denied the ocean. He wasn't either-or, he was part of both worlds.

Being trapped in one just didn't sit right, but he couldn't hate his tail, not completely. He could certainly hate Veridia though, for denying him half of himself.

He glanced up and spotted Cam hurrying down the length of the docks, head whipping around as if on a swivel, his expression creased with worry. Zac quickly ducked under the water and swam up to one of the end docks, the one furthest from anyone working on their boats in the early morning sunshine. He surfaced cautiously, eyes just skimming the top of the water as he glanced around. So far so good. He stuck his head up. "Cam!" he hissed, as loudly as he dared.

Cam, standing at the end of the docks and still twisting his head this way and that in search of Zac, jerked his eyes down to the water. A funny expression came over his face as he hurried over, dropping to his knees by the edge. "Zac? What are you doing?"

Zac grimaced. "Cam, I'm stuck."

Cam's brow furrowed. "What? Look, are you okay? Evie said you were hurt during the full moon - that Veridia chick came and zapped you good."

Zac reached out and gripped the edge of the dock, hauling himself up so that he and Cam were at a closer eye level. "Listen, Veridia did more than zap me, okay? She took away my legs."

Cam reared back, rocking so far back he ended up on his butt. His mouth popped open, stunned. "Wh-what?" he spluttered. He scrambled forward, peering over the edge of the wood into the water at Zac's tail. "Are you serious? She took your legs? How can she do that?"

Zac's shoulders hunched. He slumped further into the water, chin coming down. He glared at Cam's legs - his perfectly functional, strong, human legs. "Well, I wasn't born with them, was I?" he snapped. "I got them because of a magic spell and apparently a magic spell can take them away!" His chest heaved and he pushed back off the dock, unable to keep his grip. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm down as Cam continued to gape at him.

"That's insane," muttered Cam.

Zac passed a hand over his eyes. "I know," he replied bitterly. "Look, I'm stuck like this until the next full moon. The girls' moon rings aren't strong enough to change me back without the power of the full moon in the moon pool…"

"That's a month away!" Cam shouted, eyes wide. "No way! They'll have the police out searching for you in full force by then, Zac!"

Zac dashed a hand against the water in frustration. "I know, Cam! Listen, I told my mum I was at yours last night, but I'm running out of excuses. Just...play along for now, please?"

Cam shook his head slowly, disbelief etched across his face. "Yeah, sure, mate, whatever you need." He paused. "What about afterwards? What are you gonna tell them when you don't come back after two days? A week?"

Zac clenched his jaw, lips tightening. He shrugged. "I don't know."

Stumbling to his feet, Cam laughed, hollowly, and brushed himself off. He closed his eyes for a second, a frown twisting his mouth. "You're in it deep, now, Zac."

Zac glared.

Cam shrugged helplessly. "I'll try to think of something, but…" The way he stared down at Zac reeked of pity. Zac glanced away for a moment, shoulders tightening all the way down to his tail ridge.

"Right. I'd better go. Class starts soon." Cam's eyes flicked to his watch, then widened. "Real soon." He spun on his heel, backpack clunking against his side as it swung wildly over his shoulder. He froze, twisting to throw Zac a gimlet eye. "Does Evie know?"

"Yeah," Zac nodded, wearily. "They all do. I think Ondina told Erik to stay out of the ocean, in case Veridia comes back, too."

Cam chewed his lip. His brow furrowed. "And you? She's not gonna come after you again, is she?"

Zac sent him a weak smile. "I've got the girls...I'll be fine."

Except he wouldn't be fine. Because he was stuck in the ocean. He couldn't go to school, he couldn't go home, and he couldn't go to the café. His parents were going to be worried sick. He had nothing to do. All he had were endless hours, an open ocean, and a persistent sister.

It shouldn't have seemed so terrible, but it was.

He watched Cam hurry away, lifting a hand to wave in return, but dropping it the instant Cam's back was out of sight. Then, he was forced to duck back under the water because two land people turned a corner on the docks and started to head his way.

This was his life for the next month. Ducking underwater to avoid being spotted by land-people who wouldn't hesitate to capture him for experiments or put him on display at the marine park. He blinked slowly, wondering suddenly when it had become so us versus them. Right now, more than ever, land people were so very much a them.

He swallowed, nose exhaling bubbles as he stared at the barnacle encrusted underside of the floating docks. Thinking about this was just going to depress him. Besides, he still needed to think of a solution to his disappearance.

What if I told them?

He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head. That way lay insanity. No way. He couldn't tell his parents they had adopted a merman. They'd freak. They'd never look at him the same way again.

Besides, it wasn't just about him. There was Mimmi and the other girls to consider. This secret was bigger than just him - it put everyone in danger.

He turned tail and headed back for the moon pool. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

Mimmi was still there when he arrived. She was picking at the left-over seaweed with her fingers, expression lax and bored. There was absolutely none of her usual energy in her movements, even when she turned to Zac as he resurfaced. She merely sent him a tight smile and asked him how his talk went.

"Fine," Zac replied, shortly.

"Cam have any solutions?"

Zac shook his head mutely. Mimmi's mouth quirked sadly, in clear commiseration. She reached down to the ledge beside her and plucked up a handful of clams. "Here, I saved you some breakfast."

He accepted them with a weak smile. He felt bad now, that he was making her so miserable when all she was trying to do was help. Not only had she stuck by him, but she was going out of her way to make sure he had food, a place to sleep…

Zac set down the clams with a sigh. He owed her an apology. "Mimmi? I'm sorry I've been so unpleasant."

Mimmi twisted her head, blinking at him in surprise. She pushed off the ledge, drawing close enough to put a hand on his arm. Her lips pursed, eyes crinkling. "No, Zac, I'm sorry. You're right to feel upset and angry, and I…" She sighed, hand dropping. She bit her lip. "I guess I wasn't being fair to you. You did grow up on land, regardless of where you belong, so this can't be easy for you."

He smiled in mild relief. "No, it's not," he agreed. "Thanks," he added after a moment. Mimmi nodded and floated back again, coming to rest against the side of the pool. Then she chewed her lip for a long moment and Zac paused in the process of picking out a clam to take measure of her posture. "What?" he asked.

Mimmi glanced at the clams, avoiding his eyes. "I get that you're upset, but...will you still let me teach you?" She stared down at the water, gaze flickering up briefly to meet his.

Zac's hands dropped to his sides. "Teach me?" he repeated.

"Yes. Look, there's not much we can do about the situation, is there? So we should take the...time for me to teach you things. And then, of course, take time for your land school studies and things," she added hastily. Pausing, she searched his expression, waiting.

Zac swallowed. She was right. He knew she was right. There was nothing he could do except wait, and what else was he going to spend his time doing? Swimming? All day every day? Even swimming lost its charm after a while. Slowly, he nodded. Mimmi's expression brightened. "Really?"

"Yeah," Zac sighed, "okay."

[03.09.15] So, here we have chapter 4. Zac is still deliberating what to do, but at least he's finally accepted he's got to make the best of the situation...

Anyway, I know it's a bit slow going, but hopefully enjoyable nonetheless! Cheers, all.