Charlotte Watsford has known about mermaids since she was little. The stories were told to her by her great aunt Lu, who would spin marvelous tales of underwater realms and three girls who felt like they were alone in the world. This is why she wasn't all that disappointed when her mother announced they'd be moving to the Gold Coast for her job. They'd be in the same town as Aunt Lu, and not to mention Charlotte was dying to get away from Adelaide's ridiculously hot summers. She hasn't changed her mind once in this past year.
And why should she? She's got an amazing life here, with a brilliant boyfriend and amazing best friend and their shared tutoring business that's slowly been gaining popularity among the lower years. It helps that Cleo's sister, Kim, has been singing Charlotte's praises ever since she helped the younger girl pass her year 8 finals. The small income is a bonus.
She's got a perfect life, so when something isn't perfect, she notices.
Lewis is preoccupied.
They're working on a summer project for biology, and Lewis keeps getting sidetracked. Charlotte tried to ignore it at first, but he keeps missing her questions and asking her to repeat himself. He always closes out of whatever he's looking at before she can see it, and she doesn't want to pry, but she kind of really wants to pry.
"Look, if you're not going to focus, why don't we just do this later?" she asks an hour into their study session. Lewis looks a little surprised, like he didn't realize he was being so obvious.
"What?" he asks, setting his laptop aside. "No, I'm engaged." He claps his hands and rubs them together. "What are we doing?"
At least he's trying, but at this point Charlotte doesn't feel up to it. She's tired, and Lewis' enthusiasm is so obviously faked that she just wants to call it quits and go to bed. Maybe doodle a bit first.
"I'm just gonna go home," she says as she stands up. "I'm not really feeling up to this right now."
"Do you feel okay?" The Ocean Café is loud, people talking and laughing and generally having a good time. It's summer, and most of them would think Lewis and Charlotte were crazy for doing schoolwork now.
"I'm fine, I've just got this headache and I have a project for CA due the first day we get back that I should look over one more time." Charlotte rubs her head for effect. She really does have a project for CA due, and it's the only class she has that she doesn't share with Lewis or Cleo.
Cleo might know what's keeping Lewis so preoccupied.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow," Lewis says. He pulls open his laptop as soon as he thinks she's out of sight, but Charlotte's paying attention. She wants to know what's interesting Lewis more than her.
She only catches a glimpse of it, but it's enough for her to get the gist of what he's looking at. There are pictures, after all. Not terribly accurate pictures, but pictures nonetheless.
She needs to find Aunt Lu, now.
Louise Chatham's house is a small one a little ways from a beach. It's not a very popular beach, because the sand is course and gets really hot on sunny days, but that doesn't really matter to Louise. She's there for the water, and the fact that it's relatively isolated. She used to live on her boat, the Lorelei, but after an accident involving a jet ski, she had to move. Thankfully, Annette was more than happy to help her find a new place to live.
When Annette and Charlotte moved to the Gold Coast, Louise was happier than she'd been in years. She hadn't seen her goddaughter and her daughter in what felt like forever, and seeing Charlotte after so long, the same age as Louise was when her life was changed, brings back so many wonderful memories.
Gracie died almost forty years ago, now, and Louise hasn't heard from Julia in years. For all Louise knows, she'd dead, too, and Louise is the last one left.
She's done her best to keep it that way, too. Charlotte doesn't need to be a mermaid, she doesn't need that kind of stress, and Mako is far too dangerous for any human to get to. Louise and her friends only went there once, on the night they were turned into mermaids, and haven't been able to get back since.
Louise sometimes wonders what would happen if she went there on a full moon, if the pool would take her powers as easily as it gave them. Sometimes she wonders what her life would be like if she didn't life the entirety of her adult life constantly avoiding water. Gracie had wanted that.
Louise promised her that she would take care of Annette. When Gracie died, Louise had been heartbroken, but she had to be strong. She had little Annette depending on her, and she was really what pulled Louise though. Well her and having to focus on keeping Annette away from Max. He wasn't the girl's father, but he thought that he was, and there was a very tiring legal battle between them for custody. Louise was eventually able to find the man that was Annette's father and convince the judge to give her custody because the man didn't want her, but those months beforehand were extremely stressful.
It was tough after that, but definitely worth it. Annette is a wonderful girl, eager to learn and with a fierce determination that rivals her late mother's.
Louise likes living alone, because whenever someone knocks on her door, it's always a wonderful surprise.
Charlotte's face makes her think the opposite, though. The girl is panting, having just run a long distance from wherever she was to here. (Everything's a long distance from Louise's house.) She looks worried, more so than she's ever been.
"Aunt Lu," she pants. "How are you?"
Instead of answering, Louise lets Charlotte come inside and offers her a glass of ice water. "What's the matter?" They sit down on Louise's couch, which is older than Charlotte it.
"Lewis knows."
Louise knows Charlotte's boyfriend very well. The first time Charlotte brought Lewis over to meet her, he was fascinated by her large collection of rare shells, a collection she's been working on ever since she got custody of Annette. Louise eagerly described the creature that use to live in every shell, where it was from, and how old it was. He stayed enraptured for as long as Louise talked. He's a good boy, if a bit too curious for his own good.
There are hundreds of things Louise can think of that Charlotte doesn't want Lewis to know. There's only one that will send Charlotte running here, to Louise.
"He knows about me?" she asks. To Louise's surprise, Charlotte shakes her head. What could it be, then?
"He doesn't know about you specifically, but he's been researching mermaids like crazy. I think he knows they exist, but not about you specifically."
Louise breathes a sigh of relief. "You've got to be careful," she warns. "Lewis is a nice boy, but you don't know what he's doing. Keep an eye on him, but don't be too worried." Louise doesn't think it's anything too serious. Lewis is probably just curious about mythical creatures.
"You weren't there, Aunt Lu," Charlotte argues. "He was so focused on his screen that he barely knew I was there. I'm worried."
Louise sighs. "Alright, I trust you. Just be careful.
Charlotte nods. She's still really worried, Louise can tell, so she gets up off her couch and goes to the kitchen. What they both need is tea.
Charlotte's been on edge all day the next day, and she almost feels guilty for not trusting Lewis. He's been stopping in the middle of their conversations for no apparent reason and rushing off to God-knows-where. She didn't follow him the first time, too concerned for her family's secret to risk getting caught, but now his near-constant disappearances are starting to get annoying, and Charlotte just wants to know what's going on, even if it's none of her business.
If he's going somewhere to talk to someone about mermaids, then that makes it Charlotte's business. She may not have a tail, but she comes from a family of mermaids, and protecting that secret is a lot easier for her than it is for Aunt Lu, who can't even take walks without water resistant clothing for fear of getting hit with a sprinkler.
Charlotte's always been pretty good at avoiding people's gazes, so it's no trouble for her to follow Lewis. He's not even trying to avoid being followed; it's pretty ridiculous.
Lewis leads her down to the water, on a relatively isolated, rocky stretch of beach that Charlotte recognizes as his favorite fishing spot. She almost loses him in the rocks, but as she scales on of the boulders, she catches sight of his blonde hair.
He's talking to someone, alright, but Charlotte can't see who it is from this angle, so she climbs a little bit higher.
She thinks she recognizes him, but that doesn't give her much. She sees so many different people at school that she can pick them out in a crowd, though she's never really been good at putting names to the faces.
The boy Lewis is talking to is laying on his stomach for some reason, like he's laying right where the waves touch the sand. His shorts must be soaked—oh wow.
In her hundreds of stories, Aunt Lu has never said anything about mermen. Charlotte's not even sure Aunt Lu knows they exist, but they obviously are if Charlotte's not crazy. He must have turned on Mako, because Aunt Lu never mentioned any other way to get a tail, and even if she can't remember his name, Charlotte knows she's gone to school with this boy ever since she moved here, and she's seen him get splashed quite a few times.
His tail is long and blue, not too hard to see in the water, and the tips occasionally flick water up into the air. Charlotte has no idea what they're talking about; she's too enraptured by the merman's tail to pay attention.
There's suddenly a loud crack, and the small foothold that Charlotte is standing on breaks. The air is knocked out of her as she falls on her back, and she's still getting up when Lewis rounds the corner. He offers her a hand up.
"What did you see?" he asks calmly, but Charlotte can tell that he's freaking out internally. She wonders if the merman is still on the beach, or if he left while Charlotte was distracted and she didn't hear him go.
"I saw enough," she shrugs, "but to be honest I've known about mermaids, or merpeople I guess, pretty much all my life." She's getting dangerously close to exposing Aunt Lu, so she switches the topic. "What about you?"
"I've known for a couple days," Lewis says.
"I'm guessing that's what you were so occupied with?"
Lewis nods.
The merman walks round the corner then, completely dry and free of any scales, just like Aunt Lu said.
"Nice to meet you," Charlotte says, sticking her hand out. "I'm Charlotte."
The merman looks wary but still takes her hand. "Will," the merman answers. "We've got Maths together." He's right, and now that Charlotte can put a name to the face, she knows exactly who he is.
"Mako, right?"
The former free diver looks slightly taken aback, and Lewis looks confused. It's likely that Will hasn't told Lewis about the island yet, but there's no other place he could have turned.
"I know a lot," Charlotte explains.
"Great, then you can help us." Lewis looks so eager that Charlotte can't say no, no matter how dangerous it is. What's that phrase? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Not that Lewis is her enemy, and Will seems like a cool guy, but Aunt Lu is right. She needs to keep an eye on them.
"Sure," she says. "Why not?"
I've known I wanted to do something with Charlotte for a while now, but I wasn't sure exactly how to write her character not being a villain. Also, Louise is still a mermaid because of the fortifications around Mako. She and the other two '56 mermaids mostly kept away from Mako, and as a result Louise doesn't know much about it. This means Charlotte's knowledge of mermaids has some pretty big gaps, but she'll be learning alongside Lewis and Will. Julia is also most likely dead.
-Bathyal