Lyla wasn't in the water when the boom that would have alerted any surrounding mermaids to a newcomer, had there been any surrounding mermaids, was released. She was watching Cam, making sure he wouldn't be the one to set that boom off. She wasn't sure if it was better to have an unknown in the mix than Cam. On one hand, Cam was dangerous. He was very willing to try to destroy them, something that may not be true with a wayward human who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But they knew what he wanted, how he operated. They didn't even know who the new mermaid, or seas forbid, merman, even was. They were an unknown.
While she was guarding Cam, Lyla thought Nixie was weak for not facing him. She understood, but still. He was tied up, and she didn't even have to look at him. Nixie was never one to be hurt by mere words. It turned out to be a good thing in the end, though. They would have never known if Nixie hadn't been in the water when the unknown human was turned.
Ten minutes after Cam left, with murder in his eyes but resignation in his gait, Nixie came into Rita's pool room in a rush, her wake sloshing up over the edge and narrowly missing everyone.
"We need to get to Mako, now."
No one questioned her order./p
"There was a shock wave," she explained. "I was out around the island, and I felt it. Someone fell into the moon pool."
Lyla didn't know how to react. A few months ago, she would have been angry. She would have raged against Nixie for being so careless, against Cam for occupying her when she should be guarding her home, against Zac for keeping her on land for so long, for making her lazy and complacent. She was older now, and maybe a little bit wiser.
She still panicked.
They found nothing after a few hours of looking, and they had training with Rita in the morning, so they went home. They haven't searched since. Lyla is itching to get into the water. The more time they waste sitting around and not finding the intruder, the more time that intruder will have to gat a hang of their tail. Their only chance at this point is to catch them before they have a chance to really experiment with their powers.
Sirena voiced her too-optimistic hope that maybe the intruder was just one person, and a girl. The pod hasn't accepted newcomers in Lyla's lifetime, but in every story she's heard, it's always been a girl human that the pod extended their welcome to. While their track record with human girls hasn't exactly been the best, at least there is one, unlike with boys. Had Zac been a girl, Lyla has no doubt the pod wouldn't have left. Still, there's a very good chance that the intruder was male, and a decent chance there was more than one of them. Sirena can be hopeful all she wants, but Lyla's going to prepare for the worst.
"We should be out there," Lyla whispers to Nixie, who's sitting between her and Sirena. The three of them are at the Ocean Café, inside due to the heat.
"I agree," Nixie says, sipping from her strawberry virgin daiquiri, "but Rita said we need to be patient."
"Why are we even listening to her? She's been on land for years, and she's not even part of the pod."
"Neither are we," Sirena says softly, "But Rita's given us good advice before."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Lyla huffs. "Sit around doing nothing?"
"We wait," Nixie says. "We wait and see what they do. If they make themselves a problem, then we go after them. They might just be content to keep it hidden and occasionally go out. If they don't reveal themselves, we'll be fine."
"And what if they try to take over Mako, are we just going to let them?" Lyla honestly can't believe what the other two are saying. Since when did any of them ever take something lying down?/
"Then we fight," Nixie's just about done with her daiquiri, and she tilts her glass to get the last drops up her straw. "But chances are they don't know anything about our culture. Unless they've got someone who knows their stuff helping them, we're fairly safe."
"I still think we should be out there," Lyla grumbles. Nixie's got good points, she usually does, but still, if they're out there and they do come across the intruder, who may be just a naïve kid, they can tell them whatever they want, and keep them from trying to go against the island.
Lyla doesn't expect Evie to walk up to them. She usually keeps her nose out of their business, which she should. She's just Zac's girlfriend. She doesn't know anything about them or their culture, or anything they're trying to help Zac with. She's basically glorified emotional support.
"What's wrong?" Evie asks. She looks more annoyed than concerned. Whatever. The three of them have a right to be here, and unless they do something really bad, Evie can't kick them out.
Nixie immediately goes on the defensive. "What makes you think something's wrong?" There's a small twitch in her lip that gives away that she's hiding something. She's never been the best at lying, even Lyla knows that. Nixie and Sirena were always getting into trouble with the pod. The only reason they never knew about her excursions to land was because they never asked.
"Look," Evie hisses. She's mad now, and Lyla kind of wants to take it as a challenge, but she can feel Sirena's hand on her knee, grounding her. "Even David can tell something's up, so you can either tell me and I can help cover for you, or you can ignore the fact that you're practically broadcasting it across the café." Lyla hazards a quick glance around the café. People are looking at them. They haven't had this much trouble blending in since their first week. People have mostly forgotten how weird they seemed when they first showed up.
Sirena looks at her, then at Nixie, and nods.
"Nixie was out swimming last night," Sirena starts. Nixie glares at her, but doesn't say anything in protest. So Sirena continues. "She was out at Mako around the apex, when she felt these sort-of shock waves come from the island."
"And that means…?" Lyla knows Sirena knows that Evie doesn't know what she's talking about. Sirena is stalling for time to come up with the right way to say things, and Lyla couldn't be more proud of her.
"It means that someone else fell into the moon pool last night," Lyla explains, catching her friend. There's no use in lying. "The same thing happened with Zac."
"Have you told Zac yet?" Like they need to tell Zac everything they do. He's not their keeper. Still, Evie's not going to take that explanation well.
"We were going to, but Cam was there, and we don't want to risk him knowing." Lyla can see Evie dissecting her words, and the other girl is suspicious.
"It's probably for the best he doesn't know yet," Evie concedes. "He'll just run off and try to befriend whoever it is, and the last thing we need around here is more merpeople." Nixie takes offence at this, but Lyla thinks Evie's right. Sirena would do the same thing, and she's only recently been convinced otherwise. "Do we know anything about them?"
"Nothing," Nixie says. "I didn't think anyone besides teenage boys were stupid enough to try to get past all of Mako's defenses, but I guess I was wrong." Unless it was another teenage boy.
"That does narrow it down some, though," Lyla adds. "Who's ballsy enough to go to Mako? And who would stay there long enough to find the ground entrance to the moon pool?" All signs point to a teenager or some kind of scientist. No one else would give the island enough time to find anything.
David calls for Evie to help him move stuff, and she gives the mermaids a quick goodbye. "I'll tell Zac when I get the chance."
"We should get out of here," Nixie suggests. "I want to ask Rita some questions."/
Across the room, Evie's eyes widen and her hands start shaking, looking at her phone. No one except a blonde in the corner notices.
"I'm out," Nixie says, standing. Sirena looks at the other girl in confusion, and Nixie discreetly nods her head towards Evie.
"I'll catch up with you," Lyla says. Nixie shrugs and heads out, Sirena on her tail.
The café is decently busy, with groups of teenagers at almost every table, chatting amongst themselves. If Lyla's hunch is right, one of them could be the intruder. Maybe the dark girl in the corner, or the blonde with a glass of water. Maybe even one of the boys talking loudly in the center of the room.
With a sigh, Lyla stands up, pays for her drink, and leaves.
They've been out here for hours, and they haven't seen a single sign of the intruder. They're either really good at hiding, really lucky, or not coming out here. Lyla supposes it's possible, that whoever it was in the pool just wants to go on with their life and doesn't want to have to deal with this. She doesn't know why anyone would, though. The tail is a gift, one Lyla's been fortunate enough to have all her life.
"Are you sure someone got turned?" Zac asks when they've surfaced. He wasn't there on the outside when he turned; he's got no idea how unmistakable the shock wave is.
"Positive," Nixie urges. "I'm going back down." Again, Sirena follows her. (That girl has got to get her own life.)
Lyla and Zac tread water silently for a while. Evie is on land with Cam, simultaneously looking for anything suspicious and keeping an eye on the boy. Not that it's even remotely possible that he's involved with this. He was tied up at the time of the full moon, and Zac's been keeping en eye on him. He hasn't talked to anyone they Zac doesn't know since that night.
"How're you doing?" Zac eventually asks.
"What do you mean?"
Zac shrugs. "You were pretty freaked out when I fell into the pool and got you all banished. I can't imagine what this is like."
"I'm fine."
She's lying. In all honestly, Lyla is freaking out. She hasn't quite accepted that the pod isn't coming back, that there's nothing they can do about Zac. Maybe, just maybe, they could have explained the whole Zac fiasco away, maybe even convince them to let him join, but not anymore. They have no way to blame Mako's strange magic for this. Someone should have been at the island. Lyla should have been at the island. Zac and Evie had Cam handled, Sirena as backup. Nixie was emotionally compromised. Lyla didn't need to be there, she could have been watching the island.
For one of the first times in millennia, no one was guarding Mako on the night of the full moon, and a human got in.
Lyla knows she's being harsh on herself. Cam was the biggest threat at the time, and they had no way to know what was happening.
It's still her fault.
"I'm fine," she says again. It's still a lie; it will never not be a lie, but if there's one thing Lyla's good at, it's lying.
(Edit: March 4, 2015: Wooh, no clue what happened there with the formatting. Super wonky.)