AN: I'm so sorry I didn't update this for like two days! But it's not my fault. I just didn't have time to finsh the chapter. The time I had for writting in the past couple of days was so little that it took me forever to write this. But here it is now. I hope you like it. Also, please don't forget to review. Reviews make me want to update even more.

"You just saved me." Peter said, gaping down at Susan. His expression was a mixture of gratitude, amazement, and disbelief.

"I told you I didn't want you to get hurt." Susan smiled at him.

"Look." Peter pointed to the top of the moon pool. "The moon's almost away from the pool."

"The moon." Susan sighed happily, unintentionally reminding Peter that she was still moonstruck.

"Now that you're alright, let's get you out of here." Peter offered his hand, hoping she would grab onto it in spite of her desire to stay in the moon pool.

She didn't take his hand. She just blinked at him as if she suddenly had no idea who he was. The moon was no longer hanging over the pool but it would be hours before it set.

Feeling pretty sure it was safe to go on and that any chance of being turned into a member of the merfolk himself was long over, Peter dived into the moon pool. He was a reasonably strong swimmer. You had to know how to do that sort of thing when you were a High King over a whole country.

Susan seemed more than pleased that he had joined her. "Isn't this the nicest place that ever was?" She beamed at him. "Mako Island is so wonderful."

"It is." Peter said rather mournfully, thinking about Harrison Bennett's plans.

Even if they succeeded in keeping Susan, Cleo, Rikki, and Emma safe, there was a good chance they would fail to protect Mako in the process. Somehow, looking first into the mermaid's bright shinning eyes and then up to the clear star-filled sky above the volcano like covering, he knew Mako's time was coming to an end. And that there might just be nothing he could do about it. He wouldn't be able to safe this place anymore than he was able to save Narnia. Narnia was long gone. Mako didn't seem to belong in this world it seemed to be a world of it's own, small enough to fit in ours but never truly a part of it.

Wordlessly, they laid on their backs and floated in the water for hours and hours just looking at the sky shinning above them.

"I know you probably wont remember any of this when the moon goes down but, thanks." Peter turned his head to face her while still floating, causing half of his face to sink under the surface of the water.

Susan swam closer to him reaching out and stroking his cheek under the water.

"The sun's rising." Peter noticed the cave was a little lighter now. "The full moon will be over in an hour."

"Goodbye moon." Susan's voice sounded pathetically sad and wistful.

"They'll be another one next month." Peter groaned, wishing that fact wasn't true. "I just don't know where you'll go. By then this place will likely be long gone."

"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard." Susan whispered, looking like she might cry.

"I hope the others are alright." Peter thought of Rikki, Cleo, and Emma still moonstruck back at Max's house and wondered what they were doing.

Cleo was actually strapped to a chair in Max's kitchen with her tail fully formed. She looked furious.

"Sorry, Cleo." Lewis said giving her an apologetic glance. "But we can't risk losing you too."

"I can't take this anymore." Ash groaned, rubbing his head forehead with his index finger and thumb. He'd been up all night trying to keep Emma and Cleo away from water and sea food. And it had been terribly unsuccessful. Cleo had somehow gotten her hands wet, resulting in the formed tail. As for Emma, he didn't even want to think about the stomachache that poor girl was going to have when she returned to normal. "How much longer?"

"Just a little less than an hour." Lewis checked his watch.

"Thank god." Muttered Zane, who was half asleep, leaning with his back against an open doorway.

Back at Mako Island, Peter pulled himself out of the moon pool onto the solid ground of the cave. He was utterly exhausted. Too tired to swim or even float anymore. Susan pulled herself up beside him, her long gold tail making a loud flop on the rocky surface. She felt a little chilly in the open air after being in the water for so long. She started to shiver, scooting herself closer to Peter who put his arm around her, drawing her even closer. Feeling rather tired herself, Susan closed her eyes and fell asleep. At first Peter tried to fight his closing eyelids. He knew Susan was still moonstruck and didn't feel comfortable resting until she returned to normal. but with a heavy sigh, he gave in to his drowsiness. There was less than an hour of this left anyway. Everything would be fine.

Three hours later, Susan woke up. Her tail was gone and her legs had returned. Her eyes grew wide with fear as she realized that she was in the moon pool cave on Mako. The last thing she could remember had been watching Zane's father on TV and now suddenly she was here. She felt a warm arm around her waist and heard a slight snore. Slowly, she rolled over to see who it was.

"Peter?" Susan said, nudging him awake. "What are we doing here?"

"Good morning to you too." Peter joked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"I got moonstruck didn't I?" Susan asked even though she already knew the answer.

He nodded yes.

"How?" Had they gone through all that trouble covering up all the windows, cracks, doors etc. for nothing?

"You saw the moon on a live feed." Peter explained.

"The others..." Susan asked in a worried tone. "They...what happened to them? Are they alright?"

"Emma, Cleo, and Rikki are back at Max's house." Peter told her, standing up and taking her hand to help her up. "But now that you're back to normal, we've got to get out of here."

"What happened last night?" Susan wanted to know.

"You saved me from getting shot by Zane's father." Peter said causally, suppressing a smile, knowing it wasn't the sort of thing you said in passing.

"What?" Susan gasped.

"He pulled a gun out at me and you blew it away." He explained as they walked out of the top of the cave, and towards the island shore where he'd left Lewis's boat.

"How?" Susan asked.

"You used the water in the air to control the wind, it was incredible." Peter beamed at her. "I wish you could remember the look on Mr. Bennett's face!"

"But why did he pull a gun out on you?" Susan asked, keeping the most important things in mind.

"It's a long story." Peter took a deep breath and told her about Harrison Bennett's plans not only to develop Mako but also to expose the mermaid secret to the world.

"Why do people always do this?" Susan whispered softly. "First Ella, then Dr. Denman, now Mr. Bennett. Why can't they just leave us alone?"

"People are greedy pigs." Peter muttered, then he looked back at Susan and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "but don't worry, I wont let them hurt you, or your friends."

She smiled back, then slowly, the smile faded as they reached the shoreline and there was no boat in sight. "Peter, where did you say you left Lewis's boat?"

"Hang it all!" Peter growled. "Harrison Bennett probably took it to get back at us."

"Peter!" Susan grabbed his arm and pointed to a speed boat in the distance coming into view.

"Must be Mr. Bennett." Peter said, standing protectively closer to Susan. "He's not the sort to give up so easily."

Susan pulled him behind a rock closer to the water. "Come on," started crawling into the water.

"Susan, what are you doing!" Peter grabbed her before she could make contact with the sea.

"We're getting out of here." Susan told him. "Hold onto my tail and I'll swim us back to the mainland."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Peter asked, looking anxiously out at the deep blue ocean ahead of them.

Susan thought it over for a moment. "How long can you hold your breath?"

"A while." Peter admitted.

"Then we'll be fine." Susan said. "But whatever you do, don't let go."

"I wont." Peter promised, grabbing onto her tail as it formed.

Susan had always been a naturally fast swimmer. Even before she became a mermaid. She understood better than anyone how Emma felt after having to quit the swim team. She knew what it was like to have confused or even angry questionings about why she would give up everything she worked for so suddenly. As a mermaid however she'd become much faster than she'd ever been in her human form. It was this speed which helped her travel from America to England in one night (Not that she could ever do that without being moonstruck, she'd have been way too afraid) and it was this super mermaid speed that was enabling her to pass the speed boat. However the added weight of Peter holding on made her a bit slower and she couldn't help but worry about him running out of air before they reached the shoreline. She could hear soft bubbling gasping noises below her. She wanted to wait a little longer so that whomever was on the boat (Likely Mr. Bennett) couldn't see them but she wasn't willing to risk it. She pushed up her fin so that Peter's head went above the water. He took in a rather raspy gasp of air and opened his eyes for a moment. Salt water spilled in, making them smart terribly.

"Peter!" A voice on the boat that did not belong to Mr. Bennett called out.

It was one of the Bennett family's boats but it wasn't a dangerous rider on board. It was Rikki and Zane.

After the moon went down, Rikki got out of the bathroom that she'd been locked in all night and asked what had happened. After they explained it to her she and Zane had gotten into one of his father's many boats, zooming towards Mako to find Peter and Susan. (Harrison Bennett would probably be beyond peeved but they didn't care).

When Susan tried to pull her tail back down, Peter pulled it up. It was a bit rough though he didn't mean to be, he was only trying to alert her to the fact that they didn't need to flee from the boat.

"Get in." Rikki said as Zane edged the boat a little closer to them.

If Susan hadn't trusted Peter as much as she did, she might have kept going not being able to hear Rikki's voice over the sounds of rushing water and loud motor. Trusting him completely, Susan lifted her head out of the water and grabbed onto the side of the boat.

"Thank goodness you're alright." Rikki smiled at her. "We were all so worried."

Peter pulled himself onto the boat as Rikki started using her boiling powers to steam-dry Susan's tail away.

"Stay away on that side of the boat." Rikki insisted, eyeing his dripping wet clothes. "The last thing I want right now is my tail forming."

Peter sneezed into the back of his hand. "Achoo!"

"Poor thing." Susan sighed sympathetically.

"At least I'm alive." Peter reminded her. He looked over at Zane. "You wont believe what your father tried to do to me."

"I would." Rikki tossed up her nose and flipped a lock of curly blond hair over her shoulder as she spoke. She hated Zane's dad. the stuck up prig had always thought his son was too good for her and that he should date air headed girls from rich families who had more plastic in their bodies than Barbie. Mr. Bennett still made constant hints that Zane would be better off dating Miriam.

"He pointed a gun at me." Peter told him rather gravely knowing it must be hard to hear these things about your own father. "He would have shot me if Susan hadn't used her powers to blast his gun on the side of that rock."

"Why would he do that?" Zane wondered aloud. "I mean I get that the man doesn't like trespassing but that doesn't sound like him."

"He's telling the truth, Zane." Susan said.

"How would you know?" Zane lashed out. "you don't even remember."

"Why would I make this up?" Peter asked.

"I don't know." Zane said miserably. "Maybe you misunderstood him, I mean, yeah my dad's pretty nasty sometimes when people get in his way but he wouldn't...he wouldn't do that..."

"I believe you." Rikki told Peter.

"Rikki, I'm telling you, my father wouldn't do that." Zane didn't want it to be true although deep down, he really believed, even knew, that it was.

"Zane, you've got to believe me." Peter insisted. "You're father is a very dangerous man, even more than we realized."

"But why would he try to kill you?" Zane demanded. "He doesn't even know you!"

"Someone told him about Susan being a mermaid." Peter explained.

"Just Susan?" Rikki asked.

Peter shook his head. "No. He found out about you, Emma, and Cleo still being mermaids as well. He wants to use all four of you as a tourist attraction."

"He can't..." Zane stared out at the horizon wishing this wasn't happening. All those years of believing that deep down his father was a good man who understood life and just hid it behind fancy things, sour expressions, and unkind words were fading away. His father was a bad man and he had to accept that now. He had to choice a side. And there was no way he'd choice Harrison Bennett (Much as he cared about his father) over Rikki and her friends. He couldn't let them down.

The boat pulled into the harbor. Zane and Rikki jumped out of the boat and onto the dock. Peter helped Susan from the boat onto the first wooden step of the dock so she didn't fall.

The four of them raced back to Max's house. They looked horrible with they're sleep-deprived, bloodshot eyes, and messed up hair. They smelled like they'd spend the night on a fishing boat. Peter's clothes were still slightly damp. Their feet felt sore and the hot sand that they had to run over made them burn and sting. But they ignored the pain and ran even faster. They couldn't risk behind seen by anyone who might ask questions about where they had just come from.

Max stuck his head out the door and smiled with relief when he saw them coming. "Thank god!" He exclaimed happily, opening the door wider so they could all get inside.

They heard a soft moaning sound coming from the couch, Emma was lying on it, holding her stomach. The sea food had really upset her. Ash was holding a puke bucket that now smelled like rotten shrimp.

"Poor Emma." Cleo sighed, as her friend grabbed the bucket from Ash and hurled in it again.

"The sea food?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The sea food." Ash nodded, looking down at the bucket now being placed back into his hands. If he had to look at that and smell that one second longer, Emma wasn't going to be the only one throwing up.

"Susan!" Cleo jumped up and ran over to hug her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Susan assured her.

"I can't believe we got moonstruck after all that." Cleo shook her head sadly.

"There's a lot more to it." Susan told her. She looked over at Peter. "I think you should tell them what Harrison's real plans for Mako Island are."

Peter took a seat beside Emma, who with a little help managed to sit up and make some room. He told them everything that had happened and how Susan had stopped Harrison from killing him and how they were all in more danger than they'd ever imagined.

"But how did he find out?" Emma moaned, still feeling rather sick, none the better for hearing such horrible news.

"Someone told him I guess." Rikki shrugged. "We don't know who."

"But who else knows?" Julia asked them. "I thought it was just us..."

"Denman knows." Lewis reminded them.

"But Dr. Denman lost her memory." William added. "there's no way...unless she remembers now..." He shuddered at the thought of having to deal with Linda Denman again.

"Think, who else knows...?" Miss Chatham said in a voice that suggested that she'd already guessed and was waiting for them to catch up.

"Charlotte!" Cleo growled angrily.

"Would she really betray us again?" Lewis asked, wondering why Charlotte would keep doing that. If all she really wanted was to connect with her grandmother, why did she keep trying to get revenge on the mermaids? She wouldn't have liked it if something had happened to Gracie or even herself during their time as mermaids, why did she keep trying to ruin their lives now?

"I have no doubts." Rikki said firmly. She'd always disliked that girl.

"Neither do I." Susan put in. "It was her fault I got locked up in that lab before."

"Friends..." Peter began in a very kingly voice that made them all pay close attention. "I tell you all now that we are in no small danger."

"Well duh." Rikki rolled her eyes before Cleo's glare silenced her.

Peter paused for a moment and then went on. "We had bad times like this in Narnia before. Long before the sun set for the last time on that great land. I tell you all truly that there is but one thing we can do now."

"And what's that?" William wanted to know.

"We must fight for Mako, even if this is the last time." Peter told them.

"You mean like a protest?" Emma asked, not quite getting his meaning.

"No." Peter said gravely. "I mean fight."

AN: Please, please, please review! (come on, please?)