AN: I'm sorry if this isn't my best work. It took me a while to write because I just couldn't get the time to finish it. So finally I did. But I think this chapter is okay and I hope you like it. I'll try to update soon. Also I think this chapter is important because it's Ella Sting's first appearance. (She was meantioned in "The Susan Code" as you may recall).
For a moment, Peter was too shocked to do anything but then he remembered being pulled in the water during the last full moon and could see she was about to do that again. There would be a moment right before she could pull with her full strength putting the weight of her tail into it, in that moment he could pull her up. The only question was what to do with her once he'd pulled her up. Maybe it would be better if he had help. The professor could help. But would Susan wait long enough for that?
"Su, will you wait here?" Peter asked uncertainly. "I'll be right back."
Susan showed no signs of leaving without him.
"You wont take off when I leave?" Peter pressed just to be sure.
She let go of his hand. "I'll wait. I wont go anywhere. We'll go to Mako when you get back."
That's what you think, Peter thought as he gave her one last order. "Don't let anyone see you, get behind the rocks." He was worried about this recalling how free she'd felt about showing her tail to Edmund and Lucy when she'd been moonstruck before.
Susan slid behind the rocks. She wasn't even arguing. Peter wondered why she was being so agreeable.
"Professor!" Peter called bursting through the front door of the little house. "I need your help. You wont believe what happened!"
Digory, who was calmly sitting in his favorite chair reading something, took one look at Peter and understood right away. "Susan's swum here from America? " He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Doesn't anything in this world surprise you?" Peter asked amazed by Digory's almost all-knowing tone.
Professor Kirke shrugged. "Precious little." Digory knew mermaids better than Peter realized even then. He got up and started mixing some things into a mug.
"Not be seem rude, but could we hurry it up a bit and have tea later?" Peter tried to say calmly but it came out sounding strained and even a bit angry.
"I'm not making tea." Professor Kirke told him as he stirred the contents of the cup. "It's just a little something to make our little mermaid sleepy, only a fool would try to take on a moonstruck mermaid at full force. She's must be quite tired out from the long swim here but we mustn't take any chances."
Peter looked appalled. He'd trusted the professor whole-heartily before this and felt betrayed at this sudden turn of events "I wont drug her."
"It's not a drug." The Professor assured him. "It's mostly warm milk with a few other naturally sleep inducing things in it. I would never do anything to hurt a mermaid and I'd never do anything to hurt your sister. You can trust me."
"It wont harm her at all?" Peter made sure.
"Certainly not. It'll just make her drowsy enough to keep us and her safe." The Professor told him handing him the mug. "Give her this, then I'll come and help you get her in the car and we'll take it from there."
"I can't believe she swam all the way here." Peter shook his head as if that could some how shake out thoughts he didn't want to think anymore. "Mum and Dad will be furious."
"I dare say they will." The Professor sighed. "But that's not what matters now. Just getting Susan out of the moonlight is what we need to focus on."
"By the lion!" Peter gasped as a whiff of the milk-like drink Digory had made reached his nose. "It's smells awful."
"It smells like fish." The Professor explained. "She'll be more inclined to drink it that way."
"I can't see why." Peter gasped. "I think that smell would make a person less likely to drink something."
"Trust me on this." The professor said patiently. "Mermaids crave sea food during the full moon."
Back on the beach, Susan still waited behind the rocks. She heard someone coming. She peeked out from behind the rock to see if it was Peter or not. It wasn't Peter. A tall thin blond woman stood on the beach.
The woman's gaze feel on the rocks and she noticed the slightest shape of a white face surrounded by long black hair. "Hello?" She called over to the rocks.
Susan stayed behind the rocks and didn't answer her.
"Who are you?" The woman asked.
Susan didn't respond.
"Ella?" A man's voice called from behind. "Where are you?" Susan dived under as soon as Ella turned her head to answer the man.
"I'm here." Ella answered.
"Who were you talking to?" The man asked.
"There was a girl in the water...over there..." Ella looked baffled at seeing only rocks and no girl. "Odd...she was right there."
"Come on, Miss Sting let's get you back inside. It's chilly out here." The man laughed as they walked off the beach.
Moments later, Peter arrived. "Susan." he whispered down into the water. "Where are you?"
He got his answer in the form of a cold splash of water in his face as she surfaced.
He handed her the mug the professor had given him. "Here, drink this."
Susan frowned at it at first until she smelled it. Then she smiled again and drank it in one gulp.
I'll be darned, Peter thought, trying not to laugh as the bizarreness of it all. The professor was right.
Susan yawned. Peter grabbed her and pulled her out of the water. The professor came and helped him lift her onto the beach.
"The tail will be heavy no doubt." The professor warned. "but maybe we can dry her off a bit and get her legs back."
"I couldn't during the other full moons." Peter told him. "Her tail wouldn't go away no matter how dry she was."
The professor nodded. "That is the general rule, but there are rare exceptions. The problem with the full moon in part, is that it causes the mermaid half to attempt to take over the human half. But sometimes the human half fights back." He handed Peter a towel. "Start drying."
"You were right." Peter gasped as Susan's tail started to disappear.
Susan tried to protest but was too tired from the swim over and the drink they'd given her. "I like my tail. I want it back." She yawned-whimpered.
"I know." The professor said soothingly gently touching her shoulder. "It's okay...you'll have your tail again soon, and you'll be swimming among all the reefs and fishes...just rest now...we're here for you."
Susan smiled and stopped even trying to fight them.
"What are you, a mermaid whisperer?" Peter asked amazed once again at how Digory could handle her.
"Something like that." Digory winked at him.
Susan's legs were back. "Thank goodness." Peter sighed. It would be much easier to get her in the car now.
Once they were back at Professor Kirke's house, they lifted her and put her in the one spare bed. "You'll have to sleep on the couch tonight." Digory told Peter.
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep anyway." Peter said, looking back at Susan who was asleep now.
"She might not sleep for very long." The Professor instructed Peter. "She might very well wake up before the moon goes down. So close all the shutters and keep a close watch on her until 7 AM tomorrow morning when the moon goes down. Also, Latch the doors. And wake me up if you need anything." Professor Kirke went to bed.
Not long after Peter fell asleep on a chair by the bed.
At around 6:30 AM, Susan was awake and started looking around the room, clearly confused. She might have been looking for the moon but since everything was shut so tightly, she couldn't find it. She walked off and reached for the tap on the kitchen sink. She turned on the water but before she could touch it with her hand, Peter grabbed her wrist.
"Nice try." He said. "Don't touch the water."
"I thought you were asleep." Susan said, her voice slightly less distant but not much.
Peter turned off the water and tried to get her to go back into the bed room.
"Let's go to Mako now." Susan said. "It wont take long."
'Sometimes the human half fights back...' The professor's words rang through Peter's head. Was it possible to play Susan's practical human mind against her wacky mermaid ways until the moon went down?
"How could we even get there?" Peter asked. "Think logically."
"We'd swim." Susan said simply.
"I don't have a tail like yours." Peter reminded her.
"Oh that's right." Susan seemed for a moment almost like her regular self. Then the moonstruckness kicked back in. "You could hold on to my tail. It would only slow us down by about three hours."
"Susan," Peter had a question for her. "Why did you come back for me instead of going to Mako right away?"
"I missed you." Susan told him. "I didn't want to be there alone. I never wanted to be there alone. I always wanted you with me. Don't you remember?"
Peter thought back to the second time she'd been moonstruck. He remembered he'd gotten her back into the house by promising to come with her.
Now they both stared at each other with out saying anything.
The Professor now awake, walked into the room. He looked at each of them with a strange expression and chuckled to himself. "I knew it."
"Knew what?" Peter asked.
"Nothing." Digory chuckled into his morning cup of coffee. His eyes turned to the clock. "five...four...three..two..." Seven dongs followed.
Susan let out a suddenly scream. "Where am I?"
"Good morning Susan." The professor said calmly. "I trust you slept well?"
"Professor Kirke?" Susan gasped. Then she looked at Peter. "Peter?"
"You don't remember how you got here?" Digory asked.
Susan thought back. The last thing she remembered was seeing the moon in the mirror behind that boy at the party. After that it was all a blank. "I swam all the way from America?"
Peter and Digory nodded.
"Oh no." Susan moaned. "I have to get back...Mum and Dad..."
"You're not going anywhere before breakfast." Digory insisted as the toaster dinged.
"Does he know?" Susan asked Peter.
Peter nodded. "But it's alright. We can trust him on this. He was a huge help."
"Why does my mouth taste like raw fish?" Susan wanted to know.
"Sorry. That would be the after effect from the drink we had to give you, but that's the worst of it, I promise." Digory explained handing her a glass of orange juice. "Have some juice."
After breakfast, they talked about what they should do.
"Logically, there are only three things you could do." Professor Kirke explained. "One, you could wait until dark and swim back (Swimming in the day would be out of the question, you might be seen), two you could tell your parents the truth and hope they understand. Three, you could wait a few days then call your parents telling them you stuck off and went back to England by boat."
None of those sounded appealing. Peter thought he was going to be sick. Susan felt horrible.
"Whatever your choice," Professor Kirke said. "As long as you are here, you are my students and must study."
"Now?" Peter asked.
Digory pulled out a large briefcase. "Yes, now. But I think you'll want to study this. It'll be a lot of help I'm sure."
Susan opened the briefcase and Peter took something out of it.
"You recorded all your research on mermaids?" Peter gasped looking at what appeared to be a detailed graph of some sort.
Digory smiled. "I've got some plants to water outside the house. I'll be back soon." He walked out the front door grabbing his watering can.
"Even though I'm not happy about how it happened, I am really happy to be with you again." Susan smiled at Peter. "I really missed you."
"I missed you too." Peter confessed. "I was so worried about you."
"And that weird nightmare?" Susan shuddered.
"That was so strange." Peter said. "I mean how did we have the same nightmare?" Then he changed the subject as he looked through some more of the professor's research. "Did you like America?"
"Some of it was very exciting." Susan admitted. "I met some of the most interesting people. And there's so much to do there."
Peter looked a little insecure. "You didn't meet some else did you?" He looked away from her feeling foolish for being so upfront.
Susan understood what he meant. She gently leaned forward pulled him close and kissed him when he turned his head to look at her again. "What do you think?"
He blushed and looked back at the research. "I think we should get back to studying."
AN: Please review! I love getting reviews.