I do not own H2O: Just Add Water—that is rightfully owned by Viacom. I, however, own the storyline. Because if I did own H2O: Just Add Water, I probably wouldn't be sitting here at my computer writing this, now would I? ;-)

Summary: When a rare full moon takes a dramatic turn, causing the girls' powers to go haywire, can they make it through the night with friendship prevailing? Or will things take a turn for the worse?

Author's note: Takes place post season two. Season three has not occurred yet.

Chapter 4

"Through Still and Storm (Part 1)"

EMMA

I could only watch as Rikki's head lolled to the side and her body went limp. I'd only ever seen her unconscious like this once before, and admittedly, it had scared me. Not knowing whether or not or when she was going to wake up again... I can't quite describe it. And I don't want to wish that feeling on anybody. Sure, I had felt angry and lied to that same day, but I would never intentionally wish harm on one of my friends or family members. It's almost funny how quickly the table of emotions can turn, isn't it?

And here we were again, having another freak incident with the moon. I thought we were over that, but apparently I was wrong.

"Rikki? Rikki!" I called out to her. I extended my arm, intending to put it on her shoulder to try and shake her body and mind back into consciousness, but stopped a couple inches away when I thought better of it. Heat was radiating from her body like an oven, and I could practically feel my skin sizzle in response.

Okay, so fire and ice... bad combination. It's not exactly rocket science—that was more Lewis's thing.

Cleo was frantic, pacing back and forth with such intensity I was half expecting her to drill a moat into the carpet. "We...we have to do something," she was saying quickly, "cool her down somehow, get her to wake up—"

"No," Lewis interrupted, causing Cleo to skid to a stop. "When a person sleeps, their primary functions and heart rate slow down and their overall body temperature cools down a little. If anything, this is helping the situation."

"But Lewis," I snapped, surprising even myself with the strain in my voice, "she isn't sleeping—she's unconscious, for Pete's sake!" Who the heck this Pete guy is, I could care less. We didn't have time to sit around debating the matter. We needed to do something, anything. And then a thought struck me.

"The moon pool," I muttered, more to myself than to the others. I turned to Cleo, who was looking at me like I had two heads and a carrot for a nose. "The moon pool—it's always solved all of our mermaid fiascoes in the past. What if we go there?"

Lewis had jumped to his feet before I'd even finished. "No way, absolutely not. It's too dangerous."

"Well in case you haven't noticed, danger is something we've become rather familiar with over the years," Cleo said truthfully, her right hand unconsciously fingering the locket around her neck, around all our necks. She resumed pacing; I was tempted to join in just watching her. "Look, whatever is going on, it's obviously out of our control. Maybe what you said about Neptune and Mercury aligning is coming true—" Lewis opened his mouth to retort, but Cleo had only paused briefly, "—and this is just our... catastrophic way of knowing." As she finished she glanced at Rikki, whose face was already beginning to flush red despite going pale.

I pulled the sleeves of my jacket down over my hands. The room suddenly felt cooler than it had a second ago. Maybe because I was now a good couple feet from the now-scorching Rikki. I felt bad that I wasn't at her side, like a good friend is supposed to do, but what could I do? I wasn't too keen on the idea of getting burned. Been there, done that.

"Look guys, I get where you're coming from, I really do. But we can't risk either of you being effected, too." Lewis sighed, abandoning his laptop and coming over to pull Cleo into what I guessed was supposed to be a supportive, one-armed hug. "The best thing I can think of is to just wait it out until morning."

Cleo and I exchanged glances before we both simultaneously deflated. "I suppose you're right," I said. "I can't think of any other alternative. Can you?"

Cleo shook her head silently. Lewis saw our reaction and tried once more to offer some sort of encouraging support. "I wouldn't worry too much, guys. This has happened before. I'm sure it'll all blow off by morning. If it makes you feel any better, I'll monitor her temperature and make sure she doesn't get any worse for the wear. Okay?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Cleo sighed unhappily. I could tell she was still pretty shaken, so I put my hands on her shoulders and gave her what I thought was a reassuring smile. "Come on, Cleo, this is Rikki we're talking about here. You know how stubborn she is—way too stubborn to let a silly full moon get the upper hand." It appeared my words had some effect.

"Yeah, you're probably right, Em."

I gave a humble shrug. "Aren't I always?"

Twenty-five point six degrees Celsius[1], I read for the third time that night.

Rubbing my upper arms with my hands, I felt the minuscule warmth provided by the friction; but as soon as I seized the movement, my skin reclaimed its chilly feeling, despite the room temperature being rather comfortable. Zipping up my jacket to my neck, I stepped away from the thermostat and sat down next to Cleo.

"Em?"

"Hmm?"

"You okay?" I sensed the genuine concern in her tone of voice.

"Yeah, as I'll ever be in a situation like this. Why?"

"You seem... edgy." I turned to look at Cleo.

"Well, why shouldn't I be? Rikki's, well... out of it." Worry must have been writing all over my face, because Cleo's facial expression, already a recipe of worry and concern, added a mixture of sympathy.

"Yeah, no kidding." Cleo propped her elbow on her knee and put her head in her hand. "We're all worried, but I have the feeling we'll get through this—together. Just like with everything else that happens that happens in our crazy, half-normal, half-mermaid lives." As she finished, she smiled subtly. I unconsciously mirrored the action.

"Thanks, Cleo."

She reached around to pull me into a hug, but suddenly broke away in confusion. "Geez, Em, have you gone swimming in Antarctica?"

I felt a frown crease my forehead as a thread of uncertainty wormed its way into my stomach. "What d'you mean?"

"What I mean is that you're freezing. I can feel the cold through your clothes."

My mind attempted to spit out a plausible explanation for this sudden dilemma. "But it's not me, right? It must be cold in here or something. Don't you think it's cold?" I asked her quickly, hoping she'd agree with me. After all, it couldn't just be me, could it?

"Actually, Emma," Lewis chimed in from nowhere, "If anything, it's a little warm. Chances are... it's..." Realization dawned on his face. He froze uncertainly, one foot hovering in midair. His eyes had even drifted out of focus. "It's you," he concluded slowly, his eyes boring into mine.

That small thread of uncertainly had grown into a thick ribbon. I swallowed. "You mean...?" I didn't feel the need to finish that sentence, and let it hang in the air. It couldn't be...

Cleo simply sat, looking both a little lost and alarmed. Lewis nodded hesitantly. "It's not just Rikki that's effected...it's also you, Emma." He took a breath, like he was trying to break the news to me gently. Well, too late, I was already falling. "Your mermaid powers are going haywire on you as well."

A moment of silence greeted these words. Thoughts, questions, theories, and everything in between swirled around in jumbled pairs through my head. I wondered if this was how Rikki felt earlier.

"So what do we do?" I found myself saying.

Cleo took a breath. "Wait it out, just like we decided before."

"Cleo, are you scared?"

Cleo frowned at me from across the room. Yup, that's right, you heard me correctly—across the room. With my skin suddenly turning more and more into an icicle as the minutes ticked by with each swing of the pendulum, I had decided to migrate to the opposite side of the room from Cleo, Lewis and the still unresponsive Rikki, not wanting to force them into wearing winters jackets on the Gold Coast in the middle of spring.

"Well, I don't know. I mean, if something's happened to you two, something's bound to happen to me, too," Cleo said. I wanted to tell her that that wouldn't happen, but she was already talking again. "But whatever it is, I can handle it."

"You're not alone, you know." Lewis sat next to her and held her hand. "I'll be right here. I'll make sure nothing bad happens."

Cleo smiled. "I know. I'm just glad we're all in one place."

"You mean 'one piece?'" I paced back and forth, jumped up and down, did random stretches I still remember from swim team practices, trying anything to get warm. Or at least keep the cold at bay. I felt like I would start shivering or my teeth would resume chattering if I stopped. Okay, so I hadn't done this the full two hours since my powers had flipped out, but it helped. What worried me more was that Rikki still hadn't woken up or done even so much as stir in that time.

One thing I was certain of though—Rikki was definitely more affected than us two. If she'd been experiencing that headache of hers since this morning, that should've been a heads-up or a foreshadowing for what was going to happen; we had just not realized it at the time.

Come to think of it, Rikki was just overall more greatly affected when it came to the full moon. A similar incident came to mind.

"We just need to keep a positive frame of mind," Cleo continued.

"Easier said than done," I muttered. That statement totally contradicted what Cleo had just said, but it was how I felt. And more importantly, it was completely true.

"What time did you say the moon was supposed to set?" Cleo directed the question at Lewis, who glanced at his laptop.

"Seven fifty-two."

"Brilliant, so only about twelve more hours of this to go," I groaned sarcastically. Normally (and naturally) that was Rikki's specialty, but I felt like I needed to fill in for our comic relief. I wasn't as good at it, but A for effort, right?

Maybe it was this small thought that made me glance over at her once more, and when I saw that her eyes had finally decided to open and were currently examining the ceiling, I forgot all about the cold—it just up and vanished.

"You're awake!" I exclaimed. Cleo and Lewis, having not noticed the same time I did, snapped their attention over to the far side of the room, where Rikki was slowly and groggily sitting up. Feeling brave, I went over and sat down next to her. Immediately afterwards, warmth, like a hot furnace or a car heater, hit me head-on. It was almost suffocating at first, but after the first couple of seconds, it felt...good.

Wow. Why hadn't I thought of this before? Way to go, Emma. Undoubtedly, this whole moon ordeal was screwing with my sense of judgment and common sense. Freezing cold + blazing heat = balance... I think. Whatever, close enough.

"How do you feel?"

Rikki rubbed her temples and closed her eyes briefly before opening them again. "Dunno," she croaked out, leaning her head on her arm without shifting her eyes. She wasn't looking at me though.

"How many fingers?" Cleo asked, holding up two of them. Still, Rikki didn't direct her gaze to them. "Can't see too clearly for some reason," she murmured disconnectedly, frowning at the difficulty of it all. We all exchanged cautious glances. It hadn't gotten that serious, had it?

Lewis spoke. "What's my name?" he asked her. I wanted to tell him that the answer to such a question was obvious, but I caught the gist of what he was trying to test and didn't say anything—simply waited for Rikki's response.

There was a large gap of silence between the question and answer, though. Maybe that's when I began to realize something wasn't quite right.

"Um, Rikki?" I waved my fingers in front of her face experimentally. She didn't blink. So I tried snapping. Still nothing.

Out of nowhere, Rikki smiled giddily. "It's nice," she said dreamily. "I like this, I like the water."

"Um, there isn't any water, Rikki," Cleo informed her, looking and sounding just as confused as I was. "Rikki, you're scaring us."

"Oh, no."

I looked at Lewis. "What? What is it?"

His gaze snapped to mine. The next words he said confirmed what I'd been thinking. And it scared the heck out of me.

"Her body temperature is too hot. At 40 degrees[2]...that means...she's beginning to hallucinate."

[1] = 78 degrees Fahrenheit

[2] = 104 degrees Fahrenheit

Okay, since H2O: Just Add Water is an Australian television program, I decided to use their form of temperature readings (a.k.a. Celsius), instead of the American use of Fahrenheit. Either way, I converted it for you so that way nobody is confused or forced to Google it. You're welcome! ^_^

OH GOSH! ANOTHER PLOT TWIST! I SURE DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING! (Total lie; I planned it from the beginning.) Will Rikki be okay? Will Emma be able to help somehow? Will Cleo end up being affected as well?

Find out in chapter five!

Coming soon to a computer screen near you...

Question for readers: Who is your favorite H2O character? Let me know via review or private message!

Reviews? Comments? Questions? Concerns? Fire away!

Thanks for reading!