Chapter 15

Emma and Bella stared at each other, frozen in shock. Neither had seen that coming.

Emma thought over the emails she had gotten mentioning Bella; how had she not seen her friends' subtle hints? Bella looked just as shocked so Emma felt a bit relieved that she wasn't the only one mislead.

"Well, we hadn't expected to do this introduction here," Cleo said, breaking the silence. "Emma, this is Bella. Bella, this is Emma. As you can see… you have more in common that you might have thought."

Emma recovered first. She swam forward.

"Nice to meet you Bella," she started, offering her hand. "This is definitely a surprise." She gave a half-smile. Bella smiled in response.

"You too, Emma. I've heard a lot about you," she took the hand offered. Bella turned to Rikki and Cleo. "Maybe not quite enough."

"In our defence," Cleo began. "We thought that Emma wouldn't appreciate us telling you her secret without her knowledge…we figured we'd let you meet first."

Emma raised her eyebrows.

"Come on, Em. You know that you wouldn't have wanted us to tell her for you," Rikki said. Emma shrugged.

"You're probably right," she answered. "So you're a mermaid, huh?" Emma asked Bella.

"Yep. I became one when I was nine," Bella responded. "When did you change?"

Emma looked up at Cleo and Rikki.

"I'm guessing you never told her the story?" Emma asked. They shook their heads, sheepishly.

"Right. When we were fifteen…"

OoOoO

"I can't believe you never told me the whole story," Bella said. "No. I'm more surprised I never questioned further."

"I guess it never occurred to us," Rikki shrugged. "Well, you know now."

"So, have you thought about what you're going to do, now that you've finished school, Bella?" Emma asked, trying to continue the conversation.

"I love music, and so I think I'm going to study that and then get a teaching degree. At this point, I would like to be a music teacher. What about you, Emma?"

"I'm still thinking about it, but I love kids, so I think I'd like to be a primary school teacher," Emma replied.

"You both want to be teachers," Rikki grinned. "I can't think of anything worse."

"Hey," Emma exclaimed in mock indignation, and splashed her friend.

"You're going to end up like Ms Tedious," Rikki teased.

"Really, Rikki? Ms Tegan wasn't that bad," Emma retorted. Rikki raised her eyebrows. Emma thought and revised her statement. "Okay, okay, she was bad. But I won't end up like her." She laughed.

"Who is Ms Tegan?" Bella asked Cleo.

"Oh, she was our Year Ten English teacher. She retired at the end of the year before you arrived," Cleo replied.

"There's going to be a lot of inside jokes that I'm going to miss, huh?" Bella said sadly.

Cleo nodded as Emma and Rikki continued to tease each other. "Hey, don't feel down about it. Emma being back isn't going to replace you in the group, it's just going to change from the trio, to the foursome." Cleo reassured Bella.

"I see you and Rikki are wearing two necklaces today - the matching necklaces you wore constantly when I first met you as well as our moon crystals. I couldn't help but notice that Emma is wearing a matching necklace too," Bella told Cleo quietly. "Are the necklaces significant somehow?"

Cleo looked surprised at the question.

"Yeah. They belonged to the trio of mermaids that were changed at Mako before us," Cleo answered. "It is quite a long story. But yeah, we never took the necklaces off - they are symbols of our friendship and fellowship as mermaids. Just like our moon crystals are with you," Cleo added.

"I can't help but feel like I'm left out, I missing this huge history that exists between you three. With Emma here, will I fit in?" Bella asked, insecure.

Emma looked over at the mention of her name, stopping the banter active between she and Rikki. Cleo looked like she didn't know what to say.

"I think so. It's up to us to make a new history," she said eventually. "With time, I'm sure it will feel like we've all been together forever."

"Wow. Cheesy, Cleo," Rikki interrupted.

"But true, I hope," Emma added, giving Bella an encouraging smile, which she returned.

After a comfortable silence, Emma lifted herself out of the pool, intending to explore their damaged moon pool. Rikki dried her off. The familiar sting of the heating powers was comforting to Emma. It was great to be back.

Emma got up and looked around the cavern, a small frown on her face.

"This is tragic," she said quietly. "It has changed so much." She muttered. Taking in the new formation, where the waterfall had been before the blast. Emma noticed something catch the light. She knelt in front of the old waterfall. She reached the rock in front of her. A blue crystal stared at her from the face. Tugging on the end gently, it came free. She held it up to the light. The other three mermaids had also transformed into their human selves in the meantime. They came to stand around her, Bella hanging a little further back.

"You're all wearing one of these," Emma realised, taking in her friends' dual necklaces.

"Will made the necklaces for us," Cleo began. "Bella already had hers from the moon pool she transformed in."

Emma felt not for the first time that she had missed out on a lot. She didn't respond. Cleo sensed her feelings.

"Em, we can get Will to make one for you as well," she suggested positively.

Emma's lips twitched into a half-smile.

"I guess,"

"The moon crystal connects us to this special place, to the fact that we are mermaids," Rikki said. "They even store moonlight."

Emma had to admit that sounded cool, and precious. Even though she was sad about the idea that their necklaces maybe didn't hold the same significance anymore, Cleo and Rikki were both wearing both items of jewellery. Emma sighed. She was just being silly and insecure.

Emma slipped back into the pool, enjoying the feeling of water on her skin and scales. She and Bella conversed, sharing basic information about themselves, attempting to establish a relationship. They both recognised that for their friends' happiness, they should get along. Emma felt that it was not hard to talk to Bella – she was a friendly girl, shy at first but talkative once you got her going. Emma hoped that no further conflicts would arise.

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that it was up to standard. Honestly, I had a hard time writing beyond the first paragraph. This chapter was so eagerly anticipated that I didn't want to write something bad and disappoint. Because of that, I had difficulty picking which storyline (of the many I have imagined) to include. I hope it was the right one. To those who like conflict, there may be a little bit of that coming up :P

Please tell me what you think! Reviews inspire me to write, persevere through the writers block, and tell me that people are actually reading. Thanks so much for all your support. I really appreciate it.

I have internet! And I'm back into the swing of things at Uni. Assignments are already piling up, so again I apologise in the delays between updates. Thanks for staying with me. This semester I am in a full immersion Maori class - challenging but exciting. I have a four minute Maori speech for that on Thursday... I only have two and a half minutes so far...eek! Wish me luck :P

Thanks so much to frostydog09, StarlightDreamer12, NotJustAShadow, WannabeeAussie, HybridsRose, tris and cass, and Ayesha Altugle for reviewing! I LOVE YOU GUYS! It is worthy of caps lock.

See you all next time!