A few hours later

The lunch was the most fun that Charlotte had had in a long time.

Lewis, Emma, and Willow got on smashingly. The three went on and on about science and the uses of magic until the others wanted to tape their lips shut. Meanwhile, Rikki kept challenging Charlotte to arm wrestling contests, to which Cleo was the referee. After the fourth match that Charlotte won without trying, Rikki finally yielded, rubbing her sore arm with a pouty expression that was betrayed by the smile on her face.

They sat outside the JuiceNet Café at one of the picnic tables, the sun shining brilliantly down on the group. Emma and Rikki complimented Charlotte on her necklace, and she was more than happy to share stories of her mysterious grandmother. It made Charlotte so happy to talk about her. Her mother didn't much like talking about Gracie, it hurt her too much. The pair didn't really get along as the years wore on, Gracie was up in the clouds, while Annette was very down to Earth. So when she had died, it hurt Annette very much that she had never really made up with her. But Charlotte loved her grandmother, and she was always her first choice of babysitter when Annette had to go out of town.

Their favorite place beside the beach, had, been the aquarium. Every time Gracie babysat, that was one of the first places they went. Gracie knew every fish without looking at their plaques, and wouldn't mind sitting for a little while if Charlotte wanted to sit and draw the fish in their tanks. The others got a nice laugh from the story of when they got caught dangling their feet in the dolphin tank.

But then they moved, and Gracie had died, without Charlotte ever getting to say goodbye.

She could still remember that day like it had only happened yesterday. Charlotte was watching TV, and the phone had rang. Her mother answered it, talked for a minute, and started crying, the kind of self-restrained tears that parents do when they don't want their kids to see. Annette sent her daughter to her room while she talked on the phone.

By the time she came to her room, Charlotte was nearly asleep. Annette held her daughter and explained as best she could that her grandmother had had a heart attack, and had passed away before the doctors could do anything to save her.

The next day, they flew back to their hometown, but Charlotte couldn't have cared less. It took everything the poor six year-old had to not burst into tears again on the way over.

The following couple of days were a blur, a mass of Gracie's friends giving their condolences, the wake, and finally, then the funeral. It was then that Charlotte couldn't stop crying. Watching her beloved grandmother, the only person who really understood her, leave forever, was too much.

Charlotte broke away from her mother, and ran down the hill where the cemetery was, tears running freely down her face. Then she looked up, and saw the ocean down the street, pristine and blue and beautiful.

She looked back to the cemetery, where her mother, and all of Gracie's friends stood. Gracie didn't have a family aside from Charlotte and her mother, just a crowd of friends. Charlotte didn't have much of a family, just her mother now. A huge part of her heart was ripped out.

So, the little girl ran for the ocean.

Annette found Charlotte kneeling waist-deep in the water, crying her eyes out. She bit her lip and took off her shoes, leaving them in the sand. She didn't care about her dress, she just let it float in the water until she reached her sobbing daughter.

"Charlotte?" she murmured quietly, kneeling down next to her. "Sweetie, I am so sorry."

She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, but she choked it down, wrapping her arms around her daughter, and kissing the top of her red hair. Annette knew where her daughter got that hair from, and it certainly wasn't from her.

"Mummy, I don't want her to be gone. I want her back," Charlotte whispered, hugging her tightly.

"I know, baby, I do too," Annette whispered, tears falling hard now. "I do too."

Present

"She's buried not too far from here," Charlotte explained in a whisper, looking at the table. The others had gone quiet. "I just get on a bus, and it takes about half an hour to get there."

"I'm sorry, Charlotte," Willow murmured, rubbing her back. "That must've been really hard for you."

Charlotte nodded, and took another drink of her smoothie. "Yeah, it was. I didn't leave my room for a week."

There was another pregnant pause, then Cleo said, "We should go visit her."

The other girls looked at her in surprise, but they were quick to agree. It was strange, as much as they talked to Mrs. Chatham, they had never really given much thought to the other two original mermaids, Julia and Gracie.

It didn't take them long to get bus tickets and get on their way. The six of them had to sit at different parts of the bus, all staring out the window, lost in their own thoughts.

The bus ride, as Charlotte had mentioned, was only about a half hour away, and not before too much longer, they were all walking up the small hill to the small cemetery.

"She's buried over here," Charlotte directed. Like a solemn funeral procession, they walked to the end of the cemetery to the small grave. But there was already someone there, placing a small bundle of roses on the grave.

"Mrs. Chatham?" Emma asked softly.

The older woman stood and smiled at the group. "Oh, hello, I haven't seen you four in a while." She extended her hand to Willow. "Hello, I'm Louise Chatham."

"Willow Rosenberg," the witch responded, shaking her hand enthusiastically. She looked back to Charlotte, who was hanging in the back, looking at the ground and subtly motioned her forward.

Louise noticed her too. She looked to the redhead, and her eyebrows furrowed as if trying to remember something. "And who might you be?" She asked politely.

Charlotte stepped forward. "I'm Charlotte. Charlotte Watsford," she clarified.

Louise's eyes started to mist. "You're…"

"I'm Gracie's granddaughter," she finished quietly, staring at the headstone.

Grace Eve Watsford

Born July 30, 1964

Died October 12, 1996

"Oh, my," Louise breathed. "I knew Gracie married, but I didn't know..." she trailed off, and her eyes fell on the pendant around Charlotte's neck. Louise looked to the three girls, asking with a raise of her eyebrows if Charlotte knew their secret, and Rikki gave a quiet nod.

"It's okay. She talked about you a lot. You and Julia. You both really meant a lot to her."

Louise reached out and gently held Charlotte's hand, one finger on her chin, so the teenager had to look her in the eyes.

"You are a very special girl," Louise whispered knowingly. "I can see it in your eyes."

Charlotte bit her lip. "Thank you, Miss Chatham," she accepted quietly, looking away back to the headstone.

Ms. Chatham talked with Willow and the others near the front gate while Charlotte spent a few minutes with her grandmother.

"Who is she, girls? Why does she know your secret?" She asked quietly.

Emma answered. "She was one of us for a while, Ms. Chatham. Not anymore, though."

A look of pain crossed over Louise's face as nodded knowingly. "Poor child," she murmured, looking over to her. "You know, Gracie… her grandmother was such an amazing woman. The only real regret in my life is that I never made up with her and Julia."

Rikki looked to the others, looking pointedly at Willow, indicating that she wanted some time alone. The witch nodded, and went over to Charlotte, kneeling down beside her. With a wave of her hand, a small bundle of flowers appeared on the grave.

"And what about Willow?" Louise observed with a smile.

The three girls looked at each other. "She's a witch," Emma answered simply.

Louise laughed. "Clearly. Tell Charlotte I hope to see her again, soon."

The girls promised that they would, and Louise walked out the graveyard, and soon after they were joined by the two red-haired girls.

"Um, I'm ready to go, if you guys are," Charlotte said, wiping her eyes as discreetly as she could. "Plus, the sun's gonna set in a while, and it's the full moon tonight."

Rikki crossed her arms and looked at the ground for a minute. "Yeah, about that. Cleo told us about you wanting to go to Mako tonight, and Emma and I think that would be… an okay idea."

Willow and Charlotte smiled at each other excitedly, and the group said their farewells. Charlotte bid another quiet goodbye to Gracie and they followed the mermaids out the graveyard.

Three hours later, Willow and Charlotte stood at the edge of the moon pool, the water lapping gently at the rocks.

"Are you sure about this?" Willow asked quietly, putting her hand on Charlotte's shoulder. "I mean, with what happened last time and all?"

Charlotte stared at the water, then at the cone of the volcano. The moon wasn't overhead yet, it wouldn't be for another half hour or so, but already, Charlotte could feel the electric buzz of the pool's magic under her skin, and she shivered.

"No, not really," she finally admitted. "It's weird; I almost expected to be barred from this place, in some way. Like, I'd get zapped off the island if I set foot on the beach or something."

Willow chuckled quietly. "I'm not getting that kind of vibe, actually." When Charlotte raised her eyebrow slightly, she elaborated, "This magic feels… clean almost. Plus, I don't think magic holds a grudge."

"Well, that's good to hear," Charlotte muttered, putting her bag down and sitting cross-legged on the ground.

For a few minutes, they waited impatiently. They sat in the sand, watching the blue water lap around the edges of the pool.

"I told my mother about me being a Slayer," Charlotte admitted quietly, slowing drawing a stick figure in the sand.

Willow raised an eyebrow. "Really? How did she take it?"

"She thought I was lying, to get attention, or something to that effect."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Charlotte shrugged. "I'm not sure how I expected it to go. Better, I suppose."

Then, slowly, the light from the moon poured into the pool, which began bubbling immediately.