Karen: Hello people of the internet. I'm back! And I bring Chapter 3 with me!

Felicity: You have got a lot of explaining to do missy

Karen: Yes, yes I do. And all your questions from the last chapter will hopefully be answered today. Also, if you remember in chapter 1, there was a mermaid named Felicity, she was actually called Felicia, I messed up! I changed it so this Felicity here is a completely new character to you all. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Explanations

- That strange unknown location -

"Looks like you'll need to go back to the HMC for a while, Felicity."

The woman who was hiding stepped out of the shadows. She had incredibly long deep red hair, which was tied back a bit into a long ponytail and had two small swords crossed through the top. Her fringe completely covered her left eye, no-one had ever seen the colour of it. Her right eye though was the same deep red as her hair. She was practically wearing a replica of her mermaid top and a pair of black jean shorts, but nothing on her feet. She had various scars on her body, ranging from small cuts on her arms to a massive gash like scar on her back.

"Remind me again, why I even help scum like you?" Felicity asked, a clear sign of anger in her voice.

"Oh my dear Felicity, if you'd have killed us back then, you wouldn't be in this mess right now would you?" Richard replied. "And now that you can't use your magic on us, along with us being in possession of a mind control drug and some of that memory changing powder, I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter."

"So to answer in short, you help 'scum' like us because we force you too, and it won't be long before you fall, along with all your little mermaid friends," Lucas laughed, causing Felicity to rage.

"How dare you!" She screamed as she took a lunge towards him.

"Not so fast there girl," Lucas said waving his fingers. Clicking them, a barrier appeared around him which Felicity ran head on into, receiving a full on electrical shock when she hit it. She fell backwards onto the floor, writhing in pain.

"If you're so intent on having me fall, then why keep me alive? You've had so many chances to kill me!" Felicity asked in ragged breathes.

"You know perfectly well why. We need you alive as our little infiltrator into the Higher Mermaid Council, gather information and report to our leader on what to do next. It's not our fault she still needs you alive is it?"

"I thinks it's time we stop wasting our time and get you back on track to the HMC," Richard said as he dragged Felicity's partly unconscious body across the room. He reached out for two small vials on a nearby shelf. One was memory changing powder whilst the other was a watching powder. Watching powder when sprinkled on someone allows the caster to see everything from their eyes and hear everything they hear.

Richard first sprinkled a little bit of memory changing powder on her. "Erase all manner of our recent conversation and replace it with Felicity just completing her last mission successfully, leading her to head back to the HMC." As that powder sunk in, he quickly sprinkled watching powder over her, that powder seeping into her body with the memory changing powder. Once settled in, a little nearby screen appeared, showing what Felicity could see.

"Very good my dear. Now, leave this place and start heading back to the HMC," Richard ordered, his own voice being heard over the nearby speakers from the watching powder.

Felicity's body stood up and began walking out of her unknown location, eventually leading her to a beach.

Back in that location, Richard pressed a button which made Felicity jump, returning control of her body back to herself.

"Right, back to the Council, another mission completed!" She said happily to herself as she created a white portal to the HMC. It would be a bit of a long journey from where she was.

- Back at the Higher Mermaid Council -

Zac, Seiger, Eevee, Tanya, Isis and Coral were all sat around a rather large white table that Seiger brought in for them.

"From the sounds of it, Isis and Tanya, you two have got a lot of explaining to do," Coral began.

They both looked at each other, nodding their heads. "We weren't exactly honest when we talked to Seiger about being recruited here. Seems you eventually figured it out though," Isis said, motioning towards Seiger.

"I didn't expect you two to have the souls of Elicia and Marina within you, I'll admit that much," Seiger replied.

The four bantered along for a while, Evie and Zac bored out of their minds with having no idea what they were talking about, sitting there almost at the point of pointless drooling and glazed eyes. Zac eventually decided to speak up.

"Could someone actually tell us what the hell is going on here!? What's the story behind Evie's sudden fire magic, and just who are Lacrima, Elicia and Marina?" He asked rather loudly.

The four suddenly stopped and looked at the not happy faced Zac. "Sorry about that," Tanya apologised.

"A very long time ago, before mermen came into existence, there were four very special pods of mermaids and four very special leaders. The four pods were hosts to elemental magic, fire, air, ice and lightning. Each pods leader was a strong and confident mermaid with a special soul. When they died, their soul would leave their bodies and return to the hands of the pod, kept safe until the soul could be transferred into a newborn mermaid. This way, the four mermaids lived on and on, the only thing distinguishing them from other mermaids, was a scar in the shape of their magic going down their right eyes. I didn't realise it until after I recruited Isis and Tanya that they were really two of the original elemental mermaids," Seiger began to explain, Coral taking over for him.

"As for who these four are and where their pods are, there's Elicia of Lightning from England, Marina of Ice from Russia, Aria of Air from America and Lacrima of Fire from Egypt. Each leader would teach their pod their respective elemental powers, but only one of four original elemental's could teach it. Other mermaids tried but it just didn't work. The four have lived for a long time, but Lacrima ran into troubles. She died unexpectedly and the pod had no newborn mermaids for her soul. They had to keep it under lock and key, and protect her soul until it could be transferred. Sadly, another pod in Egypt overheard that Lacrima's soul was out in the open, and staged an attack to take it for themselves. After learning that they weren't going to win, they destroyed her soul instead, so that no mermaid alive would ever learn fire magic again. Eventually, fire magic mermaids died out, the pod disbanded and everyone went their own separate ways. But nothing that we have can explain why Evie has fire magic!"

"Worse, remember how Evie's mother was called Lucy?" Seiger asked the whole table, a general nod coming from Zac, Evie, Coral and an eventual nod from Tanya and Isis. "We've learnt her real name. Lacrima."

It came as quite a shock to Zac and the two new mermaids. "But you said that Lacrima's soul was destroyed, didn't you?" Zac questioned.

"We should know, we knew Lacrima in the old days very well," Tanya replied. "But Seiger is right, nothing makes sense here. Lacrima was destroyed but her mother shared a name, was a mermaid, and most of all, Evie has fire magic, only something that could be taught, or passed onto by children of her own."

"There's nothing we can do about it though," Isis spoke up. "We just have to live with the fact that Evie might be the last mermaid alive to have fire magic."

Everyone seemed to agree. "So, is fire magic bad or something?" Evie asked, a little scared by the whole situation.

"There's nothing wrong with it, you'll just need to learn how to control it," Coral replied, trying to comfort her, then looking over to Seiger, hoping that he would have an idea to help.

"Well, Zac has fire magic of his own and can control it pretty well. Therefore, Zac, your ongoing mission is to teach in mermaid school," Seiger ordered.

"I'm sorry, ongoing mission?" He asked confused.

"It just means it's a mission you'll be doing whilst doing other things. And getting her to control it will take some time, you'll need to attend all her mermaid school lessons and teach her the ways of fire magic," Seiger explained.

"Right, besides that, anything else we need to talk about?" Zac asked, looking at everyone around the table.

"There is something else you need to talk about," a voice could be heard saying. Zac turned around to see and unfamiliar council member standing behind him. She wasn't wearing the same clothing as every other council member, it was Felicity. Although she had a long flowing white cape with her hood down, she was pretty much wearing what she was wearing earlier, the only difference being that her mermaid top was now white.

"Ah Felicity, you're finally back," Seiger stated. "Mission in Perth go as planned?"

"Hang on, who's she?" Zac butted in.

"This is Felicity, the most highly ranked mermaid in the entire of the Higher Council. I'd say her power rivals yours right now. But back to your mission," he replied, then motioning to Felicity.

"Yeah, I managed to find another one of the IMH's locations. No-one was there though, yet again," she explained. She grabbed a chair and took a seat at the table, in the gap between Isis and Tanya. "But let's not dwell on that for now. I've been gone for a while so bring me up to speed." She glanced around the four unfamiliar faces at the table. "Who is she?" she asked pointing to Evie and moved onto Zac, "furthermore, who is he?" She then crossed her arms, pointing fingers at Isis and Tanya, "and who are these two here?" She was rather blunt in her questioning, though in all fairness she was pretty tired from her mission.

"I see, and you two are positive that here soul was torn apart and destroyed?" Felicity asked, checking this with Isis and Tanya. They'd gone through all their introductions to each other, including the Sea Demon incident and brought Felicity up to speed on the whole Evie having fire magic situation.

Tanya and Isis looked at each other yet again. "We can't be 100% positive since we weren't there during he fight," Tanya mentioned. "But a ceremony was held where the last parts of her soul were destroyed for good. But there's no way anyone could have absorbed any part of her soul, there were no newborns at that fight, and there were none in that pod at the time."

"Right, you weren't kidding when you said nothing makes sense. But as there's nothing we can do about it, I think it's time we talk about the IMH," Felicity offered, everyone agreeing to talk about it.

"First and foremost, the IMH are what you could call our mortal enemies of the land world," Seiger began. "IMH, stands for International Mermaid Hunter."

Zac and Evie were rather taken back by that name.

"As their name suggest, they hunt mermaids and their sole purpose is to exterminate every last one of us," Felicity said, taking over. "They have bases all over the world, 3 here in Australia. One in Perth, which I recently discovered, one in Melbourne and the other not too far from the Gold Coast, but there is no sign of activity or life in that base at all. As for other locations in the world, they have bases in pretty much every country, yet, they only have one in America."

"Out of questioning, do you know where the one in America is?" Zac asked feeling slightly worried on the inside.

"I do, but why do you ask?"

"Well, we have a friend, a mermaid, who recently moved out to America," Zac said, trying to keep his words short.

"The base is in California," she replied bluntly, Zac and Evie's faces dropping yet again.

"Of all places," Evie said in a low tone.

"You have got to be kidding me? There are tonnes of locations in America and yet she ended up in California?!" Felicity asked, unable to believe it all. "This is bad. The base over there is more active and your friend might not be safe. There's a pretty good chance of her being okay though since they don't cover the whole of it, as long as she doesn't live near any kind of beach or mass of water, she'll be fine."

Zac would have to call Cam and check up on where exactly they were staying, just to keep them safe.

"For now though, let's take a break and talk about this tomorrow. We've been through a lot today. I'd like to do some research tomorrow in private so I maybe suggest you take this opportunity to return to land for the day, and enjoy yourselves.

Zac and Evie grinned widely. They couldn't wait to get back on land again, and for a whole day. They could finally catch up with Lyla and Rita, after all, they would be seeing David and Sirena tonight at the Moon Pool. They could always arrange something for the day, heck, Tanya and Isis could come with.

"Well, tomorrow is David's birthday," Zac pointed out.

"A friend of yours?" Isis asked excitedly.

"Not just a friend, he's also a merman, natural born, you'll be meeting him later, David," Zac explained.

"The boy from the Cafe we met in this morning?" Tanya asked curiously. "I never would have guessed in a million years. Natural born too."

"Even so, what are you doing to do for his birthday?" Isis questioned.

"Maybe a party would cheer us all up?" Evie suggested.

- Later that night, in the Moon Pool -

David and Sirena had introduced themselves to Isis and Tanya, and the six friends had a long conversation about everything that had happened.

"So, what about the party then?" Isis asked impatiently.

"Party?" David asked confused. "Are we going to throw one because it's my birthday?"

"Yeah, come one, you've got to celebrate your birthday, another year of successful living," Isis replied. "Think of it as a well done treat to yourself." She may have had an odd way of explaining things but she was never really wrong.

David looked up and her and smiled. "I don't see why we can't throw one together."

Isis cheered and gave David a quick hug. "Woohoo! Our first party huh Tanya?"

"Yes, it will be," she replied plainly. She didn't want to show it, but she was rather looking forward to a party. She'd never really been to one before, and now she was.

"What if we hire another band and Sirena can sing for them?" Evie suggested.

David and Evie turned their heads to Sirena, waiting for an answer.

"I don't see why not," she eventually said giving in, then leaning in for a cuddle with David. "We'd better go back and make preparations then, night guys."

"Night night," they all replied, Sirena diving and leaving first, David following her. If he left first, he'd have no clue of have to get back since his sense of direction wasn't brilliant.

- Back in that unknown location -

Since Felicity had been listening in on their conversation so that he could tell Seiger what they were doing, Richard and Lucas got word of everything.

"A party huh? Sounds like the perfect opportunity to take our task to the next level," Richard said to himself, even though Lucas was right next to him. "Lucas, I want you to go that party, and carry out your part of the plan."

Lucas looked at him confused, and then realised exactly what Richard meant. "Oh I see. In the middle of the party, they'd be helpless wouldn't they?"

"They would, except for Zac Blakely. Don't try it on him, he can overcome it remember?" Richard reminded him.

"Oh yeah, how about that Isis chick then?" Lucas suggested. "I mean, she's really cute as well."

Richard gave him a bonk on the head. "She's the enemy, you've got no time to be falling in love with her. After all, she's a mermaid, our sworn enemy."

Lucas sighed. "Yeah."

Richard began walking away from him, heading off to bed for the night. "That's right, our sworn enemy. They tried to take us out before, but we'll rise again. Mark my words, we will rise against them!"

- The next day -

David's party was in full swing. They managed to hire a local band to perform with Sirena and she was enjoying every second of it. She'd missed the huge crowd listening to her sing, a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time, not since the times when she sung with Aquata in front of the pod. David had managed to get Joe to cover working on the main bar, and also roped in some of his mates to take care of catering for the party.

Isis was enjoying herself, sitting down at the bar. She was about to get up and join Tanya and her friends across the room. But as she stood up, she bumped into someone.

"Oh god, are you okay?" The man asked, picking up his glass that had fallen on the floor.

Isis stood their, completely scared out of her mind in the situation she was in. A glass of water had just been spilt onto her legs and where she was right now, there was nowhere to go, she was surrounded by lots of people.

"Miss?" The man asked again as he stared at Isis.

*Please, if there is a god out there, don't let my tail appear! I know it's impossible but I've got no choice in this situation. If someone can hear me, please, don't let my tail grow. Please!* She cried out in her head, her body unable to move, knowing that in another few seconds, her tail would appear and it would be all over. No-one could help her, they weren't nearby and helping her would seem suspicious, but it seemed like no-one noticed Isis by the bar.

Isis closed her eyes and prepared for the worst, the man who had splashed her letting a small grin grow on his face, like he was anticipating the moment.

*Please, no tail!*

Karen: Well, hope that this chapter tied up most of the loose ends from the last chapter. We now know a little more about Isis, Tanya, Felicity, Richard and Lucas.

Lucas: You seriously made us International Mermaid Hunters?

Karen: Why not? After all, you'll find yourselves a little more vital to the story than you think you are. I don't know when the next chapter will be up but it might be a while, and there will be some action. It's like the last story, chapter 4 is where it all goes boom!