Cleo, Bella, Rikki, and Emma were sitting at a table at Rikki's café. Everyone was silent until Lewis ran into the café looking for the girls.
"Is something wrong Lewis?" Cleo asked him as he caught his breath.
"You'll never believe who's back." The girls stared at him as if he were crazy they were anxious to see who he was talking about. None of them knew how important Lewis' news was.
"Who?" The girls asked simultaneously.
"Charlotte." Cleo clenched her fists angered at the mention of Charlotte. She though she saw the last of her last year before Emma left. "Not only her but too." Lewis could tell Emma, Cleo, and Rikki were angry as well as frightened probably from what happened the last time they encountered them. Bella; however, looked confused as ever. Lewis and the others knew they would have to explain to Bella about how much danger they were in now that Charlotte and were back.
"I suggest we go somewhere more private to discuss this." Emma said feeling as if people were watching her. It was time for her to tell the others about her little secret.
The five of them went to the boat shack where they found Will sitting at his desk admiring his fossils. After introducing Will to Emma they started talking about what the plan would be.
"So who exactly are these people?" Bella asked for both her and Will's sake.
"Charlotte is a dumb little used to be mermaid that stole Lewis away until we showed her. SHE knows our secret though." Cleo nearly lost it. She was so angry that the girl that stole Lewis away from her and nearly made her loose her ability to become a mermaid. She still held a grudge against her.
" is a wacko marine biologist that found out about us. We tricked her into thinking we gave up our powers. Now I honestly think that we may be being watched. I think the best thing we can do is just try not to get wet and by that I mean no more swimming. Not for a while anyway. Oh and Bella I don't think we really need to worry about you or Will considering she doesn't know you yet." Emma was hiding some thing big but she didn't want to show it. Emma wanted to tell the girls the truth but didn't feel like she could fully trust everyone in the room considering she just met two of them.
"Okay, so Lewis what are you going to do?" Cleo asked her boy friend hoping he could do something to convince to forget about the whole mermaid thing.
"I'm going to do some work. I'm only here for a while. The only way I can stay is if I help her with something. I'll do as much as I can to help. Now I really have to go. I'll see you guys later." Lewis kissed Cleo and then walked off. Cleo knew by the way Lewis spoke that he was sincere and sad that he had to leave. She knew he wanted to help.
"I have to go too. I'll see you guys later." Emma knew she was way to vague in her answer but would worry about that later. She just had to leave and go somewhere. Emma knew that if she stayed in the boat house any longer that she'd loose it and probably convince herself to do something stupid like tell them the truth about her secret.
Cleo, Rikki, Bella, and Will remained in the boat shack. For a while it reminded them about when it was just the four of them and how life was simpler then. They all knew that things wouldn't be the same now especially with everyone back. Enemies and friends united again. For a while it was silent until finally Cleo spoke.
"Rikki, why don't we leave these two love birds alone. Besides, I have something to talk to you about. Have fun guys. Call us later Bella. Bye." Cleo nearly had to drag Rikki outside. After seeing Cleo's facial expression Rikki followed without hesitation. Rikki knew something was wrong. Cleo only looked like that if something were wrong.
Cleo and Rikki walked down the beach away from the water but not so much as to cause suspicion. Rikki was dying inside she wanted to know what Cleo was thinking. When they got to their secret spot, where they always hung out. Cleo started talking.
"I can tell and I know you can too that Emma's hiding something form us. I don't know what, but I think something's wrong. She needs to know that she can trust us. " Cleo hinted at Rikki and Rikki understood. She knew that the person Cleo was talking about was her or Bella. It took Rikki a few seconds to find something appropriate to the situation to say.
"I agree, there's something wrong. She's defiantly hiding something from us. Did you see the way she tensed up when Lewis mentioned her. She's defiantly not telling us something. It's either something to do with her or something to do with Bella. Oh, and I loved your explanation of Charlotte. As much as I'd describe her differently you did pretty good. So what do you think we should do? Confront her? Because if you do you're on your own. WE don't get along when it comes to disagreements and Bella's out of the question on this." Rikki hoped that Cleo understood all of what she said. She knew that she switched up some of what she said and that she twisted her words a bit.
"Thanks. Yeah I noticed. She also hesitated when she explained who she is to the others. I think we need to wait. If we confront her she won't tell us. Like you said she'll overreact and get mad." Rikki didn't like the way Cleo said we. Emma wouldn't listen to her at all and Cleo knew it she just didn't want to do it by herself or accept the fact that Rikki and Emma didn't get along the best.
"Should we at least tell Bella that Emma's upset about something and that she shouldn't try to provoke her?" Rikki asked hoping that Cleo would say yes. Even if she said no they'd still eventually end up telling Bella about Emma because neither of them could keep a secret for that long. Besides, Bella deserved to know.
"No, we shouldn't because if we do there will be more problems than we need right now. We'll keep this to ourselves as long as we can. For now we need to make sure we all avoid water."Cleo smiled proudly.