I am so sorry for not updating sooner… This story was my first idea for fanfiction. I'm sticking with it. I will be updating asap I'm very busy with school and all and I promise I won't forget about this story. Well please read and review. -Chinaluv

Chapter 9: Awakening

Return of an enemy and reunitement of friends

Lewis, after receiving an alarming phone call from Bella got up quickly. He got dressed and then went to Cleo's. He wasn't surprised to find out the front door was unlocked. He opened it expecting to find Denman or one of her guards, but only saw Cleo and Rikki unconscious on the couch. He figured Denman did something to them. He noticed that they were breathing so they were obviously not hurt too bad, which was a good thing.

He cautiously made his way over to them. Rikki looked surprisingly harmless for once. He didn't think waking Rikki up first was the best idea because she would probably overreact and do something stupid. He knew that wouldn't be the best.

Lewis moved to where Cleo was. She was as beautiful s a rose Lewis though. How ever did her get a girl friend as great as her. He figured Will though the same about Bella. It finally clicked to him that Bella was going, to the boat shack. Lewis knew he should call Will but he was probably asleep and his first priority was waking Rikki and Cleo up.

Out of the corner of his eye Lewis could see Cleo moving. He gently tapped her shoulder. Outside the window Lewis could see the moon setting. He quickly went to the kitchen and grabbed two towels and a glass of water. Half of the water her splashed on Cleo, the other he splashed on Rikki. Surprisingly to Lewis the girls didn't change into mermaids. Lewis wondered if a kiss would wake Cleo up. Lewis carefully leaned down and kissed Cleo. After a few seconds he pulled back. Nothing happened. He sighed wishing Cleo woke up.

Lewis turned to Rikki, he knew it was a bad theory considering Cleo didn't wake up, but he leaned in a kissed Rikki anyway. Outside the moon disappeared above the ocean. Lewis opened his eyes and saw Rikki's eyes open. Instead of pushing him away like he thought she would she kissed him harder. Lewis wasn't enjoying it, especially when he saw the hurt look on Cleo's face. Lewis immediately pulled off Rikki.

"Cleo, I can explain. I though a kiss would wake you both up. For the record I kissed you first. I guess it was the moon. Okay, so what do you remember about last night? Lewis went over and grabbed Cleo's hand. He pulled it up to his face and kissed it. Cleo smiled but was still a bit hurt from seeing Lewis kiss Rikki.

"Now what do you remember from last night?" Lewis asked again wondering to himself how much he'd have to explain. He didn't know much so he'd have to just give them as much as he could.

"I don't remember much after my shift." Cleo explained and then yawned, she was still tired from the long night she had.

"And you?" Lewis looked toward Rikki who was just stretching.

"I remember waking Bella up then falling asleep. The next thing I remember was waking up because I heard something. I sort of dozed off again and then the next thing I know I woke up to you kissing me. That was a major surprise. So what exactly happened?" After Rikki's explanation Lewis began to think. He wondered what he should do next.

"Let's go to the boat house. We may get some answers there." Lewis said as he opened the door. There stood Denman and Charlotte.

"Hello Girls, Lewis. Might I come in?" She asked politely, which was quite a surprise.

"Sorry, we were just leaving. Weren't we guys?" Lewis looked toward Cleo and Rikki who were just nodding. Rikki noticed Cleo's gaze was on Charlotte and the water bottle in her hand. Rikki looked straight into Charlotte's eyes. Rikki could see the hatred in her dark brown eyes and Rikki knew Charlotte was baiting Cleo.

"I think it's about time we left." Rikki said nearly pushing Cleo toward the door.

"Not so fast Rikki. I'd like to know where you're going out see Bella." Denman was really getting Rikki mad.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Now will you let us leave?" Rikki didn't look like she was afraid, but deep down she was. Denman was the only one that really scared her because of what she was capable of.

"You'll regret that. You and Cleo may not be mermaids anymore, but I already have Emma. The only one left is Bella. She is the only one other than Emma right?" Denman looked at Cleo and Rikki who looked completely confused. They wondered what really happened last night. Both were afraid, after all Denman had just told them that one of their best friends was hurt and with her.

"Yeah, she's the only one. Other than Emma. What did you do to her anyway? We want our friend back, and we want Bella back too." Rikki was livid now. She never like lying, but in this case it was necessary.

"Give us our best friend back." Cleo said annoyed as well. She was closer to Emma than anyone and had known her since she was three.

"Relax, Emma's just resting." Denman smiled evilly.

"Look, we really need to go." Rikki said again, this time dragging Cleo passed charlotte and out the door. Lewis followed almost like a lost puppy.

"We need to Rescue Emma and find Bella." Cleo said surprisingly confident. Rikki figured that seeing Charlotte must've set her off.

"Yeah… Lewis, you and Cleo follow them, I'll go find Bella. I know her hiding spots." Rikki smiled, she'd known Bella best and knew exactly where she'd go.

"Alright Rikki, but please be careful. They may be watching us. Now please be careful, and not do anything stupid." Cleo said hugging Rikki before Rikki ran off toward the café.

"Alright, where too?" Lewis asked, hoping Cleo had an idea on what they should do.

"I have an idea, but it's really risky." Cleo said a bit nervous.

"And that is? I'd really like to know." Lewis said excitedly.

"Well… I think you should go and pretend to like Charlotte. With luck she'll lead you to Emma and then I can jump in and save her. Do you think you can do that Lewis?" Cleo couldn't finish because Lewis was just staring at her.

"Wow… Okay.. I can do that, but it won't be fun. It's worth a try though. Be careful following us." Lewis said giving his girl friend a kiss.

Lewis went up to where Denman and Charlotte were discussing something. He quickly tapped Charlotte on the shoulder. She turned and smiled happily.

"Lewis, what a surprise. Come to say hello?" Charlotte said a bit happily that he returned.

"Actually I wanted to see you. I'm sorry about everything. I should have stuck by you. Cleo's such a jerk. I'm here now though I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Cleo and the others soon Denman. I know I should have now. I made a huge mistake." Lewis said happily.

"It's alright Lewis Charlotte and I were about to go to her lab. Would you like to join us?" Denman asked nicely.

"Yes, I'd love to come. I have one question though. Is that where you're keeping Emma? What exactly did you do to her?" Lewis asked a bit nervous because if he did anything untrustworthy than his cover would be blown.

"Yes, we're keeping her at the lab, but not for testing purposes, for just observing. She's hurt really bad. We don't know exactly what happened to her. We're trying to help as best we can. Shall we go?" Denman said leading the way. Charlotte grabbed Lewis's hand, and as much as he didn't like it he knew he had to take it in order to not blow his cover.

The arrived at the Lab. Lewis was surprised to see how much stuff Denman had. There were at least ten rooms, four of which had examination tables. There was a large tank full of water, which had room for about four mermaids, and there was a separate room that seemed to be full of action. Lewis glanced in seeing a familiar blonde strapped up to machines. She slept soundly but was very pale.

"Emma…" Lewis said a bit scared.

"It's sad isn't it. She was so strong two years ago. I wonder what happened to her." Charlotte said and surprised Lewis.

"Wait.. you guys didn't do anything to her?" Lewis asked confused.

"No… We found her like this. Denman's trying to help her. She might not wake up.. We don't know."Charlotte said getting Lewis's hopes up.

"Charlotte's right, we didn't do any of this." Denman said.

The next thing that happened was a surprise to everyone. Someone came running through the door. The even weirder thing that happened was that Emma opened her eyes. Everyone in the room stared wide eyed at the girl that burst through the door.

I apologize for the bad cut off. It's like 11 and I have to go to bed. Also I just received some great news. I'm now on SOAD So happy and hyper. I was going to post this tomorrow morning but decided to do it now. Again sorry for the late update and I hope you enjoyed let me know what you think. Oh, and again sorry about the ending… -Chinaluv