Chapter 5: Charlotte and Dr. Denman

Emma and Rikki jumped to their feet when Cleo's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell over. Rikki quickly grabbed her and gently laid her down on the floor before checking her pulse. "Her pulse is fine," Rikki told Emma.

Emma moved her ponytail over to her other shoulder before leaning close to Cleo's chest. She could distinctly hear her breathing while her chest rose up and down, slowly. "She's breathing fine," Emma said as she leaned back. "She's breathing like she's asleep."

"Hey, Cleo, wake up!" Rikki said as she grabbed Cleo's shoulders and started to shake her. Cleo's head flopped back and forth a couple of times before Cleo finally opened her eyes and brought a hand up to her head. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah...I'm fine," she responded as Rikki let go of her. "It was weird. All of a sudden everything turned black...and cold. You guys disappeared. I tried calling for you...but no one was around me. And then...this voice started speaking to me. It said something about the darkness...It said beware the darkness."

Emma and Rikki exchanged a look. "I think we should call Lewis," Cleo finally spoke up.

"What if this has to do with mermaid things? I'm sure Lewis wouldn't know what the darkness has anything to do with it. We should try and get to Ms. Chatham," Emma explained. She went over to Cleo's phone and dialed Ms. Chatham's number as Rikki and Cleo waited silently for her to pick up. "That's odd, she won't answer," Emma said as she put down her phone. "What Cleo saw...it's probably nothing," Emma tried to convince them. "It was probably a dream."

"It felt too real to be a dream," Cleo tried to convince her.

"Well, if we're not actually going to study then there's no point in me being here, now is there?" Rikki started to pack up her books before she shoved them into her bag. "I'm out."

"Where are you going?" Emma asked as she followed Rikki to the door.

"To see Zane," Rikki responded simply. "If we're not going to do anything here there is no point in me staying, is there?" She left the house and closed the door behind her before starting down the street towards the beach. She liked how each of their houses weren't that far away from the beach, the docks, or their favorite hangout. She loved how it was all in walking distance. But she hated how she had to get a ride to school every day, which she could have done without.

She arrived at the beach and looked around to see if she could spot Zane. She knew he had to be there with Nate. She had overheard their conversation about Nate taking surfing lessons or something. At first she was confused about it but then she wasn't surprised when she realized the real reason he was doing it was all because of a girl he wanted to get with. 'He goes through girls like someone with a cold goes through tissues.'

"'Ey, Rikki!" She looked around again before spotting Zane, who was waving at her as he walked towards her. She took off her shoes before stepping onto the beach, making a beeline for him. "What are you doing here? I thought you were with Cleo and Emma," he said as he gave her a hug before giving her a peck on the lips.

"I was, but then Emma needed to get ready for her date with Ash and I didn't want to stay for that," she responded as she took his hand and they started to walk down the beach.

"How'd you know I was going to be here?"

"Nate," she responded simply. "Usually wherever he is you are so I put two and two together."

"I'm usually around him just to stop him from doing something stupid, you know," Zane explained as they walked towards the mentioned teen who was sitting on the beach, by his surfboard, watching other people surf in the swelling ocean.

"Should I call him your girlfriend, then? You're going to be spending a lot of time with him," Rikki joked as Zane chuckled and playfully bumped her arm.

"What are you doing sitting here, mate? I thought you'd be in the water with your class," Zane commented once they reached Nate.

"Just enjoying the view," he responded as a grin crossed his face as his eyes transfixed on an object. Zane and Rikki looked out at the ocean to see Riley shooting through a barrel before coming out the other side before the wave crashed. Rikki made a face at Nate's statement before crossing her arms over her chest as Riley came out of the water.

"Hey," she said as she nodded in Rikki's and Zane's direction. "Rikki, right?" Rikki nodded to confirm her question. "You surf? I could always use a girl to surf with me," Riley said as she dropped her board that was covered in bright red and black flames.

"No, surfing's not my thing," Rikki said as Riley grabbed her towel and started to rub her hair dry.

"What a shame, I betcha you'd be really good." She dropped her towel to the ground and pulled her hair out of its ponytail before shaking it free of any loose water drops. Rikki's eyes widened when a drop landed on her cheek and she quickly grabbed a dry part of the towel to dry herself off. She counted out ten seconds in her head and heard Zane sigh in relief. That was too close. "I could teach you."

"No thanks, I'll leave surfing to you."

"You can go now," Riley added as she looked over in Nate's direction.

He scrambled to his feet and picked up his board. He tucked it under his arm and smiled before saying, "Maybe you could give me some extra one-on-one practice."

"You don't need it," Riley said as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him with hard eyes. "I hate being screwed over, and faking that you need lessons is in the top list of reasons I hate being screwed over. You don't need the help so I don't know why you're here. If you're expecting something else from me then you can forget it."

The smile fell from his face as Zane bit his lip to keep from laughing. The laugh got stuck in his throat when he saw the look in Nate's eyes. It was his challenge face and he knew that Nate never gives up a challenge.

"We'll see about that," Nate state before turning to walk away.

Riley made a face of disgust. "He has problems." She looked over at Zane who was staring at her. "Zane," she suddenly stated as her eyes widened in recognition.

He gave her a confused look before his eyes also widened. "I remember you now."

"You two know each other?" Rikki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"His dad used to work with my dad," Riley explained. Before Rikki could open her mouth she looked past her and let out a breath. Riley turned around and saw Charlotte making a beeline towards them.

"Charlotte, what're you doing here?" Rikki asked as she tensed once she stepped into their little circle. Zane placed a hand on her shoulder which instantly relaxed her, but the glare never slid off of her face.

"I came to talk to Riley about something," Charlotte said before grabbing Riley's arm and dragging her away.

"She's up to something," Rikki announced.

"Are you sure?" Zane asked.

"Positive. Charlotte used to be a mermaid too, but she forced herself into it," Rikki explained as she took his hand and the two walked off. "You see, she found this picture of her grandmother in Cleo's room. Her grandmother was one of the original mermaids from around here. Ever since she found the picture she's been trying to figure out things about her grandmother. One day she went snooping in Cleo's room and found this movie that a friend of hers' shot, it was of her turning into a mermaid. She's been trying to find the moon pool since then and she actually succeeded. After she turned into a mermaid she used her powers against us and we tried to stop her but she became more paranoid and controlling. Eventually the full moon came and she didn't listen to our warnings about it and fell under its spell. She came over to Emma's house and started messing things up, only to lure us to Mako Island to try and get rid of our powers. It eventually became a showdown between all of us to see who got to keep their powers and we were able to beat her so she lost her powers. I don't think she ever got over it."

"Wait, she knows about your powers?" Zane asked in shock. "But what if she tells someone about it? She could contact my Dad or Dr. Denman or someone!"

"She knows that no one will believe her if she said anything about it," Rikki reassured him. "And she knows what I can do if she happens to let it slip so I think we're covered."

Zane chuckled before kissing her on the cheek. "Some people may think you're abrasive, but I love how you stick up for yourself."

"That better be a compliment."

"It is. Do you want to do something?"

"Actually, I'm going to follow Charlotte to make sure she doesn't say anything, just to be sure," Rikki told him. "Rain check?"

"Of course," Zane said with an understanding smile before pulling her into a hug. "I'll see you later."

"Later."

Rikki sprinted towards the water and ran through the waves before diving into the water when it reached her waist. She smiled at the familiar feeling when a mass of bubbles surrounded her in the ocean and the next thing she knew she was a mermaid. She put her arms in front of herself and moved her tail muscles before shooting through the water at high speeds. She lifted her head out of the water further down the beach where Charlotte had finally stopped walking. She glanced around herself before lowering her head slightly as Riley looked at her in annoyance.

"If I were you I wouldn't try being friends with Rikki, Emma, and Cleo," Charlotte was saying. "They don't like including people into their group, I've tried and they were horrible to me. I don't want you to go through the same thing; I'm only looking out for you."

"I'm capable of finding out who I can or can't trust, thank you," Riley said in a surprisingly calm down. "You just proved that I can't trust you. I had a feeling that I couldn't but you just proved that I can't." A slow smirk spread across her face as she stepped forward. "Whatever you think you know about my family and me, you're wrong, so mind your own business."

Charlotte let out a huff before stomping off. Rikki lowered her head slightly. 'She turns to this all because she lost her mermaid powers? What was it that Lewis saw in her, honestly?' Rikki's head shot up when she suddenly smelled smoke. Her eyebrows rose when she saw that Riley was gone. Rikki pulled herself up onto the beach and dried herself off. When the steam disappeared she walked over to where Riley had been standing a few seconds before. What looked like burn marks were on the ground and smoke was coming from the marks.

"That's weird," she muttered to herself as she looked at the marks before looking around.

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Charlotte stomped up the beach, her head was lowered and she had her arms wrapped around herself as she bit her lip, willing herself not to cry. She had been stripped of her mermaid powers and was told off when she was just trying to help.

She hadn't realized that she had walked all the way to the docks until she noticed that a boat was sitting tied to the pier. The strange thing about it was the fact that the lights were still on while the other boats were dark.

"Are you lost?"

Charlotte's head shot up when she was addressed. She hadn't heard anyone come up behind her. A blond haired woman was standing behind her, her arms crossed loosely over her chest, her white lab coat moving slightly in the wind.

"No, I'm not," Charlotte said as she shook hear heard before turning it so she could dry off her face that was still wet with tears. "Are...are you Dr. Denman?"

"Yes," Dr. Denman said with raised eyebrows. "How did you hear of me?"

"My boy...my friend Lewis talked about you constantly," Charlotte replied.

"You know Lewis?" Dr. Denman asked with a bright smile. "I haven't seen in him ages. Actually, I was going to look for him tomorrow I wanted to talk to him about mer-" She stopped as an eager look crossed Charlotte's face.

"Mermaids?" Charlotte whispered. Dr. Denman's lip twitched slightly before she motioned Charlotte over to the brightly lit boat. Dr. Denman led her onto the boat where one of her assistants was looking at a computer screen.

"What do you know about mermaids?" Dr. Denman whispered.

"Why?" Charlotte asked, suddenly regretting what she had blurted out.

"I was here before studying marine biology and a fish count near Mako Island. Lewis was working with me and he left one of his experiments on a slide. I put water on it, like he was going to do, and saw that the whole molecular make-up had changed. I went around Mako, like I was supposed to, and found this underwater tunnel that lead to this...pool underneath the volcano. I found a scale there, dried it, and it turned into dead human skin. It started to click in my head what it was about until a boy, Zane Bennet, claimed that he saw a mermaid and then I was sure that there were mermaids by Mako. His father and I set up cameras to try and find them and we caught a picture of three girls. I knew Lewis knew something about it so I tried to get him to tell me about it but he wouldn't. So I had to resort to drastic measures, I had to trick him and him so his friends would go to Mako Island as mermaids; I knew that he knew them.

"I tried to talk to them about their mermaidness but they attacked me and escaped with Zane's help. Eventually I found them again and tried to get them to talk again but, once again, they attacked me. They kept telling me about how they were going to give up their powers. They jumped into this pool as the moon while it was being eclipsed and their powers were gone. I've been trying to figure out how that was possible and why they were the ones that had the mermaid power."

"It's the moon," Charlotte blurted out. She couldn't hold it inside anymore. She had to tell someone, and she thought that Dr. Denman was the right person. Maybe she could ever get her powers back... "The moon does it. If you're in the moon pool while the moon is overhead then you will turn into a mermaid."

"How do you know this?" Dr. Denman asked.

"I was a mermaid before," Charlotte admitted. "Before the girls took that away from me. I want to be a mermaid so badly again."

"What's your name?" Dr. Denman suddenly asked.

"Charlotte," she replied.

"I think we can help each other, Charlotte."