Chapter 16: Cat Got Your Tongue?

"Crys, are you ok?" Christian's voice came through the other side of the door. His voice was quickly followed by a knock. "If you don't get down here soon they're going to eat everything."

"Uh…that's ok! I'm not hungry!" Crystal shouted back as she continued to stare at herself in the mirror. "How could this be happening? What the hell's going on here?" She wracked her brain about what could have happened and gasped. "The Moon Pool! That has to be it!"

Suddenly she heard pounding footsteps get closer to her door. "Hey Crys, come on! Sydney's going to be on a sugar high if you don't help him eat these chocolate-chip pancakes!"

"I, um, I have a little problem here!" Crystal called back weakly.

There was a pause on the other side of the door. "Let me in," she finally said.

"Door's open," Crystal called back. She turned her head and stared at the door as it swung open. Riley looked around the room, her eyebrows rising. "Look down," Crystal sighed.

Riley looked down and her eyes widened. "What the…Crys?" She asked.

Crystal nodded solemnly. "Unfortunately," she sighed.

"What the heck happened to you? You're…you're a cat!" Riley said as Crystal walked over to her.

"I know, I think it has something to do with falling into the Moon Pool," Crystal replied.

"Ok, don't panic. Um…let's see if Christian or Julius can do something if not we'll just have to meet up with everyone else," Riley said as she turned to the door. Crystal followed her, walking quickly to catch up to Riley's fast pace. "Hey guys, we have a little problem," Riley called as she walked into the kitchen.

"What? You forgot to do your Science project again?" Julius asked before taking a gulp of his orange juice.

Riley stared at him for a couple of seconds before slapping her forehead. Julius rolled his eyes. "That, and this," she said as she pointed down at Crystal who jumped onto the table.

"It's a cat, so what? Just throw it out, you know that Crystal's allergic."

"Huh, I'm allergic to myself, that's so funny," Crystal said sarcastically. Julius's eyes widened. Sydney dropped his fork and Patrick and Noah whipped their heads around to look at her. "Something went wrong," she groaned.

Crystal's blue eyes followed Lewis around as he paced around the table that she was perched on. He had been poking and prodding her a few times and she looked about ready to attack him.

"Lewis, she's a cat not a piece of meat!" RIkki finally shouted when Lewis prodded Crystal again.

"Sorry. I'm just trying to figure this out," Lewis said as he stood back and crossed his arms over his chest. "When did this happen?"

"Apparently in the middle of the night," Crystal replied, leaning back as she stretched. "I woke up like this."

"How come it didn't happen to Riles and Rhu?" Noah asked from the stool he was sitting on.

As soon as they got a grasp on the situation they had called Lewis, Cleo, and Rikki over. They had called Emma as well but she said she didn't want to miss school and decided to go ahead to tell the teachers that the rest of them were sick. Rikki made fun of her wondering how she was going to be able to spend the day lying but Emma wouldn't respond.

"Who knows? The Moon Pool is a mysterious thing," Lewis sighed, scratching his head. "I don't even know how long she's going to be stuck like this."

"She wasn't in the Moon Pool that long. Maybe she won't be in this state for too long," Cleo suggested.

"That all depends, I guess. I mean, you guys turned into mermaids when you fell into the moon pool and now whenever you touch water you turn into one. For all we know as soon as she drinks milk she'll turn into a cat," Lewis said.

"And milk's her favorite drink, too," Sydney said sympathetically as he scratched Crystal between the ears. He laughed a little when he saw her ears droop and a relaxed look came to her face. "What can we do?"

"I guess we need to get Uncle Christian to check her out and then wait for her to change back," Julius sighed. "In the meantime she has to stay here where we can keep an eye on her. The last thing we need is for her to transform at school or in public."

"Hey Emma! Emma, wait!" Emma heard Byron yelling after her. She let out a frustrated sigh before turning around and plastering a peaceful smile on her face. Her smile wavered a bit when she noticed that Nate had joined.

"Look, guys, I'm really busy. I need to—"

"I heard that Crystal's sick. Right?" Byron asked.

"Um, yeah," Emma replied, searching the halls for Ash.

"Is Riley sick too? She's not here either," Nate asked.

"Yeah, I think she caught what Crystal had," Emma said as she tried to walk away but the two boys followed them.

"What do they have?"

"A cold I think?" Her eyes scanned the halls desperately and then she figured he'd be sitting outside getting some last minute studying in since he had a big history test. "Look, guys, I have to go. If you're so worried why don't you just go and see if they're ok or something?" She rushed off before they could say another word and instantly felt guilty. She knew that Riley and Crystal were going to give it to her once she got back but she really didn't care. She had to know why Ash was acting funny lately.

She looked over the railing of the second floor of the school and looked around for Ash. She spotted him sitting on a bench. She rushed over to him and plopped down on the bench next to him, beaming. "Hey Ash, what's up?"

"Hey Emma," Ash said slowly, closing his History book. "How are you?"

"I'm great. You said you wanted to talk?" Ash nodded. "Ok, what about?"

"About us," Ash replied.

Emma bit her lip. "Um, what about us?"

Ash sighed. "It's just…ever since you became a mermaid…it's hard."

"What's hard, Ash?"

"Us. Making sure you're safe. Having to worry about getting anywhere near water. It just gets so frustrating. I don't know if I can handle it anymore."

Emma's heart sank as she squinted at him. "Where's this coming from?" She asked, tucking her hair behind her ears. "There was no problem before."

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Ash said as she quickly shoved his books into his bag and stood. "Sorry," he reapted.

"Ash, wait!" Emma called after him but he ran away.