Today's the day.

Today's the day I get my powers back.

My heart is moving at a million miles a second. I don't know whether to feel nervous, excited or scared. If what Grace..Geneva, if what Geneva said is true; then once I go into the moon pool, I'll have my tail and powers back. I've been journaling, about being a mermaid. I understood just how special it all was way too late. So I decided to journal, not really a diary, more like lots of sketches and doodles. I took up doing that from the diary I found while out swimming one day. It was orangish brownish, inside was drawings of the girls and their powers and info on them being a mermaid, although it was all written in code. The name washed off but I assumed it belonged to one of the girls.

I walked through the beads leading into the cafe. I glanced around to see if I could spot an empty seat but instead, my eyes locked on three familiar girls. I took a seat on the opposite side of the cafe, where I was far enough not to be spotted but close enough to see them. Lewis, Zane and Asher, Ash? Yeah Ash and some other girl walked over to them. It was the same blond haired girl I saw on the beach the other day. They were all smiling, even raising their glasses and cheering like they just achieved something big and decided to celebrate it. My heart filled up with jealousy. I wanted that. That friendship. That obvious love and care for each other like nothing else mattered. That special secret that binds them together at the waist. I turned away, blinking away the water building up in my eyes. I felt compelled to go over there and annonce myself, to show them I'm back. But I was glued to my seat. I decided it was better to wait until I got my powers back, that way if anything were to happen, I could defend myself. Show them their secret isn't at risk because it's my secret too and maybe just maybe if even for a moment...to be their friend.

Bella placed her glass down on the table, she looked at her smiling best friends. She looked out into the rest of the cafe, looking for Sofie or any other of the workers. Her eyes locked with a girl, she had red hair and was wearing a necklace with a moon pendant. She quickly looked away and started fiddling with the menu. Bella found her a bit weird, why was she watching them? She looked back to her friends, not sure if she should bring it up.

"Um guys.." Bella said, glancing back at the girl.

"Yeah?" Cleo asked, her smile still wide.

"Not to alarm you or anything but there's this girl, it looks like..it looks like she's watching us."

Everyone immediately felt on edge.

"Watching us? Watching us how?" Emma asked.

"She was staring, she looked away when I spotted her."

"Is she still here?" Cleo asked.

Bella pointed in the direction of the girl. "She's right there. In that seat. At that table."

"There's no one there." Cleo said, sounding a bit sceptical.

"She was..she was right there! She probably left when I noticed her."

"What did she look like?" Lewis asked.

"Um, she had red hair, a bit chubby, wearing a moon necklace, brown eyes."

"Wait a minute," Cleo looked at Rikki and Emma. "That sounds a whole lot like-"
"Charlotte."

"I don't get it. How could she be back?" Emma asked, pacing back and forth.

Cleo slouched down on the couch, "I just hope she isn't after Lewis again."

"Or worse. Do you think she wants to expose us?" Rikki asked, leaning on the couch behind Cleo.

Lewis shaked his head, "She wouldn't. She gave me her word."

"Last time I checked. She didn't care."

"Let's not make a big deal out of this. She could just be passing through, her mom does have businesses down here." Emma said.

Cleo nodded, "How are we even sure it's her? I mean she's not the only red head around here. And Bella did say something about a necklace."

Knock Knock

Cleo jumped up, "I'll get it! Oh, Ms Chatam."

"Hello Cleo. Are the others here?"

"Um..yeah. Come in."

"Ms C! How are you?"

"Hello Lewis. I'm quite okay. I'm sure you all know that today is a full moon."

"Yeah. Not just any full moon either, tonights the healing moon."

"When should the moon rise?" Cleo asked.

"At around 5:30. What's the plan? Do we lock up or…"

"We should lock-"

"-go to mako."

Ash and Emma locked eyes. "Ash, are you crazy? Why would we go to mako?"

Ash shrugged, "Why not? I mean what exactly do we have to lose?"

Rikki scoffed, "I don't know, OUR LIVES?"

"Rikki, I don't think the moon is out to kill us. If anything Denman is." Ash said, folding his arms.

"I agree." Ms Chattam said, getting the attention of everyone in the room.

"See? Even Ms Chattam agrees with me! Going to Mako is a bad idea."

"I meant you should go."

Lewis cleared his throat, "Ms C you yourself said you don't know what this moon actually does, going there tonight.."

"I understand. But aren't you curious enough to see if I was right?"

Cleo's POV

I sat at the edge of the moon pool, my feet criss crossed. I stared into the water, watching it rise and fall.

"Look! tidal waves."

"Tidal waves..?"

"The surface of the water rises and falls which means it's connected to the ocean, we might have a way out."

"I'm not gonna like this."

I smiled at the memory, reminiscing about my once fear of the water. I would've freaked out at myself today, now I don't even blink twice about swimming, probably because there isn't the active threat of drowning anymore but that's not the point. I've come a long way since then, my powers have never been greater and the added bonus of fluently speaking a whole other language. This whole healing moon royal mer thing has been stressing me out. It's like I'm not even in control of what happens anymore, as if my mermaidness is making me a puppet on a string. "Hey." I looked up to see Rikki, swimming over to where I was sitting. "Hey.." I responded, sighing.

"Woah, what's up with you? Worried about the whole..lemme guess.. Charlotte thing?"

"No. She wasn't even crossing my mind. It's just..this healing moon and us being royal mer and having to be royalty and rule over a society that probably doesn't even exist anymore so were just a bunch of crazy mermaids with powerful powers and so-"

"Cleo"

"No its just so confusing and tiring and I'm honestly just so exhausted and-"

"Cleo! Breathe. Now I'm not good at this comforting thing but just know you have us, you have Lewis and as much as he can be a handful you have Zane as well. We're all in this dumb situation so you don't have to stress over it alone. The worst that can happen tonight is probably losing our powers and that is highly unlikely."

"Thanks Rikki...I'd hug you but.." I glanced over at the water, "Don't wanna get wet."

Rikki smiled at me before backing away under the water. Her tail flipped up for a second signalling that she left, leaving me alone at the moon pool. I plopped down on the sand, staring into the opening.

"It's not going to erupt is it..?"

"It's been dormant for 600 years. I think we'll be fine."

I wiped the tears from my eyes, I didn't even realise I was crying. What Rikki said was so out of character for her but I appreciated it nonetheless.

"The hike up here sucks. I should've worn runners." I turned to see Zane leaning on the wall.

"C'mon man," Lewis said, nudging Zane, "It's not that bad."

Zane waved him off, "Yeah because you're used to this, you walk up here all the time and you have a tail!"

Lewis shrugged.

"Hey guys!" Bella said, swimming up, Emma and Rikki behind her. "I guess the majority decided to walk?"

"No, I swam in. Have any of you seen Ash? " I asked.

"Yeah we walked up together, he went to check something out, said he saw a girl behind some trees." Zane said, he walked up towards me and sat down on the sand.

"A girl? That's strange." Emma shrunk in the water.

I sat up, my body now filled with strange discomfort. What if she was some spy working for Denman?

A noise came from the entrance. Everyone turned to the direction of the noise. We let out a breath after seeing it was just Ash.

"Ash." Emma said, worried. "Are you okay? Did you see who the girl was? Was she with Denman?"

Ash rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. "I'm okay, I promise. I didn't see who the girl was, she turned a corner and I lost her. I managed to see that she had ginger hair but that was about it."

Everyone sat and stood around in a moment of silence. I sighed, brushing the hair out of my face. "Are you guys..worried? Like at all?" I asked, my voice a bit shaky. Lewis walked over to me, he held me and I couldn't help but melt in his arms from some much needed comfort.

Ash fidgeted with his sweater drawstrings, "I'm worried. I know I was the one to initiate us coming here in the first place but..it's scary."

You could suffocate in the tension. Almost like water pressure.

Rikki fixed her posture, sitting up straight. "The moon is almost overhead. We should start preparing."

I looked up, I saw the moon peeking out from the side, moving ever so slightly closer overhead. Zane and Lewis walked into the moon pool, Ash following behind. "When you're ready Cleo. But also anytime soon." Rikki said, moving towards the centre.

I smiled. Finding Rikki being herself sort of refreshing. I took a deep breath and entered the moon pool. Right when I did, the moon became completely overhead. We stared at the moon, like any other full moon it was like we entered a trance. Everything and everyone faded from around me, I could no longer acknowledge the presence of the others. Then a bright light flashed in my eyes and suddenly I was in front of two people sitting on the docks in front of Will's boatshed. When I looked closer I saw that it was actually me and Lewis. We were smiling and laughing, Lewis's eyes had that specific light that only ever showed up when he was doing his sciency stuff. My heart grew butterflies, seeing Lewis look at me in a way he's never done before. In my hands was a smaller person, most likely a baby. Was it mine? No. Was it OURS? I could feel my face get warmer at the thought of having children with Lewis. But why was I being shown this? Just then I heard a big splash coming from behind me. I turned around to see another mermaid, much bigger than the baby. She had blond hair and from what I could see brown eyes. Her tail was that familiar bronze that we used to have, and she was smiling. This was all confusing, what does this all mean? What is the moonpool trying to show me?

Then it hit me. Like a frozen water ball. This was our future. This is the future that we are supposed to have, that we're going to have. That ringing in my head telling me to say yes, this is why! This is all so..so..something. I took a deep breath. My smile grew wider, watching them..us, I knew what I had to do.
"Yes."

That word shook me, I could feel something like a sharp knife run over the left side of my chest, then my right.

Just then a bright light flashed, and when I opened my eyes I was back at the moon pool.

"Wow..tell me I'm not the only one who saw what I saw." Rikki said, her face ridden with confusion and just a little bit of shock.

I quickly felt for a scar or something, but was taken aback when I noticed nothing was there. The looks on the others' faces told me I wasn't the only one confused.

"I know what I saw, but one things for certain." Zane said.

"Ms Chatam was wrong."

NO POV

Grace sat at the edge of the stream, she watched the sun dance on the surface of the water and she smiled. The night before was nothing but magic, it was..healing lack of a better word. For the first time since Pike died, her family came together. Now it was all a matter of waiting. Grace sighed, then she got up and walked towards the beach. Her feet dragged through the sand, it was still warm from the sun before the trees granted shade. She walked for a bit, just breathing in the fresh ocean air and relaxing to the sound of the waves crashing against the sand. Then she saw what she thought was a person, sitting near some big rocks. Upon closer inspection she noticed the person had red hair. Her heart skipped a beat. She knew she should've been cautious, afterall it could be anyone. But she couldn't help but hold out hope that it might just be that one person, the one who rented a room in her mind and ignored the eviction notices. The one that kept beating on her heart, the one she really hoped would be sitting by those rocks. She walked closer, taking ever so slightly small steps that only seemed to get bigger until she was standing close enough. "Charlotte?" Grace asked, watching the person shift their posture and turn to face her.

"That's my name."

Grace's face lit up, "Charlotte!" she rushed over to hug her, suddenly feeling like her day just got a 100x better. "What are you doing here? How are you doing here? I mean- how are you here?"

Charlotte smiled, "I swam here."

Grace's eyes grew wide, "What?"

"I swam here," Charlotte emphasised, "I got my tail back!"

Lewis paced back and forth, trying to figure out something. They all sat in the living room, tension hung heavy in the air. Recently they've all made Emma's house a new meet up spot. Ever since Denman practically took over the moon pool and the entirety of Mako island, they no longer had a safe and consistent spot to meet up. And since Emma's parents are away, and a bit of convincing, Emma's house was the new moon pool. Somewhat.

"So what does this mean for us now?" Ash asked.

No one responded. It seemed as if everyone was still trying to correlate an answer to what happened at Mako. Better yet, why?

Emma rubbed her left chest side, moving her fingers in the same motion across the same area. Bella watched her for a while, wondering why she was rubbing that specific place when Zane spoke up, "The cut. I felt a cut when I saw those, what I can only describe as visions- when I said yes. What was that about?"

"Yeah, I felt a cut too, on both sides- what could it mean?" Bella asked.

They sat and pondered. The whole situation was overbearingly confusing and answers just didn't seem to fall from the ceiling whenever it was convenient.

*clank*

Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the sound. "What was that?" Bella asked. "Wait." Cleo put a finger up, signalling everyone to stop moving, "I hear people talking."

Lewis's eyes grew wide, he was standing the closest to the window when he saw men in white hazmat suits. Similar to the ones the doctors had when the girls pretended to be sick to avoid the rain, only this time a bit more..ominous.

"Lewis what do you see? What's going on?" Emma asked, the worry obvious in her voice.

"People in suits. It looks like they're going to surround this place. I don't-"

"We have to go," Zane interrupted. "Now!"

Rikki looked at him, "What? Why?"

"Oh come on, don't you guys see? Those guys are with Denman! Their coolers or whatever they're holding have the same symbol as the one on her boat!"

"Zane's right, we have to leave." Emma said as she grabbed Ash's hand and held it.

"Where would we go? She knows us like hawks by now! We don't have Mako, we don't have our own houses, we probably already lost the cafe! We have nowhere." Rikki shouted, in a quiet way. Lewis shaked his head, "No…no. That's not right. We do have somewhere." Everyone looked at him, he continued, "The palace!"

"Right!" Cleo cheered, "Denman doesn't know about that!"

"Well we better get a move on." Ash said, attempting to peek through the window from where he was standing. "I don't think we have much time."

They all headed for the back door, hoping Denman's men weren't camping it yet. Just then they heard the front door creak open and heavy footsteps walking through towards the living room. Cleo quietly shut the back door in time to catch up with the others who'd already made their way into the water. They didn't dive in, no, that would make too much noise and draw attention towards them, instead they opted to go in the water feet first as quietly as they could manage.

Denman stormed into the living room, "They were here. Just now." She smelled the air, "The smell of fish stinks in here." She waved to her men, "Find them, find something."

"What if they ran to the island?" One of the men asked.

"I have Mako island, the cafe, their houses and other irrelevant spots all covered and guarded. They can't get far."