Another chapter. I'm sorry if there are some flaws in this story, but I didn't had the time to reread it as I really wanted to upload it today. As you may have guessed is this story coming to an end and believe me when I say that the it will end with a bang with maybe even a possible dead. Who knows? For the people who haven't read it, i have a new story, it's a crossover between twilight and h2o just add water. Well here's another chapter with the title:

Shadows are closing in

"Do you think Byron will meet me?"

Emma, Rikki and Cleo sit down at a table in the Marine Park.

"Emma, you already asked us this a thousand time. Off course he will meet you, he still likes you. I always see him staring at you in class."

"Oh yeah and yesterday he asked me how you were doing."

"So where should I ask him to come?"

"Why not at your house?"

"Yeah, it's safe and comfortable. Almost no chance of demons attacking you there."

"And if there are demons, Cleo and I will try to keep them off on our own."

"I could do that, especially since I have the house all for my own tomorrow."

"Great."

Suddenly Ms. Chatham appears.

"Girls, I'm so glad that I bumped into you."

"Ms. Chatham, hey."

"How are you Ms. Chatham?"

"In all honesty Emma, I'm very concerned." She sits down. "I just wanted to tell you that you must stick together. No matter what, you must be there for each other. Promise me that."

"Ms. Chatham, I don't know what you're worrying about, but as far as I'm concerned there isn't something I wouldn't do for Cleo or Rikki."

"Absolutely. The three of us are like best friends. There are no secrets. Right?"

"Right."

They all look at Rikki.

"Right."

"I'm glad."

She smiles strangely towards Rikki.

-h2o-

Eleanor is watching out of her window when a cloaked figure fires in behind her. She doesn't turn around.

"Why did you send the imp master after my daughter?"

"The source is getting impatient. You promised him…"

"I know what my promise was. But it is taking more time then I anticipated to gain her whole trust. She is much more tied to her friends then I thought. But don't worry, the time is nearly there, and then I'll isolate her."

"The source wants more progress."

Eleanor turns around angrily.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Do you really want him to be angry with you."

"No, off course I don't want that. We all know what happens when he gets angry with you. Alright, I'll try to get result a little sooner. But if my plan falls because off it, it will be on the source's head."

-h2o-

Rikki goes up to her mom's room. She wants to knock but hears voices inside. Confused, she thinks about leaving, but finally she decides to knock anyway. After a second her mom opens the door. "Rikki." She gives her a hug. "How lovely to see you, come in." Rikki goes in and notices that there is no one in the room.

"Funny, I thought I heard some voices."

"Ow, I was just watching some TV. Nothing special. So what brings you here?"

"Ms. Chatham is being strange. She warned us that Cleo, Emma and I should stick together no matter what. Do you know what's she is talking about?"

"Oh, Ms. Chatham, is that silly old bat still alive? Rikki, you shouldn't believe a word off what she says. Back in my days, she was always around, trying to help me and my sisters. But all she did was getting in the way and putting our lives even more at risk. She just never got over losing her powers and she would do anything to get them back."

"Really?"

"Just trust me. You do trust me right?"

Rikki looks at her mom who smiles at her.

"Yeah, I think I do."

"Well that's good, daughters should always trust their mothers above anyone else."

"I just wished I had a place to be alone to think. But if I go to the moon pool, Emma or Cleo always interrupt me."

"Wait." Her mom goes over to her closet and gets out a map of Mako. "One of my grandmother's friends made this. And over here is a cave where I always went when I needed time to think and be alone. No one knows of it except for us. I don't even think Ms. Chatham knows of it. Here, you can have it, I don't have much use to it anymore anyway."

Rikki holds the map and gives her mom a one-armed hug.

"Great, thanks mom. You're the best."

"Well, just use it wisely. But be sure to visit that cave, it's truly beautiful."

-h2o-

Rikki goes over to Mako Island and goes on land at a little beach on the other side of Mako. She thinks about which way she had to go next and then went right. She walked for five minutes and then found the place where the cave should be. She pushes away some branches and finds the entrance. She hesitates for a few seconds but then decides to go in. What's the worst that could happen? Get attacked by a little spider? She wasn't scared of that. No, not at all. Bracing herself, Rikki slowly walks into the cave.

Because it was so dark, she had to use her flashlight. And her mom was right, it was beautiful in a strange wildered way. She shines all the way around with her flashlight and suddenly sees a crack in the ground. She bends down to look at it and uses a twig to see if there is something inside. Suddenly white smoke shoots out from the crack in the floor. She scrambles to his feet. "What the…" The white smoke is pushed out by a thick, black insidious-looking cloud of smoke that rises up to the height of Rikki. It surrounds her.

"Rikki."

She shakes her head in denial.

"No."

"You'll fight me at first... but in the end... you'll do everything I ask."

The shadow enters Rikki, possessing her. She stops fighting it and accepts it.

-h2o-

Emma goes over to her door, she opens it and smiles.

"Well aren't you early? Oh it's you. Hey Zane, bye Zane."

She tries to close the door but he gets in before she has the chance.

"I just need to talk to you for two seconds."

They enter the kitchen.

"Emma, I need to talk to you about something really important."

"What do you want Zane?"

"Look, the thing is, I know you're not going to approve off this and I don't want to compromise your feeling for her in any way… but that old woman, Ms. Chatham. I need to talk to her and I don't know where she is."

"Ms. Chatham? Well you might want to talk to her, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to talk to you."

"I know that we had our differences, but I think she knows more about that sea creature then she is letting on."

"Why do you think…"

"I remember when I was on her boat I saw all this weird stuff that she had collected, all over the place. But before I could get a good look at it, the old boat started to sink and I panicked. I was trapped and I was going down pretty fast, I had no chance to escape. I started to blackout. And that's when I saw what I saw. Emma, I need answers, it is all I can think about. She knows something about that sea…"

"Look Zane, I don't know what happened to you. But Ms. Chatham is my friend and it's your fault her boat sank."

"You are not going to help me, are you? Okay, it's always a pleasure, I'll find her myself."

He gets out. Emma turns around. Rikki walks up behind her. She turns around and gasps when she sees her.

"Oh! God. Ohh, god. You scared me. Uh, is everything ok?"

"Sure, what wouldn't be okay?"

"Are you alright, you look strange."

"I'm perfectly fine, I'm going to see if Cleo is still at the marine park."

"Okay."

-h2o-

Cleo just finished working and made her way towards the entrance when suddenly a demon appeared in front of her. She stops in her steps while the demon takes a step forward. She looks around but sees no water nearby. Great, the park was made of mainly water and she got attacked right in the few places in the park there isn't water. "Hey, I would go away before I get really mad." The demon smiles and grabs Cleo's arm to twist it behind her back. "Ow! Hey." He pushes her down onto a bench. He holds both Cleo's wrists in one hand while he takes a knife out of his pocket. Suddenly Cleo looks up and sees Rikki. "Rikki!" Rikki looks around and sees the situation Cleo is in. She pauses as she sees Cleo struggling against the demon. She holds out her hand as usual and suddenly the demon turns into ash. "Rikki, he just…"

"It's okay. It's okay."

"I thought he was going to kill me. Wait, how did you do that thing with him turning to ash?"

"Uh... I don't know. It just sort of happened."

"What do you mean it just happened?"

"I can't explain it, but something weird happened to me down at…"

Rikki stops.

"What? Rikki, spill. How'd you make the demon go poof?"

"I don't know."

-h2o-

The front door opens and Lewis walks in. Lewis shuts the door and finds the girls in the kitchen.

"Good, Lewis is here, can I now finally know what happened?"

"A demon attacked me, and then Rikki stopped him." She turns to look at Rikki who is barely interested. "Go on. Show them."

"I told you, I can't do it now."

"Do what?"

"Rikki has a new power." Cleo stands up and walks over next to Emma and Lewis. "She thinks of something, and poof, it turns into ashes."

"I just did it once."

"And it saved my life. I would think that you would be thrilled. You've always liked the possibilities of our powers, now you have one more to discover."

"Whatever."

"Wait a second. Time out. Our powers are supposed to progress, not grow at random. I smell self made spells. Did you do something?"

"Ok, I just saved Cleo's ass. Where were you?"

"Rikki!"

"Emma's just pissy because this time, she didn't get to play Wonder Woman." Rikki stands up. "I'm not in the mood to soothe your ego." She walks out of the house.

"We also have other problems. Zane is going down to Ms. Chatham's boat and there is a photo there."

"What?"

"There is a photo?"

"Yes. It's in an old medal chest."

"What's the photo off?"

"Three girls, Ms. Chatham and her friends. With tails. It's the same one as in Ms. Chatham's locket, only bigger."

"Oh no, this is bad."

"We need to find Zane right now."

"I'm going to check on Rikki, she has been acting weird."

"I'm coming."

"Uh guys, Zane."

"You will take care of that won't you Lewis?"

Cleo looks at him with her bambi impression. Like always, it works brilliantly.

"I guess I can try and stop him."

"Thanks Lewis, you are the best boyfriend ever."

She quickly kisses him and gets out of the house together with Emma.

-h2o-

Rikki gets back into the cave. She holds out her hand and branches that were growing against the wall vanish in ashes. She turns and addresses her shadow on the wall.

"Thanks for my new power."

"You must not fail me again. You must use your powers against your friends."

Rikki takes a couple of hesitant steps towards the entrance. The shadow remains on the wall.

"Please don't make me do this. I don't want to hurt them."

"Rikki. You're not strong enough to fight me. It's almost time. Use the powers."

-h2o-

They swim over to Mako and stop right before the beach. Rikki is standing there, smiling at them.

"Are you looking for me?"

"Rikki why are you acting so weird?"

"Weird, if there is one weird mermaid, I is you Cleo, I mean you're still afraid of the water."

Emma looks at Cleo, who's head drops down"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because he asked me to."

"Who asked you to?" Rikki doesn't answer her. Steamed, Emma swims further towards the beach. "Okay. That is it. We need to…" Emma touches the beach and runs into an electric force field that zaps her, sending her flying backward. She falls into the water next to Cleo. Cleo rushes down and gets Emma up.

"Oh, Emma. Emma, are you okay? Rikki, what's wrong with you? Why won't you let us on Mako?"

"No, you can't. You shouldn't." Emma and Cleo watch speechless as Rikki struggles with herself. Suddenly she shouts to them. "You don't belong here anymore." Her voice changes demonically. "He does." Emma and Cleo watch as Rikki walks away into the trees.

-h2o-

Emma and Cleo are still in front of Mako, making sure they don't come to close.

"Okay, we have tried everything. If our powers can't get us onto Mako, what can?"

Cleo sighs. She plunges into the water and gets back up, holding a stone and throws it at the beach. The electric force shield is still in tact and the brick bounces off in midair.

"That helped."

"When do you think this all started?"

"Define this. Our home has turned against us and so has our friend."

"This is more than just Rikki. She said that he told he to do this. So who is he, and what does he want with Rikki?"

"Maybe that's the problem. We've been focusing on Rikki. Maybe that's not the point."

"Then what is?"

"Location. Whatever has the island has her, too, and it's not letting us on for a reason. Luckily there's someone who knows Mako better than we do. Come on."

Emma and Cleo turn and swim towards mainland.

-h2o-

Rikki is in Emma's house and stops by the phone. She picks it up and starts dialling. As she walks by, the lights flicker and buzz and the wallpaper starts to peel off its surface. She walks through the dining room. The glass in the windows crack and fall off their frames as she walks by. "Yes, I would like a pizza delivered to my island." Outside, thunder rumbles. "Well, whenever you do open, then. I don't care what you put on the thing. Just make sure somebody delivers it." Thunder keeps rumbling. "Mako island. I'll be waiting." She puts the phone back down and looks at a picture of her, Cleo and Emma. She waves her hand. The picture starts to burn from the centre outward, catching on fire and burning Cleo's and Emma's faces.

-h2o-

Emma and Cleo come into the elder shelter. They go up to the receptionist.

"Hey, we are suppose to meet Ms. Chatham, she is expecting us."

"She is in 315."

"Alright, thanks."

-h2o-

Ms. Chatham was already waiting in her door.

"Come in and sit down. I have thought about what you said on the phone. Do you know anything about a spiritual nexus?"

"No, why?"

"A Spiritual Nexus is a, uh, point of incredible energy. Equidistant from the five spiritual elements. It's a place or thing that could be swayed either way."

"Either way?"

"Yeah, either to be a source of undeniable good or undeniable evil."

Emma and Cleo look at each other. A nurse comes into Ms. Chatham's room.

"Louise?"

"Yeah, I'm right there."

"Uh, look, ladies. I have an appointment."

"Alright, we will leave."

-h2o-

They go towards Emma's house and get surprised when they get in. "Oh my god, what happened in here." They look at the mess inside. Lewis comes in a few second behind them, holding a map.

"Wow, Emma. Redecorating?"

"Just give me the map. Okay. To find a way back in, we have to know what we're up against. Ms. Chatham said that a true spiritual nexus sits equidistant from the five basal elements, so that's…"

"Earth, fire, water, wood, and metal."

"I told you we had to call Lewis."

Lewis smiles at Cleo.

"Cleo!"

She takes a piece of string.

"Okey-dokey. Equidistant. Here is Mako."

"All right."

Emma puts a green sticker dot on the map representing the island. Cleo measures out from the island looking for the elements.

"Uh, let's see. The ocean. Water."

Emma puts a dot on the ocean.

"Natural hot springs?"

Emma puts a third dot on the map.

"Um, fire. What about wood? That, uh, park that we went with school.

"Kenwood."

"Named after the type of tree that grew there when it was still a forest."

Cleo swings the string around and Emma puts another green sticker dot on the map.

"Okay. Uh, three out of five. Earth."

Cleo swings the string around on the map.

"Stop." Lewis points to a point in the sea. "There used to be a little island here which consisted of only dirt, no trees. It got washed away once with a huge storm.

"Emma puts a sticker on it."

"And last but not least, metal."

"Um, okay, uh, fourth grade field trip. We panned for gold. Where was that?"

Cleo finds the mountain lake park. Emma puts the last green sticker on it. "Okay." She takes a ruler and connects the green dots. She winds up with a star with Mako in the centre.

"Mako is in the centre of a pentagram."

"Looks like it's not just on a spiritual nexus, but a wiccan one as well, which means it's a battleground for good and evil."

"And what happens once evil has the island?"

"It spreads. We'd have to check with Ms. Chatham again to be sure, but I'd bet that there is a reason why the moon pool is in the centre of the island, to reclaim the spot for good."

"And now I'm thinking evil wants it back."

"Yeah, and it's taking Rikki with it."

"Hey Emma, you have a voicemail."

"Oh yeah?"

She presses a button on the phone.

"Hey Emma, it's Byron, I got your message you wanted to meet at Mako's, so I guess I'll see you there in an hour."

"Why did you change the place to meet?"

"I didn't, Rikki did."

"Wait. If Byron is going to Mako, there must be a way for us to get in."

"We better hope so. Otherwise there's no way to get to the bottom of this."

-h2o-

Emma and Cleo swim towards Mako. They get out of the water right in front of the beach.

"Do you think we are too late?"

"No I don't think so. Look."

Cleo points to a boat coming there way.

"Let's go to the other side of those rocks, so we can get out when he reaches the island.

They dive back in and come back up next to the rocks.

"Alright, let's go."

"No. Wait."

"What are you doing?"

"Shhh!"

Byron finally hits the beach and gets out of his boat. Cleo now makes her way to the beach and gets onto it, followed by Emma, without being zapped.

"What was that?"

"The island is letting him on, right? That was the only second that its guard is down."

"You're brilliant."

"Thank you."

"Now, we just need to dry." Cleo uses her powers to move all the water on her next to her. She changes back. She turns to Emma. "Wow. How did you do that?"

"I worked on it, hard. But finally I got it right and now I'm dry in a second." Emma also gets up after being dried off. "The only think quicker to get dry, is Rikki's power."

"Okay. Let's go get her back."

Emma grabs Cleo's hand and they both head for the trees. "Run." They run towards the moon pool.

-h2o-

They get into the moon cave.

"There is nothing here. Great, we don't even know what we're fighting."

"Our best friend."

"No, it's more than that. All right. When in doubt, start at the beginning." Emma grabs Cleo to stop her from pacing. "Hey. What happened first?"

"Demon attacked me."

"Before that."

"Ms. Chatham warned us about sticking together. Rikki went towards Mako that afternoon. She texted me."

"Really, she didn't text me."

"Emma!"

"Right."

Cleo walks over to the entrance.

"Well, we better figure it out fast, or we're gonna have a whole lot of…"

Rikki appears behind her. She grabs Cleo and pulls her out of the cave. Cleo screams in surprise. Rikki steps into the moon cave, she uses her new powers and stones appear before the entrance, locking Cleo out. She turns and looks at Emma. Cleo starts pulling the stones away.

"Emma!"

Rikki holds up her hand. A stone besides Emma changes into ashes.

"Whoops, I guess my aim of my new powers are still a bit off. But don't worry, the second time will work."

Cleo continues to pulling and yell through the stones.

"Emma! Rikki!"

"Any fantasies about how you want to die?"

"Rikki, listen to me. This isn't you."

"Give the girl a prize."

Rikki starts to walk in closer to Emma. Cleo is almost trough the stones

"Look, whatever is doing this hasn't completely beaten you. Otherwise, we would be dead by now."

"Really?"

"Rikki, you are stronger than him."

"No, I wasn't. That's why he chose me." She continues in a demonic voice. "But now I'm stronger than you."

Rikki raises her hand again. Not having a choice, Emma uses her power against Rikki. She gets caught in ice. Cleo finally manages trough the stones.

"Emma?"

"I'm fine."

"Wait, did you freeze her?"

"Yeah, but I don't think it will work for long. Look."

The ice was already melting.

"Let's go."

Emma and Cleo run out of the cave. They keep running until they are back at the beach. Cleo continues to run towards the sea. Emma stops.

"Cleo, where are you going?"

"It's not just Rikki we're fighting. It's the island. It's everything."

Cleo turns to hit the water. "Cleo, don't!" She runs into the electric force shield and falls backward. "Oh, god. Uhh! Are you okay?" Emma helps her to her feet.

"No, I'm not, and neither are you. We're locked on this island, and our best friend's trying to kill us."

-h2o-

Rikki breaks free out of the ice and heads out of the cave. She starts walking and overhears Emma and Cleo.

"There has to be a way out of here."

"We've tried everything, Cleo. Besides, the only way to help Rikki is from inside."

Rikki smiles and heads back into the woods.

"Help her kill us, maybe."

"Yeah, well, we have to keep trying."

"Emma! Cleo! Help me!"

"Do you think..."

"Please! You gotta help me! I'm stuck in a cave."

"Trap."

"Yeah. Well, what else can we do?"

"We could not go to the cave. I'd vote for that."

"Rikki must know a way to stop this demon."

"Something tells me she's not in the mood to share."

"All right. We know that the source of his power is in that cave, so if we can weaken him, then maybe we can weaken his hold on Rikki, at least long enough for her to tell us a way."

"How do we do that? We don't even know what it is or how to fight it."

"Help! Please, I need you!"

Emma and Cleo cautiously head into the woods. They stop in front of the entrance of the cave. It's very dark inside.

"Okay. Um... we have no choice, so we're gonna need a, uh..."

"Light."

Emma gets into her pocket and uses the flashlight on her cell phone.

"Okay. Let's fight it."

Emma and Cleo turn towards the cave. They slowly descend.

"Rikki?"

They reach the bottom and find the demon swirling in the cave.

"Okay, there, see that?"

The shadow swirls over the crack in the floor. Rikki appears behind them standing at the top of the stairs near the door.

"What took you so long?"

Emma uses her powers and freezes Rikki again.

"One evil at a time. Okay!"

Emma tries to use her powers, but it doesn't work.

"It's not working. Can't you, uh..."

"There is no water in here.

Rikki unfreezes quicker then before. Emma turns to look at her.

"Rikki, you've got to listen to us."

"You're in no position to tell me what to do."

Rikki holds up a dagger in her hand. The shadow slowly rises out from the crack in the floor.

"Do you know a way to get rid of this thing?"

Rikki hesitates.

"Come on, Rikki, try."

Rikki shies away "I can't." She steps back. "Don't make me. Don't like caves."

"It's no use. Your friend's evil now!"

The shadow rises higher and higher behind them. Emma looks at Rikki again.

"Come on, Rikki. You've got to fight it. You're good." Rikki puts her hand up against the side of the cave and suddenly remembers a story. The shadow laughs as it slowly engulfs both Emma and Cleo. "Rikki, please."

"Hurry, Rikki, please!"

Rikki starts to descend.

"I am... light."

One... then two bright, white orb lights swirl into the cave.

"Rikki! Kill them! Now!"

"I am one too strong to fight. Return to dark where shadows dwell. You cannot have this rebel."

More orb lights appear and swirl around the shadow. It retreats its hold around Emma and Cleo.

"Keep it going, Rikki."

"Go away and leave my sight…"

"What are you doing? You can't fight me!"

"And take with you this endless night."

"Rikki! No! No! Rikki! No!"

The bright, white orb lights swirl around the shadow and chases it back into the crack in the floor.

-h2o-

Back at Emma's, the peeling wall paper reattach back to the walls. The shattered glass fixes itself. The framed photo of the three girls reverses and the burn vanishes from their image. The darkened main hall once again fills with light.

-h2o-

As Cleo watches, the concrete crack in the floor reseals itself trapping the shadow back in the ground. "Nooo!" Emma and Cleo both peak at the bright light coming from the floor as it finally seals the shadow into the ground. "Noooo!" It is done. Exhausted, Rikki sits down at the entrance. Emma and Cleo rush forward to her and hold her.

"Let's go home."

-h2o-

Back at Emma's, Rikki sits down at Emma's bed next to Cleo.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine, at least for now."

Emma enters her room holding her phone.

"It was Byron, he apologised forgetting our appointment. He totally forgot what happened. We decided to meet up later." She puts her phone at her bureau and sits down in her seat. You really got to teach me how you make those spells of yours. I mean, the one you came up with today was pretty powerful."

"Well, it wasn't mine. I think I owe you guys an explanation. You know that I've been seeing my mom a lot lately?"

"Yeah."

"Well, she knows about us being mermaids…"

"Wait, we couldn't tell our family, but you immediately told your mom?"

"It was not like that."

"Rikki, you have to be more careful."

"Will you let me finish. She knows we are mermaids because she also was one when she had our age."

"Oh, wait what?"

"When she was our age, she and her sisters were the chosen ones."

"That's strange, your mom also having a mermaid history."

"Not really. My grandmother, my mother's grandmother and so on were also all mermaids."

"But how…"

"Apparently I have the magic gene."

"The what?"

"The magic gene. You can only become the chosen ones if one of the three girls in the moonpool has the magic gene."

"And you have it?"

"And so did my ancestors."

"That's probably why making spells is so easy for you."

"And why you must have been more susceptible than either one of us for the shadow. You are more connected to Mako. It's that spiritual nexus thing."

"But that also means I could go either way, good or evil. It's kind of freaky. I do have to tell you I am going to miss that new power, though. It was so fun."

"So how did you know the spell."

"When I was a kid, my grams told me a story about a shadow coming out of a cave. I guess I realised right on time that the story was a spell. It must have came out in her time too."

"But I still don't get how that thing came out this time."

"I don't know, my mom recommended that cave to do some thinking, to get alone. I guess it has changed a little since her time."

"I guess it did. So you were always destined to become a mermaid."

"Yeah, pretty much. My mom had tried to stop it but she didn't succeed."

"So what are we?"

"What do you mean?"

"Of you were always chosen then how come we became mermaids too."

"Because I led you two to the moon pool."

"So in other words you chose us."

"What are you implying."

"Nothing, I'm just trying to comprehend this."

"No, I know what this is about. My mom was right, you are jealous."

"What no we…"

"Oh no, you can't stand the fact that I was chosen to do this from the minute I breathed and you only got chosen because you took you for a ride."

"Rikki!"

"Don't try to play me, Emma. You are the worst of the two of you. You always thought off yourself to be the strongest and now you find out that without me, you're nothing."

"But…"

"No Cleo, you don't have to try to wiggle your way out of this. I'm out."

Without looking back, Rikki walks out off Emma's house.

"Oh god, what just happened?"

"I think Rikki just walked out on us."

"What now?"

"Maybe it's only an aftershock because of the-demon-taking-her-over-thing."

"I just hope so."

-h2o-

Eleanor opens the door to find a crying Rikki in front of her. "Oh dear, what happened?" She puts an arm around Rikki's shoulder and leads her into her room while closing the door behind her. "Come on, sit down, do you want something?"

"No, I'm fine."

"So what happened?"

"I went towards that cave you told me, but apparently a demon is living there, a shadow."

"Oh no, not the shadow."

"Do you know him?"

"Yeah, our mom always told us a story about him, I didn't think he was real. Do you really don't want anything? Maybe a cup of thee? I just made a pot."

Eleanor got of her seat and turned towards the wall to pour to cups full

"Why not? So luckily I remembered that story too and right in time or Cleo and Emma would have gotten killed and I would have turned evil for good."

Eleanor stops in her tracks while her smile disappeared.

"Wait, you knew the story too?"

"Yeah, grams also told me it every night."

"Well, isn't that swell." Eleanor turns back around holding two cups and with a big smile on her face. She puts the cups on the table. "Watch out there hot, not that that really bothers you right, with your mermaid powers."

"I guess not." Rikki takes a sip not noticing Eleanor's envious look. "So anyway, Emma and Cleo wanted to know how I knew that spell, so I told them everything. And you were right, they acted jealous. I walked out and came here. What should I do now?"

"Everything is going to be okay, they will turn back to you once they get over the jealous thing and realise how much they need you. But don't forget, you will always have me. I will always be your best friend and the only person you can truly rely on."

"Thanks mom, I always knew how to cheer me up again."

"Well, I am your mom. Oh come here."

Rikki stands up together with her mom and they hug again. Eleanor no longer hides her victorious smile.

-h2o-

Rikki is walking down the beach when she sees Zane walking towards her. He is holding a picture.

"Rikki, wait. Look at this."

Rikki looks at the picture and sees a picture of three mermaids.

"Where did you get this?"

"From Ms. Chatham's boat."

"Well, nice costumes."

"No, you don't understand, this are real mermaids. I swear it."

"And you know that, from a picture?"

"Well…"

"Look Zane, I'm feeling pretty bad and alone right now, I could really use a friend by now. I would like that friend, maybe even more then just a friend, to be you. But not if you go around telling this crazy story about finding mermaid. I already have enough drama in my life without adding an insane boyfriend to the list."

"Wait, did you say boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I did, so what do you say. Me or the picture with three girls in mermaid costume?

"On one condition?"

"Which is…?"

"We don't hide anymore."

"Okay."

"Look Rikki,… wait did you just agree?"

"Yeah, I did." He smiles at her and steps forwards. Rikki keeps her distance and holds out her hand. "The picture, not that I don't trust you, but just to be sure." He looks once over to it and then lies them in her hand. She starts ripping them up and then throws them in the water. "Right and now." She puts her hands around his neck and starts kissing him on the lips. The shock hit him, it was the first she had kissed him in public, where everyone could see him. The shock quickly disappeared when she entered his mouth and he tasted her familiar, delicious taste. He put his arms around her middle and tilted her backwards like the guys in the old movies always do. They break apart.

"I love you, Zane Bennett."

"I love you more."

"Not possible."

He got her back to her feet and they walked further along the beach hand in hand, not carrying if anyone saw them.

Rikki hurries after Zane.

"Zane, wait."

"What, you want to humiliate me some more?"

"No audience, what's the point?"

"Oh that's very good off you."

"I want to go out with you again." He stops and turns around. "But the mermaid talk stops. Look, I love you."

"No mermaids?"

"That's the deal. Take it or leave it."

"Okay, no mermaids."

He smiles and he kisses her.