We were in our cabin when Cleo let out a long sigh.

"I never thought I'd miss Kimmy."

We all laughed.

"No, really. All Dad's attention is now on me and Lewis."

I gave a sympathetic smile. Cleo had undergone something like I had over the break. Her parents had divorced when her mother found her soulmate and left Australia.

"I'm sure Kim doesn't have it as easily with your mum, either."

Cleo pouted, "I suppose."

Bella leaned against the cushion behind her, watching the antics of the rest of us.

"Cleo has been brilliant at the marine park."

Rikki furrowed her brow, "Still think it's a bad idea."

I tsked at Rikki before smiling at Cleo. "Well, I'm proud of you, Ms Dolphin Trainer."

Rikki glared at me before I handed her a cookie, and she munched on it.

Bella spoke up, "We can't allow our tails to get in the way of our dreams."

I grinned over at Rikki.

"Plus, I know someone who is looking to use their tail for their dream."

Rikki mumbled with her mouth full of chocolate chip cookies, "I told you that in confidence."

"I didn't say what it was."

All eyes were on Rikki now.

She waved away everyone's looks, "Ok, ok...I liked looking for treasure that time. So I thought, why not? People do that for a living, right?"

Bella grinned, "Our own Ms Indiana Jones."

Giggles spread through the rest of us.

Rikki rolled her eyes, "Alright, alright. As long as Cleo is careful, it should be ok."


Later, when the others left and Bella went to work at Zane's, Rikki and I walked along the beach.

"I'd like your help..."

Rikki looked at me, and I knew I had her full attention.

"I need to learn what the magnitude of my abilities are, but I need someone there to stop me if..."

"I'll do it."

"I would need to test it on a full moon..." I faltered, "With the unknown tentacle thing, it would be dangerous."

"Mako is our safe place." Rikki turned toward me. I could see her mind was already made over.

I nibbled on my bottom lip, "We don't know it won't follow us there."

I could see Rikki readying another comment, but I interjected.

"You could protect me, but I could very well teleport to my soulmate when you need me."

"Just don't sing..."

It ended up being harder than Rikki thought for me in the next full moon.

When we were in the cave, before the full moon was completely risen, I practiced summoning the elements. Water, fire, and wind.

Taking a deep breath, I summoned lightning.

I felt it crackle around me and my hair rising.

Rikki summoned her lightning but as she did so it was as if the cave came alive. The far wall turned to liquid, shooting electrified water into the moon pool. The lightning from Rikki's hands moved as if drawn by a magnet across the distance.

In a moment of wonder, I 'caught' it in one hand, the energy hovering over my palm. I raised my other, and the energy came to form a growing dome over my head. The hair lifted on my arms and a shiver ran down my spine.

I glanced over at Rikki to see the moon trance in her eyes and she threw another lightning burst my way. It merged with the dome and it began to grow out of control.

I opened my mouth to sing.

I watched as Rikki shook herself from her daze in time to see me disappear to my soulmate's side.

It was dark. A sort of dark that felt alive and breathing.

The light from my lightning dome bounced off my soulmate's sharp features as he turned toward me.

Ink black tendrils crawled up his arms as his eyes sparkled with awe and something like greed.

A screech from above and the beat of wings was our only warning before a creature swooped down, causing my soulmate to duck beneath my dome.

"Was that a pterodactyl?!"

My soulmate shook his head in confusion. His hands slipped around my waist. His fingertips digging into my waist as he drew me close, an unsettling smile upon his lips that I didn't like.

"Darya, you are alright." He leaned down and rest his cool forehead against mine. "You have come to save me again."

I looked up at him, my nose brushing his, a shock made me jolt my head back. My breath caught in my throat. My eyes darted to where my hands had begun to shake, holding the dome above our head.

"How do we get out of...whatever this is?" I nodded toward the unnatural dark that surrounded us.

"Can you hold on a little longer with your light?"

Something had me speaking back, "It's lightning."

"My Darya..."

My soulmate was more affectionate. When I looked into his eyes, they had gained a bit of a daze that reminded me of the girls when they got moon tipsy.

"Ok, hold on to me and I'll hold the dome. We'll get through this together."

He hummed, his hands tightening around me as if afraid I would disappear at any moment. Even though I would never leave when he still needed me.

Making our way through the darkness was slow progress.

When we reached the edge at last, I was getting exhausted.

I fell through the edge and into the setting sunlight, my soulmate at my side as I rolled onto my back. My fingertips were still tingling from the power.

I felt as my soulmate rolled onto his side next to me.

"Aleksandr." A husky whisper, lips against the shell of my ear. "My name is Aleksandr."

A breathless laugh came from him as he fell back onto his back.

I faded away. The last thing I heard of my soulmate was the slightly mad-hatter laughter. My eyes closing in exhaustion.

I would wake to Rikki shaking me awake, her eyes wild as she called my name.

As my hearing came back and my other senses came slowly back too, I heard her giving her own mad-hatter laughter.

"You'll never believe what I saw."