It is late in the afternoon when Rikki returns home the following day. She had texted the girls, of course, giving them a brief summary of the squabble at the café. When an array of follow-up questions were asked, as she had guessed they would, Rikki thought it best to turn her phone off. Since Cleo was working at the marine park, she and Lewis spent the afternoon at Mako together. He was more than happy to avoid questions of boy-related drama in favour of distracting her with bad jokes and useless scientific anecdotes while they worked. Rikki was grateful. She certainly needed the distraction.
"Hey, Dad!" she greets as she shuts the door behind her, approaching the cat to tickle her under the chin. "Hey, Gramps."
Rikki's father braces his hands against the kitchen counter, gazing out at the sea with a frown. He had hardly noticed when she came through the door. "Something wrong?" she asks.
"Where have you been all day?"
She flops down onto the couch, pulling Gramps onto her lap despite her growling. "Out with the girls," she answers nonchalantly.
"Out?" he snaps. There are accusations in his tone, a flush beginning to creep up his neck, and Rikki swallows anxiously.
"Just at Mako."
"Huh." Her father's eyes are transfixed on her, grey as dark storm clouds, and she shrinks under his scrutiny. "You seem to be spending a lot of time there lately."
Rikki casts her eyes away. "I guess," she says, and instantly regrets the brusque tone of her voice.
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Not that I know of?" she says.
Every fibre of her being is telling her to bolt, but when he pins her under his gaze she has nowhere to run. Backing down is simply not an option with her father. Still he seems to understand how to push all of her buttons, say all of the wrong things, make the most scathing comments until she snaps. The last thing Rikki needs now is another argument, she thinks, as he brandishes an opened letter with her name on it.
"You know you haven't gotten your payslip from the café in weeks," he says, and the mere inflection in his voice is enough to exhaust her.
"Probably because I don't work there anymore, Dad," she sighs.
"What?"
Searching his face, she looks for signs of disingenuity, finding none. "I told you," she reminds him with a sigh. "I ended things with Zane."
He curses under his breath. "Rikki…"
"I swore I told you…" She wracks her brain, and is sure that she did.
And yet.
He decides, "you're lying to me."
"Why would I lie to you?" she wonders aloud.
His knuckles turn white as he grips the countertop. Rikki begins to worry for the fate of the cheap marble knock-off, and envies Gramps as she springs out of her arms and toward the window with ease. "So you're unemployed now," he snarls, "is that what you're saying?"
"So are most people my age, if you hadn't noticed. It's not a big deal." He opens his mouth to speak and she knows he is seeing red. "I'll figure something out, you know that."
Her father begins to pace around the kitchen. There seems to be little method in this, other than to stomp loudly on the floor and pretend to look through the cupboards, slamming doors and banging the drawers shut. She flinches as the sound reverberates through the small space. "What did Zane do, huh," he says, "that was so bad you had to throw away your future?"
Rikki frowns. "What are you talking about? Relationships don't work out sometimes, Dad." She knows there is little hope at changing his mind at this stage, and that her best option is to leave and let him cool off before she is on the receiving end of the worst of his temper. "I don't want to talk about this right now."
He grabs her roughly by the shoulder. "Come back here," he snaps. When her to face him his expression is filled with such disappointment that she has to look the other way. "Zane has a future, a business, he could have supported you. Do you know how hard it is for people like us to get ahead?"
"I know you're just trying to look out for me," she says, more to herself than to him, "but some things are more important than money."
He scoffs. "You're unbelievable."
"Dad—"
"What, did he not do his fair share at the café?" he interrupts. "Cheat on you? Did he raise a hand at you?"
"Of course not!" she cries.
With a shake of his head, her father turns away. "I can't believe you. After everything I've done for you!" he growls. "Do you know how many sacrifices I had to make… feeding you, putting clothes on your back, a roof over your head, getting you to school?"
Rikki rolls her eyes. It was really only a matter of time before she would snap. "Congratulations for meeting the basic requirements of parenting," she deadpans. "Would you like a medal?"
"You… !" His voice is laden with disgust as he stares his daughter down. "When did you turn into your mother?"
There are no winners when it comes to them, she thinks, only a pattern that she can choose to repeat or choose to leave with him. She decided long ago that her own children will never know what she has known. She is closer to the door now, close enough to take the few steps and stalk past him with a smile.
"I wish I was more like Mum," Rikki says. "At least she had the guts to leave."
She knows that she should probably reach out to someone. However, Bella and Emma are trying to sneak around and she doesn't have the heart to let them know just how unsubtle they're being, while Cleo is probably still at the marine park. Rikki decides instead to go to the place she knows she will feel at peace.
They first found it nestled in northern Mako, far from the moon pool yet close to the sea. The rock formed a natural cave that bowed above the stream. A waterfall poured through a gap in the cave, and the pool below was blue and clear as seaglass as they climbed over the rocks to get a better look. But it was so bright! The sky above was silver with the rain, yet the gap at the top of the cave filled with golden sunlight so blinding that she had to shield her eyes.
"How is it doing that?" she had asked, taking down her hood. Even the rainfall avoided the place. Somehow, only fresh seawater filled the cave. The sun pool was strange and mesmerising, and so impossible that it baffled even a mermaid as she and him clambered over the rocks.
Now, Rikki reaches the surface and lets out a breath. The sun is setting outside, but it is still bright here, the sun pool warm and alive with light. Here it is always midday. There is simply no room for darkness between these walls. It is peaceful, as magic as it ever was.
She can feel his presence before he speaks.
"Hi."
"Hey." She swims towards him to lean against a rock and meet his apologetic gaze. "Listen—"
"Please, let me…" Zane runs his hands through his hair and stares at a spot on the cave wall. She can tell he is trying to concentrate by the dent made between his brow as he frowns, remembers a time when she teased him for this little idiosyncrasy, the wrinkle just like a punctuation mark. "I was being a real jerk there. If I'm being honest I was a real jerk for the duration of our relationship."
Rikki pulls herself up to sit by him on the rock. "Took your time to realise," she murmurs.
He barely stifles a sigh, otherwise choosing to ignore her remark. "But it's not fair for me to get jealous about you and Will when Sophie kissed me…" The furrow in his brow deepens. "When me and Sophie kissed when we were together."
It is a long time before she responds.
"No, it's not fair, is it?"
Zane turns to face her. He seems different somehow, though it's barely been a day since she last saw him. There is something new in his expression that calls to her more than all the oceans in the world, a kind of sincere and warm remorse that she cannot understand. His eyes are as deep as the bottom of the sea as he speaks.
"I'm sorry," he says.
She looks away. Sunrays pour through the gap in the cave bright as spun gold; how does it do that? "In the interest of honesty, I wasn't delighted about Will's advances either," Rikki admits. "I don't think he really liked me, but it seems that whenever I save some dumb boy from a certain watery grave they just follow me around like a puppy."
When he laughs, she could kick herself for the wave of relief that washes over her with the sound. "Okay, I never did that," he chuckles.
"I beg to differ. You practically stalked me after we broke up."
He cocks his head to the side. "We spend more time together now than we did then."
"There's a difference between unwanted stalking, and two people willingly hanging out together," she says.
"Did…" He hesitates as his smile falters. "Did I really upset you that much?"
It would be far easier for her to lie, far less complicated to shrug it off with a laugh and a nudge or a roll of her eyes. She feels she owes him, though, for being so un-Zane-like, so she swallows her pride and forces out the truth. "It was hard seeing you," admits Rikki in a small advice. "I just wanted you out of sight, out of mind."
Reactions flicker across his face in quick succession, sadness and discomposure and understanding, before he settles on a playful smile. "I'm pretty hard to forget. Did you know I have my own café?"
Another wave of relief hits her, and the grin reaches her face before she can stop it. "Zane…"
"I named it after my ex," he continues with a laugh. "Some people take issue with that, but I think she's alright. She's part fish, you know."
"Part fish?" Rikki echoes. Her mouth is agape, but the corners are still pulled up into a smile. "Cheers for that."
"Fine, mermaid!" he concedes.
Her body shakes with laughter, and she clings to the rock to keep steady, its stones embedding themselves in her skin. "You know you were less stalker-y during your mermaid hunter phase."
Zane shrugs. "Not my finest hour, admittedly," he says with a smirk.
In years to come, Rikki will look back at this moment and realise that he was the beginning and end of everything. If not for him and his stolen spark plug there would be no mermaids, no friendship, no magical powers; no scientists to run from, or secrets to keep, or moon pool to fix. She would never have found her family, or set a forest on fire, or realised that sometimes you have to let something to go get it back.
For now it is enough to know that magic, the magic of change, is possible.
a/n: hello it is i your local cheeseball. really really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! i hope yall like the introduction of the sun pool and all that it will entail. could it possibly have some plot relevance in the future? youll just have to wait and see winky emoji
a review of two would make me very very happy but much love regardless,
A xxxx
