Chapter 24

Rikki's POV

When I felt the water touch my skin, all I could think of was swimming as fast as I could. I crawled into deeper water and swam as fast as I can. Before I left, my tail touched a guy's leg and everyone probably was probably evacuating the water. When I was far away, I went above the surface. I could still see the beach. Everyone was out of the water. I could see Cleo and Bella running away from the person who threw me in. I couldn't make out who it was.

I swam to Mako and went into the moon pool. I sat on the ledge and took some deep breaths. Who threw me in? Hopefully Bella and Cleo saw.

I jumped back into the water and swam to the beach near my house. I looked around before I got on the sand and dried myself off. I got up and wiped the sand off my butt then I walked to my house.

When I walked into the house, Bella and Cleo hugged me. When they let go, Zane hugged me and kissed me deeply.

"Who threw me in the water?" I asked them.

Zane looked at me and told me who did it.

Charlotte.

"I told you not to trust her," I said to Zane. "Once a bitch, always a bitch."

"I know and I'm sorry. I should listen to you more," Zane said.

"Damn right! Our secret was almost revealed to a whole beach!"

"I know."

"Is that all you can say?" I asked him.

"What do you want me to say? I didn't know she was going to try to tell a whole beach!"

"You don't have to yell," I said to him.

"Rikki, you've been yelling," Cleo said.

"Shut it Cleo," I said to her.

"Zane, sorry I yell, but I take it back if you don't apologize for yelling."

"I'm sorry love," he said.

Zane went into the kitchen to make me hot chocolate while I sat on the couch with the girls.

"Is Emma still in the room?" I asked them.

"Yeah," Bella said.

"Where's Ash?"

"In Emma's room. Sitting by her side."

The doorbell rang and I got up to answer it.

At the door was my Dad.

"Dad," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk," he told me.

"I'm in a bad mood right now, so can you leave."

"Why are you in a bad mood pumpkin?"

"Last time I checked, you don't want to be in my life if it involved Zane and the baby. There still in my life, so you probably won't care!"

"I'm sorry. I thought it over and I was stupid. I was wrong to get upset like that."

"You were."

"You never were quick to forgive."

I was silent.

"I really am sorry Rikki and I want to help."

I thought about it for a moment. My dad doesn't usually say sorry. I learned that from him. I stepped out of the way and let him in. We walked into the living room and Zane walked in from the kitchen.

"Rikki, here's your hot-" he stopped when he saw my dad. "What is he doing here? I swear, if you hurt Rikki again I am going to kill you."

"Zane, he apologized and I forgave him. It's this weird thing I'm trying. I never usually forgive people quickly," I said to him. The girls laughed and Zane handed me the hot chocolate. I sipped it and loved it.

"How do you make such good hot chocolate?" I asked Zane.

"I think we should worry about that later," Zane said.

"What happened that put Rikki in a bad mood?" my dad asked us.

I filled him in and he looked at me and listened. He couldn't believe what I told him.

"Why would someone want to expose you?" he asked me.

"They just hate mermaids. What did mermaids ever do to them?" I said.

"If the mermaids back then were like Charlotte was, I understand," Cleo said.

"True. What if they only hate us because of myths?" I asked them.

"What do you mean," my dad asked me.

"It's said the mermaids lured sailors to their deaths with their songs. The clearly isn't true, right Cleo?" I looked at her. Cleo never had the best voice. She only had a good voice when she was high on the full moon. That eventually wore off when the moon set, thankfully.

"I didn't kill anyone when I was a siren though," Cleo said.

"Wait, you were a siren?" Bella asked her.

"Yeah. We'll tell you about it sometime," I said to her. I felt a tickle in my throat and I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I hate morning sickness. It last all freakin day!

"You okay Rikki?" Zane asked me through the door.

"Yeah, just morning sickness," I said as I opened the door. He hugged me and we went back to the others after I brushed my teeth.

"So, where were we?" I asked them.

"We are trying to figure out why they hate us," Bella said.

"Right. Maybe they're just jealous?" I said.

"Rikki," Cleo said.

"They probably just think that we shouldn't exist. That's probably why they want to kill us."

"They don't want to kill you," Zane said.

"Wait what?" I asked him. "Do you remember something that they told you?"

"Yeha, they want to use you as weapons and make little girl's dreams come true. Yeah right. They just want to figure this out and use it against people."

"That's just sick!" I said.

"I agree," my dad said. "How can they experiment on little girls?"

"Were not little girls anymore dad," I said to him.

"They're going to experiment on little girls when they figure out how you became mermaids."

"If they find out," Bella said. Her phone went off. "It's a text from Will. He says that he doesn't care if I tell him to stay away, he's coming back."

"Great. One more person we have to look after," I said.

"Maybe we should tell the police," Ash said. I didn't realize that he came down the stairs.

"What?"

"Tell the police about who you are. Show them. You can get Denmen arrested and they can help Emma."

"We can't. Number one rule is not to tell anyone your secret," I said to him.

"Really? How many people know that your mermaids. Let's see. There's me, Zane, your Dad, Charlotte, Lewis, Will and Denmen. Did I forget anyone?"

"Revealing our secret wouldn't help us Ash. It would just make it worse," Cleo said.

"I don't believe that. My girlfriend is in a coma because of your freakin secret!" Ash said.

"You need to calm down," Zane said.

We heard a door open upstrairs.

"Is Lewis here," I asked them. They shook their heads no.

"What's going on guys?" a voice asked us.