IV. The Welcoming

Two dark orbs flickered at a distance, startling Cleo with their human quality. She maintained eye contact for several long seconds before realising what it meant.

Someone else was in the tank.

"Emma?" she called softly, even though she knew Emma's eyes weren't brown.

The shadowed head sank back beneath the waterline. In a matter of moments, it remerged just below Cleo's perch on the rocks.

"Hello," Cleo tried.

"Fish."

"What?"

"Do you have fish?"

The creature's breasts were full and round and the orange scales that usually covered them like a magical top had faded to almost nothing. She looked... beastly. Though her face was pretty, her hair a deep red and seemingly full—though wet as it was, hard to tell—there was a sickly pallor to her face, and what should have been vibrant scales were mottled with ashen grey.

"How... how did you get like this?"

"I'm a siren."

"Did they use something on you? Are you sick?"

"Do you have fish?" Her voice was ethereal and melodic, like a song. Disturbing, too, as it seemed she barely remembered how to speak like a human.

"I don't have any fish." Cleo suddenly recognised her as the one Denman was so proud of for her achievements as a mermaid. "You're Charlotte, aren't you?"

Much to Cleo's surprise, the siren hissed, baring her teeth. With a twist and a splash of her tail, Charlotte dove back under the water.

Cleo thought it her question that disturbed the siren, but another head popped up from below that had evidently scared her away.

"Emma!" Cleo began to cry almost as soon as her name had passed her lips.

"Cleo, are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"Not too much."

Emma's eyes darted every which way in a panic. "Can they hear us in here?"

"I don't know. Did you see the other one? She can barely talk! And her scales..."

"I know." Emma glanced over her shoulder in case she was still lurking about. "She practically attacked me on my way up."

Cleo stared at Emma, worrying her bottom lip. "Did you happen to see Lewis?"

"No. I'm sorry, Cleo. I have no idea where they're keeping him. I heard Rikki's in a tank of her own."

"All by herself?"

Instead of answering, Emma hoisted herself onto the rocks alongside Cleo. "How big is this tank?"

"I don't know."

"It seemed pretty big when I was on my way to you. I didn't see the end of it. It's almost like a smaller ocean. Did you go under at all?"

Cleo shook her head. Since they'd dropped her from the crate, she swam straight to land and hadn't budged since. "Emma?" she whispered, so the horrible echo wouldn't be so prominent. "I'm scared."

As if in response, the rumbling of something large and mechanical echoed through the vastness of their prison. The water churned, almost like the Mako pool during a full moon, only instead of magic, it produced a pod.

Five mermaids, including Charlotte, gathered beneath the hideous noise as a net of fish was lowered by a crane and dropped into the water. A feeding frenzy began that reminded Cleo of the shark shows her sister was grotesquely fond of. But Emma's focus was not on the fast depleting fish supply, or the crazed sirens. Her gaze followed the long arm of the crane, wondering if it might be possible to freeze solid and climb to freedom. If she waited just until the net reached its lowest point...

"Forget it," a sarcastic voice shot out. "I don't know what you're thinking, but it obviously has to do with escaping on the fish crane, and it's not going to happen."

"Who are you?" Emma snapped, not appreciative of the uncalled for advice.

"Name's Nixie. I used to be part of a pod, until we let a land boy fall into the moon pool on Mako. Anyway, long story, but that's not my point. I'm saying you couldn't get that thing to hold still long enough to hoist yourself onto it. You'd need powers to do that, and obviously they took all our moon rings so there's nothing we can do."

Emma scoffed. "We don't need some ring to use our powers. Since the moon pool transformed us, we've had the ability to use our powers at will."

"Oh, so they didn't pump you full of those magic repressors, I guess? Care to demonstrate? I'd love to make it back to the ocean by dinnertime, but that's not happening, is it?" Nixie rolled her eyes, knowing already what the answer was. "Look, I'm not saying all this to be a downer. But I've been here long enough to see both the other members of my pod turn into zombie versions of themselves, and the sooner you learn to get used to it here, the easier it'll be for you."

"So you're saying to just give up."

Nixie sighed, "What I'm saying is save your energy. You'll need it to survive." She nodded in Cleo's direction. "You okay there?"

"Do you know where they'd take mermen?"

"As far as I know, they haven't brought any here. I only know of the one—the land boy who got us in this mess, and he... Well, once they found out he wasn't what they wanted they took care of him on the boat. Made it look like a shark attack."

Cleo choked in her panic, covering her mouth with her hands. "You mean, they... they...?"

"Stop it, you're scaring her!" Emma snapped.

"Sorry," Nixie shook her head. "I'm not used to hanging around people who care. If it makes you feel better, I don't think they'd do that to a potential 'breeder,' if you know what I'm getting at."

Cleo didn't, but she was too glum to say so. "We're looking for our friend... Lewis. He transformed just after they captured us."

Nixie raised an eyebrow. "Does he like girls?"

"Lewis doesn't like girls!" Cleo sputtered, "I mean, if he liked someone, it would be just one girl. He's not like that!"

"Whoa now, Miss Goby Fish! If his taste doesn't run towards other land boys, he's probably in some fancy aquarium with the finest kelp and coral. Nothing to worry about. A merman is all Denman's been talking about since I arrived. What's your name, then?" she changed the subject.

"Cleo. And this is Emma," she gestured to her scowling friend.

Nixie caught two sizeable fish that had managed to escape the fray, and tossed them on land. "Welcome to the pod, girls."

Author's Note: Happy Christmas, everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your holidays, and festivities! And if you're not celebrating Christmas, I hope you enjoy your weekend!

Oh, yes. And surprise! I put Nixie in here! I actually really liked her from the new show. The mermen... not so much. I do love my mermen, but not the way they did it in Mako Mermaids. *shudder* That was... that was awful.