Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of H2O: Just Add Water or Mako Mermaids.
Question: Should I put this down in the crossover section or nah?
Let me know what you think of the story so far!
Joshua and Agent Gregory drove to the home of the Sertori family. The drive for the most part was silent as the two kept their thoughts focused on the case. When they arrived, Joshua knocked on the door and a small blonde girl opened the door. Looking up at the two men, her eyes went wide.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
"Yes ma'am, we're with the CIA. We're investigating the disappearance of your sister, Cleo. Is your father home?" Gregory asked.
"He'll be home shortly," She replied.
"May we come in?" Joshua asked.
Looking at Joshua with doe eyes, she let them in and instantly began to hover close to Joshua. Joshua could sense her instant infatuation and he chuckled within himself. Oh, the innocence and chaos of puberty and what it did to a young girls mind.
"I'm Kim, by the way. Cleo's younger sister," Kim introduced herself to Joshua.
"Nice to meet you, Kim. Well, I guess while we wait for your father, can we ask you some questions?" Joshua asked.
She nodded. Gregory cleared his throat.
"When was the last time you saw your sister?" He asked.
"About two weeks ago. I saw her that morning before she went off to hang out with her friends that day. Sorry, that was the only time I saw her," Kim replied.
"Do you and your sister not hang out much?" Gregory asked.
Kim shook her head.
"Not really. The only one time we did was after she came back from disappearing for an entire day."
"So...she's left home before?" Joshua asked.
"Yeah. She ran away because...well...I don't know really. Dad pressured her to do the dishes since I quit doing that chore for her. She paid me to do them but I got fed up," Kim explained.
"Hmm, did you ever have your siblings do your chores when you were a kid?" Gregory asked Joshua.
"No actually, and I never paid for them either. Dang, I should have done that," Joshua joked, seeing how distraught Kim had become since the questions began.
But Kim didn't smile back in return.
"She was always weird. She hated water and it got worse about a year ago. I don't know why. She just avoided it all the time and I thought at one point that it was because she was a mermaid, but they don't exist," Kim replied.
Something clicked in Joshuas' head. Wait...Kim thought that his sister was a mermaid at one point? Or was she still? He saw his own fiancée as a mermaid once. It was because of a Moon Pool. Oh God...was Cleo a mermaid? Were the other missing women mermaids? Was that why they were missing? Joshua shut his mouth that was slightly open from this shocking revelation.
Suddenly, the door opened and Donald Sertori walked through the door. He looked worn out from his day down at the docks.
"Dad, there are some men here to ask you questions about Cleo," Kim called out, walking over to him.
Don came walking in to the living room, shaking hands with the agents. Gregory flashed him his CIA badge and Joshua showed his IDA one.
"IDA huh? Another one of you," Don mentioned.
"Ah yes, Agent Striker I believe was who you met last time. She was up here working on a case a while back," Joshua replied, remembering the assignment.
"Right. Well Agents, what would you like to know?" Don asked, sitting across from them in the living room.
"Did Cleo ever have any problems between you and Kim?" Gregory asked.
Don shrugged.
"We've had our fights; minor ones for the most part except for about a few weeks back. That was the only time she had run away," Don replied.
"Yes, Kim was just telling us about that. Does she hang out with friends who are a negative influence?" Gregory continued asking.
Don shook his head again.
"Nope. She's got good friends. Unfortunately, Rikki and Emma disappeared with her. God, I hope they're okay," Don wished out loud.
"Don't worry. We will find them. Did Cleo ever keep any secrets from you?" Gregory asked once again.
Don chuckled.
"Oh, many, I'm sure. She is a teenager after all."
"Do you mind if I search her room?" Joshua asked.
"By all means."
Giving him a grateful smile, Joshua headed upstairs to Cleos' room while Gregory asked some more questions. Having heard the instruction coming from downstairs to where her room was, Joshua found her door and entered. Instantly, he was immersed in an ocean themed bedroom. Furniture was coated in dust, indicating that no one had entered the room since Cleos' disappearance.
The fish tank was disgusting and it seemed that the fish were actually dead. He should probably take care of that for the family. It became impressed in his mind that both Don and Kim were struggling with Cleos' disappearance and could only do so much. Scooping the dead fish out of the tank, Joshua sent them down the toilet bowl in the adjourning bathroom.
Coming back in to the room, he looked around for any evidence that Cleo was in fact, a mermaid. He carefully went through her drawers, but found nothing. Looking in her closet, he saw three paint canvases tucked inside. Grabbing the three of them, he carefully laid them out on the bed. One of the paintings was in a golden yellow color and had the outline of a mermaid. Wow...that was a really good painting. Perhaps a little too good. There was no indication of Cleo being an artsy girl. In fact, it mostly indicated that she was rather girly.
Looking at the next painting, he saw that it was slightly burnt, but there were shapes outlined in it. In the shapes, it looked like there was a figure with its hand curled up in front of it. That was all. Interesting.
The last one was crisp from what felt like water drying after being thawed out. There wasn't even a painting. It was just a blank canvas that felt dried out.
It wasn't much, but the oddity of the art canvases were a start. He took pictures and then put the paintings back as he found them. He reached his hand under the mattress to feel for anything when he felt a solid object. He pulled out what appeared to be Cleos' diary. It was against his moral code to read in a girls diary; it was her own private thoughts after all. But he needed to find some indication to prove his revelation. Taking a deep breath, he opened it up to one page.
Dear Diary, after Charlotte bullied me with her mermaid powers, I decided that I was done. I got so sick and tired of having to balance the two worlds that I am stuck in. Sometimes, I wish that I could be a mermaid full time. Rikki and Emma were right; we never should have given her a chance.
Cleo
Well, that was it. That confirmed it. Cleo was a mermaid. And it seemed that Charlotte was too?! He had no idea. Elizabeth had kept that from him? Well...he could understand if it was to protect her. But she knew about Cleo as well? Did she know about Emma and Rikki also? Putting the diary back, Joshua left the room and came downstairs, seeing that Agent Watsford was wrapping up the questions. Joshua came down the stairs and shook hands with Don. They thanked the two for their cooperation and began on their way.
Getting in the car, the two took a moment to review what they learned, which was basically nothing. Gregory was confused. Things didn't make sense. Cleo sounded like a sweet girl, despite the fact that she kept her share of secrets and was often troubled by drama at school. Joshua had to keep his discovery a secret from Agent Watsford, since it concerned his daughter as well. He couldn't very well say to the CIA man that mermaids existed.
"Find anything in her room?" Gregory asked.
Joshua shook his head.
"Nothing. I don't think we're getting much luck. Elizabeth says that they haven't gotten much either from the McLaren family or the boyfriend of Evie," Joshua answered, reading the text message that he just got from her.
Little did the two know that Elizabeth and Charlotte actually uncovered secrets about Evie McLaren. They found out from her boyfriend that she was a mermaid and that he was a merman. It had shocked Charlotte to find out that there were more of them, and that there was also a merman. Once having finished up talking with Zac Blakey, he escorted them to the home of Rita Santos, where there were three girls there.
"Zac, who are these people?" The tall leggy blonde asked.
"Lyla, these two know about merpeople," Zac explained.
"What? How is that possible?" Nixie asked.
"Because we were mermaids too," Charlotte responded.
"Were?" Sirena asked.
"A planetary alignment of fifty years took our powers away at separate Moon Pools," Charlotte replied.
"I take it Rita Santos is also a mermaid?" Elizabeth asked.
"Who exactly are you?" Lyla asked, getting straight to the point while avoiding the question.
Elizabeth sighed and then showed them her badge.
"I work for a government agency that works to find missing people. Three girls that we know that are mermaids, went missing as well. Do any of you know a Cleo Sertori, Emma Gilbert or Rikki Chadwick? Maybe even an Isabella Hartley?" Elizabeth asked.
The girls shook their heads.
"Odd. I wonder why none of you have crossed paths then, especially if Mako Island has only one Moon Pool," Elizabeth remarked.
No one could really answer that.
"Answer my question. Is Rita Santos also a mermaid?" Elizabeth repeated.
"Yes! But what's it to you? What does that have to do with anything?" Lyla asked, annoyed already.
Elizabeth gave her an intimidating glare and despite that she was much shorter than Lyla, she managed to frighten the girl with her stare.
"I believe the reason why Rita is missing, along with these other women, is because they are mermaids. I believe that someone has witnessed something that they've done and has taken it upon themselves to capture them, and to study them. The more I know, the sooner we can find and rescue them," Elizabeth replied.
"Well, let us help then. We have powers that neither of you have since you're not mermaids anymore," Zac spoke up.
Elizabeth chuckled.
"Oh sweetie, I have abilities despite not being a mermaid. Do you want to see?" Elizabeth asked.
"Let's not scare them," Charlotte spoke up, putting a hand on Elizabeths' shoulder.
It had freaked her out enough to see those feline eyes the first them.
"Look, you probably should go in to hiding or something. You've already lost Evie and Rita because they are mermaids. If any of you accidentally expose yourselves or have to randomly jump in to water because you got wet, someone could see. Any of your lives could be in danger," Charlotte spoke up.
"And why should we listen to you? You're not an official," Lyla replied in a snarky tone, her arms folded across her chest.
Ugh...this girl was getting on Charlottes nerves.
"Well, I will be. And if I still had my mermaid powers, I would go in to hiding as requested by Agent Striker. It's too dangerous to be out in the open. Stay hidden. You don't want to end up being dissected," Charlotte spoke.
Everyone cringed at that word and were quick to comply to the request.
"Is there anywhere besides Mako Island where you can find refuge?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes. We can go back to our pod. It's away from here," Sirena answered.
"Alright, get going then."
But a silence fell as the girls looked at Zac with awkwardness. It occurred to Elizabeth that there was some tension going on between the merman and mermaids. She could sense that the mermaids couldn't trust Zac. But why not?
"He can't come with us," Lyla spoke up.
"Why not?"
"Because he's a merman. He'll endanger us all."
"I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, any merman's life is in danger just as much as a mermaids at the moment. Now, get going," Elizabeth ordered.
Lyla tried arguing against bringing Zac along, but Elizabeth would hear nothing about it. She and Charlotte helped pack up what they needed and Elizabeth suddenly felt something rub up against her leg. Looking down, she saw a white fluffy cat at her feet. She picked him up and saw the tag.
"Poseidon huh? Hey buddy, why don't you come with me for a while? I know just who will take care of you."
Elizabeth looked over at Charlotte and gave her a look, which Charlotte picked up immediately. They were going to her home. She was going to have to confront her mother.
Uh-oh. Looks like Charlottes going to have to deal with her mom now. I wonder what Annette will think when Charlotte brings up her father.