Charlotte, Agent Reynolds, and Agent Watsford arrived in Ireland and proceeded to grab their luggage. Charlotte and her father took the lead, while Joshua hung back to turn on his phone. He hadn't paid much attention to Charlotte and her father the entire flight, as they had talked the whole way over. Even now, they were still chatting away.
His phone turned on, Joshua saw that he had a missed call from Elizabeth. He listened to the voicemail.
"Joshua? Joshua listen, answer the phone! I know who it is. You've got to get Charlotte out of there and find the others..."
The message was cut off and that was all he heard. Joshua grew concerned. Did she find something, only for someone to cut her off? Had she been caught? Who was it? Who was behind all of this?
"Agent Reynolds, what's wrong?" Agent Watsford asked.
"It's Agent Striker. I got a message from her, saying that she knew who was behind it, but her message was cut off," Joshua explained.
Charlotte gasped.
"Did someone stop her?" She asked.
Joshua shrugged. He had no clue what happened.
"If she was captured, then whoever it is, is probably on their way here with her right now. I'll stay here at the airport to keep an eye out for her. You two should get going to the Hartleys home," Agent Watsford suggested.
"Are you going to be okay here for a few hours?" Charlotte asked.
Her dad nodded.
"I've hung around airports for hours longer than this. You two go ahead. I'll stay here," He repeated.
Nodding, Joshua and Charlotte grabbed the suitcases and left the airport. Charlotte looked behind her to look at her dad. She saw him pull out his cell phone to make a call, most likely to put out an APB. She turned back and followed Joshua out the doors until they reached their shuttle. Loading their cases, they boarded on and they were taken to their hotel.
"What if she was captured? What'll happen to her?" Charlotte asked with great concern.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine. She's been in tougher situations. Let's just get to the hotel to unload our stuff, then go to the Hartleys home to ask them questions," Joshua explained.
Charlotte nodded.
Meanwhile back on the Gold Coast, Elizabeth growled in frustration.
"Great, just great! I have to get to Ireland to warn the others and to rescue the missing mermaids, but it'll take forever to go by flight!" Elizabeth cried.
"How long of a flight is it?" Zac asked.
"Three hours. Damn, I hate to admit it, but right now would be a really good time to be a mermaid myself. With my abilities combined, I could get there in no time, while still avoiding the chaos of tsunamis," Elizabeth wished out loud.
A light bulb went off in Zacs head.
"Maybe you still can. All we have to do is get you to Veridia. She can do it for you," He suggested.
"Will she allow it?" Elizabeth asked.
He shrugged.
"It's worth a try. Come on. You can hold on to my tail," Zac said as he plunged in to the warm water.
He transformed in to a merman and Elizabeth walked back in as well. She grabbed on to his tail and Zac stayed above water as he motored through to the other side of Mako Island and then off to where the pod was. When they arrived, many of the mermaids were shocked to see Zac and a human in their presence.
Elizabeth kept her grip as Zac swam her over to the older looking mermaid. This was Veridia. She had long red hair, and what appeared to look like a crown on her head. There was a scornful look on her face.
"What is this? Zac, do you realize what you have just done?!" Veridia yelled.
"Look, I need your help," Elizabeth began.
"We do not help humans. Get out!" Veridia ordered.
Elizabeth was able to retrieve her badge from her pocket and she held it up to Veridia, explaining her role in the human world, what she did, and why she came seeking help.
"...I have no choice. I need my tail back. If I don't, your mermaids will suffer. I'm sure you want them back. I'm the only one who can do that," Elizabeth pleaded.
"How do we know that you won't come back and try to expose us to your world?" Veridia asked.
"I would have done that by now, don't you think?"
Veridia saw the desperation in the young woman's eyes, and she herself knew that the mermaids lives were in danger. She sighed and held up her fist that had a moon ring on it. She ordered Zac to swim away and Elizabeth let go of his tail.
With the glow of the moon ring on her, as well as a spell being chanted, Elizabeth could feel her body begin to transform. The process was complete and there was a chorus of gasps.
"She has a green tail!"
"And seashells!"
With a quick thanks, Elizabeth dove underwater and swam off as fast as she could allow, creating strong ripples in the water.
Charlotte and Joshua reached the Hartleys residence. It was a beautiful home near a cliff side. The grass was a beautiful dark green and the rocks on the cliff side nearby were dark in contrast to the big blue sky above them.
"Wow, it's beautiful here. Do you think I could paint it when this is all over?" Charlotte asked.
"We shall see," Joshua replied with a grin.
They approached the home and knocked on the door. It was answered by a middle aged man, who had medium length blonde hair and brown eyes. Those eyes seemed to be of despair.
"Mr. Isaac Hartley?" Joshua asked.
He nodded. Joshua showed him his badge and explained his presence. The man allowed the two in to his home and ushered them in to his living room.
"Maureen, there're CIA agents who are here about Isabella," Isaac called out to his wife.
A beautiful red headed woman walked in to the living room, a look of relief of her face.
"Finally! We've been waiting to hear some news. Have you found her? Is she safe?" Maureen asked.
Joshua shook his head.
"I'm sorry, no we haven't. We just came to ask some questions."
"Well then you're no help!" Maureen yelled.
"Darling, they're just doing their job," Isaac spoke in a soft tone.
"When was the last time that you saw your daughter?" Charlotte asked.
"Two months ago."
This implied that Isabella was the first to go missing.
"Do you know why she would just disappear?" Joshua asked.
"Well...no..." Maureen replied.
Charlotte and Joshua caught that. The mother was hiding something. The two looked at each other, curious to know if they knew. Charlotte was quick to reply.
"Is Isabella a mermaid?"
Isaac laughed perhaps a little too forcefully.
"No! Why would you ask such a ridiculous question? Our daughter? A mermaid? They don't even exist!"
"But they do. I know, I was one once. The other women who are missing...they're also mermaids. Mr. Hartley, if Isabella is a mermaid, then you've got to realize that her life is in a greater danger than you think," Charlotte spoke up.
The husband and wife looked to each other and hung their heads in shame. Maureen finally looked up at the two.
"She is. We found out unintentionally when we came to see if she was alright. She had slipped in the bathroom and...well...we saw what had happened to her," Maureen explained.
"How long ago did she become one?" Charlotte asked.
"She said it happened when she was nine years old. She found a cave with a pool in it and that's where it happened," Isaac replied.
"Where is the cave? Did she ever show you?" Joshua asked.
"No, she never did. She said it would be best if we didn't know where it was. Ever since she went missing, we've checked all of the caves that we could find, but there's been no sign of her," Isaac replied.
"We will take a look around. Don't worry, we will find her," Charlotte promised.
"Thank-you."
Nodding, the two got to their feet and left the home.
"Alright, I'm going to give my dad a call to let him know what we will be up to," Charlotte saidas she pulled out her phone.
"What exactly are you going to tell him?" Joshua asked.
"That we spoke to the parents and now we are going to do some searching. That's it, that's all," Charlotte replied.
Joshua nodded. Charlotte placed the call, but got no answer.
"Hmm, that's weird."
"What is?"
"He's not answering his phone. It's on...but he's not answering."
"He's probably busy talking to security. You should know this by now," Joshua explained.
Nodding, Charlotte pocketed her phone and the two got back in their rental car. On instinct, Joshua drove down towards the beach. He knew that back in Sooke, there was a Moon Pool that faced out towards the ocean in the side of a cliff. Perhaps it was around there.
Elizabeth arrived in Ireland and surfaced nearthe beach, where she discovered that it was deserted. She didn't see a cave nearby for a moon pool, so she dove back underwater to try to find one.
As she swam underwater, Elizabeth could feel a sense of peace overwhelm her as her body moved in sync with the water in the ocean. She missed this feeling; she had to admit it toherself. Feeling a different current, Elizabeth looked on up ahead and saw an underwater cave. Her senses rose up, and she got that strong feeling from when she entered the moon pool back in Queensland. This was the entrance! She swam on in.
Surfacing, she saw how beautiful it was. The same magical feeling resonated these cave walls and looking on ahead, Elizabeth saw that this Moon Pool was similar to the one in Sooke. There was a big opening that revealed the ocean ahead. The sun was in the sky and it's rays hit the water in the pool. This was where Isabella Hartley must have transformed.
Suddenly, a net was thrown down on Elizabeth and she was wrapped up inside it! She frantically began pulling on the net, but there were sharp pieces of barbed wire twisted around the nets ropes. It caused her hands to bleed!
"Wow! Look at this guys! A green tailed mermaid!" A mans voice called out.
Turning around and looking up, Elizabeth was met by a man with sandy blonde hair that went to the nape of his neck. He had green eyes and suntanned skin.
"A green tailed mermaid? You're joking! Let me see!" Another man called out.
"I don't believe it!" A female voice rang out.
The other man and woman approached. The other man had dark brown hair and blue eye, while the woman, who looked pretty young, had black hair as well as blue eyes.
Elizabeth stopped her struggling and instead, went to use her combined feline and mermaid powers. It was easy, like riding a bike. She summoned up a ball of water and heated it up, throwing it at the man with the net. A little bit scalded his ear as he avoided it.
"Ouch! That hurt! She burned me!"
"Wow okay...this is definitely a rare gem. Let's take her to the others," The dark haired man suggested.
"Good idea."
"Who are you?" Elizabeth demanded.
"Wow...demanding too. Definitely not like the others," The blonde haired man chuckled.
"I'm a federal agent! If you don't let me go, there will be hell to pay!" Elizabeth shouted.
"Federal Agent? Give me a break," Thefemale scoffed.
"Oh yeah? Then what's your name?" The blonde asked.
Elizabeth grinned.
"I'm Agent Elizabeth Striker, and you my friends, will be dead meat," She threatened.
The three looked at each other as the blonde finally dragged Elizabeth out of he moon pool and further in to the cave. Her name struck fear in their hearts.
"Well shit. What are we going to do to her, Barry?" The dark haired man asked.
"The same thing that we always do," Barry answered.
Elizabeth looked on ahead and her eyes went wide with shock. What she witnessed, was what she didn't hope to see. There were the seven mermaids, all trapped in water tanks, bruised and cut up. She saw Rikki, Cleo and Emma all in their own eyes lit up with recognition, but they dare not call any attention. The other mermaids, Rita, Mimmi, Isabella, and Evie, all saw the green tailed mermaid and were completely shocked.
There was no other tank, so Barry dragged Elizabeth over to an alcove in the cave and he set up a barbed wire fence around her to keep her blocked in.
She could do it right now. She could destroy them all. But they were all in a cave and that would cause destruction upon everyone. Elizabeth would just have to wait it out.
Let me know what you think!
We are getting so close to finishing!