The water was shockingly cold against his skin. He fought off a shudder as he waded out until he was lightly treading water. Ondina was directly in front of him, her eyes alight with something he could not identify. It was almost as if she was waiting for something to happen. Marcus's legs were heavy as he continued to kick at the water with his shoes on. "W-w-what now?" He asked through slightly chattering teeth. "A-are you going to magic me there?"

Ondina was quiet. She swam around Marcus in a very slow circle clearly searching for something. "Why aren't you transforming?" She muttered quietly. "Rita said you should still be able to. Then again… you were only able to transform before after you absorbed the energy from Cleo's Moon Ring…" She lifted her hand and placed it against his skin again. He leaned into her touch before he had even realized what he was doing.

"Transformed?" Marcus questioned. "What do you mean?"

Ondina looked at his eyes then and frowned suddenly. "Your eyes…." She said uncertainly. She leaned in closer to examine them. "They've changed."

"My eyes?" Marcus reached for his phone instinctively and then groaned when he remembered that the device was still in his pocket, which was now underwater. "Great. Now I need to buy a new one."

"Come on." Ondina said finally, taking his hand. "I'll go slowly don't worry."

"Uh… Yeah… sure." When she began to pull him beneath the water he took a deep breath right before his head was submerged. It only then occurred to him that he had just followed a mermaid into the ocean. He remembered reading something at some point that said mermaids used to lure men into the sea to drown and devour them. Probably not one of my wisest decisions. Marcus reflected as she pulled him ever deeper.

She turned to him then and grabbed his face with both hands. Marcus was so surprised that his breath left his lungs all at once. Bubbles rose to the surface and momentarily obscured his vision of Ondina. When the bubbles cleared he saw that she was much closer to him now and drawing even closer. The kiss they shared then was deeper than the one before and Marcus realized with a start that his lungs were no longer crying for air. Ondina drew away and grabbed his hand once more. She pantomimed gripping her hand tightly and Marcus obliged. She turned back to the land and Marcus's arm was nearly ripped from its socket when they shot off through the water like a harpoon. Marcus was forced to close his eyes from the sheer water pressure and he found himself hoping that Ondina was not similarly handicapped. The swim could not have been more than a minute but it seemed to take forever to Marcus. Strangely he never had the urge to breathe again.

When Ondina finally slowed down Marcus opened his eyes again just in time to see them emerge in a small underground cave of sorts. They were not alone however. Around the pool stood a number of people, none of whom seemed shocked to see Ondina with a mermaid's tail. Marcus grabbed onto the edge of the pool and pulled himself out, offering a hand to Ondina. She gratefully accepted and he gently helped her out of the pool. "So that tail…" Marcus said slowly. "Do you like…. Shed it off?"

"Not quite." Ondina laughed gently. She put a hand over her scales and a small amount of steam begin to pour off of them. "I'm magical, remember?"

"I think that I might not be able to forget it." Marcus admitted. He looked to the others, who had been silently watching him up to that point, and inclined his head in greeting. "Uh. Hi."

"It's good to see you Marcus." An older looking woman said warmly. "Do you…?

"He doesn't." Ondina's voice was sad. "I already tried. He can't transform either. I thought you said that his magic would remain unaffected?"

"I assumed that it would." The woman said. "There was nothing there to lead me to believe otherwise."

"Someone care to explain to me what you two are talking about?" Marcus wondered. "Who are you guys anyways?"

"Oh… that's right." The old woman turned her attention back to Marcus. "My name is Rita." She quickly introduced the others, all of whom greeted Marcus like old friends.

"Nice to meet all of you… Again apparently." Marcus chuckled lightly. The room was tense, almost like they were waiting for him to suddenly remember something. Ondina got to her feet and claimed his hand in hers once more. He glanced over at her and she winked at him. "Ondina was telling me that you all have some of my memories now…. I would like it to be noted that I will not take responsibility for anything I thought."

They blinked as one and then they erupted into laughter as one. A moment later, Marcus joined in on the mirth. "Welcome back buddy." Zach said, wiping a tear of laughter out of his eye.

"It's good to be back… I think." Marcus offered. "Still kind of unclear on the whole memory loss thing."

"I must say Marcus, after having seen the way your mind works I am surprised that you accepted all of this so quickly." Rita admitted. "You haven't yet questioned anything or looked for a gap in our story."

"Well, seeing a girl who claims to know you turn into a mermaid kinda puts a damper on that." Marcus shrugged. "Besides, she was telling the truth. I can-."

"You can tell when someone is lying." Evie chimed in. She smiled at him with just a touch of wickedness in her grin. "One of the memories I got kind of explained that."

"Well now I am worried. My secrets are being exploited one by one." Marcus sighed. "Next thing you know you will come across my plans for world domination. But back to a different matter, what did you mean when you said that I didn't transform? Did you mean I used to be able to?"

"Until very, very recently, yes." Rita nodded. "Just earlier today in fact. You were one of us, a merman."

"Alright. What happened?" Marcus asked. He had hoped that the answer would have been a simple one, but he quickly figured out from their expressions that it would be anything but. "That bad, huh?"

"Well, you have a right to know." Rita sighed. "It all began-."

She was cut off when Marcus raised a hand, forestalling her explanation. "Forget about it. I changed my mind."

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked. "Don't you want to know what happened to you?"

"Ondina said that I was the one who chose to ditch those memories." Marcus explained. "I mean… If I chose to dump those memories I must have had a reason, right? I don't do things without thinking them through usually. If I got rid of them I think I'll keep them gone. I have-." He bit off the words before he could say the rest. He had Ondina. He didn't need anything else. He glanced back over at her and he saw that the unspoken words rang loud and clear for the blonde haired mermaid.

"Are you sure Marcus?" Rita asked.

"Yeah." He nodded firmly. "I am. Besides, that's the great thing about memories. We can always make more."