Moments of clarity are not always a good thing. In fact, more often than not they bring with them a revelation that the person in question would rather have not known. The same could easily be said of Cam as he laid in his boat staring up at the sun. Cam's moment of clarity was that he was not sure who he hated more, Erik or himself. He had mutely explained to the mermaids and Zach what Erik had done and what his plans were. Since then, none of them had so much as even looked at him. Even David, though he had been polite, had asked Cam not to return to the café. From what little information he had been able to gather, Cam understood that the pod was preparing to leave Mako. He wasn't sure if Zach or Evie would be taken with them, or even if they wanted to go.

He sat up in the bottom of the boat and gazed out over the water. Cam knew he had to do something, he even had a pretty good idea of what that something was. Erik had taken his tail, but he had accidentally left Cam with something. Extending a hand, Cam forced a pillar of water to rise in front of him. Concentrating, Cam froze the tower and watched it slowly fall over to bob on the surface of the water. Very slowly, Cam looked off into the distance and rolled his shoulders. "That's my trident." Cam said. "I want it back."

Hidden in a cove, Erik sat on a large barnacle covered stone with the trident across his lap. In front of him sat no less than two dozen men, all of whom were gazing at the trident with a mixture of hunger and eagerness. The trident's stone glowed bright as Erik stood up. He brandished the trident in front of him like a scepter and spoke. "How long have we been on our own?" He asked the group of mermen. "For years and years, the mermaids of every sea have kept us from forming our own pod. They kept us alone because of their own selfish desires. They would rather keep us weak and alone rather than let us have the pod that we deserve as mermen!"

There was a chorus of approval from the men. One boy around Erik's age raised a hand and stood up, his feet easily finding a hold on the slippery rock he had been seated upon. "What's our goal?" He asked.

"To form a pod." Erik said.

"I understand that." The boy said, nodding. "But what about beyond that?"

"Beyond that?" Erik repeated. "This is about no longer being alone. About being able to make things return to the way it was before the war."

The boy's face broke into a sneer and he shook his head. "You don't understand." He said simply. "Being alone has forced us to become strong. As fighters, each of us can hold our own against a mermaid. Their strength has been in their numbers. That's why none of us could take a stand."

"This isn't about revenge." Erik told him, the trident stone glowing blue. "This is about taking back something that should never have been taken from us!"

"And why should we stop there?" The boy asked, stepping off the stone and landing on a smaller one in front of him. He leapt from stone to stone until he was standing in front of Erik, his hands in his pockets. "There has never been a gathering of mermen like this since the war. We have a chance in front of us."

Erik stared down at the boy, considering. After a moment he stepped down and stood in front of the challenger. Looking coolly into Erik's eyes, the boy's smirk grew only more pronounced. Without even a word of warning, the blue stone glowed a bright blue and a bolt of energy hit the boy in the chest. His eyes widened in surprise a moment before he vanished, leaving nothing behind to show that he had ever been there. "Let me make something clear." Erik said as he strode through the ranks. He gave no indication of the horror that threatened to overwhelm him after he killed the boy. He hadn't meant to, which meant that the trident was growing stronger. "I am in charge here. You will obey me or… well. You've seen the alternative."

The café doors swung open, seemingly by themselves which caused Zach and the mermaids to look up from where they had been sitting at the table. Their eyes narrowed and they extended their hands as one, revealing Cam as his invisibility dissipated. "Got your tail back I see." Zach spat. "Did your new friend Erik give you your tail back?"

"I don't have my tail back." Cam said. He crossed the room and rubbed his hand across a circle of water left by Zach's drink. "And he isn't my friend. I'm not anyone's friend anymore it looks like."

"So what do you want?" Sirena asked bitterly. Her eyes were slightly red from crying, and it looked like all of them were in a similar emotional state. "We aren't going to help you get a new tail."

"I don't want you to." Cam said, shrugging. His voice was blank, emotionless. As much as it hurt, he knew that his friends were hurting worse. There was only one way for the pod to not leave the island, and Cam knew exactly how to do it. He also knew what it was going to cost. He had been experimenting with his powers and by doing so he had learned something extremely important; his powers took a toll on his body. If he used them too much he found that his heart had difficulty maintaining the energy to work. "I'm just saying goodbye."

"Well, bye." Evie said, glaring at him.

"Bye." Sirena said without looking at him.

Ondina didn't say anything, she simply stared mutely into the blue depths of her drink. Cam turned away and walked back through the doors without another word. Though it wasn't at all how he wanted it to end, he had to admit that the parting gave him at least a small sense of closure. He walked slowly down the pier and untied his boat from its moorings, his fingers numbly going about their task. He imagined that this was how all people who knew they were about to die felt. Cold. Numb. Nostalgic. He threw the ropes into the boat and set one foot into the boat and set the other against the dock. The boat rocked suddenly and Cam caught his balance, frowning at the suddenness of the imbalance. He pushed away from the dock with his foot and started the boat's outboard. The drive to Mako was the fastest that Cam could remember. It seemed that the less time that you had left alive, the faster the time went. When he finally beached the boat against Mako's white sand beach, Cam was forcing himself to remember to breathe. He trudged through the sand and into the forest, not paying attention to the cuts and snags the bushed and briars caused him. The merman's chamber entrance was closed, but with barely a flick of his wrist Cam made the hidden entrance open. He stared at the chamber's opening, simply at a loss that this was the final chapter in his life. "Well, better get it over with then." Cam muttered.

He stumbled into the chamber, bouncing off the walls as he focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Water began falling from his eyes and he wiped it away with an angry swipe of his arm. The chamber was as dark as ever, the pillars that supported it glowing with their bright blue light. Cam put his hand on one pillar and immediately felt the water flowing through the stone. Breathing heavily he took his place in the center of the chamber, standing directly atop the trident. He raised his hands to either side of his head and concentrated on the water flowing through the pillars. Visualizing one of the pillars, Cam wrapped his powers around one and began to pull. At first, nothing happened. But then a sudden shriek of stone rang out and a line of cracks ran up the stone. His breathing becoming labored, Cam concentrated harder and pulled at the pillar until it crumbled. The chamber shook slightly and Cam felt a small surge of triumph before turning on the next pillar. That one came easier, as did the next two. By the time he was on the fifth pillar Cam's vision was growing dark and his heartbeat had slowed to a near stop. His back and chest were coated with sweat and his arms shook with effort. He had just begun his work on the fifth pillar when his heart gave a spasm and he fell to his knees, his hand clutching at the fabric of his shirt. "No!" Cam said as he struggled to his feet. The chamber seemed to shiver and water began to surge up from the broken pillars. The trident symbol on the floor vibrated and a crack split the floor of the chamber in half. Cam looked down at the crack and breathed a sigh of relief as the split began to grow and the pillars he had not broken shattered as one. Shards of stone flew right over his head, but to his surprise none of them hit him. Maybe I can get out of this alive. Cam said. But he found that the hope was in vain. He couldn't move so much as a finger, and he was balancing very precariously on his knees. The crack in the floor opened even further and Cam felt himself slipping to one side. He was suddenly weightless, and then he knew no more.