"So Cam," Veridia was saying as she swam in a circle around him. "Have you adjusted to your tail once more?" Treading water, Cam tried to follow the older mermaid with his eyes. "Erm, yeah." He said, kicking his tail in emphasis and pushing out of the water slightly. "Are there any lingering effects from being turned by the merman chamber?" Veridia inquired, coming to a rest directly in front of him. "Such as any of the powers that the chamber gave you?" "Not that I can tell." Cam said honestly. He seemed to be on the same wavelength as Zach now. He wasn't absurdly swift in the water, nor could he control water as easily as he had before. He was normal, or as normal as a half-human mermaid could possibly be. It was the morning following his transformation by the pod and Cam had been out swimming with the girls and Zach all night. He had never had such an opportunity before, probably because they distrusted him. Veridia and the others in the mermaid council had been questioning for the better part of an hour and Cam had to constantly try to stay awake. "Well, that is for the best." Veridia nodded. "Your previous powers were unnatural." Cam opened his mouth to say that his being a mermaid was unnatural but he thought better of it and nodded his silent agreement. "But I digress," Veridia said, smiling. "You must be tired. You may go now." "Thank you." Cam said. He inclined his head respectfully towards the council before diving below the water and speeding off towards the mainland. Choosing not to go home at the absurdly early hour it was, Cam instead headed for the sea entrance to Rita's grotto. When he pulled himself out of the water, he tried to flick off the water from his tail like he had before. The effort was not nearly as effective as it had previously been, water still clung to his tail. With an annoyed sigh, he painstakingly began to throw off all the water from his tail. The effort left him even more tired than he had been, but he took comfort in the fact that his powers no longer caused him any pain. He collapsed onto the cushion lined stone bench and closed his eyes gratefully, very quickly drifting off to sleep. Through several experiments, Erik had discovered that the trident reacted to strong emotional inputs from the one who wielded it. The stone now glowed blue with his quiet rage. He had sat in that hidden cave weeks ago with enough mermen for a pod. But now, he swam through the oceans quite alone. After he had killed the merman who had questioned him, several of the mermen left to return to their solitary existence. The ones who remained were the ones who only wanted war with the mermaids, which was something Erik truly wished to avoid at all possible costs. When he had told the others that he had no intention of going out of his way to cause a war with the mermaids, they too left. Once again in his life, Erik was alone. He had no pod, no friends, and nowhere to go. He was swimming through a trench so deep that the only light he had was that which came forth from the trident's stone. The denizens of the deep avoided the light, suspecting that a new predator had entered their domain. Only one creature had been brave enough to challenge Erik, and the giant squid now slowly sank to the bottom of the sea with a massive hole where its eye would have been. Curiously, the trident no longer seemed to be as powerful as it had been when Erik had first taken it from Cam. In addition, it no longer took in the moonlight. Though he did not want to admit it, Erik knew that somehow the trident's power was quickly failing. He sped to the surface and emerged in a shower of water, the trident clutched in his hands above his head. The moonlight reflected across the water, but the trident did not absorb any of its power. Disgusted, Erik pulled it back beneath the surface and looked around for his bearings. There was no land in sight, but that was nothing new. He had survived for months and months at a time with a tail. In fact, he had spent more time in the sea than he had on land. He had gone from pretty much every ocean in search of a pod, but each time he had been shunned by the mermaids for the simple fact that he was a merman. Gazing up at the crescent moon, Erik closed his eyes and let the lunar rays fall over him. He stayed in that position for a long while, letting the anger that had held onto him for the past weeks fall away. When he opened his eyes, he felt lighter than he had in a very long time. He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. He froze the instant that his fingers neared the back of his head. The trident, which he had been holding in his hand, was gone.