The sickness faded that night. Both Zac and Mimmi recovered at the exact same time. Rob was concerned about his son when he came home from Rita's. He told his son that he should have stayed home and not risked spreading more germs. Zac tried to convince his father that there was nothing to worry about, and that his friends would be fine. Rob sent him to bed, claiming that he would check on him in the morning.

Zac woke up the next morning feeling completely fine. His dad was in awe, claiming that his symptoms should have not fade away that quickly. Zac just passed it off as a 24 hour bug.

He called Mimmi at Rita's house. Ondina answered, yelling at Zac that it was too early for anyone to be calling them on a Sunday.

Zac gently reminded her that it was 11:00 in the morning.

"Will you please get my sister on the phone?" Zac asked, mildly annoyed at Ondina now.

A sigh was heard from the other end. "Fine."

Some static was heard on the line. Ondina was covering the phone with her hand but Zac could still hear her scream "Mimmi!"

Zac waited, hearing soft talking from the other end.

"Hello?" Mimmi's chipper voice answered. Just by that one word, Zac could already tell that she was feeling better. Her voice wasn't raspy anymore.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Much better. How about you?" Mimmi questioned.

"Good, good. Evie wants to go and get lunch at the café. Do you want to tag along? I'm sure Cam will sneak his way into lunch too."

"I would love to. Ondina keeps trying to make food. It's…. not going so well…"

On the other line, Zac heard Ondina screech "My cooking is not that bad!"

Mimmi snickered over the line. "I'll meet you in an hour." With that, she ended the call.

Mimmi walked up to the café an hour later. She saw her friends sitting around the table on the deck.

"Hey everyone," she greeted. Evie waved at her, Zac smiled, and Cam, being as courteous as ever, just glanced up from his surf magazine to acknowledge that she was there.

She sat down next to Cam. He scooted his magazine over to her to show her the newest article about the ocean. He knew that she loved to read about her home. Mimmi looked down and began to read the article, only to be interrupted by liquid falling on the page she was reading.

Mimmi jumped back, her chair tipping over and she crashed on the ground. Luckily, she was wearing shorts, as her legs were up in the air.

"Ow," Mimmi groaned, rubbing the back of her head.

"Mimmi! I'm so sorry!" She was helped up by David, who was delivering drinks. He had placed his tray full of food down on the table. "I was delivering Cam's drink when some of it splashed over the side. Are you okay?" His eyes were full of worry.

"I'm fine," she assured him. A glance around the table showed that her friends did not believe her. "Seriously. I'm fine. I've been hit by a lot worse. Nothing's ruined," She smiled.

"Speak for yourself!" Cam exclaimed. He groaned and held up his now soaking wet magazine. "I didn't even get to finish reading it." He walked over and threw the soaked magazine away. He skulked back over and flumped down on his chair, crossing his arms as he frowned.

"What is going on?" Ondina asked, walking over to the table. Weilan was walking with her. They both saw what just happened.

"My bad!" David exclaimed, throwing his hand in the air. He then continued to place the food on the table.

"Yeah. David's bad," Cam muttered.

Evie swatted his arm from across the table.

Ondina and Weilan sat down and placed their orders along with Mimmi.

As David left to fulfill their orders, Zac and Mimmi recounted the news that they discovered.

"But how does it work?" Cam asked, genially intrigued.

Zac and Mimmi looked at each other with sarcastic expressions on their faces.

Zac turned to Cam. "Magic," he said, waving his fingers in the air.

The table burst out laughing. Cam rolled his eyes.

"No duh. I swear Zac, you are the most sarcastic person I have ever met."

Zac placed his hand on his chest and looked up at the sky dramatically. "It's a gift."

Evie snorted. "Yeah, a gift of annoyance," she remarked under her breath.

Zac flashed her the cheesiest smile he could manage.

She laughed as Cam took a big bite out of his sandwich.

"So," he said with his mouth full. He waved his sandwich at the twins and crumbs flew everywhere. He swallowed. "You guys can talk to each other through your minds? That's so cool!"

Zac looked down at his drink. Mimmi placed her hand on top of his.

"I can, but Zac is still working on it. But I'm sure that he will develop it soon."

They all looked at him with compassion. Zac knew that they felt sorry for them and he really didn't want their pity. He was sick and tired of feeling like less than he was.

Evie cleared her throat. "You were sick Zac. Maybe that affected your powers."

Zac eyed her almost bitterly. "Mimmi was sick too and she is able to do it."

"But." Cam interrupted, dragging out his words. "She got sick before you. The sickness was probably almost out of her system when it happened. You still had more of it left in your system. Maybe it interfered with your magic."

Evie nodded with a determined look in her eyes. "Cam's probably right. I'm sure you will develop these powers pretty soon."

Mimmi, Ondina and Weilan eyed each other quietly. They had no experience with this sort of thing. They doubted that it was just the sickness that was causing this, but they had to be optimistic for Zac.

Zac too was doubting this theory. He already felt like the lamest merman ever. He knew that he was the weaker twin. He had heard some mermaids make fun of him. The son of Nerissa, the most powerful mermaid that ever lived, was a complete failure. He was raised by land people and just recently found out about what he was. The one that made his family in the sea flee from their home in fear. The one that would never match up to his younger sister.

He knew that some of the members of the pod still resented him. They thought of him as a foe rather than a friend. He knew that he couldn't undo thousands of years of fear and unrest just by showing them that he meant no harm. He destroyed the trident and thus, he let them come home. Some believed that he was working with Erik in secret, and that together, they would crush all mermaids. They saw the events that went down in the merman chamber as a decoy for the real invasion. It was all part of his plan to take over the sea, just like his ancestors had done long ago.

Mimmi stood up for him, claiming that he meant them no harm, but he couldn't help but feel useless. His younger sister was protecting him. It should be the other way around. He didn't deserve his powers. Mimmi did.

"Stop." Mimmi's thought interrupted his. Zac couldn't help but jump at the slightest at the sound of her voice. He looked over at her, and she gave him a smug smile.

"I know what you're thinking. Your mind reached out to me and I could catch glimpses of what you are thinking. For what I can piece together, I can figure out that you think that you are weaker than you actually are. Zac, you have incredible power. Don't let this little obstacle hold you back. There is just a block in your mind. I can almost… feel it. You're scared Zac. Why? What are you afraid of?"

Zac looked down, almost ashamed.

"You are not a freak Zac. Those who tell you differently are wrong. Don't let their negative comments get to you." She paused for a moment. "I guess that reading minds is actually a mermaid ability."

Zac laughed under his breath as he remembered their earlier conversation. This caught the attention of the table.

"What's so funny?" Ondina asked, stopping the story she was telling the group.

Mimmi and Zac just shook their heads, still laughing.

Their friends looked at each other, very confused.

"Is is…" Cam started, but then trailed off. He pointed to his head, his eyes wide.

Mimmi and Zac both nodded.

Cam's hand dropped onto the table. "Weird," he mumbled.

The table was silent for a moment, the news sinking in.

"Well, at least you don't need a phone anymore," Cam joked.

The group cracked up. David came back to the table with their orders. "What did I miss?"

So they are feeling better. Yay! This chapter is more of a filler chapter. I just needed to tie up some loose ends, so it's not my favorite. But I do have more exciting chapters up my sleeve including, but not limited to…

Another spin off chapter

Some Chris/Mimmi fluff

Rob and Lauren finding out some… stranger things…

The owner of the purple book

AND MORE!

So I hit chapter 15. I had everything planned out for 10 chapters, but you can all see how that worked out. To celebrate, I'm going to do a Q&A!

It will be opened until the next chapter comes out and it will be down in the author's note. There is some simple info in my bio like…

I am a girl

I am 16 years old

I live in the USA

But if you want to know more, leave your questions in the reviews. Please keep it reasonable. No I will not tell you my real name, my address, my phone number, social security number, where I go to school…etc.

You can ask me anything else though (in reason) I really don't care if you ask me what my favorite animal is. *cough dolphin *cough* Just have fun.

Thanks for reading!

~Moonlight Mermaids