"Yes, there too." Sophie rubbed her hands together to warm them as she looked over the foreman's shoulder. She pointed at the map, making sure he'd marked each of the locations she'd requested. Her phone rang in her pocket; she reached for it immediately.
"Will?" She could almost see her breath as a rare chill weaved through the breeze. "I got your suggestions."
"I just wanted to make sure, if you need any help finding the places I-" Will began.
"That's alright." Sophie couldn't hide the iciness in her voice, though she gave it her best effort. Screwing her mouth into a smile she hoped Will could hear over the phone, she lied, "We are putting the cameras exactly where you suggested. Thanks, little brother."
Sophie flipped her phone closed, turning it off before sliding it into her back pocket She didn't know what her brother was up to, or if he was just that out of touch, but she was following the numerous other persons' opinions of where she should look. It wasn't even that vast an amount of space, if you thought about it. Most of the sightings and stories came from a very specific stretch of beach, the marine park, Mako Island, and the path between the island and the mainland. Will's list had included locations hundreds of miles away. She shook her head as she looked to give the final approval on the drop plan.
The cameras would be operational by noon.
Will tried not to worry as he put his phone down. Looking to Rikki and Bella, he announced "Sophie said she took my suggestions."
"Ok then." Rikki made a calming motion with her hands. "We can all breathe a little."
"But we still need to be careful." Bella interjected. "I'm sorry to be that person, but we need to be extra careful in the water. Maybe we only go out there on a... I don't know." She shrugged. "Need-to-swim basis? Only go out there when we need to. We can't risk her catching us. She'll go straight to the news."
"What constitutes need?" Rikki couldn't help but cross her arms at Bella's proposition.
"I don't know, individual judgement." Bella held up her hands. She wasn't interested in having an argument with Rikki right now. "We'll all be careful, and we'll all try to understand why each of us takes the risks we take. Ok?"
"Sure." Rikki gave a kurt nod as she gathered her things. Just before Will had called Sophie to check on the underwater cameras, Lewis had texted to say that they could come to his house if they wanted to. Zane was at Lewis's, and therefor Rikki was already on her way. "Are you guys coming?"
Bella hurried to join her. "I'm not going to swim, though."
"I'm not either, genius, I'm going to walk." Rikki crossed her eyes, unable to resist mocking her friend. "Are you coming?" She paused, turning back to look at Will, who hadn't moved a muscle.
"I, uh..." Will's eyes darted around the room, landing everywhere except Bella's and Rikki's. "You two go on without me. I'll be down there in a bit." He awkwardly waved his phone in the air. "Text me if anything comes up, ok?"
"Ok..." Rikki could sense that something wasn't right. She could feel it as she looked at him. She almost asked if he wanted to talk. Almost.
Rikki stiffened, forcing her shoulders to straighten as she walked away from him. She couldn't keep leading him on, or whatever he clearly thought she was doing. That was something they needed to tackle, but not today. He was still acting like he was hiding something. That conversation could wait.
Lewis was still sitting with his mouth hanging open several minutes after Zane had arrived at his home. "Nate...knows now?" He pointed, confused.
Zane and Nate stopped talking momentarily, both turning to shoot irritated looks at Lewis. "Yes, Lewis." Zane nodded patronizingly. "Nate knows now."
"Chill out, mate." Nate slid in, wrapping an arm around Lewis's shoulder, though he squeezed too hard for it to be comfortable. "I can totally handle it. It's a heavy responsibility, you know? But I've got this. I mean, I can't believe you knew and I didn't, dude."
"But" Lewis held up a finger to silence Nate, dragging Zane from the room by the elbow. "I need to talk to you." He muttered.
Zane followed more out of shock than anything else. He'd never seen Lewis so angry, and he wasn't sure what he was so incensed about. The girls had each been discovered, and Nate had been his best friend for years and years...
Lewis whipped around the second they were out of Nate's earshot. "Are you crazy?" He hissed, his face only inches from Zane's.
"What?" Zane whispered back. "He's not going to tell anyone about me."
"This is unbelievable." Lewis paced angrily before shoving a finger in Zane's face. "All you ever think about is yourself. After everything we've been through you can't think about anyone but yourself."
"Lewis, Lewis." Zane caught him by the shoulders. forcing his to stop. "Look I'm really sorry, ok? He caught me at the café, and-"
"This. Is not. About you." Lewis closed his eyes, summoning patience before he continued. "Did you stop to consider that you brought Nate here? To me?" He knows that I know about you too."
"So?" Zane raised his shoulders. "You do know."
"And what about the girls, hm?" Lewis's hands fell to his hips, his forefinger tapping on his belt angrily. "Did it occur to you for even a millisecond that by bringing Nate here you're effectively telling him about the girls too? He's not dumb, Zane. Well," He shook his head. "He's not that dumb. He's going to pick up on what's going on pretty quickly. The girls could be here any minute." He rubbed his forehead with one hand. "Nate found out about you. Not the girls. Even when other people found out about them individually, they kept the others' secrets. I don't think they're going to be thrilled about this latest development." Lewis shot one more scathing look at Zane before pushing his way out of the room.
"Wait a second." Zane grabbed for Lewis's shoulder, catching his other hand on the doorframe to stop him. "Just because he knows you know and the girls are coming over and all that stuff..." He lowered his voice to a hiss, darting his eyes back and forth to make sure no one could hear them. "It doesn't mean he ever needs to know about the girls." Zane raised an eyebrow. "Got it?" He swallowed. "I've got this." He popped Lewis on the shoulder blade with the palm of his hand as he walked past him confidently.
Nate looked up from his phone as Zane and Lewis reentered the room.
"So look, mate." Zane rubbed his hands together as he forced a grin to his face. "Lewis has got his panties in a twist over you finding out, man. See, the girls are on their way over. Y'know, Cleo, Bella, and Rik? And, ah... he's really not keen on them finding out about any of this." He gestured to his lower half. "So... if you could not say anything-"
"Don't say another word." Nate held out his hands like a politician as he turned to Lewis. "The secret is safe with me, mate." He pointed at his mouth. "Locked dungeon."
"If only." Lewis muttered as he typed furiously into his phone. His head shot up as the front door swung open.
"Hey! Hey..." Cleo's initial excitement at seeing Lewis faded immediately as her eyes landed on Nate.
"You haven't checked your phone yet, have you?" Lewis forced a grin to his face as he kissed Cleo on the cheek.
"Hey Nate, you headed out?" Rikki turned him towards the front door as she walked over to Zane.
"Actually, I just got here." Nate dropped onto the couch, kicking his feet up onto the ottoman. "Spending some quality time with my main man, Zane."
"Perfect." Lewis clapped his hands sharply. "Zane, Nate, you guys should really head out. Go do main man stuff.
"What?" Rikki frowned in confusion as she turned to Zane. "You're leaving?"
"Um, yeah..." Zane gritted his teeth as Lewis stared daggers at him. "I guess I am. I'll call you, ok?" He gave Rikki a meaningful look as he gestured for Nate to follow him. "C'mon, there's nothing going on here."
"See ya later, Bella." Nate winked at her before swinging the door shut behind him.
Three pairs of eyes immediately zeroed in on Lewis.
"Explain." Rikki raised an eyebrow. "Now."
"So I can access the video feed for each camera individually?" Sophie sat in front of what looked like a databank of monitors, eyes darting from screen to screen.
"This setup is just temporary." The technician indicated to one large monitor without power. "Once we confirm that each line is recording properly, they'll all be accessed by that one. Each channel a different feed. Till then, it looks like Cape Canaveral in here."
"No kidding." Sophie had lost more than half of her living room to the new system, but it was worth it.
"Each feed holds onto its recordings for 48 hours before they disappear." He continued.
Sophie frowned. "So it doesn't record it permanently?"
"Recording that much data from that many cameras would take up more space than anyone has." The tech shrugged. "90% of what you catch won't be anything but seaweed. Best advice I can give you is to check your data twice a day, see if you've hit gold yet. You can always record it permanently from the monitor directly. What are you looking for, anyway?"
"You'll know it when you hear about it." Sophie's eyes didn't leave the monitors as she waved her hand towards the hall. "The front door is open, have a good day." She heard the door open and close, but felt hypnotized by the setup in front of her. The water was a lot clearer than she'd expected it to be; she could even identify several of the cameras' locations without looking at the locator label. She checked the time. At least she still had thirty minutes before she was to head out for meetings. "Alright, Ariel." She folded her hands behind her head, kicking her feet up. "Ready or not, here I come."
Will sighed as he looked at the blue stone in his hand. He'd been sitting on the dock for the last half hour trying to decide what to do with it. He wanted to drop it into the water. It wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility that Zane or the girls could find it in there, and someone could have dropped it there that night. But even though he knew he should, Will couldn't bring himself to let go of it.
"Maybe that's because you know you should just be giving it back to Zane." He muttered to himself, standing. He knew that if he wanted to be friends with these people he had to make things right. He needed to bring it back. He dropped the stone onto his counter as he began clearing up the place. Knowing what he needed to do didn't make it any easier to do it. He would check in with the group in an hour or so and determine the best time to deliver the stone.
"I can't believe Nate knows about Zane." Bella's voice was monotone as she stared off into space from her seat on the couch.
"But he doesn't know about you girls." Lewis squeezed Cleo's shoulder gently.
"Yet." Rikki stood, hands landing on her hips. "He doesn't know about us yet."
"If it helps, I told him you'd be angry." Lewis shook his head.
"Anger isn't half of what I'm feeling right now." Rikki paced. "He's barely been a merman for a month."
"I mean..." Cleo tilted her head to one side. "Lewis found out about all three of us on, like, day two." She looked to Rikki, offering her a small smile. "Be patient with him; he's still so new to this. It could have happened to any of us."
"But it didn't, it happened to him." Rikki clenched her jaw, nervously tapping her hand on her arm. "He's in danger now."
"I think he was in danger the day he became a merman." Lewis put in.
"And now Nate knows." Rikki continued pacing. "Nate. I can think of a hundred people I'd rather find out about us than Nate. He's a sieve. The second he wants to snag a hot date he'll brag that he knows a merman or something. We can't trust him."
"But we can't make him un-know it." Bella shrugged. "I mean, he knows. About Zane. The best thing we can do is make sure that's all he ever knows about."
"That's it?" Rikki exhaled. "That's all you have to say?"
"Rikki, what else can we do?" Bella sat up, leaning her elbows on her knees as she looked up at her friend.
"It's just..." Rikki could feel her emotions start to get the better of her, something that didn't happen very often. She paused momentarily before continuing. "Now that someone outside our circle knows about Zane, we can't protect him. I mean, how long until another Denman shows up? What if he gets caught?"
"We're not going to let that happen, Rik." Lewis stood, stretching his arms before walking to stand next to her. "Nate isn't going to tell anyone." His eyes met Cleo's as he spoke. He hoped he wasn't lying.
Hours later, Will was still making himself busy in his boat shed, trying to work up the courage to meet the group. His phone buzzed from the table.
'We're headed to the café. MAJOR news, tell you when you get here. When will that be?'
The text from Bella was exactly what he needed. He would return the stone tonight.
A knock at the door surprised him. Had Bella swung by? Then why did she text?
"Of course it's you." He stepped aside to let his sister in. "I was just getting ready to head out-"
"You've got ten minutes for your sister.." Sophie was holding a cardboard box. She turned to set it on the counter. "This, dear brother, is the merchandise we had ordered. You know, before you decided you never wanted to compete again." She wasn't making any effort to hide the disdain in her voice. "I couldn't cancel them and I picked them up this afternoon. Do whatever you want with it, I don't care."
"Alright, thanks sis." Will nodded, holding the door open. "I really was on my way out, though-"
"I also wanted to talk to you about my project." Sophie continued without pause. "The cameras are up and running."
Will perked up at the news. He swung the door closed as he finally gave his sister a modicum of interest. "And... you'll keep me updated on what you find?" He cleared his throat. "I can, ah, help you decide if it's worth anything."
"Oh, I'll definitely be keeping up with you." Sophie flashed him a smirk, internally rolling her eyes. Will was clueless. "They're motion activated, but there's so much going on in the ocean that they're practically recording all the..." Her voice trailed off ass her eyes landed on Will's counter. Her face shot up to glare daggers at Will's. "You fucking hypocrite."
"What?" Will's stomach immediately sank as he realized that she'd seen the stone sitting out.
"Don't take the rocks, Sophie!" She yelled. "Don't make any money, Sophie. You're not my sister anymore if you dare take any of the precious Mako rocks, Sophie!" She whipped around to face her brother, livid. "And what do you have here?"
"Sophie, it's not what you think." Will tried to beat her to it, but Sophie snatched the stone. "I didn't take it-"
"Oh, it just magically appeared in your room? Is that it?" Sophie's hands flew to her hips.
"No, I just mean I didn't find it in the moon pool cave, Soph." Will's frustration intensified. "I-I found it on the beach."
"Bullshit." Sophie slammed it back down on the counter before shoving roughly past her brother. She turned in the doorway, jabbing a finger in his direction. "Dick. Move." She slammed the door as hard as she could on her exit.
Relief washed over Will as he grabbed the stone and slid it safely into his pocket. He was worried about Sophie, but he could deal with her. She got mad easily, but she'd cool relatively quickly. He'd offer to dive out to some of her cameras, make nice. But at least he'd ended up with the stone. He sighed, patting his pocket before grabbing his keys. That had been too close. It was time to get the stone back into the right hands.
"Well, it's about damn time." Nate called over as Bella walked into the café. "We almost started without you."
"Almost started without the lead singer? Sounds productive." Bella greeted the other band members as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. "Lewis, you practicing?"
"You guys get started without me, I'll be over in a minute." Lewis, Cleo, and Rikki made a beeline for Zane, who was working behind the bar.
"You came to work?" Rikki reached for Zane's hands, forcing him to put down the clipboard he was scribbling on.
"Brandon called out." Zane closed his eyes momentarily, squeezing Rikki's fingers before reaching again for the order forms. "We've got to find another manager."
"Actually, I was thinking about that." Rikki'd been working over an idea. She nodded towards the band. "What about Nate? He's here all the time anyway, he's part of the band, and now that he knows..." She gave Zane a meaningful look. "Maybe he can help cover during sticky situations. For you, I mean."
"Rikki, I'm sorry about that-" Zane started, but Rikki held up one finger to quiet him.
"Skip it." She shook her head. "Later. Nate as manager?"
"Actually..." Zane leaned in to kiss her, breathing her in before continuing. "That's not a bad idea."
"How's he been?" Lewis cut in. "Acting normal about it all?"
"Yeah." Zane shrugged. "He's asking a lot of questions, but he mostly just seems amused by it."
"Don't ever tell him how to become one, ok?" Cleo leaned in slightly. "Once it happens, it's permanent. We don't want him getting ideas or letting it slip."
"I know, I know." Zane held out a hand to signal her to stop. "I won't."
"I'll work tonight too." Rikki headed around the counter for an apron. "Once the band starts this place will get crazy."
"I'll talk to Nate." Zane swatted Rikki with a towel as he jogged over to the band's rehearsal.
Sophie paced the floor of her apartment angrily, still fuming over her confrontation with her brother. She'd invested years of work into his diving career, and he'd thrown it away. She'd found enough gems to set herself up for life, then he'd forced her to abandon them. To choose between him and them. And then what had he done? Brought home one of his very own.
She felt hurt. Her brother was supposed to be the good one. This was way out of character for him. This, on top of the ridiculous map coordinates... she was almost worried for her little brother. But mostly just furious.
The café was packed an hour later as the band hit full swing. Rikki and Zane were practically running back and forth filling orders and directing the few staff members they had working that night. Nate had enthusiastically accepted Zane's offer. He wasn't thrilled about having to come in for training, but they'd agreed to cover everything over several hours tomorrow.
"Geez, tonight is ridiculous." Rikki shouted as she made a drink next to Zane working the register.
"Hell yeah it is." Zane popped her shoulder with a grin. He finally felt like he was getting back into the swing of things. He was getting used to the way he needed to pour drinks without getting splashed with juice. He'd only had to run into the back office once that night, and it had been a relative high point for Nate, who had closed the door behind him to keep anyone from seeing. Zane didn't think he'd ever hear the end of it, but his friend had definitely earned a pat on the back.
"Oh my god, I think we're getting a breather." Rikki leaned on the counter, having filled what appeared the be the last order for a moment.
"I think you're right." Zane wrapped an arm around Rikki's shoulder, squeezing her to him tightly. His phone rang in his pocket. He groaned, ignoring the call. "Sophie."
His phone rang again immediately.
"Oh, just answer it." Rikki swatted his arm. "Get some air, I'm fine here for a moment." She smirked. "Maybe casually drop that Nate is our new manager. That's probably why she's calling. Also, it'll piss her off."
"You got it." Zane made a face on his way out the beaded exit. He passed Will as he walked in, going out of the way to avoid acknowledging him as they passed ways. "Sophie." He said into his phone.
"You're definitely going to want in on this one." She began without preamble. "You're not the biggest fan of my brother, right?"
Zane snorted. "Understatement."
"That's how I know you'll be into this." Sophie continued. "I'm planning another excavation out at Mako."
"What?" Zane frowned. "Why? There's nothing out there, you know we've been cleaning it up. The explosion crushed it all."
Sophie scoffed. "Apparently, not all. Get this. Remember how sanctimonious Will got? That day in the cave? Made us leave it all there?"
"I was on that team too, there at the end." Zane sat as he spoke, kicking his legs onto a nearby chair.
"Yeah but that was before Will was a giant ass hypocrite." Sophie announced triumphantly. "He took a rock, Zane. He has it in his boat shed. It's blue, pretty big but not huge, kinda a circle..."
Sophie continued talking but Zane stopped hearing her. A slow rage built up the back of his neck as his eyes darted toward the entrance of the café Will had just walked through.
"Zane? Are you listening?" Sophie's voice cut through the still-building anger. "So I'm going back out there to look for more. If he can take them, then so can I."
"Right." Zane clicked his phone closed without another word, unable to stop himself from storming back into the building. It only took a couple seconds for him to find Will sitting with Cleo at a table. The band was in the middle of a song as he marched up. "Get up." He commanded, not bothering to lower his voice. "Get up now."
"What?" Will stood, holding his hands up at Zane's animated entrance.
Without another word, Zane reared back and socked him hard in the face. Will fell to the ground clutching his nose.
"JESUS, Zane!" Cleo jumped to her feet.
The room erupted as Zane landed another blow. This time Will hit back at him from his knees before making it back to his feet. The room began to cheer and scream as they cleared out a space for the brawl. Zane was relentless, while Will mostly tried to evade his blows, landing only a few good shots.
"Zane! What the fuck!" Rikki tore around the bar to her boyfriend, jumping to catch his right arm as he almost landed another one. "Zane stop it!" She hung to him as Lewis made it to Will, standing between the pair.
Zane had not stopped glaring, his seething eyes locked on Will's. "He has it."
"What the hell, man?" Lewis looked to his friend.
"Ask him." Zane was breathless as he made the demand. He looked to Rikki. "He has the stone."
"We need to take this conversation to the back office." Rikki grabbed Zane by the hand as they quickly vacated the cheering room.
"Nate and I will cover." Bella squeezed Rikki's shoulder as she ran back to the stage, where Nate was trying to reclaim the audience's attention.
Zane slammed the office door behind him as he turned back to glare at Will. "You know the stone we've all been fucking desperately searching for?" He looked to the others, who were standing uncertainly against the desk between them. "Well, he hasn't been searching. He's had it this whole damn time."
"Will?" Lewis took a step back, looking at Will incredulously. "Is that true?"
Will looked to each of them, momentarily at an utter loss for words. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He broke, dropping his head so that none of them could see his face. One hand reached into his pocket, retrieving and revealing the stone.
The room had never been so devoid of sound. No one moved a muscle as he stood there, waiting for one of them to take it. To say something. To anything. He took in a long breath. "I'm so sorry."
Zane pushed off the closed door, walking towards Will. He took his time getting there, letting his footsteps echo in the silent room. Will didn''t look up when Zane stood in front of him, and Zane didn't say a word. He shook his head, roughly grabbing the stone from Will's hand and squeezing it in his own. Without another word, he turned on his heel and marched out of the office.
Will forced himself to raise his eyes, though he immediately wished he hadn't. He wanted to forget the looks of betrayal on Lewis, Cleo, and Rikki's faces.
They didn't say anything either. One by one, the walked out of the office, leaving Will inside alone.