Lewis found himself at the head of their little school as they raced their way to Mako Island that evening. They had thought about waiting to confront Arethusa until they went for the full moon ceremony the next day. But the unanswered questions over the ceremony and the looming cloud over what Arethusa had planned for them solidified in their minds the need to ask their questions now before it was too late.

The group walked through the doors to find Arethusa polishing one of a few bronze candelabras that had been brought into the grand hall. Lewis couldn't help but notice how the room which had always been grand now glittered elegantly under the soft lighting. Despite the serious nature of their visit his mind wondered what it would have been like to live there at its height. It must have been amazing.

Arethusa looked up from her work, "Sons of Land, Oceans Daughters, I was not expecting your return until tomorrow night. What troubles you?"

"You. You trouble us!" Lewis cried out shocking even himself.

"I'm sorry?" She asked in what Lewis perceived was genuine confusion.

"We know you're keeping secrets." Emma spoke calmly but firmly.

"What's so important about tomorrow?" Zane asked loudly "Rikki heard you talking to Darius today: planning to do something to us tomorrow during the ceremony."

"You must be mistaken." She smiled nervously before turning back to her work. "Now if you will excuse me I still have many preparations to fi-"

"'Three souls permanently scarred because of your interference!'" Rikki shouted cutting Arethusa off. "It's what Darius yelled at you. What did he mean?"

"You were spying on us." Arethusa spoke barely audible. "What else did you hear!?" She turned now panicked, confirming for Lewis that Rikki had been right about her.

"A lot." Rikki responded. "Enough to know we shouldn't trust you."

"You were talking about us, right? Are you the reason why we're mermen now. Are our souls scarred? Did you damn us!?" Lewis cried in a mix of fear and agitation.

Arethusa cast her head down and sighed. "This is going to be a long story. Please if you will all follow me –"

"What, so you can lock us in a room somewhere and mess with our lives some more?" Zane snapped.

"So we can all sit down while I tell you the truth." Arethusa spoke firmly.

A few minutes later they were all in a small but comfortable sitting room furnished with upholstered seats and burnished bronze paneling covering the ceiling. The light of a burning fire flickered over the faces around the room. Lewis noticed that the way the shadows danced across her face made Arethusa appear strange, almost creepy. He was able to see centuries of weariness in the darkness of her eyes. For all his distrust toward her, he couldn't help but feel sad at seeing her in this moment so small and broken.

She let out a deep sigh. "So, where to start?"

"How about we start with this. Are you the reason that we're mermen?"

"Yes. I am." Arethusa admitted with jarring straightforwardness. "I had been keeping my eye on you ladies when I saw you all together that night. I watched you three gentlemen head toward the pool and I used some magic to ensure that you would fall in just as moon was overhead." There was a brief moment of shock as they processed her words.

"But why would you do that?" Ash asked incredulously.

"That is the question I suppose." Arethusa gave a soft but sad smile as she paced toward the fire. "Darius believes that I messed with fate by pushing you in. I do not believe this is the case. I believe that it was always going to be your destiny to be mermen. That you were meant to stand as equals with your mates."

Lewis asked, "Why would you think that?"

At the same time Cleo questioned, "Why would they be destined to be mermen?"

Arethusa sighed before answering, "In order for you to understand this we have to go back. Back before the war really picked up. Before I lived here on this island. Before Derya, Chosen Queen of Marinia, ever held that title."

"Derya, she was one of the royals who sacrificed herself?" Emma clarified.

"Yes, but I knew her long before that. Before she was a queen, she was my friend." She paused then continued. "She was Sea Born mer and unlike many others she spoke to me and treated me as an equal. You must understand, that mer raised in Marinian society held, and probably still do hold, a bit of a stigma against spirits. Some used us as nothing but mere servants while others either ignored us or treated us as cursed beings to be pitied. Not Derya though." The water spirit shook her head. "Derya's family lived on the coast of what I believe is now called Turkey. I lived in a fresh water spring on the Island of Crete. Her family would visit every few months. During her visits she spent time by my spring. This was at a time when I was very weak and leaving the spring to take a physical form was near to impossible. Knowing this, she would sit at the waters edge and talk to me for hours. We spoke of everything and nothing. And though we were not the same I grew to love her as my own kin. Those moments I spent with her are some of the most fond I have had in this existence."

"When you cry over the royals, she's the one you mourn for isn't she?" Cleo asked suspecting the answer.

"I mourn for them all, but yes, Derya will always be special."

"What happened?" Ash questioned.

"When the war began, the royals were initially unprepared for the violence. Violence against landlocked mer was particularly troublesome as any aid sent to these groups had to come by land. Queen Kishiko, Afuru's first wife had a generous heart and carried a fearless spirit. I am unclear on all of the details, but she was making one of these journeys when she was ambushed. Queen Kishiko was slaughtered along with her entire guard. The whole kingdom mourned from new moon to new moon. After that an assembly was to be held at the old Northern temple which at the time was on a hidden island in the Mediterranean. Derya's family dutifully went to present their eligible members to take up the crown. Derya did not return with them because she was chosen by the Moon Goddess to be the new queen and Afuru's new wife."

"Just like that?" Lewis asked.

"Yes. Just like that she was married and a royal. While I was saddened I might never see her again, I knew she had been chosen well."

"I'm guessing you did see her again though?" Rikki suspected.

"Of course, but this time she was a queen. When next I saw her I could see the care in her eyes, but it was different. I must still have meant something to her though, for when it came time to appoint a spirit guardian over the southern temple she remembered me, and here I am."

"What did Darius mean that souls had been scarred because of you? Whose souls?" asked Lewis.

"I woke up about sixty years ago, alone, unsure of what to do or even how mush time had passed. I made friends with other spirits on the island, but they all had a purpose. What was I without royals or even other mer to serve? I eventually gained enough strength to reach the mainland and I learned as much as I could, piecing together what had happened and seeing what the world was like now. It was like that for some years: the island undisturbed and me alone but for a few other spirits. Until one day I found three young women alone at sea not far from Mako and on a full moon no less." She sighed casting her gaze downward. "Looking back, I know I acted in haste. I lured them to the island: to the Moon Pool."

"Ms. Chatham, Gracie and Julia?" Emma pieced together.

"Yes. It was... losing them was... devastating."

"Because they gave up their powers?" Lewis deduced

"The problem was that they had already gone through their seventh moon cycle. They were already full mer. Rejecting who they were left severe and permanent metaphysical scarring on all of them. Scarring that was the result of my meddling."

"That would explain why Ms. Chatham is... well why she's… you know."

"Zane!" Emma cried while giving Zane a mild knock on the shoulder.

"What happened to them..." Cleo spoke softly, "You may be the reason they became mermaids, but them giving it up... that was their choice. You can't blame yourself for that."

"Darius believes so, as do some of the other spirits."

"It doesn't matter what they think." Ash stated clearly.

"You are right, however I feel I owe it to those girls to carry some of their pain even if they never knew me or of what I did." Lewis could see that Cleo wanted to argue but Arethusa held up a hand to stop her. "This is my choice."

"Did you do the same to us, cause our transformation?" Rikki asked directing the conversation back.

"No. You three were a surprise, fate the only catalyst."

"Okay, but that still doesn't answer the question. After all of that with the older mermaids, why turn us into mermen?" Lewis pleaded desperately for reason.

"The prophecy." Arethusa answered with finality.

"What prophecy?" asked Rikki.

Arethusa began to speak with a solemnity that made the already quiet room feel suddenly silent. "A few days before the royals were to perform their final spell, Queen Derya came to me and told me of their plan. I tried to talk her out of it, I even considered taking what I knew to some of the advisors, but she had sworn me to secrecy. When they died it was a surprise to everyone but me." She paused for a moment. "She told me something else though." Arethusa looked to all of them pointedly. "When Moon Goddess gave them the instructions for the spell, she also gave them visions: visions of the past, of their lives and lives of royals before them, visions of fates that they would avoid through their sacrifice. They were even given some sight of the future. Knowing that future knowledge was dangerous they agreed not to speak of it. Derya however, told me what she saw trusting me with the wisdom of the vision."

"Well..." Lewis anxiously begged for her to continue.

"In this future she saw their successors: all Moon Blessed, all hailing from this Southern Temple and its sacred pool."

A thick quiet hung in the air as the words sank in before Cleo broke the silence with the most obvious yet weighty statement he had ever heard, "You think that's us."

"Yes. With all my heart I believe that is your destiny. I realize now that I was wrong for hiding this from you." Arethusa shifted so that she stood confidently for the first time that evening. "Tomorrow night, if you so choose, you will present yourselves to her willing to be her chosen, prepared to take on the mantle I have waited centuries to be claimed. Tomorrow, I believe you will become royalty."

Lewis surveyed the group: every face lined with shock and disbelief. He then sighed a single word: "Royalty."

A/N: *Gasp*

Hey Friends! Please tell me that you saw this coming. I have been foreshadowing it since almost the beginning!

I really hope the pacing for the story overall is okay. I realize that it has taken a lot of chapters to get to this point and we aren't even quite there yet are we?

To clarify Arethusa is not evil in any sense. Is she manipulative? A bit. Deceptive? Yes. A liar? No. Understand that she has spent many years alone and hurting I hope that this chapter shows that though misguided in her actions, she ultimately has good intentions.

As always, leave a review if you like what you read!

Much Love,

Odd Lady :)