Bella swam through the cold waters. It was refreshing, and must needed alone time from all the new things happening around her. When she came up for air, she found herself at Will's boat shed, she wasn't heading there in the first place, she just ended up there. Bella raised herself up as best as she could unto the dock of his shed, the weight of her tail making it twice as hard. She sat there, the ends of her fin kissing the murky water, it was careless of her but she didn't care. Her friends had drifted from her ever since Emma came back, she recently learned they had a sleepover…without her. She wondered if she was just a rebound for Cleo and Rikki, just someone to fill the hole Emma created within them when she left, that all that they went through together meant nothing.
"Bell?" Bella instinctively dived into the water without looking to see who called what she thought was her name, so the person who saw her wouldn't get a good look at her face. It was something the girls had come up with for those days that are a bit reckless.
"Bella, wait! It's me!" Bella surfaced, still having her back to the person behind her. "Who are you?" She asked, putting on her best 'scary creature of the deep voice'.
"It's me, Will." Bella sank back into the water with a sigh of relief, and swam over back to the dock to face him. "You scared the fish food out of me!" She said, splashing Will. Will laughed, "Sorry sorry, I'm just surprised. What are you doing here? Tail and everything..?" He whispered the last part, although he didn't need to.
"I don't know..I kind of ended up here by chance." Bella said, shrugging.
"Maybe because you love me so much." He joked.
"Yeah maybe…" Bella swished her tail side to side, deep in thought. She didn't even hear Will getting up to greet Sophie.
"Will. Why are you stopping me from going? Are you hiding something? Come on, let me through." Sophie said, trying to get Will out of her way.
"Sorry Soph, I-I can't do that. You'll um..ruin the surprise!" Will said, raising his voice to get Bella's attention. "Surprise?" Sophie smiled, "Did you take that diving opportunity?" Bella, knocked out of thought, dived into the murky water
with a loud splash. "What was that?" Sophie asked, pushing Will out of her way to investigate. Will only smiled, knowing that Bella had heard him and gotten away in time before Sophie got persistent. "So…the surprise?"
"Dr Denman? Harrison is here."
"Let him through."
"Linda." Harrison said, putting down a stack of papers on the table in front of her.
"Harrison. You're here. I assume these are the documents?" She said, picking up the papers and skimming through them.
"They should be." He said, uncomfortably looking at the table in front of him. It was shaped like a hospital stretcher, one that's commonly used for police autopsies. On the side were various tools from scalpels to staple guns and staples and tweezers. There were IV bags and blood bags of various kinds. The room he was standing in filled him with a sense of captivity, the walls were hard dark grey metal, the door he had walked through was heavily reinforced. On the other side
of the room was a large tank, built to fit at least three large creatures, just enough so they wouldn't be head to head with each other. He felt nauseous, knowing that Denman had prepared this for the girls. What exactly was she planning to do with them? Whatever it was, it made him sick.
"Harrison! I asked you where the confirmation receipt was?"
He wiped the sweat draining down his face with a napkin, before speaking, "That is delayed until I get the go ahead from the government." He spoke, his voice practically holding back the fear running through his body from being in this room.
Denman studied him for a moment, then smiled, seeming to find pleasure in his discomfort. "Just get them to me as soon as possible. Once you transfer ownership to me, I'll get the girls to Mako then to here and ship them to our benefactor." She handed the documents back to him, then resumed looking at something through her microscope.
Harrison didn't hesitate to leave. He was never one to show fear or nervousness, especially not that of a woman. But this..this scared him, and he wanted to be involved no longer.
"Peter! Are the cameras and sensors setup?'
"No. There's been a minor setback because of the storm."
"Just awesome. Prepare the nets and cages in the meantime."
"Right Away."
"Dad! I'm going to hang out with Emma and Rikki!"
"Now wait a second young lady, the dishes aren't done. Just because you're a mermaid doesn't mean you can't throw on a pair of gloves or two."
"Dadddd. C'mon please?"
"No Cleo. Dishes now."
Cleo dragged herself over to the sink. Thankfully it was only 4 plates and a few spoons and forks and she'd be done in time to meet up with Rikki and Emma. She put on four pairs of gloves, tying the ends to make sure water would seep in through the opening. She turned on the tap then grabbed the sponge, ignoring Kim's snarky remarks about her finally having to do her chores after making her do it. "Chumani.."
"DID SOMEONE CALL ME?"
"NO!" Don and Kim shouted in unison. "Chumani.."
Cleo took a step back, looking around her for a source of the voice.
"Chumani.."
The voice was coming from the sink? Cleo stepped closer, turning the water off to lean in to listen further. Nothing. She turned the water back on, deducing that it was all in her head before she heard it again.
"Chumani.."
Now it sounded desperate. As if it was begging her to answer to this strangely unfamiliar but familiar name. She leaned towards the water, making sure to not get herself wet or splashed in any way.
"Y-yes..?" She answered, waiting for a response from the strange voice calling out to her.
"Chumani…heir of the Atlantic Dominion, daughter of Nynvene and Noelani. Atlantis calls you."
Cleo's mouth hanged open. She didn't know whether to feel intrigued or freaked out by the sink talking to her. She wanted to ask questions but something was telling her she already knew the answers but she couldn't quite put her fin on it. She decided to play along, partly out of curiosity.
"Um..Why..?"
"You are in terrible danger. A physician of some sort wishes to harm you."
"Physician? Why would they want to hurt me?"
"To study and use our kind."
"Do you know who this..physician is?"
"I do not."
"W-who are you anyway?"
"I am former royal advisor Glin of the Atlantean Empire. Charged with duties to protect the heirs. And we do not have time. She has begun preparations for capture."
"She? Glin, who are you talking about? What Atlantean or Atlantis or whatever are you talking about?"
"Cleo!" Lewis shouted, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Cleo looked up from the sink to face Lewis.
"Lewis! What's wrong? You're breathing hard."
Lewis waved his hand in an up and down motion, trying to catch his breath. "Dr Denman..she's back..saw her down by the pier…with nets.."
Cleo's heart dropped. Was that what Glin meant by "physician"? STUPID! How could she not think of that!
"Do you think she's here for us?"
"There can't be any other reason. Why else would she come up to ask me about you guys? And the way she spoke.." Cleo tried to call the others but they didn't pick up. Now she was extremely worried. She turned off the tap and dragged Lewis out back. "Come on Lewis, I think the others are at Mako, we've gotta let them know..just in case.." Lewis nodded, following Cleo down to the water and diving in.
*AT MAKO*
Cleo and Lewis surfaced, a sigh of relief flowed through them when they saw everyone was safe and sound.
"Whoa Cleo, Lewis calm down. You look like you've seen a ghost."
Cleo gasped for breath, "Dr Denman is back." She said, trying to calm her shaking hands. The name drew curses from the other teens.
"What does she want?" Rikki asked, unimpressed.
"Maybe she's taking fish population counts or something like that. Not everything and everyone is out to get us." Emma said, putting on a strong front.
"She had nets. Lewis thinks she's coming for us."
"One does not need nets to count fish Emma. They have technology for that." Rikki said, patting Emma's shoulder.
"Well what do we do? She's going to check here, hell that's probably where she's heading right now." Bella said, hugging her arms.
"Wait guys..something weird happened earlier. The sink started talking to me." Cleo said, giggling a bit in an attempt to calm everyone's growing nerves. "It kept calling me Chumani, but it tried to warn me about Denman."
The others light up in realisation. "You heard it too?" Zane asked, after being uncharacteristically quiet of him.
"What do you mean?"
"My water bottle started talking to me, mine called me Bilivine..then started spouting something along the lines of Bilivine..daughter of Jorah and a human male,born to the Irish Seas." Bella said, confusion written all over her face.
"My sink talked to me too, it called me Erwyna, heir to the Arctic Dominion, daughter of Marilla and Morven." Emma said, looking at Cleo who was just as confused as the rest.
"I'm assuming the rest of you had similar things happen to you?" Cleo asked.
Rikki nodded, "It called me Riva, heir of the Southern Dominion, daughter of Jandina and Leven."
"What about you Zane? Ash?"
Zane walked closer to the rest of the group. He had been leaning on the wall next to the opening. He continued, "Mine called me Zale." The name got a chuckle from Rikki but Zane pretended to not notice. "Zale, mate of Riva, born of moon blessed descent."
"Moon blessed?" Bella asked.
"I don't know either, that's what it said."
Ash spoke up, "My…soup. It called me Aqilus, mate of Erwyna, born of moon blessed descent as well."
Lewis sat on the sand, opposite of Cleo who had not yet dried off yet. "It called me Leith, mate of Chumani, born of moon blessed descent."
"I think I'm starting to see a pattern here." Emma spoke up, "Maybe moon blessed means that they became mermen because the moon pool wanted them to, blessed them if you will."
"That makes sense but-" Ash was cut off by a lightning strike hitting east of the cavern. Any closer and Emma would have been a fried fish stick.
"Whoa. What the absolute hell just happened!" Rikki asked, brushing the dirt from out of her face.
"Look over there." Everyone looked to where Cleo was looking. The wall that had been hit wasn't in rubble or terribly damaged like you'd expect. "Is that a…drop?"
Lewis walked closer, getting a closer look. "It's a pretty long drop down. So it's more of a hole."
"Ah sticks, who cares." Rikki picked up a rock. "Let's see how deep it is exactly shall we." She scooted closer, being careful not to fall in. She dropped the rock down the hole. It fell for about 10 seconds at most, but the group could hear water at the bottom, pretty deep too as the rock submerged.
"Do you think we should go down there?" Cleo asked, looking down the hole.
"It's either this or risk getting caught by Denman."
"Right. I forgot she was getting ready to turn us into fish food."
"Won't our parents be worried?" Cleo asked.
"Mine is in Sydney."
"My dad won't care."
"Mine either."
"Thank god I don't have to worry about that."
"So me, Cleo and Bella will go tell our parents. The storm is still going strong so that'll buy us time. We'll be back so we can go down together." Lewis said, getting nods of approval and diving into the water.
"Mum!" Lewis shouted. "MUM!" "SHHH! The twins are finally asleep. Why the rush hunny?"
"I.." Lewis looked at his mothers concerned face, tears started welling up in his eyes.
Mr's MCcartney hugged Lewis tightly. "Oh sweetie. Come, tell mommy what's wrong."
Lewis hated when she did that, talked to him like she'd do with the twins but he couldn't find it in himself to feel that way in this moment. If anything he was thankful. "Mum..do you remember me being a..fish and all.."
"Yes? And I told you I'd love you no matter what."
"No no, that's not it. Me and the others are in a sticky situation and I need clearance to be out for a few days if that much."
"What? Why? Are you guys hurt? Are you being extorted?"
Lewis couldn't help but smile, "No mum, we're not hurt. We just need time to figure something out."
They hugged in silence for a while, Lewis getting increasingly anxious as he noticed the storm clearing up. "Okay. I trust you. But promise me, whatever it is, you'll be okay?"
"I will mum. I promise."
"Good." She let go, "Now go, I can tell that you need to."
Lewis gave his mum a quick kiss on the cheek before running out back towards the water and diving in, hopefully Denman hadn't had time to set up underwater cameras again.
The group stood in a circle, each coming up with different ideas on how to deal with the Denman situation and how their powers would be useful.
"Denman doesn't know we know she's coming. That gives us the element of surprise." Bella said. "She also doesn't know that the boys are turned. That gives us a sort of advantage."
"I say if we can fight, then we should fight." Rikki said, her hands curling into a fist.
"Wait- how did she even know we became mermaids again? The last time we saw her we gave up our powers, temporarily sure but we did." Emma said, looking at Rikki and Cleo.
Something clicked in Zane's mind. "My dad."
"Your dad?"
"My dad. He told Denman about you guys, and us. I should have known he wouldn't care if I ended up dissected if it meant the glory and the cash."
Rikki nodded, "Great. That takes away her knowing the guys are turned. What now?"
They all stared at each other, each not saying a word, letting thoughts or ideas fall on deaf ears. Cleo looked up at the volcanoes opening, examining the clouds.
"Guys, the storm is almost gone." Cleo said, looking back at the group. "No doubt she's not already walking up here-" She looked at the hole the lightning strike had made earlier. "Why don't we go down the hole?"
"What good would that do us? We'd just be stuck in a hole- with our tails- being
extremely vulnerable to Denman, did I mention that we'd be stuck in a hole?" Rikki countered.
"What other choice do we have? At least there's water down there, we'd be able to use our powers if need be."
"Powers! We could use Zane's powers to hide us while we're down there, and just pray and hope Deman doesn't get curious enough to climb down." Lewis said, pushing the hair out of his face.
"Lewis! That's genius!" Cleo smiled, "That way we still have some sort of advantage or protection." She walked over to the hole, "Unless you guys have better ideas?"
"Why don't we just hide out in the ocean? Where the sharks are?" Rikki said, shrugging.
Emma folded her arms, "And be eaten by sharks while she snaps pictures of us?" Emma walked over to the hole, "I'd rather be trapped in a hole."
After a bit of quick convincing, they all jumped down the hole into the water below. Turns out, the water was respectfully deep enough to not break their bones on impact with the ground and it was spacious enough for all 7 of them.
"Bella! Bel! I'm here!"
Everyone looked at Bella, who facepalmed in return.
"That's Will, I called him over here in a moment of stupidity. I forgot."
"Well he can't stay here…WILL! WERE DOWN HERE!" Cleo shouted, not really giving her decision a second thought.
"Cleo?" Will walked over to the hole, trying to see through the blanket of darkness they were covered by, "What are you guys doing down there?"
"Hiding from Denman, and you should too just in case!"
"Denman? The marine biologist? How is hiding in a hole going to help?"
"WILL THERE'S A LOT WE HAVEN'T TOLD YOU BUT THERE'S NO TIME!
WE KIND OF JUST JUMPED DOWN HERE ON SECOND THOUGHT!"
"What? I-I don't get what you're trying to say!"
Cleo, saying something along the lines of "Oh my finning god." Used her powers to summon a sudden gust of wind, causing Will to be pushed into the hole. Almost immediately, the hole closed up behind him, trapping the group.
"What the absolute heck is going on here?" Bella asked, sounding completely defeated.
"Well I'm tired of not being able to see." Rikki centred her powers in a specific direction, hoping that she wasn't aiming at one of her friends and at a wall. Thankfully, the latter was correct. A small flame appeared on the wall, causing a train reaction. Soon the entire hole was extremely bright, not in fire, but in modern white lights illuminating from the cracks in the wall. The group looked around, on one side of the wall were cabinets and chests of various sizes and colours, shelves complete with scrolls and decorative plants. The water they were in was shaped like the moon pool, instead of sand, beautiful white quartz surrounded it as it faded into the walls. At the bottom of the pool were more shelves bedded into the sides, filled with glass jars and books.
"Welcome heirs. I've been expecting you."
Standing, or rather floating, in front of them was a man. If not for the darkness of the walls behind them, you'd think he was a ghost.
"W-who are you?" Cleo asked.
The man smiled softly, "I am Glin. Former Advisor of the Atlantean Empire."
"Your the voice!" They all (minus Will) shouted in unison.
Glin chucked slightly, "Yes, that is me. However, we have no time for pleasantries." His face got serious, "This is all that remains of the Atlantean Empire after the war. I am charged by the previous king to choose his heirs to rebuild Atlantis to its former glory."
"What's that have to do with us?" Ash asked.
"I have watched you for a while. I believe you are ready to rule and rebuild Atlantis."
"You caused us to turn into mermen didn't you?"
"Yes." Zane attempted to say something, but Emma shot him down with a look.
"How are we going to rule and rebuild a lost nation when we are barely adults ourselves?" Rikki asked.
"I'd have not chosen you if you were not ready."
"Okay so say we believe you. How do we even start ruling a nation that doesn't exist anymore?"
"Well that parts easy, you become royal mer."
"Royal mer?"
Glin took a conch shell from what seemed to be thin air and placed it on one of the tables behind them. "Rikki! Your gem is glowing!"
"Yours too!"
"Mine is normal."
"All you have to do is touch the shell."
"That's it?"
Glin nodded. Cleo swam over to the shell, placing her hand on it. Rikki and Bella followed and placed their hands on the shell. Zane, Ash and Lewis followed soon after. The shell glowed, unbeknownst to them, a bright light shot out from the volcano as they did so. The shell lost its glow and they took their hands off.
"Whoa Cleo, look at your tail."
Cleo's tail was a dark blue ombre that faded out into a lighter blue fluke.
Rikki's tail was a golden yellow with mixes of red throughout the tail.
Bella's tail remained the same, with the fluke slightly thinner.
Zane's tail was grey that faded darker towards the fluke.
Ash's tail was light blue gradient, mixed with slight hints of green.
Lewis's tail was dark metallic colour, with hints of dark blue to match Cleo's.
They'd have been decent young adults already but now they were fully toned and
looking a bit more mature. Their eyes matched their tail colours, adding to their beauty. All and all, they were now extremely attractive looking adults.
"This is…"
"Strange and.."
"Awsome."
Bella looked at Emma, who was admiring her friend's new found beauty. "Wait, Emma, why didn't you touch the shell?"
"I don't know. I had a strong gut feeling that I wasn't meant to touch it."
"Erwnya, use your locket." Glin said, his voice slightly straining.
"My locket?" Emma swam over to the shell, holding her locket. She took it off and placed it on top of the shell, careful to not let it fall off. The shell shined again, brightly this time, completely engulfing the cave. When the light faded, Emma looked completely different. Her tail was ice white with sea blue mixed in, going brighter down by her fluke. Her eyes matched her tail as well, and she too became toned out and extremely attractive.
"As…expected by the Arctic heir." Glin said, now with a wide smile on his face. "My duties are complete and thus my powers are draining but I will leave you with knowledge of your new powers at least. The queens have gained their secondary powers as part of my tests but will find you have better control over them. As for the kings:
King Zale, you now have the power of terrakinesis and metallokinesis.
King Leith, you now command plant life.
And King Aqilus, you now command the power of transmutation.
Good luck my majesties. I wish you the best."
And with that, Glin faded into the water.
"Am I the only one not freaked out by this?" Rikki asked, smiling excitedly. "Look at us! We're ungodly hot with new powers! Denman doesn't stand a chance!"
"No, knowing her she'd find a workaround for them. It's not good to show her all our powers at once. The element of surprise is still our best bet here." Zane said, slouching back at the edge of the pool.
"Right, I forgot she was snooping around up here. Well then what do we do?" Cleo asked, looking down. Her eyes grew wide as she hurriedly covered her chest. "OH MY GOD OUR TOPS ARE GONE!"
The other girls hurriedly rushed to cover their chests.
"Glin certainly didn't mention this happening." Emma said, torn between feeling flustered or feeling upset.
"Why don't we look through these scrolls and books? Maybe we'll find something." Lewis said, swimming over to the many shelves.
"We'll do the same." Zane said, Ash nodding. Will sat in a corner, feeling useless and a bit jealous.
"I'll look through these chests over here." Emma said, carefully swimming towards them.
"I'll help you." Cleo said following her.
Rikki needed a distraction from her over exposure, she decided helping Emma go through things was a good choice. "Yeah me too." She said, following them.
Denman arrived at Mako as soon as the storm cleared up enough to boat there. She ordered her men to search the waters and nearby reefs, rolling out nets and cages. She stood in the moon pool cavern, it had been completely deserted. The marks of tails lounging on the sand and footprints (supposedly male) were her only proof that they'd had in fact been here. She searched the forest and waterways, nothing. A bright light had shot out of the volcano and she'd nearly torn down the jungle in search of the source. It was as if they'd vanished, after getting nothing from the girl's parents about their whereabouts or them being mermaids (they thought she was crazy as the girls mentioned her before) she was short of nothing. It was getting late, and without proper ownership of the island, they couldn't be there any longer.
"Still no sign of them ma'am."
Denman rubbed her eyes, "Reel the nets in, we'll come here first thing after Harrison transfers ownership of the island."
"Right."
She picked up her phone and dialled Harrisons number.
"Linda."
"Has the island been taken care of as of yet?"
…
"Harrison."
"It's in the works. Should be over and done with by tomorrow."
"Good."
She hung up the phone before Harrison could say anything else and returned to join her men in searching the far side of Mako some more.
The group searched in silence. Each occupied with reading, looking through stuff and trying to decipher a strange language. Will was determined to just sit and dwell in his jealousy but Zane made him get up and help search too.
Much to the girls' delight, most of the chests were filled with what they deduced to be Atlantean clothes and currency. But they were more excited to finally cover up. In one chest were long gowns and suits, fit for more formal occasions. The clothes were delightfully beautiful and elegant, they looked to be heavily inspired by ancient Greece, designed to take the ocean and nature in mind. In another chest were tops of various kinds, most having some sort of bronze mixed in them. Emma suggested it was made with the colour of their tails in mind, or what it used to like, however. Each girl found a top that matched their tails somewhat,
along with accessories.
Cleo chose a top that was similar to her past one. It was dark blue with white appearing here and there and ties around her neck. She put on a black headband, letting small pieces of her hair flow over it.
Rikki chose a gold top that tied behind her neck. She chose to let her wild curls stay free.
Emma chose a white top that tied behind her neck as well, although she wanted to choose seashell top like in the fairytale she decided matching with her sisters was much more valuable. She used a sea blue starfish to lock her hair into a ponytail.
Bella didn't need to and couldn't change her top. Emma told her it was probably because she didn't have any major changes. She did choose to decorate it with yellow gems though.
After the girls felt properly covered up, they happily launched themselves into the search.
Lewis, who was looking through the books and scrolls that were underwater, swam up holding a bunch of them. "I learned some intriguing things about our new developments."
Cleo furrowed her brow, "Wait Lewis. We're speaking another language right now.."
"It's called Atlantean. All mer can speak it but we should be able to switch between languages pretty easily. Like this. Huh, I never realised how thick English felt."
"You said something about mer?" Emma asked, "You're right, it does feel way more comfortable speaking Atlantean."
"Yeah, it's what this book calls merpeople."
"What else does it say about mer Lewis?" "It mentions a lot from what is readable, these are surprisingly well preserved for being underwater for so long."
"I wonder how that is, does it have something to do with the water specifically or maybe because it's been u touched for so long or it's simply just magic?" Cleo asked, examining the books.
"I suppose so."
Rikki rolled her eyes, completely disinterested in Cleo and Lewis' science conversation. "Can we get back to right now please?"
Lewis cleared his throat. "Right. These books also talk about how royal mer and regular mer are different. Like the ability to breathe underwater and can swim faster, rather than just being able to hold your breath for a long time. It also says royal mer possess agelessness unless killed by unnatural means or the throne is abdicted."
"Lewis, you're talking about living forever."
"Yes, that is what it says."
"This is all too much, I mean ruling a nation is already a lot by doing it forever?"
"I'm sure we'll figure it out, eventually." Lewis hugged Cleo in an effort to comfort her. Zane dropped a bunch of scrolls on the ground next to him, getting the attention of the group. "These looked promising but I can't exactly look through them myself." He asked, raising an eyebrow causing Rikki to smirk at him.
"Sure Zane, we'll help you." Bella said, giving the others a look. "Right guys?"
"Who said we wouldn't?"
They all spent the rest of the time reading. Talking when they find something of interest like the existence of other moonpools and the structure of mer pods but nothing of immediate importance.
"Hey guys check this out. It's about magic, apparently we can use it."
"Like our powers?"
"No, it's more like potions and stuff. Pretty interesting."
"It could be useful in the future maybe."
"I found something about mer and their powers. You were right Emma, about the whole moon blessed thing. Apparently the moon pool chose us to be turned."
Will piped up, "It chose you?"
"That's what this says, it also mentions how powers are tied to one's own self."
"Like our personalities?" Cleo asked.
"Something like that, and all powers are tied to a specific element. The most common being water and least common being light."
"I found something too." Rikki said, eyes still glued to the scroll, "This talks about different mer. There's Land, Twice Blessed, Moon Blessed, Turned and Pure."
"Interesting, how are they different?" Ash asked.
"Well, Land mermaids are what we are. It refers to mermaids and men who get turned by a moon pool. Half and half I guess."
"That makes sense, we were human at first after all."
"And we already know what Moon Blessed is, it's just Twice Blessed, Turned and Pure that we don't know about." Emma said, reclining on the wall of the pool.
"Pure mermaids are just mer born in the ocean from two mer as parents. But since Bella has a human father she's still considered a Land mermaid."
"That reminds me, Glin mentioned different names for our parents when announcing us." Cleo said, pointing a finger upwards. "Could that mean..?"
"Our parents aren't our actual parents? That maybe we're adopted?"
"That opens a whole new can of tropical fish flakes." Cleo giggled at the oddly specific reference. They were making more fish related jokes more recently and she found it funny.
"We can ask our parents about it when we find a way out of here. For now I want to keep looking for more mer related stuff."
"Rikki, you never explained what Twice Blessed was."
Rikki blinked before looking back at the page. "Twice Blessed is being turned by the full moon while having mer genes. They usually have more powers than regular mer because of it. Most commonly the main three."
"Wait a minute." Emma tilted her head a bit, "That sounds a lot like Charlotte's situation. Her grandmother was a mermaid so she must have passed down mermaid genes to her."
"Which is why she's twice blessed I guess. Did you guys find anything else?" Rikki said, closing the book and looking up.
"I found a few history books that details the war and the origin of mer." Zane waited for a bit and then continued, "Apparently the King's son at the time, Zion, rebelled against him to gain power after being influenced by the Empress of the Caribbean Dominion's daughter, Iloita. The King and the Empress were not on very good terms at the time and Iloita saw this as an opportunity. Zion wanted to be able to walk on land like she could so she used this as bait and things went haywire from there as Zion ended up invading the Caribbean waters to kill her causing a long and gruesome war between the King and the Empress and their respective allies.
It was so destructive that it caused a lot of major hurricanes and earthquakes on land at the time. The Arctic territory was the only neutral dominion but not by choice since they were the main rulers of all mer. The princesses and princes who had all been expecting at the time gave up their offspring in an effort to get them away from the war. They died in the process. Nilgn, the main royal advisor, had created this place right now to store important documents. The rest of this is pretty faded but from what I can make out of it, the King left the protection of the heirs in royal advisor Glin's hands before he was killed in battle."
"That was.." Emma released a breath, "A lot to take in."
"So how did mako island get on top of this place anyway?"
"Nature I suppose. Different things happened over the 100's of years and an island being created on top of this place is entirely just nature's work. The magic most likely spread through time and the exposure."
"My brain hurts just thinking about all this, but one thing I'm interested about is the origin of us merpeople."
"We'll have to read into it another day, we still need to find a way out of here and deal with denman."
"Ahghghhh, the time I spent forgetting her existence was so mind calming." Rikki said, whining.
"Guys! Look at this!" Bella stretched out a blueprint, "I found it in one of the chests."
Lewis examined it for a while, the building was huge. It was stationed at a deep point underwater, the inside was surprisingly dry, a starking contrast to the outside of it. The structure was complete with lots of shallow pools for lounging mer, a total of 5 floors and a basement and two floating pavilions. On the back of the blueprint was multiple paths and caves that led out into the ocean and different parts of the basement. The building itself was extremely beautiful and elegant, covered in different plants, most likely an effort to disguise it.
"Wow.. I think this is the old palace of Atlantis."
"You think we could build something like this?" Bella asked, looking at the group.
"I'm sure we can…" Cleo looked conflicted, "There's just one problem. This is underwater."
"You're right, and even if we managed to find a way to build this on land, it'd be far too extravagant and would definitely stand out." Zane said, taking the blueprint from Bella and rolling it up.
"We don't have much time. We'll have to find a way to build this soon but does anybody have an idea and how we're gonna get out of here?"
Everyone sat in silence. Then Zane got an idea.
"My new power, I read up on it while we were reading earlier and what I think terrakinesis does is that I'm able to manipulate land. I could create a passage that leads out into the ocean?"
"Yes! That's a great idea, Zane!" Cleo said, a bit too excited but she couldn't stand being in here much longer.
Zane took a deep breath and curled his hands towards an empty space at the wall. He wasn't all that sure on what he was doing, but his determination to not let the gang down made him figure it out. He curled his hands, squinting his eyes and visioning the wall separating for him to pass through.
"Zane you're doing it!" Rikki squealed, kissing him on the cheek. Zane's chest swelled with pride.
Zane had successfully managed to create a hole out into the ocean after a great deal of effort. As a result, water rushed in and filled the room they were in. Cleo created an air bubble for Will upon remembering that he was in fact there with them and not a merman. Emma chose to swim out first, she swam through the passageway, pleasantly surprised at her ability to breathe underwater. When she reached the end, she carefully looked around for any motion of Denmans nets or men. A wide smile spread across her face when she saw multiple boats speeding away from the island.
"If we stick close to the reef we should be fine, Denman is leaving." Emma said, giving a thumbs up.
They had been uncomfortable with speaking underwater at first, but found it to be extremely awesome and not to mention useful. But Atlantean seemed to be the only language that worked. Bella still had to hold her breath, since she was not a royal mer but was still granted the ability to speak underwater, asking Lewis to look into it later. She also found her max lung capacity increased by at least 87%, it's almost as if she was breathing underwater too.
The group swam towards a secluded part of the beach, dragging themselves towards the dryer part of the sand and drying off underneath the moonlight. They all laughed and chatted the entire time until each mer regained their legs, then they walked back to their respective homes, laughing and discussing the entire way.
Charlotte watched from behind the big rocks. She had recently returned from the trip with her mom and was walking along the beach and just happened to end up where the group was lounging at. At first she was confused on why the tails were so different, but what really got her attention was the fact that there were more than three tails. It was 7 of them, and a boy whom she did not recognize, but he had legs. She was utterly confused yet intrigued. A part of her that she had locked away resurfaced with a heavy feeling of longing. She was jealous, how could Lewis have gotten a tail? Zane and Ash as well? How long have they been mermen? Why are they mermen?
She had been confused a bit before when she saw Lewis dive into the water, he was also wearing a sweater and scarf around his neck but he wasn't burning. From what she could see he was shivering, when everyone else was complaining about how hot it was Lewis was shivering. Charlotte ducked behind the rock as the group walked away. She let out a sigh after she went unseen and walked over to where they had been. She brushed her fingers over the marks the tails had made, unable to hold it anymore, she broke down crying. She pounded on the sand and trashed it around, she felt completely drained from everything.
She wanted to blame Cleo, but deep down she knew they were only doing what needed to be done. She was reckless with her powers, putting herself and them in many situations where the secret could have gotten out. She terrorised the girls for simply existing and not letting her have her way, being a mermaid made her into a jealousy fueled person. At first, even Rikki, who does not like her, attempted to give her a chance, Emma..oh Emma..she tried so hard to be friends with Charlotte and get the others on board. That day when they all had a group hug after winning the volleyball game, she truly felt a part of the group but she just had to mess it all up.
Charlotte looked out into the ocean. Before she left, she'd convince her mother to delay their trip until the next full moon. Desperate and humiliated, she stood at the edge of the moon pool and jumped in, allowing the water to bubble around her. It was just like the first time, it was magical. In the end, she remained human, she had indeed lost her powers forever, but she couldn't help but smile at the fact she got to experience the magic one last time.
Charlotte stood up and bruised the sand off her skirt. She took her shirt off and threw it on the sand and then ran into the water and dived in. The cold salty water covered her body, for a second she had hope that the familiar tingle would appear, but it didn't. She swam through the water, running her hands through the ocean floor sand. A small smile came on her face, it was a bittersweet experience.
She'd must have forgotten to come up for air, that burn in her lungs was getting worse. She was too far down to swim up, the current was pulling her further out to sea, she tried to swim up, desperate for air. She swam closer to the top, her body straining, a flicker of hope came in her eyes, she could see the surface! She just needs to get...a…little…clos-