A/N= I'm really sorry guys! I mentioned that their eyes matched their tails (so like majestic colours) and never mentioned it again! I don't like inconsistencies but lets pretend that they wear contact lenses! Thanks! 3

Charlotte was almost there, she could feel it. Just one more thrush forward and she'd be able to take a breath. Her body had failed her, it was as if something was preventing her from moving. She used her last bit of energy to get this far. Fighting against the currents and ignoring the burn in her lungs. She took one last attempt at breathing, allowing water to rush into her lungs. She felt lightheaded, maybe it wasn't worth it to fight anymore, there was nothing for her anymore, nothing she cared about enough to live for. She did have one regret; she never got to apologise and rebuild her friendship with the girls…and Lewis. Charlotte sank to the bottom of the ocean, if she could cry she would, her tears went unnoticed within the saltiness of the water. Then from the blurriness of her peripheral vision, Charlotte could see a figure swimming towards her, a fish maybe? No it was much bigger than that, if she wasn't about to pass out from lack of oxygen, she'd swear it was a mermaid.

The 8 of them met up at Rikki's cafe. They sat in a booth near the back so they could all fit. Lewis brought over everyone's juices and sat down. They all stared at each other, no one saying anything.

Cleo twirled the straw in her drink. "So...full moon time again." She looked up through her eyelashes.

"Yeah. Last time didn't go so well I mean…with these new..developments.." Emma looked at the boys, "No offence."

"None taken." Lewis said, staring at his cup.

Rikki slammed her hand on the table, "Okay I don't like this little silence thing we have going on here. Denman is still out there and now the full moon. I say we go back to Mako and camp out there."

"Rikki are you crazy!? Being on Mako on a full moon with Denman poking around is the literal worst idea." Emma shouted, causing the cafe to go a little quiet, some whispering to themselves. Emma calmed herself down, breathing out, " Okay, say we go to Mako what then? We can't exactly be at the moon pool anymore until this cools off."

"No no, we can."

The girls looked at Rikki sceptically.

"We're mermaids! Ones with badass powers! I say we go there and protect Mako, at least for tonight. We can't have Denman finding out about the moon."

"That would be bad."

"That would be really bad."

The group looked at each other, then ran out towards the water and dived in. Emma grabbed Will's hand, telling him to hold on tight as she activated her speed swim. Will had to ignore the dizziness that came with the immense speed.

AT MAKO

"She's turned this place into a mess." Rikki said, running her hands over the wall.

Cleo hugged her arms. "It's a shame isn't it? The moon did such a great job fixing it."

"So what now? We're here, she's not." Will said, his teeth chattering.

"We have no other choice but to wait. She's going to be here, I can feel it. She wouldn't leave all this equipment behind if she wasn't."

"Do you think she's found something?"

"God, I hope not." Ash said, throwing a pebble in the water.

Emma walked over to where the hole was, "How did it close? It's like it was never there."

Zane shrugged, "Higher power…" He said, disinterested in the topic. Emma rolled her eyes.

The group walked over to where Emma was, each voicing their thoughts and theories causing Lewis to start rambling on about the science aspect of things. In turn Rikki said something along the lines of "oh my god" very unenthusiastically. All of a sudden, a rock fell down the entrance.

"Get the rope down! We have a lot of work to do!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Did you guys hear that?" Cleo said, turning her head.

Zane nodded, "I definitely heard that." He rushed to grab Cleo's hand, as she was closer, signalling everybody to do the same. Soon all of them were invisible and completely still.

Denman climbed down the rope, brushing off her hands and walking into the cavern. It was just as she left it, and that made her frustrated.

"Still no sign of them?"

"No ma'am. It looks like they've completely abandoned this place upon your arrival."

Linda scoffed while rolling her eyes, now more than ever she wished she would've grabbed Lewis instead of taunting him. At least then she'd have something to present to her benefactor, and a thing to use as bait for the others. When she first learned that Lewis and Bennett had turned into mermaids or men, she was ecstatic. All these new ideas ran through her head like a stampede, now she was sure just about anyone could turn into a mermaid. The question was, how?

"Dr."

"Yes Peter? I assume you've found something?"

Peter nodded. "I suggest you come check this out, some sort of underground ruin under this place."

Linda sighed. It wasn't what she was expecting to hear, but perhaps she'd find something of interest. "Great. I'll be right up."

Soon it was empty again.

Zane held his breath for dear life. He could feel his powers effect slipping, any longer and he'd pass out. So he was more than relieved when Denman and her henchmen left. He let out a breath, hyperventilating, soon everyone was visible again. Zane, absolutely exhausted, fell face first into the moon pool with a loud splash. This got a chuckle from the rest of the group. He swam up, suddenly feeling really refreshed, his tiredness didn't transform over with him, thankfully.

Emma however couldn't shake the feeling that something was very off. She knew that the group knew that Denman wasn't gone. But that wasn't what was bothering her. "Guys.." She said, her voice a bit soft. "Didn't one of Denman's men say they found an underground ruin? Could they have found what I think they found?"

The cavern went quiet.

"But there wasn't an opening? Sure we ended up creating a hole but that leads out into the ocean, way off from the reef too." Bella said, moving hair out her face.

Lewis rubbed his chin, "Could they have been more than one?"

"But Glin said there was only one."

"Actually he never said there was only one, we just assumed so."

Lewis interrupted, "If I remember correctly, Glin said that was all that remained of the Atlantic Empire after the war. So whatever is down there, it's most likely something else."

"We can only hope it's not something." Cleo said, sighing.

Ash sat on the sand, holding his head. Emma walked over to him, leaving the others to discuss and argue. Emma rubbed Ash's back, sitting down next to him.

"Hey..are you okay?" She said, as softly as she could get her new commanding voice to be.

"I don't…I don't know. I mean one day I'm a regular boy then the next I'm a fish." Emma bit her tongue to not correct him, she had a habit of doing that whenever one of them called what they were fishes. "At first it was amazing, now we're here in this mess expected to rule over a destroyed society while simultaneously maintaining our human lives and the secret itself." Ash held Emma in a tight hug, who despite her wanting to say encouraging words, just hugged him back which he seemed to appreciate. The two stayed like that until one decided to get up and rejoin the rest.

Will stood back in a corner. His gaze was fixated on Zane's tail. How it moved so gracefully yet so clumsy, how it blended into Zane's body like an artistic gradient. How the scales that only he and the other two had covered specific parts of his body like a map. It made him swell with jealousy. "Will? Are you good? You seem a bit out of it.." Will broke his gaze with Zane to look at Bella, whose face was written in worry. "Yeah..I'm good..its just-" Bella interrupted, "You wish you were Zane?" Will stopped talking, looking away from her. "So I was right.."

"No no, that's not it." He corrected, "I don't wish to be Zane, I just wish I had what he had." Will said, trying to be vague to not give Bella any ideas that he wanted a tail too. Bella thought for a moment, looking over to Zane and back to Will, then to Zane again. A light bulb went on in her head. "You want to be merman. Is that it?" Will shushed her, which Bella smiled at.

"It's not all sunshine and reefs y'know, I mean you're the only safe one among us right now." she said, her smile falling. "There's a lot of pressure and responsibility, not to mention danger. There's so much that outweighs a midnight swim through the reef or playing with dolphins that makes it so hard."

Will looked at the sand, he hadn't thought about how negatively it could affect his life. Looking at the girls they made it look like magic, that anything negative was impossible. That the comet was just them being heroes, that having a tail was...euphoric. "I still want it. All the cons and the pros and the dangers in between. Then I'd finally be able to swim with you and see your world."

Bella looked up, seeing the moon was barely peeking through. "It is possible." She said, "But you'll make that decision when the time calls for it." Bella walked away, informing the others that it was almost time.

Will stared for a moment then looked at the water. Yes, that's right. He was going to jump into the pool. He had to.

Denman followed Peter to a hidden hole between two large rocks. He stopped suddenly, allowing her to go first which she nodded at. She walked down through the darkness, not sure where was headed, then she saw light. She practically ran to it. In front of her eyes was a huge cavern much like the moon pool's. Instead of dark rock and sand, were white quartz and gray pillars. The pool in the centre was surrounded by the same rock the moon pool was, the walls were lined with books and scrolls. There were chests and boxes of various kinds, but what really caught her eye was the giant statute at the very end of the cavern. It was grey and covered in moss, the top resembled what seemed to be a woman, her long straight hair covering her chest in place of shells, the bottom was a tail; a mermaid tail. Denman smiled, breathing heavily as she took in her surroundings. She commanded Peter to go through the books and scrolls for information, while she examined the statue further.

She walked around the pool, which was surprisingly really clear and free from deformities like dirt. She stood in front of the statue, then attempted to touch its tail. Her fingers grazed the scales, then her body got colder, she chalked it up to be from outside but then she found her legs wouldn't budge. She used all her might to move them, causing her torso to also become frozen in the direction it was turned. Her body was turning white, each change proving extremely painful and cold. Linda called out to Peter, who was stuck flipping through various books. But he didn't hear her. Tears turned to crying turned to full on bawling. She begged and pleaded for something or someone to help her. She looked back at the statue, then took her hand off its tail.

"Dr?"

Linda breathed heavily, having been snapped out from the trance she was stuck in. She wiped her face and composed herself. "Show me what you found."

"But Dr-"

"I said show me what you found!" She shouted, causing Peter to quickly hand her the book he was reading earlier. She scanned the pages, flipping through the entire book, then she grabbed another and then another and another until she finally snapped and started asking questions.

"WHY are these things written in complete gibberish!?" She shouted, holding her head.

Peter cleared his throat, "That's what I was trying to tell you earlier, the books are written in another language."

"Can't you find a translation or something?"

"That's the thing. This language does not exist at all. I tried looking it up when I came to inform you of this place but all I got were blank pages."

"This better not be someone's idea of a joke." Linda sighed. "We can come back here later, for now I want to continue studying the pool. I have a strong feeling the moon is connected somehow." Linda thought back when the girls had originally given up their powers, she remembered it clearly. How the pool shined, how the moon came over head and the water started bubbling, how when the flash faded the water was still and the girls were human. How she saw her reputation be kicked in the face. How magically humiliating it was.

"Right."

The two of them left the strange cavern and headed back towards the land entrance. Linda stopped Peter.

"Do you hear that?" she asked, her smile and excitement growing with every sound.

"Looks like they've returned."

Rikki ran her hand through her curls, "One thing has been bothering me.. How exactly will we fight off Denman? Who's to say she's not expecting us?"

"She thinks we've abandoned this place, why would we randomly show up when she's still act-"

"Glad to see you've made it girls."

The group stepped back, all with a similar expression of surprise and fear. Cleo immediately stretched her hand towards the water, curling her fingers in a specific way and creating a water bubble. Emma freezed it, then Cleo threw it towards Denman, who dodged it.

"Now we don't want a repeat of last time do we." Linda picked up a camera, everyone looked at each other as she did so, which she smiled at. "Glad to see I've got your attention. On this right camera right here" she held it up, "is multiple pictures and footage of all of you-with your tails."

The girls took a sharp breath. The boys stepped in front of them, getting ready to protect them if Denman made a move. Denman smiled at this, "There's no need for that." She threw the camera towards Zane, who was standing near the edge of the moon pool. Zane rushed to grab it, tripping over his own feet in the process. Rikki, who was holding on to him, got pulled down with him. Denman's smile grew wide when the two didn't resurface but the camera did. "Two down." she thought to herself.

Cleo's mind was racing, she knew that Zane and Rikki were most likely swimming into nets and cages but they also made a split second choice between showing Denman their new tails or taking a chance to get help. Will took the chance to pick up the camera, Denman watched him carefully as his hands submerged underwater but his legs remained. Will shook the water off the camera as best as he could, he pressed the power button and the camera flashed on. He walked over to the rest of the group, and began scrolling through multiple pictures of the girls swimming but none of the boys. Emma felt violated, her hands curled into a fist, she watched the endless pictures of them lounging casually, swimming with dolphins, floating, drying off, dodging water, using their powers; it made her sick. Her blood boiled with disgust, to think that a grown woman would stalk three teenage girls for the sake of science.

The cavern grew colder, Ash out of everyone could feel the chill on his back. As the cavern got colder the camera began to crack. Will, startled, dropped the camera right when it broke into multiple frozen pieces. Emma released her breath after not realising she was holding it. Denman looked at Emma, confused on how the camera was frozen to the point of breakage.

"Now what do you have against us?" Ash asked, smirking at Denman's misfortune.

Linda smiled, "I just wanted to show you what you had on the line. At any moment those pictures will reach the internet and multiple news outlets." She held her hand out towards Peter who immediately handed her a gun. "You can either hand yourselves over to me, or be taken by force."

The cavern went quiet, you could cut the tension with a knife. Denman, after realising no one was making a move, raised her gun towards Cleo and pulled the trigger.

A needle shot into Cleo's arm, causing her to pass out and fall into the moon pool after about 10 seconds.
"What was that!?" Lewis shouted, commanding every bone in his body not to jump in after her.

"A tranquilizer" Emma answered, staring daggers into Linda.

Linda gulped, the power of Emma's stare made her legs wobbly. But nonetheless she kept up her resolve, "I'll say it again. Hand yourselves over, or be taken by force."

Emma's lip quivered, she started walking towards Linda but Ash pulled her back.
"What the hell!? You can't go with her!" Emma shook his hands off her, "Do we have any other choice!? I'd rather go with my eyes wide open than be knocked out like a dog!"

"You'll be knocked out either way! Think Emma! Get your emotions under control! Why give up when we came here in the first place!?"

Linda scoffed, time was moving and she needed to get them now or never. An opportunity was placed in front of her, why let it slip away? She raised her tranq-gun again and shot at Emma. Bella rushed to push her out of the way, causing both of them to slip and fall into the moon pool. Denman shot at Lewis, who dodged it. Bella pulled on Lewis's shirt, causing him to fall into the water. Ash was a bit conflicted, he was now in the line of fire when Denman shot again. So like any sane person, he dived into the water. Just as he did that, the moon came overhead. Ash was very relieved to see that everyone-including Zane and Rikki was very much okay and camping out throughout the underwater entrance tunnel. He swam towards Emma and hugged her tightly.

Will and Denman locked eyes. She had already decided he was non-threatening since he was human. They probably needed someone like him for things that involved water, she saw him as a little errand-boy the group pushed around. Will looked up to see that the moon was about to be overhead. He began panicking. He couldn't jump into the pool in front of Denman and then show up with a tail the next time they encountered her, she'd catch on.

Through pure luck Denman left, ordering Peter to search the far side nets. Then the moon came overhead, the water bubbled and grew brighter. The tiny bubbles rose in the air like specks of glitter. He smiled. He stood on the edge, but his smile faltered as the water froze over. He touched it, slammed it, but it wouldn't break. He frantically searched for a rock, then dropped it in the centre exposing the still active water underneath. He reached out for it, but his hands were met with a burning sensation, he pulled back.

Sweat rolled down his cheek as he watched the moon pass. But a sense of safety washed over him, he got strangest feeling that it wasn't his time.

Emma woke up in her room, on the floor and drool all over her face. She dragged herself over to her bedside table, she faced the clock towards her and..

"12pm!?"

She quickly wiped the drool from her face and raced towards the bathroom, she quickly turned on the tap and washed her face with cold water. She breathed for a second, then she lost balance and fell face first onto the floor. She groaned, you'd think years of having a tail she'd be used to all the falling and most certainly remember that she had a tail. She dragged herself over to the bathtub and with a bit of effort, she managed to flop herself in. She looked over to the door, WHICH WAS WIDE OPEN! She panicked, what if somebody walked by? What if Elliot went into the bathroom not knowing she was in there? What if..oh right. She breathed out, suddenly remembering that no one was home to walk in on her. And if they did, they'd just awkwardly close the door since they were aware that she was a mermaid.
I guess years of hiding secrets puts you into habits. She turned on the tap, she closed her eyes as the water flowed on her tail. She took this time to examine it closer, how her scales carried a lot more sensation, how thinner and easier it was to swim with and move. How it blended into her waist like it was always there, how the new colour was strange-yet pleasing at the same time. She turned off the tap, drained the water and flung herself out of the bathtub. She sat there, half falling asleep until she changed back. She changed her clothes into something comfier and cleaner. Then a ding went off on her phone, she grabbed it and sat on her bed, seeing that the text was from the group chat they made.

Cleo: "Can anybody remember how we got back yesterday? Last I remember Denman was chasing us down like hawks."

Bella: "I'm pretty sure we fought her off, but we did see the moon so maybe that had something to do with it?"

Lewis: "First full moon and it went down like that, who would've guessed."

Emma: "Pretty unfortunate huh? But hey my first full moon was pure chaos."

Lewis: "we're even then"

Ash: "Anybody up for a race? I'm dying to get my feet wet."

Rikki: "I could never turn down a race, but just so y'know I am the fastest."

Emma: "Says the person who could never beat me in a race."

Rikki: "Oh? You wanna test that statement?"

Emma: "Time and place and I'll be there."

Rikki: "Oh your so on"

Lewis: "Now now ladies, you can't have a race without the rest of the gang. I say we officially crown the fastest mer among us!"

Cleo: "Count me in!"

Zane: "Time to put you bozos in your place, show you who's the real king here."

Ash: "Sure buddy, you do that. Let's all meet at the marina in 5."

Emma: "Already there!"

Rikki: "Someone's eager."

Emma: "Can't win a race underwater if you're slow on land."

Emma smiled and shut off her phone. She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs towards the front door. She took in the afternoon air and headed for the marina. Denman was probably watching them, they knew this yet still they found it in themselves to just enjoy and pretend there wasn't a heavy weight on their shoulders. She saw Cleo waving at her and she waved back, Rikki folded her arms and smirked, probably at the fact that Emma was in fact not already there yet.

They all laughed and chit chatted all the way to the marina where the boys were waiting on them, even Will who insisted he came along for safety reasons. Zane allowed him to borrow his zodiac, feeling sort of detached from it lately, after all he didn't need to get across the ocean. On the count of three, all 7 of them dived into the water. With their ability to breath freely in the water, it had increased their speed now that their lung capacity wasn't holding them back. The mermaids (and men) raced around the reef and open ocean, all deciding that Mako island was no longer a safe destination to lounge at, at least until this all cooled off.