Cam made his way around the cave, mapping it out carefully in his mind for future reference.
"How is it possible for there to be two moon pools, when there's only one volcano?" Nixie wondered aloud again as she completed another circuit around the save. They had found a crawl space from which nature could be heard, which meant this cave also had a land entrance unlike theirs. "Seriously, how is this possible?"
Cam sighed and shrugged, his shoulder tingling, still sensitive even after having Nixie heal him. "Not sure, but I think we should probably get going," he suggested. "We've been gone a while and we still haven't found Zac." he reminded. "We should head back and start again in the morning if he's still not back.
"We can't, we need to find Zac." the brunette said determinately.
Cam shot her a suspicious look but made no further efforts to dissuade her. "Okay then," he conceded. "We should get back in the water then."
Nodding they walked back to the moon pool, Nixie jumping in first, and once the bubbles had cleared he jumped in after her. They carefully made their way out of the cave, finding a snorkel at the bottom of the pool along the way. Handing that one to Cam they swam back in their usual direction towards land, stopping so Cam could come up for air every few minutes – Nixie was putting in plenty of speed and was moving the both of them.
Finally, the rich coral reef thinned out and eventually faded into the beach-like sand of land. Surfacing, Cam gasped in all the air his lungs had been burning for. "Could we take a break, not all of us can breathe underwater."
"For a land boy, you can surely hold your breath for long," She said with a teasing smile. "Come on, I think a few minutes and we'll be able to surface near the beach."
Cam groaned but relented, casing her a sour side glance, placing the snorkel back into place. "Has anyone ever told you that you can be a little pushy?"
"Yes, now deep breaths, we're moving." she grinned at him, placing a kiss on his cheek at his put-out expression.
Some of the fight left him after that, and he took a deep breath before being pulled under.
Nixie smiled, if he played his cards right, she might kiss him underwater. Eventually. After all, pausing for breath every so often was so tedious.
Serena made haste to Mako, and a quick circuit around the area's perimeter brought her face to face-with a very upset shark.
Knowing they usually stuck to the south side of the island, Serena approached the Chondrichthyan, holding her hands up before her as she approached it before placing her hands on its flesh. Closing her eyes she concentrated and after a minute or two she released the creature, letting it swim off as she looked in the direction it had come from with a pensive expression on her face.
The shark had been thinking about disturbances in the nest. Serena knew the sharks used the south side of the island as a breeding ground, it was part of the reason why that side of the island was off-limits. It being cursed was another reason.
Pursing her lips, Serena swam towards shore and onto land. If she found nothing in 10 minutes, she would go back in the water, head to the south of the island, and find the nest.
Once on land, she noticed no recent prints so she took the direction of the higher ground. Walking around for over ten minutes, Serena stopped at a stream and sighed. She needed to get back into the water.
Taking a deep calming breath she turned on her heel and proceeded to slip and slide down a crevice by the stream. Letting out a frightened cry she fell down the flat rock before coming to a stop at the bottom a few seconds later.
Quickly she got to her feet and stuck her head up the tunnel. The opening was only a couple of meters up, but the slope of the angle was too steep. "We'll I guess I can't levitate myself out of here then," she commented somewhat bitterly.
Groaning she took a moment to release her frustrations before calming herself down, listening to her surroundings. Faintly, Serena could hear water, and the strong smell of the ocean reached her nose. Relaxing now that she had found a possible way out she heeded in the direction of the sound, her instincts helping her find her way to the water.
Making her way down a narrow passageway, Serena stepped out into a much larger cave and paused.
"Oh dear," she gasped, looking around in awe. The cave she found herself in was almost identical to the moon pool.
After a careful look around, she suspected that someone had been here very recently. Deciding to trust her gut, she jumped into the strange new moon pool, crossed the underwater passageway and came out the other end. Taking another look around, she noticed a couple of sharks swimming restlessly around the area.
Recalling the agitated state of the shark she came across earlier, she suspected she was in the right spot.
With a renewed sense of urgency, Serena made the educated decision to take the usual route she would take to get home, only she would be heading in the complete opposite direction. Taking a quick trip to the surface to keep track of time, she went under once more before taking off at top speed.
After sending a quick text to Will, Bella pocketed her device and helped Rikki in getting Cleo and Emma out of the water and dried out.
Zac just stood there watching them awkwardly, his hands in his pockets to keep him from fidgeting too much. It would have worked if his legs weren't too busy wiggling about.
Moments later, all were on dry and back on land, Bella had received a reply. "Good news, Will said we can do this at his place and someone is coming to get us, bad news is Lewis is driving, so it's going to be a while." After she relayed the information to everyone else, they made their way to the nearest bus stop to wait.
A couple of minutes later a minivan pulled up at a sluggish pace, the one named Rikki practically charge the vehicle as soon as it made a full stop and all but ripped the guy named Lewis out of the driver's seat before claiming it as her own. Lewis seemed none too surprised to the treatment, if anything he appeared to be expecting it with the grace it was dealt with allowing himself to be herded to the back of the vehicle after opening the door for the girls, allowing them to get in first.
If I didn't know any better, I would say that Rikki and Nixie were related. Zac thought as he too piled into the back of the vehicle, taking his spot between to Lewis and the corner. The drive took only a couple of minutes with Rikki at the wheel, they took an alarmingly close turn near the peer before pulling up to a short driveway.
"This is surreal." Zac stated in awe as he looked around. He appeared to be standing before an identical replica of the pool house his parents let him live in. Ignoring the looks he received, he gestured for someone to lead the way, following behind the group. Walking inside, some of the wonder died down. "Oh, thank God, I don't know what I would have done if they were the same." he said in relief.
"Are you insulting my home?" Will asked upon entering, along with Zane, Lewis, and Ash.
Zac quickly shook his head. "No, not at all, I was just comparing it," he admitted. "Your house looks a lot like my bedroom, minus the diving gear and the ocean collectibles," he assured, I keep my Ocean Treasures in an underwater cave, he added internally. Will furrowed his brow in suspicion, but after a minute of contemplation, he decided he wasn't lying.
"Enough with the chit-chat mate, the girls here made a huge effort to make you comfortable now, so talk. You said no talking in the open, the door's closed now, so how about it, huh?" the tall man with brown hair said imposed as he leaned on the closed door, and Zac did not doubt that the guy had locked it.
Zac rolled his eyes and turned to face everyone else, very pointedly giving his back to he guy. It took him a moment, but after a nervous and rather clumsy start, Zac was able to explain to them that he hung around with other mermaids, which is why he wasn't really surprised that they turned out to be mermaids as well because they were acting just as shady as his friends back home.
"Wait, he knows your mermaids?!" Zane asked, surprised. "How did this happen?"
"It was an accident, he caught us by surprise and then Emma and I fell into the water," Cleo explained in a small voice, almost as if she was trying not to get blamed for something and Zac couldn't help but think of Serena, and of how much she and this Cleo had in common. He faintly wondered who would be most like Lyla, though he doubted any one of these girls was like her, she was … unique.
"You girls should be more careful," Will said. "What if instead of getting caught, you got hurt?" he warned, giving Emma a stern look after giving Zac the side eye.
Zac scoffed, rolling his eyes, suddenly defensive. "Hey, they were following me." he pointed out. "I wanted to know why, I didn't expect them to fall off the edge of the peer."
This seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as not a second after, all the men in the room tensed and turned their attentions to him. Lewis, being the one exception, took a step forward, standing between the group and Zac in an effort to dissuade any possible confrontation. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you were not the one to push them into the water?" he rose a brow.
Zac was not amused, if anything the question offended him, something he made sure to tell them after clearing things up. "If that is the case, then I think we have questions we would like answered." Lewis said more confidently.
"I think it would be easier if I showed you instead of just telling you," Zac sighed and gestured behind him towards the door. "We need to step outside, though, because if I just come out and tell you, you wouldn't believe me." Zac could not say that the suspicious looks he received were unmerited. If the situations were reversed, the things, he would be just as suspicious of them as they are of him right now. Instead, he allowed them to talk it out in angry whispers among themselves for a while.
Eventually they conceded. With a relieved sigh, Zac headed to the door and wrenched it open, desperate to get in the water. He stepped out and waited for everyone to file out, arms crossed at their chest, out of the shed and leaned against the wall, their expecting gazes fixed on him.
"Well, go on then, show us." Will gestured expectantly.
Zac nodded and turned towards the water and, before he could chicken out, he dived right in. Shocked, everyone edged closer to get a closer glimpse.
When he surfaced he didn't surface alone, a couple of meters away Cam spotted him and nudged Nixie who immediately held out her hand in his direction, causing the water to start to swirl, Zac could feel himself being dragged under by the current.
"What's going on, what are you going?" Cam asked, suddenly worried about his friend and unsure how or if he should intervene.
The merman struggled to remain on the surface despite the hard pull on his lower body, his tail feeling like it weighed a ton. Eventually, he was able to concentrate enough to reach out and stop the waters with his powers. He turned to the group on the peer, they were all staring at him with obvious shock on their faces, meaning they weren't the culprits. Narrowing his eyes, he looked around and spotted two familiar looking faces. "Nixie, Cam, what are you doing here?"
"We should be asking you that," Cam took the lead before Nixie could start berating him, "You went and got everyone all worked up trying to find you and here you are playing show and tell." A quick glance at Nixie to his left told him she was somewhat mollified by the call-out.
"Oh come on, I'm here aren't I?" Zac asked petulantly. "I was just about to ask for help getting home, so it's not like I was doing this on purpose."
"It is when you break the rules and get people worried unnecessarily because of your recklessness," Nixie snapped.
Cam sighed and hung his head, Zac you idiot, why can't you just keep your mouth shut?
Luckily, it was at this moment that Serena surfaced between them, the first person she saw was Zac and relief relaxed her serious features. "Zac, thank goodness you're alright, Lyla was starting to seriously worry."
The mention of the blonde mermaid, the merman's eyes downcast, a shameful feeling in his gut. Why would she bring her up, why should he care? Before he could ponder too much, sounds from the peer reminded him that they had an audience. Flanked by their boyfriends, the four other mermaids were stating at them in wide-eyed surprise.
Looking back at the other girls, they were looking at the other group in shock for a brief moment before the girls on the peer cried out for them to wait. When the mermaids didn't try to dive again after that they relaxed but did not put down their hands, instead they held them out straight, their hands each held differently than the others.
Suddenly the wind picked up, clouds gathered, and the water reacted accordingly as the storm gathered. And just as quickly as it came, it was dispersed.
It was tense moments before Serena spoke up, voice tense at least a whole octave higher than usual. "As interesting as this development is, the moon is almost at its zenith, and I promised our friend Zac would be back home safely by then."
"What, no, we are staying and getting this sorted out, who are you people?" Nixie demanded challengingly, swimming forward, Cam trailing behind him and towards land.
Ignoring the affronted scoffs from above, Serena swam towards her friend and tried to reason with her. "Lyla was worried and gave us until midnight before she did something crazy. And we cannot have her doing something crazy right now. Zac does enough on his own to keep her busy, we shouldn't further aggravate her." she said, ignoring the mentioned merman protest in his defense.
"I get that Serena, but they have mermaid powers, mermaid powers," she emphasized. "They're our age, but obviously not from our pod. I saw the other Moon Pool and I know you did too, otherwise I don't think you would have found us. We need answers, Lyla will understand."
"I can assure you, Lyla will not understand," Serena assured.
"Can someone explain to me why Lyla is so relevant to this? She's not even here," Zac questioned, swimming up to the pair.
"Shut up, Zac, you don't get to ask questions right now." Nixie snapped.
"Don't tell me to shut up, you shut up." Zac retorted.
"No, you shut up," Nixie bit back.
"Oh for the love of God, both of you shut up," Cam cried out from where he was shivering on the peer, a towel pulled over his shoulders' courtesy of one of the guys on the ledge with him, Will he thinks his name is. "If making sure Lyla doesn't get more worried is such a big issue, why don't we just call her or someone who can let her know we found Zac, that we're safe and should be back soon after we get some rest." he suggested. When he noticed his favorite mermaid was scowling at him, he asked what he did.
"Nothing, it's just you make a point." the brunette muttered, just barely loud enough for him to make out.
Deciding that was exactly what they would do, the girls came up on land and dried up following the group inside the shed.
"Woah, Zac mate, this place looks eerie like your place back home." Cam commented as he looked around the place, an incredulous that's what I thought too was the reply.
Taking an available spot in the living area of the shed Zac noticed they were seriously outnumbered if things turned sour. Recalling the ease with which the women across from them called forth the storm had him hoping they didn't have to find out just how good they were with their powers.
"Thank you, we'll be home soon, promise," Serena assured before she disconnected the call. "I think we have an hour before we worry about possible consequences." she told their group.
"Good, then you can explain to us exactly who you all are," Zane demanded, the people in his group were silent, some looked disappointed in his approach, though all seemed to be expecting an answer.
"Excuse me and who are you supposed to be?" Nixie said cuttingly. "Show us some respect, we don't owe you anything, much less answers." Cam groaned as she crossed her arms at her chest defensively. Taking a calculated risk that could very well backfire terribly given their situation and the fiery mermaid at his side, he slid closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Easy now, we can try and get answers without loosing our heads here." he began, when the mermaid under his direct gaze only scoffed and rolled her eyes at him, he relaxed more into his stance and directed himself towards the group. "Now we have questions, you have questions but so far, based on what just happened this is what we know. One is the girls here and my good friend Zac are merfolk, Zac is an idiot who gets into trouble whenever he wanders off," there was a chuckle somewhere on enemy lines.
"Your girls here are mermaids too, or at least have powers over the weather," he gestured with his free hand at the four girls huddled in the corner, flanked by their who Cam assumed were their boyfriends, or very protective relatives. "Now that we've stated the obvious, we will not be giving out any of our names, and we will not ask for yours in return because boundaries."
"Sounds fair, right babe?" one of the blondes replied, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around the middle of the rude and tall one with the frown permanently sketched into his features. Zane sighed in defeat, looping an arm around Rikki in much the same way the other fellow was doing to his girl.
"So, where's the rest of your pod?" Serena asked after a beat.
"Pod, what is that?" the blonde with straight hair asked, Emma, Zac thinks her name was.
"Well, that explains some things, were all of you turned into mermaids at Mako?" Zac asked.
"Yes, well, no, we've only been mermaids for about 6 maybe 7 years," Emma said. "Bella here has been one a while longer though." she gestured towards the curly haired blonde with the fair skinned blue eyes who waved at them awkwardly after being put on the spot.
So much for no names.
"I was turned in a moon pool of the cost of Ireland when I was nine," she explained.
"Wonderful, just when I thought things were getting a little normal, this happens," Cam joked.
"So how long have you guys been mermaids?" Cleo asked curiously.
"We were born mermaids, Zac here is the one of us who was turned, he was at Mako about 5 years ago." Nixie offered.
Rikki's eyes widened. "You were born mermaids?"
"Yes, next question."
Oh boy, we're in for a long night. The thought was echoed across the thoughts of almost everyone in the room.