Chapter 19

Two days later on Mako Island...

Zane paced the room, back and forth, back and forth, his two sets of twins watching him.

"Dad? Could you stop please?" Leila asked softly. He looked at her, now out of his stupor.

"Oh, sorry Lei," he replied. He went back to sit on the couch. They had had no word of Rikki, Anna and Cleo for three days. He was very worried, he kept zoning out and pacing, Rikki would tell him to get a grip and stop being a baby, the thought of Rikki brought a lump to his throat. After the first day of no news, Ben had called his mother-in-law in the Bahamas, asking if Anna and her friends had arrived.

Flashback

"Hello? Sylvia Matthews speaking,"

"Hey Sylvia it's Ben here, ah, has Anna and her friends arrived yet? They would have been swimming," (Sylvia and Adrian Matthews knew the secret)

"No they haven't, they were supposed to arrive yesterday for the reunion but they missed it – they still haven't arrived today. I cannot believe that she got our hopes up and yet, did not come.I'm going to give her a right talking to when she arrives or calls."

"Well, we haven't heard from them either." Ben said.

"You don't think they got lost at sea do you?" Sylvia said.

There was an awkward pause on the end of the line.

"Do you?" Sylvia repeated with a worried tone of voice.

"Well, we can't exactly be sure, but we haven't heard from them, if we do hear more we'll be sure to let you know."

"Thank you Robert, I will ring if they do arrive..."

End Flashback

That had been three days ago and everyone was very worried, they knew there had been a cyclone over the Americas while the trio were swimming. Everyone was much snappier and there was angst in the air of the usual happy settlement. Zane put his head in his hands. Why had he let Rikki accompany Anna anyway? He knew that question was pointless – Rikki would have gone regardless. He sighed. 'She'll be fine,' he told himself, she had escaped kidnappers and swum to America many times before. 'If they got lost they would have swum home – no need to worry if they are swimming home yet, they still have a few more days of swim time.' He reassured himself. He had to be strong if not to keep himself together but for his kids who would also be missing their mother.

Lewis and Ben were in similar situations. Lewis was definitely handling it the best of the three, he was used to spending large amounts of time from Cleo on marine trips and important research assignments. Still, it had only been a few days since their last contact, but everyone was worried. The kids went to school as usual and the adults went to work. Bella – who worked as a part time school teacher- was the one who would be looking after the youngest kids.

Obviously, the missing mermaids' husbands weren't the only people effected, Bella and Emma were very worried, it shouldn't take this long to reach the Bahamas, they had to be lost, but they wouldn't think like that.

The residents in the water village on Mako Island waited patiently – or not so patiently in Zane's case- for news of their missing family members.

OoOoO

Meanwhile on the Island somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle...

It was night on their side of the world. Anna, Rikki and Cleo lay on their moss/sand beds in their makeshift shelter awake, trying to sleep. They were lonely. It was their sixth night without having seen their husbands and kids, their third night on the island. They had spent the past two days as if in a dream, one thing coming after another. They had collected and eaten food, collected firewood, they had swum for enjoyment, and to try escape, and they had resorted to making sand castles and sculptures on the beach. Being a mermaid was very useful – it almost made being stranded on an island – the stereotype- a joke. They would swim to catch the fish, which then would be roasted by Anna or Rikki. They would scale the tall trees to reach the fruit and gather coconuts off the ground. On occasion, Rikki would reluctantly strike a bird with lightning – she knew they needed the sustenance. Cleo refused to pluck the birds, therefore Rikki and Anna would have to do it. Their diet consisted of tropical fruits, coconuts, charred fish and the occasional charred bird.

They were very grateful for each other's company. Rikki rolled over and stared at the fire that kept the mosquitoes and bugs away, the mesmerising patterns of the flames quickly made her fall into sub consciousness. By the time they all finally drifted off to sleep, it was well into their night.

OoOoO

The Following day, back in the Gold Coast of Australia...

Emma and Bella were going to catch up with a friend that they had not seen since teacher's college. Jade Kaihatu rang Emma the previous morning wanting to catch up. They had lost contact when Jade had moved to Adelaide after completing the course. She had found an old number and followed it up, and ended up reaching Emma. Emma agreed, they would grab a cup of coffee. Jade asked if she knew where Bella had ended up. Jade was shocked when Emma said that they were still the best of friends and in fact were neighbours. Bella was quickly invited to come along. Bella and Emma were excited, they had not seen Jade in over a decade, and they thought this would be a great opportunity to get their minds off Rikki, Anna and Cleo's demise.

The Coffee Shop...

The buzzer sounded as Bella and Emma walked through the entrance to the Coffee Shop. They looked around. There they saw the dark skinned woman flicking through a magazine, waiting for them. Jade Kaihatu was a very pretty Maori woman who had moved to Australia as a teenager before meeting Bella and Emma at university. She looked up and recognition crossed her features. She smiled as the two blondes made their way over to the table for three.

"Bella, Emma, it's so good to see you," she exclaimed.

"You too, Jade" Emma replied returning the smile. They exchanged hugs. Jade had half expected this to be awkward – after not seeing each other for a very, very long time, to her surprise however, their conversation flowed just like it did when they were close friends.

"So, you still friends with Cleo, Anna and Rikki?"

"Yes," Bella replied, "You are the only friend we lost contact with unfortunately,"

"How's you and Austin?"

"We broke up a year after we lost contact – I'm married to Matthew Oliver now, we met in Adelaide a year later. We got married five years ago. I have a four year old son, Jon, short for Jonathon. We just moved back to the Gold Coast" she smiled. "You still with your guys?"

"Yeah, I got married to Will over eight years ago," Bella said,

"And I married Ash over six years ago, we both have kids," Emma added in.

The old friends chatted away drinking coffee about what they had done over the decade out of touch.

"...One thing that is bothering me," Jade started, "is how, after this long, you look the same age as when I last saw you, it's like you haven't aged a day, but that's not possible. You are in your thirties yeah?"

They nodded in response, "We just look really young for our age," Bella smiled. They continued their chat until it was time to go. They exchanged phone numbers and promised to catch up again soon.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed that chapter Please review!

(edited version - i fixed up the names (changed it back to Jade)- thanks kate for alerting me)