Chapter 55

"Rikki," Cleo gasped and passed out. Rikki was just in time to help Lewis with the weight. Lewis swam the final twenty metres to the boat. Rikki put her arms under Cleo's armpits to drag her backwards as fast as possible to the moon pool. Despite it not being too far, having a dead weight with her, Rikki found herself tiring significantly. She hoped the poison was not working its way into her system also. She pushed Cleo up onto the sand before leaning against the rock wall puffing. Only allowing herself a moments rest, she soon got into action pulling herself out and drying off both herself and Cleo. She called Ben via mind speak; she knew he would have just finished work.

Cleo was still breathing. Check. Her heart was still beating. Check.

Rikki had no idea what to do. She was no doctor; that was Lewis specialty. However, she did not think he would be too much help today – this was a mystical poison. As Lewis slid into the moon pool cavern some time later, Rikki told him what she was doing and sprinted out of the cave now with adrenaline pumping through her veins.

OoOoO

Rikki opened the purple book. Maybe there was something in here. She opened to Chapter 6 – Healing Potions and saw the subheading 'Poisons.'

'-Different Subject Treatment and Why– Human, Animal, Mystical Creatures

-Bites – venomous, infections

-Stings

-Chemical

- Crafted - magical or combination'

Her finger stopped over 'Crafted.'

"That's it!" She exclaimed to herself. It listed symptoms for different types of magical poisons and determining how to extinguish the source. It also mentioned what she was looking for: the cures. Again, the potion for the cure was a collection of different algae, and powerised water, but this time it required scallop shells and five stones of the same size.

Rikki ran back to where Lewis was carrying Cleo slowly back to the village. He placed her in one of the beds in the visitors' house. Ben, who had just arrived and Rikki then went back out into the water to desperately find the ingredients to the cure. Man, that book was a life saver. And to think if they hadn't gone back in time, they would have lost it. Whoever had wrote it, everyone was eternally grateful to. It seemed that there was an entry for every problem they had ever come across and more. Rikki had read through that book numerous times but every time there was something new – that she must have missed. Maybe it knew what was going on in their lives and provided the answers. She called via mind speak to Bella who fortunately was on her way home: her power was needed for the potion.

Ben and Rikki carried bags that Lewis had developed. They acted like colanders but with tiny holes. This would mean the bags would filter the water as they swam. It was not as easy as they thought to locate stones that were all the same size. Fortunately, they managed in the end. It however, was time consuming.

While Ben and Rikki were gathering ingredients, Lewis was watching Cleo getting even more worried. She was deathly pale and her breathing was evening out. Lewis was afraid that she may have been entering some kind of comatose state.

They swam as fast as physically possible and then sprinted up to the village. They were getting exhausted. They found Lewis fidgeting.

"Mate, calm down," Ben said, "She'll be fine, it says here: 'Note 1: If the patient is not given this antidote within twelve hours, they will go into a permanent coma or die.' It hasn't been that long yet"

"We need you to take us through the instructions for the potion," Rikki said quickly. Ben handed Lewis the purple book.

Ben and Rikki completed the following as Lewis read it: "Dice up all algae. Soak the Brown Algae (Kelp, Rockweed) in fresh water for two minutes. Strain. Mix the water of the Brown Algae with the Red Algae (Coralline Algae, Dulse)" There were pictures of the different algae in the book. "Add two cups of sea water. Stir thoroughly. Crush one scallop shell. Add to mixture. Stir. Use Hydro-thermokenesis on one cup of fresh water. Place five stones of the same size in. Add algae mixture into boiling water. Flash freeze using Hydro-cryonesis. Wait two minutes." They did this very impatiently. "Melt frozen mixture. Bring to boiling point slowly. Keep at boiling point for ten seconds. Cool to drinking temperature. Take out the stones and place in remaining scallop shell." Lewis, Ben, Rikki and Bella were shocked that now the stones were glowing all different colours of the rainbow. "Using Hydrokinesis encircle the shell. Use Gelidkinesis. Release gel…"

"This is a very complicated potion," Rikki muttered.

Lewis continued: "Note 2: The scallop should have changed to a light blue colour. If not, repeat the latter two steps." It turned blue after Bella repeated those steps. "Serve potion in scallop shell. One shell is enough for one mermaid. If the patient does not show signs of recovery in the next ten hours, give them another dose. Note 3: The magicked scallop shell (blue) counteracts curse of the magic poison. Will not work without this step. Note 4: Once cured, the patient will gain immunity to this particular poison.

Bella propped Cleo upright as Lewis gently opened her mouth and tipped the contents of the scallop shell down her throat. To their relief, she swallowed. They waited in anticipation.

Cleo coughed and spluttered before breathing erratically and heavily. Her lips turned a darker shade of purple and she seemed paler than before if that was even possible. This gave everyone a fright and caused Lewis to start panicking again.

A minute later she started breathing normally again and was returning to her natural colour.

"I wish the book told us of what to expect as part of her healing." Lewis said. The others nodded.

OoOoO

Every hour Cleo got better. Rikki had called everyone about what to expect when they got home. Of course, everyone was worried. Regardless, they knew that moping around would not help her recovery. Therefore, they continued with their normal routine.

Nine hours later, at around midnight, Cleo's eyes fluttered open. It was Anna's shift as everyone else went to bed earlier. Anna was drawing a house floor plan for work. She was startled when Cleo said in a raspy voice: "Hey Anna," Cleo felt wasted. Anna's pencil skidded across the page as she jumped in fright.

"At least its pencil," Cleo joked quietly. She winced as she tried to sit up. Anna got up.

"No, no, lay back," Anna said putting a light pressure on Cleo's shoulders. She slumped back against the pillows.

"I'm so glad you're alright," Anna said smiling gently.

"I guess I am too," Cleo replied, wincing again, "Man, that really kicks a punch."

"I bet it does," Anna said quietly. After a few seconds of silence Anna launched herself forward, hugging Cleo.

"I really am glad you're alright," she said.

"So am I," Cleo said more seriously. "How long have I been out? It's dark out,"

"Ah, I'm not sure. Maybe close to twelve hours now. Lewis, Rikki, Bella and Ben worked hard on the antidote from the purple book,"

"That thing sure is a miracle," Cleo said looking dazed. "I'm just so tired…" she trailed off. She had fallen back to sleep.

OoOoO

Lewis could not sleep for the life of him. He was frustrated. Why couldn't he have been the one to have been poisoned? If anything happened to Cleo, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. He heard someone come inside the house. He heard the door close. What had happened? Good or bad? He put his dressing gown on and went into the hallway.

Anna was grinning broadly. Lewis' heart leapt. She was okay.

OoOoO

When Anna and Lewis arrived back to where Cleo was she was still asleep.

"She woke up for a little bit – she was very aware. I know there is a chance with humanly poisons to cause brain damage but she seemed absolutely fine."

"Thank God," Lewis replied, smiling at how peaceful Cleo looked as she slept.

Lewis pulled over a seat and held onto Cleo's hand at her bedside. He hoped she would wake up again soon. Anna proceeded to erase error caused by her shock and quickly finished off the house plan.

"If you don't mind Lewis, I need to get some sleep. Should Ben still come and do a shift or…"

"No, I'll be fine. I have a day off tomorrow anyway," Lewis replied swiftly.

"Okay then," she smiled and left the room.

OoOoO

Cleo woke up feeling a familiar hand in hers. She took in Lewis fast asleep in a chair beside her. He was snoring gently. She giggled, kissing the hand in hers.

She felt better than when she first woke up but still was sore and dreadfully weak. She lay back glad that Lewis was there. She stroked her thumb over his hand. Lewis woke up disoriented.

"Cleo!" he exclaimed, "You're awake," he hugged her tightly. "I can't lose you, honey," he said.

"I'll try not to go away," Cleo said smiling gently. They kissed, lovingly. It really was great to see him.

A/N: Hey everyone :-) Sorry for the wait. -Same month this time though :P Starting the new year soon and I'm in our school musical - we're doing the Sound Of Music, so i'm going to be very busy this term. As usual, I will try my best. Who knows I could surprise myself with spare time :)

Thanks very much to the following for reviewing since my last update: Quillcox, Obwan14, Lauren111, xmangal, XxRaindr0pxX, Blazing Legend, EpicPrincess, Waterlily2002, shanny, Acgisme and an unnamed guest. I really do appreciate the reviews :D - They make my day still.

Have a good one :)