Chapter 105

"Guys, this is Erin," Rikki introduced. "She has agreed to help us get to the headquarters, where the necklace is being held,"

"Nice to meet you all," Erin said after they had all given her their names. She turned back to Rikki. "I don't think I can get all of you over there, maybe two or three?"

Rikki nodded, "Okay. I'll go, and Cleo, and one other,"

The girls exchanged glances.

'We need Cleo in case we need to move water to steal the artefact,' Rikki spoke into their minds. 'Who else wants to come?'

'I'll go,' Bella replied quickly. 'Might be handy having three different powers involved.'

'Is everyone all good with that?' Rikki asked.

'Sounds good,' Emma replied.

"Cleo, Bella and I will go," Rikki said to Erin.

"The rest of us will find something to do here, while we wait," Anna said.

"Okay," Erin nodded. "We'll leave in half an hour, I just need to settle a few things,"

OoOoO

Cleo, Bella and Rikki boarded the boat with Erin half an hour later, and they went on their way towards the treasure hunters' headquarters.

The rest of the girls went back into town and started looking around. Khasha was thoroughly enjoying herself, just from seeing everything. Emma had to ask her to calm down a few times so that they didn't look so out of the ordinary. They tasked themselves with finding some kind of phone, so that they could call their families back in Australia. After walking for a while, they came across a hotel – this hotel looked like it was designed for international travellers. They should be able to call from there.

"Welcome to the Island Pearl Hotel," the lady at the desk said, "How may I help you?"

"Hello, we were wondering if we could use the international phone?" Emma asked politely.

"Are you going to be staying here?" the lady asked.

"Ah, we were just looking to use the phone…" Emma trailed off.

"Sorry, the phone is limited to use by residents only," the lady frowned.

'What is a phone?' Khasha asked them.

'It is a device to talk to people far away,' Jessie explained patiently.

"Would this be enough to be able to use the phone?" Emma asked, placing some local currency on the desk. The lady's eyes lit up.

"I suppose I can let you," she said. "Follow me,"

Emma smiled, and the group followed the lady through to the phone. She handed over the money, and thanked the lady for her help.

"No, thank you," the lady said with a laugh, as she headed back to her desk.

Emma dialled in the number, plus the international key, to call the boys back on their island.

Emma almost though no one would answer, after the amount of rings, but someone finally picked up.

"Hello, Ben speaking,"

"Hi Ben, its Emma here…"

"Emma! Oh thank goodness, we were wondering if something bad had happened to you girls and the kids. Are you all right?"

"Well, we have run into a slight mishap…um…are the other guys handy?"

"I'll get them,"

"Hurry, I don't have long with the phone,"

Ben apparently ran around the village and got all the men that were there to the phone.

"You're on speaker," Ben said breathlessly. "Zane is at the café, but everyone else is here,"

"Okay, so we've run into a bit of trouble. The kids are being held by a crazy mermaid Queen just off of Fiji. She has given us a task – we have to retrieve her necklace for her otherwise we don't get our kids back. So, we're doing that at the moment…" Emma trailed off.

It was almost comical the amount of noise that erupted from the phone as she trailed off.

"You call that a bit of trouble?" Ash shouted.

"Sorry, honey," Emma said. "Rikki, Bella and Cleo are currently with a treasure hunter on their way to see if they can retrieve it easily. We shouldn't be too long."

"Are the kids being looked after?" Lewis asked.

"Yes, Varine gave us her word. The boys and girls are separated, but they'll physically be fine."

"I hope it doesn't take much longer, school starts in a couple of days, and you will all be expected back," Ash said.

"Yeah, I know," Emma said, "But it's out of our control –we'll do our best."

OoOoO

The trio arrived at the headquarters with Erin.

"This is it," Erin said. "The entrance is over there, I'll introduce you to the boss, but after that you're on your own. Can I have my money?"

Rikki nodded and rustled around in her bag - she pulled out a substantial sum and handed it over.

"Thanks Erin," Bella said. Erin just rolled her eyes with a grin.

"Hey boss," Erin called as they entered the office. "Get out 'ere"

"Ah Erin, my darling, is my favourite hunter here to oversee the sale?" the boss came from around the corner. He was a larger man, balding, and he had a friendly twinkle in his eye.

"Boss, this is Rikki Bennett, she's a hunter from Aussie, Queensland wasn't it?" Erin said. "And her friends, Chloe and Bess,"

"It's Cleo and Bella…" Cleo corrected.

"Whatever," Erin said with a wave of her hand, "This is Cairo Jones."

Cairo nodded in acknowledgement.

"It's a pleasure," he said, bobbing his head.

Erin continued, "Boss, Rikki's client apparently owns that necklace I brought in, and would like to buy it off of us,"

"Ah, I see," he rubbed his chin, contemplating, "Well, unfortunately, we already have a buyer for that necklace, and it is a truly handsome sum that he is offering us. I believe it would be hard to beat," Cairo said with a smirk. He looked towards the door as the sound of a boat incoming increased. "And by the sounds of it, the buyer is here,"

OoOoO

He was beyond excited. He had been waiting to get his hands on a mermaid artefact for a long time. The strange crystal in the centre is what had drawn him to it when he was browsing the internet the other day. He was a geologist, the guy at the museum who preserved the rocks in the minerals section. Rocks were his thing. And the interesting rock was just part of his interest. When he was younger, he had spent time working as a park ranger in Queensland, and he had discovered these magnetic, beautiful blue-black crystals over on an Island in the region which many people did not set foot on. After someone he was working with had made a stupid decision, the volcanic cave where he had found a large deposit of the crystals was destroyed, and too unstable to return. Because of that event, he became obsessed with finding more crystals like that – surely on the planet there would be more locations with had deposits of the strange and beautiful rock. Unfortunately, because of this obsession, he became discredited and he wanted to spend all his time looking for the 'moon crystals' as he had dubbed them. Now, many years later, he was working at a museum, looking after the rocks there. No longer in the field. However, he found that working in a museum gave him access to information on island and deep sea treasures, what they were, who had found them, and so on. While browsing the internet, he stumbled onto information regarding mermaids. At first, he considered it a laugh, and read it to see what some crazy was believing. Until it drew him in. And he started believing it too.

It was a blog talking about how mermaids could be created, that there was this type of rock that mermaid used to perform their magic, that it was found in mermaid artefacts, and pools around the world which gave the power to that pool to transform humans into mermaids. When he shared this blog with his colleagues, they all laughed at him, and started sharing it around: "Tate is crazy, he believes in mermaids."

It became his mission to prove them wrong.

And this is what brought him to the pacific island, trying to get his hands on what he believed to be a mermaid artefact. And not just any artefact. An artefact with the power to control them.

OoOoO

"Since you don't have proof of your client's ownership, I'm afraid you have no claim on the necklace, Mrs Bennett," Cairo said.

"How much is the geologist buying the necklace for?" Rikki asked. "Whatever it is, I'll pay more. It means a lot to my client,"

"My word is my bond, my dear," Cairo said, "I'm sorry. I'm going to sell it to Mr Tate. You'll have to bring it up with him,"

Tate was excited as he arrived at the headquarters. Finally, he would get his hands on mermaid merchandise. And if it was true that mermaids hid amongst real people on land, he would be able to prove to the world that they exist, and he isn't as crazy as people think.

Cairo went to the door to greet the buyer.

"Welcome, Mr Tate, let me show you your necklace," Cairo said as he shook the man's hand. Mr Tate took his wide-brimmed hat off as he came inside.

"Cleo?" Mr Tate exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Cleo looked up, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Bella and Rikki stared when they took Mr Tate in for the first time.

"Ryan?"

A/N: Hey everyone! I am so so sorry for how long it has been again. I have been on break from Uni, but i've been working full time while doing two summer school papers. LOL. So much for a free summer. Anyway, here is a chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! And I hope you liked the reveal, and my idea for what happens to Ryan after season 3. I'm really excited to hear how you feel about this development. And well done to the person who guessed. Hopefully the next chapter won't be too long...I hope...

Thank you to EVERYONE who is reading this. I really really appreciate it. I can't believe people still read this after my long breaks between updating. So sorry. Thank you.

Thank you to the following people for reviewing this story. Honestly, you guys are the reason why I continue to update this sometimes :P

ZikkiLightwoodShadowhunters, midnightstress, H2oJAW, Angel Ruth, H2o lover 123, starlightdreamer12, , CrazyHayniac, YaleAceBella12

You guys are amazing. Love you.

-Krystalslazz