Chapter 109
Rikki, Cleo, Emma and Khasha swam towards Ryan's boat. This could be a really bad idea…but this seemed to be their only option. While Rikki, Cleo and Emma swam with determined expressions on their faces, Khasha appeared nervous. She was scared of the necklace's power. What might it do to them?
OoOoO
"What does your mermaid friend do?" Ryan asked Jessie
"She is an architect," Jessie replied.
"You work together?" Ryan questioned.
Jessie nodded with a frown. How was this information even relevant to the situation?
"So you live like a human?" Ryan asked – he seemed floored by this concept.
Jessie nodded.
"In pretty much every way," she replied. At this moment, Jessie noticed steam rising up outside one of the far windows. She had mixed feelings: her friends had come to try and save her. On one hand, she was happy and excited that she could be rescued, but on the otherhand, what if they all ended up controlled? What would become of their children? She tried to stop herself from dwelling on this, and focused on the fact that something was about to go down.
OoOoO
Cleo used the water to gently lift each mermaid up and onto the boat without making it rock too much, and then lifted herself up with the same method. Rikki dried them off with ease and they started to move slowly towards the cabin door.
'I'll go in first and try and persuade him, if any fighting starts, come in to help' Cleo said bravely into the other mermaids' minds. They all nodded.
"I can't wait to share all this with all the people who doubted me," Ryan said with a laughed to Jessie as Cleo rounded the corner. 'He won't be sharing anything if I can help it,' Cleo thought. A floorboard creaked too loudly as she moved towards the doorway. Cleo grimaced but it was too late. Ryan's head whipped around to the source of the sound.
"Jessie, defend me," he declared. Immediately, the reluctant mermaid stood up and had her powers at the ready.
"Ryan, I just want to talk," Cleo called out. She had her hands up as she came into view, moving through the doorway.
"Cleo?" Ryan was gobsmacked. "What are you doing here?"
"Rikki needs that necklace," she said, "We've already talked about this,"
"That doesn't explain why you are here, on my boat, in the middle of the night," Ryan said, eyebrow raised. "It makes no sense unless..." he trailed off, his brow furrowed. His eyes widened. "Unless you are one of them,"
When Cleo didn't reply straight away, Ryan continued.
"How else would you have followed my boat or boarded without me hearing the sound of another motor…why else would you have lied to me about that Mako Island rock all those years ago! Wait, why aren't you denying it?" he asked, confused.
Cleo shook her head and shrugged.
"You're right – there is no reason to deny it," she said.
With the hand behind her back, Cleo had been controlling a water tentacle, one that was in position to remove the necklace from Ryan. Using the moment of Ryan's disbelief and shock, she commanded the water to attempt to lift it off his neck quickly.
The water tentacles quickly pulled the necklace away, but Ryan's reflexes were too quick.
"Oh no you don't," he exclaimed. "Stop!" he commanded Cleo.
As soon as he gave the command, Cleo felt her resolve weakening. She was still in control, but it felt like she was being drained. The shock of the feeling allowed Ryan to re-secure the necklace and move away from the dwindling water tentacles.
"I wish you hadn't done that, Cleo," Ryan said. "I liked you once. But now I know you're not even human. Jessie, attack!"
'Oh no' : this was the thought in both Jessie's and Cleo's minds.
Jessie conjured a ball of water and hardened it as she sent it flying at Cleo. It hit the cabin's bookshelf as Cleo ducked. Jessie then sent a volley of water spikes. Cleo put her hands up and sent a wave of water to brush them aside.
At this moment, Emma, and Rikki came into the room, and Khasha stood behind them frightened.
"Hmm," Ryan hummed, "There are more of you," he said. "I bet there wasn't even a client, right Rikki?"
"We're warning you," Rikki said, lifting her hand threateningly, "Let Jessie go and give us the necklace, and we'll leave you alone,"
"Are you kidding? No way," Ryan said. "I've been looking for this thing for far too long. No, the more mermaids the better- no one will be able to doubt it if I show all of you off," he laughed. "Are any of you like Jessie? Step forward two steps if I am controlling you," Ryan said.
Jessie through another volley at Cleo, which she dodged, before she stepped forward two steps. It took everything the others had to resist – it was the most draining thing they had ever felt. To the girls' horror, Khasha stepped forward. She was rigid and terrified as she did so. While she did not understand English, this man's voice was speaking directly into her mind. The girls weren't sure what to do.
"Interesting," Ryan said. "What is your name?"
"Khasha," she replied, voice trembling.
"Where are you from?"
"Kaburaka pod,"
"You were born a mermaid?"
Khasha nodded. It dawned on everyone in the room then what was happening.
The necklace fully controlled naturally born mermaids, but only strongly influenced morph-maids.
"What you are doing is wrong, Ryan," Cleo said. "We're going to get that necklace off you to free our friends,"
"I'd like to see you try," Ryan said. "Jessie, Khasha – defend me and the necklace from these mermaids," he commanded.
Jessie, who had stopped attacking while Ryan's focus was on gaining control of Khasha, lifted her hands again to fight. Khasha moved over to stand next to Jessie – with a little bit of a wobble on her unfamiliar legs. This would have been funny if the girls weren't afraid of fighting her – they had never had to fight a full blooded mermaids before – they didn't know all of her powers.
Ryan moved into the cabin, and looked at them through the glass porthole window. This was not going to be good.
OoOoO
Both Khasha and Jessie began to retrieve water from the air and mould it into different dangerous shapes and throw them at the three girls.
Rikki melted the missiles, Cleo moved them away, and Emma froze them so their weight would make them drop and shatter. There was a good five minutes of stale mate- the trio did not want to throw missiles back at their friends and hurt them, because they weren't acting under their own will. All their limited energy was based on defending themselves. They had managed to start edging towards where Ryan was however. This caused him to open the cabin door.
"You two, try harder – take them down!" he exclaimed, before retreating behind the door again.
A stronger volley pushed the girls back a bit. Cleo used her control over the wind to blow Khasha and Jessie back slightly. She brought up a wall of water, which Emma froze. The missiles would be slowed by the wall and rendered useless – and Cleo would fill in the holes again. The Jessie continued throwing the gel spikes and balls at the girls, but Khasha appeared to adapt her fighting strategy.
She lifted her hands above her head and then pull them down suddenly. Water appeared to gather around her body and swirl around her like a damage shield. The water shield moved around her body faster and faster until it became like a vortex, and it sucked the ice wall into itself and was absorbed. Khasha then sent out ice spikes spinning in every direction – a few embedding in the cabin walls.
Emma called down a snowstorm within the cabin, the icy blizzard making it hard to see. Cleo increased the wind power and made it hard for the two controlled to keep their balance. Ryan looked on in awe.
Khasha was somehow able to absorb the power of the storm into her water vortex and then blasted it out in a powerful wave of force. It literally rocked the boat and blasted the trio onto their backs on the ground. Rikki summoned lightning and it hit through the boat's roof, creating a hole. Although she felt weak, with shear willpower, she was somehow able to keep calling lightning down in a steady beam. She channelled it into her hands and directed it at Khasha's water shields. Khasha's absorptive powers started to absorb the lightning, but as Rikki continued to channel it, and she was also absorbing the snowy blizzard and wind, it appeared to overload her. The energy from the shields turned inwards and hit Khasha's body, and she absorbed a full hit of lightning. The power of the blast took out the boat's power and the room went dark.
All you could see what the sparks of Rikki's residual lightning from where Khasha lay unconscious on the ground. In the darkness, Cleo and Emma were able to use their powers to knock Jessie on the back of the head, knocking her unconscious. In the cabin, Ryan frantically scrambled to try and turn the boat's power back on. It seemed most things had been short-circuited. He was starting to realise the gravity of the situation.
Still feeling weak physically, the trio moved towards the cabin to finish whatever this was, once and for all.
A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed that chapter :) I promise my head movie was so much better than how that scene turned out in words haha. I hope you can imagine what I was trying to describe - let me know because I don't feel like that was my best chapter :P
Anyway, I'm sorry it has been so long, yet again! I've been insanely busy - I have classes and clinical placement each week - which leads to a lot of extra work. I want to thank you the people who keep coming back to read this story - I love you guys :)
Thanks so much to the following people for reviewing the previous chapter!
YaleAceBella12, Starlightdreamer12, CrazyHayniac, GodoftheSea, Walker, Simba72598, Makodragon, Fire's catching, charmedhpgirl, The Writer Es, AngelRuth, geohen, and guest.
Thanks so much. Honestly, this story would be updated even less frequently without you guys commenting. Thank you.
See you all next time :D