Cam is killed/dies and Nerissa tries a resurrection spell. When it fails Rita takes over for her using old magic the Mermaids of Mako cannot use.

He was so pale. So , so pale. He was lying there , still. A sleeping boy. A rotting corpse.

Nerissa stood over him, muttering something. There was a pale blue light glowing around her hands.

The light fizzled out.

One of the Mermaids or Zac begging her "Try again. Please."

" I already have. "

Rita " Move. "

Nerissa stepped aside and sunk onto the bench exhausted.

Rita held out her arms, palms up. She flexed her hands before summoning two bright balls of blue light , bringing her hands together, the light became one glowing orb. The glowing light hovered below her now downward facing hands.

Her whole body tensed. With her palms splayed the skin split. Drops of blood landed on the body. Sorry, Cam.

With a choking gasp Cam opened his eyes.

Rita's eyes rolled back and she dropped to the ground.

...

"Will she be alright?" Mimmi asked she pulled the cover over the unconscious Mermaid.

Nerissa "Of course. It's just an exhausting spell. She will need time to recover."

"She's not Mako then."

" No. That's an old Northern spell. That power of summoning the Moon Energy can only be used by Northerners. It's just the make up of us. "

It was then Mimmi spotted the silver and blue ring on Rita's right ring finger.

"Do you know what type of ring that is?"

" What ring? "

"The one Rita's wearing."

Nerissa carefully picked up the other Mermaid's hand and studied the ring.

"Ondina found one like that out past Mako."

(Prior to this Ondina had found an old ring embedded in the coral off Mako, similar to Zac finding the Moon Ring in S1)

" I don't know the name, but it looks like the Moon Rings worn by Pod of the coast of Ireland. "

"Ireland?"

" Off the South West coast. They were wiped out during the second war. "

Nerissa gently set Rita's hand down to rest where it was before, on her stomach.

"They were wiped out because they were too powerful. The pod was one of a few who kept the structures of Mermaids and Mermen living together. The Moon Pool contributed too. It's an open cave, allowing more moonlight in. They were an immense threat."

Cam gets caught in the crossfire of a Mermaid spell and Rita makes them a potion to reverse it. Nerissa makes a comment doubting her abilities that causes Rita to reveal a long held secret - she was able to cast the spell to keep Zac as a human when Nerissa could not.

They had both studied under the same powerful Northern Mermaids and had a similar education. It turns out Aurora did too.

"Contra potion. That will reverse it."

Rita set down a little glass jar about the size of a pinkie on the table. Cam and Evie were standing around the other side, the former of which was green. Mimmi's spell had backfired when she added too much green tufted seaweed. The result ended up with Cam dyed a bright green colour.

"As long as you made it right," Nerissa said.

It started with that one comment. One little passing remark so carelessly let loose into the world.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rita's previously positive demeanour dropped to a face of stone.

Mimmi nervously glanced at Nerissa then to Evie and Cam. They had all expected it would be Veridia who was going to clash with Nerissa. It had surprised them all when it ended up being Rita.

"Nothing, it's that it's a complicated Northern potion. It's easy enough for something to go wrong. Especially if you weren't taught it by one of the teachers in the Northern Pod."

"I may not be Northern Pod but I am perfectly capable of making potions."

"That's not what I meant. Historically Southern Mermaids don't always have the best grasp of Northern spells and potions."

Mimmi winced and closed her eyes. Cam pursed his lips and looked between the two Mermaids. Evie's eyes kept darting between Rita, Nerissa and Mimmi.

"You're welcome to remake it if you feel I didn't do an adequate job," Rita said, using that fake smile she usually only used when dealing with Ms Trumble ,"but I think you'll find I have a better grasp of your Northern spells than you think."

"Mum, Rita's more than capable of making a Contra potion. I'm pretty sure even Ondina could do it and she can't even make Arctic Marshmallow. It's just following a recipe."

"You know you're not that powerful Nerissa. I was trained under Liliana just like you, and just like Aurora. Aurora managed to cast a Jiao Long Curse. I cast a Saeptum spell. (the spell to keep Zac human) You couldn't. So next time you want to question my ability to make a fairly basic potion, I'd like you to remember that."

A silence fell like a wave smashing to the shore. Sudden and heavy.

"So.. how do I take this?" Cam asked, holding up the little bottle that caused all the trouble.

"Pour it into a glass of water. Make sure you drink it all," Rita instructed.

"Thanks, I'm going to go do that now. Coming Evie?" Cam asked.

"Yeah, I have to head home anyways," Evie replied.

The pair edged around the table and walked up the stairs.

"Bye Mimmi, Nerissa. Thanks again Rita," Evie said, pausing briefly before disappearing out of the grotto.

Nerissa had sat down on the cushioned ledge, a ghostly look of shock on her face.

"What's a Saeptum spell? And what does Aurora have to with any of this? And who's Liliana?" Mimmi asked.

"Your mother will tell you. I have a class to teach."

Rita disappeared as Evie and Cam had, only going right instead of left. Mimmi waited until she heard a splash signalling the Mermaid's exit.

"What was all that about?" Mimmi stood in front of her mother, arms crossed.

"I didn't mean anything by it, Mimmi. I was trying to get myself out of the mess I made."

"Rita helped all of us on land. We wouldn't have made it without her. She was our family when we had none, she protected Zac from Veridia when she would've killed him and you just insulted her by insinuating she couldn't make that potion because she wasn't Northern."

"I didn't mean to. I'll apologise next time I see her."

"You better. You're just lucky Ondina or Sirena weren't here." Mimmi knew that Ondina wouldn't have waited as long as she had to say something. Ondina greatly respected Rita and didn't have the highest opinion of Nerissa yet, having been there when Mimmi was grieving for the Mermaid who left her. "Or Veridia for that matter." Veridia was...protective of Rita. That was one way to say it. It was the same way Ondina was always protecting Mimmi. Only a different dynamic due to the fact that Rita and Veridia were together, whereas her and Ondina were just friends.

"So what's a Saeptum spell? And why is it such a big deal Rita cast it?"

"It's a spell used to block magic. It was used on Zac to keep his tail and powers blocked until he fell in the Moon Pool. It requires a lot of power, more than I had when Zac was baby. My pregnancy and labour drained my power and I didn't have time to wait so I went to a Mermaid, Liliana,to cast it for me. She refused. But one of her students said she knew what they would do if they found him. She took Zac away, came back the next day and he didn't have a tail anymore."

"Was that Rita?"

"No. I don't know. I can't remember her face and she didn't tell me her name. But if she really has cast a Saeptum spell, it is more likely. Especially if she was a student of Liliana's. Do you know if Rita was born at Mako or not?"

"Sirena said she wasn't, but she went to school at Mako. She was in the same class as Veridia and Misako."

"Probably wasn't her then. She must have used it another time," Nerissa didn't sound like she was convinced herself.

Mimmi just nodded.

"Wait.."

"What?"

"Rita doesn't have a class today."

"Any luck?"

Mimmi surfaced in the Moon Pool to Sirena's instant questioning.

"No."

"Well she has to be somewhere, Mermaid's don't just vanish."

Settling on the ledge, Mimmi saw the other Mermaids were Lyla and Nixie, the latter being the one to speak.

"Rita'll come back once she's cooled off. She did the same when Lyla took her Moon Ring, disappeared for a few hours then turned back up."

Sirena nodded,"it's true."

"What exactly happened? Rita's not the type of Mermaid to just swim off for no reason," Lyla said.

"She made a potion to reverse a spell that went very wrong on Cam. Mum ended up basically saying Rita might have made it wrong because she's a Southern Mermaid, not Northern and it was a Northern recipe. Ended when Rita said she was capable of casting a Saeptum spell, used to block magic - that's the spell that was used on Zac and there is a chance it was Rita who actually cast it on Zac when he was a baby.``

"What?!"

"It probably wasn't her. She would've said something by now if it was her," Mimmi said.

"Or maybe it was her, and now that Nerissa knows it could've been her -" Lyla said.

"That could be why she's gone." Nixie interrupted.

"How do we know for sure?" Sirena asked.

"We find and ask her," Nixie said.

"I'll ask Veridia if she knows where Rita might be," Mimmi said.

"Maybe don't tell Veridia what happened," Sirena said, "you know what she's like."

Mimmi had to agree. She wasn't the only one aware of Veridia's nature.

"Just say you need to talk to her about an urgent land problem, but you can't find her."

Nixie knew there was another Mermaid here the moment she swum in. She altered her course to reach the submerged ledge at the side of the pool. Nixie stretched out her arms to grip the ledge before surfacing and twisting around to sit on the ledge. The other Mermaid was lying on her side on the ledge opposite. Nixie knew her instantly.

"We were looking for you. Mimmi told us what happened," Nixie said.

"Thought she would."

"We were worried about you."

"You didn't need to be. I am capable of looking after myself."

"I know.

My initial inspiration for Cam's touchscreen essay, inspired by my phone glitching out while trying to type with raindrops on my phone screen

Zac "You always take so long to type."

Rita "I can't help it. Touchscreen technology does not like me."

"My mum says that. It's just old people and technology."

Zac flinched at the glare Rita shot him.

"Watch."

The keys jumped all over the place and the result was a random string of letters and numbers.

"How the fuck?"

"It's because I have electrokinesis. The electricity messes with the touchscreen."

"That's...handy."

Trying to find out what happened (I can't remember what they were trying to find out) Nerissa and Rita perform a spell in order to see back to the time of the event. Rita agrees to be the one to see while Nerissa casts the Spell. They ask Cam and Carly to help due to the nature of the spell, land people are the best helpers.

"Are you sure about this?" Nerissa asked.

Rita nodded.

"It'll be fine," Rita said.

Nerissa held out her hand. Rita took it and allowed Nerissa to help her into the bath. Rita sat in the water and shifted into tail.

"Thank you," Nerissa said.

"Don't thank me yet," Rita said quietly.

"Should I bring in the others?" Nerissa asked.

Rita nodded.

Nerissa moved away from the bath and opened the door.

Cam and Carly come in. Nerissa adds various ingredients etc to the water and then begins the Spell. The spell begins to work then begins to affect Rita as she sees whatever it was they were after.

Rita's tail thrashed, sending water flying out over the floor.

"Hold her down," Nerissa warned.

Rita tried to surface.

"I can't!" Carly said.

"Hold her down!" Nerissa snapped out her hand and the water pressed down on Rita.

"She'll drown!"

"Look at her eyes," Nerissa said. Rita's eyes were open under the water, entirely white. "If we let her surface, she'll be blinded. The spell has to finish."

Rita's eyes rolled back and closed.

"Let her go," Nerissa instructed.

Cam and Carly let go of Rita's shoulders and Nerissa released the water.

Rita sat up and violently coughed up water.

"What did you see?"

Rita was shaking, she shook her head as she struggled to settle her breathing.

"Give her a minute," Cam snapped. Cam awkwardly rested his hand on Rita's shoulder for a second.

The first sentence she managed to say was in Spanish. Broken Spanish.

Rita teaches Mimmi some new magic involving spoken incantations. IIRC this was based on The Originals/TVD witch magic

After the first few days Mimmi learned not to even attempt to understand what the new spells and incantations meant. She just watched for the process and end results. The foreign words offered new knowledge, but an unwilling teacher. For as much understanding and skill in the language Rita had displayed, she refused to reach Mimmi so much as a word. Whenever Mimmi asked, Rita always said she wouldn't be able to teach it to her. There were too many rules that she couldn't remember, but did follow subconsciously while talking.

"I'm not teaching you and that's that."

Rita is making a potion and Cam and Carly are curious

"What type of potion's that?" Carly asked, pointing at the collection of bottles and dishes on the table.

"Animal communication. For land animals."

"To like talk to animals?"

"Not exactly. It's more empathy. It essentially allows you to feel their emotions, which is about as close at talking to land animals comes."

" Neat. Does it work on all animals? Like a one potion fits all. "

"It can, but the recipe requires hair or skin or blood of the animal you wish to use it on."

"Is that blood then?"

Cam pointed to a glass filled with red.

Rita smiled, "no," she said while uncorking a bottle with dark green powder and adding it to the potion.

"What is it then?"

"Cranberry juice."

" Oh. "

The Mermaid laughed.

"So where are the others?"

Rita shrugged, "no idea. They don't drop by much anymore."

"Complete change of subject, but what are you using for the animal potion?"

" Hair. "

Rita used a pair of tweezers that had been sitting beside her to remove a long hair from a sandwich bag of multiple long hairs.

Rita finds out the Golden Spider Coral is gone after the episode is S2 with Erik and Poseidon. A spell is cast on Lyla and needs the coral to reverse it

Rita "Do you know what happened to the golden spider coral? This was full."

Ondina"oh."

R "what did you do?"

Mimmi "Ondina knocked it over. It turned Erik into Poseidon and it was a mess."

Rita just looked at them.

Ondina "We got enough to turn them back."

R "You didn't think to replace all of it?"

O "We did not."

R "Do you have any idea how rare this stuff is? Golden spider coral has not grown anywhere in over a century. You can't just swim out and get some when you run out, or when sirenas idiotas forget to replace it. "

No one mentioned the shift in her accent.

O "Do you know where to get more?"

R "That is not the point."

M "You know where to get more?"

R "I know who might have some I could replicate. But she's in Shanghai, it's not possible to get there and back again in time to reverse the spell on Lyla."

O "Who has more?"

R "Shui, Weilan's grandmother."

O "Can't you fly to Shanghai?"

R "It's a 14 hour flight at best. And I can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars on flights."

O "Surely it doesn't cost that much?"

R "The cheapest flight is $830. I know, because I already paid to fly Weilan out here."

O "She could've swum."

R "You're welcome to swim to Shanghai if you want."