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Lance's Answer

Lance didn't even need to think. He knew what his answer was. He replied: "I'm going to keep this to myself, I don't want to see Rikki in some government lab, I would never do that to her, I wouldn't do that to anyone."

"Well, that is very good to hear." Cleo said. "Because Rikki is a mermaid, just like me and Emma."

Lance could only stare at Cleo. The three of them? What was this? Some mermaid version of the Three Musketeers? Slowly, he said: "You're kidding… All three of you?"

"Yes, the three of us!" Cleo exclaimed. "We turn into mermaids when we touch water."

Lance looked at where Cleo was standing. She was standing in water.

"Touch water?" Lance skeptically inquired. "Are you sure we both aren't crazy?"

Cleo looked at where she was standing and sighed. "I have a suit that Lewis made through an accident. Since it was an accident, I'm the only one who has one."

Well, that made sense. Still, there was one question on Lance's mind. Thus, did he ask: "Why are you telling me this? Why not keep this sec… Wait, Lewis knows? How many people know?"

"So far just you and him. As for why I told you, what was I going to do? Let you think you were crazy? You're a nice guy, an actual nice guy. Do you really think I'd let you think you were losing your mind? After you saying you'd keep Rikki's secret what do you expect me to do?"

"So… Rikki is a mermaid? The three of you are?"

"Yes, Lance." Cleo answered, giving a smile. "This is real, you aren't insane."

A smile slowly spread across Lance's face. "So, do you think it is possible I might see some sea monster like the crew of the Daedalus saw?" If that was possible, then what were the chances of seeing a ghost or a ghost ship? Even finding a lost treasure would have been nice.

Cleo gave a shrug. "I don't know, we've had some interesting adventures as mermaids, but never anything involving a sea monster, though I guess with Rikki having been mistaken for one that might count."

"Wait, she was the monster in the bay?" That was something Lance never would have expected.

"She was, Lewis made a fake monster so people would stop looking."

Lance never would have guessed the monster in Dolphin City's Bay had been anything more than a hoax, definitely not that it had been done to allow three mermaids to swim freely. Had that been the case with the famous photo of the Loch Ness Monster? One could only wonder, the same could be said for that lake monster that was just a hoax… Whatever its name had been.

"So, what about those big balls of water?" asked Lance.

"I'll tell you another time, how about you go and find, Rikki?"

"Where would she be about now?" asked Lance. "Where would she have gone?"

"At her house maybe." Cleo replied.

Lance had never been to Rikki's home, so he wouldn't have known where she lived. Lance was about to ask where she asked when Mr. Lambert showed up.

"Oh, Lance! It is quite the coincidence seeing you here." He said, giving a smile.

Curious, Lance inquired: "Why?"

"There are reports of a basking shark in the area."

Lance felt as if he had just been told he had won a million-dollar award. A basking shark? An actual basking shark? He was having difficulty believing it. Him actually having the luck to see a basking shark in person was about as likely as him winning a million-dollar award.

Still, if Lance were to have read about this in a work of fiction, he would have considered it rather contrived. He discovers the girl he is in love with is a mermaid and not long after learns that a basking shark was sighted in the area?

"A basking shark?" Lance quietly asked.

"No reports about a school yet, so far it just seems like the one." Mr. Lambert replied.

A school of them would have been much too contrived. It was probably best that it was just one. Were Lance to tell of this later would anyone believe him if it had been an entire school of basking sharks?

"Thank you, Mr. Lambert. Hopefully, I'll be able to see it. Goodbye, both!"

And with that, Lance placed his hands in his pockets and proceeded to walk away. As he walked away, he thought of what he had learned.

All three of them? That was really something. And a basking shark? That was incredible and he hoped he'd get a chance to see it, but best of all, knowing that what he saw was real, that he was awake, that he was not going crazy was perfect. He never would have expected he would meet a mermaid, even with how mysterious the world could be… But still…

He removed a hand from one of his pockets and looked at it. No scales, no webbing… No merrow blood... It was strange and yet perhaps it was better to not be some circus sideshow-looking person. Perhaps a merrow was just someone from Ireland who had undergone a transformation just as Rikki, Cleo and Emma had? Who could say. The world was strange and wonderful and full of possibilities.

His mind wandering, Lance thought of the sea god Triton. Was he more than a myth? A long dead merman who had been posthumously deified? Who could say? How did that saying go? The gods of the old become the devils of the new? What was Triton now?

Continuing on his way, Lance paused as he saw Rikki walking along the opposite sidewalk. She was wearing a sundress. It was… Aqua blue? Aqua green? Was that even a colour? Like he even knew. All he knew was that Rikki looked fantastic.

Intending to speak with Rikki, Lance looked back and forth to see if there were any vehicles coming. Upon seeing a bus, he sighed and felt it was best to wait. What was that old saying? Men like living? It was true.

When the bus stopped in front of the Oceanic Center, Lance took a step forward, poked his head out and found another vehicle coming. In this case it was a tow-truck.

What a fool he was being! Best to go over to the crosswalk!

Looking across the street to where Rikki had been, Lance found to his dismay that she was gone like a wind in the grass. Sighing, Lance got off the road and walked down to the crosswalk. Had Rikki turned down a corner? Had she stepped inside a building? Why was she dressed thusly anyway?

Was she… Was she on her way to a date?

A pit forming in his stomach, Lance began to wonder why approach her only to immediately cease. Now he was just being stupid, he had to make sure she knew that she could trust him, that he would keep her secret.

Reaching the crosswalk, Lance looked back and forth, hoping for some sign of Rikki. Alas, she was nowhere to be seen. It was as if she had vanished… Or never truly been there, like she had been a ghost… or a phantom image like the Egyptian priest had created of Helen of Sparta to go to Troy with evil-hearted Paris. Perhaps, he was overthinking things, but with Rikki, Cleo and Emma being mermaids, who knew what else was possible? Life was full of surprises it was strange and beautiful, still Lance could only wonder as he often did. Was his head in the clouds? Before today, he would have thought so, but now he was not quite so sure.

Crossing, Lance looked over to the sea and he wondered how many more mermaids were out there. More trios? In other parts of the country? What about in other countries? It was said Alexander the Great's paternal half-sister Thessalonike had become a mermaid, one that was said to transform into a gorgon should it be said that her brother was either dead… A foolish thing since according to the legend, she should have known him to be dead, it was said when he died, a grief-stricken Thessalonike had thrown herself into the sea hoping to drown, only to become a mermaid. Was she as Rikki, Cleo and Emma were?

Wasn't that a question? Lance learned Rikki, Cleo and Emma were mermaids and now he was asking questions that he could not possibly answer, questions the girls couldn't possibly answer. Could anyone? Thessalonike was said to have died in 295 BC, twenty-eight years after Alexander, so she could not have tried to drown herself after the passing of her illustrious brother, especially since according to the historical records, she had been murdered by her son Antipater.

Still… Life was strange. Suppose there was a Thessalonike who was a paternal half-sister of Alexander the Great, but was not the daughter of Nicesipolis, but a lesser wife of Philip II of Macedon… Suppose instead, this other Thessalonike was instead a maternal half-sister of Alexander… But who could the father have been?

Shaking his head, Lance crossed once more and went down to the beach. He looked at the various beachgoers, seeing some classmates, but his mind was too much occupied with his only wonderings to take notice of anyone specifically. He thought he might have seen Byron talking with Zane, Miriam and Cynthia, but the world was full of people. They could have been anyone.

Sighing, he looked out to see. What was he expecting to see? The basking shark that had been reported? The sea serpent the Daedalus had seen? Some tentacled monstrosity from the Deep? What about that turtle-headed serpent that attacked a life raft in 1962?

No, he was hoping he would catch some sight of Rikki.

Was she out in the water? Here on land? He could only wonder and hope he could find her, tell her he would keep her secret, hers, Cleo's and Emma's.

Looking back at the people he had thought were his classmates, Lance saw that they weren't. They looked similar, but the fact was they weren't. Did that mean that had not actually been Rikki he had seen across the street?

Would he find her or would she find him? Maybe it was best to wait until they next saw each other at school. Still, Cleo would probably tell Rikki everything, but was it not better if he spoke to her himself? His mind was certainly everywhere today… When wasn't it? Maybe he was still trying to process this whole mermaid thing. Even with his interest in many great mysteries would he have expected to have met a mermaid, let alone to have fallen in love with one? He hadn't even known she had been a mermaid when he realized he loved her, at least he wasn't interested in her just because she was one.

Running a hand through his hair, Lance looked to the side and as if by magic there she was! Rikki, clad in her bikini, making her way to the boardwalk.

When their eyes met, Lance could do naught but swallow nervously while Rikki could only stare, equally nervous. Finally, taking a deep breath, Lance walked over to Rikki and gently took her by the hand, leading her away so the two of them could speak in private.