Chapter 3
Rikki's P.O.V
Om my gosh, I have the worst headache ever. I try to open my stubborn eyes. They are reluctant but eventually flutter open. Where the heck am I? I see the moon pool cavern – but there is no moon pool. What on earth happened to our special pool? Finally, it comes back to me. We were exploring the island and then Cleo fell down here... I sit upright ignoring the throbbing in my temples. They others are stirring. I am sure we are just fine; I hope the guys haven't been too worried about us. I get up and help the moaning Bella to sit up.
"What happened? We weren't moonstruck were we?" Cleo moaned from beside Bella.
"No." I croaked. Man, I am thirsty, "We just got lost in the caverns then the crystals did something..." We were now all awake.
"Whoa, Rikki! What happened to you?" I heard Anna say.
"What!" I said panicked, feeling my face to see if it was still there. Emma stared at me.
"Rikki..."
"What!" I demanded.
"You look like you did when we were sixteen..."
"Huh? Does anyone have a mirror?"
"No...but I can make you one," Cleo piped up. She pulled some water out of somewhere and made the water into the shape of a mirror, surprisingly the water reflected amazingly. They were right. I felt my face, my scars weren't there and I looked about five years younger ( I should look about fourteen years younger but being a mermaid and all...)
I examined the others closer and gasped, "You guys are young too!"
"What!" They looked into Cleo's makeshift mirror.
"What the heck happened to us?" Anna asked.
"Have no idea, but there's only one way to find out..."
Normal Perspective...
The group of five young women..scratch that...five teenage girls scrambled out of the caverns to the surface of Mako, they retraced their steps to where they thought their water village was.
"Where'd it go?" Cleo asked dumb-struck.
"I have absolutely no idea..." Emma said calmly.
"Maybe this isn't the right site?" Cleo asked hopefully, she was on the verge of panicking.
"No, this is it. I know this place better than anything. You should too! We have lived here for five years!" Rikki exclaimed. She knitted her eyebrows. "How did it just vanish?"
This was the question in everyone's minds.
The five mermaids swam as quickly as they could back to Lewis's old secret fishing spot, there they dried off and made their way back to town. They went to where Rikki's cafe was to find some answers. When they arrived there, it only brought more questions.
Instead of the pink neon sign saying 'Rikki's' it said 'Juicenet' and Ash was working inside.
"Emma! You are late for your shift!" He said as the girls walked inside. "This is so unlike you!"
Emma looked absolutely confused as Ash dragged her to the counter, handed her a floral shirt and pushed her towards the backroom to get changed.
"Hey Rikki, Hey Cleo...and you are?"
Rikki and Cleo were still really shocked, even the possibility that Ash didn't know Bella and Anna rattled them more. Bella was the first to recover.
"Oh, hey, I'm Bella and this is Anna. We're new here,"
"Well, nice to meet you. Can I get you anything?"
"Cranberry Booster,"
"Sure."
The four went to sit down as the very confused Emma served customers.
There was a newspaper on the table, Rikki picked it up and inspected the date. As she expected it said the year as 2007.
"Guys what would you say the date was?" she asked Bella.
"The 7th of February, 2022...Why?"
"Look at this..." Rikki showed them. They all gasped.
"2007? Have we gone back in time or something?" Anna whispered.
"Well, that would explain our houses not being there, the fact that Rikki's no longer exists – it is back to the Juicenet, that Ash doesn't know you two and that he works here and suspects Emma does too – she did before senior year," Rikki diagnosed the situation.
Cleo sniffed. "What's wrong Cleo?"
"For one, in 2007 none of our kids existed, and what's worst..."
"What could be worse than that?"
"Charlotte was around in 2007, and Lewis and I had broken up. She was his girlfriend about now if I remember correctly."
"Aw Cleo," they comforted her.
They went and got Emma and told her the revelations. "Guys! We can't do anything, if we change the past we will change the future! We need to get back to our time ASAP!" suddenly a terrible thought came over her. "Ahh...Anna, Bella? Where did you guys live in 2007?" They looked at each other and realisation dawned.
"My parents will be so worried about me!" Bella said. "I lived in Tasmania"
"And I grew up in Brisbane...you know what? I haven't even met Ben yet!"
The decision was made. They had to get back to their time as soon as possible, but how was the question...
A/N: Please Review!