Close Encounters

The previous night's events weighed heavily on Emma's mind. A vision? Of an asteroid? Her family couldn't believe it either. Even though she was the one who typically kept everyone centered and grounded, Emma struggled with getting a good night's rest, as the vision made its way even into her dreams. A dwarf planet exploding… asteroids floating in the depths of space… some of which made their way to earth thousands of years ago at various points in time, eventually creating what became to be the moonpools. And now another, in the form of an asteroid, has set course for Earth yet again—Mako island to be specific. There she was, standing on the island with her friends, as they helplessly watched the asteroid get closer and closer, knowing that nothing they did would put an end to its fated trajectory. And just as it did the previous night, the vision abruptly came to an end, this time because of her phone's alarm going off.

Emma: sighs "I've never been happier to be woken up by my alarm." reaches over for her phone "I wonder if Bella's up?" texts her "Hey, up for a swim before school?"

Bella: "A morning swim, huh?" texts Emma "Are you sure you don't have the power to read minds? I'm definitely aching for a swim. I'm already on my way there. Sorry I didn't wait for you."

Emma: texts Bella "I get it. When the ocean calls out, you just have to respond. See you in a few minutes." gets out bed

There's no doubt in her mind that swimming in the ocean was one of the biggest stress relievers. With every stroke of her tail, Emma found herself thinking less and less of the circumstances that deprived her of much needed sleep. Not too far from her were two familiar figures who eagerly swam up to her, prompting a startled Emma to quickly spin around upon sensing their presence. With this, she tapped on her wrist and then made her way to the surface.

Emma: "Wasn't expecting to see you here."

Rikki: "Are you kidding me? I barely slept last night!"

Bella: "So you too, huh? I'm not even sure what time I finally fell asleep."

Emma: "I guess that's why you're both here. To clear your minds?"

Rikki: "Yeah, otherwise I'm going to be nodding off in class."

Emma: "Come on, we should get going. I don't want to be late." pulls herself on shore
"By the way, have you guys heard from Cleo?" lifts water off her body

Bella: "No, she's most likely with Lewis." lifts water off her body "They're probably at school already." stands up

Rikki: "That's most likely the case." dries herself and stands up "Besides, I wonder what Lewis managed to find about the asteroid?"

Cleo: looks up "Hey, guys! Over here!"

Emma: walks up to Cleo and Lewis "Is that… the book? I thought there wasn't any information on the crystals?"

Cleo: "There isn't, but Lewis thought it'd be a good idea to give it another look. You know, just in case we missed anything."

Rikki: "So? Did you find anything new?"

Lewis: "Cleo and I just got here. So I haven't been able to do much reading."

Rikki: "Figures…" rolls eyes "And the asteroid? What did you find?"

Lewis: closes the book and puts it down "There is an asteroid set to fly pretty close to earth."

Bella: "Well? When exactly?"

Lewis: "Two months from now. And from what I read online, this one is on the smaller side."

Emma: "But that doesn't make it less of a problem, right?"

Lewis: "Right. Also, I checked the date. Can you guess what the moon phase will be?"

Emma: raises eyebrows "A full moon?"

Rikki: "Whoa… talk about a coincidence."

Lewis: "And not just any full moon—a supermoon."

Bella: "Is that something else we should be worried about?"

Lewis: "Most likely not, but I'm not exactly sure either. I'll need to talk this out with Max."

Bella: "So we only have two months to prepare for this? Which isn't exactly a bad thing since we might learn how to stop it next month."

Cleo: "So, what now? We just… wait?"

Emma: "Yeah…" shrugs "What choice do we have?"

Lewis: "In the meantime, I'm going to carefully go over this book's content. There just might be something of use to us there."

Emma: "Great!" bell rings "Cleo, Lewis? Did you guys ever figure out what that line was about? The one on the last page?"

Cleo: "No, it still has me stumped."

Lewis: "Yeah, that's something else I'm going to have to look into."

Rikki: "Hey there, stranger. What can I get you? The usual?"

Will: "Uh, just a bottle of water for me."

Rikki: "That's all? Normally, you'd be eating enough for two people."

Will: "Yeah, well, diving on a full stomach isn't exactly comfortable."

Rikki: nods her head "Ah, Bella told me that you're a free diver. So I guess that you have training later?" grabs bottle from the fridge

Will: "Actually, no. Today's one of my few days off. I'm heading to Mako for some exploring." grabs bottle

Rikki: "Mako? That creepy island?" leans against counter

Will: "But it's not too creepy for you and your friends to hang out, right?"

Rikki: "Oh, uh… we stay on the beach though, but you're talking about swimming in those shark infested waters. Talk about having a spine made of steel."

Will: laughs "You're giving me too much credit. Mako sharks are notoriously harmless unless you go looking for trouble."

Rikki: "Gotcha. I'll keep that in mind in case I ever feel like hanging out with them."

Will: chuckles "But I'm the brave one. Later!" waves Rikki

Rikki: waves back

Without taking her eyes off of him, an apprehensive Rikki briefly stepped away from the counter to make an important call. Sensing her uneasiness, a concerned Zane couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind.

Zane: "Hey? Is everything alright?"

Rikki: "No…" looks around and whispers "Emma and Bella went swimming earlier."

Zane: "Yeah… and…?"

Rikki: "Didn't you hear Will? He's heading to Mako right now! Bella and Emma aren't picking up, which means they're probably still out there."

Zane: "Which means there's a good chance he could see them."

Rikki: "Exactly. Will doesn't know about us yet, and Bella hasn't told him because she's unsure how he'll take it."

Zane: "Okay, but what about your invisibility? Can't they just use that?"

Rikki: "Yeah, but by the time they do, it might be too late." sighs and ends the call "Looks like I'm going to have to find them myself."

Zane: "Alright. Just… be careful."

Rikki: "Of course I will. Did you forget who your girlfriend is?"

Zane: laughs "How could I?" watches Rikki leave

At the marine park, a certain conversation between Laurie and Mrs. Geddes (manager) caught Cleo's attention. The voices were a bit muffled, but it was definitely about Mako island. Why were they suddenly interested in there, she wondered. Seeing Mrs. Geddes take her leave, Cleo seized the opportunity to pry some information out of Laurie.

Cleo: "Hey, Laurie! I overheard you and Mrs. Geddes talking about Mako. Why the sudden interest there?"

Laurie: "It's about the fish population, for some reason they're fleeing the vicinity."

Cleo: "And do you guys know why?"

Laurie: "That's what we're trying to figure out. I've headed there myself, and the water does seem pretty warm, but it's also summer, so that may have something to do with it."

Cleo: "But is it really hot enough for the fishes to leave?"

Laurie: "Hmm… maybe. Mako already has an eerie reputation, but for some reason, the water's a bit warmer the closer I went towards the island. Some of the rocks were too."

Cleo: "The-the rocks?"

Laurie: "Yeah, strange right?"

Cleo: "So… is there any chance that geologists would check out the island?"

Laurie: "I can't say for sure, this clearly isn't my area of expertise. But if we present our findings to them, then maybe."

Cleo: "Oh…"

Laurie: furrows his eyebrows "You sound disappointed."

Cleo: "No, not disappointed, just… curious."

Laurie: chuckles "Well, I hope that satiated your curiosity." leaves

Cleo: worriedly looks outside

After a few minutes of riding out at sea, Will finally made it to his destination—the elusive Mako island. He couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle at the thought—why were they so spooked out by it? Sure, the superstitious stories may have played a part in it, but from where he was, Mako seemed like your typical, unspoilt natural beauty. As he sat there basking in the breath-taking scenery, unbeknownst to him, a pair of hidden figures quietly made their way to the moonpool for a much needed break.

Emma: gasps "How long have we been out there?"

Bella: "Hmm… I'd say about fifteen, twenty minutes? Why do you sound so out of breath?"

Emma: "Why?" laughs "You say that like you don't know how fast you are?"

Bella: "And you're still struggling to keep up?"

Emma: "Well, yeah. It's no different than from when I was on the swimming team. I'm all for pushing myself."

Bella: laughs "You just can't help yourself, huh?" turns around

Emma: does the same as Bella "What is it?"

Bella: "Did the water just—"

Rikki: undoes her invisibility "Hey, guys—"

Bella: flinches and gasps "Rikki! Why-why were you invisible?!"

Rikki: laughs "Finally got a taste of your own medicine, huh?"

Emma: "Seriously, why were you—"

Rikki: "It's Will. He's here at Mako getting ready to go diving. I came here to warn you guys."

Emma: "Talk about a close call. We just got here. What if we left and ran into him on our way out?"

Rikki: "So what now? Do we stay here until he leaves?"

Bella: "We could do that, but it's way too warm here. Will can hold his breath for up to six minutes, and it's going to be a while before he leaves."

Emma: "I can always make it snow."

Rikki: "But then we'd all freeze to death. Remember what happened to Miriam?"

Emma: rolls eyes "Oh please, that was an accident, so it doesn't count."

Rikki: "Come on, let's just turn invisible and sneak away. Easy-peasy."

Emma: sighs "I have a bad feeling about this."

Rikki: rolls eyes "What's new?"

Bella: "I say we go with Rikki's plan. We just need to swim slowly so he doesn't notice any sudden movements."

Emma: sighs "Alright. No fast swimming. Got it?" turns invisible and dives underwater

Rikki and Bella exchange looks then follows Emma's lead

Cautiously peeking out into the ocean, Emma tightened her fist as she slowly made her way out of the moonpool. Just as Rikki mentioned, Will's boat was docked a few meters away from the entrance, though there was no sign of him around. This posed another concern, that he could discover the moonpool. Despite her worries, Emma set her eyes on a nearby rock where she could hide in case Will showed up. Once she made it there safely, Emma once again carefully checked her surroundings, undid her invisibility, then motioned for Rikki and Bella to follow. Like Emma, Rikki made it across safely, but unfortunately for Bella, her timing wasn't as great—it just so happened that Will dove in right above her, brushing against the fluke of her tail in the process. Seeing this, Emma and Rikki quickly made themselves invisible as a stunned Will immediately turned around, only for a wave of confusion to wash over him—it felt like a tail, and a surprisingly really large one. And strangely enough, there were even less fishes around the island. As for Bella, she continued swimming forward hoping to make it to the others without Will noticing. Unluckily for her, Will's eyes were well adapted to water, making it easier for him to notice the subtle fish-like silhouette that glided past him. Curiosity now took over him, and without thinking much of it, Will found himself following the strange figure—Bella could feel him getting closer, and once she made it behind the rock, she used her telekinesis to push him away, forcing Will back to the surface, and giving them the opportunity to escape unseen.

Will: gasping for air "What—what was that? A fish? No way, it seemed way too big. And what just happened now—was it a rip current? A whirlpool? No, that doesn't make any sense." looks around then dives again

Now at their secret spot, the relieved trio recollected their thoughts as they dried off their tails.

Emma: "That was a close call."

Bella: "Uh… not really. He brushed against my tail."

Rikki: "And…? Did he notice you?"

Bella: "I think so. I didn't look, but I could feel him following me."

Emma: looks at Rikki "But we saw him go back to the surface."

Bella: "Yeah, after I used my telekinesis to push him away. Honestly, I feel really bad."

Rikki: "Why? Wasn't that the plan? To make sure that he didn't see us?"

Bella: "Yes, but Will's my friend, and I really don't like lying to him like that."

Emma: "Have you ever thought about telling him?"

Bella: "I have, but we've only reconnected recently after so many years, and I don't know how he'll react. I don't want my secret to be the reason why we drift apart."

Emma: "Well, there's no need to rush, right? Lewis was the first person we told."

Rikki: "And Zane didn't find out until a bit later on."

Bella: "When did you tell him?"

Rikki: "He found out after that power-hungry marine biologist exposed us."

Bella: "Oh, her again." chuckles "You really can't hide your disdain for her, can't you?"

Rikki: "You wouldn't either if you were there."

Bella: laughs "That, I can agree with."

Emma: stands up "Seriously though, what if Will starts going to Mako more often?"

Bella: "I'll try to talk him out of it. But I can't say for sure that he'll listen to me."

Max: takes off his hat "An asteroid, you say? And you also think it's the source of these crystals?"

Lewis: "From what the girls saw in their vision, it seems that way."

Max: sits down "And the fact that it will be a full moon that night… I wonder how it'll affect the girls' powers?"

Lewis: "You mean if they somehow manage to stop it?"

Max: "Not if… will! They have no choice but to!"

Lewis: "I know, but we're still in the dark on how to do that."

Max: "But still… an asteroid filled with these crystals, and a full moon occurring near its closest point to Earth… I have a feeling that this is yet another rare event, like the fifty-year full moon."

Lewis: "You think that it's on par with even this?"

Max: "Maybe not on equal terms, but close. Quite the coincidence, don't you think?"

Lewis: "It really is. But there's something else I want to show you." pulls out the book from his bag

Max: "What's this? A children's book?"

Lewis: "Oh, it's so much more than that."

Lewis: looks around and walks to the counter "Hey, Zane. Is Rikki here? I can't seem to get a hold of anyone."

Zane: "Well, Emma and Bella's out swimming. And Rikki left a while ago to warn them about Will diving at Mako."

Lewis: "Seriously?! You're kidding, right?"

Zane: shrugs "I wish I was. But I don't think you'll need to worry. Rikki most likely got to them first."

Lewis: "I hope they get here soon. I have something important to talk to them about."

Zane: points at the book "I'm guessing it has to do with this? I thought Rikki said there wasn't anything important about the crystals in there?"

Lewis: "That's what we all thought. But it seems like we may have been wrong." checks his phone and sighs " Looks like I'm gonna be here on my own for a while. Can I get a blueberry blast?"

Zane: "Sure thing."

Now settled into their usual booth, Lewis once again went through the book's content, flipping to its last page and tracing his finger over the passage that left them stumped. A wave of excitement washed over him as he recalled his conversation with Max, who cleverly deciphered the meaning behind it. But that excitement quickly turned into impatience as the girls were needed for this crucial part. Some thirty minutes and blueberry blast later, a couple of familiar voices pulled Lewis out of his deep thoughts.

Lewis: looks up "Hey, Emma! Rikki! Over here!"

Emma: "Hey…" pulls out her phone "We got a couple of missed calls from you. Is everything okay?"

Lewis: "Yeah, but I should be asking you girls that. About Will diving near Mako? Please tell me—"

Rikki: "That he didn't see us? No, he didn't. But…" looks at Bella

Lewis: "But…?" sighs "Something happened, right?"

Bella: "Yeah… Will… may have brushed against my tail. But he didn't see me. We used our invisibility."

Lewis: "Well, that's both good and bad. He doesn't know what he saw, but there's a good chance that he won't brush it off."

Bella: "Knowing Will, that's most likely the case."

Emma: "So, about your calls, what did you want to talk about?"

Lewis: taps on the book "This. Come on, let's head to the office." stands up and leaves

Rikki: looks and Bella and Emma in confusion "This better be important." enters the office and closes the door "So, come on, spill it!"

Lewis: "Okay, so do you guys remember the last passage in the book?" shows it to them

Emma: "Things aren't always as they appear to be. To find what you are searching for, you first need to keep an open mind, and maybe, just maybe, you will finally see what you were once blind to." "Yeah, What about it?i thought you couldn't— "

Lewis: "Guess what? I visited Max earlier, and he suggested there might be hidden information in the book."

Bella: "Hidden? Like what, the author wrote stuff that he didn't want others to see?"

Rikki: "It's already written like a fictional book, what could be so important that the author had to hide it even further?"

Lewis: "I don't know, but we're gonna find out soon!"

Emma: "So, did Max tell you how to find this hidden information?"

Lewis: "Really? You guys haven't connected the dots yet?"

Rikki: sighs "Get it over with already, Lewis. Just tell us!"

Bella: "Wait a minute… you don't mean…"

Emma: "What is it?"

Bella: "The crystals? Our powers… is that how—?"

Lewis: "Exactly. Remember that you can turn other things invisible and not just yourself?"

Bella: gasps "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"

Emma: "Things aren't always as they appear to be…" and "you will finally see what you were once blind to. You guys may be right. How did we miss this?"

Lewis: "None of that matters now. Bella, why don't you do the honors."

Bella: smiles "With pleasure." looks at Rikki and Emma sporting confused looks "What, aren't you guys curious too?" scans the book "Okay, how about this page?" attempts her invisibility and frowns "Um, Lewis… are you sure about this?"

Lewis: "Um, uh… maybe there wasn't anything hidden on this specific page. Let's try another one."

Bella: "Okay…" uses her invisibility "Still nothing. Lewis, are you—"

Rikki: "I knew it." crosses her arms "A waste of time, just like I thought."

Lewis: "You guys don't know that for sure. There could be a couple of pages where—"

Rikki: "You don't seriously expect us to go through every single page, do you?"

Emma: "It is a pretty big book—"

Rikki: "Thank you—"

Emma: "But it won't hurt to be thorough, right?"

Rikki: "Ugh, you guys can go ahead and do that if you want, I prefer to spare myself from that hassle." leaves the office

Bella: "Rikki does have a point."

Emma: "How about you check out half of the book and I'll take care of the rest?"

Bella: "Sounds good to me. Lewis, can you get us smoothies? This is gonna take some time."

Lewis: "Sure, the usual for both of you?"

Emma and Bella: "Yep!"

Lewis: "Right, see you in a few." leaves the office

Bella: sighs "I really hope this isn't for nothing."

Emma: "We won't know until we try."

With her shift finally coming to an end, a worn-out Cleo made her way to the cafe, where the others were no doubt already settled in. As she made her way down the familiar path, her mind wandered back to the conversation with Laurie, about Mako, and the increasing changes around the island. Instinctively, she reached for her locket, a habit she developed over the past two years whenever something mermaid related plagued her worried mind. Everything around her seemed distant, even the nearby voice behind her that kept calling her name.

Will: puts his hand on Cleo's shoulder "Hey, Cleo?"

Cleo: gasps softly and jumps back "Oh, Will… when did you get here?"

Will: "So you didn't hear me the other five times I called you?"

Cleo: "Uh, sorry. I just got off from work and I guess I'm more tired than I realized."

Will: "You look more worried than tired to me. Everything alright?"

Cleo: "Yeah, just something my coworker said to me about the fishes fleeing the waters near Mako. I just… found that really odd, and concerning."

Will: "Your co-worker…?"

Cleo: "He's a marine biologist. He sometimes goes there to count the fish population."

Will: "Oh… speaking of Mako, I just came from over there. Went diving."

Cleo: "R-really? Don't the sharks scare you?"

Will: "No, not as much as whatever I encountered over there. Left me feeling more confused than scared."

Cleo: shocked expression "You… saw something… at Mako?"

Will: "I-I don't know. I definitely felt something, like a tail? And when I looked around, I could've sworn I saw something moving in the water. But there was nothing. It's almost like it was invisible. Crazy right?"

Cleo: "It is, but maybe you were underwater too long and—"

Will: "Hallucinated?" shakes his head "Impossible. This happened right after I dove in, and then something even weirder happened. The water… I don't know… pushed me away?"

Cleo: "So… you got caught in a rip current?"

Will: "No offense Cleo, but I'm no newbie when it comes to the ocean. A rip current would've sucked me in, not pushed me back to the surface." sees Cleo's expression "I guess you guys were right to be wary of that island."

Cleo: "Right… so, have you told Bella?"

Will: "That's exactly why I'm heading to the cafe."

Bella: sighs "Looks like Rikki had the right idea to abandon ship."

Lewis: "Honestly, I was really hoping that this would work and we'd learn something new, hopefully about the crystals."

Emma: "Back to square one, I guess. So if it's not about hidden information, what do you think that passage meant?"

Lewis: "No idea, but Max's theory sounded really good. Maybe you guys did it wrong?"

Emma: "I don't think so, I mean we even turned the entire book invisible, only for it to look exactly the same after we undid it."

Bella: sighs "All this is making me so hungry. I'm gonna get a smoothie and sandwich."

Emma: "Yeah, one clearly wasn't enough." stands up "Are you staying here, Lewis?"

Lewis: "No, I'll join you guys upfront." leaves the office

Bella: walks up to the counter "Hey, Rikki. Can I get a mango smoothie and a monte cristo sandwich?"

Rikki: "Sure thing. Let me guess, Lewis' idea was a bust?"

Bella: sighs "Pretty much. Got excited for nothing."

Rikki: "That's usually the case with Lewis and his experiments. You'll get used to it… or not."

Bella: laughs "Hopefully, it's the former."

Rikki: laughs "There you go." looks behind Bella "Hey, guess who's here." points to the entrance

Bella: turns around and sighs "Today just keeps getting better, huh?"

Rikki: "Good luck!"

Will: looking around "Hey! Bella!" walk towards her "You got a minute?"

Bella: "Uh, yeah. Sure. Did something happen? You don't seem like your usually calm self."

Will: "Yeah, sort of. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Is there somewhere private where we can talk?"

Bella: "Yeah… we can use Zane's office."

Will: "Cool. Come on. You go on ahead. I want to order something first."

Bella: "Sure, it's back there, by the way." walks towards the office

At their favorite booth, Cleo was filling in Emma and Lewis on her earlier conversation with Will.

Emma: "So he told you too, huh?"

Cleo: "Yeah, and I was hoping that he was mistaken but…" looks at her ring "These crystals really are a lifesaver."

Emma: "It sure is. Otherwise we would've been forced to hole up in the moonpool until he left."

Lewis: "You're not completely out of the woods yet, remember?"

Cleo: "Lewis is right. This means we might have to be on the lookout for Will more often now."

Emma: sighs "I hope Bella can talk some sense into him."

Cleo: "Also, there's something else that's been bothering me."

Lewis: "What's that?"

Cleo: "It's about Mako. Laurie went there to count the fish population and noticed that they're leaving. He also mentioned that the surrounding rocks were unusually hot."

Lewis: "Well, he is a marine biologist, but why would he be concerned about rocks?"

Cleo: "Because this isn't normal? The water heating up, fishes leaving the area, hot rocks and an approaching asteroid… aren't you guys worried about more people snooping around Mako?"

Lewis: "You're talking about geologists visiting Mako?"

Cleo: "Yeah! And uh… even NASA!"

Emma: "Cleo, NASA's an American agency, they won't care about a tiny island near Australia."

Cleo: "But what about the asteroid, it could catch their attention."

Emma: "They most likely already do know about it—"

Cleo: "But not that it's heading towards Mako."

Lewis: "Look, we don't know for sure if anyone will show up, so for now just be careful out there when swimming." holds Cleo's hands "Okay?"

Cleo: "You're right. I didn't get much sleep last night. Maybe that's why I'm so worked up."

Emma: "None of us did, but I guess that's normal after that crazy vision we had."

Cleo: "By the way, Lewis. Did you figure it out? The passage in the book?"

Lewis: "I thought I did…" leans back and crosses arms "...but that was a total bust."

Cleo: sighs "Still no progress, huh?" looks past Emma "Hey, do you think that Bella managed to talk some sense into Will?"

Emma: turns around "I'm not sure. Bella seemed worried that he'll get even more curious." sees Bella and Will arguing "This doesn't look good." watches Will storm out of the cafe

Bella: sits near Emma and sighs "It's just like I thought, Will isn't the type to let something go once it catches his attention."

Cleo: "What did you say that made him so upset?"

Bella: "That he probably imagined it? Ugh, I feel like such a bad friend gaslighting him like that."

Lewis: "Why not just tell him? He's your friend, right? I know, Zane knows. Your family and Emma's too. Wouldn't that make things less complicated between the two of you?"

Bella: "You're right, and I do plan on telling him at some point, just… not right now." plays with her smoothie

Emma: "Are you scared that he'll reject you?"

Bella: "Yeah, but it's not just that. Apart from you guys and my family, I've never shared my secret with anyone. I've always been scared that they'll use it against me."

Cleo: "Well, whatever you decide, we'll have your back, no matter what. Right, Emma?"

Emma: "Yeah, Cleo's right. It took me so long to tell my own parents, so I get how you feel. And if it makes you feel any better, I don't think you have to worry about Will betraying you. He doesn't seem like the type to do so."

Bella: wipes her eyes "Thanks guys."

Rikki: walks over to the booth "What was that all about? Do you want me boil Will alive or—"

Bella: "No, I'm fine. We just had a disagreement, that's all."

Rikki: "It better be or I'm gonna have to give him a piece of my mind!"

Lewis: "Calm down firecracker, or we're gonna get caught up in your antics."

Rikki: "Do you want to get boiled alive in his place?"

Emma: "Give it a rest, you two."

Rikki: "Fine… So, what now. We just wait until he does something reckless?"

Bella: "Don't worry about that. I'll keep an eye on him."

Cleo: starts flipping through the book "I'm going to take this with me."

Emma: "Bella and I spent nearly fifteen minutes on this, I really don't think there's some secret message."

Cleo: "Suit yourself, but it wouldn't hurt to triple check."

At the Sertori's household, Cleo and Kim found themselves in their usual spat regarding household chores, particularly Cleo's least favorite, dishwashing.

Kim: "It's your turn! You can't keep bribing me! I'm not a kid anymore!"

Cleo: "Kim, please! I'll… even let you borrow some of my clothes."

Kim: "Nope! Don't want it! I've had enough of your weird behavior. It's just water, what's the big deal?"

Cleo: "It's the dish soap. It… makes my hands really dry."

Kim: "Then use gloves! Seriously!" takes the soaked sponge and shoves it at Cleo "I'm not doing your chores anymore!"

Cleo: gasps "Kim!" drops her bag while running upstairs

Kim: rolls eyes "Ugh, weirdo…" notices Cleo's bag on the floor "What's the big deal about getting wet?" sees a strange book sticking out "What… is this?" picks up the book and goes through it "Mermaids… powers… how to turn into one?"

Just as Kim's about to turn to page with the mermaid sketch, a frantic Cleo came running downstairs, quickly snatching the book out of her hands.

Cleo: "I believe this is mine!"

Kim: "What's with this strange book? Mermaids? Really? What are you, five?"

Cleo: "It's… for a project."

Kim: "Like that stuff you wrote in your journal a couple years ago?"

Cleo: "Pretty much. Now, about the dishes—"

Kim: "How'd you dry off so quickly?"

Cleo: "I, uh, changed my shirt."

Kim: "But it's the same one."

Cleo: "I have another one like it."

Kim: "And your pants?"

Cleo: "They weren't wet. Look, you can forget about the dishes, I'll do it myself."

Kim: crosses her arms "I'm glad we finally came to an understanding. It only took forever."

With Cleo distracted in the kitchen, a skeptical Kim snuck into her room to have a sneak peek at the strange book. Powers of the four elements, transformation by water, full moons, special pools… it all sounded so absurd but somehow plausible? Kim was still unsure what to make of the words before her, but also wasn't enough to shake off the possibility that it just might be true. With this new knowledge in mind, Kim made it a point to talk to the only person who might understand her plight, Elliot.

Hey Digit: Sorry for the long wait, and thanks for the support. I really enjoy reading your reviews and usually look forward to it. You're right about Bella needing to tell Will, she's just unintentionally driving a wedge between their friendship at this point. As for Kim and Elliot, we'll see how he handles her questions. And we know that Kim can be pushy.