H2O: Just Add A Merman

Secrets Revealed

The following day, I did exactly what I was told. I was on my way to Cleo's house. As I continued to walk to her house, I wondered some more about what I saw yesterday. Was she really a mermaid? Were all of the girls mermaids? Maybe Cleo just didn't want to ruin her clothes, but the look in her eyes was a look of total fear. Something must've been up. I looked up in front of me to see a house that matched the address on the slip of paper Cleo gave me. I walked up to the door and knocked. Not long after, the door opened and I stood face to face with Cleo. "Hey Will! Come on in!" she said cheerfully.

I nodded then walked into what it appeared to be Cleo's living room. Rikki was sprawled out onto the couch and Emma sat next to her. "Hey guys," I greeted.

"Hey Will," they said at the same time.

Just then, I was greeted by a new person who walked in from the kitchen and he held out his hand. "Hello, you must be Will. I'm Don, Cleo's dad. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too Mr. Sertori," I said as I shook his hand.

"Hey guys, why don't you go upstairs to my room. I'll be there in a bit," Cleo said.

We all nodded and headed to Cleo's. room. Once we got there, I realized that Cleo had a fish tank with many exotic fish in it. "Cool fish," I said.

"Yeah, Cleo loves fish," Emma said.

"She even talks to them!" Rikki said with a snicker. Emma shot her a look.

Cleo entered the room. "Hey guys! Guess who is here!" Cleo said happily. She stepped aside to reveal a boy, who was probably around my age. He had blonde hair that went down to his eyebrows.

He approached me and said, "Hi, I'm Lewis," he said with a smile. "You must be Will."

"That's me," I replied with a grin. I could already tell that I was going to like Lewis. He seemed like a good person to be around.

"Okay, now that the introductions are done," Rikki began. "Will, I was wondering why you were so quick to run to the bathroom when you got wet yesterday," Rikki raised an eyebrow.

"I could say the same for Cleo," I said as I sent Rikki an annoyed look.

"Cleo just didn't want to mess up her clothes, so she went to the bathroom. Why did you run to the bathroom?" Rikki asked in a more assertive voice.

"Hey guys, let's all just calm down," Lewis said trying to diffuse the tension.

"No Lewis!" Rikki snapped. "I think we should know why Will ran away yesterday!"

As Rikki pressed on and on, trying to figure me out, I subconsciously balled my fists together in anger. This made a nearby glass of water start to boil. "Who is doing that?" Cleo asked in a surprised tone.

I sighed angrily and stormed out of the house. I couldn't take the tension. When I got outside, I dived into the water not knowing that the girls were watching me the whole time. After diving in, I felt my tail starting to form. After the transformation, I sped off into the open ocean. After a while, I decided to slow down a little so I could admire the mesmerizing scenery. Not long after that, I stumbled across an underwater entrance. Curious, I ventured through it. When I surfaced on the other side, I realized that this was another moon pool because of the similarities of this one and the one in California. I leaned on the ledge and thought about what just happened. Why did I let my anger get the best of me? Why couldn't I control my powers? I guess Rikki just knew what buttons to push.

Suddenly, something emerged from underwater. It happened to be none other than Rikki, with an orange gold tail. "Will?" she asked cautiously. I didn't move a muscle. "Will, please talk to me," she said as she placed a hand on my shoulder."

"What do you want?" I hissed.

"I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry. We just had to know," she replied.

"I had my suspicions that you three were mermaids, but you didn't see me trying to force it out of you!" I shouted.

Rikki finally realized how wrong she had been. "Will, I know what I did was wrong and I don't expect you to forgive me, but I'm really really sorry for doing what I did and hurting you," Rikki said glumly as she started to swim away.

I heard the sadness in Rikki's voice, and something inside me just couldn't let me see Rikki hurt like that. "Hey," I said grabbing her hand before she could submerge underwater. "I forgive you," I said with a small smile.

"Really?" she asked with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Really," I assured her. "I can't stay mad at you. I know you were just curious and you just wanted to know the truth." I had to admit, seeing Rikki like this was a first for me. To me, she always appeared to be independent and headstrong. I now realized that sometimes, she can have a soft side.

"Thanks Will!" she yelled in happiness and relief. Suddenly, she did something that I thought she would never do. She threw her arms around me and pulled me in for a hug. Even though it was unusual, I happily returned it.

After a while, I spoke up. "I'll race you back to the mainland," I challenged her.

"You're on!" she giggled.

"Okay, on three. One, two... three!" I yelled. As soon as those words left my mouth, we were off. We were neck and neck the whole time. I looked at Rikki and saw a huge grin on her face. I then realized that from then on, I would view Rikki in a whole new way.