Charmed: The Next Generation *DISCONTINUED FOR THE TIME BEING*

Chapter Six - Lead or No Lead?

Chapter Six

“Alright, so maybe we didn’t completely think this through.” Melinda said.

            “Gee, ya think?” Hope replied as her teeth chattered. “This water is freezing!”

            The three witches were in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, searching for clues about the lost mermaids. Peyton kept diving underneath the water to the bottom and touching anything she could get her hands on: shells, coral, the sand, etc. See, the only downside of having premonitions was that you had to touch something to bring them on. Peyton had been getting better about calling premonitions on demand, but she still needed something to touch to get what she was looking for.

            “Hey, you don’t think there are any sharks around here, do you?” Hope asked, nervously glancing around.

 “What? You can vanquish demons, but you can’t face an tiny little shark?” Melinda said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I’m serious!” Hope exclaimed.

“Even if there are, I doubt that we’re far enough in to see one.” Melinda said. They could still clearly see the beach from where they were at.

Peyton popped up beside Hope a mere second later, her breathing ragged from being underwater for so long.

“Did you get anything?” Mel asked her cousin. She was desperately hoping that Peyton had so they could get the hell out of there and warm up next to a nice, hot fire.

Peyton nodded. “Finally, I found this and a premonition off of it.” She held up a necklace with one pearl of it.

Melinda gently took the necklace from her and overturned it in her hands. The simplicity of it made it so elegant and beautiful. “What did you see in your vision?”

“I saw a mermaid who was wearing that necklace swim by here. She was just collecting shells and then a minute later, this huge vortex thingy appeared and it pulled her in. And then it just disappeared.” Peyton told them.

“But that should be impossible.” Hope argued. “Mermaids’ tails are the strongest asset they have; they’re supposed to be stronger than any vortex. And by the way, huge sucky vortex thing? What exactly is that?”

“It was like a tornado, except underwater.” Peyton answered. “And whatever it was, was obviously stronger than the mermaid.”

“We at least found out some more information.” Melinda said, “We should probably get going and see what the others have come up with.”

“And we have to look in the book and see if there is anything on a demon that can make vortexes that are stronger than a mermaid’s tail.” Hope added.

“Right, and maybe there’s even something about that necklace in the book.” Peyton suggested.

“Let’s get going then.” Melinda said as the girls started their swim back to shore.

"You guys didn’t find anything?” Melinda asked. Hope, Peyton, and Mel were all back at the Manor, talking to the other cousins who had stayed behind to do the research.

           Portia shook her head. “There was nothing in the book about any other demon trying to kidnap mermaids. Mostly every demon in there goes after witches, not mermaids.”

            “What about when you were reading the others book we have stored up here? There wasn’t one story about something bad happening to mermaids?” Peyton asked, in disbelief.