Mermaids and Mysteries | H2O

Chapter IX

*Cleo's POV*
It had been a long, sleepless night. After tossing and turning for a few hours, I gave up trying to sleep. I figured I would still see that sly look on Dr Denman's face whenever I closed my eyes. She'd still remember us for sure, I mean, who could forget meeting three mermaids? But the way she looked at Lewis and I as we passed made me feel like she was plotting something.

I started writing a text to Emma, Rikki and Bella to meet up at my place as soon as they woke up. I was wide awake and needed something to get my mind off Denman, who would be up at 5:00am?

I stopped pacing for a second and checked my phone for anything to distract me but everything was quiet. I checked my alerts and the first one on the list filled me with dread and anxiety. Tomorrow was a full moon.

Obviously, we were strong enough to fight the moon spell by now, but certain other mermaids wouldn't even know about. We had to figure out a way to warn them before it was too late. You never know what might happen during a full moon.

*Bella's POV*
Cleo opened the door before I even got the chance to knock, panic all over her face. She'd sent the text really early and it seemed like an emergency so I'd skipped breakfast and come here. She looked like she hadn't slept at all which made me nervous of what she could be about to say, but she decided to keep quiet until the others got here.

I made some coffee for Cleo while she paced the room. I don't know why she's so tense but I guess I was about to find out. Cleo opened the door to Emma. She still made me feel uneasy like she was faking everything to make a fool of me or something but I tried to be friendly. Eventually, Rikki arrived.

"Hey, what's up?" she called as she let herself in.
"Tomorrow is a full moon," Cleo whimpered from the couch.
"So? We've got that sorted," Rikki said.
"We do, but they don't."

Cleo didn't even have to mention who "they" were, we all knew she was stressing about Nala and Tammy not being able to control themselves in the moonlight. Perhaps, all the pacing and not getting any sleep was a little bit of an overreaction but Cleo was well-known for constantly worrying.

"Well, we'll just have to-" Emma started.
"That's not all. Denman," Cleo said, although I wasn't sure what she meant.
"Denman?" Rikki repeated, maybe it was a code word for sex or something.
"She's back in town and I'm not sure she'll forget what she saw." Cleo stated.

Who was Denman? What did she see? Was I missing something? Emma started to look panicked and Rikki just looked disgusted. I could tell this chic was horrible already.

"Who are we talking about?" I asked, slowly.
They all turned to me. "Dr Denman is an evil marine biologist who hunted us down and trapped us in the moon pool a few years ago," Emma said, as if it was no big deal.
"Luckily, Zane was there to rescue us," Rikki stated.
"-and Lewis," added Cleo, hastily.

I finally understood why Cleo was so panicked, oh god. A professional scientist saw them in all their fishy glory, how could they be so careless? I would have known about it by now if Denman had of blabbed but I still felt sick in my stomach.

Emma, Rikki and Cleo told me all the details about Lewis' D.N.A. sample that Denman had gotten ahold of and the underwater cameras and how Zane had been hunting for a mermaid since Emma saved him from drowning. Cleo told me that last time she was in town it was for fish counts but she wasn't so sure this time.

"Fish counts?" I repeated.
"Yeah, you know, when they count-" Cleo started.
"No, no, no, I know what fish counting is. So, this Dr Denman is a famous marine biologist and she was looking for a research assistant to help her with fish counting and discovery of rare species," I said.
"Rare species?" Emma repeated.
"Mermaids are a pretty rare species," Cleo bluntly informed us.
"And you know this, how?" Rikki interrupted.
"Will is helping Sophie get the research assistant job," I blurted out.
"What!?" they all shouted at once.