H2O: Just Add A Merman

A Twist in the Tail

The gang and I were at the marine park. We were talking with Miss C. She was going on about the history of Mako Island. "Mako Island was here long before all of us," she said. "And it'll be here long after we've all gone, and long after this full moon."

That's when it hit me. There was another full moon tonight. How could we have forgotten about that? "Oh yeah," Cleo realized. "Full moon time again. Tonight. Is it gonna be as bad as it was last time?" Cleo asked worriedly.

"The full moon is a powerful force," Miss C. began. "But this time however, it's even more so."

"Really?" Emma asked. "How do you know?"

"I know," Miss C. clarified.

"Not everything can be explained," Lewis spoke up. "Some things need to be taken on faith, right Miss C.?"

"Right Lewis!" Miss C. smiled. I guess Lewis had spoken to Miss C. earlier, because now, he doesn't really argue with magic. Unbeknownst to me and the others, someone was taking pictures of us from the far side of the marine park.

Later, Rikki told us to meet at the cafe because she had something urgent to talk about. "Okay, listen," she said as we sat down at our usual booth. "Zane told me he saw a picture of mermaids," she said bluntly.

"Okay, like a picture of them from like a kid's story book?" I asked hoping it wasn't what I thought it was.

"No, by mermaids, he meant us!" Rikki clarified.

"How did he get the photo?" Lauren asked.

"From Doctor Denman," Rikki spat. "He said she had underwater cameras for counting fish. She must've set them up by the moon pool entrance."

"There was a camera?" Lewis asked incredulously.

"We didn't see it when we were swimming in!" Rikki defended.

"It mustn't have been a very good photo, otherwise they would've recognized it was us," Cleo said.

"Are you complaining about it?" Rikki asked. "Do you want to write a letter to the manufacturer and get Denman's money back?"

Cleo lowered her head. "Look, Emma said. "Maybe we should talk about this somewhere more private." Suddenly, Lewis's phone rang.

"Lewis McCartney," he said as he answered re phone. "Oh it's you," he spat as he looked at us. "Why would- can I call you back? Yeah, okay." He then hung up the phone. "That was Doctor Denman," Lewis said. "She wants to meet up with me and Will."

"You're not gonna go, are you?" Cleo asked.

"Cleo, I don't see why not," he said. "I mean what have we got to lose?"

"You don't have a lot to lose, we have plenty," Rikki reminded.

"Maybe if we talked to her, we can find out what she does know, and what she doesn't know."

"And maybe she'll play you like a cello," Rikki added.

"Well Rikki," I began. "I wasn't there with you when you went to the moon pool, so they don't know about me," I said. "Lewis is right, and besides, if anything goes sour, we'll high tail it out of there."

"I don't like the sound of this," Lauren said.

"It's the best thing we can do," I said. "We need to make sure she doesn't know it was you guys."

"Right," Lewis said as he flipped open his phone and called Denman. "Doctor Denman, we're on our way," he said with a nod, and then hung up the phone. "Let's go," he said as he looked at me. I nodded, and we began to go to Denman's boat.