Mermaids and Mysteries | H2O

Chapter XVII

*Bella's POV*
"You think Dr Denman actually wants to kill us?" I mumble.
"It would make sense," Emma trails off.
"None of this makes sense, actually. We haven't done anything to her," Rikki says.
"Well- we did attack her in the moon pool that one time," Cleo says.
"And drive her complete insane," Emma adds.

Things hadn't entirely made sense, how mad would you have to be to kill someone you've never even met? Revenge is never pretty but murder after everything she's already done to Cleo, Rikki and Emma? It was unreasonable and made me feel sick.

After Emma had been kidnapped she'd gotten home around 5am to find her parents worriedly awaiting her. She gave them a big long excuse about how she'd broken up with Ash and didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Why would she want to murder us though?" Rikki asks, becoming angry with the situation.
"To have everything her way?" Cleo suggests.
"I don't think murder would stop her from getting what she wants," Emma explains.
"Guys, I don't think we should jump to conclusions," I say quietly.
"Of course we shouldn't, because when she locked us all in the moon pool on Mako Island that was just for fun, it was all just friendly," Rikki shouts sarcastically.
"Okay, but maybe this time-" I start.
"Guys-" Cleo tries to butt in.
"No, you don't understand the heights she'll go to, you weren't around when we were all locked in the damn moon pool. You were too busy traveling the world with your lovely, rich father."

Im taken aback. How could Rikki say such a thing? Yes, my father has a fair amount of money and I've travelled the world with him for his hotel company my whole life but that was never fun and games. My eyes drift to the floor, ashamed.

"Rikki!" Cleo cries.
"I'm sorry, I'm just- I'm just really tense," she says, not making eye contact.
"It's alright," I try to smile at her, though I'm still hurt.

"But you were there when Denman dropped the smoke bomb on us. She set the fire alarms off without any information on us at all," Cleo mentions.
"Right," I smile, though I'm not sure why. "How did she even know you were still mermaids?"
"Because she's cunning and determined and-"
"Because she's the freaking devil," Rikki yells out.
"That's a bit-" Cleo starts but trails off, knowing Rikki was right.

I'd never seen her like this. Rikki was usually strong and afraid of nothing but now she was uncontrollably angry and frightened. She expressed her fear through hatred, while the rest of kept our dark and twisted, yet completely terrified, thoughts to ourselves.

"Think of what she would do if she got four mermaids in one room," Emma says.

The thought made me slightly uneasy. I could easily imagine Dr Denman with a fire hose, spraying us all in a tiny locked room until we're nothing but fish, stranded on the floor in the corner of the tiny room. What would a crazy woman like her, do with us then?

"What if she cuts us up and experiments with our lifeless tails?" Cleo mutters.
"She'd leave us to die a slow and painful death first," Emma replies.
"In the freezing cold."
"With all our family watching us."
"Making us regret not telling them everything."
"I feel sick just thinking-" Emma starts but Rikki interrupts her and Cleo's terrified speech.
"And until she lets us all die a slow and painful death, in the freezing cold, with all our families watching, making us regret not telling them everything," Rikki takes charge, "We life our normal everyday life and try to fit in as best we can, like we do every other day. We'll try to meet privately from now on and wait until this blows over."

I nod. How did she do it? She made it sound so simple, as if there wasn't a killer on the loose who could do anything to us at any second of the day. For all we know, she's got everything planned out and we're being the perfect puppets, playing along.