Emma knocked on Rikki’s door so they could go to lunch together. Cleo had texted them all this morning because they needed to meet and discuss the new mermaids.
Rikki walked out, her blonde curls loose and pretty. Emma touched her stick-straight hair with a sigh. Her dark blonde tresses would never hold curls the way Rikki’s did.
They walked down several flights of stairs and met Bella on the first floor. Emma smiled at her tensely. After her talk with Cleo and Rikki yesterday, she decided to make more of an effort to be friends with Bella. Bella greeted them both with a smile and a wave.
At the café, Cleo, Charlotte and Sophie were already waiting for them. Cleo looked uncomfortable between her two former enemies. Actually, Emma wasn’t sure what Sophie’s connection to her friends was. They knew each other from somewhere but Emma didn’t know how. But anyone could sense the tension between Cleo, Rikki, Bella, and Sophie.
Emma sat down near Charlotte, but kept a careful amount of space between them. Rikki and Bella slid into the booth after her.
“So you’re both mermaids?” Bella asked quietly to Sophie and Charlotte. Charlotte nodded, grinning, and Sophie said “yes” softly.
“Guys…I don’t think we should talk about this here.” Emma suggested. “We need to find out if they have powers and explain a few things to Sophie.”
“I already told Sophie everything.” Charlotte said. “But I would like to test out our powers. Who knows, maybe we have all of them.”
Sophie and Charlotte exchanged pleased glances with each other. Rikki, Emma, and Cleo tensed. This could not turn out like last time Charlotte got all three powers. Which reminded Emma of something she had forgot to ask…
“Bella, do you have a power?” she asked the blonde to her left. “Or, powers?” she added, thinking of how Charlotte had been given all three.
“Yeah, I have one. Let’s order drinks and I’ll show you.” Bella said.
Emma ordered a water (so they could showcase their powers), Cleo and Bella got strawberry-kiwi juices, Charlotte got a mango smoothie and Rikki and Sophie each ordered coffees.
Emma set her glass of water in the center of the table and propped up a menu so other tables couldn’t see what they were about to do to it. She nodded at Cleo to go first.
Sophie’s eyes widened as Cleo formed little bubbles out of the water. “My power is to move and shape it, and add extra water if I form larger things out of it. I can also control wind, but I won’t demonstrate that here.”
Emma stuck her hand out and the water froze. The little bubbles Cleo had made dropped back into the glass, frozen. “I can freeze things, and make it snow.” She explained.
Rikki crunched up her hand slowly, melting Emma’s ice and bringing the water to a boil. “My power is boiling things, making fires and making lightning.”
Emma leaned forward in her seat. It was Bella’s turn.
“I can turn water into jelly, or make it hard. Like plastic.” She twisted her hand similar to the way Cleo did, but left it there. The water hardened.
“Cool.” Emma commented. She wanted to touch the liquid, but was afraid it would make her grow a tail.
“Will I be able to do something like that?” Sophie asked excitedly.
“Probably.” Emma answered. She kind of liked Sophie, better than she liked Charlotte anyway. She glanced over at her friends and could tell they didn’t feel the same way. Rikki in particular was glaring at Sophie. Emma would have to find out exactly what had happened between them while she was travelling.
“We should go somewhere more private now.” Bella said, reminding them of Emma’s original plan. “We don’t know what your powers will be…if they’re crazy we wouldn’t want us to get exposed.
Everyone finished their drinks and they headed out to the beach. Bella, Cleo, Emma and Rikki sat in the sand above Sophie and Charlotte, like they were teachers and the redheads were the students. Sophie and Charlotte were also close to the water so they could practice on it.
Charlotte started because she had already been a mermaid, and had experience with powers. She tried freezing, heating, shaping, and hardening it. None worked. Emma could see Charlotte getting frustrated as she tried out more and more hand positions.
Finally, she found one that worked. Her hand was in a position similar to Emma’s freezing power, but her palm was pointed upwards.
They had all been watching the water, so they didn’t think anything had happened. Rikki was the first to notice it.
“The seaweed!” she gasped. “Look at it—it’s growing!”
Sure enough, a small, single piece of seaweed was growing at a miraculous rate. In just a few moments it was longer than Emma’s arm.
Everyone was wide-eyed. Charlotte had a huge grin on her face. She made another tuft of seaweed grow, and some nearby algae.
“Try something else.” Bella suggested. “See if your power works on land plants, and not just sea plants.”
Charlotte did as she was told, and moved her hand to a few clumps of grass on the beach. They sprouted into flowers in an instant. Charlotte clapped twice in excitement.
“My turn.” Sophie said, approaching the water. Like Charlotte before her, she tried out a dozen different hand positions before she found one that worked. She made a fist quickly and her hand affected a rock. It rose up into the air and Sophie made it fly around, finally dropping it into the water with a splash.
“Rocks! I can move rocks!” she screamed in excitement. She used both of her hands to lift up sand and make the little pebbles dance around in the air.
Emma caught eyes with Rikki and Cleo. Secretly, all three of them were glad they didn’t have to share their powers, like the last time Charlotte was a mermaid.
All six girls were happy and excited about these new discoveries. Whatever doubts they had about their former enemies were pushed away as all the mermaids ran into the water and swam together for the first time.
