Mermaids and Mysteries | H2O

Chapter XXIII

*Emma's POV*
I click the door shut on the ninth room; Zane, Rikki, Will, Ash and I had completed our side of the work load. We'd checked all the science rooms on the far side of East Coastal High School and Nala wasn't in any of them. Which only meant Denman had either hidden her well or, hopefully, she was in one of the labs on the other side.

We swiftly dash around to find the other group; Cleo, Bella, Tammy and Lewis. As I sprint down the hall, I begin worrying, where were this? This isn't good. The group were nowhere to be seen and these doors lock from the inside, meaning they were stuck inside. I pace back towards room 1, checking for signs of light and Rikki and Will catch on to my plan, they check room 2 and 3.

I run to room 4, I can hear muffled whispers and-
"Water!" I whisper, sort of to nobody.

Water was rushing out of underneath the door and I leap back, praying none of it soaks through my shoes and socks. Ash approaches me and I hand him the last pin from my hair, which was now a horrible mess. He quickly picks the lock and water floods out everywhere, the room has to have at least half a foot of water in it.

Rikki and I cautiously stand back as the boys rush in, water still going everywhere in the hall. I could hear water rushing out of the pipes, at a high pressure, and sighs of relief from Bella and Tammy.

Several minutes pass before Lewis comes out, shirtless, carrying Bella with a lot of help from Will, who seemed to carry most the weight. She smiles at the sight of us and Rikki wastes no time in steam drying her. Will places her down between two benches for cover and runs back in to help Ash and Zane with Tammy who was a lot fuller than Bella.

"What happened?" Rikki asks sternly.
"We got locked in and then all the taps just went off, I don't know. And Cleo- Cleo?! Where is she?" Bella begins to panic.
"You mean she's not in there?" I whimper.
"No-nope," she replies.
"She was standing guard and- oh god," Lewis whisper-shouts from the floor, obviously out of breathe from his brief workout and soaked.

We exchange worried glances, Dr. Denman was nearby and Cleo's wasn't a face you'd forget easily. Not to mention that Cleo is one of the most naive of the group and easy to fool. This keeps getting worse and worse. Tammy joins us behind the bench and Rikki moves one hand to start frying both the girls. She looks terrified and I'd understand why, our situation was almost helpless.

"Cleo?! We need to find her," Zane starts yelling.
Everyone shushes him, we couldn't attract anymore attention than we already have.
"I think Cleo's our top priority now, if we look for her while we know she's still nearby, we'll have less chance of losing her," I state.
"Good plan," Lewis replies.
"That's not our top priority," Tammy mumbles.
"Hey, I know you want Nala back but-" Bella starts.
"The security cameras!"

Once again, I glance around and everyone has the same expression, utter helplessness. There were cameras, someone could be watching us right now, watching two damned mermaids being air dried with magic in a high school science hallway.

"Denman might known were here," Rikki says.
"Of course she does, that's why the taps set off and Cleo's missing," Lewis explains feistily.
"Don't worry, I was student president last year, I know how to go delete everything, you guys need to keep looking for Nala before Denman dissects her," Tammy says.

Bella's tail disappears at this and she hops up.

"Right, Tammy, you're with me," Bella takes charge. "You guys find Nala and Lewis, if you would be so kind as to go to the library and figure out a plan for what to do with Denman once we're all un-kidnapped. Okay, we'll meet back here in half an hour."

I'd never seen Bella so fired up and obviously neither had anyone else but everyone nods in agreement. Lewis stands up and eagerly heads to the library, leaving a wet trail behind him. The others head to the fifth classroom, there were only 4 more to check after this, hopefully Nala was in one.