Lewis McCartney and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Week

Chapter Two

Lewis didn't sleep at all that night. He got home, changed out of his wet clothes, and proceeded to lay awake in bed until the sun was returning to the sky. His mind was racing, the mental image of the Moon Pool haunting him. He had considered calling Cleo, but she was with the other girls dealing with the full moon, he couldn't risk adding stress onto them and leaving them vulnerable to the moon's spell. He was all alone with his thoughts for the night, mental images of sparkling water and golden mermaid tails polluting his mind. He attempted to reason with his racing mind, to calm down enough to get some sleep.

You can deal with this in the morning Lewis, when you have the girls help. Maybe you won't even be affected. The moon had almost passed over the pool when you fell in, maybe it wasn't enough to do anything. Or maybe, it only works on girls! Panicking won't help anyways, just relax!

After hours of trying to convince himself that everything would be okay, he got out of bed. The sun wasn't even up yet, but there was no use trying to sleep when it clearly wouldn't happen. He walked over to his desk, opening up one of the drawers. He pulled out an outdated science textbook he had gotten from the thrift shop and opened it to reveal a hole carved out of the center. Inside was a small notebook where he kept his mermaid research. He had all of the numbers recorded on his computer, but he kept all the context in the hidden notebook. You could never be too careful when it came to mermaids.

He flipped to the beginning and then pulled out his computer. If he couldn't get sleep, he could at least see if he had any information from the tests he had done that would help him. Cross checking the numbers on the computer with what he had written in his notebook helped to waste a little time, but it didn't give him much to go off of. No amount of data on what liquids caused a tail, the average time it took for a tail to appear and disappear, or mermaid powers was going to help him figure out if he was actually affected by the full moon. No, there was only one way to figure that out.

With a pained sigh Lewis reached for the water bottle on his desk. He carefully unscrewed the lid and set it aside. He had to do this carefully, scientifically, so he also reached for a pipette from a drawer in the desk. He filled it up with water and then held out his hand, holding the pipette over it. He could see his hand shaking as he mentally prepared to drop the water onto his palm. Taking a deep breath he started to squeeze the dropper, watching as a small drop of water started to form at the end. It started to fall, and Lewis watched as it seemed to move towards his hand in slow motion.

"LEWIS. I'M STARTING BREAKFAST, IF YOU WANT TO EAT YOU HAD BETTER GET DOWNSTAIRS BEFORE THE TWINS DO."

Lewis jerked his hand away, and turned towards the sound of his brother's shouts. The drop of water fell harmlessly to the floor and Lewis set the pipette down with a sigh. He hadn't noticed how much time had passed while he was going through his research, and now his brothers were starting to wake up. He would have to try again later when he could be alone. His younger brothers had no concept of privacy, and he really didn't want to risk the chance of one of them coming into his room and witnessing him with a tail.

He put all his research away and got changed, taking a moment to screw the lid back onto the water to avoid any potential accidents, and went downstairs for breakfast. Leo was busy at the stove, working on a large pan of scrambled eggs. Lewis got to work setting the table, putting out plates and silverware for everybody. Just as he was getting the ketchup out of the fridge the twins ran down the stairs, taking their places at the table. Lewis sat down next to them and Leo filled everybodies plates.

"When did you get back last night?" He asked Lewis as he piled a helping of scrambled eggs onto his plate. "I was up pretty late and you didn't hear you come back."

Lewis shrugged, attempting to appear casual as he poured ketchup onto the eggs, much to Leo's disgust. "I told you, I was night fishing. Can't remember what time it was when I finished."