Sitting on the jetty, the three are lazing around at sunset and Aries is reading a spell book with a bunch of theories on it.

"Your school finishes before mine does doesn't it?" Icarus asks Pandora.

"Yeah, pointbreak ends a week earlier than sunswell. That means I have exams before you do" Pandora replies.

"Hows that going? Pointbreak given you mandatory study periods too?"

"Yep. This whole graduation thing has strings attached man, it's only like half way through the year and I'm already dying of exam stress"

"We have..." Icarus takes out her phone to check the date. "115 days left of school. You'll be fine just don't overwork yourself"

Pandora signs in frustration and gently whacks Icarus.

"You sound like my mum" she jokes.

"Hey I'm dying from exam stress too, just in lesser doses. Although SOME people don't even go to school and don't have to worry about this" Icarus laughs.

Aries isn't paying attention, too busy reading all their calculations.

"Aries-" Pandora says to get their attention.

"Huh? Oh yeah graduation... have fun with that" Aries said.

"What's so interesting about your book anyway? You've been staring at it for hours" Icarus asks.

Aries turns the book to face them so they can read it, and the girl look over all the nonsense on the pages.

"I don't get it" Icarus says.

"Exactly. It's like there's something missing from the whole equation. If you both have mermaid genes meaning you're descendants of the lost pod, and the spirit pool exists then SURELY the pod would be around here right? But we've found no trace of them at all. The pool was abandoned before we found it" Aries explained.

"Hmm, that is weird. It's like they've migrated or something" Pandora replied.

Closing the book and putting it in their bag, Aries sighs in annoyance.

"Even weirder... usually groups of merfolk come in fours. One for each elemental. Unless it's a larger full size pod, then it's usually fours for magic and protection reasons. It happens so often that we even evolved to naturally find groups of four. And yet there's only three of us"

"I mean given the fact the main pod is missing and half the population of merfolk was killed, I'm not surprised we don't have a fourth" Pandora replied.

"True, but you'd think if there were more descendants like you guys we'd have found each other by now. We're like magnets we just kind of... gravitate toward each other"

"So basically we should have a fourth member, an earth elemental" Icarus asked.

"Exactly. But where are they? It's been half a year and no fourth. Either there's just none in the area or were sill somehow missing each other in our travels"

Pandora looks out at the water and sunset, thinking for a moment. The area they'd decided to hang out at that day was where the ocean connected to the river, and ferries would take travellers from inland up to the coast. They'd searched here before, wondering if maybe there was a small chance the pod had decided to hide in the river systems instead. But all they found was trout and rocks.

"Well it's getting too dark to go on a hunt now, but tomorrow lets check the coast for any sings of a fourth" Pandora suggested.

Getting up and gathering their bags, the three brushed off their clothes and stretched their limbs.

"Sounds like a plan. Meet back here tomorrow, I've gotta get dinner I'm hungry" Aries said.

"I have to be home to study, I'll see you guys tomorrow" Pandora added.

"See ya" Icarus said.

The three parted ways and headed home for the night. All of them pondering about the existence of a fourth member, it seemed so perfect that the three of them had found each other, like it was too good to be a coincidence. They were sure that somewhere out there, a fourth was swimming around.

The next morning the three spent hours swimming around the coast looking for any signs of interference in the reefs or sands, but came up empty handed and ended up taking a break in the spirit pool.

"I don't get it, there has to be a fourth and there's no sign of one" Aries sighed, kicking at the water in frustration with their fluke.

"It's weird, but it makes sense for there to be a fourth. So there has to be something somewhere" Icarus replied.

"Maybe they haven't been transformed yet like I was" Pandora suggested.

"Even then you still found us before you transformed" Aries said.

The puzzle of the pod and the spirit pool was slowly being pieced together, but the constant roadblocks were starting to become frustrating. As they talked about possible theories, something in the pool watches them form underwater and Icarus sees movement by her tail. But before she can catch a glimpse, it's gone.

"Ic, you good?" Pandora asked.

"Yeah just... thought I saw a fish or something. Don't usually see fish in the pool" Icarus said, shrugging it off.

"Uncommon but it happens. Once I was a whole tuna in here" Aries said.

"No way, a massive ass tuna in this little pool?" Pandora replied.

"Mans was lost I'll tell you that"

Snickering at the experience, the thing in the water watches them from a distance and after a moments turns away and swims off.

"What are we missing? Surely there's something we should be looking for" Pandora asked.

"Well we can look at peoples jewellery, if they have something of izroulian origin then that's a dead giveaway they're merfolk" Aries said.

"It's a stretch but at least it's something" Icarus added.

"You guys have lived here forever, are there any people from your schools or the local area that are like... way too knowledgeable of the seas? Or maybe into mythology or something?"

The girls thought for a moment, trying to figure out any people that could potentially be merfolk in disguise.

"I mean the owner of the surf school is pretty ocean savvy, but he's in the water every day and no tail" Icarus said.

"Oh you mean break? My dad used to work with him. Can confirm he's a fish enthusiast but not a merman" Pandora replied.

It was silent again for a moment, the girls digging their memories up to try and come up with something.

"I mean point break is literally a bay town. So we're all beach dwellers so pretty much everyone has some kind of ocean interest, and pretty much everyone has been in the water with no tail to speak of" Icarus said.

"Yeah that's the problem, a bayside town is perfect for a merperson but also perfect for fishers, surfers, divers... it's kinda hard to spot anyone that DOESNT like the water around here" Aries replied.

The blue-green, pink and purple of their tails dipped in the water glistened in the sunlight as they gazed down at their fins desperately racking their brains for some kind of memory or theory. Something, anything.

Pandora being the daughter of a fisher and river couple had been in and around the water as well as the people that worked with it her whole life, and even she couldn't think of anyone. The only thing that came to mind, was a distant memory of an old classmate.

"I mean I knew a kid in primary school that was obsessed with the ocean and always did show and tell on shells he'd found but I think most kids around here went through a phase like that" Pandora said.

"Who? What high-school did they go to?" Icarus asked.

"His name was Zagreus and I have no idea where he is now. I just remember him because he bought a whole ass conch shell to show and tell once, the thing was huge"

Aries suddenly perked up, sensing a potential clue.

"Woah wait- Zagreus?" Aries asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"That's a Greek mythology name. Zagreus was the son of hades... and apart from us who else has a Greek mythology name around here?"

They all looked at each other, things suddenly clicking into place.

"We are the only ones around here with Greek mythology names... Icarus from Icarus flying too close to the sun, Pandora for Pandora's box and Aries the god of war and zodiac sign" Icarus pondered.

"You really think the fourth could be him? Just because we all have mythology names?" Pandora asked.

"I mean it's all we got going for us. Plus Greek mythology names are common in Izroulia but not the human realm, it's a stretch but maybe..." Aries explained.

They'd not met a single other human on the coast that had a name from Greek mythology. While it wasn't unheard of for a human to have a mythology based name, it wasn't as common as a run of the mill name. And even then, usually they'd be a more common name from mythology. Zagreus was a rather uncommon one, you'd have to be really into mythology to know who he was.

"Well I have no idea where he went after primary school, and he's not at my high school so either he's at sunswell, he's moved or he's homeschooled" Pandora said.

"I'll ask around at sunswell and see if anyone knows a Zagreus, we can also look around the local area for any names on things like sign up sheets or newspaper articles" Icarus explained.

"Well, keep an eye and ear out for a Zagreus from now on. In the meantime, Icarus don't you have dogs to walk soon?" Aries said.

"Shit! I almost forgot about dude! Later" she replied, slipping into the water and quickly swimming off.

Pandora watched her leave in confusion as she duck dived back under water and flicked her tail, she turned to Aries.

"Someone named their dog dude?" She asked.

"Surfers" Aries simply stated.

"Ah- of course"