Sitting at the waters edge, Pandora looks through an address book as Icarus walks up to her.

"Hey how was school?" She asks.

"Boring, any leads?" Pandora replies.

"Nope, no one knows a Zagreus. Guess if it's been like 7 years they might have forgotten though"

Icarus sits next to Pandora and looks over her shoulder at the address book.

"What's with all this?" She asks.

"It's my mums address book. I was hoping maybe she'd have Zagreus' parents number from primary school or something but can't find anything" Pandora replies, putting the book back in her bag.

"Well that's frustrating..."

Popping out of the water by the jetty they sit on, Aries appears.

"Ahoy h-2-hoes" they joke.

"Hey, any luck?" Icarus asked.

"I haven't seen the name Zagreus anywhere today. Checked phone books, sign up sheets and everything" Aries replied.

"Well... we're a bit lost then aren't we?" Pandora sighs.

Aries pulls them self up onto the jetty and sits beside the other two, tail up on the wood out of the water to dry off.

"Careful, you'll get spotted" Icarus warns.

"Around here? Nah. Only surfers with a death wish brave these waters. Too many rocks underneath"

"How are we even going to find this guy? We've tried everything at this point. What if he's not even in the area anymore?" Pandora asked.

There's a moment of silence as they all try and think of a solution. Pandora was the only one who knew him, so she was the only hope.

"Pandora do you remember ANYTHING else about him from primary school?" Icarus asked.

"Only that he collected shells... and he lived on the coast. He bought a trophy to show and tell once... but that probably won't help things" Pandora replies.

"Wait no, it might. What was the trophy for?" Aries replied.

"Umm... sport or something? It was years ago I don't really remember..."

"Well there's three sport clubs nearby. Surfing, kite boarding and beach volleyball. Icarus would know if he was in volleyball since she does it every summer. So surfing or kite boarding... at that age he probably wouldn't be transformed yet so he could definitely have done water sports" Aries replied.

"My dad caters fish and chips for the surf comps, and I've never seen the name Zagreus at one before. So must be kite boarding"

Dry enough to transform back, Aries' tail disappears and they stand up along with the rest of the group.

"Well we can try and see if that trophy is at the kite boarding club, or ask one of the members if a Zagreus used to attend" Aries suggested.

"Worth a shot I guess" Pandora replied, swinging her bag onto her shoulder.

"Can we get drinks first? I'm thirsty" Icarus adds.

"Fine, you're paying though"

After a quick stop at boost juice for drinks the group walk down to the kite surfing club on the beach and look in the windows for anyone around. The club was open most days of the week, but the trio weren't aware of the opening hours or schedule so they were walking in blind here.

"It's empty" Pandora sighs.

"Is it even open?" Icarus asks.

Behind them a man holding some beach gear approaches them, and catches them off guard when he speaks up.

"Can I help you guys?"

Startled they turn to face the voice, and Pandora takes the wheel.

"You work here?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm an instructor. We're closed at the moment but if it's something quick I might be able to help" he replied.

"Oh it's just... ok this might seem a bit weird but I went to primary school with someone who used to kite board and I was just wondering if they're still around. Been looking for them everywhere, you know a Zagreus?" Pandora explained.

"Zag? Yeah I know him. He won a bunch of junior comps a few years back but some health problems came up and he had to stop boarding. Sad really, he was real good at it"

The group perked up, finally getting somewhere on their hunt.

"Do you know where he lives or how to contact him?" Icarus asked.

"Not really, but he does roam this beach sometimes. I run into him every so often, if I see him I'll tell him you're looking for him" the instructor said.

"Thank you much we've been looking everywhere, tell him Pandora from primary school is looking for him and hopefully he'll remember me" Pandora replied.

"You were a prefect in year 6, I'm pretty sure he'll remember the kid who did lunch order runs for the class" Aries joked.

"Alright, I'll pass it on if I see him" the instructor replied.

"Thank you so much, it's a major help" Pandora replied.

"Ah it's fine, don't mention it" he said, going to unlock the building to put his stuff away.

And with the encounter over, the group walked back up the beach and along the path relived. Finally another lead, they hoped that the instructor could find Zagreus some time soon.

"Well that's promising" Aries said.

"Hopefully it works. If not we at least know where to look for clues" Icarus replied.

"I wonder what he looks like now... I haven't seen him since we were like 11" Pandora pondered.

"I hope he's cute" Icarus joked.

Rolling their eyes Aries and Pandora playfully scoffed and shoved her jokingly.

"You're hopeless!" Pandora laughed.

"Whhaaatt? I hope he's cute!" Icarus laughed back.

A few days pass, and it's now Friday the end of the school week. The group are walking down to the boardwalk to grab some snacks after school. Ic and Pandora with their school bags and Aries with their usual beach gear.

"I'm so going fail this" Icarus whined.

"You'll be fine! You're passing everything else" Pandora replies.

"Yeah but I can't read or spell for shit! Stupid dyslexia makes me fail literally every English test"

"As long as you can reach the word count and get the general point across it'll be enough to pass. Don't stress yourself out over a standard test, it's not like it's finals" Aries adds.

"Yeah but it's our graduating year! I kind of need to pass everything"

"You'll be fine! Just reach the word count and explain in detail. That way you'll have enough to pass even with spelling mistakes and a couple mess ups" Pandora says.

Icarus groans in frustration, hating the idea of an English test.

"Tell you what, let's get some chicko rolls and then go swimming. No need to think about pesky tests" Pandora suggests.

"Yes it's so damn hot, I'm dying of water deprivation" Aries added.

They did just that, wandered down to the boardwalk and to the nearest food stand to grab the iconic Australian chiko rolls. Anyone who's been in Australia more than a day, or anyone who's seen the original puberty blues series knew about the age old popularity of a good old chiko roll.

The blistering heat of the afternoon prompted them to stay under the cover of shaded cafe tables to eat, but it didn't stop them complaining about the sweat and dehydration that had been attacking the coast the past few days. You'd think the sea breeze would keep the area cool, but in Australia, the sea breeze wasn't enough.

They followed up and went right into the water afterwards, the three happily swimming along without a care in the world as they usually did. Taking the normal route to the spirit pool, over the reef, through the rocks and across the open water they relished in the cool water. A very pleasant change from the hot sun. But as they were swimming, they were unaware they were being followed. It wasn't until Aries felt something grab their fluke and they stopped to turn and look did they notice.

When they turned to see what was going on, they were met with none other than the merman they'd been looking for. Attached to a long green tail was a blonde boy with hair down to his shoulders that floated around him in the water. He wore a shell necklace, had green eyes and surprisingly clear skin.

He waved hello, and the three floated there stunned for a moment before all four surfaced the water.

"Looking for me?" Zagreus said, his voice was soft toned.

"My god, you got tall" Pandora replied.

"Likewise. Never thought I'd run into you again, let alone with a tail"

"Never thought you'd be one of us either"

He looked from Pandora who he still recognised despite her now grown up appearance, to the two he didn't quite recognise.

"I know Pandora but I don't know you guys, I'd introduce myself but you already know from hunting me down the last few weeks" Zag said.

"I'm Icarus, I go to sunswell and went to the primary school across the train tracks. That's why we never met" Icarus explained.

"Ah, that makes sense" Zagreus replied.

"I'm Aries, not from around here" Aries introduced.

"Izroulia?"

They were silent for a moment, surprised he knew about the place. Aries looked at the girls then back at Zagreus.

"Well don't you know your merfolk history" they commented.

"As soon as I was old enough to keep the secret my parents told me. The genes come from my mums side and I transformed at 14. They wanted me to have a normal human childhood since we live in the human realm, but here I am" he explained.

So their theory was right, parents of half merfolk children used the pool to transform them when they came of age. It made sense to not transform them young, as kids are clumsy and not that good at keeping secrets.

"So you know about the spirit pool?" Icarus asked.

"Yeah, my family does. I've seen you guys there a few times but I didn't approach just in case it would lead to a leak of the secret, but once I heard you were looking for me I figured you were in on it"

"Well, this certainly makes things easier"

"Swim with us down there and we'll explain everything?" Pandora added.

"Yes please, I've been curious ever since I first saw you guys" zag replied.

"Last one there is ray bait" Aries joked.

That comment was enough to make everyone jump into action and dive back underwater to swim off and make it to the pool first. The first swim with a full pod, they'd finally found Zagreus. Their missing puzzle piece.