Zac and his mermaids friends entered Rikki's and sat down. They had to push two tables together to they could all sit as one. Everyone grabbed a menu and began to read.

"Lobster!!" Nixie grinned, her eyes shining when she read the menu.

"You nearly threw up in my Mum's car," Zac laughed. "I think you shouldn't have something quite as big."

Nixie groaned, and rolled her eyes.

Everyone eventually decided on what to order: they decided to buy the Sea Food Platter Special, which included a range of different sea foods made to fit the needs of everyone's taste buds. It even included lobster, which Nixie was pleased about. They all picked out a drink, too.

A girl with pale blonde hair came up to them with a notepad and pen and asked them for their order.

"Are you new in town?" She asked them.

"Yeah we are," Zac nodded.

The girl smiled. "I thought so, I don't think I've ever seen you before, and everyone comes to my café!"

"Your café?" Ondina asked. "So you're Rikki?"

Rikki smiled. "That's me!" Rikki pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and placed it on the table in front of them. "If you're not too busy, you should, totally, come back here tonight. We're have a live band perform with new songs!"

"We might check it out," Lyla said. "Though we are a little bit busy later on."

"Well, come if you can, all drinks and food are half price tonight!"

"We'll see, thank you," Mimmi nodded.

"Are you thinking about hiring new singers?" Sirena asked.

"The band already has a singer, my friend called Bella. But I'm sure if you want they would audition you," Rikki shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not really a singer."

"I'm with you there," Nixie said, nodding at Rikki.

They watched Rikki go back around the counter. "Sophie, one sea food special for table four!"

"I'm on it," Sophie, a girl with bright orange dyed hair responded.

"Emma, here's the drinks they ordered," Rikki passed Emma the notebook with the order.

"It's strange, looking in here and not seeing David," Sirena sighed.

"Or Carly," Evie agreed.

"Or Cam," Zac looked down.

"This isn't the time to mope about," Ondina whispered, leaning across the table. "We need to find ourselves a couple of human mermaids before the next full moon."

"I agree," Lyla said. "We gave to stop Erik as quickly as we can."

"The next full moon is weeks away," Nixie reminded them.

"And just think of how many more moon ring Erik could have taken by then," Mimmi said.

"Well, we'll eat dinner, and then look," Zac said.

"But how do we do that?" Evie asked.

"Is there anything of Rita's we could use?" Sirena asked Mimmi.

"There's a truth potion, a sleeping potion, an ill potion, a memory loss potion-" Mimmi began counting the potions on her fingers.

"Why don't you tell us your life story while you're at it?!" Nixie muttered. She turned to face the counter. "I wonder when my lobster is coming?"

"Don't take it personally," Lyla nudged Mimmi. "Nixie gets cranky when she's hungry."

About ten minutes later, Emma, the waitress, brought all their drinks.

"Sorry for the long wait," she said as she moved the drinks from the tray to the table.

"It's no problem," Zac nodded, picking up the darkest red drink and taking a sip through the straw. Thankfully, none of the glasses were wet, so the mermaids were able to pick them up easily.

A few minutes later their sea food platter was in the centre of the tables. Everyone was picking out their favourite parts and munching away happily.

"So," Lyla quickly finished of her mouthful. "How are we going to find ourselves some mermaids?"

"We'll have to be quick," Ondina added. "Even though we have ages until the next full moon, we had better get it done as quickly as possible. If Erik has been taking our moon rings, just think how many moon stones he could be taking from the mermaids in the Pod!"

Evie raised her eyebrows. "But won't they be safe if they've traveled to different parts of the ocean?"

Sirena shrugged. "We can't be too sure."

"We'll be as quick as we can," Zac nodded. "The quicker we find them, the better."

"Yeah, but how?" Lyla said.

"Shall we throw water on every single girl we come across?"Nixie joked.

"That actually isn't a bad idea," Sirena said, smiling slightly.

"I might be able to conjure up a potion," Mimmi said. "One that might help us spot a mermaid or two."

"How long will it take to make?" Evie asked.

"That depends," Mimmi said, reaching out for more shrimp.

Just then a girl with honey coloured hair cane up to their table. It was Bella.

"Hi," Bella said, panting slightly. "Is it okay if I just borrow one of your menu's? I've been singing all day and I need a drink."

"That's no problem," Zac said, holding his arm out to the menu's, all pilled up next to the drinks.

"Thank you!" Bella smiled, and she grabbed the top menu. However, the menu was underneath one of the cups, still half full of juice. The cup tipped over, but all the mermaids and Zac managed to move out of its way.

All the mermaids, except Sirena...

The cup fell over, and the juice poured out, spilling all over her dress. Sirena immediately pushed her chair back and stood up, her arms spread out, as she looked at her top. Then Sirena looked at everyone else we, who was looking back at her, all worried.

"I am so sorry!!" Bella said, in a panicked tone. "I'll buy you another drink!"

"What's going on?" Rikki asked, coming over to the table.

"Nothing," Sirena said. I just need to- excuse me, " she quickly pushed past Rikki and Bella, who watched her, extremely confused. Rikki and Bella looked at each other.

Sirena rushed into Rikki's office, which thankfully, was empty. Sirena shut the door behind her, and just in time as her tail appeared, replacing her legs.

Sirena sighed. Her hair was now also wet, and her skin was slightly damp too. Sirena flipped over onto her back, looking up at the ceiling.

Just then she heard someone walking up to the room. Sirena looked at the door, her eyes wide. She quickly held up her right hand by her right shoulder. She clenched her fist and drew her hand across her stomach to her left side. This gave her the power to turn invisible for a short amount of time.

The door opened and Sirena saw Rikki come in the room. Rikki was three steps away from tripping over Sirena. Sirena could feel her heart pumping quickly. She held her breath.

"Hello?" Rikki said. She looked around the room, before shrugging and then leaving, closing the door behind her.

Sirena unclenched her fist, making herself visible again. She pushed herself into a sitting position with her left hand, and held her right hand over her tail. She clenched her fist, which made her tail steam, as her tail began to dry.

Just then the door opened, and Sirena didn't have time to turn herself invisible. Sirena watched, completely filled with fear. But she breathed a huge sigh of relief when Ondina entered the room.

"Are you okay?" Ondina asked, closing the door and pressing her back against it.

Sirena nodded, continuing to steam dry her tail. "Yes."

"Well, you'd better get rid of your tail quickly," Ondina said, sliding down the door. "Once you're ready were leaving. Those girls - Rikki and Bella I think their names are - they're getting very suspicious. They've been asking us several questions. Lyla is on the other side of the office, making sure no one comes into the office."

"Yeah, the paler girl came in here a second ago, looking for me," Sirena said. "But she didn't see me!" Sirena added, when Ondina's eyes widened with horror.

Ondina sat down and clenched her fist over Sirena's tail. Sirena smiled as her tail began to steam even quicker. Ten seconds had passed, and Sirena's tail had disappeared, and was replaced with her legs.

"Let's go," Ondina stood up, and held out her hands. Sirena grabbed Ondina's hands and Ondina pulled her up.

"Let's get out of here," Ondina said, and Sirena nodded.

They left the office and, with Lyla, ran back to Zac and the others at the table.

"Are you okay?" Evie asked.

Sirena nodded. "I'm fine, let's just go."

"Let's go back to the car," Mimmi said. "I'll have a look through Rita's potions. It's a shame she she didn't give me one of her spell books, though."

"Yeah, it's a shame," Nixie said, slighting on the sarcastic side. "Now let's get a move on."

"Are you okay?" Rikki came up to Sirena, Bella behind her. "We're so sorry about your dress, the café will take full responsibility, and we'll pay for you to get a new- " Rikki slowly trailed off, looking at Sirena. "-your shirt... There's no juice stain... Why is that?"

Sirena paused for a moment, completely speechless.

"We washed it," Ondina replied, as if it was obvious.

"Really?" Rikki asked. "I didn't see you go into the restroom. I thought I saw you go into my office?"

"You must have seen wrong," Lyla said.

"Sorry, but we have to go," Evie and Zac said.

Everyone turned to leave the café, but then Nixie shouted: "Wait!!"

Everyone turned attend in panic, looking at Nixie. She grabbed a napkin and immediately began picking up the food from their sea platter and putting it in the napkin.

"Nixie, we haven't got time for this!!" Ondina cried.

Nixie looked up, clearly offended. "You haven't got time for food?"

"Nixie, hurry up," Sirena pleaded.

"I am not letting good food go to waste," Nixie responded. She filled the napkin with sea food, tied the napkin so the food wouldn't fall out, and then followed her friends out of the café and back to Zac's mother's car.

Meanwhile, back in the café, Cleo, who had been sat down on the corner, stood up.

"What was that all about?" Cleo asked, walking up to Rikki, as she had seen what had just happened.

"I have no idea," Rikki responded. "But there's something...odd about those girls..."