Chapter 3.

Zac sped through the waves. He got out of the water at the first empty place he found, dried himself and hurried to the café. He ran inside looking around. He noticed one of the blond girls was on stage singing and moved his eyes around the tables until he finally spotted Lyla and ran to her.

"We have to find Nixie and Serena. Now." He whispered in her ear.

She quickly stood up and followed him outside.

"What happened?" She asked him.

"The girl I had to follow went to the moon pool and found the stone from the trident. She leaned to touch it, but the crystal necklace she's wearing made a connection with it and the light from the stone pierced her and she fell down unconscious. I think we need the moon rings to help her the way Rita, Nixie and Serena used them to help you."

"Where is she now?" Lyla asked her eyes wide open in shock.

"Still there."

"At the moon pool?" She asked him stunned.

"Yeah and we need to find the others quick, because..."

"Damn." Lyla said.

"What?" He asked her.

"The girl I am supposed to follow had talked on the phone with her friends earlier and they're meeting at the moon pool after she finishes here."

"Crap." Zac said, then grabbed Lyla's hand. "Come on, we've got to find the others!"

And they started running until they collapsed with someone, causing them falling on the ground along with the other person.

"You should watch where you're going!" A girl's voice said bitterly.

They both looked at the girl and realized it was the tan-skinned brunette that was in the moon pool with the blonds.

"Sorry." Zac muttered and quickly stood up helping Lyla to stand up.

The other girl stood up, brushed her clothes and walked away. Lyla looked after her and then turned around just in time before she ran straight at Serena.

"Serena, thank god we found you, we've got a problem." Zac told her. "We need to find Nixie!"

"Why, what's going on?" She asked, but Lyla shook her head.

"We'll tell you everything, but now we need Nixie!"

"The girl I'm following - Cleo, she went to her friend's house this morning. Her friend is the girl Nixie is supposed to be following, so I assume she's there."

"Do you remember the way?" Zac asked her.

"I think so."

"What are we waiting for then?!" Lyla said and they hurried with Serena in front of them.

They quickly reached their destination.

"Ok, now what?" Lyla asked.

"What do you mean?" Zac looked at her puzzled.

"Well, we can't just walk in, can we?"

"Maybe we can wait for the girl to come out. Nixie will follow her and when she sees us she'll show up."

"We can't just wait!" Zac said and he quickly told Serena what's the rush was about.

Serena's eyes went wide open.

"And you left her there?"

"Now it's not the time, Serena." Lyla told her. "We've got to figure a way how to..."

But she was interrupted when the door of the house opened. The blond girl walked away, holding her phone with one hand and looking a bit annoyed.

"Come on, Rikki, turn it on!", they heard her murmur while walking past them.

Suddenly a figure appeared right next to Lyla.

"Nixie, thank god, we were looking for you!"

"You were? Why?"

"We need your help." Serena said.

"We'll explain everything in the moon pool!" Zac told her and motioned to the ocean.

They ran to the nearest beach and dived in, heading straight to the moon pool. When they surfaced, they hurried out of the water and Zac and Lyla quickly dried all of them.

Zac quickly ran to Rikki and put two fingers on her throat.

"There's a pulse. It's weak, but it's still there. We've got to help her quick!"

He moved away and the three girls pointed their moon rings towards Rikki and focused on the healing process. Rikki's face started glowing until suddenly the crystal necklace started absorbing the energy from the moon rings.

"Stop!" Zac shouted to the girls and they moved their hands away.

They all looked shocked at each other.

"That necklace of hers." Nixie said. "He's too powerful."

Zac nodded.

"Earlier while I was following her, she hid behind a tree and her necklace leaned forward, straight towards me. I wanted to get close to take a look at it when I suddenly felt weak, like all my strength was being sucked up."

"Ok, so we need to get the necklace off her in order to save her." Sirena said. "The question is how?"

"Maybe we can..." Zac started when suddenly they heard a noise of someone falling down and a male's voice echoed in the cave.

"Girls? Girls are you there yet?"

Zac, Lyla, Nixie and Serena quickly made themselves invisible, just when a blond boy, one of the boyfriends of the other mermaids, entered the cave from behind them. He looked around and he spotted Rikki lying unconscious on the ground.

"Rikki?" He shouted and ran to her, kneeling down. "Rikki, can you hear me?"

He lifted her, but her head lolled on one side, swaying slightly. He took her in his arms and looked around wondering what to do when a head popped up in the pool.

"Lewis?"

He spun around.

"Cleo?! Thank goodness, I need your help!"

She saw her best friend's unconscious body in the arms of her boyfriend and her eyes widened in terror.

"Rikki?! Lewis what happened to her?"

"I have no idea, I found here like this when I came here a few minutes ago."

Cleo started pulling herself out of the water. Lewis put Rikki gently on the ground and went to Cleo.

"Here, let me help you." And with some effort he helped her out.

She tried to move to get closer to Rikki. Lewis understood and took Rikki's body in his hands again to get her closer to Cleo, careful for Rikki not to get wet.

"Rikki! Rikki, please, open your eyes!" Cleo begged, tears running down her cheeks.

"We have to get Emma, Bella and the boys." Lewis said.

As if on cue Emma and Bella's heads popped on the surface. Their eyes widened because of the scene before them.

"What's going on?" Bella asked her voice choked.

"I found Rikki here unconscious and after that Cleo came. We need to get Will and Ash so we can get together and decide how to help her." Lewis quickly explained.

"Ok, I'll go get them." Bella nodded.

"And what about Zane?" Emma asked before the other blond could dive in.

Bella looked at them expectantly. Lewis hesitated for a second.

"Fine, get him too."

Bella dove in and Emma swam to the edge.

"Help me." She stretched her hand to Lewis.

He pulled her out of the water. Finally, after some time Cleo dried off completely and her tail disappeared. Now she could move freely, she took Rikki's head in her lap. Her tears were falling down Rikki's cheeks.

"Rikki, please wake up." She said, gently fondling her curly hair..

Emma could just sit down and watch helpless, because she was still wet. They stood there, Cleo's sobbing the only thing breaking the silence. Finally Bella came back.

"They're coming." She stated, before Lewis rushed to help her out, just when Emma's tail disappeared.

Emma sat down next to Cleo and hugged her.

"Shh, everything will be alright, she'll be alright." She whispered to her friend, but her eyes were also wet.

Just when the last drop on Bella's tail disappeared and she transformed back to normal, Zane, Will and Ash rushed into the cave.

"What happened?" Was the only thing Zane asked before rushing to Rikki's side, gently fondling her face.

Lewis told them what he knew.

"I was in my boat, fishing, when I saw some strange light coming out of Mako. It wasted only a couple of seconds, but it was very bright. Anyway, I entered the cave and..."

"And?" Cleo insisted in-between the tears.

Lewis hesitated. Should he tell them about the voices he heard? Still, what was the point? They'd never believe him. He shook his head off that thought.

"And I found Rikki unconscious." He finished.

"And that was it?" Will asked him.

Lewis nodded.

"Pretty much." He shrugged. "Then Cleo came, followed by Emma and Bella. I asked Bella to go look for you three and here you are."

"Ok, so how are we going to help her?" Zane asked them, worry clearly audible in his voice.

"That I don't know." Lewis answered him.

"Lewis, tell me you have a theory, you always have theory." Cleo begged him.

He didn't respond. Will looked around the cave and something caught his attention.

"What is that?" He was pointing at the stone from the trident.

Bella moved towards it, but Lewis grabbed her hand.

"Don't! It might be dangerous!"

She only gave him a look, but didn't say anything. However Zane rushed past them. He bent over it, and his fingers curled around the cold stone. Almost immediately he felt some strange power rushing through his veins all over his body. For a moment, just a single moment, he felt invincible.

"Wow." He said only.

The others gave him concerned looks.

"What is it?" Lewis asked.

"This thing's really powerful." Zane answered. "I can feel it."

"You shouldn't have touched it. We don't know what it is and what it can do." Ash shook his head.

"Do you think Rikki may've touched it?" Emma asked.

"She could have." Lewis answered.

Zane walked closer to them and as if on cue, the crystal necklaces started glowing. Cleo's eyes widened as well as Emma's and Bella's.

"Get back." Will shouted to Zane. "Quick! Get back!"

He obeyed and made a few steps back. The necklaces stopped glowing, returning to their previous state.

"That thing really is powerful." Lewis said.

The scientist in him started waking up again.

"You know what? Let's go to the café. I'll take the stone to make some tests, and we'll try to figure out a way to help Rikki." He suggested and everybody nodded.

Lewis stretched his hand to Zane and he reluctantly gave him the stone.

"Do you feel it?" Zane asked him curiously.

"Feel what?" Lewis looked at him confused.

"It's power." Zane said. "Do you feel it rushing through your veins and all over your body?"

The blond shook his head.

"I don't feel anything beside the sense of a cold stone in my hand."

The other boy didn't respond.

"I think we should go now." Ash said.

Everybody nodded. Zane took Rikki in his arms and he and the boys walked out followed by the sound of the girls diving in.

Making sure they're all alone, Zac and the three girls reappeared.

"Now what?" Lyla asked.

"What do you mean "now what"?!" Nixie said. "We can't do anything. Those friends of hers will help her."

"Nixie, you know we are the only ones who can help her!" Serena reminded her.

"We don't know that for sure." The other girl said stubbornly.

"We can't leave that girl die!" Zac interrupted them. "It's our fault what happened to her and we have to help her."

"Excuse me, but how is it our fault?" Lyla shot at him.

"We left that stone here. We never thought someone might come here and find it."

"Yeah, but we didn't make her touch it, right?!" Lyla said bitterly.

"She didn't touch it." Zac protested. "She leaned down, and her crystal necklace made a connection with it and the light that burst out hit her."

He turned his back to the three girls and buried his face into his hands sighing.

"I think there's only one thing we can do." He said with his back still turned to them.

"And what's that?"

"We have to reveal ourselves to them." He turned his head to look at them.

"No way." Nixie cut him off. "That's never going to happen."

"This is the only way to save her and you know it." Zac protested, turning his head around, again.

"Do you have feelings for her?"

Zac spun around in a heartbeat.

"What?"

"Do you have feelings for that girl?" Lyla asked again, her eyes looking straight into his.

"Of course not. What kind of a question is that?!" He said, but he noticed her body relaxed a bit.

"Sorry, I just had to ask." Lyla said a-matter-of-factly.

"Let's go back to the café and see what's going on." Serena suggested. "They may have succeeded to help her." She didn't sound so sure at all, but tried to hope for the best.

"Ok." Lyla sighed and they all looked at each other. "We can get something to eat too. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

"Yeah, me too." Nixie nodded.

The four of them dived in heading to "Rikki's" café. They all had their doubts about what was the right thing to do and they all hoped they wouldn't have to reveal themselves.