Chapter Text
Harrison, with his son’s words echoing in his mind, comes to a decision. “I’m pulling out,” he tells Denman.
“Well, if you do that, you won’t be getting any royalties from the mermaid research,” she says matter-of-factly.
“I don’t care!” Harrison asserts.
“But you’ve seen these girls; their powers are incredible,” she says, trying to reason with the man. As she does so, she walks around the deck in search of her laptop. Denman then sports a growing expression of worry.
“I have seen those things, but I’ve been blind to other, more important things. My son, for example,” he says with finality in his tone. Denman starts to look apprehensive, not only at his words but also at the fact that she has not been able to find any of the things that she is looking for — not her laptop or her drives.
“I think my energies are better spent putting things right,” Harrison finishes.
Denman no longer has her focus on Harrison. She calls for her men, exclaiming that there is no sight of her laptop or flash drives. ‘How could I have not checked already?’ She starts frantically looking now, yelling at her men to search the entire boat.
“I’ve found something!” one exclaims. He is pulling a rope that's strewn on a ledge, and at the end of it is her laptop.
“How could this have happened?!” She exclaims, turning her frustration towards Harrison. “You! Did you do this to sabotage us now?” She questions the man.
Harrison looks startled at the questioning, “No – I took no part in this,” Harrison goes to explain before getting cut off by the sonar beeping.
“Three objects. Moving fast,” Denman’s grunt says.
She looks at the grunt and then Harrison, “I’ll deal with you later,” she says. “They’re heading for Mako Island. Get him out of here! Let’s move,” she orders.
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“I much prefer swimming in,” Cleo says as she and the girls enter the moon pool from the land entrance.
“And if Denman had set more traps underwater?” Rikki questions, always one to voice her thoughts.
“Looks like she’s given up,” Cleo says, observing the lack of people in the cave.
“She’s not the type. Come on,” Emma answers, always the voice of reason.
The three girls walk together in silence to the edge of the moon pool. All with their own thoughts on this ordeal. Cleo looks up at the mouth of the volcano, seeing the moon start to peek out.
“The moon’s nearly overhead,” Emma voices.
Rikki looks down as the rays start to hit the pool. “I almost feel a little bad.
“How come?” Emma questions surprised that Rikki would make such a statement.
“That mermaid. Do you think she’s been alone all this time?” Rikki continues.
Cleo picks up on the train of thought, “She’s right. We’ll lose our tails and become normal again, and she’ll be all alone again,” Cleo finishes solemnly.
“It’s out of our hands, but I get what you mean,” Emma says with a defeated tone. “It’s funny. I thought this would last forever,” she continues.
The girls look at each other with finality in their eyes and reach out their hands, binding them together.
“What’ll you miss most?” Rikki questions the girls, her eyes fixed on the moon pool.
“I’ll miss surfing without a board,” Emma answers with a smile, thinking of all her memories as a mermaid.
“I’ll miss how I could make water do anything I wanted,” Cleo adds, reminiscing on when she first found out her power. How she protected herself with it. “That was great.”
“I’ll miss how cool it all was,” Rikki says, nodding her head a little. She locks eyes with Cleo as the pool starts to bubble. Then their expressions change to apprehension.
“Is that supposed to happen?” Cleo says to Emma. Rikki frowns as Denman comes up from the moon pool. Cleo, Emma, and Rikki quickly back up as more people enter from the water.
“Stay right where you are,” Denman orders. “We don’t wanna have to hurt you,” she says with her hands coming up and using a placating tone.
“I wish we could say the same,” Rikki says with a fierce look in her eyes. She and the girls get into position with Cleo using her power first. Denman looks at the pool with disbelief as a tendril of water rises. Cleo shoots the tendril at one of the grunts, splashing him with the jet of water. He falls into a heap on the sandy floor. The girls turn toward the second grunt as he heaves onto the floor from the pool. All have icy expressions during the fight. He runs towards them, Emma raises her hand and freezes his soaked wet suit, leaving him a statue trapped in his own clothes. Then they turn to Denman, all raising their hands in threat.
All are unaware of the spectator hiding in the entrance of the moon pool.
‘You go, girls!’ Nerissa watches on in excitement. ‘This is so much better live than on TV.’ Nerissa enjoys watching the scared look on Denman’s face as she is being threatened by the three mermaids. She just wishes she had some popcorn to eat while the fight scene goes on.
“Enough!” Denman exclaims, raising her hands in submission. “OK? I want you girls to consider an offer–.”
“It’s too late,” Emma cuts in. Her steely expression was enough to freeze the woman in her tracks. Her and the girls all lower their hands and look towards the moon pool as the moon centers overhead.
The bubbling water no longer seemed welcoming.
The figure watching them hid themselves deeper so as to not be seen.
Denman looks on in confused wonder at the new scene she is witnessing.
“It’s time,” Emma tells Rikki and Cleo. Both steel themselves at her words. “We’re giving up our powers,” she tells Denman angrily, expressing how it was all Denman's fault that this had to happen at all.
“When we enter the water, we’ll be giving up everything,” Rikki explains to Denman, voice devoid of emotion.
“But why would you give up being mermaids?” Denman questions incredulously.
“Because of people like you,” Cleo answers. Her tone is one of accusation.
“There will always be people like you trying to exploit us,” Emma continues. “The only thing left to do is to give this all up,” she says in finality.
Denman shakes her head in disbelief, “No, you can’t–”
“Yes, we can,” Cleo says.
“Please. If we worked together,” Denman tries to reason.
‘Is this lady serious?’ Nerissa thinks in disbelief.
“Not interested,” Rikki says with a shake of her head. She and Cleo look at Emma in confirmation.
The three mermaids, hands interlocked, stride forward and plunge into the moon pool. Denman witnesses in shock as their mermaid tails vanish, slipping away like water through her fingers. Their aquatic transformation is complete, the girls resurface, now clad in their regular clothes.
As Emma and Cleo ascend to the surface, Rikki catches sight of Nerissa, the observer. A subtle shushing motion and a wink from Nerissa guide Rikki to maintain secrecy. Rikki, donning a poker face, discreetly rejoins Emma and Cleo.
“It’s over. Why don’t you just go home?” Emma confronts Denman with visible anger before departing with Cleo and Rikki, leaving Denman to ponder her actions.
While leaving, Rikki pulls Emma and Cleo aside. “She was there, watching everything the whole time,” she whispers, dropping a bombshell that momentarily lifts the weight of sadness from their shoulders.
“She was there the whole time?” Cleo questions in disbelief
“It was smart not to expose herself, though,” Emma reflects. “Think about it; Denman would have shifted her focus, and everything would start over again.”
Silence envelops the trio as they contemplate the revelation on their way back to the mainland.
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On the beach, Zane and Rikki stroll along the shore.
“I wanted to thank you for helping us,” Rikki expresses her gratitude to Zane.
“It’s the least I could do under the circumstances,” Zane responds nonchalantly.
Pausing briefly, Zane breaks the silence. “It’s over, isn’t it?” he asks Rikki tentatively.
“Well, this doesn’t really feel like a relationship that’s going anywhere, does it?” Rikki accuses.
“No. And that’s another thing I’m sorry about,” Zane sincerely apologizes.
“It’s not your fault. I think we’re just… too different,” Rikki acknowledges.
“Maybe,” Zane smirks.
As a car pulls up, Zane waves to his father, and they exchange smiles. Observing the interaction, Rikki remarks, “You’re speaking to your dad again, I see?”
“Yeah,” Zane grins. “He’s making an effort and… so am I.”
“New beginnings all around?” Rikki suggests, sharing a smile.
“Looks like it,” Zane agrees. “Friends?” he proposes, extending his hand.
Rikki shakes his hand, nodding. “Friends.”
Zane walks off, leaving Rikki to join his father.
Rikki smiles as they go. When they’re finally gone she walks off too. Finding an area to go in the water. As she takes off her shoes, she walks to the water. As a human. The water cascades across her feet enveloping them, she smiles all the while. Then she startles as she is transformed into water, and thus, turning into a mermaid. Rikki is suspended for a moment in disbelief before she suddenly flops into the water.
“Whoa!” Rikki exclaims on the way down. She’s barely given a moment to think as she startles at a new voice.
“Well, that's a compromising place to transform into a mermaid,” the voice remarks sarcastically. Rikki, in disbelief and horror, faces Nerissa. “Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. Hiya! The name's Nerissa and I’m a mermaid too, so no need to worry your pretty head,” Nerissa joyfully announces.
Rikki just looks at the girl with a WTF expression on her face.
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Meanwhile, Cleo transforms unexpectedly while in the bath. Perplexed, she gazes at her tail in utter confusion. The two girls reunite and discover Emma transformed in her pool.
“The same thing happened to us. We came to warn you,” Cleo informs Emma.
“But Miss Chatham was really clear. We gave away our powers,” Emma insists, still struggling to accept their continued mermaid status.
Lewis interjects, “Only for twelve hours,” explaining the temporary nature of their transformation during a lunar eclipse.
“She didn’t say that,” Emma protests.
“She did to me,” Lewis reveals, adding a touch of humor. Unaware of the building tension, he narrates, “She said that if you guys believed your powers were gone forever, so too would Dr. Denman. It’s funny 'cause she told me not to tell you,” he laughs.
Facing Lewis's bewildered friends, Rikki breaks the silence, unintentionally saving Lewis from impending waterboarding. “When I transformed, I met her—the other mermaid. She said her name is Nerissa,” Rikki discloses.
Cleo reacts with disbelief, “What?! You never told me that!”
“What happened? What did she do? What did she say??” Emma unleashes a barrage of questions on this new development with wide eyes.
“Do you know where she went?” Lewis adds in just as shocked as the other two.
“Well here's the thing. She introduced herself when I had just found out I was still a mermaid. And after that, she dropped this bag filled with flash drives. Told me to give them to Lewis,” Rikki finishes retelling the story just as confused as her comrades. Rikki hands the bag over to Lewis. Lewis sports a confused expression but takes the bag, nevertheless.
“I’ll check these out as soon as I get home, but why would she give us flash drives?” Lewis questions with a shrug.
The group is then filled with silence. Cleo is the one to break it.
“Nerissa, huh? That’s a pretty name,” Cleo says. “I hope we get to meet her too. Since we’re still mermaids then maybe she can join our group!” Cleo adds giddily at the prospect of a new member to the crew.
“What if she’s not a good person Cleo? We know nothing about her,” Emma scolds her friend's naivety. “Plus, she was no help with the Denman fight. Even if she was watching us, it’s still odd. She’s too unpredictable,” Emma says, contradicting her past statement.
“Well, Emma don’t forget how she helped free you guys when you were trapped at Mako. That means she’s a good person, no?” Lewis adds in. He can’t help defending the poor girl since she isn’t even here to defend herself.
“Well, that’s the thing, there’s too many unknowns. We just can’t know for sure,” Emma tells her group. After this ordeal, she is keen on protecting her friends more than ever.