Emma, Cleo, Lewis, Rikki, Roman, myself, and Miss Chatham are all sitting on a dock talking. Miss Chatham is saying "Mako Island was here long before all of us. And it'll be here long after we've all gone. And long after this full moon." Cleo says "Oh, yeah. full moon time again." I say "Oh, great. like there isn't enough on our plates." Cleo says "Tonight. is it gonna be as bad as it was last time?" Miss Chatham tells us "The full moon is a powerful force, but this time, however, it's even more so." Emma asks "Really? How do you know?" Miss Chatham says "I know." I whisper to Rikki "I really hate when she speaks in riddles." Rikki chuckles and nods. Lewis says "Not everything can be explained." Roman adds "Some things need to be taken on faith." Miss Chatham smiles at them and says "Right, you are boys." 

~

I sit by a tree, looking out at the ocean by myself. Zane runs up and says "There you are. I have been looking for you everywhere. you are not going to believe this." I pull back from him and say "I don't want to talk to you." he says "Wait, Madi, you're right. wait I said was over the line and I'm sorry. but, there are mermaids. I've seen a photo." I ask confused and panicked "What? What are you talking about, Zane?" he says "a photo. there's more than one of them. out by Mako. One even has a different colored tail." I ask "Where did this photo come from?" Zane says "Dr. Denman. she's got these underwater cameras for counting fish. I was there when she downloaded the big one. look, you can't tell anyone yet. but I had to tell you. isn't it great?" I lie "Yeah, no, that's awesome, Zane. Congrats."

~

I tell the girls we have to meet up and tell them and the boys about the cameras. Lewis asks "There was a camera?" Rikki says "We didn't see it when we were swimming in." Cleo says "It mustn't have been a very good photo. otherwise, they would have recognized it was us." Rikki asks angrily "Are you complaining about it? do you want to write a letter to the manufacturer and get Denman's money back?!" I say "Rikki, stop it!" Emma says "Look, maybe we should talk about this somewhere more private." Lewis' phone goes off and he answers "Lewis McCartney. Oh it's you. Why would you- Can I call you back? Yeah." he hangs up and looks at us. Roman says "This doesn't sound like good news." Lewis says "That was Dr. Denman. She wants to meet me." Roman says "I was right." I punch his shoulder and say "Shut up, Meathead!" he rolls his eyes at me and Cleo says to Lewis "You're not going to go, are you?" Lewis says "Cleo, I don't see why not. I mean what have we got to lose?" Rikki says "You don't have a lot to lose." I add "But we will lose everything." Roman whispers "Wanna bet Lewis comes up with a bad plan next?" I say putting a 50 on the table "You are so on." Lewis says "Maybe, if I talk to her, I can find out what she does know, and what she doesn't know." I groan sliding Roman the 50. Roman smirks taking my money. Rikki says "And maybe she'll play you like a cello." I tell Lewis "it's not an option, Lewis." 

~

we are sitting in Cleo's room discussing Lewis and Dr. Denman. Cleo says "and Lewis can be really gullible sometimes." Emma says "Lewis will be fine, Cleo." I ask "wait, where's Roman?" Rikki says "with Lewis." then Cleo's phone goes off and so does Rikki's. they grab their phones. Cleo says "Lewis just texted me." Rikki says "I got one from Roman." Cleo says "he wants us to meet him and roman at mako island urgently." Rikki says "so does Roman." I ask "what are they doing there?" Emma gets up and says "they're in trouble, I knew it." I scoff and we all follow her. 

~

we go onto the moon pool and when we come up we see no one here. Emma and Cleo call "Lewis? you here?" Rikki yells "Roman!" then Dr. Denman comes out and says "called you could come, girls." we all go to leave but when we get to the underwater exit there are bars blocking us in. the girls shake it but give up going up. I stay and continually try and hit it. Rikki comes back and grabs me bringing me back to the surface. Dr. Denman says "I think it's time we talked, don't you?" I say "let us go, or you'll regret it!" Dr. Denman shakes her head at me. Cleo uses her powers and makes a ball of water. Emma freezes it and they throw it at Dr. Denman. she ducks just in time for it to miss her. she grabs a tablet and says "before you do something you'll regret, you should see this." she shows us a live feed of Lewis and Roman trapped in a room. she says "needless to say, if anything was to happen to me." I cut her off and ask "you kidnapped my brother?" she looks at me scared and Rikki says "Woah! Madi! your eyes!" I shake the weird feeling that came over me and ask "what? what about them?" Emma says "they turned red." I look down feeling embarrassed. Emma yells at Denman "what do you want from us?" then we hear a man yell "Dr. Denman! Dr. Denman!" and in walks Dr. Bennett. Denman says "over here! you're just in time. and so are you, girls. you can meet the man whose been funding this." and then in walks Zane. I look at him angrily and hurt. Dr. Bennett says "extraordinary." Zane sees me and looks at the two doctors and asks "what is this?" he then looks at me and asks "Madi?" 

~

Denman and Dr. Bennett are talking and organizing a bunch of equipment, Zane walks over and stutters "I- this- it's not my fault." Emma says "I wish I could believe that, Zane." I tell him "but she doesn't and neither do I." he bends down and asks "can I please just talk to you, Madi?" Emma looks at me and I nod telling her it's okay. she swims away. he asks "how is this even possible?" I tell him "it's a long story. and one if memory serves right that you don't have the patience to listen to." he says "you could have told me." I scoff and say "No, Zane, that's where you're wrong. you were and always will be the great mermaid hunter. shooting your mouth off about mermaids every chance you got, telling you wasn't an option. I thought we had something, but clearly I was wrong." he says "No, you weren't." we stop talking as someone walks by. once they're gone I say "then do something." he says "I can't it's too late. my dad and Denman won't let this go now. it's out of my hands." I say as a tear starts to fall "Fine. forget it." he says "Madi" I say "Zane, Don't. right now you and all your friends disgust me." I swim away over to Rikki. she wraps me in a hug and asks "you okay?" I shake my head but stay quiet. Zane immediately leaves.

~

about 45 minutes later, Zane comes back and immediately comes up to us. Emma says "we've known each other since we were three years old, Zane. how could you do this?" Zane looks around and then whispers "get ready to leave." I ask "what? what are you talking about?" he smiles at me and says "I care about you, Madi. so get ready to leave." Rikki asks "if this is some trick." he says "No trick. get ready." he backs up and Denman and Dr. Bennett come in. Denman says "ok. who's going to be first?" we all stay quiet. and suddenly we all hear a loud clang. we smile and Denman asks "what was that?" Rikki and I say "that was the sound of goodbye." and we all quickly swim away. 

~

we all run into Emma's and her mom sees us and says "Oh, Emma, you're home. come and see who's here." we all walk further in and see Miss Chatham. Emma says "Miss Chatham." she smiles at us and we all minus Emma's mom head up to Emma's room and Cleo explained on the way up what happened to Miss Chatham. "and if we stayed, we would have." Rikki finishes "we would have been in a circus by now." Emma says "or sushi." Cleo asks "what can we do?" I stay quiet throughout this. Rikki asks "do we have to leave town?" Roman comes and sits beside Rikki wrapping an arm around her. Lewis says "we really got to help them, Miss C." Roman asks "is there anything we can do to help them?" Miss Chatham says "Yes. and you're right. those people are never going to leave you alone." Emma says "so it's hopeless." Rikki says "I don't believe that. if we can fight, we should fight." Miss Chatham says "or maybe you should just give up. your powers that is. and being mermaids." Roman and Lewis ask "they can do that?" Miss Chatham says "only at special times. very special moments. like tonight. as I said, it's not just any full moon." Lewis says "tonight's a lunar eclipse." Miss Chatham says "exactly. the full moon is one thing. but the lunar eclipse makes it very special. if you were in the moon pool during the eclipse, it would draw away your powers." Rikki says "No way. that's not an option. we haven't gone through everything we have just to throw it all away." Miss Chatham says "I understand. but without your powers, you're of no use to those people, are you?" Roman says "she's right, Rikki." Lewis says "you don't have a choice." Emma asks "Madi?" I sigh and say "Miss Chatham is right. I'll see you girls later." I get up and leave. 

~

I walk along the pier with my shoes in my hand as I think about everything I have gone through since I got here. becoming a mermaid, learning about our powers, late night swims, saving turtles, taking pictures of them swimming, the short film contest, every moment with Zane the good and the bad, all the crazy nights with full moon madness, meeting Miss Chatham, Cleo's birthday, getting a singing job at the Café, getting "Sick", the dance, our matching locket's, just everything. it's gonna be hard to say goodbye but it's a Necessary bad to keep us safe. I get a message from the girls to start heading to Mako, so I run to the beach and make my way to Mako Island to give up my powers.

~

we stand outside the moon pool and Cleo says "I much prefer swimming in." Rikki retorts "and if Denman had set more traps underwater?" Cleo says "it looks like she's given up." Emma says "she's not the type. come on." we step closer to the water. we look up and see the moon is starting to rise overhead. Emma says "the moon's nearly overhead." we all stay silent for a moment. Emma says "Funny, eh? I thought this would last forever." we all grab hands as a silent comfort to each other. Rikki asks "what will you miss most?" Emma says "I'll miss surfing with out a board." Cleo says "I'll miss how I could make water do anything I wanted. that was great." they all look at me and I say "I'll miss the mystery of it all." Rikki says "I'll miss how cool it all was." suddenly the water starts to bubble and  Cleo asks "is that supposed to happen?" we back up confused till Denman and her minion come up. Denman says "stay right where you are." they get out of the water and Denman says "we don't want to have to hurt you." Rikki says "I wish we could say the same." Cleo makes a snake out of the water and sprays down one of her minions then another comes out and Emma freezes his chest. we look to Denman and all raise our hands at her and she shouts "enough! Okay? I want you girls to consider an offer." Emma says "it's too late." I say "we've made a decision already." the moon finally reaches overhead and the water starts to bubble. Emma and I say "it's time." we grab hands and start to walk to the water. Emma looks to Denman and says "we're giving our powers up." Rikki explains "when we enter the water, we're giving up everything." Denman asks "but why would you give up being mermaids." Cleo says "because of people like you." I explain "there is always going to be greedy selfish people like you trying to exploit us for our abilities." Emma says "the only thing left to do is to give this all up." Denman says "No, you can't." I say "watch us." Denman begs "please, if we work together." Rikki says "not interested." we jump into the water and the moon starts to work its magic of giving and taking away everything. a tails switch from tails to legs a few times before there is a big flash of light and we stay as humans. the moon passes and we step out. Emma says to Denman "it's over. so, why don't you just go home." and we leave. Cleo and Emma get in Lewis' boat and Rikki and I in Roman's. they sit talking and I stay quiet the ride home. we get home and Roman asks "are you okay?" I turn to him and give a slight nod and go straight to bed. 

~

the next day I decide to meet with Zane. I say as we walk along the beach. "I wanted to thank you for helping us. I truly appreciate it." Zane says "it's the least I could do under the circumstance. it's over, isn't it?" I sigh and say "I don't want to say that but I need some time. after everything that happened. thing's will never be like before." he nods sadly but in an understanding way. we walk up the hill and see Zane's dad pull up with a smile waving Zane over. I look over and see Zane actually happy and say "I see you're speaking to your dad again. how's that going?" he smiles and says "yeah, he's making an effort and so am I." I smile and say "I'm glad." he asks "friends?" I smile and say "Sure. friends." Zane leaves to see his dad. I smile seeing Zane happy with his dad. I wipe the single tear that has fallen down my face and turn to walk away.

~

I get a call from the girls to meet them at Emma's. I head over and see Emma as a mermaid in the pool. I ask "what's going on?" Cleo says "the same thing happened to me and Rikki. we came to warn you two." they look at me and I say "haven't touched water yet today." Emma says "but Miss Chatham was really clear. we gave away our powers." Lewis and Roman say "only for 12 hours." Rikki asks "what do you two mean?" Lewis explains "I- it's temporary." Roman continues "during a lunar eclipse, the moon pool draws away your powers for 12 hours." Emma says "she didn't say that." I ask "yeah, we didn't anyone tell us?" Lewis says "she did to us. she said that if you guys believed that you powers were gone forever, so too would dr. Denman."  we glare at them and Lewis says "it's funny because she told me not to tell you." we decide to punish the boys by Cleo making water spouts with them stuck on top. the boys continually complain as we leave them stuck up there. Emma says "next time, they better remember who their friends are." Rikki says "leave him up there for a couple of hours." the boys try to sway Cleo. Cleo says "yeah, no one messes with mermaids." I smile and say "teaches them right for trying to pull a fast one on us." 

To be continued...