Evolution and Revival

A Year Gone By (M)☑️

Since becoming mermaids, a lot had happened to them. They'd faced numerous challenges, but they were better off for those things that had happened.

The first of which: Lewis finding out

It had literally been days, if that, between them becoming mermaids and Lewis discovering what they were. Props to Cleo.

She had wanted to attend Miriam's pool party for Byron and had ended up going alone, as the others had thought she wasn't going to attend.

That had ended with Nate and Zane getting payback by throwing her in the pool, along with several of the other boys at the party.

She had transformed just after they disappeared inside and Lewis had helped her to get out. Though he had tried to get Rikki and Emma's help, but they had quickly informed him about why they couldn't touch any water either.

It had shocked him and they had been trying to figure out how to retransform Cleo, when Rikki had stepped forward and showed them her power which she had discovered earlier that day.

S/he had heated the water on Cleo, evaporating it from her scales and allowing her legs to return, just quick enough for them to get out of the garden and away from prying eyes.

Rikki had hung back slightly, while the others ran ahead, to have a little fun. She had heated the pool so that all of the water was gone, leaving the garden steamy and hot.

She was just turning to leave when the party-goers came out into the garden.

Zane saw her and his eyes widened as she ducked behind the fence, running off to catch up with the girls and Lewis.

She heard footfalls behind herself and quickly dived into the water and sped away, escaping whoever had been in pursuit of her.

That person being, obviously, Zane. Who panicked when he saw her from a distance jumping into the water and then not re-emerging.

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They had talked with Lewis and sufficiently threatened him before telling him more about what they knew and what they could do.

Cleo, as anyone could guess, was ecstatic that Lewis now knew about their secret. No longer having to hide a large part of who she was. Despite still refusing to go anywhere near the water.

Emma quit the swim team that day, making more fuel for her parents' suspicions about what was going on with her.

Her mother certainly thought she knew what was going on with her daughter. She was looking at the facts that she had and right now that equated to: hours in her bedroom alone, on the phone, locking herself in the bathroom, seeing her eating more (their metabolisms had increased slightly) and no longer doing any strenuous activities (training).

If the girls had known what their parents were thinking, they might have been a bit more conscious of how they were acting at home. All of them.

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Cleo's parents had become increasingly suspicious about her behaviours. She used to watch the discovery channel with them and would happily do her own chores. But they now noticed that she was having Kim do the dishes for her, sometimes, and she would make snarky comments about being able to stomach watching the sea life channel, especially when it came to things like the feeding frenzy.

Her mother would comment that she looked unwell while they were watching it and she would often leave to her room. She had also developed an aversion to the smell of cooked fish.

It wasn't that the smell of it made her feel sick, which is what they thought. It was the fact that every time she looked at a piece of fish, she pictured herself being treated like that. Herself becoming the meal. And that made her feel sick.