With Lewis:
After returning from the magical district, and waiting for Andromeda to do something with the books, Lewis said his goodbyes and left in a hurry to his house with the books he wanted. After a long talk from Andromeda to not let anyone see or find these books. Not even mention them. Needless to say, Lewis is pretty terrified of Andromeda, just as much as he is of Harry and Hermione when they are serious.
In his head, he knew he could help calm Charlotte down and be more accepting of the other girls and vice versa. He had to help in calming her down, because he was so tired of being pulled both directions when it came to them. He didn't believe that Charlotte could do any of the things the girls accuse her of doing. Yes she has a temper but that doesn't mean Charlotte was reckless with her powers. Nor did he believe she would become power crazed, like the girls seemed to believe that's what will happen.
Arriving home he went to his room, locked the door and even covered the window with the curtain. Turning on the light on his desk, he sits and takes out one the books.
Magical Aquatic Creatures of Australia by Ruby Wyrm
Selkies and Mermaids: How to Tell Them Apart by Oceana Wolfmoon
Mermaid Legends by Ulva Nox
Mermaid Hierarchy and Gifts by Serena Tempest
The last book is the one Lewis is interested in the most. Not so much the hierarchy, but the gifts the book contained. He had been disappointed when he couldn't find anything about Mako Island or Moon Pools. He thought it to be due to either the knowledge being non-existent or closely guarded by the magical community and mermaids worldwide.
Shaking his head, he opens the book and jumps straight into the list of gifts the book has to offer. However he finds a chapter on how to learn or gain new powers without needing a Moon Pool! Excited he wrote down what he found before moving to the list of gifts.
Never did he realize that Andromeda had taken the books to the library to have them added to it. Meaning the girls will know about the books without having to ask Lewis to borrow the books he took with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lewis spent the next couple of days reading the book with the gift list and taking some notes.
He may have been told to not show or mention the books, but they never told him he couldn't take some notes and talk with his girlfriend about it. Granted Lewis took breaks in between to spend time with her and the others, but mostly her because he didn't want her to feel like he was abandoning her.
Now that he was all caught up with the power list and what he could do to help Charlotte, other than have her practice her powers, control them better.
She was at Mako right now. How did he know? He was walking towards JuiceNet to see if she was there, when Harry, Hermione and the girls went in looking fairly angry. He heard them say Mako was out of the question today. He left without saying hello, got on his boat and headed towards Mako.
He docked at the shore and went to find her.
"Charlotte? Charlotte!" He calls out and stops when he sees a fire appear out of nowhere and walked towards it, finding Charlotte with her arms lifted towards the fire. Lewis will deny it if anyone asks, but he was a little concern when he saw that.
"What are you doing Charlotte?"
"Lewis! Come and see," she says before turning to the fire again and then extinguishing it. "I've been practicing my powers. Got them all under control, and faster than Cleo and the others did," Charlotte says with a smug tone. "How did you know I was here?"
"I guessed since you weren't in any of the other spots or answered my calls."
"Oh, sorry about that. So, what do you want to do?" She asks as she walks to his side and holds his hand, happy that he was there with her and not the girls or those weird new teens.
She still couldn't get rid of the lingering fear that remains from the look that Harry guy had given her. 'I don't understand it, he's a regular human with no powers. I'm a real mermaid! I have powers! He has none of that! So why can't I get that cold angered look out of my mind and over this ridiculous little fear!?'
"Charlotte, are you listening to me?"
Lewis' voice broke her from her mental ranting and turns to him with a smile. "Sorry, was lost in thought. What did you say?"
"I was saying that I found some information online about your powers."
"But I already know what powers I have and how to use them," she says with a frown on her face.
"Yeah, I know that but I was referring to something else. I took notes for a way for you to be more in tune with your powers that doesn't involve training with them to have better control with them, and a way to learn more powers. It involves meditating and focusing on one at a time until you understand the power more and even not need to focus too much when using them. After that, you should be able to learn a new power!"
Charlotte's eyes widen at that information. Her mind began to think of possibilities should she do the meditation. Not only would she be able to use her powers faster and easier, she'd be more powerful. An actual Super Mermaid. Cleo and the others wouldn't stand a chance against her, not to mention she can get back at Harry and the girl she had hurt. Show them she wasn't someone to be trifled with.
She didn't want to just meditate on one power at a time though, so she came up with an idea. "That's amazing Lewis! Where did you get this information from?"
"Just a website that I can't remember the name of from the top of my head right this second." He answers, hoping Charlotte buys the weak excuse. Luckily for him, she does.
"That's alright. Lets see the notes and work from there!" Charlotte said, while mentally ready to meditate on more than one power at a time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The meditating hadn't gone as planned and Lewis wasn't sure why that was.
He had explained to her what to do and suggested which power to start on, along with a place on Mako that wasn't the Moon Pool to help her meditate.
However, the moment she had closed her eyes and seemed to be meditating, her powers acted up and started to cause damage to the surrounding area, almost hurting him every single time. He thought she was too excited and her powers reacted to that excitement. His encourage and understanding words though, seemed to make her more and more aggravated.
For her part, Charlotte's optimism slowly left her the more she tried to meditate with more than one power. She wasn't able to get the hang of it and neither did she try doing just one power at a time like Lewis and the notes recommended. She was a True Mermaid! She should be able to do this with ease, but instead her powers got a bit out of hand!
After hours of the same results with no improvements, Charlotte gives up. "This is so pointless!" She shouts and starts to stomp away, not even looking at the damage she had done or asking if Lewis was alright. "Why didn't it work! I did what the notes said and what you suggested!" She turns to him before reaching the water. "That site must have been a fake Lewis, it's the only explanation!"
"No! No it isn't. I swear! I researched it and compared it to other sites and I truly believe it was the real deal!" He says and goes to her and puts his hands over her shoulders. "This is the first time you're trying to meditate with one of your powers, you can't expect to have it down on the first go now can you?"
"Whatever. I think it's a waste of my time."
"Maybe you need another way to meditate. One method doesn't always work on everyone."
Charlotte crosses her arms and thinks about it. He did have a point when he said it was her first attempt at it. So she agreed to try again and then dived into the sea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Lewis called Charlotte to try the meditating again only to have her shout from the phone in glee that she had made some progress and wanted to keep trying on her own. He smiles as the call ends and he heads to Harry's place.
What Lewis didn't know, was that Charlotte had made NO progress at all. Every time she tried to meditate with two or three powers at the same time, they would rebel against her. She tried different combinations only to have the same results.
She gave up after two hours and decided to just go for a day long swim, hoping to find the girls and take her frustration out on them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arriving at Harry's place, he knocked and was allowed in by Andromeda. She informed him that Harry and the girls were outside at the beach. He followed her after she levitated some drinks to bring to them.
Outside, they both saw the mers just having fun with each other and with little Teddy.
"Hey everyone!"
"Hey Lewis, what have you been up to the past few days?" Emma asks as they sit on towels and Andromeda gives them their drinks.
"I was reading up on one of the books. I'll bring it over next time."
"What book was it?" Hermione asks after taking a cooling sip of her drink."
"Mermaid Hierarchy and Gifts by Serena Tempest"
"Oh! That book has amazing information!"
"Wait you know it?" Lewis asks.
"Yes! We each took a turn in reading a few chapters and learning the hierarchy in mermaid pods. But when we read a certain part on how to learn or gain more powers without the need of a full moon and the Moon Pool!" Cleo exclaims excited.
"We've been meditating for the past few days, together and separately." Rikki says with a huge smile on her lips.
"We have to keep that a secret. If Charlotte found out about that, she would be even more dangerous."
As the girls talked amongst themselves, Harry noticed Lewis start to look away from them and holding his wrists together. Harry had seen that tell in other people. Lewis was nervous about what the girls said, and that made him wonder why. "Lewis, why do you look so nervous?"
Lewis freezes, "what? Me? Nah. I'm fine, yeah I'm...I'm fine." He stammers and the girls turn to him, knowing that he would stammer when he was nervous and guilty about something.
"Lewis...what did you do?" Harry asks, all joy gone from his features.
"I...I told Charlotte about the new gifts she could learn and how to do it." Lewis confesses.
Everyone turned to Lewis in shock and horror. Teddy seemed to noticed the tension and remained quiet.
Andromeda was the one to break the tense silence. "Lewis, you told her about some of the books contents?"
"Yes, but I didn't mention the book! I simply told her about that little bit and that I found it on the internet!" He explains, trying to defend himself.
"Lewis, we trusted you with knowledge from our world and the first thing you do is share information with Charlotte! A girl we don't trust!" Harry shouts, the water nearby trembling.
"I just thought it would be a way for you all to get along."
"Lewis, Charlotte hates us. We tried to teach her and get along with her but she wants nothing to do with us!" Cleo explains, feeling hurt and betrayed.
"But--"
"No Lewis. No buts. We trusted you to keep this a secret. To keep it between us and only us, and you betray that trust at the earliest opportunity. Now, Charlotte has another way to cause more harm than good to the girls and anyone else that she doesn't like; or that doesn't agree with her." Harry states.
"That's not true! Charlotte would never do that!" Lewis screams, defending his girlfriend.
"It's only natural for you to pick her side now that she's your girlfriend. But you have been our friend for longer. You were also the one who wanted to earn Harry and Hermione's trust." Rikki accuses with her arms crossed.
"Just give her another chance! She may need your help because whenever she meditates, her powers act up violently." Lewis begs.
The moment those words left his lips, everyone's eyes widened and they turned to one another before Harry takes a deep breath to calm down, but everyone could still see he's beyond upset.
"Lewis...that would only happen if she's trying to meditate with more than one power." Harry says and continues before Lewis can say anything else. "You should go, Lewis. Because right now, I don't feel like talking to you or looking at you." Harry turns and then dashes to the ocean, diving in.
Lewis watches him leave and then the girls follow right after him. All he saw was the surface being disturbed as they swam away, and not towards Mako.
He could only watch the ocean before turning to Andromeda who only gave him a motherly disappointed look while picking Teddy up. "All you can do is wait for all of them to calm down and apologize. Especially to Harry and Hermione." She says before turning to leave.
"What did Harry mean? About meditating with more than one power?" Lewis asks with worry and confusion.
"Rikki tried to meditate while focusing on both of her powers and it caused lightning to strike near me. Harry was upset but calmed down quicker than usual. Afterwards, Rikki meditated with just one of her powers for the time being." Andromeda explains and walks in with Teddy.
Lewis watches her leave and thinks on how Charlotte's powers got out of control when she started meditating. His eyes widen when he realized she had lied to him. What he couldn't figure out was why.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry, Hermione, Cleo, Rikki and Emma were swimming towards the hidden beach Harry and Hermione found as fast as they could. Due to that, Harry and Hermione were further ahead than the girls.
Both were so upset and disappointed at Lewis that they had to leave or they would have done something they would regret.
A few kilometers before they could reach their beach, they stop as they feel someone else heading their way and they knew who it was. Quick as lightning, they cast strong Notice-Me-Not charms on themselves and wait as the girls slow down and look around for them in the spot they disappeared. The girls soon come face to face with the reason for Harry and Hermione disappearing.
Charlotte stops in front of them, an angered look on her face. Before they could do anything, she raises her hand and sends boiling water towards them. Emma raises her hand to cool it but Charlotte raises her other hand to boost her power, causing Emma to have difficulties. Cleo was trying to push Charlotte back by sending pulses of water. It worked and Emma could relax but also needed to get air.
Noticing this, Charlotte froze her tail. Causing Emma to let out a gurgled scream in pain. She was about to do the same to the others when a pulse of water shoved her away. She looks at Cleo, only to find out she was helping Emma swim to the surface. Charlotte starts to look around and then a bubbling scream leaves her when her arms are burned, leaving them red and already blistering. Her tail was grabbed by multiple blistering hot water tentacles and they started to pull her away from the girls, all the while screaming and struggling while her tail was being burnt.
She saw the girls swim away at top speeds and that's when the tentacles let her go. Her tail and arms were painfully burned, moving them caused more pain. Slowly she started to swim away but stops when an almost invisible figure swims around her. Followed by another one.
Fear takes hold. She can't see what they are or where they are. All she knew was that they were dangerous and they were after her. Panicked, she raises an arm to send them away only to find herself being pushed back by another water pulse. She needed air and fast. Without looking back, she swims away as fast as her tail would allow her. Avoiding another set of tentacles that had been heading her way. Only just.
The moment she was out of sight, Harry and Hermione cancelled their Notice-Me-Not spells, look at one another and swim to the girls, taking them to their private beach. Were they would stay to heal and train for the remainder of the day, and for Harry and Hermione to calm down while feeling they would soon have to reveal themselves to Charlotte.
Link to image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/44332377551913311/
By: aimeewilson