It was the night of the full moon, and Erik and his gang were busy preparing for their trip to the Merman Chamber.
Dr Denman was bringing her notebooks full of sketches and notes of the Merman Chamber, as well as Nixie's ring on her finger; Charlotte was taking nothing but a look of determination and Weilan's ring; Gareth was working on his laptop (with a secret task set by Erik); Matteo had packed for and drinks; Josh was practising his magic using his necklace; and Erik was coaching Josh. Mabel was pacing around the deck, fidgeting, and biting her pink false nails.
After about two hours, everyone was ready to go.
Erik had securely locked Weilan and Nixie inside the bedroom of the boat, and enchanted the door so they couldn't open it.
Then the boat was docked on the beach of Mako Island. Erik lead the way across the beach, through the forest, and to the volcano.
Erik suddenly turned around to face Charlotte. "You lead the way," he told her. "I want to take Josh and Matteo to the Moon Pool."
"What if there are mermaids there, Fish-Boy?" Charlotte hissed.
"Most of the mermaids are long gone, and I still remember that there is a land entrance from last time, when I stole their moon rings in the middle of the night. Besides, I think three mermen can handle a couple of mermaids."
At the word 'mermaids', Mabel shuddered, nervously swallowed, and excused herself, heading in the opposite direction.
"What's wrong with her?" Dr Denman asked.
"I'll go see," Josh answered.
Josh began to follow Mabel, but Erik stopped him.
"No, I need you to come to the Moon Pool." Erik waved his hand carelessly. "Besides, Mabel was no use to this group anyway."
Josh looked angry, and clenched his fists, but he forced himself to remain calm.
Erik turned back to Charlotte. "So will you take Gareth and Linda to the merman Chamber? By the time you get there, the full moon should just be rising, and the entrance in the rock will open."
"It's Dr Denman to you," Dr Denman muttered.
Charlotte sighed at Erik. "Fine, and you go to the Moon Pool. Just don't blame me if you get turned into sushi."
*****
Meanwhile, on the boat, Nixie and Weilan were struggling to her the door open. Weilan had repeated banged both her fists on the door, Nixie had tried pulling the handle off, Weilan had tried to use a paper clip to unlock the door, and Nixie had attempted to break the tiny window at the top of the door.
Finally, after much frustration, Nixie had sat herself down on one of the beds, and Weilan folded her arms and glared at the door.
Weilan then held her hands out, palms down, and slowly raised her arms upwards, before bending her elbows slightly and turning her palms to face the door. She then pushed her hands forwards, but nothing happened.
"What was that?" Nixie asked. "Were you dancing?"
Weilan glared at Nixie. "No. That was Eastern Pod magic: that was the the magic gesture used to open things. Unfortunately, it didn't work."
Nixie smiled to herself, and then gave a small laugh. "I've had my moon ring for so long, I forgot that we had magic without them."
"What are we going to do?!" Weilan cried out, glumly sitting across from Nixie. She reached into her back pocket and brought out the note that she and Nixie had received the previous day from their friends. "Sirena's coming to get us, but how can she when we can't get out of here?!"
"Weilan, relax," Nixie said. "Take a deep breath, we will get through this."
"How are we going to get through this!?" Weilan hissed furiously. "We're trapped in here, completely unaware of what traps Erik has set upstairs for Sirena, and there's no way we can contact the others." Weilan began taking quick breaths. "Oh gosh, I'm getting claustrophobic..."
Nixie paused, thinking about what Weilan had just said. Then she nodded and stood up. "You're right, come on, let's get out of here!!"
*****
Zac and the others were at Rita's house, planning their attack on Erik and his gang, whilst Sirena had been preparing herself for the dangerous, yet exciting mission, of saving Nixie and Weilan.
Zac had begun to feel uneasy, like he used to do when he first experienced full moons... He sat down on a wooden chair and began roofing backwards and forwards. "When did you say the full moon was rising?"
Cameron took a look on his laptop. "Not for another half an hour," Cameron replied, checking the information on the screen.
Zac began fidgeting. He ran his hands through his hair, entwined his fingers, and repeated crossed his legs.
"What's wrong?" Lyla asked him.
Zac shrugged, and turned to face Cameron again. "Are you sure?"
"The full moon is meant to be rising as seven thirty," Cameron told them, "it's now seven, therefore we have plenty of time."
Zac pulled his phone out from his pocket and pressed the small button on the side, allowing the screen to light up. "... Cameron... My phone says it's seven forty five..."
"You mean the moon rose fifteen minutes ago?!" Ondina cried.
Cameron gave Zac a puzzled but worried look. "Hold on..."
Cameron tapped away on the keyboard on his laptop. After about ten seconds, he threw his arms up in the air, and looked like he was about to throw hour laptop to the other side of the room. "My computer got hacked!"
"By Erik?" Zac asked.
Cameron nodded. "The link referred to a laptop located on Erik's boat... The computer belonged to a guy called Gareth. He changed the time on my computer."
"What does that mean?" Sirena asked.
Zac stood up. "It means that we are in trouble... We have to leave for Mako Island... Now."
*****
After Erik had showed Josh and Matteo the Moon Pool through the land entrance (which they were impressed with), they swam out of the pool and back to the beach, where they dried themselves with magic and jogged to the Merman Chamber. The full moon was slowly making its way across the black sky, which was dotted with stars.
They reached the Merman Chamber and entered without a care. The only thing difference about the Chamber that night was that the ceiling showed the night sky and the position of the moon over the Mako volcano.
Just as the moon began to appear on the ceiling, Erik stalked up to the pedestal. He instructed all of his friends to come and watch him.
He raised his hand over the symbols, and his hand made its way to the semi circle covered by wavy lines, and it glowed a deep, electrical blue. He then moved his hand over to the volcano symbol, and when he touched it, it glowed the same colour. The third symbol he touched was the moon symbol, then the fourth was the moon pool symbol, and the final one was the trident.
Josh's, Gareth's, and Matteo's eyes were all shining with curiosity and excitement.
When all the symbols were glowing, Erik nodded to the the huge trident head carved into the floor, and everyone turned to look.
The carving appeared to have started smoking and glowing. From the carving, a trident emerged and flew upwards, until it was in the middle of the room, floating in midair. The trident was golden, and it had a large blue gem just before the long handle appeared.
"And that's the trident?" Matteo asked.
Erik shook his head. "Unfortunately, this is just a hologram. It's where the real trident would have gone. We can't activate the Chamber with the stone from the trident, or - " Erik turned to face Josh, " - something with the exact same properties."
Josh's hand went up to his necklace. "You mean - "
Erik nodded, holding out his hand. "May I?"
Josh was hesitant, but he took off his necklace and slipped the silver chain into Erik's hand. Erik couldn't help but admire the jewellery, before lightly tossing it upwards towards the holographic trident.
Just as the necklace hit the trident, the hologram evaporated, and a huge body of water rose up and surrounded the necklace like a protective barrier.
"Where did that water come from?" Gareth asked.
"The Moon Pool," Erik said.
"And the necklace works," Charlotte whispered gleefully.
Erik pondered for a short moment, before saying something which surprised everyone in the Chamber: "Get the necklace."
"Oh, have we taken their magic already?" Matteo asked, slightly surprised.
Erik shook his head. "No, we haven't even begun."
"Then why are we going to stop, Fish-Boy?" Charlotte asked.
Erik turned to Charlotte and glared at her. "Because I said so," he replied through gritted teeth.
Josh jumped up and reached his hand into the water, which reminded him of jelly. He managed to grab the necklace and pulled it towards him.
The water disappeared, the smoke died down, and the glowing of the symbols and carving vanished.
"Why did we stop?!" Dr Denman cried angrily.
"Zac and the mermaids haven't arrived yet, and I don't want to take their magic without a fight,” Erik said.
"But if we wait any longer the mermaids will find a way to defeat us! Why can't we just take their powers now?"
Erik didn't speak for a moment. "...Because we haven't finished," he replied eventually. "Come on, let's go back to the boat. I have an idea."
*****
Erik and his friends left the Chamber just as Zac, Ondina and Lyla reached it.
There was an awkward moment, as everyone shared confused looks.
"Wait, why aren't you in the Chamber?" Lyla finally asked.
Just then the entrance to the Chamber rippled, and was replaced with solid rock.
"Because of that," Erik replied, pointing behind him to where the door used to be.
"But, you didn't take our magic, why?" Ondina asked. "You had the chance, why didn't you take it?"
Erik grinned slyly. "Because I have a plan, and it's a pretty good one, much better then stealing moon rings or kidnapping mermaids... So, you guys have just one month to plan your attack and defence, because one my plan is in action, I will be unstoppable..."