Hi. Welcome to all who decided to read this story. I hope you enjoy it. But before we begin, please take the time to read a few important notes.

Disclaimer: I do not own H2O - Just Add Water or Mako Mermaids - An H2O Adventure. Both those properties belong to Jonathan M. Shiff Productions.

Credit note: The idea that gave origin to this fic was inspired by CrazyHayniac's oneshots 'A 'Pearl' in the Dust and 'A 'Pearl' in the Dust part 2'. Namely, the character of Alana, debuting in this chapter, was inspired by the character of Pearl in those oneshots. Thank you CrazyHayniac for allowing me to write about a character inspired by one of yours.

A note on content: This story is an AU, as while it takes place after 'The Chosen One', overall it does not take what is known of the incoming Season 3 into account. Part of this is because Season 3 hasn't premiered yet and thus I don't know enough about it to write about it comfortably. Another part of it is because, with all due resepct to everyone involved in the series, I am not exactly thrilled about certain elements Season 3 is said to have. Some elements of Season 3 may be featured at some point, but please don't be surprised if anything you see contradicts something already known about Season 3.

Regarding the rating: I will try my best to keep this story as tame as possible, but due to the nature of its plot, I am rating it higher than I understand the series is rated for safety reasons. Reader discretion may be advised regarding certain parts that may turn out to be more violent than what would be seen in the series.

About the writing: Given that this story is about an Australian series, I have done my best to write in Australian English in the scenes involving Australian characters, but as English isn't even my first language, and I never tried to write in Australian English before, I'm not sure how well I did. Should any Australian reader read this, please don't be afraid to point out mistakes.

A note regarding a change in description added on April 26th: I realized I made a mistake regarding one of the mermaids' descriptions (she is later named as Erignatha), so for those who are re-reading and noticed the change, that was the reason I made it. Sorry about that.

A note regarding the timeline in this story: In this chapter's initial version, I had Mimmi referring to the 'current day', as in, the day this chapter takes place at, as a Saturday. However, after I had a new look at full moon calendars, I realized that I actually made a mistake, and according to the calendar, the full moon I was thinking of was actually on a Sunday. It does not make a big change in the overall flow of the story, but all the same, I apologize for my mistake.

Chapter 1 – The Calm Before The Storm

Life is good.

That was a thought that had come to Zac Blakely's mind many times over the last two months, but as it appeared again, while he approached the surface of the ocean around Mako Island after returning from a deep dive with his girlfriend Evie, he felt it was no less appropriate than during all other times. The pod was back, they had accepted both him and his girlfriend, he had all his mermaid friends in one place again, he had finally patched things up for good with Cam, and there were no more threats of magic-draining stones hanging either over him or anyone else he cared about.

All in all, things had been more peaceful over the last two months than during the rest of his return to being a merman, and Zac was determined to enjoy it to the fullest. Not that it was a difficult task, especially now, as he beheld Evie's look of elated wonder after their deepest dive since either of them had become – or in Zac's case, gone back to being – a merperson. He'd never seen her so awed or happy about her mermaid skills before, not even when she had started mastering the various kinds of magic the other mermaids were teaching her. But he wasn't complaining. Evie was a great girl, and she had had enough misfortunes in her life, some of which, Zac regretted, had been caused by him when he'd kept his tail a secret. It was great seeing her happy.

After they broke the surface and finished catching their breath, Zac asked, "So, how was that?"

Evie beamed. "It was incredible! I never dreamed we could go that far down."

Zac smiled as well. "I know. That's just how I felt the first time I did it, and I didn't even go that far down myself." He glanced down pensively, and then back up at her. "And I think we could have gone even deeper."

"I think so too," Evie replied. "But there was already nothing to see where we got, and it's dangerous to dive where you can't see anything."

Zac had nothing to add to that. He knew merpeople only held their breath rather than breathing underwater, so they could also drown. And although he'd never been on the receiving end of a marine predator's mouth, all the mermaids he'd met told him to be cautious around sharks and sea snakes and all sorts of marine creatures commonly perceived as dangerous by humans.

Then, whatever else he might have had to say on the issue was interrupted as two mermaids surfaced beside him and Evie. One of them, pale and brunette, was smiling, the other, tanned and blond, was scowling.

"I win!" Nixie said in a sing-song voice.

Lyla's scowl deepened at the victory proclamation.

"It was just luck," she grumbled.

Nixie's smile became teasing. "Then I must be getting really lucky today."

Lyla's scowl deepened again, but this time, it only lasted a few seconds before it softened. Then, as both she and Nixie noticed Zac's and Evie's presence, they turned toward them.

"Hi guys," Nixie said. "Thank you for witnessing my third victory against Lyla."

Lyla splashed water at Nixie. "Just you wait. On our next race I'll make you eat so many bubbles I'll blow you back past the starting point."

Nixie smirked. "We'll see about that."

Lyla smirked back. "I guess we will."

Before Nixie could reply to that, Lyla looked at Zac and Evie instead.

"So, where have you two been?" she asked.

"Past the drop-off," Zac replied. "I was taking Evie on a deep dive."

Lyla inched forward, her interest piqued. "How deep did you go?"

Zac thought for a few seconds. "Something like two hundred and fifty meters; I'm not sure about the exact figure. We could have gone farther down, but it was already far beyond the point where we could see, and feeling around underwater is unpleasant."

For a moment, he had the feeling he saw Lyla's lips twitching as if she was about to smile secretively, but if she was, she stopped herself. But he wouldn't put it past her to know something she wasn't sharing with them for some reason.

"It's still much deeper than I ever went when I dove the human way," Evie remarked. Her eyes grew unfocused as she dwelled on memories of those days, hints of sadness on them.

"Do you ever miss it?" Nixie asked.

Evie nodded. "Sort of."

Lyla and Nixie regarded her with interest, as if trying to determine what about diving with tanks and fins was better than doing it with a tail and breath-holding.

The moment Evie noticed, she added, "Don't get me wrong, diving like this is great, and both better and more practical in just about every other way." A sigh left her lips. "I just miss doing it with my dad."

An edge of sadness crept into her voice at the last sentence. Zac put a hand on her back, while the two mermaids looked at her sympathetically.

"Maybe someday you can tell him about your tail," Nixie put in. "Then you can go back to diving together."

Evie let out a sigh deeper than the previous one."I thought about telling him at least a hundred times. In the end, I never know how."

Nixie pushed herself forward with a few movements from her tail and then put her right hand on Evie's shoulder.

"Take it from someone who already had to share the secret. You'll figure it out when the time comes."

Zac raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean you want Evie to wait until her father is in an infinite water chamber and have him see her in full merperson glory at a completely unexpected and inappropriate time?"

All four of them laughed at that.

"I'll have you know my reveal to Ben went much better than the one to you," Nixie joked. "Not only that, but he even managed to deliver the shell Sirena made for Aquata."

That was new. Although Zac had learned about the kid only a few days after he'd made peace with the original mermaid trio, he'd never heard that Ben had actually managed to deliver the shell. It was good to know all the same, even though Aquata and Sirena were no longer apart and could hopefully exchange shells in person forever from now on.

"So, who's up for another race?" Lyla asked.

Nixie raised an eyebrow in interest, and Evie's eyes sparkled. Zac, however looked down.

"I can't. I promised my parents I'd have lunch with them." He looked at the sun to check the time. "And I actually think I already am a bit late."

Evie shifted forward and put her arms around his neck.

"Enjoy your lunch."

"Enjoy your race."

The two of them pecked each other's lips, and then Zac turned to Nixie and Lyla.

"See you," he called as he raised his arm.

Nixie raised her right hand. "Bye!"

"Bye," Lyla said, her voice lower than her friend's.

Those were the last words he heard before he turned around, dove under the water, and started moving at super speed, leaving the usual trail of bubbles behind him.

Not far from there, a lone mermaid approached Mako Island, her waist-length red hair trailing behind her. Her arms were stretched out like merpeople's tended to be when they swam, but rather than having her hands extended she held a large indigo urn in them. Her blue eyes flickered left and right on occasion, but most of the time they remained locked on her cargo, as if she feared it would vanish if she stopped looking at it.

Most reef creatures seemed uninterested in her, either making only minor detours to stay out of her way or acting as if she wasn't even there. But unbeknownst to the mermaid, a group of four had noticed her approach. And as she approached the reef, they too approached her, unseen by their mark, and all the more dangerous to her because of it.

Meanwhile, at the Sea World Marine Park, Mimmi sat down on a bench under a tree's shade, having put her cart away before her lunch break. The break was as welcome today as on other Sundays, which tended to be among the busiest days at work. At least she had gotten better at handling rushes like the one that had pushed her cart down the slope on her first day, and knew where to park to avoid other accidents of the like.

She knew that she could have quit her job two months ago, given the pod's return, but Mimmi didn't want to give up her connections to land, particularly one she would again be making much more directly within a few days.

She knew she wasn't alone. Sirena had also decided to keep working at the café, and, despite her own bad first experience with working, even Ondina had eventually gotten a job, only two weeks after the pod's return to Mako. The pod wasn't thrilled – even Nixie and Lyla did not seem to be interested in rebuilding their connections to land – but so far they were allowing them to do it. Whether that would last was another matter, but Mimmi believed that the philosophy of 'one day at a time' could at least be applied to certain things.

"And if you follow me, we wil be 'eading right to ze final stop of ourr tour," said a voice who just now rose above the general murmur surrounding her.

Mimmi's head snapped up. She knew enough about how the park worked by now to know what kind of person was approaching, but she had never heard that voice before.

She turned right to see who had spoken, and saw a tall guy around her age with light brown hair in a buzz cut and green eyes, wearing a park uniform like hers. A group of about thirty visitors walked behind him, and they were heading toward the same pool her cart had slid toward on her first day.

She had never seen him before, but he seemed normal enough, discounting the voice, which according to the videos she had watched in her laptop was because he had a German accent. He must be some new worker. It was far from rare; Mimmi had already seen more than one since she started working at the park, although none of them was a foreigner.

But as the group passed by her, she saw him looking at her out of the corner of his eyes. And although their gazes didn't meet, she thought she saw a glimmer of recognition in his gaze. She looked at him as firmly as she could, but some of it was to conceal the jump in her heart.

He didn't flinch, and didn't even stop or slow down for a more prolonged stare; he just kept leading the group toward the dolphin pool.

Once they were out of sight, Mimmi deflated – and it was only then she realized her heart was beating faster.

Why would this guy have looked at her like that? If she hadn't seen him before, surely he hadn't either. So why would he have looked at her like that? Had he just seen her when he came to apply for the job and was making sure it was the same person? Had she somehow met him before and didn't remember? Or, the most dangerous possibility, had he been following her around? Or was it none of those things?

If it was one of the first two, then there was no problem, but what should she do in the other two cases?

"Something wrong?" a voice asked from the same direction the guy's voice had come from.

Mimmi turned toward the voice, and saw her best friend, who must have just put away her ice cream cart for her own lunch break and come to meet her, like they had agreed this morning.

"What's the matter?" Ondina asked. "You look like you've seen an anglerfish."

Mimmi hesitated a bit. She knew Ondina could be hot-headed, and she didn't want her going to that guy to ask for explanations, not only because it wasn't the right way to do things on land but also because it could put both of them in danger. But Ondina was her friend, she didn't deserve to be lied to by her. Lies had caused enough problems in the past; the least she could do was learn from both hers and others' mistakes.

She pointed on the general direction the visitors' group had done.

"Did you see that guy who just went over there with the visitors?"

Ondina tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and looked where Mimmi was pointing. "Yes. Why? What did he do to you?"

Mimmi hummed as she thought about the best way to explain it.

"He looked at me in a weird way," she finally settled on.

"Weird how?" Ondina asked.

Mimmi tried to come up with the right words, but nothing appropriate seemed to be coming to her mind.

"I'm not sure how to say it," she finally settled on. "It seemed like I made him think about something. It was almost like he knew who I am… or even what I am."

Fear flickered in Ondina's eyes.

"Have you seen him before?" she asked, her voice strangled as if she was holding back a shout.

"I don't remember. As far as I know, today is the first day I see him." Mimmi looked again toward where he had gone. "But I just…"

Mimmi trailed off. Anything she could say from now on would be repeating herself, and Ondina had no problem understanding.

"Are you sure that's it?" she asked. "Are you sure he didn't just fancy you?"

Mimmi narrowed her eyes at her friend. Although the days when Ondina was trying to impose her opinions were becoming less frequent, it still happened.

"I'm just trying to be optimistic," she appeased. "If he did know what you were, he likely would have done something about it. The only way I can see for him not to do it is if he is a merman, but mermen can't be plentiful enough for another one to show up only two months after the previous one left. If they were, they wouldn't be able to keep their secret."

Ondina had a few points, but she hadn't seen the way he looked at Mimmi. She just had a feeling he knew she was a mermaid. But her feelings, like everyone else's, could be wrong. And if he did know that, he hadn't done anything about it yet. Whether it was because he was a merman himself (as unlikely as that seemed) or for some other reason Mimmi didn't know, and learning the answer without taking considerable risks wouldn't be easy. The only thing she could do for now was keep paying attention to him, be ready for anything, and if things got worse, talk to the others to see what they thought.

"I agree it's unlikely at best that he's a merman. But I really don't think he looked at me like that because he fancied me. And if that's it, he's out of luck."

Ondina stepped toward her, a concerned look on her face – like it always happened when their conversations took a certain path.

"Are you sure it's wise to put so much hope on Chris?" Mimmi suppressed a prick of annoyance; Ondina had asked this far more times than she cared to count. "I know you've talked…" she paused to recall the right word "...online almost every day since he left, but is that enough to keep a relationship going? Land people can have difficulty with keeping relationships like that. How do you know he won't end things with you sooner or later?"

Mimmi took off her cap and looked Ondina in the eye.

"You've already brought that up a thousand times. My answer didn't change; I'm sure of it. And besides, he's coming back in three days, so it won't be a long distance relationship for much longer."

You know that a direct relationship between you and him won't happen without other problems, don't you? A stubborn voice at the back of her mind replied.

Shut it! Mimmi inwardly shouted at it. Its words might be true, but Mimmi knew she liked Chris enough to take the chance.

Ondina's voice broke through her thoughts. "I'm just worried. I don't want you to get hurt."

Mimmi laid a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I know. And I thank you for it. But I believe him and myself. I know I may be wrong, but things only won't go anywhere if either he or I cut them off. None of us did so far."

Again, there were a few seconds of silence.

"I hope it works out," Ondina finally breathed, her gaze lost in the distance.

Mimmi knew without having to ask what she was thinking about.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Ondina stiffened as if to force herself back to reality.

"Not now." Mimmi rubbed a thumb her friend's shoulder. Ondina relaxed at the gesture, but all the same she repeated, "Not now. Now I want to go have lunch before we spend our whole breaks standing here."

Mimmi chuckled as she removed her hand from Ondina's shoulder and the two of them walked toward the park's exit.

The red-haired mermaid stopped swimming a few feet above a coral outcrop. She looked left, then right, and then raised her right hand like one would do on land to gauge the wind's direction. After a few seconds, she moved her hand to the urn's lid.

But right as she touched it, four blurs appeared out of nowhere and engulfed her. She swung her tail and flailed her arms, but her attempts at defence either missed their mark or only renewed her captors' fierceness.

Below her, the urn fell down to the sea floor, while the smaller sea creatures swam away from the struggle's site, as both the redhead and those she fought with refused to give up on their respective goals.

"So, are we set on the course?" Lyla asked.

"Yup," Nixie replied.

Evie only nodded.

"Alright then," Lyla carried on. "On your marks…" they all turned on the same direction "… get set…"

A dull splash seemed to come from the left. Evie, who was the closest to the sound, turned toward it, right on time to see a blur of movement rising above the surface.

"What's that?" she asked.

Nixie and Lyla looked at her.

"What?" Nixie inquired.

Another blur of movement surfaced. This time, it looked like a red blur, and was quickly followed by a mermaid's tail.

"That!" Evie shouted as she pointed at it.

"Trouble," Lyla muttered, her eyes narrowed on the same direction.

"We'd better go see what it is," Nixie said.

Agreeing was a redundancy, so all three mermaids went under and moved at super speed toward the blurs. In a matter of seconds, they were there, and Evie could see what was going on.

It seemed that four of the pod's mermaids were surrounding and physically restraining a fifth one she didn't recognize – a pale redhead with waist-length hair who seemed to be a bit younger than Evie. She struggled like mad, but the other four mermaids seemed to have restrained her too well by now, and although she could still move her tail, it did not even get the other four – apparently the redhead now had two mermaids holding each of her arms – to budge.

Although it looked like she was an invader, Evie felt sorry for her. Three of those mermaids, all of them around Evie's age, had been pointed out to her as the pod's equivalent of a female biker gang, the kind of mermaids that pushed the limits, frowned at rules, and pulled stunts far too likely to end in injuries or worse. The fourth, who was fifteen years old, was an impressionable mermaid quite innocent for her age who just would not heed the warnings of those who said the other three weren't the ideal company to be around.

The trapped mermaid seemed to get even more scared when she saw Evie, Nixie and Lyla, and flapped her tail even harder. The other four mermaids grabbed so tight now Evie feared they would break her arms under the pressure.

Beside her, Lyla swam forward and gave the four troublemakers her best glare, the one Nixie and Sirena called her 'shark-repelling glare'. Sure enough, the moment they saw it, the other four mermaids swam to the surface, dragging the other one in tow. Nixie and Lyla followed.

Evie shifted her position to do the same, but as she did, she caught sight of something that didn't belong there.

A dark-blue urn rested atop the same coral outcrop below what seemed to have been the struggle site, its lid still on top of it. Evie instantly knew what it was, and to have its lid on top, she guessed it must not be empty.

She went down to pick it up and then swam to the surface with it, right on time to hear one of the three troublemaking mermaids shouting at the red-haired one.

"Didn't you hear me? I told you to spill it! Or do you want me to use another kind of persuasion?"

The mermaid flinched as much as she could when she had two other mermaids holding her arms. Rather than answering, she looked around as if for an escape route, but the other two mermaids, as well as Nixie and Lyla, were surrounding her. Again, Evie felt sorry for the redhead. She was clearly scared, and the mermaid who had just shouted at her – a tanned mermaid with dark-brown hair and matching eyes named Delmar – was the worst of the troublemaking trio Mimmi had thoroughly described to her, and the undisputed leader of it. Several of the pod's mermaids, Sirena and Aquata included, were wary of her.

"This is the last time I'll say so," Delmar growled. "Spill it!"

"You know we can hear you without you shouting, right?" Lyla drawled.

Delmar glowered at her. "Don't get into this. I'm the one in charge here, so I'm the one interrogating her."

"Sure looks like you're making great progress," Nixie snarked.

Delmar shifted her glower toward her, but Nixie weathered it.

Evie decided to say something before there could be any actual fighting.

"You don't need to interrogate her. I found out what she's going to do."

All the mermaids, the redhead included, turned to look at her. Most of them seemed surprised, but then Lyla and Nixie noticed that she held the urn.

"What is that thing?" Nixie asked.

Evie turned to look at the trapped mermaid.

"Can I explain?" she asked in the gentlest voice she could use.

The redhead looked at her in shock, as if she had considered it was impossible they would treat her with gentleness. Then she looked at her in suspicion, as if she expected it to be some sort of trap.

"Can she explain?" another voice repeated in a tone very similar to Evie's.

Everyone turned to look at the voice's owner. It was one of the four mermaids who had initially caught the redhead; the young one who wasn't part of the trio Mimmi had pointed out to Evie. She was a pale, blond, brown-eyed mermaid a few years younger than the other three, named Triakisa. She had come to Evie a few times for information about land people, and had also thanked Zac personally for destroying the trident stone, and overall seemed nice. But she also admired the troublemaking trio and had a huge tendeny to follow them around and join them in their stunts.

Still, her cuteness and gentleness seemed to be enough to win the redhead over; at last, she gave a small nod.

Evie smiled at her in thanks and then turned to the other mermaids.

"This thing is a cremation urn," she explained. "It has nothing dangerous inside."

"What is a cremation urn?" asked the mermaid holding the redhead's right arm – a brown-haired, blue eyed mermaid with wheatish complexion named Erignatha.

Evie took her time to think about the answer. She knew the facts she had to explain, but she wasn't sure of the right way to explain them. She still had no idea of a lot of things about mermaid culture, one of them being their rituals in regards to death, and what sort of things they found unacceptable in regards to funerals. Even some humans were uncomfortable with cremations, so who knew how mermaids might feel about them.

But at this point, lying was not an option, and even if it was, Evie had never been a good liar. Just keeping the secret from her dad was hard enough.

"On land, when people die, there are ceremonies we hold called funerals," Evie explained.

Delmar looked like she was going to say something, but Lyla beat her to it, "We know what funerals are; mermaids also have them."

Well, that saved some things she had to explain.

Evie carried on, "Sometimes, in land people's funerals, the body is buried. Other times, it is cremated, which means it is burned until it turns into ash."

Other than the redhead, all the mermaids seemed confused, even Nixie and Lyla. But Evie sighed in relief at seeing none of them seemed outright disgusted or outraged.

"Why do they do that?" asked the mermaid holding the redhead's left arm, a dark-skinned brunette with brown eyes named Galeusa.

"I don't know the exact history behind it. It changes a lot depending from the place a land person is from." Delmar again seemed ready to make a biting reply, but this time Evie cut her off herself. "Anyway, after the cremation, the ashes are collected and put in an urn like this one. The deceased person's family sometimes keeps it, but other times they spread the ashes on a place picked by the one who was cremated."

Looks of shame started to come onto Erignatha's and Galeusa's faces. They loosened their grips on the redhead's arms, and she pulled them free without either making an attempt to resist. Triakisa lowered her head, while Lyla and Nixie looked sympathetically at the redhead.

Delmar, however, said instead, "That doesn't make any sense."

"Why not?" Evie asked.

Delmar raised her chin. "That ritual you mention is a land person ritual. This mermaid has a moon ring, so she's not a land girl," she decreed.

"It was my mother's," the redhead replied, speaking for the first time. Evie noticed she had an Irish accent.

Delmar turned toward her now. "So you speak, do you? Then tell me, why would your mother have a moon ring? If she was a mermaid, why wasn't she with her pod, and why would she have a land person's funeral? And if you're lying about this, where did you get the moon ring after all? Not that I can trust you to be honest about it either, but just what other lies do you have for us?"

The redhead opened and closed her mouth several times, but no word would come. Evie could sense Delmar's haughtiness even without looking at her and knew she was just about ready to throw another wave of accusations.

Enough was enough.

"I'm sure she's not lying about anything," Evie said. "There's no reason for the ring not to have been her mother's, or for this to have anything other than ashes."

Delmar insisted, "You know that if she's lying we could all end up in trouble, don't you?"

Evie narrowed her eyes. "Is hypocrisy acceptable amongst mermaids? Because I never knew you to be opposed to chaos."

Delmar let out a mute gasp, her eyes wide in shock, if not downright outrage. Her two cohorts and Triakisa looked like they were about to gape at Evie for daring to stand up for the invader, and against Delmar of all mermaids.

"You know that if you turn out to be wrong, the mermaid council will have your head, don't you?" Delmar asked.

Evie's eyes remained narrowed. "If I turn out to be wrong, I'll accept responsibility for anything that happens." She looked in turn at each of the four mermaids who had grabbed the redhead. "So if you could please leave me and her alone..."

Delmar scoffed. "A land girl ordering us around? Well that is new."

"You heard her," Nixie said. "Get going. You and your friends are meant to be on patrol anyway, remember?"

Delmar glared at her, but instantly recoiled after the glare Lyla threw her from beside Nixie. Then, she turned to the other mermaids and jerked her head to the right and downwards. Then she dove, and Galeusa and Erignatha went after her. Triakisa stayed behind, and raised her head slightly to look at the red-haired mermaid.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Then she also went under.

"We'll keep an eye on them," Lyla said. "Just in case."

Evie nodded and smiled. "Thanks."

The corners of Lyla's lips turned upwards in a half-smile, and then she and Nixie followed the other mermaids underwater.

With her and the redhead alone, Evie swam toward her and handed over the urn. The girl took it in her hands as if her life depended on it.

"I'm sorry about that," Evie said. "Delmar and her little group aren't always the easiest mermaids to deal with."

The mermaid said nothing.

Realizing they had skipped an important step, Evie reached her hand out for a handshake.

"I'm Evie. What's your name?"

The redhead stared at her hand as if it was a venomous snake that would bite her if handled improperly. Then, she clutched the urn to her chest with one arm and accepted Evie's shake with her other hand. Evie saw bruises on the spots where her arm had been grabbed. Delmar and her friends hadn't been tame at all.

"I'm Alana," the redhead replied.

"Nice to meet you, Alana."

It was probably better for Evie to refrain from saying that she had noticed the shared name with one of Ariel's sisters from the Disney movie – and for that matter, from remarking how much Alana looked like Ariel herself. But was the name a coincidence? If Alana's mother had had a moon ring, she almost certainly had been a mermaid, or at least a woman turned into a mermaid, as according to what Evie knew humans couldn't wear moon rings without serious risks involved. If Alana wasn't a common mermaid name by itself, it might have been inspired by the Disney movie. Although with that theory as a basis, it was almost a mystery that the Alana before her wasn't named Ariel instead.

Evie tried to think of what else she could ask, but no safe subject came to her, and Alana didn't seem too interested in speaking either. Evie knew she could just leave her alone, but she didn't feel comfortable leaving Alana to herself when she could have to clear things up with more members of the pod, or when Delmar and her friends might escape Nixie's and Lyla's watch and return for a second round of conflict.

"May I ask whose ashes are those?" Evie eventually asked after she felt the the silence lasted for too long.

Alana looked down.

"My mother's," she whispered.

A hand seemed to squeeze at Evie's heart. All the sympathy she had already felt for the girl rose to new heights. She had also lost her mother, and though it had been years ago, Evie still remembered how painful it had been. She inched forward with the intention to hug Alana, but then pulled back. The redhead most likely wouldn't respond well to physical contact with a stranger after being attacked so violently.

"Do you want me to go away?" she asked.

Hints of fear started coming to Alana's face. Evie guessed it had to do with being left alone to the mercy of more mermaids that came to attack her. Or maybe she somehow didn't feel she could do this on her own.

"I have no problem staying either," Evie added. "It's your choice."

Alana clutched the urn to her chest as she thought. Evie said nothing as she kept the calmest face she could, just so Alana wouldn't think of any shift in her expression as an attempt at pressuring her to say anything.

Finally, she looked back up and mumbled, "Then please stay."

Evie smiled and nodded. Alana gave a shy smile in return, and then went under still with the urn in her arms.

Evie dove after her, and saw her stopping above the same coral outcrop the urn had landed on. She had her hand on the urn's lid, but it was shaking, as if she couldn't summon the effort to actually open the urn.

Though Evie's instincts warned her it could be a bad idea, she swam forward and put her hand on Alana's back. She flinched at first, but after she turned around and saw Evie, she relaxed.

Evie wished she could say something comforting to her, but unlike in the movies, mermaids couldn't talk underwater. So she settled for rubbing her hand along Alana's back, and hoped the gesture conveyed at least half the comfort she wished she could transmit.

Again, Alana took her hand to the lid, and closed her eyes as if praying for strength to raise it. Then, she pulled it off, and the urn's contents drifted away, carried by the water. The urn itself fell down to the bottom of the sea, as Alana closed her eyes to repress tears that wouldn't be evident underwater anyway, and Evie kept rubbing her back in comfort.

At the exact same time, but on the other side of planet according to standard maps, the almost full moon, surrounded by a myriad of stars, shone over a small island off the coast of San Diego. At first glance, it was a plain, unremarkable location, an expanse of black bare rock with only three hectares of total area, two cliffs rising from its eastern and western ends, and a jagged, uneven ground. A vertical tunnel similar to a volcanic tube went down from the western cliff, but few knew about it, as it could only be seen from above. It was easy enough for boats to arrive, but not many did, as there was nothing commonly perceived as worth seeing. The only thing that might draw attention were the sea birds that nested on the cliffs' faces, but all of them were of species that could be watched on other places not only of easier access but easier on the eyes. And at night, with the birds perched and asleep and too much darkness for photographs, that minor attractive point was rendered moot. And when the wind blew through the gaps between the rocks, it had a tendency to cause a spooky whistle that locals said seemed made by a ghost.

All in all, not many had had problems seeing why the place had earned the name 'Grim Island'.

However, if one went down the vertical tunnel at that exact same time – an impossible feat for all but highly skilled alpinists – they would meet a sight most humans had never seen.

A mermaid, floating on her back in a circular pool about five meters wide, looking at the stars she could see through the hole about fifty meters above the water.

Anyone who knew about her kind would identify her as similar to mermaids in the rest of the world. Her scales were a golden-orange like those from mermaids all around the world, and the skin of her human-looking parts was pale, to the point it almost glowed in the moonlight. Her eyes were blue, and her mid-back length hair was blond. And like many mermaids throughout the world, she had a moon ring on her right hand's index finger. If she was amongst a pod, nothing visible would identify her as remarkable.

The same could be said for the second mermaid, who arrived after the first had been floating in the pool for about an hour, coming in through an underwater tunnel. But she also looked quite different from the first one. Her eyes were blue as well, and her hair was of the same-length as that of the first one, but it was brown, and her skin was tanned rather than pale.

Remarkable or not, the second mermaid's arrival caused the first one to move into a vertical position and look eagerly at the other one.

"Did you find it, Sedna?" the blond mermaid demanded.

The other mermaid raised her right hand, her own moon ring almost hidden by a frayed dark-green seaweed. "Is it this, Hydrurga?"

Hydrurga pushed herself forward with a swish of her tail, took the seaweed in her left hand, and raised her right one as she clenched it into a fist. The stone in her moon ring started to glow, enabling her to get a better look at the seaweed. Sedna looked at her with wide eyes, barely blinking.

After a few seconds, Hydrurga's features burst into a smile.

"Yes, it's this." She looked behind, toward a ledge about the size of her head that rose about four inches from the water. "Now all we have to do is add it to the other ingredients, and tomorrow night, the land boy Nerissa's daughter fancies will belong to us."

So, this was the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. For those interested, I fancast the original characters seen in this chapter, as well as those who will feature in following ones, so if you'd like to see who I envision as who, please read the following notes. To avoid doubts as to whom I'm referring to, I am including at least one character played by the same actor or actress in the fancast in a.

Alana - Evanna Lynch (who played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies, though I imagine Alana as Evanna Lynch looks in the pictures of her with red hair, not as she looks as Luna Lovegood)

The boy that makes Mimmi suspicious - Hutch Dano (who played Zeke in Zeke & Luther, although the character I imagine him as has a hair color and a hair cut different from Zeke's)

Delmar - Sofia Carson (who, coincidentally, played another Evie in the Disney Channel Movie Descendants)

Triakisa - Abby Ross (who played the teenaged Emma Swan in Once Upon A Time)

Erignatha - Alyson Stoner (who played Caitlyn Gellar in the Camp Rock film series and Camille Gage in the 'Step Up' film series)

Galeusa - Paige Hurd (who played Tasha in Everybody Hates Chris)

Sedna - Ashley Leggat (who played Casey McDonald in Life With Derek)

Hydrurga - Georgina Haig (who played Queen Elsa in Once Upon A Time and Zamira in the second season of The Elephant Princess, which, as a bit of trivia, is also from Jonathan M. Shiff Productions)

I don't know when I'll update next, but I'll try not to take too long. Until then!