"I'm just saying that a table and a few chairs would be great," Rikki said, motioning to the area between the moon pool and the rear wall, opposite the entrance. "Right there."

"And I'm just saying I'd love to hear your idea of how you'd get them here," Emma said.

She, Rikki, and Cleo were sitting on the ground beside the moon pool, trying to have their first restful day in a week. Just yesterday, they had vanquished Anthony and sent him packing back to wherever he'd come from. The girls desperately needed some down time.

Rikki gave Emma a puzzled look. "It wouldn't be that hard. Lewis could bring them in his boat, easy."

Emma was flabbergasted. "An entire table and a set of chairs?!"

Rikki, in turn, looked at Emma as if she was speaking Martian.

Cleo smiled, and said in a sing-song voice, "I see the problem!" She pointed at Rikki and said, "You, shush. Not a word 'til I say so." She pointed at Emma. "You, describe this table and chair set."

"In a perfect world, oak, but probably a nice ash table, or at least a wood veneer. Four to six solid, somewhat heavy wooden chairs, with those nice seat cushions which tie to the back."

Understanding dawned on Rikki's face. Cleo pointed at her and said, "You, describe this table and chair set."

Rikki looked at Emma and smiled. "A ten-dollar rickety old card table and four cheap-ass folding chairs."

"Ah," Emma said, comprehension dawning on her face.

Cleo was highly amused. "You were using the same words, but you weren't talking about the same thing."

"It's the worlds we come from," Rikki said, but there was no judgment in her voice. "In Emma's world, that's what a table is. Nice heavy wood. And in my world..." She spread her hands wide.

"Hey, I'm up for a cheap fold-out table as well as anyone!" Emma said, with mock outrage and a smile. "But it's true. When I think of furnishing a place, I think of nice things, first. And yes, I was trying to imagine Lewis motoring here with a hundred-pound, six-foot-long oak table in his boat, and wondering why Rikki didn't find that impossible."

Rikki laughed. "But seriously, though, we don't always want to float, and sitting on this hard ground's no fun."

"But does it end there?" Cleo asked. "Next we'll have a few potted plants, then maybe a throw rug, a game console, a hammock, a bean bag..."

Rikki got stars in her eyes. "Ooooh, that would be amazing!"

"Where would we put all that?" Emma asked. She knew she'd get no answer, and she was right.

"I wonder if Louise and the others ever did something like that?" Cleo asked.

"We could ask, but so often, she says she doesn't remember," Rikki said sadly.

Cleo wrapped her arms around her knees and gazed around. "I do sometimes wonder about Louise, Julia, and Gracie. At one time, this was their special place, just like it's ours now. And for who knows how many girls before them, over the centuries."

"And for how many more, long after us," Emma said.

Cleo continued. "They sat where we're sitting right now, and maybe had the same ideas and the same conversations. They dreamed the same dreams, and had the same hopes and fears we do."

"The same problems," Rikki said.

"The same loves and losses," Emma said.

"And now two of them are gone," Rikki said.

"Time marches on," Emma said sadly. "I suppose it gets us all in the end."

"I wish the moon pool kept a photo album," Cleo said wistfully. "I'd love to see pics of the girls who've come and gone over the years." She smiled. "I even wish I could meet them, even if it was just for a moment."

Rikki looked over her shoulder at the hole Anthony had gouged in the wall. A blue light glowed from within. "Of all the girls who've ever called this place home, we're the ones who let it get vandalized."

Emma said gently, "That's not our fault, and you know it."

"Fault doesn't enter into it," Rikki said, facing them again. "It happened on our watch, and that's just the truth of it." She scowled. "That'll bug me until the day I die."

Cleo and Emma gave her sad I understand, but what are ya gonna do? looks.

"I suppose we could bring a painting and hang it over the damage," Rikki said sullenly.

"I dunno," Cleo said. She got up and went to the hole, and gazed at the crystals within. "The crystals are pretty, and the blue light...it's soothing." She lightly stroked a few of the crystals. "After sundown, this blue glow must be a beautiful nightlight."

"She's right," Emma said with a smile. "Despite who did the damage, and why, we can look at that hole as a nice little benefit."

Rikki smiled, and looked back at it. "Yeah. I guess that's true." Seeing Cleo gaze into the hole, enraptured, Rikki said, "And of course, Cleo, you would be enchanted by the blue crystals."

"Yeah," Cleo said. "I think they're lovely!"

"She means the crystals are blue, and blue is your locket color," Emma said to Cleo with a smile.

Cleo looked a little abashed. "Okay, so I'm partial to blue. It is my color. And...it was Gracie's color. But really, even if it wasn't...these crystals are so gorgeous."

Emma's watch beeped. "Time to go," she said with a sigh. She and Rikki stood.

Cleo lingered a few moments, gently running her index finger over the blue crystals, wondering again about Julia, Gracie, and Louise, and what their lives must have been like.

Rikki and Emma stood by the pool, ready to go. But seeing Cleo entranced by the soft blue light, they traded grins. They knew Cleo was indulging her hopeless romantic side. And they, being her friend, indulged her. It was one of the things which made Cleo so sweet.

"I think I get it," Rikki whispered, so that only Emma could hear. "When Max said Gracie was blue, but he couldn't explain why." She nodded to Cleo. "I can't explain it either, but I totally get that. Cleo just is blue!"

Smiling, Cleo stepped away from the wall and looked around the cavern, wondering at its history, its secrets. "Yeah," she whispered, suddenly feeling as happy and as magical as a child on a picture perfect Christmas Eve, for some reason. "I wish..."

She finally joined the others. Together, they dove in. They floated serenely for ten seconds, then transformed into mermaids. They darted forward, toward the ocean.

Halfway along the tunnel, green magical sparkles appeared and swirled around them, as if giving them a second psychedelic tunnel to swim through. By the time they could react properly, they'd gone through it. The sparkles whirled away into nothingness.

They gave each other baffled looks, then swam on.

Surfacing outside, Cleo asked, "What was that?!"

"That was moon pool magic!" Rikki said.

"I know, but what does it mean?" Cleo asked. "Should we go back inside?"

"No time, I've got to get to work," Emma said. "And I know you and Lewis have to study, and..." She looked at Rikki with a mischievous grin.

Rikki rolled her eyes. "Yes!" she ground out with exasperation. "Because of the lie Cleo came up with, I have to study with the two lovebirds!"

"Again, it'll do you good," Cleo said.

"Just remember it's Thursday," Rikki said. "My real study session's with Harrison at seven. I never miss those if I can help it, so we need to be finished by then."

"We'll be done by six," Cleo said. "That's when we eat dinner. You're welcome to stay!"

Rikki was suddenly appeased. "You know, I won't say no."

Emma said, "Anyway, if the moon pool wants to let us know what that little light show was about, I'm sure it'll tell us."

They swam to shore, rolling up on their "private" beach. It was a public beach, but rarely used. It was only about thirty meters long, and no road led directly to it. On each side, rock jutting into the ocean stretched for about a hundred meters further along the shore, giving this tiny beach a wide separation from the neighboring beaches in each direction. It was a perfect place for them to transition forms with no one seeing.

They dried themselves, restoring their legs and clothing.

( "Where does our clothing go when we're mermaids?" Rikki once asked Lewis. "Well, it would have to be a...pocket dimension!" Lewis had said, then cackled like a clown on meth. Rikki had exploded his drink in his face. They stopped talking to each other for a couple days after that.)

Rikki wore a black T-shirt and denim miniskirt. Cleo wore a white T-shirt and short light blue shorts. Emma wore a pink tank top and her dark blue knee-length shorts.

They strolled to where they always left their belongings. Where the sand began transitioning to grass, there were always little hollows in the ground where they could stash their purses and phones in a way to leave them pretty well hidden. The neighborhoods around this beach were largely affluent, safe, and free of crime. Between the beach's isolation, the low crime rate, and their concealment, the girls had never worried they might not find their belongings when they returned.

Until today.

"No way!" Rikki said, as the girls stared in amazement.

"Oooh, I just got that phone!" Cleo complained.

"My purse is gone!" Emma said angrily.

"There aren't really thieves around here!" Cleo said.

"It only takes one," Rikki grumbled. "No use worrying about it now. Come on."

Dejected, and disappointed in humanity, the girls trudged up the rise...

And stopped. And stared.

Cleo turned to look back at the beach, then turned forward again. "Our stuff isn't gone. We're just at the wrong beach." She sighed. "I thought the reef looked different."

"It did look different," Emma agreed.

"No, we came the way we've always come," Rikki said, looking around.

"No, we came to the wrong beach," Emma said. She gestured to the empty fields in the distance where a housing development was supposed to be. "Evidence."

Puzzled, Rikki pointed in another direction to a far water tower. "Counter evidence. That water tower is where it always is, just left of that old church, and just to the right of that mountain on the horizon."

Emma shielded the sun from her eyes and squinted into the distance. Rikki was correct. However...

"That's not a church," Emma said. "It's a movie theater."

"It's a church," Rikki insisted gently. "It's always been a church."

"Well, now it's called the Madness Matinee," Emma said. "At least, that's what I'm pretty sure it says."

The girls looked carefully.

"She's right," Cleo said. She folded her arms protectively, as she always did when something didn't feel right.

"But..." Rikki said, trying to make sense of it all. "It's the same building, obviously."

"I don't dispute that," Emma said.

"It's where it's supposed to be," Rikki said. "The water tower is where it's supposed to be. We're where we're supposed to be. The houses are not where they're supposed to be, and our things are not where they're supposed to be."

In a very small, shaky voice, Cleo said, "I'm scared."

Emma and Rikki slowly nodded. "We're right there with you," Rikki said softly.

 

Deeply spooked, they hiked to the road, then down to Juicenet, about fifteen minutes away. But they walked through what looked like their world in a fractured mirror: reflecting some things perfectly, others imperfectly, still others not at all.

They reached Juicenet and found an empty lot. This time, there was no wondering whether they were in the wrong place. The curve of the canal in both directions, and the lay of the land, were unmistakable. But there was no restaurant, and the marina stopped about thirty meters shy of its non-existent front walk.

Emma's heart pounded. "I can't see my neighborhood!" she whispered frantically, and took off.

Cleo and Rikki ran with her, down the greenway toward Emma's house.

Which wasn't there. Houses were there, in a much older style. None of them hers.

Emma stared, her hands clenched in fists of anguish. "Where's my house?" she asked, dissolving into pure panic. "Where's my family?!"

Rikki and Cleo held her. "It's okay! Calm down! Stay calm!"

It was a sunny day, so there were other people out and about, though no one particularly close at the moment. A few people over a block away heard screeching and looked in their direction for a second, but turned away with disinterest when it didn't continue.

A car came down the street. It was a vintage model from ancient times, the type of car one only saw in old black and white movies.

"Are we Alice in Wonderland?" Rikki muttered.

As Emma fought to remain calm, the girls looked around, wondering what to do next.

"Do you hear that?" Cleo asked.

"Hear what?" Rikki asked.

"A child," Cleo said. "Calling out something?"

Rikki listened. From a distance, just on the edge of hearing, was a child's voice speaking loudly. They sounded like they were lecturing, or making an announcement. But it was the same announcement, over and over.

"Yeah, so?" Rikki asked.

Cleo shrugged. "We literally have nothing else to do. So let's go find out why there's a kid shouting. It's as good as anything else. Any clue is better than no clue."

"All right," Rikki said.

They roused Emma from her stupor. "Emma," Cleo said. "We're gonna be okay. For now, we're gonna see what that kid is shouting about, all right?"

"What kid?" Emma asked, barely cognizant.

"You'll hear as we get closer," Rikki said. "For now, just trust us."

They stepped off the greenway and onto the street, heading toward the shouting.

A man in his mid-twenties was walking in the other direction. He was dressed in nice slacks, a button-up shirt, and a tie. He pointedly tried hard not to look at the girls; it was obvious that something about them made him uncomfortable.

"Excuse me, sir?" Cleo asked. "Can you help us?"

The man started, irritated at having to be forced to pay attention to them anyway. "Yes?" he asked guardedly. He apparently thought they were about to beg for money.

"Our phones were stolen," Cleo said. "Would you mind if we used yours? Just to make one or two quick calls?"

The man looked at them is if they had grown antlers. "Your phones were stolen?"

"Yes," Cleo said, wondering why that was such a difficult concept. "May we use yours?"

The man's bafflement was supreme. He had no clue how to answer that. Finally, he pointed up the street and said, "The chemist's has a pay phone."

Rikki was amazed. "A...pay phone."

"Yes," the man said. "Excuse me, I'm in a hurry." He turned and rushed off.

The girls looked at each other, baffled. But the man had pointed in the direction they were going, anyway, so they continued.

Other people they passed had odd, old-fashioned clothing and hairstyles. Many of these people looked at the girls with deep, open disapproval. The girls couldn't figure out why. Cleo was too afraid to ask anyone again to use their phone.

"Are we lepers?" Rikki whispered.

Two more cars went down the street. As before, they looked like ancient models from another era.

It was seeing the old cars which finally did it. Despite their inner denials, the cold, sick truth was beginning to wear down the girls' defenses, and their new reality became more clear with each step. They looked at each other in horror, each mouthing a silent No!

Frantically, they raced on, following the child's voice.

They came to a section of town with various businesses: a bank, a barber shop, a clothing store, the chemist's. And, on a corner, a boy, about ten. Upon seeing him, the girls understood why he was shouting.

"Daily Glen Journal!" the boy was shouting, over and over, and he had quite the set of lungs. "Get your Daily Glen Journal! Only five pence! All the news you need to know!" He held a newspaper up for the world to see. In a box by his feet was a stack of more newspapers.

Emma jogged forward, Rikki and Cleo close behind. The boy looked them up and down in utter amazement, as he'd never seen so much female skin on display outside a beach, and often not even then. But ultimately, the boy didn't care; a potential sale was a potential sale.

"Is that today's paper?" Emma asked.

"Five pence."

"No, I don't want to buy it, I just want to see the date," Emma said.

The boy handed Emma the paper he held. Trembling, she looked. Cleo and Rikki looked over her shoulders.

1957.

By this point, Emma was so freaked out, she had circled back around to complete calm. "This is today's paper?" she asked the boy.

"I wouldn't sell yesterday's paper. I'd make no money."

The girls stared for a moment, then nodded. "Good point," Rikki said.

Emma handed the paper back to the boy.

"You sure you don't wanna buy it, lady? Just five pence."

Emma was in a daze. "I'm sure, but thank you."

The girls took off running, back toward the ocean.

The boy shook his head, puzzled, but forgot the strange girls instantly. How could he possibly think about them when there was money to be made?!

George Harold Bennett, the future father of Harrison Bennett, held up his newspaper and resumed his labor. "Daily Glen Journal!"

 

Cleo couldn't roll out of the moon pool and dry herself fast enough. Somehow, the pool didn't feel safe anymore. Like it had betrayed them.

Emma and Rikki quickly followed suit. Rikki dried them both.

The girls stood and frantically looked around the cavern, hoping to find an answer, a clue, anything.

Cleo spotted it first. "The damage Anthony caused is gone!"

The others looked. The cavern wall was perfectly healed.

"No," Emma said. "It hasn't happened yet."

They continued looking around, trying not to panic. There was nothing but sand, water, and rock, like always. Nothing else was out of place or different. Yet the cavern was somehow still wrong, as if invisible furniture had been rearranged. It wasn't theirs anymore. They could feel it.

Rikki glared at the moon pool. "What have you done?!" she demanded.

Cleo also addressed the pool in anguish. "This isn't funny. Send us back. Please!"

Rikki dropped to her knees, put her face close to the water, and peered into its depths. "For the first time ever, I'm really peeved at you," she said quietly, menacingly. "Seriously. Stop this now! Send us back!"

Because Rikki was peering deeply into the pool at a long angle, she saw the distant flicker of movement headed toward them.

Rikki leaped up, grabbed her friends' hands, and whisper-shouted, "Run!" She dragged them toward the tunnel.

Picking up Rikki's panic, Emma and Cleo took off with her. They made it into the tunnel just before Louise popped up into the pool.

Each girl peeked around the corner just long enough to see the danger they'd barely avoided. Louise – a teenager! – didn't appear to have seen them. Carefully, silently, the girls retreated further into the tunnel.

Emma was about to whisper something when a boy's voice came at them from the other direction, echoing along the cavern. "Afternoon, ladies! Are you there?"

The girls whipped their heads around to look at the opposite end of the tunnel, their eyes wide with fear. They heard someone slide down the chute into the cavern entrance.

They spun their heads back toward the moon pool cavern. They heard Louise roll out of the water.

They were trapped.

Cleo dropped to her knees and scrambled into the hideaway.

From the entrance came the sound of the boy climbing to his feet and dusting himself off.

Rikki crawled through the opening hot on Cleo's heels, Emma right behind her. Emma's foot disappeared into the hideaway a split second before teenage Max Hamilton breezed around the corner.

Their hearts pounding and their eyes wide, Emma, Cleo, and Rikki watched Max's feet stroll past the hideaway's opening.

Gracie and Julia arrived in the pool, and Julia dried Louise, who was lying there patiently. (The one with ice as her power always had to rely on one of the others to dry her quickly.)

Now with legs instead of a tail, Louise wore a long light green skirt and her silver locket with the white stone. She sat up and put her arms around her knees.

"Oh, I hate biology with a passion!" Gracie groaned as she rolled out of the pool. "Why do we have to learn that stuff?"

"I've been singing that song for years," Julia said. She remained in the water, resting her head and arms on the poolside.

"Yes, but with you, it's every class," Max said with a smirk, as he sat near the pool.

"And I still haven't found anyone who can say I'm wrong," Julia said.

Huddling in the hideaway, the 2007 girls couldn't see what was happening in the moon pool cavern, but they heard every word.

Gracie dried herself. The magical transformation restored her legs, her long lavender skirt, and her silver locket with the blue stone. She sat between Louise and Max, curling her legs in and to one side, and neatly arranged her skirt around herself. She tried to look casual, but it was clear she was tense about something.

In fact, they all seemed tense, deep beneath their casual conversation.

Louise had a sudden thought. "Julia, what classes could they teach which you wouldn't hate?"

"Ha!" Gracie laughed.

Julia had the decency to give this some thought. "That's actually a good question. Domestic arts's useful, I'll give them that. Maybe...mountaineering! Or skydiving! Driving a truck. Something useful and exciting! Not that drivel they torture into us."

Max was gobsmacked. "You honestly believe math isn't a useful life skill?!"

"We learned add, subtract, multiply, and divide when we were in primary school," Julia said. "Unless you're going into a specialized profession, tell me why you need to know anything beyond that."

"Amen," Rikki whispered. Cleo and Emma looked at her, and Rikki's eyes grew wide as she realized she'd said that out loud.

Max had a good response. "First, because it broadens your world. Knowledge always leverages more knowledge, which keeps you much more informed about the world you live in, instead of being ignorant. And I think you take the knowledge you already have for granted, and don't understand how difficult your life would be without it. Also, most of us are still figuring out what we want to do with our lives. Exposing us to all these subjects can spark an interest which otherwise would never have happened."

Emma resisted the urge to whisper an "Amen!" herself. Now's not the time to get into a passive-aggressive spat with Rikki, she thought.

"Well, that's as may be," Julia said. "But I already know enough about what I want out of life."

"What's that?" Gracie asked.

"I don't know," Julia said.

"You just said you did!" Max protested.

"No I didn't. I said I knew enough. I don't know what I want to do with my life, but I do know it has nothing to do with anything they teach in that building. And knowing that, I should therefore be exempt from being forced to put up with it!"

Max rolled his eyes and looked like he was about to die.

"Give it up, Max," Louise said with a grin. "You're not gonna win!"

But Max didn't give it up. "What about history?" he asked Julia emphatically. "Don't tell me that doesn't inform your life! Or do you think the world just started when you were born?"

As a playful argument erupted between Julia and Max, Rikki whispered, "Should we just step out and introduce ourselves?"

"We can't!" Emma whispered back ferociously. "We can't do anything to change the past!"

"But what if we're supposed to step out and introduce ourselves?" Rikki asked.

"What do you mean, supposed to?" Cleo asked.

"You think we're here randomly?" Rikki asked. "The moon pool just got a sudden whim? Then spun the wheel to see which date we'd land on just for fun?"

Emma and Cleo thought about this for a moment.

"I don't know," Emma whispered. "But my instinct is telling me to stay right here."

"Do nothing until we know more," Cleo agreed.

In the moon pool cavern, the 1957 friends were still discussing the state of their school.

"I mean, take today!" Julia was saying. "The final period on a Friday. All everyone can think about is getting out of there to get ready for the dance tonight, and Strickland drops a pop quiz on us! Fifteen minutes before final bell! Old man Peabody would never have done that."

"Peabody was a year from retirement and stopped giving a damn," Max said.

"Strickland's an old horse from another century," Louise said. "He doesn't think schools should have athletic teams, or dances, or anything which isn't a pure classroom education. He knew everyone's brains had already shut down because we were all set for the dance, so he hit us with a pop quiz on purpose! It's just his way of lashing out at a world he doesn't like."

Gracie chimed in. "I will forever swear that at least two of those questions, he never covered in class!"

"Of course he didn't!" Julia said. "Strickland pulls that garbage all the time."

"I'm sure it's unethical," Louise said. "But what recourse do we have?"

"I'm just glad Tannen doesn't do things like that," Gracie said. "I got it bad enough as it is. I've always needed Max's help to scrape through biology. Why is it that I can understand basic chemistry, but I just can't wrap my head around biology without my boyfriend's help?"

"It's like listening to ourselves and Lewis," Emma whispered, mildly horrified.

"The moon pool definitely has a type," Rikki agreed.

Cleo's eyes grew wide as she gave Rikki a comical, yet genuine, reaction of surprise.

The 2007 girls continued listening to their 1957 counterparts. A few minutes later, they started talking about the upcoming dance.

"Isn't it great that this year's dance has an underwater ocean theme?" Gracie asked. "It's so fitting for us!"

"Oh," Julia said. "I guess you don't know."

"Know what?" Gracie asked.

Julia pointed at Louise, who looked smug.

"I'm the senior member of the dance committee," Louise said.

"Yeah, I know," Gracie said.

"So you really think the ocean theme is a coincidence?" Louise asked.

Gracie mock-scowled at Louise. "You didn't."

"I pushed hard for it," Louise said. "It's an inside joke just for us! I was wondering when you'd cotton on."

Gracie turned to Julia. "You knew?"

"I thought it was kind of obvious," Julia said.

Gracie looked at Max. "You knew?"

Max looked sheepish. Very meekly, he said, "Same."

"Really, we thought you knew," Julia said.

"No," Gracie said. "Apparently, I'm naive enough to think that when a thing is done by committee, it's actually done by committee."

Louise said, "One thing I've discovered in the past couple years is that most committees have one or two bullheaded leaders and a bunch of sheep. So technically, yes, things are done by committee. But really, no."

Julia schnorted.

Louise suddenly looked awkward. "Besides...from the way you've been talking all year, I kind of figured this dance would be your last hurrah on the Gold Coast, and I wanted it to be as special as I could possibly make it for you."

Max and the girls fell silent for a moment, partially with relief, partially with dread. Louise had finally mentioned the elephant in the room.

"Well, thanks for that," Gracie said quietly, genuinely touched and a little embarrassed.

"So...you're really committed?" Julia asked. "You haven't changed your mind?"

Gracie gave the girls a sad look, but couldn't quite look at Max. She knew he was in anguish, and she couldn't take that at the moment. "No, I'm determined. I've never felt so clearly about anything in my life."

Max felt himself die inside.

Gracie continued. "Two nights from now, when that special full moon finally hits, I'm giving up the mermaid life forever. The next morning, I'll be gone...and I'll graduate someplace else."

Julia fought back a few tears. She didn't want to cry, not yet. "Why, though?"

In the hideaway, the 2007 girls had poked their heads out the opening, listening to every word, absolutely riveted.

Gracie raised her knees and wrapped her arms around them tightly. "I don't know if I can explain it. My parents' divorce has a lot to do with it. A lot. I just..." She closed her eyes. "I don't have the words, I'm sorry. I love you girls, and I love you, Max, but...just one too many things have happened which are just that other side of too painful. My dad leaving for Perth immediately after the special full moon is the perfect opportunity to wad everything up and start over, to start brand new." She gave a deep sigh. "I can't explain it. I just know it's what I want."

Max's eyes were riveted on the pool. His face struggled to contain his emotions.

"Well, I'm glad this dance will be your final memory here," Louise said. "I hope we can make it a good one."

"Yeah," Julia said. "And you'll...you'll stay in touch, right?"

Gracie gave a weak smile. "I want to say the right thing, but...I'm sorry, I have to be honest. No. No, I won't stay in touch. When I say clean break, I mean it. I'm throwing away everything before this point. I've already cleaned out my room, thrown most of it in the skip. When we say farewell Sunday night, it really will be farewell."

With a herculean effort, Max kept a lid on his emotions. Mouth quivering slightly, he continued staring at the pool, somehow separate from this conversation, yet smack in the middle of it.

Julia and Louise looked at Gracie with sadness, yet with the acceptance of true friends.

Louise said, "Well, be that as it may, you'll still be our friend, right until the very last second."

"And beyond that, if you ever change your mind," Julia said.

"Absolutely," Louise said. "In a heartbeat. No questions asked, no matter how much time has passed."

Gracie smiled sadly. "I know. And I thank you both for it."

Louise glanced at Max, and said, "Julia and I need to get ready for the dance. We'll see you there."

Louise slipped into the pool. Neither Gracie nor Max said a word as the others swam away. They remained silent for a long moment, neither able to look at the other.

At the hideaway entrance, the 2007 girls breathed quietly and strained to hear, enrapt. A pin drop would have made them explode.

Gracie fought back a few tears. "Max," she finally whispered, without looking at him. "I know this hurts, and I'm sorry. I truly am."

"I just wish I understood," he whispered. His eyes were still locked on the moon pool.

"And I wish I could explain."

He finally looked at her. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, Max, of course not."

"I've always tried to treat you right, like a gentleman should treat his girl. I really thought we'd all be friends forever, especially with this huge magical secret. I made you and the others matching lockets to symbolize that!"

"Each of us with our special color."

"Yes! It felt right."

Gracie lifted her locket to look at it. "And you gave me blue."

"Blue, for the ocean. Blue for the water you control." He braved a smile, and whispered, "Blue for your eyes."

She let go of her locket and gave a tiny smile of exasperation. "My eyes are grey, doofus."

"Blue enough."

She fell silent. She couldn't look at him.

"Do I matter so little to you?" Max asked quietly, desperately. "Was everything a lie?"

"No, it's just that things change. Sometimes too much."

"Not this much! People who care about each other are supposed to be able to withstand-"

Gracie abruptly stood and faced away from him. "Max, please don't make this harder than it already is!"

"Harder than it already is?!" He stood also, gaping at her. "You're the one doing this, but somehow I'm the one making it hard?"

She stood with her arms folded, hunched in on herself, as if trying to keep herself from falling apart. "It's something I have to do. I beg you to understand. That's all I can do."

"Gracie-"

"Max, please! Everything already hurts too much!" She suddenly tore off her locket and threw it into the water with all her might. "And I don't want any of it anymore!"

Cleo convulsed, as if someone had just hit her soul. She clutched her locket. Stunned, Rikki put a hand on Cleo's shoulder, trying to steady her.

"I don't want to be blue anymore!" Gracie shrieked. "I don't want to be anything anymore!" In a flash, she was in the water and swimming away.

"No!" Max screamed. "Gracie!" He sobbed, and watched until she was out of sight.

The 2007 girls pulled back into the hideaway. Crying and wailing openly, Max ran up the tunnel to the cavern entrance. The girls heard him climb the chute quickly.

Then, silence. The girls sat in shock for a few moments.

"Wow," Rikki finally whispered. "Call an ambulance."

"Yeah, that was brutal," Emma agreed.

Rikki looked at Cleo. "You okay?"

Cleo nodded.

"What happened?" Emma asked.

Cleo motioned in the direction of the moon pool. "That was the moment Gracie threw her locket away. Into the pool."

"How do you know?" Emma asked.

Cleo shook her head. "I just know, somehow."

"You felt it happen?!" Rikki asked.

"I did! But I sort of felt it through the locket. Like...the locket itself reacted to Gracie's rejection. It hurt! And I could feel that rejection, like an echo!"

"Wow!" Emma said. "Feeling a connection with Gracie through the locket!"

"I don't know about a connection with Gracie," Cleo said. "But a connection with the locket itself, like it's alive...definitely!"

"Whoa!" Rikki said in a reverential whisper.

Emma said, "But...our lockets only mean anything because we're sentimental about them, and they symbolize our friendship. That's a meaning we created inside ourselves. As far as the universe is concerned, they're just little bits of metal."

"Bits of metal owned by two sets of magical mermaids," Rikki said. "Maybe all six of us somehow gave them magical powers by valuing them so much?"

Emma grew very thoughtful. "Or...maybe the moon pool influenced Max to make them, and they've had a greater meaning all along." She lifted her own locket to gaze at it with new wonder. "Either way, these little silver ladies have more to them than meets the eye."

Rikki's eyes grew wide. "Wait a minute! That...no, it couldn't be!" She looked confounded. "No. Could it?"

Emma and Cleo looked at Rikki strangely. "Care to share?" Emma asked her.

"Well...I just had the weirdest thought," Rikki said. "Gracie rejected her mermaid self and her friends by throwing her locket into the pool."

"Yeah, but we've always known she threw it away," Cleo said.

"That's the point!" Rikki said excitedly, then calmed a bit. "At least, if my crazy idea has any meat on its bones. Gracie didn't just throw the locket away. She threw it into the water!" Rikki looked at Cleo. "And you reacted to that! What if the connection you have with your locket transcends time? And what if your locket hated being thrown into the water alone and rejected? I have to wonder if that's why you were so irrationally afraid of water from the day you were born!"

Emma and Cleo were dumbfounded. They looked with amazement at each other, then at Rikki.

Following Rikki's train of thought, Emma excitedly said, "That would mean Cleo's been connected to her locket her whole life!"

"Maybe the connection spans 1957 to 2007, and all points between," Rikki said. "Or even further. Or maybe the rule is: once connected, always connected. Always meaning forwards and backwards!"

Emma considered Rikki's brainstorm furiously. "Simply by being here, we know time can't be linear. So that...could actually work, in a bizarre way!"

"I'm sorry," Cleo said. "Brain shutting down now. Good night."

"Hey, it's not biology," Rikki said. "You can keep up."

"Nnnnnnnope."

"It's certainly twisty turvy," Emma said. "But Cleo's fear of water could also have been a coincidence."

"Yeah, it could have been," Rikki agreed. "I'm just spitballing all this. But we've learned one thing at least: there's more to our lockets than we ever thought, and we do have a connection with them. And – here's some more spitballing – through that connection, maybe we even have a further connection with Louise, Julia, and Gracie, which we haven't discovered or used yet. Not just a symbolic connection, but a tangible one. A direct, magical connection."

They were silent for a long moment, pondering all these different ideas.

"Gracie's locket was mine for a few days," Emma suddenly said, quietly. "Because I found it. I've never said what I'm about to say out loud, but I think I'm finally ready to." She looked at Cleo. "That night at the slumber party, I meant every word I said when I gave you that locket. But there was something else going on that night that I didn't want to admit, even to myself, because it felt silly. But I don't think it's silly anymore. I gave you that locket because I could swear I felt this deep, inexplicable compulsion that it was yours all along. That it was an intrinsic part of you, just like your soul and your mind are. I couldn't have not given it to you, even if I'd tried."

"The locket was coming home," Cleo whispered.

Emma nodded. "The locket had finally found home."

Cleo thought for a moment, then said, "I wonder if it called out when Miriam tried to steal it. We were upstairs, but Rikki was on the spot."

Rikki shook her head slowly. "Maybe it did call out. But I had my eye on Miriam, anyway. I'd met girls like her before, and I knew she was gonna steal it. Jealousy and spite is a bitch combo."

Emma said, "But the odds of you randomly spotting Julia's locket in a store window..."

"We always knew that was one of the moon pool's little not-coincidences," Rikki said.

"But it was also your locket reaching out to you," Cleo said. "You found it! Not either of us!"

Rikki thought about this, understanding dawning on her face. "My locket came home." Then she looked at Emma. "And yours?"

Emma shook her head slowly. "A different case. My locket would be equally at home either with Louise or myself."

"But Louise wanted them together," Cleo said. "Maybe the lockets are happiest, and work best, when they're a team of three."

"Just like us," Rikki said.

The three girls shared a wonderful, beautiful smile.

They crawled out of the hideaway and returned to the moon pool.

"So what are we doing here?" Cleo asked. "Are we supposed to do something?"

"The moon pool plopped us here two days before the special full moon," Emma said. "That's got to mean something."

"Gracie said she was about to give up her powers," Rikki said. "But didn't they all give up their powers?"

"As best I can tell, they did," Emma said. "But Louise never talks about it, and we've never dared ask."

"No!" Rikki agreed emphatically.

"I wonder if it's too painful for her," Cleo said.

"I wonder if she regrets it," Rikki said.

"Maybe we're supposed to convince the girls to keep their powers?" Cleo suggested meekly.

"Maybe we're supposed to convince Gracie to stay and keep her friendships?" Emma asked.

"That would almost certainly rewrite her entire life," Rikki said. "If she went on to have children, and we wiped those children out of history by changing her life path...we'd be murderers!"

Emma shook her head, overwhelmed. "I don't know what we're supposed to do."

"Maybe we're not supposed to do anything at all," Cleo said.

"Then why send us here?" Rikki asked.

"To observe, maybe?" Cleo suggested. "To learn?"

Rikki looked at the moon pool and barked, "Hey! Would you give us some guidance, for once?!"

Nothing happened.

"Great," Rikki said, looking at the moon pool with contempt. "That's just great."

Emma felt she couldn't take any more. She put a hand on her head. "Okay, first things first. I'm hungry, and I know you are, too."

"We don't have any money," Cleo said.

Emma thought for a moment. Cleo and Rikki could almost see that practical, organized brain of hers assembling a solution. It took her only a few seconds. "There's bound to be food at the school somewhere, and school's out for the day. In our day, I know the teachers keep food in the staff room, and they probably do that now."

"The staff room's always locked," Cleo said.

"Sometimes, locks are just suggestions," Rikki said.

Cleo gave her a mildly astonished look.

"We might get lucky," Emma said. "There's also a slight chance some food may still be in the canteen."

"Also locked," Cleo said. "I think these are long shots."

"I agree," Emma said. "But aside from begging door to door, do either of you have a better idea?"

Rikki and Cleo were silent.

"Okay, then let's hit the school," Emma said. "We'll at least be able to drink water from the bubblers. If we can scrounge something there, then we can consider our next step."

"All right," Rikki said.

As the girls stepped to the edge of the pool, Cleo said, "If you see Gracie's locket down there, leave it alone. It has to stay down there so Emma can find it fifty years from now."

"See?" Rikki said to Cleo encouragingly. "You're following this just fine."

Cleo gave her a mock-glare while Emma and Rikki chuckled.

They dove into the pool.

 

Rikki let out a low growl as they hiked to the school. "I'm really getting tired of people glaring at us."

"We're showing too much skin for this time," Emma said. "And our hair and clothing are strange."

"We should speak in accents," Cleo said. "Pretend we're foreigners."

"Pretty sure that wouldn't help," Emma said.

"Allo, can you purty puh-leeez halp us to find zee school building?" Cleo said.

"No," Emma said. "Do. Not. Do that."

The school building was the same as it was in their time. School had let out about an hour previously, so the building was still unlocked and almost empty.

Two girls about their own age were coming out as they were going in. Both girls, dressed in nice shin-length skirts, scowled at Emma, Rikki, and Cleo as they passed. The trio could feel the other girls' glares on their backs as they walked. A few seconds later came the sound of one of them whispering, "So indecent!" followed by the door closing.

The girls found a bubbler and satisfied their thirst. They hadn't had water for several hours.

Then they went to the canteen, but it was locked. Since the food providers took the leftovers home with them each day, the chances were extremely high that even if the girls found a way in, it would be for nothing.

Just outside the canteen hung a large blue posterboard with artwork, advertising that night's Enchantment Under the Sea dance. The poster exhorted them to "Be there or be square!"

The girls headed to the staff room. They reached it, and Rikki knocked.

"What do we say if someone answers?" Cleo whispered.

"I really don't know," Rikki whispered back.

Nothing happened for several seconds, so Rikki tried the knob. To their surprise, it was unlocked. Rikki opened the door, and the girls found themselves staring at a room containing art supplies and cleaning supplies.

"They moved things around since then," Emma said.

"Since now," Cleo said.

"Whatever," Emma said. "Stupid time travel."

The girls roamed the halls. Occasional far-off sounds and voices told them others were in the building, but they saw no one. It took them a minute to find the door labeled Staff Room. In 2007, it would be the classroom for special needs students.

Again Rikki knocked, again no one answered, again Rikki tried the knob. This, however, was locked, as they expected.

"Classroom," Rikki whispered.

Baffled, Emma and Cleo followed Rikki, who opened the next door along and stepped into a classroom. No one was inside. It contained about thirty student desks, and a large wooden desk and chair at the front. The front wall was a large chalkboard.

Emma and Cleo stepped into the classroom. Cleo closed the door quietly as Rikki rummaged through the large desk.

"What are we doing?" Emma asked Rikki.

Rikki held up two paper clips. "Improvising." She twisted the clips into new shapes as she returned to the door. She opened it and stuck her head out. The hall was empty.

"Keep watch," Rikki whispered, and quickly returned to the staff room door.

"What are we supposed to do if someone comes along?" Cleo asked as they followed Rikki.

Emma shrugged.

Rikki worked at the staff room lock with the paper clips. After ten seconds, she turned the knob and opened the door. "In," she said quickly.

Their eyes bugging wide, Emma and Cleo quickly slipped into the staff room right behind Rikki. Emma closed the door.

The room contained a round dining table with six chairs, more chairs along one wall, a sofa along another wall, a refrigerator in the corner, a countertop, drawers, and several cabinets.

The girls stood by the door. Emma asked, "Where did you learn to pick a lock?!" She and Cleo stared at Rikki in amazement.

Rikki looked like a deer in headlights for a second, then gave them a tight smile and said, "Probably best you don't know." She clapped them on their arms and stepped briskly to the refrigerator.

Without moving, and with their mouths still open, Cleo and Emma slid their eyes to glance at each other.

Emma tilted her head to look at Rikki. "So we've been associating with a criminal malcontent this whole time?"

"Don't tell me you didn't know," Rikki said over her shoulder as she rummaged through the refrigerator. "And you love every minute of it."

"Well, school is where we learn life skills," Cleo said.

Emma said, "Apparently, there are life skills, and there are life skills."

"Are you two gonna gab and let me do all the work?" Rikki asked. She turned around with an armful of deli meats and cheese. "Someone grab the mayo."

Emma searched the cabinets and found three-quarters of a loaf of bread, while Cleo grabbed mayo and mustard from the refrigerator. "Anyone need tomato sauce?" she asked.

"No," Emma said, while Rikki said, "Bring it."

Cleo snagged the tomato sauce, too. Emma grabbed a handful of utensils and paper napkins.

Emma set her things on the table and started to sit, but Rikki said, "Not here! A teacher could come along any second!"

The girls froze as footsteps approached the door...then faded in the other direction. Rikki counted to ten, then opened the door. The hall was clear.

The girls took their loot back to the same classroom from which Rikki had taken the paper clips. They piled in and closed the door behind them.

Very quietly, they moved several desks in the far corner into an arrangement suitable for their needs, then sat and enjoyed a meal of meat and cheese sandwiches.

When they were finished, Cleo indicated the remaining food. "Do we put all this back?"

"Take it with us," Rikki said.

"Where?" Emma asked.

"Wherever we're staying the night," Rikki said.

"Oh, wow," Cleo said. "And where's that?"

"It'll have to be the hideaway," Emma said. "Either that or a park bench."

"We can't take food with us to the hideaway," Rikki said. "Not unless you want it drenched in saltwater."

Emma frowned, but had a solution almost instantly. "After dark, I can make a raft of ice, and we can float the supplies to the island."

Rikki sighed. "That'll work, but we'll have to land on a beach and carry them to the cavern."

Cleo said to Emma, "Or, you could create a hollow sphere of ice, with our stuff inside. Then I could use my power to push that sphere under the water and through the tunnel, straight to the moon pool."

Emma nodded. "Sounds good."

"It's still only enough for one more meal," Rikki said. "The moon pool better put a signpost in our path pretty freakin' fast."

"We need to do something about our clothing, too," Emma said.

"Washing, brushing our teeth," Cleo said. "Without a proper place to stay, we're gonna stink in a day."

Emma groaned. "I agree with Rikki. Whatever the moon pool wants us to do, it better happen soon!" An idea struck her. "Did the school have drama class in this time?"

"No idea," Cleo said.

"If they do, they'll have costumes," Emma said. "Maybe some clothing that won't stand out so much."

"Let's check it out," Rikki said.

The girls hid the food on a bookshelf as best they could. Anyone casually glancing in probably wouldn't see it.

They reasoned that if there was a drama department, its rooms would be near the Assembly Hall, since that was the only place to stage productions. They headed in that direction and searched the surrounding rooms. They managed to avoid being seen by anyone, but they found no costumes.

However, they found something else promising: a large two-tier cart full of supplies sitting in the corridor just outside the Assembly Hall.

They had no idea who had put it there, or why it was unattended. The girls had ignored the cart at first because the items it held – dishes, disposable cups and plates, streamers, artwork, cleaning supplies – hadn't interested them. But walking past it a third time, Cleo spotted something.

"Check it out," she said, pulling a shirt out from beneath a shiny, silvery foil wall hanging.

Emma lifted the pile a little, and the girls saw a small stack of clothing buried beneath the decorations. They quickly pulled out dark grey shirts, matching poodle skirts, and matching socks. Each shirt had a tasteful Flanders Catering logo on its left breast.

"Better a caterer than someone being gawked at all day," Rikki said.

The girls chose sizes to fit them. The cart also held a stack of paper sacks, so they took three, to put their old clothing in.

They hurried into the Assembly Hall, a large two-story space. Since it was sometimes used for productions, or even small sporting contests, the Assembly Hall had locker rooms. They rushed into the girls' locker room with their spoils.

Ten minutes later, they stood side by side by side and eyed themselves in mirrors. They were silent for a moment.

"Well," Rikki finally said, turning herself this way and that. "It's kind of quaint."

"I totally think these should make a comeback," Emma said.

Cleo gave them a funny look and said, "No comment."

Emma tucked her locket inside her shirt. "Lockets in. We can't let Max or a mermaid from this time see them." Rikki and Cleo also tucked their lockets inside their shirts.

Cleo plopped herself on one of the wooden benches which ran along the wall. "Okay, we've solved our two biggest immediate problems: clothing and food. What's our next move?"

"We should get back to the hideaway and then discuss our next move," Emma said.

"That's just it," Cleo said. "I'm not sure the hideaway is where we need to go."

"You agreed with it half an hour ago," Rikki said. There was no anger or recrimination in her voice.

"Yeah, but it's been bugging me ever since," Cleo said. "Is there a shelter run by the government, or a local church, we could go to?"

"They'd want names," Emma said.

"So let's give them names," Cleo said. "Fake, real, I don't care. We're travelers, and someone stole our stuff."

"We're minors," Emma said. "They'd want to contact our families."

Cleo frowned. She had no answer to that.

"Come on, Cleo, we gotta go," Emma said. "They'll close the school soon."

"Wait," Rikki said, holding up her hand. She looked thoughtful. "Cleo...why did you say need to go?"

"What are you talking about?" Cleo asked.

"You said, I'm not sure the hideaway is where we need to go. I just...thought it was odd that you'd say it that way. It didn't really sound like you. Normally, you'd say something like, I don't want to spend the night in the hideaway, or I feel we should come up with a better plan. I don't know if I'm making something out of nothing, or if this is significant. But we've been waiting for the moon pool to tell us where to go, and Cleo suddenly says this isn't where we need to go. It just jumped out at me."

Emma and Cleo looked thoughtful.

"If it's a signpost, all it's doing is telling us where not to go, which isn't that helpful," Emma said.

Rikki looked despondent. "I don't even know that it is a signpost. I could be spinning yarn out of air. Maybe we should just go."

Emma sat on a bench. "No, whatever we do, let's not run around with no plan. We can at least rethink our next step. If we still think the best thing is to return to the hideaway, we can still do that, signposts be damned."

Rikki shrugged and sat also. "I still have no alternative. Though it looks like it'll be a nice night to sleep on the beach, if we wanna do that."

"Mmp," Cleo said with a frown.

"What if we approach it a different way?" Emma asked. "Let's assume you're right about Cleo's words being a signpost. Why not return to the hideaway? Can we think of a reason?"

"Maybe the current mermaids know it's there, and they could look inside it any time," Cleo said. "I mean, hiding inside their own clubhouse, right under their noses? Maybe that's not the brightest idea we've ever had."

"And we'd have to be super quiet the whole time," agreed Rikki.

Emma grimaced. "I can't help but feel that all this leads back to the big question: why are we here?"

"Remember that tunnel of magic we swam through?" Cleo asked. "I'm sure that's when we were sent back in time. And that happened right after we were talking about the 1957 girls. Well, it was mostly me. I said I wanted to know about the other mermaids. And..."

Cleo's voice drifted off as realization hit her.

"It was me," she whispered. "I was touching the blue crystals when I wondered what the other girls' lives were like, and I wished I could meet them."

Emma and Rikki were amazed.

"You mean we're here so you can shake their hands and say hello?" Rikki asked.

Emma said, "Worst. Idea. Ever."

"Yeah," Cleo said. "It was just a wish. I don't actually want to blow up the space/time continuum."

Rikki leaned forward, put her face in her hands, and slid her hands down her face in exasperation. "The earlier mermaids. The 1957 girls. Duplicates of us, or we're duplicates of them. Even Max said Louise led a structured life when she was young, which is hard to wrap my brain around. But I mean it when I say the moon pool has a type. None of that's a coincidence. Even the boyfriends we choose are similar! Max is Lewis, and Karl is Zane...sort of. So, are we a replacement for a failed experiment?"

"A failed experiment?" Emma asked, flabbergasted. She and Cleo looked at Rikki in amazement.

Rikki grimaced, but plowed on. "Julia blew it when she told Karl her secret. Gracie bailed. All three girls gave up their powers and walked away. Maybe we're mermaids because the first set didn't work out."

"That's not a failed experiment," Emma said, slightly irritated with Rikki.

Rikki shrugged. "Okay, maybe that wasn't the right phrase, but you know what I mean."

This placated Emma a bit. She looked thoughtful.

"Mmm, I'm gonna stick up for Julia," Cleo said. "Zane eventually learned your secret, but his reaction was the exact opposite of Karl's, which means Julia was never the problem. What happened with them is on Karl, all the way. Not her."

Well, Julia did compromise her friends without their permission, Emma thought, but chose not to say. Now wasn't the time to drag that garbage up again.

Rikki said, "Okay, so it was Zane who took the right path when Karl took the wrong one, which has nothing to do with Julia herself. Granted. But my point still stands: for whatever reason, the original mermaids, along with the people around them, had problems. Problems that, so far, we've avoided, whether by luck or by design. I feel like we're the slightly improved version. Like the way Julia put the others in danger by blabbing to Karl, but I never did the same, because I'm not Julia, just like I told Louise that day. So far, we've succeeded where they stumbled." Rikki looked at Cleo. "Unless you're planning on pulling a Gracie."

Cleo looked horrified and shook her head vigorously. "No way! I like my life!"

Emma said, "I agree that the moon pool chose a second set of similar girls, but doesn't that imply that it has an agenda of some kind?"

"Maybe it does," Rikki said.

"How could it have the same agenda fifty years later?" Cleo asked.

Emma and Rikki each made a that's a good point, but it beats me face.

"Have you noticed how our protection continues?" Cleo asked.

"What do you mean?" Rikki asked.

"We dodged the other mermaids and Max only because we know about the hideaway," Cleo said. "But we just discovered the hideaway a week ago! Remember how it looked like I was led to discover it?"

"Huh," Emma said thoughtfully. "Maybe this trip has nothing to do with you making wishes on blue crystals. Maybe the moon pool has been setting this up for a while."

"Here's another protection," Rikki said. "If I hadn't been kneeling next to the moon pool, and looking deep into it, at exactly the right moment, Louise would have popped up and surprised us! But against all odds, I did see Louise in time, from a long way away. That gave us time to hide."

"Yep," Emma said with a resigned nod. "The moon pool takes care of anything we can't control."

"While simultaneously giving us no help whatsoever when it's something we can control!" Rikki said irritably.

"As usual," Cleo said wearily.

"Yeah, we're not spoon-fed," Emma said. "The magic constantly challenges us to rise higher and find solutions ourselves."

"By chucking us in the deep end!" Rikki said.

"That's how we learn to swim," Emma said, and couldn't help but give a tiny smile.

"We're mermaids," Cleo said. "Deep water is where we shine."

Even Rikki gave a slight chuckle at that.

They sat in silence for several moments.

"Ladies," Cleo said. "We're no closer to figuring anything out."

"I say we head back to the hideaway," Emma said. "We literally can't think of anything else. If that pisses off the moon pool, that's the moon pool's problem, and it can do something about it."

"Amen," Rikki said.

They grabbed their sacks and left the locker room.

And stopped just outside the door.

People had arrived while they'd been talking. Directly in front of them, a group of pop rock musicians was setting up a basic platform as a makeshift stage. Near one wall, a couple of workers wearing Flanders Catering uniforms were setting up tables.

"Oooh," Rikki whispered. "Events have moved along while we were away."

"Oh, shoot!" Emma said. "Of course the dance would take place in the Assembly Hall. The cart full of dishes and decorations! I did not make that connection, but I should have! This whole time, we've been sitting at ground zero for tonight's activities!"

Rikki said in a light sing-song voice, "We...need...to...go..."

"Act casual," Cleo said.

The girls strolled for the exit, hoping no one would notice them. They pushed open the swing double doors which led to the corridor, and found themselves face to face with a man in a business suit on his way in. He was in his mid-forties, somewhat overweight, with thinning hair.

He took one look at their uniforms and said, "Good, you're already here! We're running late because the van had a puncture, so we need the banner and all the decorations hung as fast as possible. The utility room is down the hall, it'll have a ladder. Once the dance begins, you -" He pointed to Cleo. "- serve punch. "You -" He pointed to Rikki. "- wander the room and pick up trash. And you -" He pointed to Emma. "- take photos. I'll get you the camera later."

The girls blinked and stared.

"Well hop to it!" the man snapped, pointing at the decorations on the cart.

They hopped to it.

"Well," Emma said, as she and Cleo grabbed the cart. "Signpost noted."

"Signpost smacked us in the head," Cleo agreed.

Rikki took Cleo's and Emma's sacks, and gave the man a sweet smile. "I'll just put our stuff up, then I'll get the ladder."

The man nodded, satisfied.

Emma and Cleo wheeled the cart into the Assembly Hall, then unpacked the decorations into neat stacks across the floor to see everything available. Rikki returned with the ladder, leaned it against a wall, and helped them finish unpacking. Most of the decorations were sheets of shiny, silvery foil, sometimes sliced into tassels, colored silver, blue, and aquamarine. There were also several dozen fish and cartoony mermaids, in full color, cut out of cardboard.

"Well," Rikki said with gusto. "If three mermaids can't decorate a dance called Enchantment Under the Sea, no one can!"

Emma looked around the room. "You're the artistic one," she said to Cleo. "Tell us what to do."

Cleo studied the available decorations intently, then scrutinized the room. It was rectangular. Along one long wall were a few rectangular tables to hold the punch bowl, cake, and cookies. Along the opposite wall were about a dozen large round tables with chairs. Just outside the locker rooms, at one end, the band was setting up. The middle of the room was the dance floor.

Within thirty seconds, Cleo knew exactly how everything would look.

She pointed at the end of the room opposite the band. "The banner goes there, two thirds of the way up. The colors which hint at a coral reef go all down one side, and the other colors which hint at getting closer to the beach go down the other. Mostly, spread the fish and mermaids around as evenly as possible, and have them facing all different directions."

She pulled her friends closer and said quietly, "But...let's make sure that on each side of the room, we find a special spot to group three mermaids together. Louise created the dance's theme as an inside joke for herself and her friends." Cleo gave them a slightly mischievous smile. "Let's embellish that a bit further."

Rikki and Emma smiled in return.

 

The band had finished the stage and was assembling their drum kit, instruments, guitar stands, and amps. They worked so quickly and smoothly, it was clear they'd been doing gigs like this for years. Rikki was using the ladder to hang decorations, and had reached their end of the hall, so she could easily hear the band members chatting as she worked.

Sneaking a glimpse at the stage, she saw the band's logo proudly emblazoned across the bass drum: Marvin Berry and the Starlighters. With their dark skins and foreign accents, they were clearly African American. She counted five men. In addition to the drums, she saw a bass fiddle, a guitar, a piano, and a saxophone. Everything looked in great condition.

Rikki nodded approvingly. If these guys were as good as their experience hinted they were, it should be a rocking night.

As she hung the final sheet of foil, she couldn't help overhear a quiet, tense discussion among all five band members.

"I don't like this, Marvin," one said. "A high school dance called Enchantment Under the Sea?!"

"Yeah, you remember what happened the last time we played one of these?" another said.

A third member said, "We went international to get away from the crazy, not toward it!"

"Man, what happened at that dance a couple years ago was a fluke," Marvin insisted. "What are the chances anything weird like that would happen again?"

Four men tilted their heads at Marvin and gave him perfect are you kidding me?! looks.

Well, that was a deeply strange conversation, Rikki thought. Wonder what the heck that was about.

 

The Assembly Hall filled swiftly with the typical collection of teenage personalities: the irritating boys who laughed a little too loud and thought they were badder than they really were; the shy ones who hugged the wall; the girls who stayed in groups; the ones who showed up just to let everyone know exactly how much they were too cool to be there; the ones who seemed nice, well-adjusted, and perfectly at ease; a few beauty queen bees with their entourages; the ones who were just there for the cake, cookies, and punch; and a dozen other types.

The band, now in blue tuxedos, was playing "Night Train," a slow instrumental featuring the saxophone, originally by Jimmy Forrest. Marvin stood to one side; as lead singer and guitarist, he wasn't needed for this song.

Emma took quick advantage of this. She sidled up to the edge of the stage and requested help. Marvin knelt and asked with a sweet smile, "What you need, darlin'?"

Emma was shy and embarrassed. "Hi, sorry. I need someone to show me how to use this, and who won't tease me for not knowing how to use it." She held up the camera.

Marvin was friendliness itself. "Well, I'll do my best." He taught her how to load a roll of film, to advance it a few frames to reach an unexposed section, and to rewind it when the roll was finished. Emma quickly caught on.

"But when can I see the photos?" she asked.

Marvin shrugged. "Depends how fast they get 'em developed, and I'm no local, so I can't help you, there. I imagine you'd be able to see 'em within five days, though. A week, max."

Emma nodded. "I see. Thank you so much! You've been a lifesaver tonight."

"Any time, darlin'," he said with a grin.

As Marvin stood to rejoin the band, Emma silently mouthed to herself, A week! Wow!

Armed with her new knowledge, Emma moved among the crowd, happily taking photos. The boss had shown her the bag containing film rolls, and he'd claimed there were more than enough, so she was free to take as many photos as she wanted.

Rikki also moved through the crowd, picking up abandoned plates and punch cups. She smiled with equanimity. She and Emma occasionally passed each other, and neither envied the other's job.

Louise and Julia showed up together, both in velvet gowns, and both wearing their lockets. Louise wore a sky blue gown with green vines of red roses flowing along it. Julia's gown was a simple bright sun yellow.

Max showed up about ten minutes later, in a nice tan suit and a long, thin tie. He collected a cup of punch from Cleo, and hovered nervously on the edges of the dance.

With deep sadness, Emma saw that Max didn't seek Julia or Louise's company, and they didn't seek his. Not due to any animosity, but simply due to awkwardness. How does one casually chat with one's ex-girlfriend's best friends, even if they're all friends, themselves?

After another ten minutes, Gracie arrived, also wearing a velvet gown. Hers was a deep blue, slightly darker than a navy blue. Emma wondered if that meant anything.

Max held himself together well. His anguish was barely noticeable as he watched Gracie cross the room to join Louise and Julia. Gracie showed no sign of her earlier distress. She seemed determined to enjoy the evening.

Emma worked her way across the room toward them.

"Hey, you three," she said brightly, yet casually. "How about one for the photo album?"

Julia, Gracie, and Louise smiled for the camera, and Emma captured a moment, otherwise lost in the busy flow of time. The girls returned to their conversation. Emma moved on.

 

Half an hour later, as the band covered "All I Have to Do Is Dream" by the Everly Brothers, Cleo looked up to see Louise arrive for a cup of punch. About twenty feet behind Louise and off to one side, Emma was about to take the photo of a happy couple. The couple was facing away from Cleo, who clearly saw Emma over the girl's shoulder. The flash went off as Cleo handed Louise her punch with a smile.

Louise smiled her thanks and wandered a few feet away, casually surveying the room for anyone or anything interesting. Cleo tried not to stare. Emma moved further afield.

Suddenly, a boy eagerly dragging a willing-but-less-eager girl onto the dance floor rushed past Louise. He jostled Louise on the way by, but probably never knew he did it. Punch spilled all down Louise's left arm. Cleo's inner timer started the countdown.

Louise looked around frantically.

"Here!" Cleo said, holding up a wad of napkins. Louise rushed to her, set the cup down, and quickly dried herself. The timer faded.

Cleo's heart suddenly pounded as she realized she was staring at a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and she knew there was no way she was going to let it slip by.

"Well-timed, wouldn't you say?" Cleo asked, and tried to put a twinkle in her eye.

Louise gave her a funny look. "Yeah, thanks."

"At least it's not saltwater in your eye. Why is it, I wonder, that saltwater stings, but not when you're actually under water?"

Louise gave the strange girl serving punch a veeeeery odd look, then carefully said, "I don't know."

Cleo gave her a mysterious, knowing smile, relishing the irony of the moment. Louise could only stare.

Julia ran up with a look of glee on her face, grabbed Louise's hand, and pulled her away, perhaps to see some boy or to tell her some juicy gossip. Louise ran off with her, forgetting all about the strange girl at the punch bowl.

Cleo watched them go, a huge smile of pure joy on her face.

Rikki was suddenly by her side. "I've been doing some not-thinking."

"Rikki, I have no idea what that means."

"I stopped asking why we're here with my brain, and started asking it with my heart. And the moment I did that, I saw something happen. I take that as a sign, and I'm positive it's the answer."

Cleo looked at her in astonishment. "That's a great idea, and that's amazing! What did you see?"

"I saw Gracie go outside, then I saw Max follow her half a minute later to try to talk to her."

"Oh, no!" Cleo said, in the way that only she could.

"I have the strangest feeling we're here for those two. And I'm no good at this sort of thing! I'm red all over. I can pick a lock and rebuild a motorcycle engine, but I can't talk to someone about matters of the heart. You're the Gracie of our time, and she's the Cleo of her time. So I think you need to go out there and talk a blue streak. Pound some sense into at least one of those two lovesick dandelions."

"What am I supposed to say or do?!" Cleo asked with despair.

Rikki snatched the ladle from Cleo and set it on the table. "I don't know, but as one blue to another -" She spun Cleo 180 degrees. "- you'll figure it out!"

Grinning, Rikki shoved Cleo toward the door, then turned and happily started serving punch in her place without missing a beat.

Cleo stood there for a moment, comically fuming, and growled in exasperation. But she refused to give Rikki the satisfaction of turning around. With determination, she marched for the door.

Rikki looked up to serve the next person, and found herself looking at Julia. Rikki carefully handed Julia her punch while glancing at the locket around her neck.

That's the same locket I'm wearing right now! Rikki thought. Not just a copy, but the same physical object! Wild!

Julia stepped a few feet away and stood for a moment, sipping her punch, looking around the room, and surveying all the boys on the menu.

Like Cleo, Rikki couldn't help herself. "You know, I kind of have a feel for people. And you seem like the type of girl who likes the bad boys."

Julia grinned at her. "You know it!"

Rikki shook her head. "But those bad boys...we like them precisely because they burn so hot! Sometimes they're worth it. And other times..."

"Oh, I know!" Julia said, finding an instant rapport with her. "Sometimes they're just snakes!"

"Hey, don't give snakes a bad name!" They laughed for a moment, then Rikki got a little serious. "So...did you have a snake recently?"

Julia grimaced. "Karl. I can't believe I loved him! He turned out to be the biggest jackass!" A look of pain crossed her face. "And he betrayed me."

"I'm so sorry. Always better to find out sooner than later."

"I suppose."

"He's not here tonight, is he?"

"No, he's out of my hair completely. He'll never trouble me again."

Yeah, about that, Rikki thought. If you could get Karl neutered, that'd be grrrrreat.

Julia took another sip while scanning the room, then turned back to Rikki with a grin. "Oooh! I think I see my next mistake."

"Which one?"

Julia motioned toward a group of boys across the room. "The blonde in the blue tux."

Rikki looked. She saw a blonde boy, about 6 feet tall, in a sky blue tuxedo and frills, wisecracking with his pals.

"He looks like a spoiled douchebag," Rikki said, then grinned. "He's perfect!"

"I know, right? Wish me luck!"

Rikki laughed. "You don't need luck. You've got the magic to turn on the heat!"

Julia smiled, but also gave Rikki a funny look. Then she headed off toward her next mistake.

Just like Cleo before her, Rikki beamed a huge smile of pure joy as she watched Julia go.

 

Cleo jogged across the lawn, looking for either Max or Gracie. The sun had set, but the almost-full moon had risen and was bright enough to help Cleo find the tragic couple easily. On the far side of the lawn, close to where the school grounds bordered the trees, were some benches and picnic tables. Gracie stood near these, facing the trees, looking down and holding herself tightly; she may have been sobbing. Max, weeping, was walking away from her fast, toward the parking lot. It looked very much like Gracie had just told Max to leave her alone, and Max now wanted to be anywhere but there.

Remembering Rikki's not-thinking tactic, Cleo simply acted. She had not the slightest clue what she was going to say or do. Neither did she think about how maybe she was completely unqualified to help either of these people. She threw all caution and thought to the wind, and followed her heart and spirit.

The first item on the agenda was to stop Max from leaving, so Cleo ran right up to him. "Please don't leave."

Max was so imprisoned in his pain, he didn't register that anyone had even approached him.

"Max," Cleo said.

He looked up, his face full of tears and despair.

"Don't leave," Cleo said. "It'll be okay. I'll talk to her."

Even in the midst of his grief and agony, Max was suitably baffled. "Who are you?"

"A magical friend, who understands the blues. If you've ever had a moment to trust a complete stranger, trust one now. Go inside. Please. Grab some punch and give us a moment."

Without waiting for an answer, Cleo left him and headed for Gracie. But even as she walked, she turned around to give Max shooing motions, as he was still standing there, staring after this incredibly bizarre girl with astonishment. Cleo had to shoo him several times before his feet finally drifted back toward the dance.

Gracie was now sitting on a bench facing the trees. No one else was around. Cleo arrived beside the bench, and softly said, "Hi."

Gracie barely glanced up, her heart too full of troubles to bother with this odd girl who dared interrupt a weeping stranger.

Cleo said, "I'm sorry, but...I'm a bit blue, and I noticed you were, too."

Gracie let out a mild snort. "I'd prefer to be alone, please."

Cleo looked down, just for a moment, then said, "My parents got divorced a couple months ago, and I'm still not over it. I see a counselor, I have friends, I've done the grieving...but I still cry myself to sleep every single night. That's not something I've told anyone, not even my closest friends. Until just now."

Gracie was intrigued, despite herself. "Why are you telling me?"

"Because sometimes, it's a lot easier to talk to a complete stranger I may never see again." Very delicately, Cleo dared to sit. Not too close, though. "I saw you, and I got this strange feeling that our tears were the same, somehow. I hope that doesn't sound weird."

"It is weird, but tonight, I don't care."

A slight smile crossed Cleo's face. With that attitude, she instantly knew that she really liked Gracie.

"My mom left," Cleo said. She spoke softly, as befitted the breeze wafting among the trees and over the grass, under the haunting and beautiful moonlight. It was a beautiful night; the air felt wonderful. The sounds of the dance drifted in from far behind them, accentuating how alone they were out here to enjoy the trees and the moonlight all to themselves. "And it wasn't just that she left. It was that she told me she loved me on her way out the door. After all the help I've received...I still can't wrap my brain around that."

"Huh," Gracie said. "I got the same speech. It's not you dear. We still love you. We just don't love each other." She gave a mild snort. "More like, We don't love you enough to put in the effort."

"Yes! Exactly!"

"I'm leaving three days from now, and I'm never coming back."

"Did you get a choice of which parent to stay with?"

"Yeah. I chose the one who had the ticket out. I don't care about anything else."

"I...kind of saw you push your boyfriend away."

Gracie burst into a fresh set of tears. "I didn't want to," she sobbed. "He's a great guy! I hate myself for the way I'm treating him, for the way I'm just lashing out at him! And the more I feel awful, the worse I treat the people around me. I don't know why."

Carefully, Cleo asked, "If your parents had never split, would you have stayed here, and stayed with Max?"

Gracie shrugged, and wiped away her tears. "Partly. I'd have stayed, of course. But the simple fact is that, even though I love Max, and I enjoy being with him, I could never see myself living with his little science projects and sci-fi hobbies. So I was always going to break up with him someday, anyway."

This actually made Cleo's heart soar. Max wasn't a victim of a cruel twist of fate, cheated out of a life he could have had! Gracie hadn't been compatible, or happy, anyway! Cleo hoped she'd be able to tell Max this someday, and maybe bring him a bit of peace.

Cleo also felt irritated with Gracie, that she couldn't tell Max something so plain and simple. It would have taken just a few words, the tiniest effort, to set him free. Why do we all find it so hard to communicate? Cleo thought with frustration.

"When your mom left, did you want to run?" Gracie asked. "From everything?"

"I did run. I ran to a safe place, a friend's house. That first night, I couldn't sleep in the home which had betrayed me."

Gracie nodded slowly. "Yes, that's what it feels like. A betrayal."

"But somehow, I absorbed what happened to me, and I returned," Cleo said.

Gracie's defenses came slamming down. "Well, I'm not changing my mind! I'm leaving in three days, whether anyone likes it or not!"

"Oh, no, I wasn't trying to get you to change your mind!" Cleo said, placating her. "No! I totally respect that you've gotta do what you've gotta do. No, I'm not here to lecture, or to claim that what might work for one person ought to work for another. No, I hate it when people do that to me. No."

Gracie was suitably calmed, but her reaction had been a reminder to Cleo just how wound up and ready to explode the poor girl was.

Cleo said, "In fact, I have mad respect for what you're doing, even if I don't understand it. You seem like a girl who knows what she wants and where she's going-"

"Ha!" Gracie said with derision.

"-or at least, what she doesn't want, and where she doesn't want to go. So many girls our age haven't even got that far." Cleo sighed, and thought for a moment. "Has anyone accused you of cowardice?"

"Not openly, but I know they think it." Gracie shook her head, and her shoulders slumped and she seemed to collapse. "Maybe they're right."

"For some people, it would be cowardice. But if you're sure of yourself, like you seem to be, then it's actually really brave."

Gracie turned her head slightly to look at Cleo. To look at the girl who would dare say something so beautiful.

"And...though we've never met...I know enough about you from the company you keep that a coward is the last thing you are."

Cleo was daring mightily with that comment. She wanted so badly to say, The moon pool doesn't choose cowards. But she couldn't say that, so she danced along the edge of that concept as closely as she dared.

Very quietly, Gracie said, "Thank you for that."

Emboldened, and feeling that the moment was now or never, Cleo dared a bit further. "I'm not trying to talk you out of leaving. I hope you find everything you're looking for. But, if I may please make a suggestion...please don't blow anyone up on your way out the door. Ending your friendships completely will already hurt them badly enough. Do you truly have a reason for doing it with cruelty?"

Gracie gasped slightly. Cleo's words now had her riveted.

"Just be kind to Max," Cleo said. "That's all I ask. Instead of lashing out at him in pain and frustration, calmly and kindly tell him how you really feel. It doesn't have to be Shakespeare, just use the simple words.

"He cares about you, so much. And people who genuinely and deeply care about you are rare. Probably rarer than you'll ever know. So it's vital never to mistreat them, even when you part from them. When you part from someone you care about, let all your goodbyes be pleasant, and end the relationship on a good note. Don't let your final memory of someone be a bad one, or it'll haunt you forever. If you have to say goodbye to Max, at least give him a proper goodbye. The goodbye which a wonderful guy, and a wonderful friend, like him deserves."

Gracie stared at Cleo, who held her gaze evenly. They remained like this, frozen in the moonlight, for what seemed forever. The breeze rustled the trees, and teased their hair.

Finally, Gracie gave Cleo the tiniest of nods, as acknowledgement, thanks, and farewell. Cleo understood, for in that moment, no more words existed.

Gracie stood and calmly walked back toward the school building.

Cleo watched her go. She silently counted to ten, then stood and also headed back to the school.

 

Feeling more at peace than she had in a long time, and more sure of herself than she ever had, Gracie walked back into the dance. She looked around for the person she needed to talk to more than anyone else.

Cleo slipped past her and quick-trotted to the stage, where the band was just finishing a rendition of Elvis's "Don't Be Cruel." Of course the band is ready to play their next song at this exact moment, Cleo thought. Moon pool...your timing is as impeccable as always. Bless you.

Gracie and Max locked eyes from across the room. Max stood still, his heart pounding, hardly daring to breathe.

Gracie, a vision of loveliness in her velvet blue gown, slowly walked toward him.

Cleo got Marvin's attention. Smiling, he knelt.

"Will you please play a slow, goodbye love song?" Cleo asked.

"You want a love song, sweetheart?" Marvin asked kindly.

"A song that says goodbye forever, even though I'll always still love you. If you've got one. It's really, really important. It's for two people who'll never see each other again after tonight."

"Yeah," Marvin said with a smile. "We got you covered, sugar."

Cleo bounced a little on her toes, and looked at him with absolute gratitude. She mouthed, Thank you.

Marvin stood, and told the band what was next.

Gracie walked up to Max. Neither needed to say anything about the finality of her decision; the look on her face said it all.

Weeping, Gracie held out her hand. "One last dance," she whispered. "A part of my heart will belong to you forever, but you deserve so much more, and I'm sorry I can't give it to you. Giving you one last dance is all I can do. Please, let this be our final memory together. This, and nothing else."

The band played a sad little piano intro.

Max wept also, a little bit, but he was determined to live this moment, and this memory, like nothing he'd ever lived before. He nodded, and gently held Gracie around her waist, the perfect gentleman to the end. Gracie draped her arms around his neck, and they gazed into each other's eyes.

Marvin stepped to the microphone.

She wore blue velvet.
Bluer than velvet was the night.
Softer than satin was the light
from the stars.

Julia and Louise sat at a table, watching their friends. Their faces reflected the heartbreak they felt for both of them, yet also reflected the sad joy that, at least, their friends would forever have this.

She wore blue velvet.
Bluer than velvet were her eyes.
Warmer than May, her tender sighs.
Love was ours.

On the opposite side of the room from Louise and Julia, the 2007 girls leaned against the wall. Enraptured, they, too, watched Gracie and Max with a sorrowful, bittersweet appreciation of the moment, and of what it meant for the sad couple.

Ours, a love I held tightly,
feeling the rapture grow,
like a flame burning brightly.
But when she left, gone was the glow of...

Blue velvet.
But in my heart, there'll always be,
precious and warm, a memory,
through the years.
And I still can see blue velvet through my tears.

Sweet piano notes drifted around the room, weaving among all the dancers. Gracie and Max gently swayed in time to the music, lost in each other.

Precious and warm, a memory,
through the years.
And I still can see blue velvet through my tears.

As the song drifted to its conclusion, Gracie and Max kissed, one last time.

They parted, and Gracie rested one hand on the side of Max's face. Then, with a sad smile of farewell, she turned around and walked away.

Tears streaming down his face, Max watched her go.

Julia wrapped her arms around Louise's arm and drew her close. The two girls watched their friend make her heartbreaking choice, while still acknowledging her love for Max.

Across the room from them, with sad, melancholy smiles, Cleo, Emma, and Rikki also watched Gracie walk away. They hadn't prevented her heartache, or Max's, but they had at least arranged for two people's final memory to be a good one. And sometimes, that was all one could do.

As Gracie disappeared from view, the three girls felt a strange tingle, like a magical alarm telling them it was time to go. Without saying anything, each girl knew the others had felt it.

"Well, my fine fellow mermaidens," Rikki said softly, still gazing at Max with a sad smile. "I think our work here is done."

As the band drifted on into Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill," the 2007 girls slipped around the edges of the dance and into the girls' locker room. They quickly changed into their original clothing, then put the catering uniforms on over it. It looked awkward, but it only had to keep people from gawking for a few minutes as they made their getaway.

"The food in the classroom?" Cleo asked.

"I guess someone will find it, and it will forever be a mystery," Emma said.

Cleo and Rikki slipped their lockets under their shirts once more. As they headed out the door, they both motioned to Emma. "Locket," Cleo whispered. Emma nodded and tucked her locket out of sight. The final notes of "Blueberry Hill" echoed around the hall as the locker room door closed behind them.

"You boys and girls ready to switch it up a bit?" Marvin asked excitedly.

He got a few shouts scattered throughout the hall.

"I said are you ready to switch it up a bit?!" he yelled, with a gigantic grin. This time, he got the massive roar he wanted.

Marvin absolutely ripped into a vicious opening guitar riff. The crowd recognized it instantly and went insane. The dance floor virtually exploded. The band members all grinned and swayed to the rock and roll. Marvin's fingers danced across the strings, just as he danced his way to the microphone.

Well, down in Louisiana, close to New Orleans,
Way back up in the woods, among the evergreens,
In a log cabin made of earth and wood,
There lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode.
He never ever learned to read or write so well,
But he could play the guitar just like a-ringin' a bell.

Go Go! Go, Johnny go, go!
Go Go! Go, Johnny go, go!
Go Go Go! Go, Johnny go, go!
Go! Johnny B. Goode!

As the band played, the 2007 girls slipped behind everyone, including the boss, and made it to the door.

Cleo turned back and caught Marvin's eye. She pointed at him as if to say, You the man! He nodded and pointed his guitar right back at her. Cleo put her hands together in a prayer gesture, bowed a little, and mouthed Thank you! Marvin nodded and winked, then turned back to the teenagers going wild with frenzy on the dance floor.

He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack,
Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track.
Oh, engineers would see him sittin' in the shade,
Strummin' with the rhythm that the drivers made.
People passin' by, they would stop and say,
"Oh, my, but that little country boy can play!"

The girls quick-stepped down the hallway, eager to get away, but not wanting to run outright. Rikki danced her way down the corridor, all the way to the front doors. Cleo and Emma burst out laughing, and Emma gave Rikki a playful shove toward the doors when they reached them, making Rikki laugh.

Inside the hall, the students had mobbed the dance floor and were going wild.

Go go go! Go, Johnny go, go!
Go, Johnny go, go!
Go go go, Johnny go, go!
Johnny B. Goode!

For the bridge, Marvin shredded a fantastic guitar solo. The girls could hear the music fading behind them as they headed to the nearest canal. Inside the Assembly Hall, the students were having the time of their lives, absolutely out of their minds with the hot little tune. All the latest dance moves raged across the floor.

Outside, Rikki was still dancing as the girls headed across the lawn for the trees. They heard Marvin finish the guitar solo and launch into the third verse.

His mother told him, "Someday you will be a man,
And you will be the leader of a big old band.
Many people comin' from miles around,
To hear you play your music 'til the sun go down.
Maybe someday your name will be in lights,
saying, Johnny B. Goode tonight!"

The girls reached the canal and shed the catering uniforms, leaving another mystery for the good people of 1957.

Go go go! Go, Johnny go, go!
Go go, Johnny go, go!
Go go go, Johnny go, go!
Go go go!

Emma and Cleo dove in. With a huge grin, Rikki turned to take one last look at the school. She could swear the building itself was practically jumping up and down. She mouthed the final words along with Marvin.

Johnny B. Goode!

Rikki jumped with joy, pumping her fist and laughing. Then she turned and dove into the canal. Her hands hit the water at the exact moment the band let loose with that final thunderous note.

Back at the dance, the students cheered for a minute straight.

 

As the girls swam up the tunnel toward the moon pool, they expected another swirling magical tunnel to return them to their own time, but they saw nothing.

They reached the moon pool, rolled out, and dried themselves. They could tell they were still in 1957 because the damage Anthony had caused didn't exist.

"I thought it would bring us right back," Emma said. "Why are we still here?"

"That's just what we'd like to know," Julia said.

Out of the surrounding darkness, where they had been standing hidden, stepped Julia, Gracie, and Louise. They still wore their dance gowns, and their faces were hard.

Cleo, Emma, and Rikki were stunned. "We just left you back at the dance!" Cleo said.

"Julia and I saw you watching Max and Gracie," Louise said accusingly.

"You couldn't take your eyes off them," Julia said.

Gracie glared at Cleo. "And you somehow knew Max's name before I ever said it."

Cleo's mouth dropped open. She thought furiously, trying to recall her conversation with Gracie, but couldn't remember the details.

Louise said, "And the way you spoke to all of us, with your strange little hints..." She shook her head. "Something was really fishy about you."

Emma gaped at her. "Did...did you just drop a pun on us?"

"You looked like you were about to leave the dance," Julia said. "If you were who we suspected you were, we knew where you'd go. So we figured we'd get here ahead of you."

"And we were right!" Gracie said, her arms folded, her face full of fury.

The 1957 girls glared hard at the 2007 girls.

Rikki was genuinely sad. "Oh, so you missed Johnny B. Goode. That's a shame! The place was rockin'!"

Cleo held her hands out to calm the 1957 girls down. "Okay, yes, we're also mermaids. But if you search your feelings and think about the way we've acted tonight, you'll know we're friendly, so cool the engines, okay?"

"Yeah, we come in peace, ladies," Rikki said.

"Yeah?" Julia asked angrily. "Well, who are you, and where do you come from?" She eyed them up and down. "And why are you dressed like that?"

The 2007 girls looked at each other awkwardly.

"Um...that's really hard to say," Emma said. She turned slightly to give the moon pool a side-eye. "And if the moon pool wanted to maybe help us out here, that would be great!" She gave the 1957 girls a tight smile.

Several seconds passed. Nothing happened.

"Yeah, okay, so we're on our own," Rikki said. "Good talk."

Cleo said, "You know, in a way, it doesn't really matter who we are or where we're from. We're trying to get back there, and when we do, you'll never see us again."

"You're mermaids like us, but it doesn't matter who you are?!" Louise asked, incredulous.

The 2007 girls glanced at each other.

"Okay," Cleo said hesitantly. "We're...from the future. The moon pool sent us back in time, to this day, a day years before we were born."

Silence.

"We didn't know why the moon pool sent us here," Emma said. "We weren't given any instructions. It just dumped us here. You've probably experienced that kind of treatment yourselves."

"Yeah, the moon pool's not big on communication or handing out answers," Rikki said.

The 1957 girls side-glanced at each other and nodded very slightly, showing that they knew exactly what the 2007 girls were talking about. It was the tiniest beginning of a connection.

Cleo said, "As best we could tell, our job was to make Gracie's exit from your lives a lot less painful than it was shaping up to be. Especially for Max."

"Yeah," Rikki said. "Our best theory is that the moon pool sent us here because it thought you needed a little help."

The 1957 girls began to react in outrage to that, but Emma got hers in first. "From people whose tempers are a little cooler and calmer than yours have probably been lately," she said soothingly.

"But how do you know who we are?!" Louise asked.

"Because we've heard your names and seen your photos," Emma said. "We actually have a connection with you, even if you don't know anything about it, yet."

A little embarrassed, Cleo said, "And because of time travel rules, we can't tell you anything. I hope you understand why, without us needing to explain."

The 1957 girls regarded their 2007 counterparts appraisingly, processing this.

"The moon pool sent us back through time while we were swimming through the tunnel," Rikki said. "We were really hoping that by swimming straight here, it would just send us back, and that we would climb out of the water in our own time."

"But it didn't, so we kind of don't know what to do, now," Cleo admitted.

Julia said, "When you say you saw photos of us, do you mean...the photos?"

The 2007 girls thought for a moment, then Rikki felt moved to act. On instinct, she slowly pulled her locket out of her shirt.

The 1957 girls gasped.

Rikki approached them a little. "In honor of you and your legacy, we keep the original photo." She opened her locket.

Julia's jaw dropped open. "But...how..." she stammered. She lifted her locket, then looked at Rikki's.

"It's the same locket," Rikki said softly, closing her locket. "Not a copy. It's the same physical object, doubled in time." She pointed at Julia's locket. "That locket..." She indicated her own. "...is this locket. Many years later."

The 1957 girls stood in stunned silence for a long moment, absorbing this bombshell.

"Please don't let them touch," Cleo finally said timidly. "I think bad things are supposed to happen if you let them touch."

"And just what are you doing with her locket?!" Louise asked Rikki accusingly.

Rikki looked at Louise, and kept her face completely neutral and casual. "Someone gave it to me. But because of time travel, I can't tell you anything about it."

"I see chains around all your necks," Gracie said, looking at Cleo and Emma. "Chains which look suspiciously familiar."

Emma and Cleo glanced at each other, then slowly pulled out their own lockets.

Gracie stared at Cleo's locket and gasped. "It can't be!"

Cleo said, "You threw it away, and I totally respect, and understand, your choice to do so. But this locket apparently still has a role to play, and it means a great deal to me. It doesn't lie at the bottom of the pool forever. And yes...I know it used to be yours."

"Oh, my God!" Julia exploded. "You're not our daughters, are you?!"

The 2007 girls erupted with horrified denials. "No! Oh, no no no no no!"

The 1957 girls, their hands on their chests, began to look to a tiny bit less panicked.

Emma said, "I mean...not that it would be bad if we were! But...no, we're not."

"Definitely not!" Rikki said.

The 1957 girls nodded, a lot calmer and much more relieved.

Gracie realized something. "But wait! If you have our lockets, that means we actually will see you again!"

The 2007 girls suddenly looked awkward. They couldn't meet Gracie's gaze.

"No, not all of us," Julia said slowly, understanding blossoming inside her. "Except for my own child, I'd never give my locket to anyone. Which means..." She looked at Rikki. "...someone else gave you that."

The 2007 girls looked deeply uncomfortable.

Very quietly, Cleo said, "The one who survives the other two." She refused to look at any of them, lest she give it away.

The 1957 girls were quiet as the implication sank in.

"Time marches on," Louise said softly. "I suppose it gets us all in the end."

Cleo said to Julia, "And yes, that person could very well be you, despite what you say, because attitudes change as you get older." She looked at Louise. "Or it could be you." She looked at Gracie. "Or you."

"Yeah, you never know what the future holds, despite what you feel now," Emma said. "So please, don't try to guess. Just live your lives, and don't try to second-guess ours."

Magical green sparkles rose from the pool and swirled through the air. Amazed, the 1957 girls lifted their eyes to follow the sparkles. Following their gaze, the 2007 girls turned.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Rikki said. "Our ride's here!" She whirled back to the 1957 girls. "Ladies! It's been a joy and an honor to meet teenage you in person!"

"We don't even know your names," Julia said.

"I'm Cleo. Spelled like Cleopatra." Cleo raised an untethered tentacle of water from the pool and swirled it into the infinity symbol above everyone's heads, halfway between the groups. "I wear the blue stone because I share Gracie's power." She smiled at Gracie, who smiled back in wonder.

"I'm Emma. I wear the white stone..." She froze the infinity symbol. "...because I share Louise's power."

Rikki just smiled mischievously and said, "Rikki. R-I-Double-K-I." She clenched a fist and vaporized the ice. It dispersed in a cloud of mist. "And I hate infinity."

Cleo gave Rikki a brief smile at that.

"Rikki's a boy's name," Gracie said.

Rikki shrugged. "Yet, I make it work." She gave little pop of her eyebrows and a huge grin.

The green sparkles descended to swirl around the 2007 girls.

"We're about to go," Emma said. "Our own time awaits. I agree with Rikki: it has been an honor!"

"And a pleasure," Cleo said. She looked at Gracie. "And from one blue to another, I meant what I said: I hope you find everything you're looking for."

"I wasn't sure I could," Gracie said. "But after tonight, I'm willing to believe anything." She smiled at Cleo. "Thank you for all the kind things you said earlier. And since this appears to be our own final goodbye, my fellow blue...I'm glad it's a good one."

The 2007 girls grinned back. The green sparkles formed a swirling curtain around them. Then, like ghosts, they and the sparkles faded away.

From Cleo, Emma, and Rikki's point of view, the 1957 girls faded and disappeared, while the damage Anthony did to the cavern faded back in.

The sparkles swirled into nothing. Gone.

The girls sighed with relief, happy to be home.

"Now I get it," Cleo said softly, a beautiful smile on her face.

"Get what?" Emma asked.

"The day I met Louise, at the marine park. She saw me from the stands, and came down to meet me. We always thought it was just because she saw a random girl in an apron and long gloves. But it was more than that."

"She recognized you!" Rikki said.

"After half a century?" Emma asked. "Is that possible?"

Cleo shrugged. "I don't know. Right now, I just hope we didn't damage time or anything by telling them all that stuff."

"Somehow, it all felt right," Rikki said.

"And I doubt the moon pool would have allowed us to say anything otherwise," Emma said.

Rikki turned to the pool. "Hey! Give us a heads-up next time you do something like that, all right?"

But, as always, the pool was silent.

The girls just looked at each other and chuckled.

They quickly swam to shore, where they found their belongings stashed on the beach, right where they'd left them.

After a little investigation, they found that the moon pool had brought them back to the same moment they'd left. Emma still had to go to work, and Cleo and Rikki still had a study session. The only problem was that they would have to fight exhaustion the remainder of the evening. They'd just had an extra six hours inserted into the middle of their day, and their bodies told them it was time for bed.

"Should we tell Lewis where we've been?" Rikki asked Cleo.

Cleo considered. "Yes, but not tonight. I need a little while to absorb it, first. And the next time we see Louise, I'd like it to be just us."

 

The wall separating the school library from the corridor was mostly one huge window. In the far left of this window, taped to the inside but facing the corridor, hung a piece of paper with typewriting on it.

Enchantment Under the Sea Photos

8 x 10: 6p each
5 x 7: 5p each

Framed: +5s each

Forms are at the library desk. Mark on the form the quantity of each size of each photo you want, and whether you want it framed. Turn the forms in to the librarian. Forms are due by the end of the week.

Photo proofs stretched along most of the rest of the window, hung in rows and columns inside the library, facing the corridor. Each proof had a number beneath it. A few students, forms in their hands, stood in the corridor, perusing the photos.

Julia and Louise stood in front of the photo showing themselves with Gracie.

"I want an eight by ten of this one," Julia said quietly.

"Me, too," Louise said. "I can't believe we actually did it. Our powers are gone, and Gracie's gone. It seems so surreal."

"Especially knowing there'll be others someday."

"I wonder if there'll be even more after them."

"I wonder if there were others before us."

"I'm certain there were. Maybe for millennia."

They wandered along the wall of photos, talking as they strolled.

"Okay, so have we confirmed there aren't any of Emma?" Julia asked.

"Yes. But there wouldn't be, since she was taking the photos."

"I don't see Rikki anywhere, either. So we just have the one?"

They stopped in front of a particular photo, and gazed at it. It showed a happy couple posing for the camera. In the background, over the girl's shoulder, Cleo was handing Louise a cup of punch.

"This is the only one I've found which shows any of them," Louise said.

"Are you ordering the biggest print of it you can?"

"You bet I am! I'm gonna ask if they'll print me a special one even bigger than an eight by ten! I wish we had photos of all three of them, but I'll take what I can get." Louise touched the glass, tracing her finger down the photo. "We definitely need to remember Cleo's face."

In 2007, Cleo strode down a corridor with excitement and purpose. Rikki and Emma were right there with her.

In 1957, Louise said, "Because one of us will meet those girls again."

Cleo knocked on Louise's door.

"Yes?" came Louise's voice from inside. "Who is it?"

"It's us, Ms. C!" Rikki called.

"We know it's a surprise visit, but we really wanted to see you!" Cleo said.

Louise opened the door to view her visitors with pleasant surprise. "Well, certainly! Come on in. But don't you have school in just a bit?"

"We had to come see you first!" Rikki said, gushing.

Louise's quarters consisted of a small kitchen, a tiny dining table with two chairs, and a modest living room, a door at the other end of which led to the bedroom. The living room had a small sofa, a recliner, two side tables, and a small TV stand. There wasn't much room for anything else.

Louise sat in the middle of the sofa, with Cleo and Emma on either side. Rikki grabbed one of the two wooden dining chairs, plopped it backwards in front of Louise, and straddled it.

All three girls looked at Louise meaningfully. They were clearly amped up, desperately containing smiles which threatened to burst forth any moment.

Louise, surrounded, gave the girls a puzzled look.

"We went somewhere special last night," Cleo said mischievously.

"Oh?" Louise asked.

"We went to a school dance," Rikki said, with deep meaning.

"Did you have fun?" Louise asked.

"Loads!" Rikki said, stars in her eyes.

"We met some interesting people there," Emma said, barely containing her glee.

Louise still looked mystified, so Rikki said, "The dance's theme was Enchantment Under the Sea. The band was Marvin Berry and the Starlighters."

Fifty years had obviously done their work on Louise's memory, as she still clearly wondered where all this was going. "Okay."

Cleo said, "At one point in the evening, the band played "Blue Velvet" for a very special couple."

"Ah," Louise said, her face finally clearing. "I was wondering when you'd get to that dance."

Cleo pounced with joy. "What do you remember from it?!" she burst out, no longer able to contain her excitement.

"I remember "Blue Velvet," and Gracie gave Max one last dance. I remember meeting you at the moon pool later, and everything you told us." She eyed the girls mischievously. "But I had to hold my tongue until you said anything."

"You crafty old devil!" Rikki burst out in admiration, bouncing around in her seat with pure joy.

"Almost correct!" Louise said with a twinkle in her eye. "I'm a crafty old angel!"

The girls laughed.

"Did you recognize me that day at the marine park?" Cleo asked, stars in her eyes.

"I absolutely did!"

"So you remembered my face after fifty years?!"

Louise smiled knowingly at her, then nodded to the table beside the recliner. "Would you kindly hand me my box of photos?"

A box with a lid sat on the table. Rikki fetched it, handed it to Louise, and resumed her seat.

Louise opened the box and began going through the photos. The girls had already seen them all, as these were the photos Emma had rescued from the Lorelei. But there were two photos in particular which, though they had seen them, they had not found especially noteworthy at the time.

Louise held these two photos, one in each hand. They were eight by tens. One showed herself with Gracie and Julia, wearing lovely gowns at a dance. The other showed a random couple whom the girls did not know.

"Do you remember taking these?" Louise asked Emma.

"It was only last night, so I absolutely do!" Emma gushed.

Louise pointed to a spot in the photo of the couple and said, "Look carefully."

Cleo gasped. "I've seen this photo before, but I never noticed myself in the background!"

"It's a good thing you didn't, or you would have been terribly confused!" Louise said. "But I gazed upon this photo at least once a week for half a century. So, yes, when I saw you that day at the marine park, I knew I'd finally found you."

Cleo gave Louise a massive hug.

 

Afterword

In this episode, the closing credits are accompanied by the song "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News.

Tony Bennett released "Blue Velvet" in 1951. It's a sad, lovely little song.

The dance in this story takes place in 1957, but Chuck Berry released "Johnny B. Goode" in 1958, so I took a little artistic license, here. But I think I can be forgiven for that.

Go Johnny, go.