A Fishy Tale, The Sequel - Fanfiction for H2O Just Add Water

Chapter 115

Chapter 115

The accepted story was that Jenny had splashed Eila with water in the confrontation. Jenny was gently reprimanded for this, but the main focus was on Eila – on the bullying, how to support her in changing this behaviour, and trying to figure out why she was clearly lying about what had occurred in the bathroom.

In the days following the incident, Andy was having a much better time at school. Andy and Evie played together during breaks and Eila didn't come near her. For that, Jenny felt proud of herself. However, Jenny also felt a bit guilty about how she lost it and almost exposed their whole family for being magical creatures. Her mum, dad, aunties and uncles were always reminding them how important it was to keep their powers and identity as merpeople hidden from people outside the family.

She was ten now – she knew better than to use her powers at school. She knew she couldn't afford to slip up again. It was fortunate that the only witnesses were her sister and a six year old girl who the adults didn't believe. Jenny wondered if Eila would let it go. She would have to wait and see.

OoOoO

When Ryan returned from the supermarket, he went straight to his desk and turned on his laptop.

He determined that it would be perceived as creepy if he approached the child, so he decided to run with the lead by research. He knew it could be a dead end – a little girl making up magical stories, but the surname 'McCartney' really rang a bell and he was happy to take any leads at this point. Maybe this was linked to the mermaids he had already met.

Could McCartney be the surname of someone involved?

Jennifer McCartney on its own didn't bring anything useful up on the search.

Ryan decided to follow a hunch.

Going to Ancestorzx.com, he went to browse the school yearbook collections. He remembered the name of the high school well – he had inquired there about the rock project that Cleo made up all those years ago. He scrolled through the pdfs. There was Rikki Chadwick, Isabella Hartley (Ryan remembered that Sophie often went on about her and Will), and...McCartney. Lewis McCartney. Ryan grinned – that's why it rang a bell. Lewis was the one Cleo had been waiting for. Out of interest, Ryan kept browsing for a bit, finding Cleo's picture as well.

It was a long shot, but this could mean that Cleo was now Cleo McCartney, and her child could have inherited the mermaid gene – like Jessie said was possible. Ryan frowned. He wasn't going to be able to find out which school Jennifer McCartney went to. He realised that this was probably a good thing - he shouldn't go after a child. Regardless, it was great information to store away just in case.

Ryan decided that he was going to get started with the more hands-on part of his plan.

OoOoO

At Rikki's Café, Zane was in the office working on putting the next month's roster together.

"How's it going?" Rikki asked ask she walked over.

Rikki had finished breastfeeding Fi on the couch, and had just put the ten month old in the playpen that was set up in the office.

"Almost done," Zane smiled, looking up at her.

"Great," Rikki said. She bent down and kissed his cheek. "I'm going to go check what we need to order in for the kitchen. Watch Fi for me,"

Zane nodded.

Rikki left the office and headed behind the counter in the café. Customers had been coming in at a moderate pace that afternoon - fast enough that the staff had things to do, but slow enough that Rikki and Zane did not have to be on deck helping. She went into the freezer to do a quick double check.