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

Chapter 116

Chapter 116

Over the next few days, Ryan continued to gather intel with his drone. He tracked the patterns their movements – paying attention to when they came and went. The longer he watched, the more certain he was that the mermaids did not actually live there.

The thought that what he was doing was creepy and stalker-ish crossed his mind a few times, but he chose to ignore the damning thought; he told himself that the end justified the means for this scenario.

From his recon, Ryan determined that the house would likely be empty in the mid-morning – when they had all gone to work or school, but before lunchtime. Ryan pushed the damning thought aside, telling himself: Don't think about the fact that there are children involved here. This is the best way for me to move forward. So, at around 10.30am, Ryan attached tiny cameras to the dock, and larger rocks along the sea floor. He made sure a few were facing where he had seen the mermaids diving in, and some a little further away, toward Mako Island. Ryan had the cameras programmed to record for certain times of the day – between 6.30 and 9am, and 3 to 7pm.

As he suspected, the last mer-people had left the house by 6pm.

OoOoO

Ryan's heart was beating quickly as he paced back and forth in his living room. He might have video evidence of the existence of mermaids on his laptop right now. Holy cow.

He took a deep breath and opened the files from the cameras. For the first part of the recordings, he was watching the ocean. The blue nothing was peaceful.

Until it was disturbed.

At 7am, Ryan watched the first major water disturbance – it was clear a boat had arrived. Any minute now. Ryan moved the cursor forward on the video from the main camera looking out towards Mako.

Wait, was that...?

Ryan's heart started beating even faster – if that was possible. He moved the cursor back a little and let it play.

Into the peaceful blue came a group of shapes.

It looked like ten torpedoes of different sizes were hurtling towards the shore. Ryan could not see much at first – there were too many bubbles in the way. They sped past that camera. Noting the time stamp on it, Ryan paused each of the videos just before that time. He took a deep breath and exhaled as he let them all play.

It was beautiful. Slightly out of sync, but no less clear, the cameras captured the mermaids in all their glory arriving and heading to the shallows. A few shots clearly showed the faces of the mermaids – there he recognised Rikki, Cleo and the other girl from the boat. He noted how much Bella had grown up since he had met her teen self. It also showed the faces of the children. Again, he pushed aside the icky feeling in his stomach.

'It may not be necessary to share their faces or identities at all,' Ryan thought.

Yes. There it was. One of the cameras had captured the perfect shot. A group of mers with orange and red tails swimming towards the shore. This one watched from behind. No identities. This might work.

OoOoO

Ryan let it record for two more days, to make sure he had enough video evidence. Then, Ryan returned to the water to retrieve his cameras. He had what he needed, and he knew where to place them if he ever needed to again.

When Ryan retrieved the last camera (the one closest to the shore), he noticed something shimmering in the sand. Bending down, he went to investigate. Something shiny was wedged between the sea floor and a rock. Ryan reached and plucked it out. Holding it firmly between his fingers so it didn't float away, he looked at it closer.