Oh my gosh, guys—I think this story's almost over. I don't know how many chapters are left, though. I didn't think this story would be this short, but it is. Sigh…But double digit chapters now! R&R?

"What do you want?" Emma demanded.

"You guys are valuable experiments. I could make millions off you," replied Dr. Denman. Then her eyes rested on Bella. "You're new. Are you also a mermaid?"

Risking a glance at her friends, Bella was late on her reply. "A mermaid? You can't be serious."

"We'll be docking later this evening," Dr. Denman said simply before turning and exiting, locking the door behind her.

A few hours later, they arrived on land and the girls were forced into a research facility and then into a large tank of water. A top was put over the tank so the girls wouldn't be able to get out. They were soon hit with the biggest surprise of the day.

Cleo, Rikki, Emma, and Bella sat on the bottom of the tank giving death glares to Dr. Denman and her minions when Lewis walked in. The girls swam up to the side of the tank, hurt in their eyes. Lewis could barely look at them, especially Cleo. Each expression seemed to scream, "How could you, Lewis? We trusted you!" Bella, Emma, and Rikki swam to the other side of the tank, but Cleo stayed there, not really believing what she was seeing. Lewis wanted to tell them his plan, but it couldn't, not without Dr. Denman overhearing. Reluctantly, Cleo turned to join her friends, shaking her head in disbelief.

About thirty minutes later, the girls started to run out of air. (A/N: I would think that after a while, they could increase their time under the water with practice.) They were pounding on the thick glass of the tank for several minutes. "Dr. Den—Linda—they need air; they can't breathe underwater," Lewis said.

Dr. Denman looked up from some papers. "Need air?" she asked. "Mermaids don't need air."

"They're not your average mermaids." Dr. Denman sighed. She signaled for one of her employees to open the tank. Immediately, the girls swam up the surface, gasping once their heads broke through the water. They hooked their arms over the side of the tank, so they didn't have to tread. They started to talk all at once, each girl shouting something like, "I can't believe you, Lewis! Why would you do this to us?" or "Let us go, Denman!"

"Be quiet, you four," Dr. Denman demanded, shutting the tank again and forcing the girls back under the water.

The next day, testing began. The girls were wheeled into separate testing rooms. They were hooked up to several machines that recorded their vitals. Blood samples were taken and scales were pulled. Lewis snuck into Cleo's room to "help." He stood beside her bed, waiting for the right time to speak to her without the Denman's Minions overhearing.

As a scale was pulled from the bottom of Cleo's tail, her hand automatically grasped Lewis's. Cleo remembered that she was supposed to be mad at her boyfriend. Her hand pulled away from the larger one. A few minutes later, the strangers in the room left to go study the material they'd received.

"Cleo, listen," Lewis began.

"Save it, Lewis. I don't—"

"Listen. This was the only way I could come back down here to see you guys. I knew Denman was going to come get you guys—she told me. I wouldn't be any help back in the U.S. I'm going to help you guys get out of here."

"How?"

"Somehow. I don't know yet, but I'm working on it. Give me a few days and you'll guys will be home. Trust me."

Cleo didn't know what to think. Should she trust him? But he was helping Dr. Denman. He was on her side, right, not theirs? So Cleo shouldn't trust Lewis, right? I'm so confused, she thought. If only I could talk to Emma…she would know what to do. But something told her Lewis wasn't lying.

"You promise? You swear you're not going to betray us…?" she trailed off, almost adding the "again."

"I swear that I will do whatever it takes to free you guys." He stuck out his little finger as if the kindergarten's oh-so-important promise was still a major thing. Cleo rolled her eyes, fought a smile, and wrapped her little finger around Lewis's. They parted as somebody walked into the room. It was Dr. Denman herself.

"Ah…Cleo." She said. "How are you?"

"Wonderful," Cleo grumbled.

"Well, we already have the samples we need, but we're going to get you dried off for some physical test."

Cleo, Emma, Rikki, and Bella were herded back to the main room (where the tank was) once dry. "Now," Dr. Denman began, stepping out from behind her desk, "it's time for this part of the test—a timed run. Who wants to go first?" None of the girls spoke up, but Linda acted as if one of them did. "Oh, good. Come with me, Bella." Bella reluctantly followed Dr. Denman, knowing that she couldn't exactly disobey. The remaining girls were told to sit foldable plastic chairs.

Bella lost Dr. Denman as they entered a dark room. But then the lights suddenly flared on and Bella had a blink a few times before she saw Denman and a few other scientists standing in a little room above and across the room from her. "Bella," a scientist said. His voice was a little bit staticy because he spoke through a microphone. "I want you to run around the room as fast as you can. Then we'll add a maze…" The scientist trailed off. Bella could see him discussing with the others in the room. He pressed a button—what Bella assumed operated the microphone—and began speaking again. "Ready? Start!" Bella started running. She went counter-clockwise around the room, touching each corner. She stopped when she was told to.

"Turn around, Bella," the scientist from early commanded. Bella did so. Who knows what they could've done to her if she didn't do as they said? She heard shuffling sounds—they were moving walls in for the maze. She groaned inwardly. She wasn't even good at doing mazes on paper.

Bella was in that room a long time. The three girls sat in their uncomfortable chairs, unable to talk to each other or even Lewis. He was busied by the more experienced scientists using what were probably useless tasks. One time, though, he did disappear for a while, more than fifteen minutes.

Cle was worried—was she the only one who noticed Lewis's absence? Bella returned to the main room before Lewis did. She slowly walked over to her friends; she was sweaty and looked exhausted. Emma immediately offered her seat for her, which Bella took gratefully. She desperately needed something to drink, but her captors hadn't given her anything.

Dr. Denman soon entered. "Who's next?" she called. "Ah, Emma—you volunteer yourself? Very nice. Come with me." Emma started to speak, but then realized what she'd done. By giving up her seat and now standing up, she looked like she actually wanted to go. It was like some sick game of musical chairs. Emma turned to her friends and gave a—what she hoped to be—reassuring smile before walking a few paces behind the she-demon.

All four girls had completed the "test." Lewis had returned. He kept sneaking glances at the girls most of the afternoon. Cleo met those glances occasionally, mentally complaining how much she needed a shower (or bath, whatever). The girls were talking now, the silence too much for them. Of course, it was small talk topics, like what colleges they had applied to.

The tense silence was soon interrupted. Police officers barged into the room, shouting for all of Denman's employees to put their hands up. The girls' families (and Will) came in next, rushing over to their respective daughter (or girlfriend).

"Cleo!" Don shouted, rushing over to the brunette girl. She hugged her dad, sister, and stepmom numbly and staring at Lewis the whole time. After being released from her family, she walked over to him.

"You did this," she said, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend's neck, smiling.

"I did, in fact," Lewis responded, also grinning. His hands snaked their way around Cleo's waist.

"I love you." Slowly, Cleo tilted her head towards Lewis. Their lips met and they gently kissed, relieved at not having anything to worry about…for the time being.

How was that? Good, bad, awful? I didn't like it, especially the ending, but at least you didn't have to wait long for this one.

Review!