Taylor and the Siren

The first book for Twelfth Grade (2013-2014) and the twenty-eighth in the series, this story is the first one that features the entire class though it focuses on a certain number of students. The story takes place in September 2013 before and during the class trip to Hermit Island.

Summery
Armand, now going to Otto Speckt on a part-time basis, accompanies some friends to the Bulldog Cafe having never been there before. Just at the road crossing, they are horrified to discover that the Merminator has returned after being stuck in the western part of America and being inactive for a year following their last encounter.

The next day, Armand is on his way to Green Meadow when he discovers the Merminator and his gang of lackeys in the process of capturing an unknown girl. Armand confronts the Merminator and takes down the lackeys using his very heavy backpack. At one point Armand insults the Merminator by revealing what the villain really is: a fairlie. In rage from hearing the title the Merminator flings the girl onto him knocking him down. At that moment the other Green Meadow kids appear and challenge the Merminator. Seeing he is outnumbered the Merminator and his gang leave but with a warning that they'll meet again on 'the kids' turf'.

The girl introduces herself as Serena and the kids figured that she is a mermaid due to the fact that the Merminator tried to attack her. Serena turns out to be quite a looker, catching the eyes of the boys and the envy of the girls. She also turns out to be quite seductive as she continually flirts with Armand during school hours, arrousing his suspicions. In chorus class she proves to be a fascinating singer leading the whole class through the song they've been practicing for some weeks now. Armand notes that the other students seemed to be in a trance-like state when singing and addresses his observations to the chorus teacher, but is passed off on the assumption of being 'too suspicious'.

Some time later the kids go to Hermint Island for biology class. By this time Serena tires of flirting with Armand and goes after Taylor, much to the irritation of Danielle. During the journey to Hermit Island, the kids catch sight of the Merminator and his gang following them. Armand suspects that he is going to confront them not on the kids' human turf, but their mermaid turf: the ocean. Arriving on the island the kids lose sight of the Merminator, who goes off a seperate way to an unknown campsite.

The trip is not without events. One night the Merminator and his gang attack the campsite, collapsing the tents onto the kids and fending off the teachers. The  invasion concludes with the villain over-using his supernatural powers making him too weak to even stand and has to be carried back to his own campsite by his lackeys. Another time sees Taylor heading back to the campsite earlier with Serena, leaving Danielle to suffer from scabs and sore feet as she travels with Alisa, Katherine and Armand. At this time Armand is developing the idea of a novel inspired by Tolkien's works as well as taking shots of the island for his senior project: a film adaptation of Vita and the Mermaids. At one point Jazmin and Sabine discover and acquire mermaid powers of their own.

One time Danielle, Alisa, Kat and Armand take a road back to the campsite. Their conversations leads to the possibilties of the girls being ambushed and Armand having to come and save them. Armand admits he is not very brave but the girls object saying that his instincts would let him save them. Just at that point the Merminator and his gang reappear and abushes them. Armand suddenly finds the courage to fend the villains off from the girls and does so successfully much to his surprise and the gratitude of the girls.

The next day the Merminator confronts them again on the cliff-side path. This time he weakens Armand's strength by revealing to him that while stuck in the western United States, he found and terminated Sophia Eve. Though disheartened Armand fights back and pulls the Merminator over the edge. The two survive, Armand having grabed a hold of a branch and the Merminator using what strength he had to levitate himself over the water before falling completly in. Despite being uncertain if the Merminator was telling the truth or not, Armand fears the worst and suffers an emotional breakdown that night. Rachael, who he had been talking to at the time, comforts him and tells him to focus on the positive side of life.

Meanwhile the relationship between Taylor and Danielle is not getting any better as (unlike Armand before) Taylor pays more attention to Serena who lures him more continuously.

On the last day of the trip Armand puts his thoughts about Serena together and gets a realization: she is actually a siren. Running to the beach (followed by Danielle and some others girls he had warned) he finds to his horror that his thoughts are correct seeing Serena singing to Taylor and luring him into the ocean. Armand grabs a volleyball from some of the other kids and catapults it at Serena, hitting her directly in the face and breaking the spell over Taylor who escapes. Furious Sirena morphs into her bird-form and tries to attack Armand but the other kids come to his aid, plugging their ears when she tries to hypnotize them with her voice. Finally realizing that she is defeated for now she flies away, only to be captured by the Merminator and taken to his lair.

Danielle thanks Armand, Taylor apologises to her and everyone heads back to the campsite to have their last night around the fire. The next morning as everyone packs up for the return trip, Armand decides that this year he will try to look on the bright side of life.

Kids

 * Willa
 * Danielle
 * Katherine
 * Alisa
 * Olenka
 * Rose Tui
 * Rachael
 * Thea
 * Hannah
 * Sophia
 * Isabelle
 * Jazmin
 * Sabine
 * Alana
 * Amelia
 * Maya (Silent appearance)
 * Taylor
 * Armand
 * Gabriel
 * Yaniv
 * Julian
 * Lukas
 * Marko
 * Evan
 * Max
 * Sophia Eve (Mentioned)

Teachers

 * Mrs. Christofides
 * Mrs. Ronan
 * Mr. Witri
 * Mr. Seavey

Sirens

 * Serena

Created Characters

 * The Merminator
 * The Merminator's Bodyguard 1
 * The Merminator's Bodyguard 2
 * The Merminator's Ganster
 * The Merminator's Strongman