Valencia's warning comes just in time as the girls and their followers end their rest, and the melon people attack, causing great consternation and injury among the small team (Valencia is the hardest hit, taking a skull injury that sends Rafael into hysterics).  Helena finds, to her surprise, that the melon creatures seem to think she's one of them, or at least a part of the swamp, but she can't ask for specifics because they keep shooting her friends.  Issy and Djimy charge the creatures and manage to destroy them while suffering injuries of their own, and then the amount of exploded melon matter in everyone's faces causes the team to have to stop and have a serious discussion about whether or not eating dead melon beings constitutes a form of cannibalism.  (The consensus is that none of the girls are willing to try it just in case, but Djimy disgusts everyone by informing them that the creatures taste like cantaloupe and it's not as if they're getting a lot of food options out here in the swamp, right?) Helena's Uncle Cisqo arrives, seemingly through an astonishing coincidence, on his fanboat and is surprised to see everyone (although not so surprised that he won't give them a ride, of course).  After Helena has a terse conversation with him in which she establishes that they won't ask about the suspicious bags of white stuff under the boat dash if he won't ask them why they're all in the Everglades, they explain the plan to hunt down a local alligator and steal its eggs; he's understandably concerned, but he doesn't want them to do it alone  and Valencia tells him they aren't going home without their payday in no uncertain terms, so he agrees to be their water taxi. As Helena communes with the swamp and tracks the alligator toward its haunts, Valencia discovers an affinity with the grimy green water that surrounds them, even though it's less beautiful than her usual crystalline beach water hobbies.  She is able to finesse the waters so that they aid in the journey, helping to speed the boat along... which turns out to be a very good thing when Issy spots a massive barracuda-like fish, at least twenty feet long, speeding directly toward them.  Helena shoulders her uncle to one side, takes over the wheel, and pushes the boat to the limit in order to escape it, and they just barely manage to roar out of the fish's territory on a giant wave of determination. The journey continues until Valencia becomes aware of something in the trees... an enormous bat monster of some sort, one that she begins feeling a strange, undeniable pull toward as it stalks them from the shadows.  She struggles to resist, but soon Helena begins to feel the effects as well, and only through the combined effort of all three girls and Issy's semi-hysterical encouragement do they all manage to regain control and speed out of danger once again. As Uncle Cisqo drinks beer in the back of his boat and Djimy tries to catch some sleep, the three girls discuss what they plan to do, briefly offering a weak excuse that they're going to do a sexy mud photoshoot out in the swamp (Rafael has trouble believing Valencia will be as alluring as usual with a very visible head wound, but she's very persuasive).  As night falls and the swamp plunges into darkness, Helena concentrates until she can, disconcerting her companions with the sudden appearance of small, individual headlights where her eyes would normally be.  As a result, she is the only one who looks up and sees something extraordinary: the brightly shining full moon seems to be raining, dripping down into the water, and each drop appears to be a tiny person, swimming away into the darkness on impact.  She tries to explain what she's seeing to her friends, but even she has to admit that it sounds unbelievably strange. As they near the alligator, the girls discuss attempting to get the eggs with only the skills they have at their disposal, and without hurting it if possible since it's an innocent victim of the whole scheme. They put their plan into action: Valencia and Issy, along with Rafael and Djimy, will forge in the direction of the alligator, trying to get its attention and maybe even draw it into conversation if Issy can figure out alligator language on the fly, while Helena circles stealthily around, steals the eggs, and escapes back to Uncle Cisqo in the getaway boat before the alligator ever finds out what has happened.  Unfortunately, while Helena is successful in not being noticed, the alligator is suspicious of anyone so close to her nest and ambushes the other girls, and by the time Issy is able to start shouting in alligator that they come in peace, it's too late. The fight is terrifying; the alligator latches onto Valencia, identifying her as the most out of place in the swamp, and only Issy, Djimy, and Rafael all doing their level best to heal her wounds and pry at its jaws keep her from death more than once.  Once Issy begins hurting the alligator by repeatedly hammering at it, it changes focus and tries to eat her instead, and everyone involved is near-critically injured in the scuffle.  Helena is terrified for her friends, but she makes sure to get the eggs (twelve in all - two more than they were hired for) and start sprinting for the boat to make sure their efforts aren't in vain, screaming that they have the eggs and should get away as soon as they can. Everyone tries to split for the boat, but while first Helena and then Issy manage to outpace the alligator and get there in time, Valencia is tripped up by the unfamiliar terrain and her injuries and the alligator drags her under, much to everyone's horror.  A moment later, an enormous bolt of lightning slices through the swamp and obliterates the alligator, rescuing Valencia in the nick of time (and giving Rafael, who had been having hysterics, the erroneous impression that he must have storm powers that he managed to activate at just the right moment).  Their mission complete and the eggs safely stowed with Uncle Cisqo's other questionable cargo, all three girls fall into each others' arms and vow never to ever leave any one of them behind again, no matter what, while the drift onward toward finally leaving their harrowing swamp adventure behind.