A reassuring wave came from Sofia in response to Millie's worries. "Don't worry - I've dealt with this kind of needle-in-haystack thing before." Never on so large a scale, of course, but still. "A few incantations should be sufficient to create a relative magical strength spell. Granted, with such a heavy concentration of magic in the area, I'll need a few hours to get it properly attuned, but the rituals shouldn't take too long. Now, if you ladies wouldn't mind helping me form a circle..."
While she began to ramble and request assistance from Emma and Millie in conducting her labrynthine spellcasting, Rhonda quickly spun on her heels to begin the rather more simple task of combing the beach for anything of interest. Well, anything of interest, not including all the writhing throes of ecstacy and loud moans from up and down the sandy shore. Part of her lamented not being able to join in, but alas, that was life as best friend of a witch constantly flung into semi-heroic acts.
The beach was positively littered with debris, mostly consisting of clothes left abandoned by newly-minted mermaids as they'd rushed to shore. Some very questionable articles indeed could be found scattered, along with phones, wallets, watches, other bits of junk that would serve no purpose out in the ocean. Most of it formed a background against which she began to start looking for stranger things, items that didn't fit this same mold. All those years of having to play regular human detective amidst magical people had taught her to recognize patterns, and more importantly, when something didn't follow that pattern.
Didn't always help much, but today was to be one of those days where it proved instrumental. A glint of glass caught her eye, bringing her to pick up a small vial half-buried in the sand. A simple and empty piece of glass, but what caught attention was the label: Mermaid Scales, complete with an image of a reclining woman of the sea. A whiff of the open bottle brought to her nose the familiar scent of an alchemical mixture - something quite a bit more magical than the abandoned technology and garments covering the rest of the beach.
Quickly she ran back to Sofia, finding that the two women with her were already exasperated with the various instructions and chanting the teenage witch was engaged in. Rhonda tiptoed up for the last bit, gently tapping her best friend on the shoulder with one hand and presenting the empty bottle with the other.
Several quiet moments followed, broken by a loud series of obscenities shouted in German - probably the most vulgar such display anyone had made in that language since the last time her people had lost a war. All pretension of careful work was thrown out the window as she paced back and forth, kicking at the sand and screaming over and over. Finally, her cursing proceeded into something in the English language, though by this point the mermaids previously gathered nearby had already moved out closer to the water. "THAT FUCKING BITCH!"
Well, this was a development at least. "You know that doesn't narrow it down at all, right?"
"The bitch with the shop!" She kicked a rock with her bare foot, letting out a string of curse words in German at the pain that ensued. "That's one of her fucking bottles! Mermaid Scales my ass - she's selling fucking Essence of the Sea, probably to random bastards who have no idea what it even is!"
Emma cleared her throat. "Uh.... explanation, for such random bastards as ourselves?"
Rhonda jumped in, eyes now growing wide with alarm. "Basically... mermaid crack." Alright, maybe not an elegant way to put it, but it was the best comparison she could come up with. "Any of that Essence crap, it turns you into something else, then makes you addicted to turning other people into that thing, and then also makes them addicted... and that's how you end up with this sort of mess."
Already Sofia was stomping back to the car. "We've gotta go find her, and find out who the hell she sold that to - and then maybe we can figure out a way to un-fuck the world before goddamn fucking Cthulhu wakes up!"