Pain pulsed behind her eyes and her heart throbbed in her chest like an open wound. Her gills flared and her chest heaved, and she could feel the currents from her gills bouncing back at her. The box was too small. She was never given much space, but this was the worst. Her tail was wedged up under her, with her fin bent in three different directions, and her head was craned down against her chest with her shoulders flat against the tank wall above her. There was no room to move or shift except to wiggle, which only sent jolts of cramping pain through her body and threatened to rip the row of stitches up her side.

Her lips parted and she sucked in another desperate breath, but the water felt stale, used up, and her head spun as she struggled for oxygen. Eyes open or closed did not matter, her world was consumed by darkness. She made a fist and beat against one wall. It was a useless motion, she could not muster the strength to break glass when she had room to move and gain momentum. She was certainly not going to manage it now.

Her chest squeezed again and she sucked in, but there was no more oxygen in the water and she only wound up choking. Her tail spasmed beneath her and more pain lanced up her abdomen as she jerked about and wheezed, and panic began to settle in her throat as her head spun. Yet no matter how much the burning in her lungs increased – how her body begged for oxygen – she lay suspended in a state of need, wishing she could give in and pass out.

Luna’s eyes snapped open and her chest heaved as she gasped for breath. Her cheeks were already stained with tears and her body was shaking. She bit her lip and felt more tears water in her gaze. Her mother’s soft brown gaze was leaned in and staring at her. She reached out and took Luna by the hand and began to stroke it with her thumb.

“Take deep breaths,” her mother instructed in a gentle tone. “Just breathe, Luna. It is okay.”

Luna squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered. Two in what felt like one night was too much and she bit her lip to stifle a whimper.

“It is okay, Luna,” Rebecca continued. “You are alright. Just breathe deep and slow, and calm down.”

Luna swallowed the lump rising in her throat and nodded. She sipped air and felt her heart rate begin to slow. Her mother’s grip was soothing, and she found herself beginning to calm down.

Her mother’s smile broadened and her eyes sparkled with pride. “Good. Just breathe, Luna. I am very proud of you.”

The words sparked a rush of warmth in Luna’s chest and she forced a weak purr. Already her shaking was beginning to abate and she felt a bit better.

Her mother reached out and began to pull the sticky squares ringing her temple away from her skin so that she could pull the cap off Luna’s head. “No more,” she stated. “You have given that man what he said he needed, I will not allow him to put you through anything more.”

Luna pursed her lips but did not object. She wanted to believe that, but she doubted it was true and she did not want her mother to put herself at risk either.

Luna bowed her head and took another breath and tried to relax her heartbeat back to normal. She was still a little tired, but she felt better now; a bit more rested, and she was becoming more aware of her surroundings. Including the warm body pressed against her back and tail. She had not been anticipating someone else there; not with her mother lying in front of her, so Luna rolled over to see who it was.

Her heart skipped a beat and for a moment she thought she was still asleep as she stared up into Katie’s warm gaze and soft smile. “Katie?” she whispered. She worried if she spoke too loudly, she might shatter the dream, and this was one that she desperately wanted to linger in. “Am I still asleep?”

Katie’s lips pulled up into a wide, toothy grin and she shook her head.

“You promise?” Luna pressed.

Katie’s eyes twinkled as she nodded. “I promise,” she agreed.

Luna’s heart soared at the sound of her sister’s voice and she matched Katie’s wide smile. “Katie!” she exclaimed as she launched herself at the older girl. “You are alright. I was so worried…I thought…”

“I know,” Katie agreed through a laugh as she wrapped Luna in a warm embrace. “But I’m fine now, I promise. I’m sorry I scared you.”

Luna nuzzled her cheek against Katie’s and wiggled closer until she wound up knocking her over. “Do not do that again,” she scolded. Hot tears began to leak from her eyes, but her smile was wide as Katie stared up at her.

Katie reached up and wiped a tear away. “I won’t,” she agreed. “I missed you all too much.”

Katie shifted beneath her and then winced. Her smile fell in place of a mask of scrunched pain. Immediately, Luna reared back off her friend. “Katie, are you okay?” she inquired.

Katie’s grimace lingered for a moment as she propped herself up and rolled onto her front. “It’s okay, Luna; I’m fine,” she replied. “My back is just really sore is all.”

“You should allow me to take a look.” Luna turned as her mother made the offer. Her expression had morphed from comforting to a more clinical concern.

Luna glanced back at Katie, who was worrying at her lip. “Alright,” she agreed finally. “Thank you.” She pulled herself forward and then twisted to face away, and pulled the back of her shirt up over her head so that it was pressed to her chest. Luna scooted backwards to allow her mother room to look. She looked up when Sophie and Lewis walked closer. Her father had been staying with Nero, but it seemed that Katie’s wellbeing had stolen the attention of everyone else.

“Tell me the nature of her recovery, again?” Rebecca requested as she looked up Lewis. “There was deemed a reason for the illness, correct?”

Lewis nodded his confirmation. “Yeah. Katie’s body essentially started eating itself from the inside out because her nutrition levels plummeted. You all seem to have a very special hormone that your body utilizes for pretty much everything. Katie’s body hasn’t been producing it well – it’s a flaw in her transformation – so they gave her extra supplements from Luna. They don’t know what caused the crash, but when those reserves ran low, her body ripped itself apart trying to find more.”

Luna still did not completely understand what all of that meant, but her mother hummed in understanding. “I believe I know the cause,” she announced.

“What?” Sophie pressed.

Luna’s mother shook her head. “Let us see if my theory is correct, first. Katie, bow your head please.”

Luna watched her sister fidget before angling her gaze down to her lap. Rebecca raised one hand and pressed her fingers to Katie’s back. A whine slipped past Katie’s lips and she shifted.

“Stay still,” Luna’s mother scolded. “You are not a fussy youngling.”

“Sorry,” Katie muttered through gritted teeth. Her cheeks coloured when Riley’s boisterous laughter rose from the far side of the room.

Her mother ignored the distractions and pressed her other hand to the back of Katie’s skull. “Bend further,” she instructed as she pressed Katie’s head forward.

Luna winced. Though Katie said nothing, the position did not look comfortable as she was forced to hunch over and a ridge formed down the center of her back as the skin pulled taut. Her mother ran her fingers down the ridge and nodded. “Roll your shoulders,” she requested.

Katie squirmed and complied, and the ridge grew more prominent as she did. It did not look like her spine.

“What is that?” Sophie asked, voicing Luna’s shared concerns.

“What I suspected was the culprit,” Rebecca replied. “Katie, this is going to sting. Bend a little further and do that again, but slowly, while you bend as much as you can.”

Katie seemed hesitant, but she did not argue. As she moved, Luna’s mother dug two fingernails into her skin, eliciting another whimper from Katie as the woman clawed down her back. “Roll your shoulders,” her mother reminded.

At the prompt, Katie did so, and there was a wet tearing sound that accompanied a louder cry from Katie as her back split and began to bleed. Before Luna could protest the treatment of her sister, Katie shook herself and something raised from her back where the wound had opened. It looked like a long, curved arm. A slender, scaled arm coated in blood. It arced high above Katie’s shoulders and pulled a membrane free of her spine as well. It was a soft purple, delicate and ruffled down the length of her back.

Katie shook herself and Luna had to duck away from drops of blood and bits of flesh the flew from the new sail. “Sorry,” Katie mumbled. “Wow, that hurt…but the pressure is gone now. I can handle open wound pain much better than that. Thank you.”

“Katie…” Sophie breathed. She reached out and brushed her fingers over the sail and Katie yelped. The sail flared and flapped wildly as the girl lurched away.

“What did you do?” Katie exclaimed.

Luna’s mother burst out laughing and reached out to grab Katie’s sail by the arm. “Did you not realize?” she inquired as she held on.

Katie contorted herself to get a better look and her eyes grew wide. “I-I don’t understand…What is it? What is it for?”

Luna’s mother hummed a soothing tone and clicked her tongue against her teeth. “Do not panic,” she said. “There is no need. You will adjust to the sensation soon enough and instinct will guide you to its purpose. You have developed a sail. Mer use them for any number of things depending on the type. You will learn. Can you fold it down?”

Katie took a breath and closed her eyes. For a few heartbeats, nothing happened, and then the sail quivered and flared up higher. It made Luna pull back in alarm, but Katie only blushed and then slowly flattened the sail to her back. The fin folded up perfectly beneath the long arm so that when it was flat to her flesh, it looked more like she had an armoured ridge down her back rather than a sail.

“It’s really pretty,” Sophie commented. “But I don’t understand. That was what was making her so sick?”

Her mother nodded. “Yes,” Rebecca confirmed. “This is the reason Katie depleted her ‘reserves’ as you put it. You are a little old to be just developing now, but I suppose Luna’s youth may have affected that. As Mer grow from youth to adult, they experience changes in appetite, energy, speed and strength, and will often develop more extreme physical changes, such as the emergence of new fins or spines to aid their survival. Each Mer is as they need to be and that is not always immediately clear, but it is true. We do not all have such drastic changes, but it is not uncommon. Some Mer are born with additional features, some grow them later, and some experience both.”

“I was born with my gliders,” Riley added. “But they were very small and did not begin to grow properly until I was in my thirteenth cycle when my spines grew in as well.”

Katie shook her head. Her brows were drawn together and a frown was creasing her lips. She held up a hand and shook her head again. “So what you mean to tell me,” she began in a flat, annoyed tone. “Is that I got so sick because my body wanted to go through a second puberty and didn’t have the means of doing so?”

“Sounds like it,” Sophie agreed.

Luna frowned. She was not familiar with the word they were using, but when she glanced at her mother she saw mirrored confusion and assumed it must be a human thing. Now did not seem like the best time to inquire.

Katie groaned and slumped. “Lovely. As if the first time wasn’t bad enough. Why now?”

Lewis stepped over and crouched down. “You should put your shirt back on,” he advised. “Probably best not to show that sail off to any…unwelcome onlookers that might come by.”

Katie nodded and sat up so she could squirm back into the fabric and smooth it down over her torso once more.

“It does make sense though,” Lewis continued. “Luna is younger and was probably prepubescent when they extracted her cells. We’ve already witnessed your body’s struggles to figure out its age range. There was too much of an age difference between you two; I’m surprised you survived. It might be a good thing that you’ve got some cells from Riley now; it might balance you out a bit better. But if you had been a similar age from the beginning, this probably would have just grown in when your tail did, right?”

Lewis looked to Luna’s mother, who dipped her head. “Most probably,” she agreed.

“Luna’s cells took over your body and they hadn’t gone through those changes yet; they just caught up to you is all.”

“It still sucks,” Katie muttered. The back of her shirt pulled taut as the new limb fluttered beneath and Katie growled in annoyance before the fabric lay smooth again. “This is so weird. Like having a random third arm on my back.”

Sophie reached out and placed a hand on Katie’s shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll get used to the sensation quickly,” she assured her. “You just need a little time. The tail was different too at first, wasn’t it?”

“It’s not the same,” Katie sighed.

Luna frowned as she was slammed with a wave of sorrow from her sister. On instinct, she pulled herself closer and leaned against Katie.

Katie hummed in response and twisted until her chin was resting on Luna’s head. “I am okay,” she murmured. “Just confused. The tail was one thing, simple to understand. I still felt like me, sort of…I just, would have been happy to stay the way I was. Every new thing makes me feel less and less human and I’m not so sure I’m okay with that.”

Luna hummed in understanding. It was hard for her sister to lose more pieces of her former self. It was difficult to fully understand since she remembered so little of her own former self, but she did understand the feeling of loss and emptiness in her heart, and if this new sail made Katie’s hole bigger, then Luna understood and ached for her.

“You are not human,” Luna’s mother stated flatly. Beside Luna, Katie jerked at the sharp tone. Luna frowned and stared at her mother in dismay. She loved her and she had come to see how gentle and caring and warm Rebecca could be, and also how protective. It felt wrong that she was being mean now. “You are a Mer.”

“I-I know,” Katie fumbled.

Rebecca shook her head. “Do you?” she demanded. “Because it seems like you still think of yourself as human. You are not. Perhaps once, but no longer and you need to accept that. There is no place for you in this half-life you are trying to live.”

“I did not ask for any of this,” Katie protested. “None of this is my choice. I’m glad I met your daughter and Riley, and I would not change it even if I could, but that doesn’t make this part any easier.”

“It is not meant to be easy,” Luna’s mother growled. “But you must conquer it regardless. We cannot fix your problems for you and we are here because of you-”

“It is not Katie’s fault,” Luna protested as she felt Katie flinch beside her. “Please, stop.”

Instead of heeding the plea, Luna’s mother continued to stare sternly at Katie. She pulled herself up and over closer to Katie, who leaned back in surprise and wound up flopping over onto the butt of her tail with Rebecca leaning over her.

“Aunt Becca!” Riley’s voice was sharp and dropped off into a low growl. “That is enough. Do not harass her for something beyond her control.”

“This is not your concern, Riley,” her mother rumbled back before fixating on Katie once more. “You are not a child, you should not need coddling like one. You have been through something harsh, that much I understand, but it is time to decide what it is that you desire. You cannot have it both ways.”

“She doesn’t have to decide anything right now,” Sophie argued. “This is cruel.”

Luna’s mother shook her head and bared her fangs. “She must choose now, there may not be time later!” she snarled. “If the opportunity arises to abandon this place, we fully intend to take it. Nero and Karina must be far from the surface and find the nearest safe place for her to have her baby, and Ixion and I will be taking Luna into deeper waters, back to our family where we can protect her and better avoid boats and nets. I will not risk my family a second time. You and Lewis will have to hide on land; there is no way for you to come with us, and Riley will do as she pleases, but hardly needs someone to defend her any longer.”

Her gaze lurched back to Katie and she flicked her fin. “But you are the concern. You cannot navigate or hunt or defend yourself in the water. If you mean to come with us, you must decide that now, because we will not linger for you to make your choice, it is too dangerous. Will you attempt a half-life on land or do you mean to embrace what you are now and find a purpose in the water?”

Katie’s eyes were swimming with tears and she chewed on her lip and looked away instead of answering.

Sophie stepped up as her daughter hesitated and crouched down to squeeze her shoulder. “It’s okay to go, Katie. You know that, right?”

Tears were streaking down Katie’s cheeks and she shrugged Sophie’s touch away. Her hands curled into fists and Luna watched her jaw clench. “I know I can,” Katie whispered tersely. “I know you support me and everyone needs me to make a choice, but I don’t want to go. I want to go home. I just want for us to be back like we were, back at the house. I want the promise of my family together.”

“That is no longer possible,” Rebecca’s tone was softer as she began to speak, but as soon as she spoke, Katie’s gaze snapped up and her green-brown eyes blazed through fresh tears.

Her lips pulled into a snarl and her hands flung out and connected with Rebecca’s shoulders. Katie hissed furiously as she shoved Luna’s mother backwards. “Don’t you think I know that?” she snapped. “I know it’s not an option. I know I have to go with you, that I cannot stay on land like this and that I would only be a dangerous liability to mom and Lewis if I tried. I know that. But stop asking me to embrace something I didn’t choose. I can’t be happy about abandoning my family, the people I love and the life I know.”

“Katie,” Luna murmured.

Katie shook her head. “I’m sorry, Luna. You know I don’t regret meeting you, but that doesn’t make anything else any easier.” Her attention shifted back to Rebecca and she slumped. “You know the pain of losing someone you care about; can you just try to imagine my situation? How would you feel if someone split your tail and sealed your gills and told you that you needed to make a life away from the ocean work? That you had to leave your family behind because you’re a danger to them, forcing them to stay at the surface to be with you? Knowing that everything you care about is forever beyond your grasp. That you have to leave and might never see your loved ones again, that anything could happen to them and you might never know!” Katie sobbed. She curled in on herself. “I don’t have the luxury of a choice here. I have to abandon my loved ones, just like she did. But I take no pleasure in it; it’s not my choice.”

Luna pressed her palms flat to the ground. She wanted to get to her sister, but before she could, Sophie hit her knees and dragged Katie into her lap and squeezed her into an embrace. “You are not Roxanne, Katie!” she declared firmly. “This isn’t the same.”

“It feels the same,” Katie muttered. She brought a hand up to scrub at the tears in her eyes and sniffled.

“It’s not,” Sophie refused. “You wouldn’t be abandoning us, Katie; you were always meant to leave at some point, to pursue your dreams; to travel the world mapping the oceans and trekking to obscure canyons and waterfalls all over the world, remember? It’s just a little different now and a little sooner than anticipated, that’s all. But if you want to stay, Katie, we’ll figure that out, we’ll make it work.”

Katie shook her head. “You’ve risked enough for me. You and Lewis need to protect yourselves now too. Please promise me this time, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Sophie pulled her closer and her embrace tightened.

Luna chewed her lip and hesitated. She did not wish to interrupt their moment, but she also hated seeing Katie so sad. She had missed her so much and just wanted her back. She dragged herself closer and leaned against Katie’s side and hummed, and then returned the soft smile that Sophie gave her.

“Thanks, Luna,” Katie murmured. “I will be okay; it’s just hard,” she admitted. She rubbed at her tear-stained cheeks and squirmed in Sophie’s grasp until the woman’s hold loosened enough that she could sit up and make direct eye contact. “You and Lewis have to do for yourselves now. Get out of here and go into hiding at the first chance you get. Maybe you can help us, maybe you can’t, but staying here is going to get you hurt or killed and I can’t bear that.”

Sophie sighed and shook her head, and Luna felt her heart sink at the grim determination that was spilling from the woman. “No,” she refused. “I won’t leave all of you to face this alone.”

“We are not alone,” Riley called from over on the medical cot. Luna glanced in her cousin’s direction and found Riley’s eyes narrowed with displeasure, though she seemed more sad than angry. “I agree with Katie; you already know how I feel. The two of you should get away from here. You are human, you can walk away. They will not anticipate you leaving us and that is exactly what you must do.”

“No,” Sophie rebuffed again.

Luna chewed her lip and reached out to grab Sophie’s hand. When Sophie’s attention immediately settled on her and she squeezed Luna’s hand, Luna felt tears pool in her eyes. “Sophie, I need you,” she whimpered.

A moment later, Luna found herself being dragged into Sophie’s embrace and squished against Katie and the woman. “I’m not going anywhere, Luna; I promise.”

Luna shook her head and bit her lip. “No,” she whispered. “I need you to go.”

“What?” There was genuine hurt and confusion in Sophie’s tone and Luna swallowed back a surge of guilt. The woman seemed genuinely stunned. She did not want Sophie and Lewis to go; she loved them and wanted to know they were alright, but she knew they needed to go. No one should have to endure Lemuria and they were two that could possibly get away.

Luna took a deep breath, though she felt her tears slip free to roll down her cheeks. “You need to leave,” she repeated. “Please. You need to go and be safe. They want to hurt you both, and that hurts too much. You told me that they could not take my identity from me again, that I am not alone this time and I carry the love for and from my family in my heart. And that is true. It is true, and it gives me a little courage because it is the truth. There are people who know who I am and whom I can cherish and maintain the will to live for…” Luna sniffled and swiped a hand under her nose. “I am not alone this time. But you need to leave us and get away. Someone has to go, has to protect the truth. If you are brought back with us and made a Mer too and they trap Lewis…then there is no one left who knows the truth about us. About who Mer really are, who we are, who Katie used to be. Your safety has to come first, but that is a truth that should be spread. We are not animals or toys or pets, we are people,” Luna insisted.

“I know that,” Sophie assured her.

Luna nodded and hummed weakly. “That is why it is important. Knowing that someone knows…that gives me more hope than having you by our sides with promises to try to protect us. Do not protect us, protect the truth.”

Silence stretched after she finished speaking and Luna hesitated. Had she said something bad?

“She’s right,” Katie finally stated. “There’s no one else on the outside if you come with us.”

“Our existence is no longer a secret,” Riley added. “And there is no protection left in hiding now that we have been captured. If there are more good people in your world – which I choose to believe – then the facts are all we have left. But we need someone to spread them.”

Katie hissed and bared her teeth. “The only ones we’re protecting now are Lemuria, and I’m not inclined to help them. They’ve told the world a tragic story of two mermaids washed up injured and sickly; painted themselves our saviours, preserving our lives in a lavish aquarium. They’re going to tell another story that makes them look like heroes. I think it’s time the world heard a different version of the story; the true version. The pain and abuse and heartache, the loss and the crimes, and who they’re actually keeping in a glass cage.”

Luna lifted her chin and nodded. They had nothing left but their reality and the hope that more people might care if they knew who and what Mer truly were. They needed to know.