That night, Alison plagues my dreams. Her smile, the way her auburn hair would catch in the light during the Dining Experience, the stories she'd tell us of her life outside, even though it wasn't permitted.

We craved those stories. We devoured every story about the world outside of our own: the small house she lived in with the wraparound porch, the pet dog she had that she loved more than anything.

She was single, but a self-proclaimed romanticist. She craved the kind of love that consumed, but left the best parts still intact. It was a love the girls and I have never understood, but the way she described it made us crave it all the same. She had a light-hearted nature I could never find in the other trainers, with a passion for her job that Marine World had wanted to squash.

I remember she'd been watching me once from the ledge of the pool as I practiced my routine. I'd broken the surface at the same time a man in a suit walked in, and he took one look at Alison's expression, at the small smile that played on her lips, and frowned.

"Don't get so attached," he said, looking at me in a way that made me wish he'd never look at me again. "There is nothing mystical or magical about them, Alison. They are little more than brainless animals, here to serve a purpose. As are you."

It was watching Alison's face fall that I realized there are two types of people in Marine World: those who see us as something incredible, and those who don't see us as anything at all.

I toss and turn all night, unable to remove her face from my mind until eventually, her memory is replaced with a familiar nightmare. I am back inside of the submersion tank, staring through the glass at the doctors in white coats while the timer blinks furiously behind them.

Muriel stands motionless in the tank opposite mine, her thin, white nightgown billowing around her feet. My heart aches at the sight of her, my hands itch to hold her one last time. I stretch out my fingers, pressing them to the pane of the glass in the hopes that maybe, if I press hard enough, I just might be able to reach her. When that doesn't work I call out her name, but she remains still, unmoving, as though she's simply a reflection in the glass.

I wake up screaming, my fingers clenched around the duvet as hands reach out and grab me through the dark. I scream again, certain they're coming to get rid of me too, but when I open my eyes, Reece's blue ones peer down at me.

"Are you all right?" he asks, pushing damp tendrils of hair from my forehead.

All I can do is stare back at him, the truth stuck on the tip of my tongue. In some ways, it feels like I am standing at the water's edge, afraid to dive in, to reveal something to Reece that could lead to my demise should he decide I'm too dangerous.

Too human.

"I'm fine," I say, taking a deep breath. Lying is the safest option–the one that will keep me surviving the longest. I suspect if the trainers were to ever find out how unhappy we are, it wouldn't be long before they got rid of us, too.

"Nightmare?" Reece asks.

"Yes."

For a moment we are both still, looking at each other. There is a vulnerability in his eyes that I haven't noticed before, and I can't help but wonder if he tries to hide his emotions as hard as I try to hide mine.

"What was it about?" he asks.

I look at the duvet again, my chest tight with the memory. It's been a long time since I've dreamt about Muriel. A part of me wants to keep her all to myself.

"The facility," I whisper. "The tests they run."

Reece exhales slightly, and when he turns back to face me, it's as if he has flipped a switch, changing his expression back to the same well-practiced look of indifference.

"You should try to get some sleep," he says, getting to his feet. "I'll be outside if you need anything."

With that, he walks out.

The next morning, I slip out of my nightgown and wiggle into my bathing suit, clasping the strap behind my neck before pulling on my tail. Once on, I clip it at my hips the way Jackson taught me before lowering myself into the water. I rest my arms against the pool's ledge and wait, hoping I'll be able to untwist the knots in my stomach before the guests arrive.

The sky looks gray and mottled through the window, the clouds heavy with rain. It is still bright, though, and come midday, the sun will have gotten its way once again.

At eight A.M, Valerie comes to check on me as usual before unlocking the gate to the main enclosure. Through the bars, I see Jewel and Asia hovering below the surface, waiting for the park to open.

Jewel is nervous; I can tell by the way she keeps fiddling with the strap of her bikini top. Asia floats peacefully beside her, her arms spread wide like a bird about to take flight.

As though she can feel my gaze, her dark eyes flicker open. Her lips part slightly before she points toward the surface. I nod once, swimming through the gate before pushing myself upward to where the pair are already waiting.

"Are you both all right?" I ask.

"What's going on?" Jewel says, her lips barely moving. After being chastised for talking one too many times, the girls and I have perfected the art of communicating without moving our lips. "Where's Crystal?"

"You don't know?" I ask, surprised when they both shake their heads. I take a deep breath, barely able to get the words out, because even though it's been days now, I still can't bring myself to believe what happened. "Crystal killed Alison. Drowned her. We're all being watched very carefully."

For the first time in a long time, Jewel's hard expression drops away. She grabs my arm, searching my eyes for some sort of confirmation, but all I can do is stare back.

"Why would she do that?" Asia asks, her eyes wet with tears.

"Don't cry," I warn, swiftly wiping a tear away with the pad of my thumb. Asia bites down on her bottom lip to stop the rest from following suit. "I don't know," I say, trying to hold my own tears in. "I guess she just snapped."

"Where is she now?" Jewel asks, her voice demanding. I used to think Jewel cold once upon a time, but I know now her lack of affection is only a coping mechanism. A way to survive. "Is she–" she stops to lock those green eyes on mine. "Is she gone?"

She doesn't need to ask the rest. Is she gone like Muriel?

"She's still here," I say, slowly scanning the aquarium. "Locked away somewhere in confinement." I turn back to Jewel, finding what I'm certain is a glimmer of guilt behind those almond-shaped eyes. "What is it?"

Jewel swallows hard before glancing toward the enclosure door. "I think it's happening again."

"What is?" I ask, resisting the urge to shake her. The park will be opening any minute and when it does, the opportunity for the three of us to speak freely will be gone.

Jewel turns to face us fully, her eyes heavy with guilt. "Muriel told me something a long time ago. Something she made me promise I'd never tell either of you."

"What?" Asia asks when I don't speak, but I turn to Jewel for the answer, anyway, finding her eyes already on mine.

"There were other mermaids," Jewel says. "Star and Summer. They were Muriel's enclosure mates before us, and Marine World got rid of them without so much as an explanation. Fed Muriel a bunch of pills to numb her pain and that was it."

Asia lets out a noise, her dark eyes flickering between the two of us as my own narrow at Jewel. Inside, I am hurt, furious, but not because Jewel never told me the truth. Because Muriel didn't.

"We're not the first," I say.

"And we won't be the last," Jewel replies. "I'm sorry, Aura. I should have told you both earlier, but Muriel made me promise not to. She didn't want you to worry and neither did I, but now I fear it's going to happen again after what Crystal's done. They're going to get rid of us and replace us with new girls."

"Where do you think we go when they don't want us anymore?" Asia asks, looking between the two of us. "What happens to us?"

I shake my head, knowing that wherever it is we are sent, we won't be coming back. "Look," I say, taking their hands in mine. "It doesn't matter because we're going to get out of here. Do you understand? We're going to leave Marine World."

It's not the first time I've spoken of one day escaping Marine World, but it's the first time I've been serious about it. We've been too afraid of what we'd find if we were to ever leave this world for the other, not to mention the fact we'll soon lose the ability to walk. But if what Jewel is saying is true, the girls and I might not have much time left after what Crystal's done.

"And do what?" Jewel asks, her tone incredulous. "We're mermaids, Aura. We don't know how to be anything else."

Despite the sharpness of her tone, I spot the glimmer of fear behind her pale, rheumy eyes. Being a mermaid is what Jewel is good at, what we're all good at. Who exactly are we without our tails? What purpose do we serve if we're not serving the guests?

"Besides," she says. "We're not exactly going to get very far. Our legs could give out at any moment."

"And you've heard what the real world is like," Asia says, her expression uncertain. "How do we know we'll be better off free?"

Deep down, I know they are right. But there's a part of me that still longs for something more than what we've been given. That wants to step into the real world just to see what it's like. Maybe it is flawed and lonely and utterly terrifying, but there is something equally as terrifying about the thought I may never get to see for myself.

"We don't," I say, more forcefully than I intended, "but I'm willing to take that risk. Are you?"

After a minute or two, the pair of them nod, and when the guests begin to fill the viewing tunnels, I give them one last look.

"Just keep flushing the pills," I say through my smile. "I have a plan to get us out."