I turn to face Reece, searching his eyes for a slither of truth. "How many more of us are there in Marine World?" I ask. There has to be others like Muriel Two and the dead girl, just waiting in the shadows.

"Just you four," Reece says, letting go of my shoulders. "Muriel was the last of you in Marine World."

I push him away. If I needed any more evidence that Reece is lying to me, here it is. "You're liar, Reece. I saw another girl on the way to an experiment. She was–" I swallow hard. "She was mutilated. Dead."

His expression morphs into one of shock. "I'm telling you what I know," he says, "and all I know is that Muriel was supposed to be the last of you. But there are still thousands of others like you already living in the real world."

My stomach swirls. "There are?"

He nods. "There was nothing the government could do about them. People hated the thought of genetically engineered humans living amongst us, but nobody was going to kill an already born kid just because they'd been engineered."

I should be horrified that Marine World has lied to me, but instead, determination floods my veins. "If they can make it in the real world, so can I."

Reece sighs as though I am being naive. "You were born in captivity, Aura. They weren't. They have papers and an idea of how the world works. You won't survive out there."

"I won't survive in here," I say, my voice hardening. "I passed all of my experiments, Reece. I know what's going to happen to me."

He cocks a thick eyebrow. "What?"

My eyes harden. "Don't pretend like you don't know. I'm going to be gotten rid of, probably cut up and experimented on just like that girl I saw."

"Aura, I have no idea what you're talking about," he says. "I swear."

"What about the guests?" I ask. "Do they know about all of this? How we got here?"

Reece shakes his head. "They know you're engineered, but they think you work here of your own free will like a regular employee. If the public ever found out the truth–" he stops to shift his gaze back to me. "It wouldn't just be the owners of this place who are prosecuted. It would be everyone who knew about it too."

"Prosecuted," I repeat, my eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Reece sighs before running a hand through his disheveled, curly hair. "It doesn't matter. It's nothing compared to what Marine World will do to me when they find out I helped you."

"Why help me now, then?" I ask, unable to allow myself to let in the hope beginning to stir within my chest. If Reece could lose so much by helping to set me free, why is he willing to lose it now?

His eyes soften slightly before he indicates to his gun. "I can't exactly keep pretending that you're happy here. And if what you're saying about that girl is true–"

"It is," I say, watching him carefully. I don't trust a word he is saying, not for a minute, but I also know I don't have any other options right now but to trust him. "If what you're saying is true, what's the plan?"

"Saturday," he says, his chest rising and falling as heavily as my own. "I'll leave you my pass and tell you how to get out, but that's as much as I can help you. If I know Marine World as well as I think I do, they won't alert anyone to the fact you're missing. A big investigation at the park could uncover the truth. They'll no doubt hire someone to come looking for you privately."

I swallow hard. The thought of Marine World sending people after me has my insides in knots. "Well, how do I get out of the park?" I ask.

Is this really happening? Is Reece really going to help me escape this place once and for all? And what if Saturday is too late? Marine World could already be planning to replace us by then.

"I'll put my pass in the bedside drawer just before your break," Reece says, his eyebrows furrowed as he begins to mentally form a plan. "You'll use it to leave here at three p.m, at the start of your break. Your trainer won't come to check on you until four as usual, so that gives you an hour window to get out of the park before anybody notices. There's a door just outside of your night enclosure that leads straight into the mermaid enclosure, but you can't use that one. Employees are only allowed to use it after closing. You'll have to go straight to the end of the employee tunnel, where there's a main exit. Do you understand?"

I give him an enthusiastic nod, though it is hard to comprehend his instructions.

"There are cameras in the employee tunnels," Reece continues, "but I'll leave you a bag in the bathroom cabinet with some employee clothes and once you're changed, they'll assume you're a regular employee. There are two ways out of this park: ferry or monorail. You'll be getting the monorail to the exit and then you can walk straight out of the park like a guest."

"And then what?" I ask, looking at him expectantly. I'm waiting for some guidance, some kind of clue as to how I'm going to survive in the real world if–when–I make it out of this one.

"Don't look at me like that," he mutters, his eyes fixed on the wall. "I can't help you, all right? My father was the one who got me this job, and any further involvement on my part could get him into serious trouble. I can give you some money to hold you over, order a car to pick you up and take you to a motel or something, but that's it. You'd have to try and find a job that pays cash in hand since you don't have any papers. Lots of little diners still do, so it shouldn't be too hard."

I just stare at him, not being able to understand half of what it is he is telling me I need to do, and it begins to dawn on me that escaping might just be the easy part.

It is living that is going to be difficult.

"Fine," I say anyway, knowing we don't have much choice in the matter. Either way, we have to get out of this place, the rest we can figure out later.

"Three days, Aura," Reece says. "Just lay low until then, all right? Do what you're supposed to."

I nod, hating that my freedom now depends on him. "We have to get the others out, too. Muriel might have already moved into my enclosure by then. I suppose I'll have to bring her with us," I say begrudgingly.

He frowns in a way that leaves a tightness in my chest. "We can't. They're being observed as carefully as you are. You only have an hour to get out and their lunch break isn't until four. There's no way you can hang around waiting for them."

And just like that, my dreams of escaping this place shatter, because how can I go and claim freedom for myself knowing the others will never get theirs?

"That's it, then," I say, wishing my eyes don't have to burn as I say it. It seems as if every time I take a step forward I'm pushed back to where I started. "I'm not leaving them behind."

"Look," Reece says, glancing at his watch. "Right now, we can either save two of you or none of you. Once you and Muriel are safe, we can think of another way to get the others out, but you staying here isn't going to save them. And you can't tell them what you're planning, either. It will only complicate things."

Indecision wars inside of me. Everything he is saying makes perfect sense, but I can't settle the sense of betrayal I feel at having to leave them behind. After always vowing to stick together, can I really just take my shot at freedom not knowing if or when they'll ever get theirs? "Promise me," I say, hating how vulnerable I feel as I stare at Reece, searching his eyes for reassurance. "Promise me we'll find a way to get them out." Reece's eyes soften, sending a glimmer of hope to the pit of my stomach. "I promise."

Hey Readers!

Who's your favorite mermaid? 🧜🏽‍♀️🧜🏻‍♀️🧜🏿‍♀️