Reece reacts before I do, crossing the distance to Jackson before landing a blow to the center of his nose, sending him flying in one direction and his syringe in the other. Jackson barely has time to recover before Reece is on him again, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt before thrusting him over and over into the side of the car.

Jackson manages to land in a punch but Reece doesn't stop, not even to protect himself from Jackson's hits. He is like a machine, and I wonder if he can even feel Jackson's hits or if he is too far gone in his anger to feel much of anything.

"In case you've forgotten," Adrian interrupts, his voice eerily calm, "I have a gun to your girlfriend's head."

Reece freeze's mid-punch, turning his head to look at me in a move that allows me to see the damage done. Bloodied knuckles, swollen lip, but it is nothing in comparison to Jackson, whose eye is already twice its size, his nose a swollen mass that merges with his upper lip.

"If you had orders to kill her, she'd be dead by now," Reece says, but he lets go of Jackson's shirt and steps aside, his eyes like two narrow slits. "Do you even know what he did?"

"I don't care what he's done," Adrian replies, unfazed by his accomplice's bloody condition. There is only one reason I can think of that would make him bring Jackson, and it is because Jackson knows how to administer the anesthetic. "You're the only thing that concerns me right now, Reece. I've spoken with Marine World, and as long as we get her back, they're willing to forget any of this happened."

It slowly dawns on me that Adrian is still trying to save his son, still trying to find a way to absolve Reece of responsibility, and for a moment, I am able to see my captor for what he really is. Not a monster, like I'd been imagining, but a man. A man who can hate as strongly as he loves, and who exploits as fiercely as he protects. A man who is simply human–a mixture of good, evil, and everything in between.

Jackson's eyes shift to the gun on the ground.

"Try it and it'll be the last thing you do," Reece warns.

Jackson falls still before focusing on me. "Aura," he says in that same tone he's always used; Gentle, hypnotic, as though I am the only person in the world that he cares about. I used to fall for it, once upon a time. That voice, that caring expression. I used to believe he loved us as much as he said he did, and even after all I know, that voice is enough to take me back, to make me want to believe those lies all over again. "Just come home, Aura," he says. "We won't be angry at you for what you did. It wasn't your fault."

I hate the way he says my name. I never want the word to leave his lips again. "You hurt her," I say quietly, my legs beginning to shake. "You're the reason she disappeared."

Jackson furrows his eyebrows, as though he has no idea what I'm talking about. Doesn't he remember the people he hurts? Or has he hurt so many that each name, each face, blurs into the next?

"Muriel," I hiss, too angry to look away now, too angry to be afraid any longer. Even Adrian's prodding of his gun can't get me to be quiet, not anymore, because this is what freedom really is. Having the strength to speak out when the world is trying to silence me. "You hurt Muriel."

Jackson's eyes widen with the realization his little secret is not so secret anymore. It feels good knowing he's scared of me for a change, of the knowledge I hold, because with that knowledge, I have power.

Before I have time to speak again, Reece is diving for his gun on the floor, grabbing for it at the same time Jackson does, though Jackson doesn't stand a chance. Reece shoves him aside and straightens up before pointing the gun at his father. Adrian tenses behind me, though it is clear he is not going to shoot me any time soon. He's been ordered to bring me back alive, and I can only imagine what horrors await me back in Marine World.

"What are you going to do, Reece, shoot me?" Adrian asks, the question lingering in the balance.

Reece doesn't falter. "If I have to."

I exhale suddenly, unable to believe Reece would really choose my life over that of his own father. Adrian must not be able to, either, because he grabs me by the arm and briefly shakes me, his fingers digging deep into my arm.

"Are you really willing to risk our lives for her?" Adrian asks.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to stop the world from spinning. Every nerve in my body is alive with fear, my mind no longer able to predict how this scenario will end. I'd assumed Reece would hand me over once his father got involved, that I'd be sent back to Marine World, though I knew they wouldn't just pop me back into an enclosure this time. I've become a liability to them, just like Muriel had when the darkness started taking control. As such they'd get rid of me, just like they got rid of her.

"What about her life?" Reece asks, looking more conflicted than I have ever seen him. He knows as well as I do the only way out of this situation is for us to take out our captors, and I can already see the cogs in his mind turning as he tries to formulate a plan. "She doesn't deserve to be raised in an enclosure so that people can take a few pictures. She's an innocent–"

" She's a murderer, Reece," Adrian says.

Reece freezes before training those electric blue eyes on mine. The air feels colder all of a sudden, as though Adrian's accusation has disrupted the atmosphere. The first drop of rain lands on the side of my cheek, sending a ripple of goose bumps across my skin. I wipe it away, forcing myself to meet Reece's gaze, but his eyes already bore into the figure behind me.

One second passes, then two. Reece's jaw sets to a hard, narrow line, his voice detached when he finally speaks. "What are you talking about?"

I tense at the same time Adrian does, knowing the way Reece is looking at his father is the way he should be looking at me, because for once, Adrian is right about me. I am a murderer, but from the look on Reece's face, he doesn't want to accept it, doesn't want to believe I'm capable, and that's what hurts the most. That once again his trust in me, his humanity, is going to be his downfall.

"Tell him, Aura," Adrian says, prodding the back of my head again. I flinch at the unwelcome contact, balling my hands into tight little fists in a bid to take back control. "Tell him how you killed your enclosure mate before your little escapade."

His words bring bile to the back of my throat, and I'm transported back to that dark, crimson pool, forced to remember the way her body had looked surrounded by a sea of red. My hand feels heavy, as though I am still holding those scissors I used to pierce Muriel's skin. Scissors I'd reached for without so much as a pause, because escaping Marine World had meant more to me than somebody's life. I can't figure out if that's just who I am or how Marine World made me. I don't know if it even matters.

The rain comes down in buckets now. I shiver against the metal of the barrel, fighting the urge to wrap my arms around myself in a bid to stay warm. "I know you're just trying to protect her, Reece," Adrian says. "You got that trait from your mother and I love you for it, but if you don't let us take her back, it's not just going to be Marine World who come after you."

I look back to Reece, whose own shirt clings to him like a second layer of skin, revealing every taut, contracted muscle beneath the thin, wet material. "I don't want to hurt you," Reece says, extending an arm as though trying to pacify his father, but something tells me the man behind me won't be swayed. "Just let us walk away, Dad. Please. It's what mom would have wanted."

"No," Adrian growls, his expression darkening. "Your mom would have wanted me to keep you safe. If I let you walk, they'll come for both of us. They'll never stop coming until you're dead, whether that's in a year or five years. Is that how you want to live the rest of your life? Having to constantly look over your shoulder?"

Reece clenches his jaw before dropping his gaze, fixing his eyes on mine. I can tell up until now he hadn't believed Adrian's accusation, but he falters when he looks at me, no doubt able to see the guilt all over my face. A small crease forms between his eyebrows, his once defiant expression now replaced with uncertainty, that slither of doubt beginning to make its way through his mind.

"Aura?"

I don't look at him, I can't, so instead I turn my head away, praying the rain will mask the tears beginning to stream down my cheeks. I can feel a lie brewing on the tip of my tongue, knowing how easy it would be to convince him his father is wrong, but I can't bring myself to do it, even if such a lie might well save my life. To lie would be to choose my freedom over Reece, and he is the one price I'm not willing to pay.

"I did it," I say, my voice barely audible, and I catch the way Reece tenses through the dark, his body like a statue as he works hard to avoid my gaze. "I killed her."

His eyes dart to mine now, as cold and as lifeless as Muriel Two's had been, before they briefly flicker over to the syringe on the ground, which sits meters from where I stand. Just as quickly, his eyes are on mine again, slightly wider now, almost impatient, and I realize he's trying to tell me something. The syringe. He wants me to somehow get to the syringe.

I stare back at him for some kind of direction, a clue as to how I'm to grab the syringe with a gun currently pressed to my temple, but his now blank expression gives nothing away, his eyes like two sparks on their way to fizzling out.

"I trusted you," he says through the silence, his voice barely audible and yet strangely calm–the kind of calmness that often veils an underlying darkness. "I put you before my job, my family–" He advances toward me, tucking his gun into the waistband of his trousers before grabbing me by the shoulders.

Panic sets in as I skim Reece's face, praying this is part of an elaborate plan and not proof his allegiance is wavering. "Reece," I manage to croak through his grip, still struggling to process his sudden change in attitude. I'd known the truth was going to hurt him, would perhaps make him question the extent of my humanity, but I hadn't considered it might make him want to hurt me, because for some reason, I'd convinced myself Reece was on my side no matter what. "I had to. I had no other choice. She was–"

"Don't," Reece snaps, his fingers tightening around my skin, and I am certain he can feel my pulse racing beneath his fingers. "It's over, Aura. I'm taking you back."

I stare back at him with childlike eyes, his words suffocating me more than his grip ever could. He wants to take me back. Back to a place where men like Jackson can rule without consequence, where the feeble word of a mermaid means nothing against the word of a trainer. He wants to take me back, which means Reece is the worst of them all, because a man who stands by and lets evil continue is not a man, but a monster.

"You're doing the right thing, Reece," Adrian says from behind me, his tone somewhat softer, less panicked now that his son has seen sense.

I briefly shift my gaze to Jackson, who is watching me carefully as he rubs at the swollen bridge of his nose. "I had no choice," I say, tears trailing down the curves of my cheeks, and now that the rain has mostly eased up, they leave marks for each captor to revel in.

"Neither do I," Reece says. In one quick motion, he is grabbing the gun by the barrel and yanking it to the side.

I don't waste a second. As soon as the barrel is pulled from my temple, I'm diving for the syringe at the same time as Jackson, both of us scrambling to reach it before the other. I'm only seconds from grabbing it when I feel him latch onto me, dragging me backward before wrenching me around to face him.

He traps my body between his own and the concrete, slamming his palm over my mouth in a bid to stop my head from jerking about. I bite down hard in retaliation, the taste of salt crossing the tip of my tongue as he retracts his hand with a growl.

"Ow!" he hisses before slapping my face, sending a flurry of pain across the width of my jaw.

I scream out, vaguely aware of Reece shouting my name as I fight against Jackson in any way I can. Clawing, scratching, kicking my legs, but it is as though my attacks seem to bounce off his skin. He swiftly positions a knee against my stomach, drawing the air from my lungs.

I manage to move my head to the left, ignoring the pulsating pain in my jaw as I look toward Reece and Adrian, two blurred, upside down figures still fighting to gain control of the weapon. I crane my neck upward as Jackson continues to grip me, locating the syringe around an arm length away. I reach out to grab it, the tip of my finger almost grazing its side before Jackson pins my hand back down again.

"You're coming home, Aura," Jackson says, his breath warm and ragged against my cheek. His other hand slowly reaches for the syringe, his eyes still hungrily fixed on my own, and something primal begins to take over.

"Marine World is not my home," I hiss, head butting him in his already swollen nose. He cries out, retracting his arm before taking me by the shoulders and repeatedly slamming me into the concrete.

My eyes widen as his hands fall to the curves of my neck, his fingers clamping down against my skin. My fingers dart out in a last panicked attempt, barely able to graze the syringe as his hands squeeze harder. Jackson's face blurs as I fight to stay conscious, the pads of my fingers almost touching the syringe.

He smiles down at me, his movements feeling somewhat sluggish, as though we are moving in water. "Say goodnight, bitch," he says, his hands squeezing tighter, and just as the black spots begin to dance across my vision, my fingers finally latch onto the end of the syringe.

"Goodnight, bitch," I croak, before plunging the needle straight into Jackson's neck.