There were a lot of things in this place to hate. Sometimes she felt that was all she knew anymore, was anger and hatred and distrust. But more than anything else, right now, she mostly just hated this sling. It offered no true support, bobbing and wobbling in the air, and it was dry and scratchy against her skin, and she could not see anything, and it smelled so strongly of chemicals and fabric and the squishy foul stuff that her other senses felt muffled.

Riley had been in one before – more than once – but never for this long. She had let them know how she felt about it, had been doing so until now her throat felt raw and strained. They did not seem to care, because they did not let her out or down, the sling did not even move.

She swallowed a rising lump in her throat. She was not good about being penned in like this, pressed in on all sides with no way out. It was making her hysteria rise. She fisted her fingers in the fabric below her and tried to jerk herself onto her side. It was difficult to keep her balance in this thing, but she needed out and – though she could hear them talking about something below her – the humans did not seem inclined to let her out, so she would have to figure it out on her own. She carefully raised the spines on one arm, wincing as they pricked her in the side.

They had grown recently – in the last few seasons or so, though she had no real concept of time in this place – and she had been cautious to keep them hidden from the humans. They had taken quite the interest in her gliders when they found her. They had only just started to properly grow at the time, and continued to expand in size over her time in captivity. That too had fascinated the scientists, and she had no desire to have them probing about the tender, sensitive pockets the spiny fins on her arms folded into when she was not using them.

Plus, they would probably rip them off her so she would not have another weapon to strike them with. Not that she needed it, her teeth and tail worked just fine. She would rather keep the fins a secret until an opportune moment to use them, hopefully to free herself.

She was not sure if they were watching her within this contraption, but she also knew that having a panic attack would make her situation worse, so she stabbed her spines down into the fabric and pulled. The serrated edge slit the sling easily and Riley took a breath before shoving her head and shoulders through the opening. She had merely wanted to get a proper breath and a look around, but she had cut the hole too wide and the rest of the sling refused to take her weight. With a squeal of surprise, she slipped from the contraption entirely and plummeted. Luckily, there was water beneath her, so she did not have to suffer a painful drop.

Her temper flared as she lashed her fins and straightened herself out in the water. She despised these people, and their scents were strong in this room. She could see them too, but the scent was worse, cloying, bombarding her with every unpleasant interaction she had endured in the past. The woman, with her probing fingers, poking her with sharp needles and performing one test or study or another. And the man, the large one with the leering, oogling looks and false grin that made Riley prickle with unease. He always watched her, obsessively when he was in the room. It was eerie, and Riley hated it. She snarled at them before she caught on to the new scent, the new presence. There was another Mer in the water.

Riley whipped around and saw the other – a purple scaled Mer with long brown hair and wide brown eyes – who was staring directly at her from a hunched position with her fin raised aggressively. She was shifting her weight around in a confusing display that set Riley on edge. She could hear the human woman shouting at someone to get a pole – she hated the wooden sticks with their thin metal loops too – but she paid it little heed. Already lost in her fury, staring down a threat display, in an unfamiliar environment, Riley’s instincts overwhelmed her and she surged forward. If this other Mer wanted a fight, she would get one. Riley had learned from a young age to never turn her back on a potentially aggressive opponent, and this Mer was definitively more than potentially aggressive. Riley snarled and flicked her fins until she was hovering close to the purple Mer, who’s lips had pulled back. Riley flared her gliders and growled.

When she did, the other Mer cringed and sunk deeper into the coils of her tail. That was odd. Riley parted her lips and drank in this newcomer’s scent. She smelled of this place, of chemicals and the scientist, and of something odd, something Riley almost recognized, and below that, the scent of something else, something she truly could not place. It was like other humans and other Mer, but it was warped and faint, and so faded Riley could not figure out what it actually was. But her emotional scent was strong and clear. Terror. Terror and sorrow and confusion. There was no anger. Despite her raised warning and tense posture, this Mer smelled more of a frightened child than an angry or territorial opponent who wished to fight for dominance.

Before she could address the issue, a loud banging echoed through the water and startled her. It startled the other Mer too, based on how she jumped. Riley turned to find the science woman staring at her with a stern expression on her face. “Thea, no!”

Riley bared her fangs and hissed at the false name and scolding command. She lashed her tail and jerked in the woman’s direction in hopes of scaring her off. She was not surprised when it did not work, but she did not feel like combatting the woman in a stare-down today. Instead, she turned back to the other Mer who had shied even further away. Riley tilted her head at the strange behavior and carefully folded her gliders back down to her sides. There was something off about this Mer, but whatever it was, Riley had clearly spooked her quite thoroughly.

“Who are you?” she asked.

The other Mer stared back at her blankly and her only response was to shuffle her fin and shrink down a little bit more.

Riley frowned, wondering if perhaps she was just too frightened still. She took a breath, shot bubbles out of her gills, and forced some of her tense posture to relax. She did not like that the scientist was so near, but she did want answers and she felt a little bad terrifying this girl out of her wits. “I am Riley,” she introduced. “What is your name?”

Again, there was no response, and Riley’s frown deepened. It was clear this Mer did not speak dolphin, which was odd. It was usually the easiest of the shallow water languages to pick up. It was a common tongue, taught to most young. Riley began to wonder if perhaps this Mer had been raised in captivity? It did not make sense why they were only just meeting now, but the isolation would explain her odd behaviors, misleading body language, and lack of understanding. Still, it was perhaps just a difference in culture. Riley decided to try again, swapping tongues to that of the large, blue, bowbacked whales. They travelled far, and if this Mer was from another part of the ocean, perhaps she would know this tongue instead. After, she tried seal, and shark, and white whale even though this Mer did not look so much like a deep-water Mer. At least, not one from the stories Riley had heard in the past.

She herself was well versed in many languages, but the Mer before her was only looking more and more confused, and she was running out of tongues that the Mer might know. The rest were advanced enough that there would be a common tongue known first, and Riley had run out of those that she knew. Her theory about captivity was seeming far more likely and it set Riley on edge. She wanted to pity the girl, but did that mean she was being sent to interact with Riley so that the scientists could learn more? It felt like a trick. Still, she supposed it was cruel to leave the girl so frightened and disoriented like she still looked.

Riley sighed. “It is strange, you know,” she commented as she returned to the common dolphin tongue. The girl would likely pick it up quickly. “You should know this tongue. We are practically born knowing it. Still, I assume there is an explanation for it. You will pick it up soon enough. Not that you are giving yourself any real alternate option. I cannot match or learn your tongue if you refuse to speak. Are you silent, perhaps?” she inquired and touched her own throat. It happened, that some Mer simply could not speak. Or perhaps she could not hear…no, because she had reacted to Riley’s vocalizations already. “No? Do you understand what I am saying?” she attempted to clarify.

The other Mer continued to sit there, but now there was something new in her eyes. A new form of distress that rankled her scent even further.

“I am not going to strike you, you can relax,” Riley continued. It was all she could really do. Exposure was the best teacher. “I apologize if I frightened you earlier, it has been some time since I have interacted with another. Even longer for you, I presume. Your scent is of fear, but your actions speak of hostility; it is misleading and you should be more cautious what you show. Had I had something to protect or been any more enraged, I very well may have struck you. Ah, there was some understanding there, yes? Beginning to catch on, are you?” Riley inquired as she watched recognition spark in the Mer’s gaze.

The other Mer’s lips parted, but she did not speak. Instead, only a faint gurgling sound left her throat. “It is not hard,” Riley assured her. “You need only whistle your words, but speak them from the back of the throat instead of the lips.”

The girl’s eyebrows dipped together and she gurgled again, but then a few hesitant words left her lips. “H-how am I l-lear-learning a language this fast?” she stammered.

Riley grinned and sucked in water to settle down on the floor of the pool. “You are Mer,” she reminded. “It is what we do best. And dolphin tongue is one of the easiest, and most commonly spoken. You knew none of this?”

The other Mer’s cheeks tinged red and she shook her head. “No, I did-” her words were cut off by a terrible squawking sound that made Riley wince.

“What was that?” she hissed as she rubbed at her ears.

“I do-”

Riley winced as it happened again and she reached out to slap a hand over the other Mer’s mouth to silence her. She understood now. “Stop,” she growled as she rubbed her ear again. “I understand now. You speak as a human does.” She eyed the other Mer warily. Captive raised might be an understatement. “Their short-words do not exist in our languages. Stretch them and please do not make that sound again.”

“I am sorry,” the other Mer responded. Her shoulders slumped and she looked away. “I did not know.”

“What is your name?” Riley inquired.

The girl hesitated and chewed at her lip for a moment. She brought a hand to her face as if it pained her. “They have been calling me Paisley,” she murmured finally.

Riley cocked her head. That was not the response she had been expecting. “You say it like it is not your name,” she stated. “Were you not raised here? Have you not gone by it all your life?”

The Mer shook her head. “No. No I have only been here a few w-”

Riley winced and covered her ears as the Mer produced that terrible sound once more. She hissed in discomfort and the other Mer’s eyes shone with apologetic regret.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I have only been here the past…the past moon or so,” she said finally. Riley frowned at the odd pause. It looked as if the girl was fumbling to remember something.

“If you were not raised in captivity, why are you struggling with the basic tongues and ways of our people? And why do you keep trying to use human words? And what is your name then? If not the label they have given you?”

“Katie,” the girl admitted finally. “My name is Katie…and the rest….the rest is complicated.”

“So simplify it,” Riley suggested with a low warning in her tone. She flicked her fins. She did not care for this Mer’s secrecy. Normally one could be entitled to their pasts – there were things Riley would not openly share with a stranger – but this was a different, more pressing circumstance. They were captive and surrounded by humans who wished to study and examine them and keep them as pets. If this Mer was somehow being coerced or working for them in any way, Riley needed to know.

Katie stayed silent for several heartbeats, picking at the skin on her arm as though it held the answer to some great puzzle she was trying to solve. “No,” she said finally. “You would not understand. It is just complicated, okay?”

Riley shrugged. “Fine,” she agreed. “You and your complications stay over here then. I have no interest in getting tangled up in whatever mess it is that you have brought with you. Not without the truth.” Riley pushed off the floor of the tank and darted to the far side. There was no point jumping while the various humans were still wandering around, but Riley at least wanted away from that Mer, and away from the scientist woman still perched on the platform that had been above them both. She glanced back and was relieved that the other Mer had not followed.

Katie – whoever she was – had her head bowed and she was looking the other way, but she did not attempt to chase after Riley. For a moment, she looked so small and lonely that Riley almost felt guilty. But she shook those feelings away; she could not afford to put trust in someone who was so obviously hiding something linked to humans. Not in a place like this.

Riley glanced around the pool. It was not very large, and the water tasted strange. She was used to it having the lingering scent of the glass, but this strange, smooth but malleable substance was not glass and had an odd taste to it. She was sure they only brought her here to introduce her to the other Mer, but that had hardly gone well. Deep down, Riley was disappointed. She had been alone for a very long time, even before she had been captured. It would have been nice perhaps, to have a companion. A friend that she could share the burdens of captivity with. Not that she would ever wish this life on another, but at least they could have supported one another.

She did not know who this new Mer was, and her scent was so strange and tangled up Riley could not even tell what part of the ocean she was from. If she had ever been in the ocean at all. She had said she was not captive raised, and yet she knew nothing that a wild Mer should. Riley wanted answers, but she was not the type to pry in that way. If Katie did not wish to tell her, that was fine, but she was not going to put her faith or trust in someone who could not be honest.

She glanced up from her thoughts to find the scientist staring at her from a few tail lengths away. The woman had her brows furrowed and one hand resting on the clear wall of the tank while her other was tucked into the pocket of her long white coat. She was staring at Riley with a curious expression on her face and something akin to disappointment lurking in her gaze. Riley snorted. Of course she was disappointed. Riley had not instantly latched to the social offering. Whether the Mer was raised and conditioned by them, or simply had some other story to tell, they were not pets, and Riley despised that they assumed they could just simply analyze and control her.

“What’s the matter, Thea?” the woman crooned. Riley shifted her fins and ignored the woman. She hated the condescending tone and the pet name that they had given her. “I thought you would be excited to have a friend. You must have been so lonely all this time. Is that why you’ve been so angry? Still, I was hoping to see you two get along better. Maybe you just need a little more time, hmm?”

Riley kept her gaze averted and refused to give any indication that she had heard the woman. She truly loathed every one of them that came and went. It was typical that they shoved the two of them together and just expected they would get along. It did not work that way, and Riley had been a lone wanderer for at least two cycles of the seasons before they had captured her. She was used to being at least partially solitary, and though she had missed the comforts of company these last several cycles, she was not going to instantly latch to a stranger and put her trust in them just because the scientists figured they had deigned to find her a ‘friend’.

She could feel the woman’s gaze fixated on her and it was making Riley’s scales crawl. With a heaving sigh, she shoved herself off the floor of the tank and flicked her fins. She had never been very good at staying still, especially when she felt on display. As she inevitably wound up swimming past the woman, Riley pulled her lips back and snarled furiously. She struck the wall of the tank with her tail and the whole thing shuddered. They really had found something incredibly flimsy to contain them. Riley wondered for a moment if she could break it open. Their reactions then might be quite amusing. It would get her into trouble, but she was not so sure she cared about that sort of thing any longer. Her entire life felt like one prolonged punishment at this point, what was a little more?

She struck the side of the pool again, just because she could, and there was a prickle of satisfaction that spun through her as the scientist’s face pinched with annoyance. “No, Thea,” she scolded again. “Stop that.”

Riley hissed at the woman again, then darted away. She did not want to be too close to the surface, so she chose a midway depth to pace. Usually she would pace the bottom, but regardless of her distrust, it would be rude to stir up the immediate waters around her unwanted companion, and Riley did not feel much having do dodge her on every lap either. As she swam, she struck out at the walls some more. The material shuddered around them, but her thick armor of scales absorbed the blows entirely. It did not hurt much to strike the glass of a tank either, but after a while it would start to sting. She imagined she would be able to shatter this barrier without so much as bruising herself. She was not actively trying, but it was irritating the woman, who kept walking around trying to scold her, and – petty perhaps as it was – it made her feel a bit better to be openly defiant.

“What is your plan once you break it?”

Riley snorted and glanced back at the purple Mer, who was still curled up on the floor. She had not moved and had her gaze averted, but Riley’s fins twitched with annoyance. She did not feel Katie had much of a right to question her. “I am not trying to break it. If I wanted it broken, I would tear into it.”

“You are just trying to make her angry?” Katie inquired. She finally looked up and met Riley’s gaze. Her soft brown eyes were deflated, and upon testing her scent again, Riley found a lot of the initial fear had faded, and now only a deep sorrow remained that made Riley’s gut twist.

She shook her head to clear the overwhelming sadness from her gills, and then shrugged. “It makes me feel better. You should try it.”

Katie stared at her for a moment and said nothing, then pushed off the ground and drifted over to the closest wall. Her tail twitched – almost as if she was not certain how to move it properly – and then her muscles tensed and she struck the opposite wall than the one Riley was hovering in front of.

The reaction was almost immediate as the woman came scurrying around to Katie’s side. “Paisley, not you too!” she groaned. “Thea, stop teaching her your bad behavior. Paisley, no!” she scolded the other Mer, tapping on the glass as she did.

Riley smashed her tail against the container again, harder this time, and the water within vibrated as the whole container shook.

“Thea!” The woman was shouting now. “Knock it off! This isn’t going to work,” she groaned finally. “Andrew, go down the hall and get a wading pool set up. We’re going to have to move them.”

Both humans finally moved away from the tank and Riley rolled onto her back and stretched. “That was fun,” she decided.

“I suppose it was a little funny,” Katie conceded. “I…I did not catch your name? I assume it is not Thea?”

Riley shook her head. She hesitated at introducing herself, however. She was not sure who this Mer was or why she seemed so off, and she still suspected that perhaps she was a captive raised pet who was supposed to either learn more about Riley so the scientists could try to tame her too, or directly influence Riley the same way. Neither would work, but Katie obviously spoke English or else she would not be trying to use human short words and measurements of time, so it was not impossible for her to report back to the humans holding them captive, and she already knew far more than Riley ever wanted the scientists to find out about her.

“Riley,” she answered finally. There was no real harm at this point in the girl knowing. They were going to find out about Riley’s own sentience one way or another if Katie truly was intentionally planted, and it made no difference if they called her Riley or Thea or animal in her opinion. She was not going to respond to them regardless.

“Riley,” Katie repeated. There was a strange tone to her voice as though something new was confusing her.

“Something wrong?” Riley inquired.

Katie shook her head and a small smile pulled at the corners of her lips. “No, not at all. Riley is a very pretty name, it suits you. I just…my head is spinning a little is all.”

Riley’s brows furrowed together and she examined the Mer more closely. “No it is not,” she said. “Are you sick?”

“What? Oh, no…wow, I guess the literal thing is actually a thing…no, I just meant I am feeling a little overwhelmed is all.”

Riley nodded, but did not reply. The girl was odd, and while she seemed harmless, Riley hated that things with her did not make sense and she had no answers. Katie blatantly refusing to provide those answer rubbed her the wrong way too.

“Riley?” She shook herself from her thoughts when Katie called her name hesitantly. The other Mer was wringing her fingers and chewing on her lip. Riley watched her wince as she sliced her lip with a fang, and had to swallow a scoff. “Do…I know you have probably realized that I have not really had much experience being…well…”

“That is an understatement,” Riley agreed. The girl looked the part, but she was hardly a proper Mer. It was part of what was making Riley so uneasy.

“I just…I want to learn and I do not want to be alone. Being alone these past few…Is there any chance of us being friends?” she inquired finally.

Riley’s eyes narrowed as she examined the other Mer, who began to shrink down under her scrutinizing gaze. “I do not place my trust – or my friendship – in others easily. Particularly when they are so obviously hiding something. Tell me the truth; who are you and why do you know nothing of Mer culture or ways, if you were not raised in this place?”

Katie looked away. “I cannot tell you.”

Riley shrugged. “That is your choice. You asked if there was a chance at our friendship? My answer is no. Not like this.”

She turned to swim off, but paused and looked back when Katie called after her.

“I want to tell you, but…”

“I would not understand?” Riley countered. “Because it is complicated? Try me, simplify it.”

Katie only shook her head.

“Why not?”

“Because I am afraid.”

“Of what?” Riley pressed. Her fins lashed in irritation. She had been alone for a long time, she no longer knew how to hold a proper conversation either, and this girl was taking all of her patience.

When Katie glanced back up at her, her eyes were glistening and wide, and her lips were parted with dismay. “Of you,” she whispered. Then she shook her head. “I am sorry, that came out wrong. I am afraid of how you will react…If I tell you, will you promise not to be mad?”

Riley shook her head. “No. It is always those situations when it is necessary to be angry. I will make no such vow,” she refused.

Katie sighed. “Will you at least let me tell the whole story before you decide to get mad or not?”

Riley pulled at the inside of her cheek with her teeth and tapped her fingers on her opposite forearm as she mulled that over. “Alright,” she conceded. “I will withhold judgement until you have finished, but only until then. But no more nonsense.”

Katie nodded. “I did not know Mer could learn languages so fast. My head is spinning with so many new words, we did not even speak for very long, it is amazing. But I did not know, and I do not know a lot about your people or your ways, because I am not one of you…or at least, I did not used to be. I have grown up on land, with legs and feet. I am not a Mer, I used to be human.”

Riley frowned and shook her head. “That is not possible,” she stated flatly and her fins twitched with irritation. She did not appreciate being lied to, but also found such a joke to be in poor taste given their situation.

“Before all of this, I would have agreed with you,” Katie admitted. “Not long ago, I woke up in a sterile room, strapped down to a bed, with Dr. Manson and Mr. Winston standing over me. They were talking about all these crazy things about genetic grafts and using your genetic code to kickstart a mutation, a transformation if you will. Did they put any needles in your back recently?”

Riley frowned and nodded. “Many times,” she replied. Her back still ached from the most recent time. “That is how they made you Mer, if what you say is true?”

Katie nodded. “I do not really understand it anymore than you probably do, but it is the truth. I am as much a captive as you are, but I am not a Mer. Not really.”

Riley pursed her lips as she mulled over this information. It was jarring, and certainly upsetting. She did not like knowing that pieces of her could be used to cause such harm to others. “I thought humans were only cruel to those of other species. Apparently, the abuse extends to their own people as well.” Her tone was laced with poorly concealed fury, but to her surprise, Katie cringed at it. “I am angry, Katie, but not at you. Why were you so afraid to share this?”

Katie shrugged. “Because you are here, in this place, and have been for a long time? I can only imagine what they have done to you, or what sort of impression you have gathered about humans. I thought that if you knew that I am one too – or at least that I was – that you would think it was some sort of trap, or that you could not trust me. And I was worried you might attack me. I only barely know how to swim, I would not stand a chance in a fight.”

“No,” Riley agreed. “You would not. Answer me this; you were human once, but where does your loyalty lay now? Will you help these ones? Have they sent you in hopes of learning more about me?”

Katie shook her head. “No, no I do not want anything more to do with them than you do. They took me from my home, put me through something awful, and are penning us both up in a cage like animals. They kept telling me I was going to be a pet. Even if I had been sent for that – which I have not been – I would never do that to you.”

Riley nodded and sunk to the floor beside Katie. The girl sounded genuine and distressed enough that Riley believed her. “Then I have no qualms with you. I do not like your people, Katie, but what has been done to you is not your fault and I would be little more than a wild beast if I attacked you for something you could not control. I am slow to trust, and this has been disorienting. We are not friends, and I do not entirely trust you, but I respect your courage to speak the truth, and I am not opposed to the potential for friendship in the future.”

Katie’s shoulders sagged and her face fell, but she nodded. “I suppose it is unfair to ask for more than that,” she agreed. “If it means anything, you can trust me. Even if I wanted to hurt you, I am pretty sure I would be dead before I truly got the chance to try, and besides…betraying you would run too deep. I may not know much about being a Mer, but I would be betraying one of my own to betray your people.”

“How so?”

A small smile touched Katie’s lips, but the smell of anguish spiked in the waters around her. “You are not the first Mer I have met. My little sister is a Mer too. My mother runs a marine park, and when I was just a little girl, a baby Mer was beached after a terrible storm. My mom looked for her family, but we never found them, so she wound up raising Luna alongside me.”

Riley scowled as she listened to Katie speak. Hearing how the humans had changed one of their own to a Mer was one thing – a terrible thing, but ultimately human business – but hearing about a young Mer having grown in captivity like a pet being spoken about so casually rubbed Riley the wrong way. “Mer are people, Katie,” Riley stated bluntly. “This Mer you speak of should not be forced to stay on land, that is a cruel and grueling fate.”

Katie shook her head. “You misunderstand, Riley. Luna is free to come and go as she pleases. My mother had our house built right on the water’s edge, and several of the walls are connected with tunnels of water that open up in pressurized pockets all over the house, so that Luna can swim and be comfortable in her element, and still join us. She is free to leave the water at any point, and her tunnels lead outside to a large cove. A lagoon of sorts that is connected right to the open ocean. Luna is not a captive,” Katie insisted.

Riley’s fins lashed, but she sighed and shrugged. “I suppose it does sound at least like you attempted to give her a home,” she conceded. “But I do not like it. Not with where we are and how I have been treated.”

Katie stared back at her and was silent, and then she nodded. “I understand. I would be concerned too, in your position. But she really is happy, I promise. We have never tried to keep her penned in. She is my little sister, and my best friend.” Katie paused and stared off into the water past Riley’s shoulder and smiled. “When we were little, Luna and I used to do all sorts of silly, stupid things. She used to be afraid of thunder, and whenever a particularly big storm would hit, we would build a fort out of blankets and huddle up inside eating treats and telling stories to help distract her from the rain. We would race out in the lagoon and Luna would always try to dunk me under, or swim very slowly underneath me. I always swore I was going to beat her one day, but I never did. Perks of a fin, I guess.” Katie’s fond smile slipped and she wrapped her arms around her torso. “I miss her. The last I saw her, I had to head out for a bit and she did not want me to go. I promised her I would bring her back her favorite iced cream and we would spend the evening together. I have never broken a promise to her before.”

Riley shifted her weight awkwardly. She was not very well versed in the social cues of comforting someone, so she shifted her tail so that her fins brushed lightly over Katie’s amethyst scales. “I am sure she misses you too. I hope you get back to her someday.”

“Thanks Riley,” Katie replied with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes. “I hope you get to go home too.”

Riley shrugged. She wanted back into the ocean and to reclaim her freedom, but she had left her family and her home long ago, and was not looking to race back to them any time soon. Still, she supposed of all the potential people she could have gotten stuck with joining her in captivity, Katie was not so bad, even if she was a little odd and a little more social and emotional than Riley would typically care for. She sighed and forced another smile. “Alright. I suppose, you can maybe consider us…successful acquaintances. I would not quite say friends but,” Riley paused and shrugged. “I suppose you are not so bad.”

Silence stretched between them for a few heartbeats before Katie’s smile grew a little more genuine. The girl then launched herself at Riley, who grunted with surprise as she crashed into her. Katie’s arms tightened around her neck. “Thank you,” she whispered in a voice that sounded choked with sobs.

Riley shifted her weight and patted Katie on the shoulder. “Alright, alright,” she protested. “Okay, Katie let go. Get off,” she demanded with a laugh as she shoved the other Mer away. “Less of the touch-and-feel stuff, got it?”