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Kim Callahan was a brat and she knew it. Growing up the middle child of three sister she had the classic middle child starved-for-attention issue that even she knew was cliché. Her older sister, Renée Callahan was the golden child with great grades, success in sports, huge popularity and seemingly all the looks, having blonde hair, blue eyes, and graceful, willowy limbs. Kim’s younger sister, Jacqueline Callahan, was the quiet, artistic one. Jackie was smaller than either of her sisters were at her age with striking red hair and emerald green eyes. Kim didn’t think she could be more in the middle if she tried. In between her sisters in height at any given age, with hazel eyes and hair that was what her mom called “dishwater blonde” but what she thought of as a mousey light brown. Kim didn’t feel like she had any talents. She wasn’t popular or athletic, at least not in any way that fell into a traditional sport of any kind. What Kim did do was read and explore. She ran more than she thought she did, she climbed anything that she could, and she swam whenever able. She was often reading up on a tree branch or out on the end of one of the many old breakwalls that dot the beaches of Lake Erie. But what she excelled at was creating headaches for her sisters. She knew how to push both of their buttons and she especially knew how to pit them against each other.

All three girls had names that were slightly unpopular in their generation. They were each named for women on her mother’s side of the family with Renée getting her grandmother’s name. Kim and Jacqueline got great aunts names with Kim being named for Great Aunt Kimberley, the black sheep of the family. Aunt Kimberley left home in her teens and wandered the country working as a fortune teller, waiting tables, or occasionally conning locals out of some money before moving on and trying something else. The rest of the family were vaguely embarrassed by Aunt Kimberley, but Kim loved the stories and liked being named after her.

It's not that Kim disliked either of her sisters. She just didn’t think she had much in common with them and she resented the attention they got for their looks and success in whatever they participated in, so when she wasn’t making life difficult for the rest of her family, Kim tended to wander off on her own. Growing up near Cleveland, on the border of Lakewood and Rocky River, gave Kim plenty of places to run off to and explore with both the huge Metroparks system running right along the border and Lake Erie just blocks away with beaches, cliffs and parks for miles in both directions. She would wind her sisters up and then escape in the chaos and disappear for hours with either no one the wiser or everyone pleasantly happy that she wasn’t there causing issues.

At 11 years old, Kim was almost exactly two years behind Renée and one year ahead of Jackie. All three had April birthdays within the same week. Kim and Jackie were often referred to as “Irish twins” as they were technically less than a year apart by two days (as well as being actually Irish.)

With her 11th birthday well in the rear-view mirror, the school year was just about over and Kim was in trouble again, this time for skipping math to read outside. There was yet another meeting with the teacher and her parents and lots of talk about “attention-seeking behavior” and Kim spent a week with after school detention. This was fine with Kim, giving her more time to read and avoid home. The days were getting long and she had plenty of time to stay out even with the extra hour of school that detention created.

Kim finished her punishment for the week and then snuck off to one of the small local beaches nearby and walked down to where the sand gave way to the cliffs that are common along the shoreline of Lake Erie in that area. The lake was low this year, it can vary by multiple feet year to year, and it had been a dry and mild winter. Kim picked her way around the chunks of rock that had eroded from the cliff over the years, getting wet up to her knees in the still cold late-May water. She was further past the end of the beach than she had ever been. She found a small cave that had been carved out of the shale cliff by the waves. It was comfortably above the currently low water level and was dry. It was easy to climb the three or four feet to get to it and she fit perfectly. Kim was ecstatic. This was the ultimate private hide out with almost no way to be seen other than by the occasional boater if they bothered to look. She stayed up in the small cave, just a nook, really, until it started to get dark. She headed home and wrote about the cave in her journal. She documented all the secret places she had found. The abandoned road behind Tyler Barn in the valley that led up the hill out of the park. The peninsula on the other side of the river that had an old concrete road crossing the river just below the surface that you could use to get to it when the water is low and have the woods to your yourself to watch the deer and eagles, plus the dozen other places she had explored. Kim went to bed happy, smelling of lake water, moss, and earth with plans to spend the weekend reading in her new spot.

The final two weeks of school dragged on but eventually ended with Kim now able to devote her time to herself and happy to waste less time antagonizing her siblings. She was spending more time in her tiny cave and now knew to bring a blanket and a jacket for windier days. The weather was warming up to real summer levels now that June was here and she was spending all her time out of the house and most of it in her cave reading book after book.

On a Friday, after dinner and with nothing else to do, Kim headed down to the shore around 7pm. The water level was still low and she now knew a path to the cave that left her less wet or not at all if she was bold about which rocks to jump to. She climbed up to the cave and settled in on her blanket with her jacket as pillow and read for a while before getting a little sleepy and closing her eyes. It was the solstice and it happened to line up with the full moon. She had read that there had been another solar storm and there was an off chance that the northern lights would be visible this far south. She was hoping to stay out late enough to see them if they made an appearance.

Kim woke up startled. She had slept well past dusk and the full moon was quite high in the eastern sky. She rubbed her eyes and faintly saw green and purple in the north over the lake. Excited at seeing the aurora for the first time, even while the full moon burned silver in the east, Kim sat up and scooted towards the edge of her little nook in the cliff wall. The wind had picked up and waves were now beating at the cliff almost up to where she was. She knew that she should get down before the waves got to be dangerous but the sight was bewitching, with silver, green, and purple lights dancing in the sky and reflecting in the spaces between the waves on the surface of the water. She leaned further forward, drawn towards the water. Suddenly, she felt the soft shale give way right at the edge of the alcove and she slid the three feet down into the water. She miraculously missed hitting her head and landed between two larger rocks in a few feet of water with waves crashing over her. She stood up, completely soaked, fighting the undertow and stared again at the lights in the sky as the lake seemed to boil around her. Lights that looked like fireflies were rising from the waves and the lake calmed for a minute. As she gazed in wonder at the scene, the lake started to return to normal. The odd lights went away and the aurora was dimming as the moon passed behind a cloud.

Kim realized that she was not in a safe place and leaving her blanket and jacket in her cave, she struggled to get back to the area of the shore that was beach. Half swimming and half trudging on foot, she lost both of her shoes in the water and finally staggered out of the waves onto the sand. She sat down for a while on the first of the stairs off the beach and wondered at both the beauty and the danger that she had just experienced. She made a mental note to not go to bed until she wrote down this amazing experience and started up the stairs for the three quarter of a mile walk home, thankful that it was already hot out at night as she was walking home soaked and barefoot.

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Kim got home just before midnight and all hell broke loose. She was actually surprised that anyone had noticed that she had been gone, she was used to being invisible around the house, but her parents and sisters had been out for an hour looking for her and were about to call the police just as she walked up the driveway.

Kim didn’t actually want this attention but everyone was acting like she did it for that reason and when the yelling didn’t subside, she played one of her usual cards and yelled, “What, Renée can sneak out all the time and never get caught but I make an honest mistake and the world is going to end?”

This had exactly the intended effect. Her parents were shocked at this new information and Jackie verified this, leading the discussion in a whole new direction as her parents screamed at Renée, Renée screamed at Jackie, and Kim smirked as the chaos ensued. Eventually, everyone was worn out and Kim was told to get ready for bed and they would talk tomorrow. She happily obliged. She knew everything would settle down by then.

Kim showered for what seemed like an hour, finally getting out when the water turned cold, even then wanting to stay in longer, seeming to not mind the cooling water. She went to her room and pulled her journal out of her drawer and began trying to write down what she remembered about the evening. When words didn’t seem to be enough, she began sketching. She wasn’t half the artist that her little sister was but she drew page after page of what she thought it had all looked like, stealing Jackie’s colored pencils to try to get the colors right for the aurora. She was tired but kept drawing until almost 2am, her mind drifting and her hand drawing things she hadn’t even seen: fish, seaweed, otters, and a disembodied fish tail that didn’t look like any fish she’d ever seen with reddish orange scales. Sleep took over and she dozed off with her head on her desk, drooling lightly onto the edge of her journal.

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Kim awoke with a stiff neck as the sun came up. She climbed into bed to get more sleep, hoping that her discussion with her parents would wait until a more reasonable hour and then slept for another four hours.

When she woke up again, it was to her parents calling her for breakfast, or really lunch by this time. Kim went downstairs to face the music and got what, for her, was the usual talking to. She promised she’d be safer and not leave her phone at home and after some parental lecturing, was back to her room with only a light punishment to do some extra yard work before dinner. Kim went to the bathroom and splashed some water on her face to finish waking up. As soon as the water touched her hands, she felt an odd tingling and when it hit her face it also started tingling. It felt as though something was about to happen but as she dried off the feeling went away. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt like she looked a little different. Her hair seemed a little shinier and fuller and her eyes, which usually seemed a dull grey-ish hazel seemed to be more vibrant with flecks of gold that she hadn’t noticed before. She thought that maybe the beauty of the night sky the night before was just making her see things differently, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was different.

Kim headed out to weed the flower beds and trim some of the shrubs and whatever other tasks were part of her punishment. She took the time to think about how her family had been worried and she started to feel bad about what she had put them through when Renée came out of the house on her way to the library and quietly leaned into Kim’s ear and cursed her out for tattling about her sneaking out.  Renée let Kim know in no uncertain terms that she would kick Kim’s ass if she ever narced her out again. Kim gulped, knowing that Renée was seriously angry with her and took her verbal thrashing knowing that she might have gone too far this time. As much as she sometimes resented her sisters, neither had ever betrayed her trust and she now felt truly bad about how she’d handled the whole evening.

After finishing her chores, Kim went back inside, knowing that it was too soon to ask to go out. She could retrieve her jacket, book, and blanket another time. They weren’t going anywhere. She was going to shower to rinse off the sweat but felt lazy and sat in her room to read for a while. Her eyes drifted over to her journal and she started to remember that she had been drawing the night before while exhausted. She went over to her desk and picked up the journal and sat on her bed leafing through it. She had somehow filled twelve pages, most with rough drawings of the lake and sky, but three pages were filled with different drawings of a tail. Maybe a fish tail? Almost like a sea serpent tail. But she hadn’t seen any animals last night. Not the fish, the tail, or even the seaweed that she had drawn. Puzzled, she set the book down and went to get a snack. Her parents were getting ready to leave with Jackie to go to an art showing and they told her that Renée would be watching over her for the evening. Kim shrugged and watched the three of them leave the house. Ten minutes later, Renée came into the kitchen and told Kim very directly that she was not going to waste a Saturday watching her bratty sister and reminded her that if she told on her, she would get her ass handed to her. Kim fully understood and let Renée go without putting up a fight.

Renée left and Kim decided to finally take that shower. ‘No,’ she thought, ‘maybe a bath instead’, the water seemed so inviting. Kim ran the bath and stripped down while the tub filled. She checked the temperature and felt the same tingling sensation in her hands as she tested the water. Confused by the sensation but not thinking much of it, she finished filling the tub and climbed in, letting the hot water cover her. This time, the tingling sensation came back, but over her whole body. The water around her bubbled and Kim was alarmed as she seemed to turn liquid briefly before becoming solid again. As she looked down her body, she was shocked to see the tail that she had drawn night before, but this time attached to her torso while her legs were completely gone.

Kim felt dizzy as she stared at what she assumed to be a hallucination of a tail. She almost passed out from the shock. As the seconds wore on, she started to realize that this might be real. She twitched what she thought would be her legs and the tail flopped up and back down onto the edge of the old claw foot tub. She tried moving it again and it reacted to her effort. Whatever this was, it was definitely hers. As Kim began to fathom what was going on she started to panic a little. Despite the stress, she tried to calmly reason things out. No one would be home for at least two hours. She had to do something, if only to figure out if this was real. She tried moving around some more and found that the muscles in the tail were very strong but the tail seemed quite heavy. Kim reached down and pulled the plug on the drain to stop splashing. As the water level got low, she started trying to heave herself up. She was stronger than she thought she would be and as she got up into a crab-walk position she found she could just roll over the edge of the tub and onto the floor. She did so and landed with a gigantic thump that surely would have alerted everyone in the house had they been home. Kim knew what she looked like. She had seen enough mermaid tv shows and movies to think to try drying off. Hoping desperately as panic reared back up within her, she grabbed the towels she could reach and desperately dried herself, catching the towels on the scales if she wiped them down the wrong way. After minutes of frantic toweling, she felt the same tingle all over her body and after a second seemed to be back to her old self, with legs and everything. Kim stood and stared at the scene around her. Half a dozen towels covered the floor. As she stared at her legs, she wondered if it had been a dream or hallucination but, on the floor, on top of a blue towel, were two orange scales, stuck to the terrycloth fabric. Kim bent down and picked them up, examining them intently as she wandered back to her room, naked.

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Kim knew that she still had an hour and a half, at least, until someone came home. She wasn’t stupid and she knew that if this wasn’t a dream, she would need to find out all she could, and as quickly as possible. She went back into the bathroom and started refilling the tub. She gathered more dry towels and sat on the floor. She tried to dangle her hand and arm in the stream coming from the faucet. Her hand tingled but after thirty seconds it was clear that nothing was happening. She sat up and kneeled over the tub submerging both arms. Still nothing but more tingly than before. Drying off her arms, she sat on the edge and put her feet and legs in the tub and experienced even more tingling but still no transformation. She was beginning to think that it hadn’t really happened so she let herself slip the rest of the way into the tub. Just as she was thinking that nothing would happen, the feeling overwhelmed her again and within seconds the tail was back, and now she was also back in the tub which would be difficult to get out of again. She went through the drain/crab walk/roll out of the tub routine again and dried off, finding her legs back in place. She looked confusedly around the room wondering if she was actually losing it.

Over the next hour, Kim tried various combination of wetted body parts until it became clear that some sort of percentage of her body had to be wet. Legs and part of her torso; head, arms and upper torso; even just her left half. But not just her legs or just her arms. She was running out of ways to test it when she realized that her family would be home soon, or at least Renée would, so she began cleaning up the mess of towels, irrationally thinking that her sister or parents would deduce her new mermaid-ness from just the number of towels in the bathroom. She put them all in the drier and put on some sweats and a t-shirt to lie in bed and contemplate this turn of events. She picked up her journal as she climbed into bed and looked through the pictures of the tail that she had drawn; they matched her own tail exactly. Without ever seeing it, she had drawn it better than she had ever drawn anything else before in her life. She heard the door to the garage slam and shoved the journal under her pillow as though it was the most incriminating evidence in the world.

Her sister looked in on her with an expression that said, “you’re lucky you’re here and keeping your mouth shut.”

Kim looked back guiltily and said, “, I’m really sorry, what I did was crappy and I’ll never do that again, to you or Jackie.”

Renée looked surprised and just said “Thanks” with a look of confusion as she headed to her room.

Kim rolled onto her side, wondering if that’s something she could even do with a tail, and fell asleep confused and exhausted.

The next day, Kim woke up and it took her a minute to remember what had transpired the night before. As her memories flooded back over her, she freaked out for a minute until she realized that things were just different now. She looked under her covers to make sure that there were still legs down there and then swung them off the edge of the bed and got up. She peed and brushed her teeth, her hands tingling as she cupped them under the faucet to gather the water to rinse with. She locked the door just in case and splashed some water on her face as a test. Tingles but no transformation. Her tests the night before still seemed to be valid. She absentmindedly went to the kitchen and poured a big bowl of cereal. Both of her sisters were already up and eating and stared at Kim as she sat down. It wasn’t like Kim to walk into a room with both of the other girls and not say something to try to get a rise out of one or both of them.

Kim had a faraway look on her face and Jackie, the more sensitive and observant of the two, asked Kim if she was ok.

“What?” muttered Kim, “Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“About what?” Jackie replied.

Ignoring the question, and in a strange voice, Kim plainly stated that she was going to the beach and would be back later.

Jackie stopped her with another question. “Did you do something to your hair?”

“No, why?”

“I don’t know, it just looks nice today.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Kim put her bowl in the dishwasher and walked out the front door.

Jackie looked at Renée and asked, “Did Kim just leave wearing what she slept in? Was she even wearing shoes?” 

Renée didn’t even look up and just said, “So what, Kim’s weird.” And went back to her breakfast. Jackie cleared her place and looking confused, went back to her room to draw.

Jackie couldn’t find her colored pencils and eventually discovered them on Kim’s desk and noticed a book peeking out from under Kim’s pillow. Unable to restrain herself, Jackie picked it up and looked through the last few pages, surprised that Kim had drawn anything much less that she had drawn something so well. She thought it was an odd choice of subject as she didn’t remember Kim being into mermaids as that was what the tail most looked like, but closed the journal, gathered her pencils, and went back to her room.

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At the narrow stairs that led to the beach, Kim sat on the bench on the landing midway down the steep incline and gazed out across the lake. Lake Erie was roughly fifty miles across at this section. Looking at the horizon, one could be forgiven for thinking they were looking at an ocean. They were called the Great Lakes for a reason and Erie was one of the smallest of them, but for Kim, it might as well have been the Pacific. Nothing but water as far as anyone could see with the surface reflecting the blue sky and clouds. Kim was lost in thought. What did all this mean? Obviously, something about the events of the evening the day before yesterday was involved. The bubbling water, the mysterious floating lights, the moon, the northern lights, and the solstice… something magical had happened but what? And why? And why to her? Kim had always been in awe of nature and its beauty, but this was so far beyond what she would have ever believed. She had read many stories; mysteries, science fiction, fantasy. She was familiar with all the old fairy tales and fables. Stories like those had to have come from somewhere, she reasoned, but in this modern age, with cell phones, computers, satellites, and every other contraption, it seemed incongruous that a mythological creature could exist in this world without it being known, much less that that mythical creature was her.

Kim stared at the lake for hours until her rear end was numb from sitting on the bench. She felt the water calling her but she resisted. She wasn’t comfortable enough yet. She wanted to know more. Plus, what was she going to do, walk into the lake with a dozen beach goers around, sprout a tail and swim away? It crossed her mind that it would be fun to do exactly that – give the people a thrill. Everyone would think it was a hoax, anyway, so why not? Instead, she got up and started walking home, feeling like she was leaving something behind by not going into the water.

When Kim got home, Jackie chastised her for taking her pencils without asking. Kim told her that she would go get them for her. Jackie replied not to bother – she’d already taken them back.

Then Jackie said something that alarmed Kim: “I hope you enjoyed using them. I didn’t think you liked to draw, but you nearly used up the red and orange ones…”

Kim panicked and ran up to her room. Her journal was under her pillow but it didn’t look like it was exactly where she had left it. She looked through it and it seemed the same but she wondered if Jackie had seen it. She knew that there was no logical way to know about her transformation just from some drawings but when you feel like you have something to hide, everything seems suspect. The blood drained from Kim’s face as she wondered what her little sister had seen.

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The next few days, Kim experimented with transforming when no one was around. She learned more about how long it took, how dry she had to get to change back, and how to move around in the bathroom with a tail without knocking everything over. It was clear that she was extremely clumsy out of the water and she wondered what it would feel like when she finally worked up the nerve to go into the lake and try it for real. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold off much longer, the urge was becoming too great.

About a week into her new existence, Kim made a startling discovery. While filling up the tub for another experiment, she leaned over the tub to check the temperature and her sneaker slipped on some water on the floor and she tumbled into the tub face first. At 11 years old, Kim wasn’t very big and she was completely submerged as she fell in the tub. She slightly panicked at the thought of transforming in her jeans and ruining them. Or, would the jeans constrain her and hurt as she tried to change. But what happened blew her mind. As she faded into liquid and reformed with a tail, she found that her clothes were completely gone, including her jeans, underwear, shoes, socks, her shirt and, upon further inspection, even her hair tie holding her pony tail. She stared for a while and then decided that she might as well find out more and levered herself out of the tub to dry off. After getting dry enough, she transformed back into her fully clothed form. This new information was wild. She did this two more times to confirm it and it worked the same way each time. Even whatever was in her pockets disappeared and reappeared. While utterly dumbfounded by this behavior, she realized that this would make getting into and out of the water easier, but she couldn’t help wonder what the mechanism was that allowed this. It certainly defied reason and science, at least any known science.

Downstairs, Jackie was continuing to wonder what was going on with her sister. She had been distracted and withdrawn since the night she got in trouble.  She was hogging the bathroom or just sitting and staring whenever Jackie saw her. The drawings that Jackie saw were amazingly detailed but the tail drawings stood out. Jackie felt things strongly and had always been empathetic. Her Spidey senses were tingling regarding Kim. Still, nothing seemed overtly wrong other than Kim’s moodiness. Still, Jackie decided to keep an eye on Kim, at least a little bit.

In the meantime, Kim had made up her mind. The new information about the clothes was enough to tip the scales. She was going to take the plunge, so to speak. That evening, after everyone went to bed, Kim slipped silently down the stairs, avoiding the creaky ones, and headed out the door. It was almost July and the nights were now legitimately hot with the lake water also becoming warm. Kim walked the three quarters of a mile to the closest stairs down to the lake, nearly breaking into a run occasionally as she felt the pull of the water. She took the stairs two at a time and then stopped at the bottom, looking for people still on the beach. While it was late, teenagers liked to hang out here some nights. Not seeing anyone, Kim approached the water’s edge. She didn’t want to trust her bathtub experiments so she left her sandals and a long sweater under a bush just in case her clothes didn’t come back and she dipped her toes into the water. It was cool but comfortable as her feet started to tingle. Wading in a little deeper, the tingling increased until the water was up to her waist. Then after ten seconds or so, she felt the change come upon her. Her legs no longer supporting her, she tumbled forward, face first into the water. Once the transformation happened, Kim noticed several things. First, the temperature of the water barely seemed to matter. She could tell if it was warm or cold but it was as if her body didn’t care. Secondly, her tail, which up until now she had always thought of as heavy and cumbersome, was neutrally buoyant in the water and moved swiftly and elegantly. Third, her vision was way better than when she had legs. It was almost like it was still daylight despite it being after midnight.

Kim lowered herself the rest of the way into the water and it felt like she was coming to life in a whole new way. She immediately ducked under and gave a powerful kick with her tail and found herself rapidly gliding dozens of yards out into the lake. She drifted to a stop and looked back at the shore. She had never swum this far out into any water. She knew that she was in water well over twenty feet deep but didn’t seem worried about that at all. Instead, she dove back under and swam slowly straight down towards the bottom. She could see clearly and the sandy bottom rippled as her wake disturbed it. Small fish swam by her unconcerned. Lake Erie wasn’t an especially deep lake, as the Great Lakes go, and she had no problem seeing by the light from the moon and the city glow. She passed a sunken motor boat and wondered what had happened. As she swam slowly, exploring the area just off shore, she thought to look back and get her bearings. When she surfaced, she realized that she had no idea how long she had been down there; certainly longer than the minute or so that she knew she could hold her breath before this summer. She looked back and saw that she was easily a half mile away from the shore. She could see the stairs and the light at the top of them so she knew where she was, but she made a note to be more careful about maintaining her bearings. This tail moved her so much faster than she figured. Kim dove back down and explored some more, occasionally closing her eyes and just feeling the water move over her body. After another unknown amount of time, she came up and looked up at the moon. It was significantly further along in its arc than she thought it would be and she figured that she better start heading back.

Kim was even farther than she thought from where she had started and she sped up as she saw the distance she had to cover. She was shocked to find how much faster she could go when she put some effort into it. She made it back to the beach in just a minute and hauled herself out onto the sand, realizing that in her haste to sneak out, she hadn’t brought a towel. She took a chance on using her sweater and started drying off, accepting that a certain amount of air drying would have to happen. She propped herself up against a rock and waited. The night was warm and she was still seemingly impervious to the temperature. After some time, she was dry enough and her legs returned. Happily, so did all her clothes. She put her shoes back on and grabbed her wet sweater and started the walk back. It took her fifteen minutes to cover a distance that in the water would have taken less than a minute. Her pace was still brisk and she grinned all the way back home.

Once inside, Kim somewhat carelessly walked upstairs, leaving her sweater in the kitchen, draped across the back of a chair, forgetting how wet it was. Unbeknownst to her. Jackie had noticed her absence and watched her come in from the darkness of the living room. Jackie watched Kim walk upstairs looking oddly happy. After Kim was in her room, Jackie passed through the kitchen, noticing the sweater dripping water onto the tile floor. Kim hadn’t been wet, so why was the sweater wet? And why was Kim sneaking out and where did she go for over two hours in the middle of the night. Jackie’s brain was working overtime imagining things but while she had so many thoughts, none of them, even the darker ones, were anywhere as odd as what the truth had been. Jackie was determined not to snitch, but she was going to keep an even closer eye on Kim.

The Fourth of July rolled around and while Kim usually went to one of the local fireworks displays, she realized that there were lakeside displays all up and down the coast. She fibbed to her parents that she was going to see the Lakewood fireworks but instead snuck into the lake and posted up half way between Lakewood and Edgewater Park to try to see both displays. Unfortunately, everyone who owned a boat had the same idea and she found herself dodging boats and jet skis while trying to stay submerged down to eye level to avoid being seen. Eventually, she found a spot near some rocks that would be too dangerous for boats to come near. She floated on her back and looked back and forth at the explosions in the sky. Even when the official shows were over, people who lived on the lake were putting on their own little shows and she slowly cruised westward up the shoreline looking at all the things going on.

Again, she wondered what would happen if she just floated up to Edgewater beach and acted like just another swimmer watching the show. Although she didn’t know the term “intrusive thoughts”, she did know that she shouldn’t be considering doing such things. She certainly didn’t want to be caught and locked up or dissected. Still, the brat in her was itching to mess with some people. She swam back east towards Edgewater and by this time the beach was mostly empty and she used her tail to lift herself up to shoulder depth while she scanned the beach and park, almost succumbing to her thoughts but instead headed back to Wagar Beach, what she considered to be her “home” beach. She wanted to get home before she was missed again.

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With summer in full swing, Kim was finding more time to swim but she struggled even more with her temptation to show herself. Kim didn’t have that many friends and something this huge would be hard for anyone to keep to themselves.

On the next Saturday, Kim was out in the now quite warm water and she spied a family with their boat anchored a little way off the shore. The older kids and the dad were taking turns jumping off the boat’s transom and floating around on tubes and rafts. However, on the bow, a small girl of about 5 years of age was staring out at the lake and drawing in a coloring book. Kim finally gave in to her urge, guessing that no one would believe the little girl if she said anything. Kim slowly approached the bow of the boat being careful not to startle the girl. When she was directly under the anchor hanging off the bow, she surfaced and gently called to the little girl to look down. After a couple attempts, a set of cautious eyes peeked over the edge of the deck and went wide when she saw a girl in the water. Kim held her finger up to her lips in the universal sign to be quiet and softly asked the girl what her name was.

“Charlie” the girl answered quietly. “It’s short for Charlotte.”

“Hi, I’m Kim.”

“What are you doing out here in the water?” Charlie asked.

“Just out swimming. What are you drawing?”

Charlie held up the book, it was a Little Mermaid coloring book.

“Well, this is your lucky day!” Kim replied while beating her tail to slowly raise up a little higher in the water until her first line of scales was showing. “Today you get to meet one for real!” and she floated over onto her back showing off her tail. She moved back to being vertical in the water with just her head showing.

Charlie was almost freaking out. Kim reminded her to stay quiet. “No one else can know, ok? Only you!”

Charlie nodded enthusiastically and asked, “Are you really real?”

“Yes, Kim answered, you just saw my tail, right?” Charlie nodded again. “Look, I have to go before anyone else sees me, but it was wonderful to meet you! Now you can draw me instead of Ariel.” And she winked at Charlie. “Maybe I’ll see you again someday, but now I have to go. Have fun with your family!”

Kim waved and swam off, showing off her tail for longer that she knew she should have before diving down out of sight. Charlie stared out at where Kim had been, too shocked to say or do anything. When her dad started packing up the toys, she begged him not to go back to shore but eventually they had to go home and Charlie went to bed that night knowing that mermaids were real.

Kim swam back to her beach feeling both elated and guilty. She thought about whether it was fair to show Charlie that she existed, knowing that she’d probably never see the little girl again. Also, asking the girl to keep such a big secret was way too much for a five-year-old. Still, the incredible rush of exposing herself, of letting someone know that she existed, was overwhelming. She was nearly in tears of joy from being seen. She had been exposed to a thrill that she never thought she’d experience. Kim practically floated home after transforming. At dinner that night, everyone commented on what a good mood she was in and she said, “It was just such a beautiful day, is all.” For the first time in a long time, she felt no need to rile anyone up, but she knew she was on a bit of a slippery slope.

Chapter Text

The next few days were a bit of a blur for Kim. She was finding it hard to get the time to herself. Her parents seemed to be asking her to do a lot around the house and her little sister seemed to be a bit clingy. Still, she managed to get into the water a couple times. She found more places on the shore that gave her the privacy to slip into the lake unseen.

When Kim couldn’t get away, she was spending a lot of time with her journal. She had stopped writing, though and was almost exclusively sketching. Much like her improved eye sight, she seemed to now be naturally better at drawing, she certainly had a better reason to want to do it, now. Her sketches were improving and she especially liked drawing what the beaches and cliffs looked like from out on the lake. She drew the sunken motorboat and all the fish she had seen. She was a little sorry that she didn’t get to see the brightly colored tropical fish from the warmer parts of the ocean – Lake Erie fish tended to be mostly muted earth tones, still, they looked wonderful to her. Everything in the water looked wonderful.

Unfortunately, this meant that she was burning through her sister’s colored pencils at a rapid pace and Jackie was starting to notice.

After demanding them back for the third or fourth time, Jackie started asking questions. “What are you drawing, anyway? I don’t see any art hanging up in your room, or anywhere, actually. Can I see?”

Kim was obviously nervous and made up some poor excuses not to show Jackie. Her sister wasn’t having it, though.

“Come on, you’ve used up half of my pencils and I think you have my markers, too. You have to let me see.”

Kim was conflicted. On one hand, she was proud of her drawings and it was nice to have someone show interest in what she was doing. This was the attention that she always missed out on. On the other hand, obviously, a lot of them were of her own lower half and of underwater scenes that probably couldn’t be drawn just from imagination. After Jackie badgered her enough, and threatened to have her mom make Kim buy her more art supplies, Kim relented and told Jackie that she would pick some out and show her but to give her some time to do so. Her sister agreed and left for her own room. Kim selected some drawings that seemed the most innocuous. Shells on the beach, driftwood, and she included a couple of shore from the vantage point of being out in the lake. Kim wasn’t sure about those but she thought they were her best work, other than the tail drawings, so she included them. Kim knocked on Jackie’s door and walked over to her bed to spread the drawings out. She and Jackie looked at them silently for a while until Jackie spoke up.

“These are really good. Why have you been hiding this from us?”

“I haven’t been hiding, I just started doing this a few weeks ago.”

“I don’t really believe you. It took me years to get this good.” Jackie couldn’t decide whether to be proud or jealous. Maybe both? Kim wasn’t at Jackie’s level, but that she had gotten this far in a month was making Jackie a little resentful. “What’s with all the lake stuff? Do you have any portraits or still lifes? Something not lake-y?” Kim shook her head. “Why not?”

“I don’t know, those just don’t interest me.”

“Weird, but whatever. Are you going to show mom?”

“No!” Kim almost yelled. I’m just doing this for me.”

“And me, I guess?”

“Only because you blackmailed me. Can you ask mom to buy some more supplies and give some to me so I don’t use yours up?”

“Sure, I guess. I need stuff anyway. I don’t know why you are being so weird about this, though.”

The conversation petered out and Kim gathered her drawings and went back to her room. To Jackie, this only added to the mystery of what was going on with her sister.

Kim’s time in the tub was starting to irk her sisters. The house had a full bathroom upstairs and another one in the master bedroom, though that was generally off limits to the girls. Renée, being 13, was at a point where she was spending a lot of time on makeup and hair and Kim taking up the bathroom was a sore point with her. Kim, and to some extent Jackie, didn’t understand Renée’s recent infatuation with her looks and both hoped that they wouldn’t go through that as they got older. That said, even Kim’s parents were wondering what she was doing in there. While Kim had worked out how to dry off faster, she still couldn’t seem to pull herself out of the tub in a timely fashion. She smiled to herself when she contemplated what her family would think if they knew that she was staying submerged for almost an hour without needing a breath, much less what they’d think about the tail. Still, she knew she was drawing suspicion, or at least annoyance, and started to make an effort to cut down on bath time. She limited herself to half an hour and that seemed to be the sweet spot between what she wanted and what the family would tolerate.

Chapter Text

Kim was approaching the end of her first month as a mermaid. She thought maybe she would mark the occasion somehow but she forgot about it as it got nearer. Instead, she got involved in a new book and lost track of what the date was. Even with the allure of a good book, her attention was diverted by the appearance of a moving truck on her street. She watched as the truck pulled up to the house three doors down from her and two more cars pulled up. Five people got out and three kids excitedly ran to the house with the dad yelling to not fight over who got which room. There were two girls and a boy. The boy looked a little older, maybe 15 or 16, the middle girl seemed to be roughly Renée’s age and then there was a younger girl whose age was a little more difficult to guess but probably 9 to 11. Kim watched as the moving van was unloaded and the family directed the various boxes to their proper locations in the new house. The sun was setting as the new neighbors brought the last items in and went inside for the evening to unpack. Kim was not the most social child but it seemed nice to have some new kids nearby.

Without her realizing it, the next full moon was that night. She finished her book at around ten pm and thought about sneaking out for a night swim but her parents would still be up for a while and she was feeling tired. Giving in to the idea of a normal night in, Kim changed into pajamas and went downstairs to say good night. As she left the den, where her parents were watching a movie, she looked east out the kitchen window just as the full moon was rising over the roof of the house next door. A strange mixture of calm and elation washed over her and she reach to the window, tracing the outline of the moon on the glass with her finger tip. Smiling quietly, she muttered, “Silver!” and turned to head to the hallway. Instead of taking the stairs, though, Kim quietly opened the door and closed it behind her, the sounds of her parents’ movie masking her departure. As she descended the short stairs from the porch to the sidewalk, she turned and saw the moon again. Keeping it on her right, like a moth navigating at night, she headed north – directly towards the lake.

Climbing down the Wagar Beach stairs, Kim saw the moon in the sky and the reflection of it on the nearly glass-smooth lake. Without even looking around for other people, she stepped confidently into the water and waded out to mid-torso depth, her fuzzy pajamas floating around her before the transformation took place, the pajamas disappearing to be replaced with her now familiar tail. She floated on her back for a while, smiling as she stared at the moon.

After a few minutes, as though she had needed to be recharged by the moon light, she became suddenly determined and rolled over, diving beneath the surface.

Kim knew she swam fast with the tail but with no inhibitions, she decided to see what it could really do. With a series of powerful kicks, she headed further north out into open water, picking up speed with each kick. She was well beyond any speed she had reached previously. She felt her body shift into a new motion, almost like a horse going from a trot to a gallop and her speed increased again, fast enough to create bubbles where the water was cavitating off her tail, creating a visible wake and a trail of foam where the bubbles breached the surface. Scaring herself a little, she stopped and coasted, the drag of the water slowing her down. When she surfaced, she looked back and realized that she couldn’t see land. She couldn’t even see the tall buildings of downtown Cleveland. She slowly turned around to look the direction she had swam and couldn’t see anything that way either. Starting to panic, she realized that she might have swum roughly to the middle of the lake, 15, maybe 25, miles. But how long had it been? It seemed like only a few minutes. Turning back around again, she found that she could see city glow in the sky. Thinking back to what a map of the lake looked like, she tried to remember what was directly across the lake from her. Not much, she recalled, so the city glow had to be Cleveland. She quickly decided to head slightly to the right of the glow as that should be close to where her neighborhood was. She started back slowly, gaining some speed as she regained confidence but not nearly as fast as she now knew she was capable of. After a half hour, she found that she could see the shore and started to pick out landmarks like the light house and the Rocky River channel lights. Relieved that she hadn’t gotten lost at sea, she cautiously found her way back a little way west until she saw her familiar beach.

Sobered by the thought of what could have gone wrong, she noticed that the moon had moved behind a cloud bank as she dragged herself out of the water and up onto the beach. She hadn’t brought a towel, or anything else for that matter, and on a warm summer night, she was extremely exposed as she waited to dry just through evaporation. Anyone in the neighborhood could have shown up for a night walk on the beach and she knew she had been lucky, but would need to remain lucky for another half hour or so. After that stressful half hour, her legs and pajamas returned and she sheepishly climbed the stairs off the beach, suddenly hyper-aware that she was walking through her neighborhood in her pajamas. She tried to figure out why she had done this. It was reckless and embarrassing, as though she couldn’t help herself. As she passed the house with the new neighbors she looked up and to her horror, the youngest of the kids was staring at her from her bedroom window. Kim saw her wave and shyly returned the wave before looking down and walking the short way back to her own house. She let herself in, with no one the wiser and climbed into bed, her mind racing with thoughts of what could have gone wrong. She drifted off to sleep with the image of the silvery moon bright in her memory.

Chapter Text

Kim slept late the next morning, almost like she had a hangover, or at least what she imagined one was like from what she’d seen in movies. She had a hard time remembering what led up to her getting in the water but things were clearer after that. The newly found speed, being almost lost in the middle of Lake Erie at night, being seen walking home in her pjs at almost midnight… it was the first time she’d felt this overwhelmed since her initial transformation. She was starving and decided to put all that out of her head until she’d had breakfast and some time to think.

Kim’s appetite had increased dramatically since her transformation and after a rather large breakfast, she went outside to sit in the tree swing and be alone with her thoughts. She didn’t really have any point of reference for what had transpired the previous night. She was gently swinging and letting her mind go blank so that she could stop trying to think of answers that weren’t there. She looked up and the new girl, the one close to her age, was walking down the sidewalk.
Obviously shy but wanting to connect, the girl gave what could barely be called a wave as she walked by and Kim gave an equally shy wave back. The girl continued on her way and Kim felt a pang of regret for not talking to her. Jackie came out to join Kim in the front yard and asked if Kim had found out anything about their new neighbors. “How would I know anything, they just got here.” Jackie made Kim move over to share the wooden plank seat of the swing and they were just starting to argue about who should get to stay in the swing when the new girl came walking back from wherever she had gone. Jackie jumped off the swing and ran to the end edge of the driveway to talk to her. Kim hated that both of her sisters could be social so easily while she stayed on the swing letting her hair cover her face as though it were a wall with which she could protect herself. That didn’t work, of course, as Jackie was leading the new girl through the yard to where the swing hung under the maple tree.

The two walked up to the swing. “Kim,” Jackie started, “this is Freya, Freya, this is my sister Kim.”

Freya and Kim smiled at each other and Jackie started asking all kinds of questions. Where was she from? How old was she? Who are the rest of her family? Did she know what school she was going to? Freya seemed to be a little embarrassed about being in the spotlight but started talking and the three fell into an easy conversation the way kids do before life makes them more guarded.

Freya was 10 but would be 11 in November making her roughly in between Kim and Jackie in age. She was closer to Kim’s height than Jackie’s and had blonder hair than Renée; almost platinum. Her family had been living in Lakewood, the next town over, and inherited this house when her great grandfather passed away a year ago. She would be starting at the middle school, the same as Kim, though Jackie had another year left at Kensington Intermediate. Jackie was disappointed at not having someone else to walk to school with. Leaving out her parents, because what ten-year-old wants to talk about their parents, she told the girls about her siblings. Her sister Sonja, who preferred to be called Sunny, was 14, and her brother David, who was 16. Freya had gotten over any initial shyness and enthusiastically invited the two Callahan girls to come over and see her new house. Jackie ran inside to tell her mom that they were going to the new family’s house and her mom reminded her to use her manners and not make a pest of herself. “I know, mom!” Jackie said, verbally and actually rolling her eyes.

The three girls covered the short distance to Freya’s house and walked into the commotion of the parents trying to figure out how to arrange the furniture in the living room.

Freya rushed through an introduction, “Mom, dad, this is Jackie and Kim we’re going to my room” she blurted out all in one breath as they ran up the stairs.

Kim was surprised at herself. She normally wouldn’t do this, maybe Jackie was making the interaction easier, or maybe she just needed this. Either way, she was feeling a little more like a normal human than usual, and it was funny that she was actually less human now than she was just weeks ago.

They made it up to Freya’s room and Kim got immediately nervous but she didn’t know if it was an excited nervousness or a fearful nervousness. Freya’s whole bedroom theme was mermaids. Paintings, dolls, even the wallpaper border, they were all mermaid themed. Kim tried to look nonchalant but she also wanted to inspect every item in the room. There was a bookshelf with dozens of books about mermaids, from Hans Christian Anderson to books on mythology that looked far too advanced for someone Freya’s age. Kim was dying to know what was in them but felt that she had keep her cool.

Her cool was blown when her sister piped up: “Cool. Mermaids! Kim seems to be into those lately.”

Kim gulped almost audibly, and Jackie suddenly remembered that Kim didn’t know that she had seen more of Kim’s art than Kim knew about. After secretly looking at Kim’s journal that first day, Jackie had revisited Kim’s room a few times to look at what she was drawing, and had seen more of the tail art which sometimes now had a torso attached to it. Jackie quickly tried to change the subject but it was too late, the mermaid was out of the bottle, so to speak, and Freya excitedly started asking Kim about her interest in them.

“I don’t know, I just sort of took a liking to them. To how they look. I’m not into it as deeply as you are.” Kim replied looking sheepish. More than just being afraid of being outed, Kim also worried that being “into” mermaids would be perceived as childish, though she certainly didn’t think that of Freya. It was just her social anxiety. Both Kim and Jackie now realized that something was a little more out in the open than Kim intended and Jackie was nervous about Kim’s response, but Kim was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even process that Jackie had seen more of her drawings, she figured that she must have shown her some. Things had been a blur and she just sort of let it slide.

Freya did not notice any of this tension and just kept talking about her interest in mermaids. She realized that she had jumped into the subject with both feet and figured she better cool it before she got accused of being weird again, like at her old school. Still, having someone admit to an interest, however small, in her favorite subject filled her heart and she hoped to have someone to share her passion with. As a way to explain herself and get out of the topic before it got odd, Freya told them just a part of the origin of her interest.

“My grandfather was a sailor back in Sweden. He used to tell us stories from sailing and he swore he saw mermaids. He would tell us bed time stories. Sunny and Dave never cared but I loved them and when no one was around, he would tell even more stories and he swore they were all true. He bought me all this stuff.”

“Is your grandfather still around?” asked Kim. Jackie elbowed her in the ribs, implying that that was a rude question, but Freya didn’t seem upset.

“He’s still alive, but he missed Sweden and wanted to move back. I miss him but I’m supposed to go visit over next year.” She changed topics and offered to show them the back yard. “There’s a trampoline!” They headed downstairs with Kim lingering a little behind them for another look around the room.

Chapter Text

When Kim and Jackie headed back for dinner, they both felt like they had made a friend. They ate dinner and then Kim wandered away and headed out the door to go down to the lake. The summer was still in full swing but it would only be a few weeks till school started and she wanted to make the most of her time. She didn’t know what the colder weather would mean to her swimming. She took the long way, this time, walking along the railroad tracks a block from her house. She saw fewer people when she went that way and something about trains appealed to her. She had grown up hearing them at night and she found the sounds and smells of the tracks comforting.

The lake was busy. It had been a hot day and everyone was out. Kim found it hard to find a spot that was secluded enough to slip into the water unseen but finally took a chance and very surreptitiously entered the water behind a driftwood tree lodged against the shore. Boats were everywhere on the lake and Kim stayed well underwater and headed to the deeper parts of the lake away from all the action. She surfaced out near the shipping lanes where the big lake freighters brought ore into Cleveland for the steel mills. She watched a couple of the giant ships from a distance and relaxed in the cool water before heading back, satisfied that she’d gotten some time in the water. Sneaking back onto land was even harder and she was worried that she would have to swim farther up or down the shore to get out, leaving a long walk home, but some people packed up and left some room near where she had entered the water. Sighing in relief, she climbed the stairs and headed for home. She skipped the tracks as it was shorter to just take the streets and as she got nearer to her house, she found that Freya was out front drawing with chalk on the sidewalk. Freya was excited to see her and called her over.

“Where are you coming from?”

“I just walked down to the beach for a while.”

Freya didn’t know there was lake access this close. “Where? How do you get there?”

Kim described the small, technically private beach that their neighborhood had.

“Cool, will you or Jackie show me sometime?”

“Sure.”

Freya had been drawing a mermaid, as usual, with chalk. She looked nervous and was pacing around the drawing. The conversation had paused and Kim noticed that she looked like she was struggling to contain herself. After an almost uncomfortably long pause, Freya finally leaned in close and said, “If I tell you something weird, will you try to believe me?”

Kim chuckled internally. Whatever it was couldn’t be odder than herself. “Sure, what is it?”

Freya paused for a bit and then lowered her voice again and said, “I saw one once.”

Kim started to get slightly nervous. “Saw what?”

“A mermaid.” Freya’s head was down, terrified of Kim’s reaction.

Kim wasn’t sure how to react. Did she mean her? “Really? Where?”

“I was in Kindergarten…”

Kim let out a breath in relief. It wasn’t her.

“We were in Seattle visiting family. We were out in a boat at a beach party. There were tons of people swimming and hanging out. There was loud music from the beach house and two girls were floating in the water sort of apart from the others. They just looked like they were vibing but just as I was looking away, I saw one of them go under and then I saw a tail for a second and she was gone. When I looked back to where they had been, I couldn’t find the other girl. I don’t know if she joined the other people or was one too. I thought I was seeing things. I told my grandfather what I’d just seen and that’s the first time he told me that he had seen them too, a long time ago, back home. That’s when he started telling us his stories at bed time. No one else believed me.” There was a long pause. “Do you believe me?”

Kim considered things for a minute. She didn’t want to add anything that could incriminate her so she knew she should play it cool, but her reoccurring thoughts about exposing herself stayed with her so she chose a middle ground. “Sure. I mean, you saw something. Who knows what’s out there that we don’t know about. I believe you.” Kim smiled reassuringly.

Freya breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. People think I’m weird, but I’m glad I got that out.”

“I don’t think you’re weird. You’re cool.”

No one had called Freya cool before. She blushed and said good bye as her mom called her back inside. Kim walked the rest of the way home, pleased that she wasn’t outed, happy that she could now ask Freya about her books and what she knew without seeming suspect, and most of all, pleasantly surprised to find that there might be more of her kind out there.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately for Kim, Freya’s books, even the more scholarly ones, didn’t provide any new information. Their descriptions of mermaids, selkies, undine, water sprites, and all the others, were vague and varied wildly depending on the source. None matched her experiences, at least not closely. Still, Freya was thrilled to share and talk about it. Freya’s mom let Kim and Jackie show her the beach. Jackie and Freya splash in the waves but Kim demurred, saying she wanted to work on her tan. Just getting her feet wet would be fine, and would feel great on a hot summer day, but she was worried about falling in or being splashed too much.

Later, when they were alone again, looking through books in Freya’s room, Freya asked, “Where were you that night when I saw you?”

Kim wasn’t sure what she meant.

“That first night that I was here. I couldn’t sleep and saw you walking. You waved back. It was really late. Are you allowed out that late?”

“Not really…” Kim started before trailing off as she thought about what to say.

“Did you sneak out? I didn’t want to ask in front of your sister in case it got you in trouble.”

“Yeah, I guess I did, but not to do anything bad.” Kim wasn’t sure what would actually constitute “bad”. There wasn’t really a precedent for what she was doing. That was the night she had been moonstruck, though she hadn’t given the effect that name yet.

“I was just having a hard time sleeping so I went for a walk. I didn’t really sneak out; I just sort of left.” This was true, under the moon’s spell, she hadn’t worried about anyone seeing her. It was just luck that they didn’t.

“I don’t think I’d have the nerve to go for a walk in pajamas. You’re pretty brave.”

Kim had forgotten that she had been in her pjs. She laughed lightly. “I guess so, sometimes when I can’t sleep, I do strange things.” She hoped that would be the end of it. Luckily, Freya dropped it to show her some mermaid art book she’d checked out from the library.

Kim was getting slightly worried that all the mermaid talk with Freya, and occasionally with Jackie if they were both there, was making her feel more of her thoughts about showing off. Not publicly “coming out” but just letting herself be seen. It was still a thrilling thought, maybe even more than before. Knowing that Freya thought she’d seen one, and maybe two, other mermaids was exciting. She had wondered if there were others. Surely there had to be. But two together? That was beyond exciting. If nothing else, maybe if some rumors got out there, they could generate talk that could lead to answers. But if she was being honest with herself, the thrill of doing it was, in and of itself, a big enough turn on to tempt her. She thought back to the little girl on the boat, Charlie, and how ecstatic she felt afterwards.

Kim found herself wandering down towards the water, temptation welling up insider her. She found a quiet spot and walked into the lake transforming as she got to chest height in the water. She swam around aimlessly before deciding to do something that she hadn’t done before. She swam up the mouth of Rocky River, a medium sized river that divided the city of Rocky River from the city of Lakewood. It hadn’t rained in a couple weeks and the river water was clear. She knew it got shallow quickly as you went up stream, she had explored around here many times, but the channel was deep up to the marina at the park. She swam past the private yacht club and towards the new condos and the retaining wall near the boat ramp at the park marina further upstream. She saw some young boys fishing off the wall. She didn’t recognize either of them, they weren’t from her school. Swimming slowly, she surfaced at the base of the wall right in between their lines. She poked her head up, the dark water obscuring everything below her neck, or at least she hoped.

“Hi” she said cheerfully, “you guys catching anything?”

Not seeing her until she spoke the boys looked down startled. “Umm, not really. Where did you come from?” answered the darker haired of the two.

“Just out for a swim and thought I’d say hi. I hope you catch something. Gotta go. See ya.”

She ducked back down being careful to go deep enough to not show her tail. She wasn’t ready for that yet. But she knew that just completely disappearing would be shocking so she peeked back up a dozen yards away and waved back at the very confused boys before submerging again and heading out the way she came in. On land, the boys were both confused and thrilled. Girls their age didn’t generally like talking to boys the same age and they certainly don’t appear out of the water to do so. They dropped their poles and ran along the retaining wall for a while but lost sight of her and stopped before walking back.

Back in the lake, Kim was giddy. She would never have had the nerve to talk to strange kids like that on land, much less to some cute boys. Even more, the idea of potentially having shown her tail was so appealing that she felt lucky to have restrained herself. The very thought made her stomach do flips. As she was swimming back, she considered why the idea made her feel that way but she had no answers. It was like she was compelled. Instead of being worried about these feelings, she was feeling emboldened. She just had to be careful. She worked her way back home and started a new book to wind down.

Chapter Text

While summer was still going on, vacation was rapidly coming to an end. With about a week left before school would start, Kim came to the realization that the freedom she had had was rapidly coming to an end. Looking at the calendar in her room, she saw that the next full moon was coming up on Monday, just three days before school started. Kim didn’t really understand much about the previous month’s full moon event. There was lore in Freya’s books about the full moon and mermaids but it was more about time limits for being on land, or weird prophesies about finding a husband, both of which seemed farfetched, even for a mermaid. She knew that she was mentally out of it during the full moon. Hypnotized? Enchanted? She settled on moonstruck, which was the title of an old movie she watched with her parents. Regardless of what she called it, she didn’t know why it happened or if it would happen again. She decided that she would just go to bed early and hopefully sleep through it.

The full moon was on Sunday night. That weekend, she spent a fair amount of time out in the lake, hopefully burning up any pent up need to be in the water before Sunday night came. She also spent some time with Freya, filling her in on what she thought they would expect from their middle school experience. Kim’s sister had given her a list of do’s and don’ts, happy to help since Kim had stayed out of her hair all summer and Renée was keen to see that continue. A lot of that advice was clothes and makeup tips which both Kim and Freya discounted in terms of importance, but there was good info there on which teachers to avoid, which parts of the school had the least used bathrooms, and so on.

Sunday rolled around and Kim went for an early morning swim to make extra sure that her body wasn’t craving that. She stopped by Freya’s on the way home seeing that Jackie was there and they jumped on the trampoline for a while, Kim hoping to use up more energy to be able to sleep earlier. After a full day of activity, Kim went home and went through the hassle of washing parts of her body one at a time to avoid turning before sinking all the way into the tub for one final transformation before bed to get it out of her system. She had dinner with her family and then uncharacteristically announced that she was going to bed. Her mom asked if she was feeling alright and Kim assured her that she was fine, said goodnight, and headed up to her room. She locked her door, just in case, and climbed into bed tired and confident of her plan.

Moonrise that night was at 7:54 and Kim had successfully fallen asleep with a half hour to spare. Around 9pm the moon peeked over the roof of the neighbor’s house and started shining into Kim’s window. By 9:30pm, the silvery shaft of moonlight had crept across the room and was hitting Kim’s sleeping face. Kim’s sleep was getting restless. She was having vivid dreams of the moon reflecting on the lake while she swam, her wake creating ripples in the reflection. She tossed and turned while the dreaming version of her rolled and dived in the water. The dream was too real and she unconsciously willed herself awake only to be looking squarely at the moon when her eyes snapped open.

Kim quietly got out of bed, opened her door, closing it behind her as she walked out into the hallway, and descended the stairs, heading straight out the front door. Everyone was busy watching tv or on their phone. No one saw her leave and, in fact, everyone thought she was asleep. If something happened, no one would be looking for her until morning. Kim knew this, but even so, was not able to stop herself from briskly walking the 15 minutes to the nearest beach. It had just become fully dark in the late August sky and it was warm. There were still people out enjoying the beach. It was purely luck that none of them watched the young girl wade directly into the water and submerge.

Kim headed east towards the bright downtown lights of Cleveland. The Terminal Tower was bathed in a yellow light tonight, its color being different each night. She swam slowly this time. Watching ships’ lights move across the water and cars driving along the Shoreway. She passed Edgewater Park where she had fantasized about wandering amongst the July 4^th revelers. As she got to the light house at the entrance to the breakwall-protected harbor, she pulled herself up on to a rock and bathed in the moonlight. Even moonstruck, she realized that she was striking either the most iconic or clichéd pose possible and she laughed loudly, wishing she had a way to memorialize the moment, but until she shared her secret, the view would have to remain in her imagination.

Kim was starting to think more clearly and thought that maybe she was going to get away with no consequences this full moon. She slipped off the rock and started to swim energetically west, back towards home. As she approached Lakewood, she saw Lakewood Park jutting out into the water. On a warm summer evening, just before school was to start, the park was busy. Sunset picnickers were finishing and packing up. Kids were running around. Romantic couples were gazing over the railing at the lake. Kim’s intrusive thoughts started to return to the front of her mind and in her still-moonstruck state, she was inclined to indulge them. She picked a course about 100 yards off the edge of the shore and started speeding up. With a powerful lunge, she leapt out of the water, gracefully diving back in, much as a dolphin would, and then repeated it. She could see people pointing at her and she took off for one last jump but she was focused on watching the park and started tumbling mid-air, landing with a horrifying belly flop that stung her chest and tail. Suddenly feeling more sober, and mortified of how ridiculous she must have looked, she allowed herself to sink down a bit and then headed purposefully back to Wagar beach.

Kim pulled herself out of the water and started the process of drying off. Luckily, the beach was empty by this time. Now keenly aware that she was in her pajamas, she hugged the shrubs and shadows, taking the longer but isolated railroad track path home, the rocky ballast hurting her bare feet as she tried to stay on the ties but missed occasionally.

Kim carefully crept into the house and successfully made it into her room, got into bed and sighed to herself about her lack of control as she drifted off.

15

Chapter Text

The next two days were consumed with buying school supplies and clothes, activities that her mother always put off until the last minute, which usually meant that the Callahan girls had the dorkiest notebooks and the cheapest supplies. Freya had tried to catch Kim’s attention a couple times from her yard, but her mother had them on a schedule and Kim couldn’t go see what she wanted.

The first day of school arrived and Freya came to Kim’s house to meet up with her and some other kids from the neighborhood to walk together. Kim’s mom took photos to commemorate her first day at the middle school and the kids headed off into the warm late-August morning.

When they had gotten a few houses away from Kim’s, Freya motioned for Kim to fall back from the pack with her.

“What’s up?” Kim asked.

“Did you not hear what happened over the weekend?”

“No, my mom had us running around.”

“Are you on Instagram?”

“Yeah, but I don’t use it that much, I really don’t hang out with that many people in real life or online.”

“Oh my god. There was one! Right here!”

Kim looked around confusedly, “Right here? What was right here?”

“No! I mean right here in the general area. A mermaid!”

Freya squealed slightly while she said the word and one of the older boys looked back at them annoyed.

Kim became very tense and flashed back to what she had done while under the lunar influence. “Um, what do you mean?”

“In Lakewood, I mean in the lake, off of Lakewood. Right by the park. Tons of people saw. There’s video but it’s dark and super grainy but I just know that’s what it was!”

Kim took her phone out and pulled up Instagram and had slowly stopped walking to watch, horrified, as she saw herself jump twice gracefully and once like a drunken sailor. It was dark, and it was really fuzzy, but it certainly wasn’t some other mermaid, not that anyone knew that, of course.

“I don’t know, Freya, it’s pretty blurry, I wish you were right but maybe it’s a drone or a toy or something. It’s really hard to make out, and it looks like it kind of glitched at the end there.”

Freya giggled and urged them to start walking again. “Everyone is saying it’s a hoax or even a fake video, but I know people who were there who say the saw it. Whatever it was, it’s not a deep fake or something. It just looks too lifelike to be like a drone dolphin or something. I’ve never even heard of anything like that.”

“Look,” Kim said, “I hope for your sake it’s real but I don’t want to see you get your hopes up, chances are it’s some internet thing for clout. But it would be cool if it was real…”

“Don’t forget, I’ve seen one before, if anyone knows whether it’s real, that would be me!” and Freya pointed both thumbs at herself to drive the point home.

‘Oh god,’ thought Kim. ‘What have I done.’ Kim didn’t mind the useless internet chatter, everyone was skeptical these days, but she didn’t think about what Freya’s reaction would be. Freya was grinning from ear to ear and Kim could clearly see her brain planning ways to go see the Lakewood Mermaid, as she was being called on Instagram. It crossed Kim’s mind that that was a really boring name.

Kim was having trouble concentrating on her first day of middle school. She couldn’t remember her locker number or its combination. She kept double checking her schedule for correct room numbers and was almost late to a few classes. She had to get her mind back in the game. She could worry about mermaid stuff later. By lunch she had settled down. She had science with Freya but no other classes. The younger girl was clearly still thinking about nothing but mermaids and Kim nudged her to pay attention.

When the day was done, they walked home, and Kim had to talk Freya into holding off on more mermaid stuff until she did some more research and calmed down a little. Freya tried and by the time they got home she was more focused on getting her first day school work figured out. Kim, on the other hand, opened her laptop and cruised through instagram and facebook looking for more, but there were just the same two videos, neither of which was in any way conclusive. Responses on both platforms were mostly skeptical. She went onto Reddit and found that the Cleveland subreddit, and even the normally sleepy Lakewood subreddit were buzzing with multiple posts about her. The same two videos were reposted multiple times, each one grainier than the last, with several converted to vertical format from tik tok, pretty much cutting off her last, ungainly jump. Theories abounded but the general consensus was that it was a complete fake. /r/conspiracy was, of course, having a field day with it but even they didn’t seem to think it was real. Satisfied that no real damage had been done, Kim went back to worrying about her friend.

“Have you talked to Freya?” Jackie burst into Kim’s room having just come home from school.

“Yeah. All day.”

“And? Is she freaking?”

“Kind of. I tried to get her to settle down but she’s kind of cuckoo right now. Maybe you should go see how she is. I don’t think she wants me to try to calm her down any more.”

Jackie glanced at the open laptop. “You aren’t getting sucked into this, too, are you?”

Kim wasn’t sure how to reply. She spent the day talking Freya down and her research was actually about figuring out if people thought it was fake, not the other way around. But she was secretly thrilled that everyone was talking about her. They didn’t know it was her, but it really was her. She felt like Clark Kent in a meeting where Perry White was ranting about getting a scoop with Superman. She found herself defending Freya. “What if she’s right? What if she is real?”

“She?” Jackie replied sarcastically. “So, you’re ruling out a mer-boy?”

“Relax, Jackie, I’m just keeping my mind open. It would be fun if this was real. But I am really worried that Freya is going to walk into the lake calling out for her. She got tired of me crapping on her wonderful news. You need to go down there and see how she is. Come get me if you need me.”

“Fine, but don’t encourage her, Kim.” And with that, Jackie headed down the street to check on Freya.

Chapter Text

By the next day, Freya was noticeably calmer. It had been four days since the Lakewood Park “sighting” and nothing since. This played into the internet’s general assumption that it was a hoax. The theory went as such: Why would a mythical creature suddenly make themselves apparent at a Cleveland area park, in a flashy way, and then not follow that up with another appearance if the goal was to be seen. And this theory made the most sense to the most people. They generally thought it was a hoax.

This was a relief to Kim but it tugged on the part of her brain that wanted the attention. She knew she should be ignoring that part of her but she couldn’t tamp it down all the way. For now, it was under control, though, and Kim set off to school with Freya in a calmer mood, anxious to really get middle school underway since the day before had been a fog for both of them.

That evening, Kim and Jackie compared notes regarding Freya.

“I think she’s fine.” Jackie declared. “She’s starting to see how it really looks like a hoax. She won’t let go of how real the movement looks, but the evidence is slim that she’s real.” Jackie had, by now, slipped into a general usage of “she”.

“Did you just assume their gender?” Kim teased.

“Funny. What’s important is that Freya not be seen as nuts.”

“Agreed.”

The sisters went off to work on homework separately and the topic was dropped.

By the weekend, things were largely back to normal and social media had moved on to newer controversies. Freya invited the sisters over for a sleepover Saturday night and their mom thought it was a great idea. No one could remember if Kim had actually ever been to a sleepover, so they thought it was healthy. Kim did too. In addition to the emotional rush of her brief internet celebrity, having a friend and getting along better with her sister felt nice in a way that she hadn’t experienced in a long time, if ever.

At the sleepover, Freya took a chance to lightly bring the mermaid topic back up, making sure to signal that she was, while not really over it, perhaps just calm enough to be trusted to stay safe around water.

“I know I wanted it to be real, but let’s be honest, why would Cleveland have a mermaid, right?” Freya and Jackie laughed heartily but Kim couldn’t help push back a little.

“I mean, better here than in some places. Better than Tulsa. Do they even have water?” Freya nodded, knowing it was a joke, but reached over and pulled out a book.

“One of the older myths related to mermaids is the undine. They’re water spirits who can live in streams and ponds, so maybe Tulsa isn’t a crazy idea.”

This seemed like a good place for Freya to end the conversation before she got too wrapped up in it again and the topic changed before everyone got tired and gave in to sleep.

Sunday morning was clear and warm. The three scrounged up some money and went to Martin’s Deli for snacks and sodas and spent the day showing Freya the parts of Rocky River she hadn’t seen yet as she hadn’t actually had a chance to explore much since her family had moved there.

When they split up to go home for lunch, Freya’s mom gave her a message. Someone had called for her. Freya was a bit surprised, the message was from Cole, a kid at her old school who she had been friendly with but wasn’t really close to. She was curious and went up to her room to call him back.

“Hey, Cole, you called?”

“Hey, Freya.” She wondered why she was hearing from him “I know this is going to sound odd, but I know you are kind of, you know, into that whole mermaid thing, right?”

Freya did not like where this was going. She had been teased mercilessly after swearing that she’d seen a mermaid on vacation in kindergarten and she thought moving would leave that behind.

“Cole, I don’t really need you call me and teasing. It was mean then and it’s mean now.”

Cole cut her off, “No, seriously, I’m not calling to tease. Don’t hang up.”

Freya paused long enough for Cole to think she’d already hung up.

“Hello? Are you still there?”

“Yeah. I’m listening, but I’m warning you, my brother will come after you if I tell him to.” Freya did not know where this sudden burst of nerve had come from but it felt good.

“Freya, listen, if you’re still into that stuff, I’m just calling to say I think I saw her.”

“We all saw her, Cole, it was on the internet.”

“No, I mean I think I saw her another time.”

There was another long pause.

“What do you mean?”

“Earlier this summer, I was fishing with Reed and this girl just popped up out of the water. We were on the rock wall along the river down, you know, by the marina in the park. She didn’t swim up, she just… appeared. I suppose she could have snuck along the wall where we couldn’t quite see but she also just disappeared under water when she left and reappeared pretty far from us before disappearing again and we didn’t see her come up after that.”

Freya was taken aback. “You better not be messing with me.”

“I swear I’m not. You can call Reed and ask him. At the time we didn’t think much of it. Maybe a swimmer playing a prank, but after the Lakewood Park video came out… well, we kind of thought of you.”

“Ok, but what do you mean she came up to you? Did she say something? Did she just appear and then leave?”

“Kind of both. We didn’t see her come up above the water, you know, the river is pretty far beneath the wall and it blocked us from seeing her, but she said “Hi” and we looked down and there she was.”

“She just said “Hi”?”

“No, she also asked us if we had caught anything, wished us luck and then said she had to go before diving under.”

“You know this sounds ridiculous, right? You think a mermaid swam up to you, asked if the fish were biting, and then just left.”

“I dunno. Maybe she was hungry and looking for a free meal.”

That broke the tension and they both laughed, the conversation getting easier afterwords.

“Look,” Freya said, “It still sounds weird.”

“I know but look at it the other way. Is it any less weird that some young girl, who is apparently very, very good at holding her breath, just swam up to us, asked us if we’d caught anything and then swam hundreds of yards underwater till she was out of sight?”

“Yes, Cole, that is actually less weird than it being a mermaid.”

“So you don’t believe that stuff anymore?”

Freya paused. Cole sounded sincere and it certainly was interesting news.

“Yeah, I still do. I still stand by my story from when I was little. But even I find this to be odd.”

“Any odder than your story? If I remember, your mermaids were just chilling, vibing to the music from the band on the beach. Isn’t that just as random.”

Freya considered this. “Maybe they just want to have some normal lives.”

“Right,” Cole countered, “Maybe they just want a normal life and that means making small talk about fishing.”

Both kids got quiet and were surprised that they ended up in the same place.

Freya broke the silence. “Ok, so what was she like?”

“I dunno, she was nice. Maybe a little flirty? Reed thought she was into him.”

Freya laughed. “Well, that sounds like a boy’s response to seeing a mermaid… I meant, what did she look like?”

“Well, assuming mermaids age the same, I’d guess she was about our age, white, but tan. We only saw her from the neck up so I don’t really know about height but just guessing I’d say pretty normal in size. Her hair was slicked back and wet so it was hard to guess the color or if it was straight or curly. Maybe brown? Longish but not, you know, LONG long.”

“You know you just described most of the girls you know, right? What about the eyes?”

“Not sure I remember. Brown? Grey? I know it’s not much to go on. She was cute, though.”

“That’s helpful, we’re looking for a cute mermaid with average features and maybe brown hair. What about the tail? You know, the defining feature of a mermaid?”

“Um, we didn’t really see it. Maybe she was shy?”

They laughed but then Cole got kind of serious.

“Look, I know you caught a lot of crap for this mermaid stuff, but never from me. Me and Reed both think there’s something to this and if you want, we’d like to meet and talk. If nothing else, it’ll be a good story later. Maybe we can hire someone like a police sketch artist.” Cole chuckled at that idea.

“Actually, I have a new friend who’s a really good artist, like, actually good. Maybe we could do that.”

“Really? That would be cool. I’m not sure we could describe her well enough.”

“No kidding.”

“Haha. But seriously, yeah, let’s do it.”

“I’m busy tomorrow but how about Tuesday after school? We can meet at the library.”

“Lakewood or Rocky River?”

“Lakewood, it’s quieter and we can find a corner somewhere.”

“Ok, I’ll ask Jackie, that’s my friend. I think she’ll be interested. 4pm?”

“Cool. It’s a date.” Cole cringed internally. It was obviously not a date. “Uh, you know what I mean.”

“Obviously. I’ll see you there. Bring Reed.”

“See you then.”

Freya hung up the phone. That wasn’t a call she was expecting to ever have. Her interest rekindled, she called Jackie and asked her for a favor that was art related. She just told her that she needed her to try to sketch something on Tuesday. Jackie asked for more info but Freya said that it was sort of a surprise and pleaded with her to say yes. Jackie relented and they made their plans.

At the agreed upon time, Freya gathered up Jackie and her supplies and they biked the couple miles over to the Lakewood Library. It was still August and hot out. The breeze from the ride felt nice but rain was coming overnight.

Once at the library, Freya introduced Jackie to Cole and Reed, much to Jackie’s surprise. She didn’t know anyone else was involved.

“Let’s go in and find a quite table.”

“I reserved a study room,” said Cole.

“That was smart. Ok, lead the way.” Said Freya.

The four got settled and Freya started to explain the task to Jackie.

“These guys saw someone and we want you to do a police-style sketch from their description.”

“Are you kidding? That’s like a specialty that people train for for years.”

“Please? Just give it a shot. What’s the worst that happens, you make a sketch that doesn’t really look like who they saw? Even then, you get to practice art…”

Jackie caved. “Sure. I have no idea how this will come out but let’s start.”

Jackie got ready and the boys started giving description. Sometime they agreed on what they looked like and sometimes they didn’t. With more and more questions, Jackie was narrowing it down. She’d gone through a lot of paper. Finally, the boys said that it looked close.

Freya looked at the drawing, looked at the boys, looked at Jackie, looked back at the drawing and back at Jackie and then finally spoke.

“You guys, you just described Jackie to herself and had her draw a self-portrait.”

“No, we didn’t, the hair and eyes are completely different but maybe the face is similar.”

Jackie looked at the drawing and then at a selfie she had on her phone. “Ugh, I told you guys this wouldn’t work.”

It wasn’t the best drawing but the boys swore it was close. They took it to the copier and made a copy for each of them.

Despite Jackie thinking it had been a failure, she’d had a good time. It had been fun. They all went to the chicken place down the road and got some food. Over sandwiches, Jackie finally remembered that she didn’t know what this was about.

“Oh, I kind of avoided that when I asked you to do this. Don’t be mad, it’s kind of mermaid related.”

Jackie almost choked on her shake. “What?”

Freya and the boys started describing the situation to a now clearly worried Jackie.

“Freya, you’re worrying me. Please tell me you aren’t obsessing.”

“I swear I’m not; this was all Cole’s idea.”

“And mine,” added Reed while chewing.

“Well,” said Jackie, “I think you might have been right. I might not have agreed if you’d told me what this was about. But it was kind of fun. Kind of Scooby Doo-ish. You two,” she said, pointing at the boys, “let me know if you see your mermaid again, but we need to get going before it rains. By the way, you guys ride to our library next time!”

They laughed. “We will.”

The girls made the trip home and Jackie, still amused at what she thought was a wild goose chase, pinned her drawing up on the wall next to the door on the only open space left in her room. She laid down in bed and studied it. It was better than she thought it would be, maybe police artist was something she should look into.

That’s when Kim, fresh from washing her hair, poked her head in Jackie’s door to borrow something. Jackie stared at the two nearly identical faces side by side, both with wet hair, and said, “Kim, you’ve got to check out this coincidence, come in and look at the picture next to you. I’ve got a crazy story for you.”

Kim looked at the picture on the wall and simply asked, “Um, why did you draw me?”

“That’s not you. That’s the mermaid.”

Kim dropped the hair brush she had borrowed. “Excuse me?”

Jackie laughed. “These two boys that Freya knows from Lakewood think the mermaid came and talked to them while they were fishing. She, Freya, not the mermaid, volunteered me to try to sketch who they saw.”

“And they think they saw me?”

Jackie laughed again. “I think they were just looking at me while trying to remember and their brains substituted me in. We have similar facial structures, you know, being sisters and all…”

“Yeah, because it’s just like me to swim up to random boys and talk to them.” Kim laughed, hoping it sounded incredulous and not nervous.

“I know, miss extrovert, right?”

Kim’s stomach was in knots. She went back to her room and laid down to think. She was clearly nervous at having a close call, but as she examined her own feelings, she realized that she was still having that thrilling “reveal” fantasy. With school going on, she wasn’t going to be able to be in the water much. She thought that maybe she should just let this whole thing die down and stay on land for a while.

Chapter Text

That first week of school was only three days long and luckily for the girls, the next weekend was Labor Day so they had three days before school really ramped up. Freya and the younger Callahan sisters planned a sleepover for Friday night.

Friday night came and the girls settled in to watch a movie. Freya wanted to watch Aquamarine again. The sisters rolled their eyes but agreed. It wasn’t like Kim was going to turn down mermaid entertainment. She wasn’t going to suggest it, but played along, acting nonchalant about it.

When the movie ended, Freya asked Jackie if she’d be willing to do another “police sketch.”

“Did you see another mermaid?”

“Haha. No, but I was wondering if you could try to draw what I remember from when I saw them.” Jackie had to give the girl credit; she certainly didn’t back down from her belief that she had really seen them.

“Sure, got any paper? Pencils?”

Freya got out a surprisingly complete art kit that she’d gotten for her birthday a few years ago.

“Nice”, said Jackie. “Do you use it much?”

“Not really. When I was younger, I tried to draw that day, but I’m really bad.” She went to her closet and pulled out a stack of drawings. They weren’t very good, but they gave Jackie a basis to start from, especially the setting.

The girls worked for the next hour or two. Kim subtly urged Freya to focus on what the tails looked like. She didn’t really care what the girls themselves looked like, she doubted she’d ever meet anyone from the Pacific Northwest, much less two random mermaids, but she really wanted to see if the tails looked like hers and as the drawings progressed, it was clear that they did.

Jackie paused and looked at Kim. After a few uncomfortable seconds, Kim said “What? Why are you staring at me?”

“Kim, what I’m drawing looks just like the tails that you sketched earlier this summer. Like, the same colors, the same fin shape, everything.”

“And? They also look like every mermaid tail I’ve ever seen in a book. Look around the room, they’re everywhere in here. It looks just like the one in the movie we just watched, even.”

“It’s just weird. It’s like you have psychic mermaid powers.”

“Funny. So I’m like the mermaid whisperer?” Kim had stood up with her arms crossed.

Freya didn’t like the fighting, her own brother and sister did enough of it. “Stop it you guys. Jeez, it’s no big deal. Why are you arguing over it.”

The sisters glared at each other. Jackie wasn’t really sure why they were arguing either. Kim obviously knew why, but realized she was sounding incredibly defensive. She could have brushed it aside easily but now it was weird.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Kim decided to take the blame to calm things down. Jackie was also happy to end the argument. Her closer relationship with her sister had been a nice change and she didn’t want it go back to the way it was before. “Me too. I don’t even know why we were fighting.”

The evening got better and Kim fell asleep knowing that there were probably others like her out there. It made her feel part of something yet alone at the same time and she nodded off feeling bittersweet.

The next morning over breakfast, Freya, unsurprisingly, had more mermaid thoughts. “If the sighting was real, what was the goal? Especially if what my friends saw was her, which I realize is not likely.”

“I don’t know,” Jackie replied. She laughed then said “Boredom?”

“But if she knew people were there, that’s kind of a crazy thing to do.” Kim said, trying not to choke on her Froot Loops.

Freya’s mom had drifted into the kitchen and piped up. “You guys talking about the “mermaid” sighting?” She made finger quotes around “mermaid.”

“Yeah, the school was buzzing about it for a while. It made kind of a big splash.”

Everyone groaned at the joke.

“Maybe she’s lonely” her mom said thoughtfully.

“What do you mean?” asked Kim.

“Well, think about it. Assuming she was real, it’s not like there are mermaid sighting every day, not like a lot of people would fess up to it, but these days, with smart phones and people being totally shameless on Facebook, you’d think you’d hear more about it if they were out there. If she’s the only mermaid in Lake Erie, then maybe she’s just looking for company. I know you still think you saw one once, and lord knows your grandfather didn’t help with his stories, but other than crazy old sailors, are you hearing any modern-day stories?”

Freya glared at her mother. “I DID see them! I know you want me to stop saying that, but it’s true and one might be here and you have to be MEAN about it?”

Freya’s mother immediately felt bad. As much as she wanted Freya to let go of this and be a little more normal, she knew it was important to her, mentally and emotionally, and she had crossed the line again. She had been trying to offer a serious answer to the question but had slipped back into old arguments.

“I’m sorry honey. I shouldn’t have said that. I’ll leave you guys be.”

Freya glowered and moved the cereal around with her spoon, having lost her appetite. The sisters looked at her sympathetically and offered to have her come to their house. She nodded and they left.

Kim was a bit lost in thought after the “lonely” statement. She wished it hadn’t ended in an argument. She wanted to hear more about what someone else thought. Kim now had a closer sister and a real friend and was arguably less alone than she had ever been, but Mrs. Swenson was sort of right. Not being able to share her secret, and not knowing others like her, if there were any, was, indeed, lonely. ‘Surely there must be others,’ she thought. ‘Whatever happened to me can’t be a one in 7 billion chance. If what Freya saw on vacation is real? Then there are others and I need to find them some day.’ With some determination that she would take more control of her life, her mood brightened and she decided that she needed to start spending a little more time online. If there were others, actually looking for them would be important and social media was the best way to do that.

Kim was struggling. Making a social media account for yourself is easy. You just put down your information and snap a selfie. Making one for your alter ego isn’t. You have to choose a name and/or handle. You have to make up information that you might be called on to remember later. It’s hard to make a fake birthday and remember it. She thought about using one she already knew, like a family member, but was paranoid that that could conceivably be linked back to her if someone tried hard enough. She almost used the same password she used for everything but the same problems applied.

Kim got out a piece of paper and started writing stuff down to try out. You could destroy paper, digital is forever. She didn’t mind using mermaid related names or info, after all, she was going to be out there fishing for info, but they couldn’t tie back to her.

For Reddit, Twitter, and Instagram, she could use a handle, a fake name. But Facebook wants something real sounding.

Mermaid Lover – it was taken

Mermaid Lover 69 – she chuckled. Nope, taken

Undine (remembering Freya’s mermaid history lesson) – Turns out it’s now a somewhat common first name in Europe.

This went on for a while. Finally, she just came up with one with enough words and numbers to be unique, even if unmemorable:

SecretSirenSeeker1984 – It was available on all the major socials and she thought the year might throw people off her scent thinking it was a birth year, but it was really just the year the movie Splash had come out.

For Facebook, she settled on just Secret Siren.

She made a new password that she could remember but fit all the stupid security requirements:

NewMermaid1!

She came up with all the other info she would need making sure the birth dates, locations and everything else couldn’t point to her. She wrote this all down and hid the paper, planning on studying it until she had it all memorized. She felt like a spy and hoped that she never had to do this in real life. It was stressful!

Kim made a matching email account and after a bunch of research, decided she needed a VPN, whatever that was, to keep her hidden.

For a photo, she took a picture of one of her tail drawings. It dawned on her that she had not taken any photos of herself in mermaid form.

It was not lost on Kim that she was being way more careful online than she was in real life but online seemed more dangerous. She had always been warned that “the internet is forever” and her parents had already had a serious talk with her older sister Renée about never sending nudes, a conversation that had led to more eye rolling than Kim had ever seen before.

With her digital alter ego in place, Kim set about exploring what was out there. She quickly found that the conspiracy and cryptozoology spaces were completely useless cesspools.

What she did find was that there was a community of people who either worked as mermaids or just cosplayed as them. She thought they might be a good jumping off point as they seemed sincere and a bit isolated. She joined Facebook groups and subreddits and started following mermaid influencers on Instagram, marveling that such a thing existed. She made a few introductory posts, just getting her feet wet, so to speak, and decided to not get too involved all at once to make it seem more organic.

Kim thought about the fact that people were making a living at “mermaiding.” Doing photo shoots and birthday parties, and working in aquariums in nautically themed restaurants. She wondered if she could get away with being a real mermaid pretending to be a fake mermaid to get a job as a pretend mermaid and laughed at the thought. After a bit of research, she called it a night and went to bed.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks were busy. School was well under way and middle school was quite different from their last school for both Kim and Freya. Getting used to the increase in homework was an adjustment. Kim’s extracurricular investigations were taking up more time, time that she would have rather spent swimming, but she wanted knowledge more. Unfortunately, that research had been not very fruitful. Despite an enthusiastic mermaid community, no one seemed to even hint at either being one for real or knowing anything about them. Kim had to be discreet, she didn’t want to get kicked out of these groups. Still, there were some leads, but when she tried to DM them, they seemed to vanish. She didn’t know if these were people nervous about knowing secrets or if she was just getting trolled.

After a few weeks of dead ends, she saw a cryptic message someplace she didn’t think would be helpful, the Seattle subreddit. Larger subreddits were generally known to be pointless echo chambers of meme regurgitation, but she had subbed to this one just because of Freya’s experience. Sorting by “new”, she saw a post that just said, “Full moon tomorrow, fishes.” The post had no upvotes and never made it up to the top of the page, she only saw it because she sorted by new. She clicked on the user and their only posts were same thing. Each full moon they posted the same message. She DM’ed the user:

--- Hey, I saw your post. Something weird happened to me on a full moon. Know anything? I was in the water. In June.

She got a quick reply:

--- Well I suppose you should avoid the moon on the next one then. And the water. Good luck

She thought for a second and then replied:

--- Can you tell me more? I would like to know what happened to me.

She got a “User Does Not Exist” message. She clicked on the user name again and the account had been deleted. It had only been a minute since the last message.

Kim leaned back in her chair, frustrated that her only real lead had dried up after one question. It seemed to her that deleting the account carried its own message. It told her that she had asked a difficult question to a person who seemed to understand what she meant. This was something. It wasn’t an answer but it was information. Maybe Freya had been right. Maybe there was a community there. A group of mermaids who used Reddit to remind each other of full moons. How strange. Why not a group text if they all knew each other. Then it struck her, maybe they didn’t all know each other. What if what happened to her occasionally happened to others and this was a subtle way of spreading useful information to the newbies. If so, message sort of received?

The full moon was the next night. If she was supposed to stay out of the water and the moonlight, how was she supposed to accomplish that given that she literally was moonstruck in her sleep last time. She needed someone to watch over her but that sounded crazy and who could she get to guard her without divulging her secret? She went to bed without any ideas hoping one would come to her in her sleep.

The next morning, she woke up but without having dreamt any great plan. Moonrise was only half a day away and school took up most of that time. She decided that she needed to take a chance. Jackie and Freya were the only people she trusted and when Freya came over to get her on the way to school, Kim pulled her and her sister aside and psyched herself up to ask a really odd question.

“Guys, I need to ask you to do something, well, really just Jackie but I want you both to hear in case Jackie needs backup.”

“Kim?” Jackie replied, “Why does this sound so serious? Are you in trouble?”

“No, but I’d like to stay out of trouble. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’ve been having some issues with sleep walking and I’d like it if you kept an eye on me tonight.”

“No you haven’t.” Jackie replied. “I think we’d have noticed.”

“It’s only happened twice. I know this is sus, but it only happens on the full moon, which is tonight. Please, I know it sounds nuts, and hopefully I’m wrong, but I’ve woken up outside each time recently. Freya, you saw me. That’s the night I was walking in my pajamas right after you moved here.”

“Freya, is that true?”

Freya was looking a little confused. “Yeah, I did see her. She was walking home. Really late, like almost midnight. I waved to her and she waved back. It was before I’d even met you guys. Kim, you told me you were just going for a walk when I asked you.”

“I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t remember waking up or leaving, only walking home.” Kim left out the important mermaid related parts of the story. “It happened again the next full moon but no one saw me that time.”

“So, what? You’re a werewolf?” Jackie joked.

“Obviously, not.” Kim replied truthfully while now wondering if they existed, too.

“Well, I think you’re paranoid, but sure, I’ll sleep in your room.”

“We have to go to sleep early, before the moon comes up, like, 7:30.”

“Wait, you’re serious, aren’t you? Like, you really think something will happen?”

“Yeah, I do. I hope it won’t but it doesn’t hurt to be safe.”

“OK, not like it’s a hardship for me. Fill me in after school.”

“What do you want me to do?” Asked Freya.

“Nothing really, I mostly want you know about it in case something happens.”

By now, Freya and Kim had to hurry to get to school, leaving Jackie to head the other direction to the intermediate school.

The afternoon came and Kim’s school let out earlier than Jackie’s. Kim paced the floor waiting for Jackie to get there, nervous that Jackie would think it was weird and back out, but when she got home, Jackie grabbed Kim and went upstairs to talk.

“Ok, what do I do?”

“I’m not really sure. I guess just stop me if I try to leave. Wake me up or something.”

“What if I don’t wake up when you leave?”

“I’m going to sleep against the wall so I’ll have to crawl over you to get out of bed.”

“Hm. Clever. Ok. I’ve got homework, do you?”

“Yeah, let’s get that done.”

The sisters went through normal school night routines but then had a bit of luck. Their parents announced that they were going out for a late dinner with friends and that Renée would be watching them. That meant that Renée would be doing nothing of the sort and would be locked in her room doing whatever teenagers did.

Kim and Jackie said goodbye to their parents and then told Renée that they were going to bed, to which Renée just grunted and told them to close her door.

“Listen,” Kim said as they got ready and climbed into bed, “also don’t have any water in here please.”

“Why?”

“Please, just for tonight.”

Jackie roller her eyes. “Fine, whatever.” Jackie closed the curtains per Kim’s request and they pulled the covers up. A train rolled by on the nearby tracks and the sound lulled Kim to sleep. Jackie was having a harder time. It was really early for bed. She checked her phone, rolled over a few times, but after a couple hours she was still wide awake. Bored, and needing to pee, Jackie got up quietly and pulled the curtain aside to check on the sky. In a case of bad timing, she innocently opened the curtain in a way that let a shaft of moonlight fall directly on her sleeping sister. Thinking nothing of it, she closed the curtain and went down the hall to the bathroom.

Unbeknownst to her, Kim had felt the moonlight and immediately gotten out of bed and walked down the hall. Jackie didn’t hear. What she did hear was thunder rumbling in the west as a storm was coming in. Jackie liked storms and hoped that the rain would help her fall asleep. She left the bathroom, went downstairs for a drink of water, and stopped in her own room to plug her phone in. After what had only felt like a minute, she went back into Kim’s room only to find her missing. Panicking just a little, Jackie started looking around the house. Checking the bathroom, the kitchen and even the basement, she finally realized that Kim’s dire warning may have come true. She ran to Renée’s room only to find that Renée had slipped out and was not there to help. Now legitimately panicking, she threw on her shoes, ran outside and down to Freya’s house. Her light was on and Jackie threw stones at her window until she looked out. Jackie waved to her to come down.

Jackie came out side in a hoodie. The wind was picking up and lightning was flashing in the west.

“Did you see her?”

“No. Are you saying that she left?”

“She’s gone. She’s not in the house. Renée left. I don’t know what to do!”

“Did she warn you about where she would go?”

“No. Where did she go when you saw her the last time?”

“She was coming towards our house from that way.” Jackie was pointing west towards Wagar Rd.

Coming to the same conclusion, both girls started sprinting towards Wagar Rd. Reaching the corner, the looked both ways with no sight of her. Looking left, they could see all the way up the street with no one visible. Looking right, they realized that the train tracks were a high point that blocked their view. Running up to the tracks, Freya finally yelled “There! I see her!”

Kim was way ahead of them, already crossing Lake Rd, only two blocks from the stairs that led down to Wagar Beach. The wind was picking up even more and the time between lightning flashes and the thunder was shrinking with the storm front moving rapidly towards them. The two girls took off at a sprint thinking they might just be able to reach her, but there were cars speeding down Lake Rd. and they had to wait a crucial thirty seconds before they could cross. As they got to the north side of the intersection, they saw Kim’s head as she disappeared down the stairs towards the water. Driving themselves as hard as they could, they ran to the top of the stairs and started down. At the bottom, they saw her, standing on the rocks of the old breakwall, the wind-whipped waves pelting her with spray and threatening to wash her off. The moon was clearly visible in the still clear eastern sky but looked oddly dark, while the storm clouds were now reaching directly overhead from the west. Lightning was now perilously close and the two girls watched in horror as a Kim looked like she was about to jump into the water.

The two girls got to her just as she did jump and without hesitation, jumped in after her. The both grabbed a hold of her, attempting to pull her the short distance to the shore. Kim seemed to be fighting them when lightning flashed right in front of them hitting the water only yards away. At the same exact moment, Kim seemed to shimmer and turn to water before the roar of the thunder deafened them all and the three girls were knocked backwards by the jolt from the lightning.

Chapter Text

Jackie was the first to wake up. She found herself floating in a few inches of water, her head hitting the sand of the beach. She sat up with her ears ringing and saw Freya next to her and Kim just a few yards away, both in roughly the same position she had woken up in. Freya was stirring, clearly not dead, so Jackie splashed over to Kim, finding her still breathing but unconscious. By then, Freya was up and trying to comprehend what was going on. Jackie called to her to help and the two got Kim up onto the sand. Kim was starting to moan and looked at the other two putting a hand to her head, which clearly was hurting. They helped her sit up. The storm had largely passed. How long had they been out? It was still drizzling but they could see the lightning moving east up the lake and away from them.

All three gingerly checked themselves over, finding that all their limbs seemed to be working. Helping Kim, who seemed to be particularly weak, they started up the stairs towards the seemingly calm neighborhood at the top. Kim stopped part way up and asked, “I don’t understand, why am I walking? Why do I have legs?” The other two ignored her, thinking she was incoherent.

Upon reaching the road at the top of the park, Kim was feeling stronger and the three picked up the pace. Though soaked to the bone, none were cold and they walked quietly until they got to Freya’s house.

“I’m so sorry,” Kim started, “I didn’t think it would get like this. Thank you for helping me but I can’t believe the danger I put you in. Please forgive me. I just hope nothing else happened.”

“Kim,” Jackie started, “I’m just happy we found you. I don’t know what happened but something weirder than sleepwalking. Let’s get some sleep and talk in the morning. If everyone is feeling OK, meet at our house a half hour earlier than usual. For now, get some sleep Freya, I’ll get Kim in bed.”

“OK. I’ll see you guys in the morning. I have a feeling I’m going to be sore.”

“I think we all will. Good night.”

The girls split up and Kim and Jackie walked home quietly, happy to find that their parents were still out and Renée seemed to be in her room, obviously having not checked on them. The sisters changed out of their wet clothes and climbed back into bed hugging each other until they fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Everyone woke up earlier than expected the next day. Freya felt a strong pull to go meet her friends early. She had showered before bed so she was over there almost an hour before they would normally leave. Her early arrival interrupted Jackie’s shower plans and instead she came down, intending to shower after talking. Kim had already done her usual one-part-of-the-body-at-a-time wash routine, with the now familiar tingling sensations still happening, despite her not changing the night before. She was down right after Jackie. Kim was extremely worried. She hadn’t changed when she got into the water, at least, she wasn’t changed when she woke up. She couldn’t remember anything before that. All three went up to Kim’s room and Kim was pacing.

“Any one feel odd this morning?” Asked Kim.

“I don’t know,” replied Freya, “I’m mostly ok. Kind of tingly, though, like my legs were asleep except it was my hands when I washed them. It was almost like the water stung.”

Kim sighed. “Jackie?”

“Not really, I came straight down after waking up when I heard Freya. It’s only been a few minutes. I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet.”

“Go wash your hands. We’ll go with you.”

The girls shuffled to the bathroom and a confused Jackie ran her hands under the water.

“I see what you were saying, Freya. Kind of tingly. Maybe from the lightning?”

“Look,” Continued Kim, “let’s talk. I have something important to tell you.”

The girls went back into Kim’s room. They all knew something was different but they couldn’t imagine what it was.

“I haven’t been honest with you. Or with anyone else, I guess. It’s not that I lied about anything, but I’ve withheld some pretty important stuff. I’m afraid that not telling you may have put you in, well, not danger, I think, but I may be responsible for some life changes that I didn’t want you to have to go through. If I had told you, I don’t think you would have tried to rescue me last night and things would be different this morning. I hope I’m wrong but I hope you will be able to forgive me if I’m right.”

Kim was looking down and she was finding it difficult to continue. A few tears were rolling down her cheeks and the other two were staring at her with great concern.

“A few months ago, something happened to me. Now I’m afraid I’ve… I’m not sure. Spread it to you? Exposed you to it? I don’t know how to say it.”

“You’re freaking us out! Are you sick? Are we sick, now?”

“Not sick. Different. I need you both to swear that this stays between us. No matter how freaked out you get or how angry you get, this has to stay secret. Our lives could be in danger if we aren’t quiet about it, but I know you’ll think I’m a hypocrite after I tell you.”

Kim took a deep breath and said: “I’m her.”

“Who?”

“The one in the video. The one your friends saw. I’m the mermaid. And I hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid that maybe you guys are too after last night.”

“That’s crazy!” Jackie jumped up and was now the one pacing. “First, no such thing. I know what you believe, Freya, but I don’t believe it. That’s crazy. Second, why or how would we “catch” that from you? None of this makes sense.”

“I’m thinking it was from the lightning strike. It happened right as I was changing and interrupted the change, maybe spreading it to you guys. You were both holding on to me while it happened. I can prove it. At least for me. But we can either prove or disprove it for both of you right now.”

“Right now? Kim, we have to leave for school in ten minutes! What are you talking about?”

“Guys, we can wait if you want, but if I’m right, I think you’ll want to know sooner, not later, and I think we should skip school and figure this out before we go any further today.”

“No, Kim, I’ve got a test today. And mom would kill us if she found out.”

Freya had been very quiet but spoke up softly. “Show us. Can you? If you aren’t lying, I’ll stay home.”

The three looked at each other.

“OK. Renée’s done in the bathroom. Let’s go.”

Kim started filling the tub. It took an agonizingly long time when the girls were just watching it. As the tub reached about the half way mark, Kim swung a leg over the side.

Jackie said, “Um… Clothes?”

“Doesn’t matter.” And with that Kim sank down into the water making sure she was mostly covered. She counted down from 10 out loud and then briefly looked liquid, the tub water bubbling around her, before reappearing in her more aquatic form.

Freya stifled a scream and Jackie staggered backwards into the sink, knocking over the soap dish and sliding to the floor, her hands grasping the back of her head in disbelief. Freya stepped slowly towards Kim.

“Where did your clothes go?”

“I don’t know. Alternate dimension? Magic? I don’t even know where to start about that.”

“What does it feel like?”

She shrugged. “Touch it. It’s not painful and it seems to be pretty tough.”

Freya ran her hand over it. “It’s not slimy like a fish.”

“No. Just scaly. It’s heavy though. I probably weigh twice as much with it than without it.”

Jackie spoke up from the floor across the room while Kim drained the water and worked on extricating herself from the tub to start drying off. “And you think we have this now, too?”

“I hope you don’t, but I doubt I’m wrong. Still feel like going to school?”

“Not really.” Freya shook her head no, as well.

“OK, then let’s pretend to go and circle back. Dad’s already gone and mom will leave right after us.”

By then, Kim was dry and the other two watched with both fascination and dread as Kim changed back, dry clothes and all.

They quietly went down stairs and said goodbye. The walked around the block in silence and saw Mrs. Callahan pulling away as they rounded the corner. Kim let them all back in and they went back up to the bathroom.

“Who’s first?” Kim said as she refilled the tub.

Freya spoke first. “I guess me.” Everyone else gathered around the tub as she stood in the water looking nervous. “How long does it take? How much of me do I have to get wet?”

“Ten seconds, at least for me. It’s the same every time. Exactly ten, like clockwork. As for how much? I need to be over half covered. I’m not sure if that’s by area or weight, or what, but if I wade in past my waist by a few inches, I change.”

Freya put her hands on the edges of the tub and slowly dropped down, counting to ten almost in a whisper.

Just as Kim predicted, the change happened exactly as it had for Kim, and Freya was lying in the tub with a large coppery tail hanging just poking out of the water at the end of the tub. She stared down at herself with a faint smile on her face. She had dreamed of this ever since seeing “her” mermaids five years ago and now it was reality. She was scared but also excited.

Jackie just looked scared. She had backed up and had her arms crossed. Kim had to ask her to come help pull Freya up so she could roll off the edge of the tub, landing with a thud on the tile floor. Kim helped dry her and after some effort, she changed back and stood up while looking down at the legs she used to take for granted.

“Your turn, sis. Are you ready?”

“I don’t know that I’ll ever be, but not knowing or changing without help is scarier. Hold my hands?”

“Sure.” Kim and Freya both took a hand as Jackie stepped into the tub, took three huge breaths, and sat down, hesitating to lay all the way back for the coverage needed for the change. Slowly, she leaned back until the tingling increased to an almost unbearable level and then it happened. To Jackie, it seemed like time stood still. She watched her hands as they shimmered, translucent against her friends’ hands before turning solid again and looked at her tail. She had to admit, it was beautiful. Transcendent. She found her fear turning to a feeling of power. Not knowing how her tail would respond to her brain, and not being used to not having legs, she tried to bend her knees that were no longer there and she lifted up in the tub before slamming back down, sending a torrent of water up into the air and directly towards the other two. Kim reflexively threw her hands up in a defensive gesture and the water stopped in midair, suspended like it was in a still frame from a movie. Freya moved towards it and touched a larger droplet that wriggled from the disturbance. “Did you do that?” Kim looked as shocked as everyone else. “I don’t know. I guess so?” She lowered her hands and the water followed, soaking the floor.

“Crap, hand me some towels.”

Jackie looked like she had been abandoned. “Guys? A little help? I don’t know how this thing works.” Referring to her tail. The others rushed back to her and helped her out, drying both her and the floor. Jackie changed back.

“Hey, uh, you guys know we were all topless, right?”

“That’s what you’re worried about right now?” Asked Jackie.

Well, none of us have much going on up top right now but we will in a few years, maybe less. Jeez, Kim, did you give Cole and Reed a show?”

“Oh my god, no! I never got out past my neck!”

“But in the video?”

“Oh. I suppose so? Not that you could see anything in that horrible video, but yeah, I didn’t think about that when I was doing it.”

“So, why did you do that?”

“That’s a hard question. I need to figure that out for myself, too. I think your mom might have actually been on to something. I didn’t have anyone to share this with and maybe that was some form of loneliness. Or rebellion. I don’t know.”

“And the whole ‘stopping water midair’ thing?

“That’s new. That’s the first time that’s happened.”

“Will we be able to do that?”

“I have no idea. I’m no expert.”

The girls stared at each other for a while before Jackie spoke up. “So… What do we do now?”

Freya answered first, “I guess go to school. You said you have a math test. You’ll only miss first period, maybe second.” And with that, the girls made the surreal choice to finish getting ready and head off to very boring human school.

Chapter Text

The walk to school was tense for Kim and Freya. Kim was still worried that the others would blame her for what had happened to them. Freya was lost in thought, her lack of communication not helping Kim’s guilt. Freya was overloaded. She had just found out that the mermaid “myth” she’d been obsessing over for five years was no myth and she discovered this by actually becoming one. That’s a lot to take in. Then to also find out that one of your best friends has been one and was hiding it… well, that just added to the mental confusion. She did feel a little betrayed, but at the same time, she knew why Kim had withheld that information from them. Thinking back, Kim had never really rejected the mermaid idea, not like Jackie had. The worst she had done was try to redirect conversations. Now she had her own secret to protect and it made forgiving Kim much easier. The side of her that was excited for this was slowing winning out and she was noticing Kim’s anxiety.

“Hey, so I guess that drawing I did for the boys was pretty accurate after all, even if they were using your sister as a guide.”

Kim laughed very weakly, “Yeah, I suppose so, but they got my hair too light, I’m way browner than that.”

“Maybe next time I can work from a Polaroid?”

The ice had been broken and the two were talking again.

“I guess we should have discussed what we are doing after school with Jackie before you and I left. I’m somewhat used to this but you guys must be going out of your minds. I know the tub wasn’t very satisfying. I guess we should go down to the lake?”

“Um, I mean, yeah… I kind of thought that was a given. Text Jackie and tell her?”

“Ok, we’ve got to get you a phone.”

“My mom won’t let me have one until I’m 12.”

“Ugh, what if we have important mermaid business?”

Both girls laughed.

“Like what? Rescuing stranded fishermen?”

“Too bad we can’t turn this into a business. ‘Mermaid Rescues R Us’ – We can do rescues and tow in stranded boats. You guys haven’t been swimming yet, we can go really fast!”

Freya perked up at that new information. “Really? How fast.”

“I don’t know exactly, I’m not sure how we’d measure that, but I accidentally ended up in the middle of the lake in just a few minutes, but I was moonstruck and I don’t really know how much time had passed.”

“It’s killing me to not ask every question in my brain but we should wait for Jackie to hear it, too. One thing, though: When you stopped the water… what did you do? Did you feel anything happen?”

“Like I said, that’s completely new. I don’t even remember if I did feel anything. Or how I did it.”

They passed a puddle still left from the storm the night before.

“Try it now! On that puddle.”

Kim stopped and looked at the water. She had no idea what to do. She raised her arms and pointed at the water, she made a palms-up lifting motion, neither worked.

“We’re going to be even later, let’s work on this after school.” Puzzled that nothing happened, they quickened their pace and entered the school, agreeing to meet up after to walk home.

After school, Kim and Freya walked to the intermediate school to meet Jackie. Jackie came out with a million questions as soon as they were alone as a group. Mostly the same questions Freya had asked earlier. Kim filled her in as they headed towards the water. Kensington Intermediate School was only a couple block from Rocky River Park through the winding neighborhood sometimes called Tangletown by the locals. This was one of the wealthier areas, being nearest to the water, and the girls were a little jealous of their classmates who lived over here, though now that jealousy extended to physical proximity to the lake. They descended the stairs into the park and stashed their backpacks in some bushes by the water on the end of the short beach away from prying eyes.

Kim let everyone know that she had planned ahead and had a couple towels in her backpack that she ‘borrowed’ from the gym locker room.

“Ok, how does this work?” asked Freya. Jackie was quiet and being a little standoffish.

“It really couldn’t be easier. You just get in the water and wait ten seconds. I suggest you take a deep breath and dive in so that when the tail comes, you aren’t stranded half in the water and half on the beach. I never asked you, but you can swim, right? Like, normally, without a tail?”

“Duh.”

“Jeez, OK, just asking. Dive in, tread water when you come up and then it will be there. I’ll go out and wait just in case.”

“Just in case what?”

“Well, you’ve only just changed this morning and we don’t know why or how. What if it didn’t stick?”

Neither of the other girls had thought about that and a new anxiety hit them.

“Ok.” Freya started, nervously, “You go in first. I want to see it happen again anyway.”

Kim waded in up to her chest and after a few more seconds she quickly changed and moved a little further out to make up for her longer tail.

“Should I take some clothes off, just in case?”

“Just jump in. It’s still hot out and the water’s warm. Come on, 1 2 3 go!”

Freya mentally and physically took the plunge, awkwardly diving towards Kim. She surfaced right in front of her and treaded water for the few seconds it took to change. She felt the tingles and then was suddenly overcome with a new feeling. A second before, she had been out of place, struggling to stay above water in wet clothes and now she was completely in her element. She looked down and saw her tail swishing below her in the water and laughed maniacally. She didn’t know how else to react. It seemed crazy but also somehow “right”.

“You got this? You can stay upright while we get Jackie in?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Freya took stock of the situation and realized that she was fine. She yelled to shore, “Do it! It’s amazing!”

Jackie looked nervously around, but strode into the water a few feet before freezing up. She tentatively took a few more steps up to her waist while the other to encouraged her to jump but the ten seconds had gone by and she transformed in just enough water to make it happen, her tail sticking out behind her with not enough water to keep it under. Kim and Freya rushed forward and grabbed her arms, pulling her further out. Once they were safely far enough out, Jackie finally internalized what had just happened and laughed the way Freya had. How had she been nervous? This was the most natural thing in the world. The three held hands in a circle and Kim said, “OK, I’ll take it slow. Take a deep breath and follow me. Do what I do.” The first lesson was under way.

Kim Kicked slowly and watched with amusement as both girls kicked too hard and shot past her, one on each side. She caught up as they glided to a stop and motioned to surface. The girls poked their heads above water to find Kim laughing. “I told you you would be fast” she said between chuckles. Grab another breath and let’s do it again.”

Before she could dive down, Jackie asked, “When you say to take a breath, how long is that good for? I could hold my breath for almost a minute when I had swim classes.”

“I’m not sure, I haven’t maxed out yet but I know I’ve been down for at least fifteen minutes in the lake and I’m close to an hour in the tub.”

“An hour?! That’s certainly different!”

“At least fifteen for now for you guys, I’ve gotten better at it.. We should see sometime. Not today, though. I suppose we need a waterproof watch. Just follow me, I’ll go slow and we can come up again in a few minutes to choose what to do next.”

The girls went back under and Kim led them around the areas that she knew well. After checking out the sunken motor boat, they headed a little further out and then surfaced. Kim told them it was best if they try to stay as low in the water as possible when surfaced to not attract attention.

The gathered in a circle to talk.

Freya asked the first new question. “How far have you gone?”

“Not really that far, other than the time I accidentally got out past where I could see land. I’ve been alone and it’s been a little scary doing this by myself. Finding my way hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be but it’s not like I have a built in GPS.”

“When you went really fast, how fast do you thing that was?”

“No clue. Fast, though, probably faster than most boats.”

The girls had drifted a little bit. Lake Erie has a moderate current moving from west to east as the water from the more northern lakes drains into it on the west end and then drains out of it on the eastern end, going over Niagara Falls before emptying into Lake Ontario and then out to sea via the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

Kim turned the girls around to face the shore. They were near Huntington Beach and it was just before the last day of summer. Some of the trees that start to turn colors earliest were just beginning to make that change, with ash and maple just starting to show shades of yellow and red on the tips of some branches while the trees that were still green had that dark, rich, late summer green. It was still warm but change was in the air.

“It sure is pretty.” Said Freya.

“What is?”

“All of it!” Freya was slightly overcome by it. It was sensory overload. It reminded her of seeing the total eclipse back in April.

“Yeah,” Jackie agreed, “I think I’ll remember this day.”

Kim didn’t want to bring the mood down but someone had to be responsible. “Guys, I think we need to get back. We’ve all got homework and I don’t want our parents asking where we were. I’m already sort of lying and I don’t want to do that more than I have to.” Everyone reluctantly agreed and followed Kim as she headed slowly east to where they left their things.

“Everyone wait here for a second,” Kim said, “I want to do something before we all get out. Kim pulled herself up on the sand after looking around for unwanted visitors and reached into her backpack before sliding back down the beach and back into the water.

“What did you get?” Jackie asked.

“Dad’s old digital camera. The waterproof one he wanted to buy for vacations and then used like twice. I don’t want to risk bringing my phone in the water.”

“Ha, mom was so mad at him for buying that camera!”

“I want to commemorate the day.” Kim put the camera on the most convenient rock and set the self-timer. They took four photos in different poses but they couldn’t figure out how to get their tails in the shot while treading water.

“We’ll know what we did today, but there isn’t anything showing what we are in case someone sees them. “l’ll send you guys copies when I download them.”

Kim helped them get back on shore and then they all helped each other dry off. Once they turned back, they headed home, giddy and holding hands having bonded in a way that very few people could ever experience.

“Once we get good at this, we should take a longer swim before it gets cold.” Said Freya.

“Like where?”

“Cedar Point! If we are as fast as you say, we could get there without a car and go whenever we want!”

Kim and Jackie looked at her like she had just had the best idea in the world. The rest of the trip back was filled with planning for the next time they could get a whole day together.

The next few days were filled with short swims and long evenings of homework. During their afternoon swims, they worked on speed, occasionally shifting into whatever the mode was that created the super-speed but they actually found it a little frightening and were taking it easy to get used to it slowly.

Freya was in charge of figuring out the best dates and times for the proposed trip to Cedar Point. The huge amusement/theme park stuck out into the western basin of Lake Erie. The peninsula that houses the park had tons of coastline and they needed to scope it out to figure where they could come ashore unseen. Freya was studying it on google earth to look for good spots.

In the meantime, Kim was spending some time on her own trying to get her power to work again. She finally found that it worked best when she wasn’t trying too hard. Almost like trying to move a muscle you didn’t know you had. After a couple days, she was getting decent at it and could move relatively large amounts around without dropping it and was even able to get it to come out of a glass and into her mouth without spilling any. Her hand position seemed to have a lot to do with it and she narrowed it down to sort of a twisting motion, like opening a sideways jar.

Having the most experience, she considered it her responsibility to figure these things out to teach the others, though she had to admit that they were catching up fast.

Kim was also spending some of that time on the internet doing more research.

Freya identified a day two weeks out that seemed to work best for their maiden voyage. It would be early October and the weather was likely to still be good. Most of their respective families had obligations that Saturday, either sports or social functions and they would be left to their own devices without much interference. They planned to leave very early to get the most time on the rides, plus they didn’t really know how long it would take. It was about 45 miles and Jackie’s best estimate was that it should take somewhere between an hour and ninety minutes but they still hadn’t truly measured their top speed. Jackie found their dad’s old Casio watch and planned on taking it to get a better idea.

The girls were nervous but excited about their upcoming adventure. They had scraped up enough money for their park tickets but didn’t have a lot left for food and none for any sort of ride home if swimming wasn’t an option due to fatigue or if someone wasn’t feeling well. This was an all-in proposition. Their plans were made and they couldn’t wait to have an adventure.

Chapter Text

The Monday before their trip, Freya got a call that she wasn’t expecting.

Freya, it’s for you!” her mother called. Freya grabbed the house phone and answered.

“Freya, hey it’s Cole.”

Freya had almost forgotten about Cole and Reed’s interest in the mermaid, of which there were now three including herself…

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I was just wondering if you’d heard anything. I figure you’re a little more in tune than the news.”

“Um, well, I don’t think there have been any more sightings.” Freya felt the need to throw them off the trail. “The more I look at that picture, the more I think we just drew Jackie. I don’t know if we can trust that it’s accurate.”

“I don’t know, it really did look like who we saw.”

“But no tail.”

“Yeah, no tail. I really felt like we were on to something. It was just too weird.”

“I’m sorry she hasn’t shown up again. Maybe it really was just a hoax.”

“Man, this doesn’t sound like the Freya I went to school with. I thought you’d be out on the water looking for her.” Freya almost laughed about the “being out on the water” comment but held it together.

“I guess I just don’t want to get my hopes up and then be wrong.”

“I get it, but I’d still like to look for her. Do you guys want to meet us this week to go over everything again? Your library this time. I’ll buy ice cream after…”

Freya was letting her nerves get to her. She knew there wasn’t any real possibility of them finding out about her or her friends, but she was being paranoid and it felt like saying “no” would make her look guilty.

“Yeah, sure. That sounds like fun.”

“Wednesday after school?”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll let Reed know and we’ll see you there.”

The two exchanged good byes and hung up. Freya paced for a minute and then took off for the Callahan’s house.

“Why would you agree to that?” Asked Jackie.

“I don’t know. It seemed safer to know what they know. Plus, I felt like I would look guilty if I said no.”

“Guilty of what? You aren’t even the mermaid they’re looking for.”

“I don’t know! I panicked. But it’s not a big deal. I mean, we aren’t going to sprout tails in the library. We’ll just see what they think and maybe redirect them if they are too close. Plus, they are kind of cute.”

“Oh my god, is that why? Is this a crush?” Jackie teased.

“NO! So maybe they are cute, it doesn’t hurt to have a cute boy around.”

Jackie laughed. It would be fun watching Freya be a little embarrassed, so maybe this could be interesting. “Fine. When?”

“Wednesday after school at the library – ours this time.”

“Should we bring my sister to freak them out.”

“Oh my god, no. I’m trying to calm them down, not give Kim another chance to show herself.”

“I’m just kidding, of course we shouldn’t.”

Kim was just starting to feel ready to try to properly show the others her ability when Jackie told her about meeting Cole and Reed.

“Well, I’m not going.”

“No kidding. But you might have to face them eventually, I think Freya likes Cole a little.”

“Ugh. Boys. OK, you guys go and have fun. I’ve been working on that whole moving water thing and I think I have it figured out. Do you want to go get Freya and I can show you?

“Really? Cool! Yeah, hold on and I’ll go get her.”

The girls gathered in Kim’s room with some cups of water lined up on her dresser. Kim jumped right in with a demonstration after a short description of what she was doing.

“Ok. It took me a while to get it to happen again and then it took more time before I figured out what I was doing. I don’t know why, but hand position seems to be important but you also have to be thinking about what you intend to do. It’s kind of like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. You might not know how to make it work at first.”

Kim reached out with her hand in the position that she had practiced while using her mind to visualize what she wanted. The girls watched as Kim brought the entire contents of one cup up into the air and suspended it there, slowly moving it from one shape to another while it floated. Freya had an amazed look on her face while Jackie seemed to be intently studying how Kim was doing it. Kim dropped the water back into the cup and then brought a small amount of it back up into a ball and hit Jackie right in the face with it. Kim smirked and Jackie took a step back in surprise before hitting Kim in the arm while Freya laughed.

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist.”

“Fine. I’ll get you back.”

“I’m sure you will!”

“Ok,” Freya interjected, “my turn to try.”

Freya stepped up to one of the cups and mimicked Kim’s motions, clearly concentrating hard with her tongue slightly sticking out of the corner of her mouth. Her first attempt yielded no results. Kim encouraged her to try again, and she took several more tries at it before becoming disappointed. Kim tried to be kind about it not working but she wasn’t sure how to make her see the connection in her mind that had to happen.

“I must be doing it wrong. Show me again.”

Kim gathered up another golf ball sized blob of water and started moving it towards Freya. Fearing that Kim would do the same think she did to her sister, Freya threw her hand up to block the water and the blob instantly froze. In surprise, Kim dropped it and it landed on the carpet with a soft thud. Freya picked it up, examining it while the other gathered around.

“Did I do that?”

“Well, I didn’t. I figured you would have the same ability as me. I didn’t think there would be different powers. What did you do? Do you remember?”

“I just put my hand up in sort of a ‘stop’ motion. I didn’t think about freezing, only something to make it stop.”

With that, she duplicated the motion while aiming at one of the cups and it immediately froze solid.

“Wow. Ok. I guess that’s what I do.” She said with a surprised look on her face. She froze the remaining cups and then took them into the bathroom to refill.

Jackie was getting nervous; she didn’t want to look silly in front of everyone. Freya came back with fresh glasses of water and Jackie stood in front of them staring. After a minute, Freya asked “Um, are you going to try this sometime soon?”  Jackie glared at her and then reached a hand out trying to do what Kim did. Kim showed her the hand position again and Jackie tried several times before feeling like nothing was happening.

“Are you focusing on what you want to happen?”

“I think so. I’m trying.”

“Maybe try Freya’s thing…”

“OK.”

Jackie changed her hand position and tried freezing, again with no luck. Another dozen attempts at both had no result and Jackie was getting frustrated and tired from concentrating.

“You wanna take a break?” Kim asked.

“Yeah. Let’s just do something else.”

“Sure. No pressure. We’ll figure it out.” The girls switched to reviewing their Cedar Point plans with Jackie feeling disappointed.

Chapter Text

Wednesday rolled around and Freya walked to Jackie’s school to meet her so they could go to the library together. She didn’t want to meet the boys alone.

They got to the library just after Cole and Reed and they headed to a quiet table without anyone around. Freya and the boys gossiped for a few minutes about some Lakewood people that Freya knew. Jackie felt a little left out but was pleased to have a topic to distract them from the reason they were there in the first place.

After a while, Cole got around to it. “So, nothing else about any sightings from your end?”

“No,” Freya replied, “The internet seems to have moved onto other things. I think we may have to accept that it was either a hoax or something else.”

“I’m telling you, though, the girl who swam up to us wasn’t normal. I mean, she looked normal, but I don’t know any kids our age who just swim in Rocky River. It’s also weird that she swam away really fast underwater and we only saw her come up once and didn’t see her again. Plus, there’s kind of a strong current there and she just treaded water in front of us like it was no big deal.”

Freya realized that Cole had clearly been thinking about the event. He had way more to say about it than the first time they talked and she admitted to herself that the way he described it made it seem pretty odd. “Well, I mean, that does sound a bit off, but whatever that was at Lakewood Park didn’t seem to be shy about showing a tail and this girl didn’t show one, right?”

“Yeah, no. No tail.” Reed added. “What if both things are true?”

“What, like your girl was real but the jumping mermaid wasn’t?”

“Exactly.”

“Doesn’t that seem unlikely?”

“Doesn’t the idea of a mermaid at all seem unlikely?”

Despite herself, Freya laughed out loud earning a disapproving look from an older patron at another table.

“Yeah, I guess so. But even so, what do you want to do about it? It’s not like we can just swim out into the lake or river and hope that we randomly come across her. I’m certainly not putting posters up with our drawing saying “Have you seen this mermaid? If so, email me at [email protected]”.  It’s not like I didn’t catch enough crap about this stuff.”

The four sat quietly for a while as they contemplated this.

Reed broke the silence. “I know you’re right but I’m going to do some extra stuff to increase the odds. I’ve been spending more time along the lake and we have a friend with a Sunfish that we can probably take out.”

“What’s a sunfish?”

“It’s like a really small sailboat. We used them one summer when we went to camp. It’s, like, the kind of sailboat you learn in. They’re fun.”

“Reed, it’s a really big lake. Even if Lakewood has its own local mermaid, finding her would be like a needle in a haystack. What if she is real but she was just passing through?”

“Just passing through?”

“Yeah, what if she just stopped in while she heads out to the Atlantic. You can basically swim from here out to the ocean. Maybe she just popped in for a burger at Bearden’s.”

The whole group was amused at the idea of a mermaid coming ashore just to grab food at a local restaurant.

“Yeah, Bearden’s and then over to Mitchell’s for dessert.” Jackie suggested, speaking up for the first time. “Speaking of which, Freya said there was talk of ice cream after this?”

Cole Chuckled. “Yeah, since it came up, Mitchell’s is just a couple blocks up, right?”

“Yep. And I’m hungry!” Freya noticed, as she said that, that she seemed to be hungry a lot lately. She needed to ask the others about that.

The group talked for a little longer with Jackie now chiming in, trying to talk Reed out of attempting to search Lake Erie in the world’s smallest sailboat, not really nervous of being seen but more just hating to see someone waste their time, especially since he was telling his plans to the exact same mermaids that he would be looking for.

“Even so,” Reed continued, “I liked it at camp and I’ve been meaning to do it more so it’s at least a good excuse to go out on the lake before it gets cold.”

“Ok. Just let us know when you go so someone can let the coast guard know if you don’t come back. And wear life jackets!”

“We will. Come on, ice cream is on me, I snuck a twenty out of my dad’s emergency stash.”

“Reed, you delinquent!” Jackie exclaimed.

Freya watched this exchange and hoped that Jackie didn’t develop a thing for bad boys…

On the way to get ice cream, Freya teased Jackie about whether she “liked” Reed and Jackie acted offended, making Freya want to tease her more.

Both the girls and Reed ordered various flavors of ice cream but Cole got a chocolate shake. They picked an outdoor table and sat down. Freya kicked Jackie and shifted her eyes towards Reed. Jackie blushed and kicked her back under the table. Freya did this a couple more times until Jackie was starting to get extremely embarrassed. Jackie was trying not to be visibly upset about her embarrassment so she found herself gripping the edge of the table with an almost claw-like grip so as not to gesture too much. Suddenly, Cole’s milkshake started to bubble and when he reached down to pick it up, he yelled, “Ow! It’s hot!” and dropped it on the ground next to the table. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy and he said, “Seriously, it was hot. Like, too hot to hold!” The other three looked at him with confusion and he reached down into the mess on the ground and touched the liquid. “It’s still warm. Check it out.” The other three came around the table and kneeled down, each touching it.

“It’s warm.” Said Reed.

“Not as hot as it was but it’s still warm.”

“The cement’s hot, maybe it just warmed up when it hit the ground.”

“In the 30 seconds it took for you to come touch it?”

“Weird,” said Freya, “Jackie would you come clean up with me? I’m sticky, now. Reed, why don’t you get another one. If you tell them you spilled it, they’ll give you another one. Come on Jackie.”

Freya pulled Jackie by the hand, rushing her inside. Once in the bathroom, she quickly asked, “Did you do that?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were gripping the table and your knuckles were white. I’m sorry I was teasing but do that again, over here, in the sink.”

Freya filled the sink with a small amount of water and Jackie held her hand out in sort of a claw configuration and focused on the water which rapidly began to boil and steam. Jackie put her hand down and stared at Freya. Freya was smiling broadly. “You found it! You found your power!” Jackie smiled, nervous but happy to not have been the odd mermaid out. “Let’s figure this out more after we get back to your house.” There was knock on the door and the girls finished drying their hands and got out before they got hollered at.

Walking back outside, they found that Cole had a new shake and was staring at the mess on the ground.

“Oh good, they gave you another one.” Said Freya.

“Yeah, but I don’t understand what happened. The first sip was cold and then that happened.”

“I don’t know. It had to me some sort of fluke. Hey, we need to be getting back. I’m supposed to work on homework with Jackie’s sister, she’s in my grade. It’s cool they gave you a new shake.”

Reed also didn’t really believe Cole, at least not that it was too hot to touch.

The boys said their good byes and promised to text Jackie if they were going to take the boat out and both groups left, the boys biking back to Lakewood while the girls walked back to Jackie’s house, excitedly discussing the new ability on the way.

The girls got home and ran up to Kim’s room, pulling her into the bathroom to duplicate the experiment.

“Watch this,” Freya exclaimed while Jackie filled the sink, “it’s so cool.”

Jackie reached out and clenched her fingers into a claw shape and rapidly boiled the water in the sink until it was empty. They felt the porcelain and it was hot to the touch.

“Oh my god.” Kim was excited. “You got yours. So Cool!”

“Hot, actually!” Freya joked.

“How did you discover it?”

“I accidentally melted Cole’s milkshake at Mitchell’s.”

“Holy cow. What did he think happened?”

“He had no idea and he was very confused.”

“Well, I’m glad you found it. Let’s go out to the garage and practice before we do homework.” They spent a half hour doing that before going to work on homework, all three excited to have extraordinary abilities.

Chapter Text

Their big trip to Cedar Point was coming up on Saturday and the girls were spending a lot of time prepping for it. Picking outfits and figuring out a system to bring some things with them. They couldn’t have a backpack or anything on when they changed or it would disappear to wherever their clothes magically went to. The settled on putting phones and other essentials in ziplock bags. “That’s how Renée takes her phone into the shower,” quipped Jackie, “I swear if she lost her phone she would shrivel up and die.” They then planned to put their items into a backpack, throw it in the water first, and then put it back on after they changed.

“I have no idea how this will affect swimming,” Kim interjected, “I figure it will slow us down but I don’t know how much.”

“We’ll take turns.” Jackie declared.

“What about swim suits?” Freya asked.

“Well, I don’t think we should go on any water rides so I wasn’t going to bring one.”

Freya looked around nervously. “We’ve been swimming topless all this time but we’ve been staying away from people. Other than Kim, I guess.”

Kim rolled her eyes.

“It’s just that we are heading to a place that will have thousands of people and it’s still warm so the beach will be crowded. I’m just nervous.”

Jackie nodded, seeming to understand Freya’s concern. Kim didn’t really care. Much like her attempts at revealing herself as a mermaid, she sort of liked the idea of being topless, it added to the illicit thrill of being a secret mythological being. She wasn’t going to make anyone feel bad, though.

“I’m fine not wearing one but I totally understand if you want to. Just throw it in the backpack and put it on after you change. But I do want to say that part of my thrill is how, I’m not sure how to put it, elemental… the experience is. I love the direct contact with the water. I’ll throw a top in just in case but I’m hoping not to have to use it.”

“Fair enough.” Freya was glad that she expressed herself but she saw what Kim meant. There was something about being out there that was primal.

Saturday started out bright and warm. The whole first part of fall had been unseasonably warm. Cedar Point would be relatively busy for early October.

The girls had created excuses in advance for leaving the house early and they met up just 15 minutes after sunrise. They walked excitedly down to the beach and began their preparations. Kim threw her now full backpack off the end of the breakwall and the all three held hands and jumped in after it. Kim grabbed it and started opening it to hand Freya her top but Freya held her hand up. “Not yet. Maybe when we get closer. I thought about what you said. And I thought about all the crap women have to go through in this world and maybe our little mermaid corner of the world can be more female-positive.”

Kim and Jackie nodded along and Jackie hugged Freya. “I hadn’t thought about that. I guess we’re making a political statement.” Kim jumped in, “Just to ourselves, thankfully, or unfortunately, depending on your view. Everybody ready?” Everyone nodded in assent.

Kim zipped up the backpack and put it on, cinching it up. “Ok, we’re off. Keep the shore to your left and try to go in a straight line after we pass Avon so we don’t swim farther than we have to. And keep together. I’ll let you know when I’m getting tired if the backpack slows me down and we can trade. Wait, Jackie, get the watch out of the backpack and put it on. It’s in the outside zipper pocket. Let’s time this.”

Jackie put the watch on and told everyone the starting time. With that, they were off.

The three started off slowly, letting Kim get used to the backpack. Kim signaled to go up after about 10 minutes.

“How’s the pack?” asked Jackie.

“It’s actually fine. I want to tighten it up a little more so it doesn’t rub my back raw but it doesn’t slow me down that much. Let’s do this. The backpack person swims in the lead and sets the pace, that way we don’t have to stop and check in on each other all the time.” Kim pulled harder on the straps and then motioned to get started again. This time she stepped up the pace and increased it a few times until they got to what they’d started calling “super-speed” mode. At this pace, the trip was going to be just as short as they hoped. Kim called for a stop about halfway there. The girls got one phone out of the backpack and fired up google maps confirming they were past the half way point.

“How are you feeling?” Freya asked.

“A little tired but I think I could have gone the whole way. You guys?”

“Fresh as a daisy.” Jackie answered with Freya agreeing. “I’ll take it for a while.” Kim gave it to Jackie and put the phone back and zipped it up. “Ok, let’s go!”

Jackie actually set a faster pace than Kim and the girls found that they had covered the 45 miles in about a half hour.

“Oh my god, that’s amazing!” Freya nearly shouted when they arrived at the tip of the peninsula near the lighthouse. That was like, what, 65 miles an hour?”

“Hang on. I think it’s more. Let me get a phone out of the backpack, Jackie.” Kim struggled through the zip lock bag and redid her calculations a couple times shaking her head. “Guys, if my math is right, that’s 90 miles per hour. Including the two stops. That can’t be right.” Kim googled it this time and got the same answer. “That means we must have been hitting 100 for at least part of that.” Everyone stared at each other in disbelief.

“Um, guys, I think that means the park isn’t even open yet.” Jackie was wondering if anyone had done that research.

They hadn’t.

“Jackie, what time did we leave?” Kim asked.

“8:17”

“And we got here at what time?”

“8:47. It was exactly 30 minutes.”

“Hang on, let me google it.” Kim fiddled with the phone some more before declaring: “It opens at 11. Looks like we have some time to kill.” All three laughed. They had been worried about missing out on ride time not realizing how fast “super-speed” really was.

They had planned in advance to use the marina on the west side to get out and dry off since that was close to the gate and away from the beaches so they decided to explore the shallower area west of the point for a while before getting out and into the line. The lake was decidedly warmer in the shallow western basin but it didn’t seem to make a difference to the girls. Before they headed in to the marina, Jackie wanted to talk for a bit.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you guys, are you hungry all the time? I’ve been starving ever since that night.”

“Oh my god, I thought it was just me!” Freya nearly shouted.

“I guess so.” Kim added. “Now that you say it, yeah, I’ve been eating tons. I’m guessing something about this increases our metabolism. How about temperature? I’m never cold anymore.”

“Same.” Jackie replied. “Like, in the water I don’t even feel it, but even with legs, I don’t think I’m feeling the cold much. Winter might be interesting when mom makes me wear a coat if I don’t need one.”

Freya became excited. “Kim, do you think we change in snow?”

“I have no idea! I guess we’ll have to try it out on the first big snow.”

Freya’s mind was racing now. “What about winter swimming? If we eat all this food to keep warm in the water, how cold can it be before we don’t like it?”

“I don’t know that either. I’m almost as new to this as you guys. But I guess there is only one way to find out. Imagine swimming under the ice when the lake freezes over. It sounds scary but fun.”

With lots of questions to ponder, the girls decided to get on land and get in line for tickets.

“Ugh!” Jackie proclaimed after changing and then picking up the backpack. “I didn’t think about the fact that the backpack would be all wet. Do they make waterproof backpacks?” No one knew and they decided to look into it later.

The girls got their money out and got in the surprisingly short line for tickets and walked into the park heading right for the biggest, baddest roller coaster they could find.

Having ridden as many rides as they could and having spent the rest of their money on expensive theme park food, the girls decided to call it quits around 6pm so there would still be light for the swim home. They made their way back to the marina and double checked the backpack before throwing it in and diving in after it. Once in the water, Freya grabbed it for her turn wearing it and it was clear that the speed at which they’d traveled to the park had taken its toll on the pack. Some of the seams were fraying and it was harder to tighten up once on her back. They decided to slow the pace and enjoy a little sightseeing on the way home. The hugged the shore a bit tighter and stopped occasionally to look at the cute rental cabins that dot the shore east of Sandusky before you get back to the Cleveland metropolitan area.

“How cool would it be to rent one of these for a week?” Freya asked rhetorically. “We could just walk out of the front door right into the lake.”

However, their slow pace was leading them into twilight and they soon figured out that they might be getting home in the dark. Kim had done lots of night swims but the other two hadn’t and were nervous. Kim led them further out in the lake away from the boats that crowded the shore and the two younger mermaids got in a tight formation with her to keep her in sight as they made a beeline back to Rocky River.

Upon reaching the Wagar Park and transitioning back, the girls decided that more night time swimming experience was needed. As they walked back, still buzzing from their very independent trip to Cedar Point, they talked about how big a deal a trip like that actually was and they were all a little in awe of their new talents. Exhausted from over a hundred miles of swimming and a full day at an amusement park, they each headed home for an early bed. But when Freya got home, she found a post-it on her door with a message to call Cole. Freya called back before she was too tired to talk.

“Hey, Cole.” What’s up?”

“Hey. I just wanted to let you know that Reed and I are taking the Sunfish out tomorrow. Mostly for fun but we’ll look for mermaid signs while we are out there.”

Freya chuckled out loud. “Mermaid signs? What would that be?”

“You know what I mean. We’ll just keep an eye out.”

“How’s the weather, tomorrow? It looks like it’s clouding up tonight.”

“It might rain but it’s supposed to be warm.”

“Ok, well we made you promise to tell us just in case, so when are you going out?”

“Eleven. Just for a few hours. He has it at the marina down on the river, by where we saw her.”

“Good luck, I guess. I doubt you’ll find her but at least have a good time sailing.”

“Thanks, let me know if you ever want to go out on it.”

“Um… Probably not. Boats aren’t really my thing. But thanks for asking!”

“Ok. I’ll let you know if we find anything.”

“Cool. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Freya hung up and decided to let the other two know before bed. Mrs. Callahan let her in and she went up to Kim’s room.

“Where’s Jackie?”

“Washing up, hopefully not in a fishy way, I’d like a turn yet before bed. Why? What’s up?”

“Cole and Reed are taking that tiny boat out tomorrow to look for you. Us. Whatever. I don’t think Reed has sailed since camp last year and a Sunfish is tiny. I’m a little worried about them.”

“I thought he was supposed to be good with it?”

“Sure, of course he’d say that.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“I don’t know, I guess I just don’t want them to be in any danger because of us. Maybe we should keep an eye on them.”

“So you’re suggesting we go hang around the guys that are out there looking specifically for us?”

“I know, it sounds sort of crazy, but I’m just nervous for them.”

“Well, they aren’t going very far in a Sunfish, maybe you can just watch from the shore and call it in if they go under. I know they said they had life jackets.”

“Yeah, that’s actually a good plan. They’re going at eleven. I’ll just keep an eye on them.”

“Ok. I’ll let Jackie know and you fill us in when they get back.”

Freya went home and everyone went to sleep early, exhausted from the big adventure.

Chapter Text

The next day found Kim starting to share Freya’s concern. Unlike the other two, it was actually Kim’s fault that the boys were doing this. Kim decided to ignore her own advice and take a more active role in watching over them. Without telling the others, Kim left early and hung out in the river, just out of sight of Cole and Reed getting the boat ready. As it headed out, she tailed it from underneath, briefly noticing Freya on the shore where the river emptied into the lake. The boys also saw Freya and waved excitedly, not having expected to see her. Unfortunately, having an audience made Reed a little bolder than he would have been given his experience level. After maneuvering around near the river mouth, Reed turned west and headed down the shore. Kim was floating just out of sight behind them getting more worried. The weather had started kicking up and while the waves weren’t big yet, they were starting to whitecap and it looked like the boys were struggling a little. With the strong winds, the little boat was making good time, but it would a long slog back heading upwind, requiring lots of tacking. As the boys passed Rocky River Park, Kim’s worry increased. The waves were getting bigger and it looked like Reed had tried to turn around a couple times but heeled over pretty hard and gave up on the attempt. He didn’t really have the experience for the heavier weather. She could hear a more panicked edge to the voices coming from the Sunfish and Freya was way too far out of sight to call for help.
By this time, the waves were starting to wash over the deck of the little boat and it was clear that they were seriously getting into trouble. Kim started to try to plan what she was going to do. The boat was now well past Wagar Beach and nearing Bradstreet Landing and that’s when the first really big wave hit them. Kim watched as Cole grasped for one of the lines on the mast, barely holding on before the next wave came and again almost washed him overboard. Kim didn’t see a lot of options. The boys were easily a hundred yards off the shore, and heading further out as they had clearly lost either the ability or skill to deal with the weather. Over a hundred yards is a challenging swim in what were now three-to-five-foot seas.
Kim made up her mind. She was going to swim up under the boat and try to push it, unseen, back towards shore. She ducked back under the waves and was getting close when she saw the first person hit the water with a splash. She popped up and the boat was now listing with what looked like a damaged mast. Reed was hanging off the side and that meant that Cole must be the one all the way in the water. It was now too late to implement her plan. She looked around and Cole was floating but getting inundated with each new wave and they were further from shore than the last time she looked. Rain started coming down and Kim did what she had to do. She dove under and saw Cole’s legs frantically kicking. She swam up to him, and supported him from below while swimming powerfully towards the boat. Cole had no idea what was happening. Something had him but his eyes were stinging from being underwater and he was continually coughing up water. Whoever had him had carried him back to the boat and with a powerful heave, he was pushed up onto the Sunfish. Reed next felt himself being grabbed. Kim gave a kick and Reed was able to scramble the rest of the way up. With both boys back up on the boat, it started moving swiftly back towards shore. Holding on for dear life, both boys looked around to see what was causing this but the boat was slicing through huge waves spraying them in the face while rain beat down around them.
Kim was pretty sure she hadn’t been seen as she powered the boat south towards Bradstreet. After fighting the forces acting on the sail, she finally got the tiny craft close enough to shore and gave a final series of huge kicks, sending the boat hard up against the small beach, with both boys tumbling off the bow onto the sand. Kim hid behind the pylons of the pier and watched to make sure they were Ok. The boys were able to stand and drag the beleaguered boat further up the sand out of the reach of the now impressive waves that were starting to pound against the pier itself. Relieved that she seemed to have gotten away with the rescue without being seen, she dove back down under the violence on the surface and headed back to Wagar, wondering how she would get dry enough to change back in the rain. The storm passed quickly and for the first time, she tried her powers out on herself, acting like a squeegee, wiping most of the water off of her, actually changing back faster than normal.

Kim rushed home, stopping at Freya’s house, who wasn’t back yet. Kim figured she was still at the river waiting to see if they were coming back. She grabbed her bike and pedaled down there as fast as she could. She noticed that even her human legs seemed more powerful than before and she biked faster than she ever had before.
Kim found Freya right where she thought she would be, near the river having hidden from the rain under a picnick table. She quickly filled Freya in on what had happened and they both jumped on their bikes and rushed home. They briefed Jackie who freaked out on Kim for putting them all at risk if she had been seen, but Kim explained how she felt that this was her fault and thus her responsibility and Jackie had to concede that point.
Freya asked, “Did you put either of them in your phone?”
Jackie had done so. “Should we text them? Kim, are you sure they are safe?”
“Yeah, they were up and pulling the boat further onto the shore when I left them. No idea if their phones survived.”
“How do I text them without seeming like we know something happened?”
“Just ask them how their search went. They would be expecting that anyway.”
“What do they think happened to them? Do they understand that they were rescued?”
“I don’t think they saw me but I can’t be sure. They definitely know that someone or something grabbed them and saved them. I don’t see how they don’t at least consider that it was “me” even if they don’t know who “me” is. We might as well find out now and get the stress over with. Go ahead and text them.”

Jackie put them all in a group text:
Jackie - Hey, how did the sail go? It got pretty rainy
…
…
…
Cole - Not great. Boat is broken. Our friend’s dad is coming down to pick us up
Jackie – What!? Where are you?
Cole – Bradstreet. We got blown way down the shore. Gotta go, he’s here with the trailer. Something else happened. Can I call you guys later? We need to talk
Jackie – Of course, call when you get a chance

Freya and Kim were following along on Kim’s phone, a terrified look coming over all their faces. Kim spoke first. “Stupid boys, always having to prove something.”
Jackie pushed back. “That may be true, but it’s not like they would have been out there if not for you.” She immediately felt bad about how she said that.
“I know. That’s why I went out there. I know it was my fault, but they didn’t have to be so reckless.”
Freya nodded to both points before speaking up. “Hey, they still have no idea about us. They might have more reason to believe in mermaids but there’s still nothing to suggest it was one of us. I think we can manage to stay safe.”
“Well, I don’t think they are going out sailing again any time soon!”
There was a long pause as Kim had an expression on her face that the others couldn’t quite read.
“What?” Jackie asked. “What’s that face. Why do you look guilty?”
“I haven’t been all the way honest with you guys. Not that I’ve lied, but I’ve been dealing with some weird thoughts.”
Both of the other just waited for more from Kim.
“I’ve been having, I don’t know what you’d call them, maybe urges? It’s not as bad now that I have you two but it’s still there.”
“What is?”
“A weird desire to be seen. You know, as a mermaid. It got overwhelming. The thing with the boys fishing, the Lakewood Park stunt. And there was another time that I never talked about.”
Kim went on to describe her encounter with Charlie.
“Shit, Kim. What the actual?”
Neither Kim nor Freya had heard Jackie swear before and it was a little startling.
Freya looked around before speaking. “Um. I kind of get it. I’m not saying that I’ve done anything but after believing people like us existed for years, not being able to scream that I was right to everyone I know is really hard.”
Jackie sighed. “If I’m being truthful, I’ve felt it. At the marina at Cedar Point I wondered what would happen if there was someone in a boat near where we got in and out of the water. There was a thrill to the idea, but Kim, you’ve actually done it. I mean, technically, there’s video of you all over the internet, even if no one would ever know it was you.” There was a long pause. “Do we need to worry about each other? We all have to take care of each other.”
“I’ve been so much better since you two joined me. Although, that’s my fault, too.”
Freya smiled broadly. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better than what’s happened to me. I should be thanking you.”
“Thanks, I guess. I’m not sure Jackie feels the same.”
“I’m ok. I’m not thrilled with the idea of not being actually human, but we might never have gotten closer as sisters if this hadn’t happened so it may be a mixed blessing but it’s still a blessing.”
“Ok. Then there’s something else that I need to tell you.”
“Jesus, Kim, is it even worse?”
“No, not worse, but interesting. I don’t think we’re alone.”
“What?”
“Before you guys rescued me in the thunderstorm, I had started doing some internet research and I think I found something.”
Kim went on to recount the story of the odd reddit posts from Seattle.
“Did you choose Seattle to look at because of me?”
“Yeah, I figured your story meant a better chance there.”
“So you believed me?”
“Of course, I mean, you’ve seen my tail, right?”
Everyone laughed.
“Ok.” Jackie was in the mood to plan. “Let’s set all this aside, unless there’s something else you’ve been hiding?”
“No, that’s it.”
“Well, then I think we should do two things. One, try to keep Cole and Reed on less adventurous path, which probably means keeping closer tabs on them to try to diffuse their excitement. And two, Kim, tell us all what your research has come up with and all three of us need to be attacking that with more effort. If there are other mermaids out there, we could get so many of our questions answered. This is big news. I’d get on a bus to Seattle right now if it meant learning more about us.” Kim rolled her eyes. Jackie wasn’t the type to run away, even for something like this, but she understood the feeling. Kim gave them all her mermaid socials and they spent the rest of the afternoon creating additional personas for the others to start their own research.
As the group broke up for dinner at their respective houses. Freya made them promise to get them if they heard from Cole or Reed. Then Jackie got a gleam in her eye and turned to Kim. “I have to ask, when you told the girl, Charlie, how did she react?”
“She lit up like a Christmas tree! I feel guilty that I won’t ever see her again. I did to her what those girls did to Freya in Washington except even worse.”
“How did it feel? When you did it?”
“Honestly? Amazing. I’ve never felt anything like it. My stomach was doing flips and I felt like I was floating on a cloud for days.”
“I guess I can see that. I can kind of imagine it. But we need to stay safe, right?”
“Absolutely.”
Freya headed home and Jackie went up to her room. She closed the door and sighed. She was relieved that Kim was having the same feelings that she was now having but didn’t dare admit to. But this meant that she was now admitting it to herself, which made the desire real. She wondered if this came with the territory. Is this why the two in Seattle were so obvious around Freya? Maybe this was the origin of the Sirens. Maybe they wanted to be seen and couldn’t help themselves from singing to the sailors. With more questions than ever before, Jackie put the subject out of her head and did some math homework until she was too tired to stay awake.

Chapter Text

The next day everyone had school and the group chat started to blow up once first period started.

Cole – Meet tonight?

Reed – Yeah, need to talk

Jackie – What happened yesterday?

Reed – Wrecked the Sunfish. It’s fixable but I’m going to be shoveling a lot of snow this winter to pay for it

Jackie – U in trouble?

Reed – Yeah. But I can get to the library

Cole – I don’t think my parents want me in a boat anytime soon lol

Reed – Wait, what’s the 4^th number in this chat?

Jackie suddenly panicked. She hadn’t thought about the fact that Cole and Reed hadn’t really met Kim yet. Her worlds were mixing in a way that she wasn’t keeping up with.

Jackie – That’s my sister. Freya doesn’t have a phone and we were using hers. You can delete that number

Cole – I didn’t know you had a sister

Jackie – 2 actually

Reed – um, back to the thing? Meet tonight? RR library?

Jackie – I’ll get the message to Freya. See you at 4

Reed – K

Cole – I hate when you just type K

Reed – Whatever

The end of school came and everyone headed to the library, including Kim, who was way too curious to see the boys she rescued, both out of guilt and out of a sense of pride over saving them. She didn’t really remember them very well from her first encounter at the river and hid a few tables over to see them come in.

Jackie caught her immediately and shot her a “WTF” look. Kim just shrugged.

All four sat down and Cole leaned in, conspiratorially.

“I hate to say you guys were right, but we totally got in over our heads out there.”

“But why the meeting?”

“It was her. She saved us.”

“Her?”

“You know what I mean,” he lowered his voice to a whisper. “The mermaid.”

“I thought you just wrecked the boat?”

“No, I mean, yeah, but it was way worse than that. We both got washed overboard way out away from the shore. Someone grabbed me and literally put me back on the boat.”

“Yeah,” Reed chimed in “and then me. And then, I’m not sure, she like pushed us or towed us back to Bradstreet. I was hanging on to the side of the boat and I saw arms around Cole as he was put back on the Sunfish, then I felt the arms around me doing the same thing. I could feel the person behind me, like they were pressed right up against me to push me up. No one ever surfaced. There’s no other explanation, unless there happened to be anonymous divers out there in the storm with no boat and who never showed themselves. I didn’t feel any wetsuit or tanks or anything else a diver would have on them.”

“I thought when we were doing the sketch you said she was our age. I know I couldn’t lift you into a boat from the water.”

“I don’t know how either. Maybe mermaids come with super powers.”

The girls looked at them while trying to find the right mixture of facial expressions to seem both shocked and skeptical.

Before anyone could figure out what to say next, someone walked up to the table.

“Hey, Jacqueline, I didn’t know you were here.” Kim smiled at the group while Jackie turned white.

“Um, yeah, just studying.”

“No books?”

“Just getting started.”

Kim was enjoying herself. She hadn’t let the bratty side of herself out in a long time.

“Gonna introduce me?”

“Uh, sure. Reed, Cole, this is my sister Kim.”

“Hey, nice to meet you.”

“You, too.” Reed and Cole replied together. If there was any recognition, it didn’t show on their faces. They were too anxious to get back to their story.

“Well, don’t let me interrupt. You guys study hard. Jackie, I’ll see you at home. Hey Freya, nice to see you again.” Kim walked away and out of the library leaving Jackie just a little confused over what had just happened.

Reed got back to the topic, barely noticing that they had been interrupted.

“Look, we saw the girl in the river, and she was hard to explain away, then there was the Lakewood Park sighting, and now this. She’s out there. Or at least, someone is out there.”

“You guys, looking for her almost got you killed…”

“Probably closer than you think,” Cole interrupted, “I was breathing in water, the waves were huge and I was getting farther from both the boat and the shore. When I say she saved me, I mean it literally, I would be dead if not for her. I was still coughing an hour later.” Reed was nodding along. Jackie gave a look to Freya that said ‘I have no idea what to say to all this’. Freya shrugged; she had no idea either.

“Guys, I know yesterday was crazy. Maybe take a minute and let everything calm down.”

“Yeah, I suppose, but I’m telling you, she’s here. Like, she has to be local, it’s been months and she’s still here.”

“If that’s the case, then she’ll still be here if you take a couple days to recover.”

Freya spoke up. “I understand what you are going through. You know I do, and guess what? No one believed me and all your friends called me the crazy mermaid girl for five years. Take a moment before you subject yourselves to what I went through. Just cool down for a while. If there is a girl swimming around in Lake Erie, it looks like she’ll find you, not the other way around.”

The boys knew what Freya had been through and her words carried weight with them. They could see her point.

“You’re right. I’ll let it sit for a while. It’s not like I’m not grounded anyway. Dad’s really pissed that we have to fix that boat.”

Cole added: “I’m not in serious trouble but I think my parents would like it if Reed and I spent a little time apart outside of school until this blows over. So I need to kind of cool it anyway” Both boys looked very sheepish. “I wish we all went to the same school so we could just talk there.

“Jackie and I don’t even go to the same school. We’re all roughly the same age but Freya’s birthday just crossed the deadline for our grade. We’re stuck using phones for a while, but Freya doesn’t even have one.”

The group chatted a while longer before everyone had to head out for dinner and they said their goodbyes.

The way back to Lakewood took the boys past Mitchell’s ice cream where they coincidentally ran into Jackie’s sister again, walking out with at least a triple scoop of something chocolatey.

“Hey, it’s you two, again.” Done studying already?” Kim asked while eating ice cream.

“Yeah, gotta get back for dinner. Um, is that your dinner?” He pointed to the ice cream.

“Jealous?”

“Yeah, kinda…”

There was a pause while she took a big bite.

“How do you know Jackie?”

“Through Freya. We went to school with her in Lakewood and kind of kept in touch.”

Kim offered a bite to each of them and they politely declined. Kim was struggling. She hadn’t planned on running into them again. The first time was intentional but this was an accident. Her urges were acting up again. Here were the two boys from the river, who were also the two whose lives she had quite literally saved just the day before. It was killing her not to tell them that.

“So, you are the two that Jackie was talking about with the boat? You guys Ok? I mean, I guess so, since you’re right here.” She laughed a little.

“Yeah, that’s us. Kind of embarrassing.”

“Not at all. Lake Erie can be super dangerous. I did a report on it last year. There are some crazy storm stories. Everything turned out ok so that’s what’s important. Good thing you guys could swim, right?”

“Yeah, good thing.” Both boys looked embarrassed.

“Ok, well, I’m glad you’re Ok, I guess I’ll probably see you around?”

“After I’m un-grounded…”

“Good luck with that. Catch ya later, guys.”

“Bye.”

Kim walked the couple blocks back home grinning to herself while finishing her double chocolate chunk. Talking to them had been unbearably exciting. Knowing everything while they clearly didn’t clock her as “their” mermaid was exhilarating. She figured that this was way safer than swimming up to random people. Also, she was genuinely happy to see them alive and well. Talking to them made that seem even better. They were nice. She was glad her sister was hanging around a decent bunch. Plus, they clearly didn’t have a problem with the idea of a mermaid so that was a plus. She had been anxious to find out if her potential identifiers would be friends or enemies and it seemed like the former. She headed home, where she knew Jackie would have words for her.

Kim walked into the kitchen just as her parents were finishing cooking. Somehow, she was still hungry after her ice cream. Jackie was surreptitiously snacking in the background, clearly sharing Kim’s appetite. Jackie shot her a ‘we’ll talk later’ look as they sat down. Their mom dished out food. “Did everyone hear about those boys on the boat yesterday?”

Kim coughed and reached for her water. “I heard something at school. Crazy. I guess they are ok, though.”

“I want you kids to be careful around the lake. I know you like to go down there.”

“It’s not like we have a boat. I think we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah.” Jackie added. “You don’t have to worry about us.”

“The way they’ve been eating, they’ll just float away, anyway.” Renée was looking disgusted at the amount her two sisters were heaping on their plates.

“Renée!” their mom snapped, “You know better, I want to see more kindness around here. Jackie and Kim have been getting along great, you should try it.”

“Yeah, they get along because they’re both weirdos.”

“Mom!” Both the younger sisters complained at the same time.

The bickering went on for a while with Kim and Jackie both delighting in riling Renée up. Eventually, Renée cleared her place and retreated to her room, leaving Kim and Jackie with very satisfied looks on their faces.

The fight with Renée had taken the steam out of Jackie and after dinner she was able to have a calmer discussion with Kim.

“Ok, are you going to tell me what that was all about at the library?”

“Two things, I think. First, I was seriously anxious to see if they would recognize me, which they didn’t, and second, I think my issues reared their head a little.”

“Ya think?”

Kim sighed. “I know, but it turned out Ok.”

It was Jackie’s turn to sigh.

“Hey, it’s getting dark, you wanna go practice night swimming?”

“Absolutely! Should we stop and get Freya?”

“I think she’d kill us if we didn’t.”

This discussion behind them, they collected their neighbor and biked down to Wagar with Jackie a little worried about Kim’s urges and her unspoken doubts about her own ability to control the same thoughts.

Chapter Text

The next full moon was coming up in just over a week and the girls were full of questions that Kim just didn’t have answers for. This being the first full moon for the two younger girls, they were getting nervous.

“What are we going to do?” Freya asked after school while the three floated a mile or so from shore.

“I don’t know. I thought having Jackie protect me last time would do the trick and we see how that worked out. To be fair, she didn’t have all the info that she needed to be effective. But now that she has it, she needs the same help I asked her for.”

“And I don’t have anyone to help me…” Freya was looking stressed out. “I don’t think my sister would do what you tried to do, Jackie. What if we just give in?”

“What do you mean?” Kim asked.

“Just plan on it happening. Go down to the lake and let the moon do its thing while we are ready for it.”

“That’s an interesting idea.” Jackie replied. “Kim?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know if I was clear about this part, but the time I put on my little Sea World show at Lakewood Park, that was a full moon. I thought the effects had faded, but I was still feeling it. And I don’t think I mentioned this part, but before that happened, I climbed up onto the rocks below the lighthouse downtown and just sort of basked in the moonglow, looking like the most basic mermaid ever. It does seem like the effect is strongest at first and fades after a couple hours. It’s sort of like those glow-in-the-dark star stickers.”

Jackie looked a little surprised at this new information. “I thought you were done springing things on us?”

“I can’t remember everything at once. There’s been a lot going on, if you didn’t notice.”

Freya still liked the idea. “What if we do it, but we swim way out, like the middle of the lake, and then let the moon do its thing while we are away from people.”

“I felt like I was lost the last time I did that.”

“Yeah, but we’ve been practicing at night and we can bring a phone.”

“What? Like, who are we going to call if something happens?”

“No, you don’t understand, just for the maps. You can pre-download maps to use if there’s no signal. My dad obsesses about doing it before trips in case we end up in the boondocks somewhere.”

“That could work.” Kim was feeling optimistic. “It sucks that we don’t have someone we can trust who could help us. It’s on a weekday so I don’t think we could do a sleepover. Let’s head back, I’ve got a crazy amount of reading to do for tomorrow.”

The girls swam for home, feeling somewhat excited, if trepidatious about their plan.

Chapter Text

Cole and Reed were have somewhat of an existential crisis. They were sure of what happened but they also knew not to tell anyone or risk being branded as crazy, or worse, viewed as piggybacking on the conspiracy around the Lakewood Park videos, which would get them dragged on social media. However, they had nearly died and they surely would have without Kim’s help. They felt a mixture of anger at not being able to tell anyone (other than the girls) what really happened and gratitude that they weren’t able to express. It went beyond the desire they had to prove she existed before the boating accident… now they owed her their lives and both felt a strong need to make sure she knew that they appreciated her saving them. The two hadn’t actually talked much between themselves. They’d both been there, after all, but as the days passed, and Reed’s dad was sick of Reed being home all day, the grounding was lifted and the two started meeting up again after school and they talked more about it.

“I know it was stupid, what we did, and now I feel guilty on top of that.” Cole was talking partly to Reed and partly to himself as he worked on a cup of ice cream from Uptown Mart.

“Guilty?”

“Yeah, about her. We went to go find her and she had to save us. That put her at risk of being discovered. I didn’t think about it until I was in the shower this morning. I’m sure she’d prefer to stay unknown but it’s killing me not knowing more about her.”

“Don’t you find it odd that she saved the same people she popped up out of the river and said hi to?”

“What, you think she’s stalking us? Like, a guardian mermaid?”

“I guess that sounds stupid… It’s just kind of a big coincidence.”

“That is true, unless the girl in the river was just a girl in the river. I mean, Freya’s kind of right, we didn’t see a tail then or on Sunday. We’re making some pretty big guesses even if we do both believe what we believe.”

There was a big pause. Partly to think, but also partly for ice cream. Tween boys generally aren’t known for their introspective conversations but most didn’t have traumatic shared experiences with potential mythological creatures and both boys had to open up a bit to each other, which was new for them, even as friends.

“I don’t want to sound weird, but I really like that we’ve had Freya and Jackie to talk to. They’ve been really cool about all this.”

Cole considered this for a moment. “Yeah, I’m glad I took the chance on calling her. It must have been weird for her, just out of the blue. We didn’t know each other that well when she lived here. It has been cool to talk to them about it. I wonder if they secretly think we’re nuts.”

“Not Freya. She’s been through this. It burned her, though. You can see how cautious she wants us to be. Imagine… she says she saw tails, something we can’t even claim. She must have been beside herself all those years. I’m surprised she’s not out swimming up and down the shore looking for her herself. Hey, remember at the library, when I said she must be local?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, looking for her on a boat was obviously stupid, but if she really is local, then maybe we can find a way to thank her that isn’t in person.”

“Ok, interesting. How?”

“The same way everyone does it. Social media. Maybe she’s on Facebook. Or maybe it seems like a mermaid would be into Instagram or snapchat. What if she’s even in those mermaid threads on reddit and Facebook from back in the summer.”

“Like, she’s in there throwing people off the trail?”

“Maybe. Who knows. What I’m saying is, let’s go on a social media fishing expedition.”

Cole groaned at the joke.

“Get it? Fishing expedition???”

“I got it, Jeez, that was bad. But, yeah, that’s actually a good idea. Let’s poke around tonight.”

They finished up their ice cream and tossed out the cups with Cole commenting to Reed: “Hey, did you see how much ice cream that Kim chick was eating the other day?”

“Yeah, the girl can put it away. I should have taken the bite she offered; it looked good…” And they headed home to start their new project.

Cole lived on Cook Ave, only about a half mile from the water at Lakewood Park. He’d grown up in Lakewood but had never really considered the lake as much more than a backdrop to living in Lakewood. It was always nearby but he rarely interacted with it. Since the event at the park, he had slowly been spending more time near the water. He found he was taking nearly daily trips to the park to sit on the Solstice Steps and just gaze at the lake. He was a little surprised at how he’d ignored this giant lake for all of his life. It now loomed large in his mind as he considered both the girl who was out there and near calamity of the last weekend. After he split off from Reed, he wandered down to the park and stared out at the water. It was a calm day with gentle waves lapping against the breakwall protecting the park. He didn’t notice the small top of a head just breaking the surface at eye level looking back at him from about a hundred yards out.

Freya was out for a rare solo swim. The Callahan’s were busy and she was getting antsy on such a nice day. She sometimes found herself drawn to visit Lakewood. She’d spent ten years in Lakewood and it still felt like home. Even though it was only a few miles away, that seems like a lot when you’re ten so she liked to swim there when she was on her own. She had stopped by the park just to get a closer look at where Kim had done her lunar-powered acrobatic show. In the light of day, it was shocking how close to the shore Kim had been. Floating at that same distance, she watched a familiar face walk down the stairs and sit down to look at the lake. She understood Kim better in that moment. She was excited to unexpectedly see a friend and she had started to raise her hand to wave and had drawn in a breath to holler to him. She stopped herself just fractions of a second from doing this and it almost physically hurt to not do it. She sunk down to just barely eye level and watched him. He was staring out at the water and she was surprised that he didn’t see her. She hung around until he got up and left and then continued down the shore to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and watched the ships and trains moving their cargoes. She checked out the lighthouse that Kim had lounged under and then headed back to work on homework.

Chapter Text

The remainder of the week before the full moon was being filled up with homework, both the school kind and the social media kind. The girls had enthusiastically taken to their tasks with all three now searching for any clues based on the small success that Kim had had. Unfortunately, none of them had that much experience. All three were “too young” to be online, according to their parents, so they were having to cover their tracks at home. Freya, not having a phone, was particularly behind the curve, sneaking time on her mom’s laptop and using the school library computers. All three were being extremely careful. Kim had clearly spooked the one contact she had had in Seatle.

The boys had their own research project going but focused only on the greater Cleveland area. They weren’t being as subtle. They made up some new names but they were being a just a little more blatant in their posts.

On the /r/cleveland and /r/lakewood subreddits, Facebook, and Instagram:

Thank you to whoever the mermaid is

You saved us. DM me - I just want to say thanks

Cole cringed as he put the post up. He almost couldn’t bear to see what most of the comments would be. He closed the app and decided to check it later.

Meanwhile, a couple miles away, Kim was looking through the various communities that she was keeping tabs on. She wasn’t paying any attention to the Cleveland area, after all, she knew who those mermaids were, but she had a google alert set up for the word “mermaid” on reddit and she got a notification. She got nervous but clicked on the link:

Thank you to whoever the mermaid is

You saved us. DM me - I just want to say thanks

Kim picked up the phone and called Freya’s house. “Hey, you have to come over here. Yeah, I found something but it’s not what we were hoping for, just come over real quick.” Kim went and got her sister as Freya came in the side door. “Up here!”

All three girls looked at Kim’s laptop. “I mean, it’s them, right?” Jackie asked. “Obviously.” Kim answered. “It’s the only post from that user and who else could it be? Look at the user name. lakewoodmermaid42069.” Jackie chuckled. Freya asked, “What’s funny about that?” Kim said she’d explain later.

“Ugh, these boys need to settle down.” Freya was aware that her asking someone to settle down about mermaids was rich, but it’s not like she was wrong.

“How do we get them to stop?” Kim asked, mostly to herself.

“You know, it’s pretty sweet. I mean it’s all sincere sounding and we know they mean it.”

Freya’s response got an eye roll from Jackie who had an idea. “What if we just answer them?”

“Why would we want to make it worse? Plus pranking them seems mean.” Freya didn’t like where she thought this was heading.

“No,” Kim replied, “it’s not a bad idea.  Maybe we just respond seriously. Like, let them know we hear them but that we’d appreciate it if they would calm down with the public posts, you know, for privacy, and then delete the account so we don’t string it along.”

“But isn’t that basically the same as admitting we exist?” Now it was Jackie who didn’t like where this was going.

“I mean, yeah, but what in the world could we possibly do make them stop believing it was a mermaid? They’re never going to let it go, so we confirm it to give them a valid reason to just be quiet about it. They’ll have their doubts about if it was a real response but it will be believable enough. We throw in one fact that only the rescuer could know and then a heartfelt request to let it go on socials.”

“You know that means us sitting around listening to them talk about it for the next few days, right?”

“Yeah, but is that such a big deal? I mean, compared to trying to get them to stop ourselves?”

“This is ourselves. Both versions are ourselves.”

“Argh! You know what I mean. Stop making my head hurt!”

Kim laughed. “Ok, so are we doing this?” The other two nodded. “Right. Help me write this.”

From: /u/fishtails858585

To: /u/lakewoodmermaid42069

Subject: Thank you to whoever the mermaid is

Message: Guys – I’m sure you are getting a lot of joke responses but I’m the one you are looking for. I pulled one of you out of the water and the other off the side of the boat. You are welcome. I would hope that any decent human/fish hybrid would do the same. I’m glad you’re ok. But, please, for my own safety, can you lay off the social media. I’m sure you have a million questions but I have to stay private. I’m sure you understand.

PS Get a bigger boat, don’t make me rescue you again!

The girls took a few attempts to get the final version figured out then looked at each other and decided that it was both vague and specific enough to get the job done. Freya wanted the tone to be serious but not harsh and this seemed to do it. Kim pressed Send and closed the laptop. “I’m not sure I want to read a reply if they send one. I don’t want to drag this out. How long before we delete the account?”

Jackie thought for a bit. “Maybe wait to see that there is a reply so we know they got it?”

“Sounds good.”

Freya looked determined. “There’s something else I need to do. Jackie, give me your phone.”

Jackie handed it over. Freya started texting Cole:

This is Freya - Dumbass – I saw your Reddit post. Half your school would know that was from you. They all know about your accident. Do you not learn from my mistakes??????

Freya looked at her friends for approval. Kim said, “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Hit them from both sides.” Freya hit send.

The phone rang about thirty seconds later.

“How did you see that so fast?”

“We set up a google search, I figured you’d do the same.”

“Um, no. We didn’t think about that. But that’s not important. We got a response!”

“Yeah, we figure you probably got a bunch. All of them jokes or memes.”

“Well, yes, but the first response was from her.”

“Someone’s just pranking you.”

“No, they knew things. They knew I was all the way in the water and Reed was hanging onto the side of the boat.”

“No kidding?”

“For real. Then she told us to basically stop bothering her.”

“You really think it was her?”

“Yeah, but now what?”

“Well, did you say thank you?”

“I mean, it was in the original post and she said ‘you’re welcome’.”

“Ok, assuming it was real, you got your chance to say thanks, just like you wanted to!”

“But it’s so hard to know that we made contact and won’t ever get to talk to her again. This is life changing. Life saving and life changing. We met a real, live mermaid. She saved us and we don’t get to do more than anonymously thank her on the internet. I want to buy her dinner, or ice cream, or something more than a short DM.”

Kim lowkey wanted that free ice cream.

“I’m sorry.” Freya replied after a pause. “I probably would have done the same thing. But you said what you wanted to say and, hey, you got to talk to a mermaid! I’m not sure if anyone else would believe you but I do. And I’m jealous. What exactly did the message say?”

Cole read it back.

“I think it sounds like she appreciated the thanks. I think we need to remember that she helped you, she doesn’t owe anyone anything but she replied anyway.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s just kind of bittersweet.”

“Come on, let’s go get ice cream and celebrate. Meet us at Mitchell’s in 20?”

“Thanks. That would be nice. See you there.”

Freya hung up Jackie’s phone and sighed. “Guys, I want to talk about this.”

“What about?” Jackie answered.

“I don’t feel good. I feel crappy. We just gas lighted two really nice guys. Friends. Like, we went HARD.”

“I know, but I mean, didn’t we kind of have to?”

“Yeah, I suppose, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. Kim, how did you feel when you were lying about this to us?”

“Not good, I guess. But the same rules applied, I felt like I had to. I didn’t even know if would be able to trust my own sister. I knew that I probably could, but it was an awfully big deal to leave up to chance.”

“And you were the one practically begging to get discovered.”

“That’s not fair, we talked about this, we’ve all had that urge.”

No one was mad but everyone was a little down, now.

“Look,” Freya said, “This is a difficult situation. Let’s cut ourselves some slack. I guess that applies most to me. Ice cream is waiting. At least we can buy it for them to make up for it, even if they won’t know that.”

The girls felt a little better after letting it out and hopped on their bikes to go meet them. Jackie and Freya didn’t really pay attention to the fact that Kim was going with them.

The initial greeting was a bit subdued. “You don’t have to pay for ours, you know.” Then Reed noticed Kim. “Oh, hey Kim, I didn’t expect you to be here.” Jackie and Freya slowly realized what had happened. Kim was sort of their ringleader but hadn’t been part of their group involving the boys, though Kim had talked to them more than the other girls knew.

“Just tagging along. I hope you don’t mind. It’s not a big house, I kind of overheard some of your story. Sounds like quite the adventure. I see you aren’t grounded anymore.”

“Um, yeah.” Reed looked sheepish. He pulled Jackie aside as the group was going in. “Does she know?”

“Yeah, sorry, she already knew Freya’s story and she put enough pieces together so we kind of told her. I’m sorry we didn’t fill you in, it just sort of happened, plus, she’s cool, she totally believed Freya.”

“Really? Cole and I ran into her after the library the other day and she seemed kind of, I don’t know, outgoing. I thought maybe she was some popular girl who would think we were dorks.”

Jackie laughed out loud. “Kim, cool and popular? She’s the biggest introvert I know!”

“Wow, I guess we read her wrong. She was kind of intimidating.”

Jackie looked at him funny. “Come on, let’s catch up, Kim has the money.”

The five got their ice creams. Triple scoops all around for the girls. Cole leaned over and whispered to Reed, “I’m glad we weren’t buying!”

“I don’t want to ice cream shame, but do you all always get triples? I don’t think I could even finish that.”

“M-hmmm. We get lots of exercise.” Freya explained.

“Big swimmers.” Kim added, pointing at the three of them. Jackie started coughing. Freya was wide-eyed.

“So,” Kim continued, “you got a response?”

“Well, yes. You aren’t messing with us, are you? Most people wouldn’t believe us.”

“Oh god, no. This is so cool. What did they say?”

“They?”

“They, she, whatever, I don’t want to assume pronouns.” Kim thought she covered up her mistake convincingly.

Cole pulled up his phone. “Crap.”

“What?”

“It already says the account is deleted but the message is still here.” He screen shot it just in case and started reading:

“Guys – I’m sure you are getting a lot of joke responses but I’m the one you are looking for. I pulled one of you out of the water and the other off the side of the boat. You are welcome. I would hope that any decent human/fish hybrid would do the same. I’m glad you’re ok. But, please, for my own safety, can you lay off the social media. I’m sure you have a million questions but I have to stay private. I’m sure you understand.”

“Then she told us to get a bigger boat and she didn’t want to have to rescue us again.”

Kim laughed. “Fair enough. A sunfish is small.” She continued, “Hey, there’s a lot out there that we don’t understand. Maybe this is just bit of a world we don’t know. At least it’s nice to think that. It feels hopeful to me. Like, maybe this is a window into something bigger and we’re privileged to know about it.”

Reed liked that. “That’s a cool way to put it.”

“How did she rescue you?” Kim asked, taking a big bite.

Cole was keen to tell the story again. “I never saw any part of her except for her hands. She grabbed me from behind and below and lifted me most of the way back onto the boat.”

“Same with me,” Reed added, “except I was still hanging onto the side of the Sunfish. She was super strong.”

“Then she either pushed or towed the boat in to shore at Bradstreet’s Landing. It was raining really hard and the waves were huge. I never saw her, she was under water the whole time, I guess.”

“You guys are pretty lucky. That could have gone very badly. Right place at the right time, I guess.” Kim had been dominating the conversation, much to Jackie and Freya’s relief, but this was an outgoing version of Kim that they hadn’t really seen before. “So, what do you guys want to do now? Ride down to the park and watch the waves come in? Or is it too soon?”

“No, it’s cool. As long as I’m not in that tiny boat I’ll be ok. Reed?”

“Yeah, let’s head down there.”

Kim and the boys took off first, leaving Jackie and Freya to play catch up. While they were lagging behind, Freya asked, “Who was that? That wasn’t the Kim I know.”

“Same.” Jackie replied. “That wasn’t like her at all, it’s like she’s known them for years. Remember when we first met you? I had to drag a ‘hello’ out of her when you came over.”  Pleasantly surprised, they sped up and joined the others.

Later that night, Jackie stopped by Kim’s room. “That’s the most outgoing you’ve ever been. Anything new I should know about?”

Kim laughed. “No. I don’t know, it just seemed easy. Maybe saving someone’s life makes you more comfortable around them, but I’ve also been more confident in general. Maybe it’s a mermaid thing? Maybe I’m just getting used to having more people around. Perhaps you noticed that I was a bit of a loner, before.”

“Just a bit.” Jackie laughed a little. Regardless, you really put the boys at ease, I think it was a nice distraction from their disappointment. Thanks.”

“No prob. Full moon in just a few days, just to remind you.”

“Have you been checking Seattle for that same message?”

“No. Dang, why didn’t I think of it. I’ll set up a google alert like how we found the boys’ post.” They went over to the laptop and put a few alerts in using different versions of the post that Kim first saw.

“We have 2 days before we would expect to see that again, if they do it.”

“Wouldn’t make more sense to have like a facebook group or something. I mean, who’s going see a random reddit post?”

“I don’t know. Someday we’ll find another of us and learn more. We’ve been flying blind, having some answers would be nice. Meanwhile, we need to get into whatever online spaces they have and not scare anyone off. Maybe just lurk for a while if we find a likely group.”

“Ok. I’m heading to bed.”

“I’m going to do some more digging online for a bit. Maybe get a snack.”

“Ok. Goodnight.” “’Night.”

Chapter Text

The full moon was Wednesday night. Tuesday, right after school, Kim’s google alert started going off. Freya was already over and Jackie was just getting home.

“Guys, we have hits!” Kim yelled out her door. The others rushed in and stood around the desk.

“Um, kind of a lot of results.” Kim was looking at a gmail page with about 20 google alerts all for the phrase “Full moon tomorrow, fishes”. Some were multiple hits for the same city. Seattle apparently has two main subreddits, for example. Kim went down the list: “Seattle, San Diego, Naples, what looks like an Outer Banks sub, Los Angeles, CHICAGO!” Kim practically yelled that one. “That’s close, and on the great lakes, like us! Brisbane, wherever that is, Cork, that’s Ireland, isn’t it? Saint Augustine, that’s in Florida, we went there, remember? Miami, Perth?, London!, New Orleans, Juneau, wouldn’t it be really cold up there? Cape Town? Like South Africa?”

“Try it in Spanish.”

“How would I say that?”

“I’m not sure if this is exact.” Said Jackie while googling it. “Try “Mañana luna llena, peces.””

Kim put the alert in and results started coming in from Mexico, Argentina, and Spain.

Kim spun around in her chair. “Guys, this is huge! We’re not alone. I mean, this isn’t a sure thing, but it looks like most large towns that are on some sort of coast at least have enough of us on reddit to make this a useful thing.”

The others were a bit dumbfounded. A month ago, they didn’t know that mermaids existed, well, except for Freya, but now they were potentially finding many communities of who knows how many. Freya may have been the least surprised to find this out but her heart swelled and tears ran down her cheeks.

“Oh my god, Freya, are you ok?” Jackie went in for a hug.

“Yeah. It’s just that all my grandfather’s stories were true. My memories of Seattle are real. We aren’t alone. I’m just so happy!” Kim stood and joined the hug.

Jackie had a thought. “Well, we know they are like us.”

“How?” asked Freya.

“They’re on the internet, so they must be both on land and in the water. They change. Like us.”

After everyone settled down, more questions started. Freya seemed to have the most. “This is nice to know, but we need to figure out how to communicate with them. We’re not getting to Chicago any time soon and even if we did, how do we find the others?”

Everyone considered this. Kim spoke up first. “I think we need to do some old-fashioned homework. Every one of these posts came from someone. Mermaids are still people and people mess up all the time. We were super careful to come up with online names that don’t trace back to us, but someone out there probably wasn’t as careful. Let’s take all these user names and google them, see if they are also Instagram users or on some other site. But don’t contact any of them if you find one. Keep in touch with each other if you do find one and when we are done, we’ll compare notes and decide who to contact first. Freya, I dug up my old Chromebook, it’s slow but it will get you online. You can have it. You need an email address, too. I can’t believe your parents are this strict!”

Freya took it excitedly and promised to keep it hidden.

“Jackie, we have cousins in San Diego. Freya, are the relatives you visited in Seattle still there?”

“Yeah, my aunt and uncle and my little cousin but he’s still a toddler.”

“Cool, maybe after we find some other mermaids we can convince our families to visit and look for them.”

Kim continued, “As exciting as this is, don’t forget, we have plans tomorrow night. Everyone has to come up with a way to get out of the house in the evening. Luckily moonrise is early, 6:15 or so. Hopefully we can get it out of our systems in an hour or two and not get in any real trouble. It’s only supposed to be fifty-ish but in the water it shouldn’t matter. The lake’s still warm. Freya, we’ll see you in the morning for school.”

The other two continued to be taken aback by this new, take-charge Kim and headed off to do their own research.

Wednesday started out gray and damp. For the first time, the girls worried about walking in the rain. Umbrellas kept them dry enough to stay out of trouble but it was raining hard enough to cause concern. Jackie texted Kim during lunch wondering what would happen if the moon never came out from the clouds. Kim had no idea and they decided to just continue with their plan. School eventually ended and all three made their way home through a brisk north wind. They met up at the Callahan’s, as usual.

Kim had a question for everyone. “I think this was the coldest it’s been since you know what.” Renée was home and they were talking in semi-code just in case. “Was anyone feeling especially cold today?” Both of the others shook their heads. “Me neither.”

Freya found this interesting. “I mean, I can tell what the temperature is but it just doesn’t bother me. I think I took my hoodie off half way home.”

“So do we bundle up for our walk tonight or do we just head out like this?” Jackie liked having a plan.

“We don’t know how we’ll feel when we get out. I say we bring jackets just in case.”

Everyone agreed that Kim’s plan made sense and they went down stairs to raid the fridge before time got tight.

Five forty-five ticked by and they headed out. Jackie and Freya were nervous. This was their first full moon and no one knew if it would even happen with the clouds. There wasn’t much talking as the girls stashed a few things in the bushes and the three walked purposefully into the water, high waves from the north wind hastening the transformation process. They gathered a few dozen yards off shore past the breakers and reviewed the plan. They would swim at super-speed for about fifteen minutes due north. Jackie had the watch and they set out with a few minutes to spare. Reaching roughly the midpoint of the lake, the three surfaced and checked out the sky. The clouds were still heavy in the east but small breaks were appearing directly above them. Freya fetched a zip-locked phone out of the backpack, which was looking even worse on this trip. It picked up the GPS signal and the pre-downloaded map worked as promised showing them nearly into Canadian waters.

“Looks like we have some time before we see any moonlight, you guys want to take a quick trip to Canada?” Kim was starting to feel a little frisky and wanted to burn some energy.

“Oh my god, can we do that? Just swim to Canada?” The idea was too cool to pass up in Freya’s mind. Jackie shrugged. “Just into Canadian territory or do you mean all the way there?”

“It would only take a half hour there and back. We’ve got at least that long before the moon is up enough and the breaks in the clouds move further east.”

“Let’s do it!” Jackie declared. The subdued mood of the walk to the beach was now lifted and they were giddy. “Let’s go to Canada!”

With a laugh, the three launched northward, gaining speed rapidly. After some time, they slowed down and took a look above water. The coast was close. They pulled the phone back out and checked out the map of the Canadian coast noticing they were close to the Rondeau light house. They found the light and headed for it finishing the swim on the surface at regular speed. They reached the light house and swam the channel into the bay coming up under the docks at Shrewsbury, a tiny little town according to the map. The girls hauled themselves part way up the boat ramp, just to say they landed on Canadian soil. They took the phone out and snapped a selfie and then laughed as they rolled back into the water and headed back out the way they came. As they approached the lighthouse, Jackie asked, “Hey, did anyone remember their passport?” Jackie cackled at her own joke as they passed the end of the breakwall and dove under for the swim back to the middle of the lake.

When they got back over the border, they stopped and looked up towards the east. The moon was now visible faintly through the cloud layer and clear sky was just to the west of it with stars shining through. The three floated up onto their backs with their fins facing east and gazed at the spot the moon would appear through the clouds. In short order, it peeked through into the clear air, bathing the girls in silver light. All three felt light-headed and perhaps what they thought being drunk might feel like. Already being in the water, the zombie-like urge to the shore never happened and they just lay there, blissfully drinking in the moonlight. The clouds stayed parted to allow the moon to continue to shine on them. Time passed. Each mermaid was lost in her own thoughts.

Eventually, Kim started to sense a loud noise. She slowly willed herself out of her trance and looked around, filled with fear, as adrenaline spiked when she finally recognizing the sound as a giant great lakes freighter bearing down on them only a few dozen yards away. Kim screamed at the others but it would take too long to rouse them. She grabbed both of them by the arm and kicked powerfully, taking care not to move so fast as to dislocate any shoulders. She just cleared the bow of the ship and continued picking up speed to avoid the dangerous propellers at the rear of the ship when it passed.

By now, the other two were coming out of their own trances, confused and disoriented. They followed Kim’s gaze and recognized the danger while the throbbing of the diesel engines could be felt through the water. The ship passed slowly and they watched it recede as it continued east.

“Did you just save us?” Jackie was alert enough now to see what had happened.

“I guess so. It’s becoming a habit, I’m afraid.” Freya looked terrified. “Thanks.” She stammered.

“I’m just glad I heard it and snapped out of it.”

Freya seemed even more confused. “I don’t understand, there was no ship near us when the moon came out. What time is it?”

Jackie checked the watch. “It’s ten thirty. We were out for about two and half hours. That ship would have been well over the horizon when we stopped to wait for the moon. No wonder we never saw it”

Still a little rattled, the mermaids looked at each other and took some time to just breath. Finally, Kim spoke up. “It’s later than we thought it would be, what do you thing about heading back?” Both of the others nodded briskly. “Freya, check the map and point us in the right direction, please.” Freya pulled the phone back out of the backpack that Kim was wearing and pointed in the general direction. By now, they had drifted quite a bit east and had a longer swim home than they planned. She tucked the phone back away and with a nod, Kim ducked under and started off with the others right behind her. Despite still being a little groggy, Kim set a blistering pace and they made it back more quickly than they thought they would. It wasn’t raining but drying off in the cold, damp air would take time. Kim offered to use her power to move the water off of everyone and that speeded it up. After they changed, they grabbed their other things and started the walk home.

“Well, that was an adventure.” Freya said as they stopped at her house first. “I don’t know what I expected from my first full moon but I’ve never been so relaxed and then terrified in my life. Maybe there will always be something a little scary about full moons. But I feel energized, like it recharged me. You guys?”

“Same.” Both of the others answered in unison.

“At least I didn’t put on a show for anyone this time.” Kim said while rolling her eyes. Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Good night.” Freya headed in and the Callahan girls continued on to their house and fell asleep the instant they hit their beds.

Chapter Text

With another full moon behind her, Kim woke up full of energy. Maybe there was something to this “recharging” idea. With a little extra time to kill, Kim started going over the list of reddit users. Googling each of them wasn’t revealing much but she got to the San Diego part of the list and caught the first break. The same user, womprat619, had posted in English on the San Diego sub and in Spanish in the Tijuana sub. Googling them revealed one other hint, way down at the bottom of the list of results. There was a very similar user name with three extra numbers at the end, womprat619858, and it was for a DeviantArt account.

Kim had heard of DeviantArt but had never visited it before. She put womprat619858 into the search bar and her art appeared. Page after page of ocean-themed art. Ocean sunsets, reefs, shoreline landscapes, tropical fish, and every once in a while, a mermaid. Not enough of them to draw suspicion, unless you were looking for that. She clicked through the images. The artwork was amazing, both realistic and fantastical with bold colors that jumped off the screen. It was the tails that convinced her. They were drawn just like what the girls’ tails looked like. Kim almost forgot what she was there for while she got lost in the images. She had to show this to the others, especially Jackie. She snapped out of it and realized that she was now running late. Cursing that she would have to wait to follow this lead, she closed her laptop and started getting ready for school.

After grabbing a gigantic bowl of cereal, Jackie and Freya appeared in the kitchen simultaneously. Renée was there, so any mermaid business would have to wait. Kim gathered everyone outside when it was time to leave and gave them a rundown of what she’d found. Freya was jumping with excitement and Kim had to calm her down. They made plans to meet directly after school with Jackie begging them to wait the extra half hour for her to get home.

With both the online excitement and the lunar recharge, Kim was even able to stay alert in math class, a rarity for her.

The last bell rang and they nearly ran home. To kill time before Jackie got there, they made some snacks. When Jackie arrived, they gathered around the laptop to formulate a plan.

“I think we have a couple ways to go. First, we can try dm’ing her on reddit and have this DeviantArt account lead as a backup, do the opposite and contact her through DeviantArt first, or, third, we can take a longer but safer route and try to get in with her through art. Friend her on DeviantArt after creating our own account. Actually, I think they you ‘watch’ someone on there, not ‘friend’. We’ve all drawn mermaid related art, we just post some of them, watch her, and see what develops. Honestly, after seeing her art, I think I’d like being actual friends with her. Look at this stuff.”

Kim went through the pictures with all three girls really into the artwork.

Jackie voted for the last option. “I don’t want to scare off anyone who draws like this.” The others agreed and Jackie went to get some of her work to post and made Kim get her drawings out. Kim was a bit embarrassed, but Freya loved them and they added a few of Kim’s to the pile. They’d have to go to the library to scan them but they could get their account up that night. Things were looking up in the quest to find the wider mermaid community.

Chapter Text

In the weeks leading up to Halloween, the girls worked diligently on their deviantART account. Kim was finding that her new drawing skills were still there and she spent more time sketching than she had been. While everyone was anxious to see their online research bear real fruit, there wasn't really any rush and they were enjoying what they were doing immensely. 

As Halloween got nearer, attention started to shift to the holiday. While it was true that the girls were mermaids, and that they had had some fairly adult adventures in the past few months, it was also true that they were still a bunch of tweens, and for them, Halloween was still a big deal. 

The girls were gathered in Kim's room while she continued her online searching and Jackie did some drawing. The conversation came around to Halloween and the question of what everyone would be dressing up as. 

Freya said, “Well, I've been the same thing for the past 5 years, and last year's costume will still fit.” 

“And that is?” Jackie asked.

“A mermaid!“

“A little obvious, don't you think?“

“Anyone who knows me from Lakewood would expect it. No one else has any reason to suspect anything. Actually, I'll need some help.”

“I'm afraid to even ask. “

“Well, believe it or not, I have a mermaid tail.”

“Um, we all have tails… “

“No, I mean I have a fake mermaid tail. I begged my mom to make it for me 2 years ago and it's super stretchy so I think it will still fit. “

“Oh my god, I didn't realize exactly how obsessed you were….”

“Yeah, I was pretty obsessed. At least I turned out to be right.“

“Why do you need our help?“

“I can't walk in it. It’s a full tail. I'll need someone to pull me in the wagon.”

“So, should this be a theme? Is there such a thing as dressing up as SeaWorld employees?” Everyone chuckled. 

“What about pirates?“ Kim asked. “Weren't there mermaids in one of the pirates of the Caribbean movies?”

“There were.” Freya replied. “Not very nice ones but at least people will understand our costumes. Is that our plan? Pirates?”

“Actually,” said Jackie, “that sounds amazing. Plus, the three of us would look more pirate-themed without so much emphasis on the mermaid.”

The group agreed all around, and shifted their attention to researching pirate costumes. 

Their DeviantArt account was coming along nicely and after about 2 weeks they started favorite’ing a few of the pieces on the womprat619858 account and then a few days later started following her. They got lucky and she watched them back. Kim got that notification on her laptop while they were working on Halloween outfits just before the holiday. The room erupted in squeals when they saw the they were being watched back. Renée pounded on the wall from the next room telling them to be quiet. Kim groaned. 

“What do we do now? Message her?” Freya asked. Not having much online experience, she really didn't know how long to wait so that things didn't seem too sus. 

“Not yet.” Jackie answered regarding popping the big question. “Honestly, probably not for a while. Maybe not even for a month or two. But in the meantime, let's make sure we keep adding art so she gets alerts about us and maybe we could start sending short comments to her. I actually want to ask her a lot of questions about her art. Some of these are done digitally but she's got some photos of other works and I can't tell what medium she's using.”

There was a pause before Freya changed direction a little. “What do you guys think she's like?”

“What do you mean?” Kim asked. 

“Kind of everything. What do you think she looks like, how old do you think she is, how did she become a mermaid, is she nice, does she have a lot of friends, and if so, are they mermaid friends or human friends?”

“I don't know.” Jackie jumped in as she had been wondering a lot of the same things. “Well, we think she knows Spanish since she posted the message in the Tijuana subReddit, so maybe Hispanic? Her drawings are all really colorful. I think she's probably a cheerful person. Her art is really, really good so I'm guessing she's older, but not crazy old since she’s on deviantART.”

“Star Wars?” Asked Kim. “Isn’t womp rat a Star Wars thing? Dad’s always watching it.” Kim pulled up Wookiepedia. “Yep, here it is.” She read the entry.

Did anyone check to see how old her account is?”

“10 years.” Kim said, looking at womprat619858’s ‘about’ page.

“Wow. So she's been on for quite a long time. I would imagine that would make her somewhere between 20 and 35. Oh my god, what if she's like, a mom!” 

Kim laughed a little. “Yeah, I was kind of thinking about the other mermaids being young like us, but I don't see any reason that there wouldn't be mermaids of all ages.”

Some heavier questions began to creep into the three mermaids’ minds. 

Kim was the first to ask one of these. “Do you guys think this affects whether we'll be able to have kids? Are some of these mermaids from mermaid families? If we can have kids, will they be mermaids?”

The other two looked at Kim with a certain amount of nervousness in their eyes. This hadn't crossed their minds. 

“I don't know,” Jackie said. “Freya, you've read all the books you can find on the subject, anything in your research?”

“Well, there are a ton of different myths. There are plenty of stories of mermaids having children, but there are also plenty of stories that don't mention it at all. A lot of people back in the olden days seem to have been obsessed with marrying a mermaid which sort of seems to suggest children. And since mermaids are real, as we now know, a lot of these myths must come from at least some true stories, but so many of the things that I've read have turned out to be absolutely wrong. In fact, I would say most of the details in all the old myths and legends are wrong. I guess I'm saying that I don't really have an answer.”

“What if there are other kinds of mermaids?” Jackie asked. 

“Like?” 

“With so many different myths, what if there are like, different species. What if there are sirens that do lure sailors to their death. Maybe there are water sprites that live in Polish Rivers and are nothing like us?”

Obviously, no one had an answer to any of these questions. The girls sat for a while in silence before Freya decided to bring the mood back up a little bit. 

“We’ll find out when we find out. There's no point in overthinking it right now. We've only got a couple days till Halloween and we need to finish your costumes.”

This seemed like a very reasonable statement and the three mermaids got back to the more immediate task at hand.

The next morning, Freya had a thought. “Do you guys think we should ask Cole and Reed to trick or treat with us? We haven’t talked to them since they got their response from us and they seemed a little down when left that day.”

Kim immediately thought that was brilliant. “They can help pull your wagon! Great idea!” Jackie agreed that it would be nice to have a larger group and sent a text in the new expanded group chat that now included Kim.

Cole replied quickly. “Are you kidding? Trick or treat in the posh neighborhood with full-sized candy? Obviously, yes.”

Reed replied a minute later. “What he said!”

The group chatted for a while with the girls filling them in on their theme.

“Of course you’re a mermaid, Freya. I think you just like winding us up. Do you want us to also do pirate costumes? My older brother went as that a couple years ago and it’s still around here somewhere.”

“That would be cool, yeah.” Freya felt like the plan was coming together.

“We’ll pillage the neighborhood for candy!” Reed was getting into it.

Plans were made and the kids left for school.

Halloween was on a Thursday this year and the day had finally arrived. School let out and the whole group gathered their costumes and jack-o'-lantern buckets and started getting ready to hit the neighborhood at 6:00 p.m. it turned out that Freya had a costume not only for herself but for the wagon, as well. Her dad had built a platform onto it with aquamarine colored fabric underneath so that it looked like she was sitting on top of a wave. To Kim it looked like a parade float. It was far more elaborate than anyone thought it would be. 

“How heavy is this?” Jackie asked looking at both the wagon and Freya. 

“I'm not sure. My dad always pulled me around.”

“Before you get your whole costume on, jump on and let's see how hard this is going to be.”

Freya climbed up onto the wagon and all four took turns pulling her up and down the driveway. It wasn't too bad, but a second person might have to push from the back on some of the hills. 

6:00 came around and the five of them headed out. The Callahans and Swensons lived in what was considered a good neighborhood for trick or treating. Kim quickly figured out that this was going to be far easier for Freya than it was for any of the other four. Freya couldn’t get off the platform and basically had no legs. That meant that the other four had to take turns carrying her bucket and asking for extra candy for their friend. After about an hour Kim looked at Freya and said, “I think this is the last year for that costume. This is way too much work for the rest of us.”

Freya looked slightly guilty and said, “I know. It'll probably be too small by next year anyway.”

They stayed out for the whole 2 hours stopping at home twice to empty their buckets. It was quite the haul. Their matching, themed costumes were a big hit with the moms in the neighborhood and probably earned them a little extra candy. After trick or treating ended, they sat down in Kim's room to check out the candy. None of them had ever put this much effort into Halloween before and the results were spectacular. Between them they had more than ten full buckets of candy, 

“I guess we're not going hungry for the next few days.” Jackie joked.

“Maybe the next few weeks.” Kim added.

Cole and Reed had already worked through quite a few cany bars and were starting to look a little sick. Cole laid down on the floor and held his stomach.

“That’s what you get for pigging out. You have to pace yourself.” Freya teased.

“Hey, no pain, no gain.”

“Ugh. Boys.”

Kim grabbed a bunch of old grocery bags from her mom’s gigantic stash next to the fridge and gave them to everyone to take their booty home. “Ok, guys, time to kick everyone out. School tomorrow, you know.”

Cole groaned as he got up. “At least I know what my lunch is going to be for the next few days.” He held up his bags of candy like they were spoils of war and headed down the hall with Freya and Reed right behind him, all three saying goodbye as they headed down the stairs.

The sisters got changed and collapsed in Kim’s bed. It had been a great Halloween.

Chapter Text

October was over and November was starting out cool and getting colder as it went on. Daylight saving ended on the 2^nd and night was coming earlier with the long days of summer now in the distant past. School work was getting heavy and both families had obligations throughout the fall. The girls weren’t getting much swimming in with the shortened days and had even less time for mermaid research. They figured they’d get back to it after all the stuff in November was over. After all, they weren’t really in a hurry.

Freya’s birthday was coming up on the 15^th. Conveniently, that was student-teach conference week and Friday had no classes so the party could be in the afternoon while it was still light. Due to all the mermaid-ness of the last couple months, Freya had not actually had a chance to make too many other friends so Jackie thought it would be nice to broaden Freya’s social circle by inviting some of her own friends. She realized that she had been neglecting her older friends and maybe this would fix some of that. Kim didn’t have as many friends but the couple acquaintances she had were at least in the same grade/school as Freya so she invited them as well. Freya viewed the move from Lakewood as a chance to start over so she only wanted the boys there in terms of people from her old school. Freya’s mom was glad to have Jackie suggest guests. She had been a bit concerned about Freya’s social life and was pleased that she had quickly made some friends in their new city and that her “weirdness” didn’t seem to be a problem for her new friends.

The 15^th was a Friday so they also planned a sleepover at the Callahan’s for that night. During the week leading up to it, Jackie worked on creating a hand painted birthday card but she kept thinking that she was forgetting something.

Friday came and the party had been a big hit. The weather was cooperating and they were able to have part of in in the yard. Freya hit it off with a few of the people from Kim and Jackie’s classes. After eating way too much cake, the guests slowly left and by late afternoon, the girls had headed over to Kim’s room with the Lakewood boys in tow. The five of them hadn’t been able to get together for a while and the boys still wanted to talk about the mermaid.

After getting into the last of Kim’s Halloween candy, Cole was the first to bring the subject up. “Do you think she’s an east-sider or a west-sider?” That being quite the thing in Cleveland.

Freya had promised herself that she would do as little lying as possible. She was feeling more guilty the longer the boys had interest in the mermaid. “Well, we’ve only seen her on the west side.”

“Yeah, but maybe that’s because that’s where we are. Like, maybe it’s just chance?”

Reed had the next thought. “I wonder if she lives in the lake full time. Or can she get legs, you know, like Aquamarine?” Reed cringed realizing that he just admitted to watching Aquamarine. Luckily, he got no judgement.

“She has to be able to get legs.” Freya stated plainly. “She’s on the internet.”

“Ha, good point.” Reed laughed at the obviousness of the statement. “I wonder what she likes to eat.” He asked, almost to himself.

Kim confidently stated, “Ice cream. All mermaids love ice cream. It’s a well-known fact!”

“Is it?”

“Absolutely. It’s the one thing I’m sure about!”

Something in Jackie’s brain had been lurking just beyond her reach. Like a song that you just can’t remember the name of. For a couple days, she had felt like she was forgetting things. She got up to use the bathroom but when she got back, she finally had enough and asked the group, “Hey, I keep feeling like I’ve been forgetting something. Can anyone think of something that I’m supposed to be doing?”

The boys shrugged and Kim and Freya looked at each other but neither could think of anything.

With sunset now being just after 5pm, it had gotten dark and Kim and Freya looked back at Jackie who was standing in front of the Kim’s window. Looking just past her, they caught the sight of a sliver of moon just peeking over the top of their neighbor’s roof. The two slowly started smiling mischievously, and after a few minutes, during which time the moon had become almost fully visible, Kim interrupted something Reed was saying.

“Jackie?”

“Yeah?”

“I figured out what you were forgetting.”

“What? It’s killing me.”

“Look behind you.”

With a slightly confused look on her face, Jackie slowly turned around and was hit right in the face with the moonlight streaming in through the window.

Jackie turned back to the group, now with the same enigmatic smile on her face. “Oh, yeah. How did I forget about that? You know what we should do for your birthday, Freya? We should go swimming!”

Freya and Kim’s eyes lit up. Freya jumped up excitedly. “Yes! That’s a perfect way to celebrate! Last one to the beach buys ice cream!”

With smiles all around, the girls started heading down the hall at a brisk pace. Cole and Reed looked at each other with utter confusion. One minute they had been chatting and then the girls got all weird and now seemed to be heading down to the lake. Cole assumed they were joking and urged Reed to get up so they could follow them and see what was actually happening. The girls were out of the house by now. The boys grabbed their jackets and rushed out after them. It had been a nice fall day but with the sun down, it was cooling off rapidly, surely they weren’t really heading to the lake, they were thinking.

The three girls were holding hands and laughing as the boys caught up to them after a short run. “Um, guys? Where are we going?” Reed asked.

Kim turned around, her hazel eyes twinkling, “We told you; it’s time to go swimming!”

“Seriously, where are we actually going?”

“Wagar.”

“What’s ‘Wagar’? The street?”

“At the end of the street. There’s a beach.” Kim stated it plainly, like he should have known about the tiny private beach.

Shrugging to each other, Cole and Reed silently decided to follow them and see what was actually happening. They crossed the tracks and at Lake Road the girls just crossed without looking, getting honked at by a car that narrowly missed them. The boys were getting more nervous and Cole grabbed Freya’s wrist to stop her to talk. She pulled her hand free and looked crossly at Cole. “Swim now, talk later.”

By now they were at the stairs leading down to the lake. The girls were almost running, taking the uneven steps occasionally two at a time. The boys tried to keep up and at the bottom, Kim and Jackie held out their phones, implying that they wanted the boys to take them, which they did with a baffled look on their faces.

The girls walked right up to the edge of the water and looked east in unison staring at the moon for a few seconds before walking in fully clothed and then diving forward after getting most of the way in. Reed threatened to jump in after them but something made Cole hold him back. They stood on the wet sand, the waves just lapping at their sneakers, looking out at three heads pop up from the cold water, further out than they thought they would be. Kim waved and shouted over the water, “We’ll be back in a couple hours if you want to wait for us!” The three girls turned around and dived again, with the moon gleaming off of three tails rising up out of the water behind them as they headed away. Reed and Cole stood open mouthed, not knowing what to say. Finally, Reed asked, “I guess we should wait here?” Cole just nodded. “So much stuff just started making sense.” They put the girls’ phones in their pockets and walked up to the bench on the deck behind them to wait and try to make sense of what had just happened.

The boys didn’t really know what to say while they waited. The night was chilly but there was no way they were going back. Cole was relieved that he now knew what was going on, but he couldn’t fathom why they had revealed themselves this way. And why were they acting so strange?

“Reed?”

“Yeah?” Reed hoped Cole wasn’t about to ask a bunch of questions that he didn’t have answer to.

He was.

“They didn’t seem like themselves, did they?

“Um, I’m not sure we really know.”

“But, I mean, like, they seemed hypnotized.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have any idea why.”

“You don’t think they are in trouble, do you? Like are they sick?”

“Cole, how would I know? I’m worried, too, but I don’t have any idea what’s going on.”

Meanwhile, out in the lake, the girls were floating in the water, bathing in moonlight and not really thinking about much of anything. As time went on, wispy clouds began to drift in front of the moon and Kim began to come out of her trance. It took a while, like coming out of anesthesia, but she finally began to realize what was going on at the same time as the other two were just starting to come to. Kim grabbed them both by the arm and shook them. They were still smiling and trying to figure out what Kim wanted.

“Snap out of it, you two!” She was almost yelling. Jackie and Freya began to get more clear-headed as the moon disappeared behind a larger cloud bank.

Realization swept over them as Kim Glared.

“What are we going to do?” Kim asked with a mixture of fear and excitement in her eyes. Thoughts of swimming to Canada again to disappear crossed her mind

Jackie was clearly still not all the way with them and wasn’t adding to the conversation, yet.

Freya finally spoke up. “I don’t know what our choices are. Either we go back and get out somewhere else and hide for the rest of our lives, which doesn’t seem very likely, or we go back and face the music. It’s hard to remember but Cole and Reed were right there on the beach with us. Now that I think of it, I think YOU told them to wait for us.”

“Ugh, I think I did. I hope these guys are as cool about this as they seem like they would be.”

“At least they had some idea. They knew “we” existed; they just didn’t know it was us.

“I suppose. Let’s get back and get this over with. Either we go back and they are cool or we are in real danger if they aren’t and start talking.”

The others reluctantly agreed and started back to shore, nervous and with knots in their stomachs.

They approached Wagar Beach, cautiously looking out to see if the boys were still there. After not seeing them on the beach, Jackie finally noticed them sitting up on the deck above the beach and told the others. Relief washed over them. They took this as a sign of acceptance, at least tentatively. As they got closer, Freya, who had always felt the guiltiest about lying, yelled to them to come down to the water. The girls stayed in the deeper water at the end of the stone breakwall and called the boys to come out to them. Cautiously, the two picked their way across the sandstone blocks that haphazardly made up the breakwall and eventually got to where the girls were. A tense silence lingered before Freya broke the ice.

“This isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want you to find out this way. I’m so sorry. Please hear us out?”

Cole and Reed weren’t sure what to say, but something reassuring seemed like a good idea.

Cole spoke up. “We really have no idea what’s going on. I have a million questions, of course we will hear you out. But can we get off this wall? It’s cold and this is slippery. I don’t think I’ll last in the water the way you guys seem to be able to.”

Relieved enough to finally start breathing regularly again, Kim began explaining what was about to happen so as to not frighten them off. “This is all going to seem strange but we need to get out, you know, with tails and everything, and dry off enough to change back. Are you guys Ok with that?”

Both nodded enthusiastically. Truthfully, both of them were looking forward to learning about this whole thing. The girls never had to be nervous, Cole and Reed could understand why they were, but curiosity outweighed any feelings of being lied to. They didn’t even think of it that way. To them, they were being let in on a secret and they were thankful of it.

The girls awkwardly got themselves onto land and Kim started drying herself off to change first before using her power on the others to help dry them. Kim had gotten much better at this and instead of squeegeeing it, she now just could just command the water away from her body all at once, even getting most of her hair dry in the process. Suddenly, for the first time, someone other than the three of them was seeing the transition. It seemed intimate, like the heart of the secret was now being shared. The boys watched in fascination as Kim became briefly liquid before reappearing, clothes and all. Kim got up off her stomach and stood up, helping the other two change with the boys rushing over to give them a hand standing up in the soft sand.

Another awkward pause settled in before Kim’s new forthrightness reemerged.

“Ok, I think we have a lot to talk about. Do you agree?” The boys nodded. “Great. Ice cream? We’re always hungry after being moonstruck.”

“Moonstruck?”

“Yeah, that’s what we call it. The full moon has this strange effect on us. I can’t believe we forgot it was coming up. Argh. Can we go to Mitchell’s? I won’t make you buy, even if you were last to the beach.” Kim was feeling good enough to be teasing them.

“Yeah, let’s go. Do you want to head home for warmer clothes, first?”

“No need. We don’t get as cold as we used to.”

“Used to?” Reed asked as they got to the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, we haven’t been like this for that long. We used to be normal. Or at least relatively.”

The group started down Lake Road towards the waiting ice cream shop with what was sure to be a talkative night ahead of them.

Chapter Text

“I guess you probably want to know how this happened.” Kim was actually chomping at the bit to talk about this. "Unfortunately, I’m not really sure.” She described the events of the full moon in June.

“I’m jealous of what you got to see. We’ve had the northern lights a couple times recently and I’ve missed them each time.” Reed had always been fascinated by space and the sky.

“Be careful what you wish for or you could end up a fish!” Kim continued, “I have no idea what happened or how it happened but since we are affected by the full moon, I guess it had something to do with that. It was also the solstice.”

“Plus the northern lights?” Reed was trying to see a connection.

“Who knows. Maybe it was just aliens. Doesn’t really matter, I guess, except that we don’t really know much and any info is interesting.”

Kim hadn’t said anything about the other two girls, yet, and they were content to let Kim do the talking.

“But that was just you, right?” Both were anxious to know the whole story but there seemed to be a lot of information to get through.

“Right. For four months it was just me.”

“So what happened to you two?” Cole directed the question to Freya and Jackie.

“I know it’s not a rewarding answer, but again, we don’t know for sure.” Freya hated that they didn’t know more and really hoped that future mermaid contact could clear things up.

“To be honest, it was very similar to what happened tonight. I got moonstruck, despite trying to avoid it, and they chased me down to the water. Only that time it was storming and just as I changed, they jumped in the water and grabbed me. Lightning struck the lake right in front of us. My best guess is that the lightning spread my mermaid-ness, if that’s a word, to them while I was changing. I never finished the transformation that night. If they hadn’t tried to help me, they would still be normal.”

Reed looked a little upset. “Can you not say that?” Kim gave him a puzzled look. “Say what?”

“Normal.” You’re not abnormal, you’re just different.

Kim thought that was incredibly sweet and thanked him for saying that.

“That must have been quite the surprise.” Said Cole.

“Understatement. I think Jackie and I both reacted rather strongly the next morning when we found out.”

They were getting close to Mitchell’s and the conversation had to take a break while they waited in Mitchell’s typically packed line. Once out at a table away from the rest of the crowd, they picked it back up.

“Freya was right when you first saw us when we swam back tonight. We all feel terrible for withholding this. You guys had had a couple incredible experiences and we tried to mislead you.” Kim felt almost as bad as Freya.

“I can’t speak for Cole but you don’t have to apologize to me. I mean, this is classic superhero stuff. Secret identity and all. I don’t think anyone would blame you.”

“Except we aren’t superheroes, we’re just mermaids.”

“You saved us, though. Seems hero-ish to me.”

“You were only out there because of me. Sort of my responsibility.”

Both Reed and Cole became aware that they had skipped the big question.

“Wait, so which one of you did we see? I guess, that had to be you in the river, right Kim?”

“Yeah. And just to clear it up, that was me at Lakewood Park. These two hadn’t changed, yet.”

“So, who was it that saved us in the storm?”

“Me, again.” Kim replied. “Freya was looking out for you by the river but you guys turned and went up the coast. I was shadowing you just in case.”

“Thank god.”

“That’s all in the past. I was serious in our reply to you on reddit. Anyone who could have done what I did would have done so.”

“So how did you lift us back onto the boat? No offense, but you’re on the small side.”

Kim chuckled. “We’re surprisingly strong in that form. Plus, most of that was just swimming upward. The tail is super strong.”

“Stronger with legs, too.” Jackie added between spoonfuls of ice cream. “Not to the same degree, but don’t race me on a bike!”

“This sort of explains the appetite.” Reed was putting two and two together.

“Yeah, that and temperature. We don’t get cold, or at least not much. In the water we don’t even feel it and on land we are way more tolerant of the cold. I think that’s where most of the energy goes. It’s about 45 out and I’m fine in jeans and a t-shirt.”

The boys were actually getting chilly. Jackie noticed and suggested they go back to her and Kim’s house.

“We were having a sleepover tonight. If you can make excuses, you could stay over. Our parents would never check. Then we’d have time to answer everything.”

The boys agreed immediately and both told their parents they were going to sleep at the other’s house, a trick that works surprisingly well.

Everyone headed back to the Callahan’s.

After a few hours, the boys were pretty well informed and that’s when Freya dropped the next bombshell.

“Ok, guys, here’s the big news.”

“How can there be news bigger than what we learned today?” Cole’s head was already swimming.

“We aren’t the only ones.” Freya looked very excited to say this.

“Oh my god, who else? Do I know them?”

All three laughed.

“No.” Freya continued. I don’t know them either, but there are others.” Freya went on to describe what they’d discovered online. This led to many more questions.

“I’m sorry,” Kim jumped in, “we have no idea about anything you are asking. We don’t know who they are or even how to contact them. I tried once and she ghosted me. We’re trying to be more discreet with the other one we found. We think she’s in San Diego.”

“So,” Cole asked, “Freya, I guess this means that you were right all this time. It has to feel good.”

“You have no idea. I had started to doubt what I had seen. It was a weird way to find out, though. Sort of like dying and finding out ghosts are real because now you are one.”

Cole and Reed realized how heavy that last statement was.

“I guess I should have asked… are you guys ok? Like, in general but also with what you are now? Kind of rude that I didn’t ask that first.” Cole was feeling bad about his excitement.

“I’m good.” Kim was being honest. “I was freaked out at first and it’s going to make life complicated, but I’m a little different now in a lot of good ways.”

“Me, too.” Added Freya. “Honestly, it’s everything I’ve wanted. I’ve been obsessed. You know.”

They looked at Jackie who had to be honest. “It was harder for me. I don’t know why. I didn’t even want to get in the water that morning to test it. It’s better now, though. Like Kim said, it complicates things, but I’ve done thing I could never have imagined. I wouldn’t wish it to go away. We swam to Cedar point last month and spent the day there before swimming back. I doubt any other kids can say that!”

“You swam to Cedar Point? How long did that take?”

“Half an hour. We’re really fast in the water.”

Cole and Reed were trying to do the math in their head.

Kim put them out of their math misery. “That’s about ninety miles per hour but with stops so we figure we probably hit one hundred.”

The boys were astounded.

“And, we’ve swum to Canada!” Freya proclaimed proudly.

“And nearly got hit by a freighter in the middle of the lake,” Jackie felt the need to inject some realism. “so it’s not all fun and games. Kim saved us that time. She’s a one-mermaid coast guard.”

Everyone laughed about coast guard Kim.

“Maybe if all of you guys didn’t constantly need saving, I wouldn’t have to play hero!”

The questions continued into the early morning hours before all five fell asleep. Kim was the last to fall asleep and she looked around her room, amazed that just a few months ago she felt all alone and now she had a mermaid sister, a mermaid friend, and two more friends who knew all their secrets. She felt at peace with that and nodded off for a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, the girls smuggled the boys out of Kim’s room, avoiding Mr. and Mrs. Callahan successfully. The girls then reconvened in Kim’s room to clean up and discuss the day before.

“Well,” Jackie started, “That went better than I’d hoped but no more forgetting the full moon.”

“Do you think they’ll stay cool about this?” Freya was nervous, which was uncharacteristic.

“I think it’s fine.” Kim seemed completely ok with it. “They were so excited to know, I don’t think they would want to be left out of any new info. If anything, I bet we have to get them to settle down about it.”

Freya was looking intently at Kim. “I’m scared to ask, but now that you’ve been found out, how do you feel about it? And did it satisfy your ‘urges’?”

“Because we were moonstruck, I didn’t get to feel the full effect of being discovered, but it still was satisfying. I guess, I’m just a tiny bit nervous about having more people know about us, but I’m relieved. You were right about the lying. It’s hard and I was starting to not remember what they knew and what they didn’t know, I was always on the edge of giving something away, and not even on purpose. Now I can relax around them. Relieved. mostly relieved.

Jackie agreed while picking up blankets.

Freya also looked relieved. “Honestly, I was worried one of us might not handle this well but now I’m feeling better.”

The girls all stopped what they were doing and came together in a hug, tension draining away.

“Cool,” Kim said as they pulled away, “now we can stop worrying so much and do more about finding our San Diego fishy friend. Also, I think this was sort of a birthday for all of us. We’re ‘out’ now.”

All three smiled at this with Freya crying a few tears. She’d waited five years to feel this seen. It did feel like somewhat of a new start.

Chapter Text

Leilani Lopez woke up late. She said hello to her grandmother and went to the fridge to get a beer and join her on the patio. Southern California was in the midst of a Santa Ana – a hot, dry easterly wind that happens mostly in the fall.

“You doing ok, grandma?”

“Yes, just hot out here.”

“I don’t know why you never got A/C.”

“It’s only like this a few times a year. How was your week?”

“Good, a little boring. I’m glad it’s Saturday. You mind if I go down to the beach and cool off since you won’t air condition this place?”

Her grandma laughed, they had this ‘argument’ every time there was a Santa Ana. “Be home for dinner at 5. And find a pretty shell for me. Have a nice swim.”

Leilani called her friend Ava and arranged to meet at the Ocean Beach pier. The pier had been closed for a year but that’s not what they were there for. Using the pilings that hold up the pier as cover, the two women made their way from one concrete piling to the next until they were in deep enough to submerge unseen.

Despite what one might think, even though it’s coastal, San Diego is not an ideal place for a mermaid, primarily because there are so few places on the water that aren’t either teeming with beachgoers, or directly in the line of sight for beachfront houses, not to mention overly attentive lifeguards. Thus, they used piers, breakwalls, and docks at marinas to slip unseen into the water. Though occasionally, if the beach was really busy, they would wade into a large group of people and disappear in the crowd.

Ava led them north, carefully avoiding the diving hot spots around La Jolla. After getting far enough out to be on the surface safely, they popped up and floated, letting the hot winds fight with the cold Pacific water on their bodies. Ava had a bikini top on while Leilani preferred to risk it going au natural, though it made drying off more challenging if trying to avoid people.

“Feel better?” Ava knew Leilani didn’t get out in the water as much as she wanted to.

“Absolutely! Hey, I wanted to swim, but I also wanted to run something by you.”

“You sound serious.”

“I’m not sure. I was updating my portfolio and went through my DeviantArt account to see if I had something good posted there that should be in the port.”

“And?”

“Well, a while back, a couple weeks at least, maybe a month or more, another account started following me…”

“Don’t you have a lot of followers?”

“Yeah, but this one seemed to have an awful lot of mermaid art on it. Like a suspicious amount.”

“You already have a number of those. Ocean art people tend to congregate, I think.”

“I know. But the art looks like it’s from multiple people. The styles are different. And it’s odd. It’s like they’ve never seen an ocean. All fish look freshwater. But the tails look really accurate. Shape, size, color, they're all spot on.”

“You think someone’s fishing?”

Leilani groaned. “Maybe but I don’t think I’ve given anything away. Do you have any idea how much mermaid art there is online? The other thing is that the art is good but it looks immature. Like kid art. GOOD kid art but still not fully formed.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Nothing right now. It’s just odd. I don’t want to bail on that account for no reason, I’ve had it forever and I get commissions on there occasionally and I could use that extra income. I don’t want to build all that back up from scratch. I just wanted to talk about it.”

“Send me a link tonight?”

“Sure, let me know what you think.”

“Wanna head out to San Clemente?”

“Race?”

“Last one there buys at the bar.”

“You’re on!”

Chapter Text

It had been a week since the birthday party. The boys had been trekking over to Rocky River on most days. Freya had taken on the duty of keeping them entertained until the novelty wore off. She even let them watch her transform a couple times in the tub. A few days in, it dawned on her that they hadn’t actually told the boys about having any powers and they were too overwhelmed on that first night at the lake to really notice what Kim had been doing. She talked to Kim at lunch during school and it seemed clear to both of them that if the boys were going to be around, they would be exposed to the girls’ abilities at some point soon so they might as well get it over with.

Freya had them meet the girls down in the park by the marina after school. It was cold enough for some flurries to be falling. All five met up in the parking lot where there were still some puddles.

“Ok, guys, there’s one last part of this whole mermaid thing that you don’t know about and it’s time you found out. Better like this than when you aren’t expecting it.” Freya looked at them to see if they were ready.

“What is it?” Cole asked. “The way you are saying it makes it seem like we should be nervous.”

“YOU don’t need to be nervous, but we are, a little, so try to remain calm.”

The boys looked confused.

“Ok, this whole… thing… comes with certain… abilities.”

“Tails, swimming, breath holding… Yeah, we got that already.”

“No, other abilities. You could even call them powers.”

Cole’s eyes were getting bigger. “Like?”

“We’ll show you. Kim?”

Kim reached her hand out and the contents of an entire medium-sized puddle began to rise up into the air, changing shape into a sphere as it rose. Kim let it hang there, right at eye level. The boys, who had stepped back at first now moved forward and reached out.

“Can we touch it?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind getting your hand wet.” Kim was enjoying putting on the show.

Reed put his finger in it. It jiggled a little and he swirled his finger around like stirring a drink but the ball remained intact.

“My turn.” Freya said. “Kim, hold it in place, please.” Freya put her palm out towards the ball of water and it almost instantly froze solid. Kim let the basketball sized ice sphere crash to the ground where it broke into large chunks.

“Jackie, could you clean this up for us?” Freya asked.

“Sure.” Jackie made a claw-like motion and the chunks of ice began to steam, quickly disappearing into the cold air until all the ice was gone.”

“I thought you guys said you weren’t superheroes?”

“We aren’t, Cole. You guys read too many comic books.” Freya knew this was coming.

“There are multiple comic book heroes who don’t have as many abilities as you guys.”

“Well, we’ve never thought of it that way. And it’s not like a bunch of eleven-year-olds are going out stopping crime. Not a lot of lake related crimes around here, anyway.”

“You three need to give yourselves more credit. This is a bigger deal than you are making of it. You saved, us, for example.“

They had been walking for a bit while having this discussion and they sat on the wall overlooking the river. Kim was idly bringing river water up into the air and letting it fall while she thought. “Guys,” she said, “I don’t want that kind of pressure. I’m obviously willing to help out when I can, but I don’t want to be out on patrol, looking for crime or whatever. We’re eleven.” “Ten, in my case.” Jackie added. “That’s what I mean,” Kim reiterated, “ten-year-olds don’t solve crime.”

Cole knew they were right. “Sorry, we got worked up, just like you asked us not to.”

“It’s ok.” Kim was happy they got over it quickly. “We kind of expected that. This is why we wanted to show you now before we did it somewhere without warning.”

“We get it. Sorry, no pressure. Head back somewhere warmer? We don’t have mermaid super-warmth.”

Kim smiled and had them all head back to her house to warm up. “Jackie can heat up cocoa for us!”

The five gathered in Kim’s room, drinking cocoa, as promised, and generally hanging out. Kim was still researching variations of user names trying to find another potential contact. Jackie was getting some more art ready to take to the library to scan. Freya and the boys were gossiping about some old Lakewood classmates.

Reed asked what would happen to swimming in the winter. “I know you handle cold better, but it gets down to freezing in the winter.”

Kim turned around in her chair. “We’re not sure. I feel like we can tolerate it. We’ll have to see. I do intend to test it.”

“What about the ice?”

“We’ve talked about that. I think it would be amazing to swim under the ice, but we don’t actually breathe underwater, we have to come up sometime, and the idea of getting stuck under it is pretty scary. Still, I’ve looked it up and the lake has only frozen completely over three times since like the nineteen seventies. Last year there was hardly any ice at all. Most years, there is partial coverage but it breaks into sheets with gaps. I feel like we can manage it if it’s like that. These days you can look at real time ice coverage maps, no need to guess.”

Jackie chimed in from the bed where she was laying out art, “How funny would it be to come up through an ice fisherman’s hole and surprise them?”

Freya laughed. “That would be epic! My uncles all ice fish and they are drunk the whole time. No one would ever believe them. One of them drove his car out on the ice two years ago and the ice broke off and the car sank.” She laughed again. “We should go find it!”

Everyone went back to what they were doing but unfortunately for Kim, the thought of doing that was bringing back that old itch to show off. She shoved it down and changed topics.

“Can we make it to the library?”

“I think it closes at six. Not going to make it tonight.” Jackie had been going there a lot and had the hours memorized by now.

“Hey, we could take them to Lakewood’s on the way home and email the scans to you. Ours is open till nine.” Cole had to get going soon anyway and he liked finding things to help with.

“Would you? Really?” Freya was anxious to get more art up on the DeviantArt page. Jackie had to keep slowing her down.

“Sure, it’s on the way. And it looks like the flurries ended so we don’t even have to worry about keeping them dry.”

The boys gathered up the selected art and their own backpacks and headed out while Freya also went home for dinner. Cole and Reed discussed mermaid superhero names the whole way to the library.

Late that night, a few new pieces of art went up on DeviantArt. One from Jackie, a colorful beach scene with a mermaid on some rocks in the foreground, one from Kim, a detailed pencil drawing of herself from the tip of the tail up to her abs, and uncharacteristically, something that Freya had been working on. She didn’t draw well, but had been working on a collage of mermaid related pictures that she had turned into low resolution black and white so that it looked like a ‘zine cover. Several other users had started watching their account and they were almost feeling better about the account itself than what it was supposed to be doing.

Meanwhile, twenty-four hundred miles and three time zones away, Leilani Lopez was relaxing after her work week, idly scrolling on her phone when she got an alert from her DeviantArt app. She had a bunch of unread comments and someone wanted to commission a work. She made a note to get back to the commission that evening and then saw the notification come in for an account she watched, JFK8585.

Leilani had been waiting for more activity from this account. She had shared the link with her friend Ava and Ava had agreed that there was something slightly off about it, just like Leilani had said, but she didn’t think it was sinister at all. Leilani looked at the three new pieces and got the same vibe as before; these weren’t from the same artist. She re-sent the link to Ava and then called her.

“See what I mean, different mediums, different styles, and what’s with the collage?”

Ava was looking though it on her end. “Yeah, but I’m not sure what the big deal is. Probably just some mermaid obsessed kid. Probably stealing it from somewhere else and re-posting.”

Leilani took a long swig of her beer. “Yeah, but look at that tail. If I didn’t know better, I would have said that you drew a self-portrait.”

“That is awfully accurate.”

“You picking up what I’m laying down, here?”

“What is this, a fifties jazz club?”

Leilani laughed, “Sorry, hanging out with grandma too much, I guess.”

Ava loved that Leilani and her grandmother got along so well, it was a plus that she cooked the most delicious Hawaiian food and gave her the leftovers regularly.

“So, what are you saying? That multiple different children are posting mermaid artwork in order to trick you into revealing yourself?”

“Well, when you say it, it sounds insane.”

“Have they contacted you?” Ava was not sure if she said ‘they’ due to not knowing the gender or because she was already thinking of ‘them’ as a group.

“Kind of. They left a comment asking what media I used for a painting of seaweed on a beach.”

“Ooo, I liked that one. It’s in your hallway, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Did you answer them?”

“Yeah, I just said it was acrylics.”

“Did they reply?”

“They just said ‘Thanks!’ – with an exclamation mark.”

“They’re obviously mermaid groupies. Seriously, isn’t that like, a common interaction on there?”

“It is. It’s actually the most normal thing about that account.”

“So just stalk them, it shouldn’t be that hard to find them.”

“I tried. I got nowhere. The account name doesn’t show up on any social media, there’s nothing in the ‘about’ section, it’s like a black hole.”

“That is strange. ‘Sus’ as the kids say.” Ava was five years older than Leilani and liked to wind her up about ‘the kids today’ and their slang. "So, what I’m hearing is, this is a group of kid artists who are obviously a little too into mermaids, but are savvy enough to hide their online tracks.”

“Again, it sounds insane when you say it.”

“Fuck it, you contact them. You’re smarter than a couple kids and you know how to not give anything away. Just compliment their art and start a conversation.” Ava was herself three beers in and feeling slightly belligerent.

“That’s so crazy, it just might work! Especially since I clearly seem to be insane.” Leilani laughed at her paranoia. That wasn’t what she was normally like and she was glad that Ava had drawn her back to being normal-ish.

“I’m heading to bed early tonight.” Ava changed the subject. “Fancy joining me for an early morning swim?”

“Sounds good. Beat the crowds and the lifeguards. We can just walk in instead of sneaking. I love living here but I’d kill for an isolated cabin with a small beach front. Not like that exists in California.”

They made their plans and hung up. Leilani looked at her phone and opened up her laptop instead to get a closer look at the new art. She kept coming back to the tail. The lines were a bit immature, but the detail was really accurate. She decided to comment on that one.

Womprat619858 - Hey, nice tail. What kind of pencils did you use?

She worried that it was a question that didn’t need to be asked but she couldn’t think of anything else and, besides, Ava was right, she just needed to get a conversation started. Picking the tail drawing might have seemed a little on-the-nose but the point was to find out if that was what the shared interest was. She grabbed another beer and went out back to see how her grandma was doing.

Kim had gone to sleep by the time the question had been asked and didn’t look at her laptop when she got up. Instead, she headed down to the kitchen see what was available to eat. Renée was finishing her own breakfast and was looking disgusted as she watched Kim pile up a plate with muffins and fruit while also pouring a bowl of cereal.

“How can you eat all that. It’s disgusting.”

“Nice,” Kim replied, “I see you have a busy day of body shaming ahead of you.”

Renée turned and walked away. Kim smirked to herself.

After breakfast, Kim wandered back up to her room and opened her laptop. The screen came to life and she opened the browser window from the night before and immediately saw a notification on the DeviantArt tab. Suddenly feeling more alert, she clicked on it and was shocked to see a message from their potential San Diego mermaid friend. She read it a couple times and then went to get Jackie.

“How do I answer this?”

“Arrtx. That’s the brand mom bought you.”

“Yeah, but I want to keep the conversation going. You’re the serious artist, what would you say?”

Jackie sighed. She’d only just woken up and wasn’t ready for internet scheming yet. Jackie kicked Kim out of her chair and started typing.

JFK8585 - These were Arrtx, but I’m due for a nicer set. Can you give me any recommendations? Your stuff is amazing, btw

“How’s that?”

“Perfect! What time is it in San Diego?”

“I think we figured it was three hours earlier, so, just after 6.”

“No point hanging around for an answer, then. I was going to take a bath and let the tail out for a while, do you mind if I tie up the bathroom for a bit?”

“Not at all, I’ve got a lot of reading to do. Let me know later if we get a response.”

Leilani was sitting with her grandma in the backyard, enjoying the San Diego evening when her phone buzzed. ‘Already?’ she thought with a puzzled look as she saw what it was.

“What is it, Lani?”

“Eh, just mermaid stuff.” Leilani’s grandma had known about her since she first became one at 15 on a trip to Hawai’i. “This artist is following me online and we think there is a chance that they are fishing for mermaid info. Just trying to figure out who they are and if they are any sort of threat.”

“You and Ava are so nervous all the time. It’s been years and nothing’s ever happened to either of you or anyone else you are aware of. I wish you could just enjoy it more.”

“Nothing happens because we’re careful. But thanks, I do wish we could be a bit more carefree about it.”

Leilani screen shot it and texted it to Ava for her opinion.

Ava - My opinion is that you have a young artist following you who maybe watched Aquamarine one too many times and is just into it. They asked you about pencils and complimented you. Either they are totally benign or they are playing the longest long game ever.

Leilani - Thanks, I get wrapped up in my own head sometimes

Leilani went into her room, over half of which was dedicated to art, and searched through her pencils looking for a good recommendation. Like any professional, she had strong thoughts on the tools she used and any one brand or type of pencil could be good for one thing but not for another. She picked a set that was better than Arrtx and sat down to compose her response.

Womprat619858 – Thank you! I’d suggest Prismacolor Premier. They’re pretty good for most things and a step up from what you’ve been using, though your tail looked great, regardless.

She sat back and chewed on the end of one of her own pencils while she thought about whether she should say more but decided to leave it as it was and sent the message.

Over the next week, Jackie sent a few more comments and questions. She was genuinely interested in Leilani’s art and that authenticity translated into a comfortable back and forth conversation. It was getting clearer to Jackie that womprat619858 was older than the girls were and a much more experienced artist. Likewise, Leilani was pretty convinced that JFK8585 was younger and probably just a kid. This eased her mind considerably. A kid wasn’t likely to be any sort of threat. She was impressed with the quality of the art for a young person but she was still confused about the multiple styles. She told Ava that it didn’t seem to be anything to worry about and Ava gave her a big I-told-you-so.

Chapter Text

With the connection now made with their suspected San Diego mermaid, the girls settled into a routine of putting up some art while Jackie made conversation. In between that and school work, there wasn’t much time for swimming but they did get out from time to time and while the water was getting noticeably colder, it was still reasonable to the girls, though it did seem to increase their already hearty appetites. They met the boys for ice cream and to fill them in on what they’d been doing.

“So, you’re talking to her on a regular basis?” Cole was impressed that the plan was working.

“Yeah,” Freya replied, “it’s actually working. We have to slow Jackie down. I think she has an art crush.”

Jackie got flustered. “It’s not a crush! Jeez. It’s just nice to talk to a real artist. I think she does it for a living, I need to ask about that.”

Kim was thrilled with how it was going; she didn’t want to lose this potential lead and was happy they were being patient.

Reed was finding that he had more questions as time went on.

“I know you don’t know any more than you’ve told us, but I wish I knew how this happened and how all of it works. It’s hard to just say ‘magic’. There seem to be rules, after all.”

“Me too.” Kim replied in between bites of ice cream. “I’ve had the longest to think about all this and all I have is more questions. I mean, at some point I’ve just had to accept things but if there are rules, it would be nice to know exactly what they are to avoid surprises. Especially moon related ones.”

“Speaking of which,” Kim continued to the larger group, “I’ve got a drawing I want to put up. We have to keep our San Diego fish on the hook!”

Everyone groaned at the joke.

“Back to our place? We can all work on homework for a while. Reed, you’re ahead of all of us in math, would you mind helping me out with what my class is working on. I’m struggling a bit.”

“Sure. Let’s head there now before it gets any later.”

With that, the group left for the Callahan’s.

Five people doing homework together can get chaotic. Reed and Kim worked on math for a while and everyone else was doing their own thing, but focusing was hard. With Reed’s help, Kim got through her assignment successfully and by then the group was mostly just chatting, homework being either done or put off till later. Kim had DeviantART up and was getting ready to post when she got distracted by a photo on her laptop.

“Guys, look at this. I forgot to share this months ago after our first full moon together.”

Kim opened the photo and it turned out to be the selfie they took on the boat ramp in Canada.

“Oh my god, I completely forgot we did that.” Jackie was This was the first time any of the girls had seen it other than Kim when she moved it off her phone. Reed and Cole had never seen it.

“This is really in Canada?”

“Yeah, we just crawled up the boat ramp to be able to say we’d been on Canadian soil.”

“Any other cool shots?” Cole was assuming they had lots.

“Actually, no. I think this is the only one, other than on the first night we swam together but there are no tails in that one. We’ve been a little afraid to do that. We definitely don’t want a bunch of photos leaked. It’s not even on my phone.”

“Said the girl whose mermaid videos went viral.” Jackie never missed an opportunity to tease Kim about that.

Kim ignored her and closed the photo to go back to posting her latest drawing. She felt like she’d been improving quite a bit and her latest was of a girl, back to the viewer, head poking up out of calm water, looking at a full moon low in the sky with its reflection rippling on the surface. She had hung the original up on her wall after scanning it and was proud of it.

The other four were getting louder as the topic changed and Kim kept turning around to join in. She would later realize that she hadn’t been paying as much attention to what she was doing as she opened her email while her art was uploading in the background before getting completely involved in the discussion which was currently about whether other mythic creatures might exist.

“Of course they probably do.” Freya had always felt strongly about this.

Cole was doubtful. “Just because you guys exist, it doesn’t mean anything else does. Mermaids are in the water, away from too many people. If there were fairies, or elves, or werewolves, I feel like there would be more sightings.”

“So? Maybe they’ve just gotten good at staying hidden. What’s the saying? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire?”

“And we’re the smoke?” Jackie asked.

“I suppose. I mean, if there is a set of magical rules that apply to us, what would be so unlikely about any others being out there.”

Kim had thoughts. “I get both sides, but what I’m skeptical about is the huge number of possible species. Take what Cole just listed and add unicorns, pegasus, whatever the plural is for that, bigfoot, centaurs, dragons, the list goes on and on. There’s even supposed to be a sea serpent in Lake Erie. Our Hockey team is named after it. I guess what I wonder is, if there is more than just us, why would it be just a small group of that large list? But on the other hand, why would it just be us? I just don’t know. Maybe that’s something the other mermaids can tell us when we finally make real contact.”

There wasn’t much else to say after that.

Leilani was home from work and helping her grandma do some cooking when her phone buzzed. She set it on the counter and continued cutting up some onions and peppers. Eventually, she added her ingredients to the pan and washed her hands before checking to see what it was. She opened the notification and saw that it was from the JFK8585 account. She opened it, expecting more of the same and two new images appeared. The first was a rather nice moonlight scene of a girl in the water looking at the moon. The second looked more like a poorly lit photograph and she zoomed in on it not quite understanding what it was supposed to be. As it filled the screen, she became aware that if might be something a bit more than she expected. It was really dark, like it had been taken with a really cheap phone camera and she decided to open her laptop to view it on a larger screen. Sitting down at her desk, she found that she no longer had to look that closely. It was what she was afraid it had been on her phone, three girls on the edge of a body of water with what sure looked like tails behind them. It was a bit hard to make out in the darkness but she knew what a tail was when she saw one.

Leilani leaned back and wondered what this meant. Was this some sort of threat? Did someone know about her? She knew that didn’t make a lot of sense but when you have a secret, a lot of things look like threats. She called Ava.

“Do you still have the link to that account that I sent you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Take a look at the most recent post.”

There was a pause as Ava tried to find it. “Um, is that what I think it is?”

“Yeah, and it’s either a terrible fake or a terrible photo. At first, I was worried but now I’m mostly just confused. Why is it just posted openly? It’s not like it’s directed right at me. If it’s real, then it’s awfully reckless. What should I do?”

“Let’s think about it for a sec. Meet me for a drink to discuss?”

“Just come over here. I have wine and grandma is about done cooking.”

“Ooooo. That sounds better. See you in 10.”

After eating, Leilani grabbed a bottle of wine and some glasses and joined Ava and her grandma on the patio.

“I think you should contact them. Tell them to take it down.” Ava had thought about this throughout dinner and felt that this was the right thing to do.

“I know it has to come down but how do I say that without outing myself.”

“I’m a little more worried about whoever is in that photo.”

“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? Who are they?”

“I think it’s them. You said you thought it was kids, you thought it was several people, well, here are three kids.”

Leilani was jealous of how certain Ava always was. Leilani felt like she second guessed herself too much.

“So, you think three baby mermaids randomly posted something outing themselves to me, who happens to be another mermaid?”

“Maybe it’s not random. Maybe they are reaching out somehow.”

“Why in the world would they reach out to me?”

“I don’t know. Let’s think it through a little more. What do we know about them?”

“Not much.”

“Let’s look at their account again.”

Both of them pulled up the account on their phones and started looking at the art more critically.

Ava had the first thought. “It’s not an ocean.”

“You don’t think so?”

“No. Look at the lack of big waves in any of the pieces. Plus, when there fish, they look freshwater. There are trees but no palms. They’re not anywhere southern but they do seem to be in the US based on your messages with them and how they write. I went to school at Northwestern, these have a bit of a midwestern look.”

“Ava, wasn’t there a Mermaid hoax that was making the social media rounds lately?”

“A few months ago, yeah. Everyone figured it was fake.”

“Where was it supposed to be?”

“Midwest. Cleveland, I think.” Ava clearly was thinking the same thing now that Leilani had put it together. “Holy moly, do you think this is her?”

“I don’t know but a lot of things are starting to line up, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, so I think it’s best that I respond directly but without giving anything away.”

“I agree. How about something super simple like ‘Did you mean to post this?’”

Leilani started typing. “I like it.”

Womprat619858 – Did you really meant to post this?

“If you are right, and they are in the Midwest or east, then they might not see this until morning. I wish we’d done this a little earlier.”

“Does anyone else follow them?”

“Not really. A couple accounts but I think they’re bots. The account hasn’t been up long.”

“Well, we don’t have another way to reach them, so I guess we wait. Luckily, we have more wine!”

Kim woke up early with a nagging feeling. She went down to get some food. After feeling a little more awake, she went back up to her room and opened her laptop. She had notifications and saw one on the tab she still had open for devianART.  When she clicked on that tab, her stomach tightened and she felt the blood drain from her face. In the upper left was the photo of her, her sister, and Freya. She hadn’t meant to post it. Thinking back, she remembered being hasty and not really paying attention. She clicked on it. There were no comments, but she had one unread note in her inbox. Nervously, she clicked on it. It was from their San Diego ‘friend’.

--- Did you really mean to post this?

Kim read the sentence over again. Obviously, she had not intended to post it but she didn’t know what to do. She figured it would be best to at least take it down, so she deleted it. But should she reply? They had worked for weeks to develop this relationship and in a moment of carelessness, she may have ruined that. She re-read the message. “Did you really mean to post this?” It seemed to carry extra meaning. Why would she ask it in that specific way. Why would she ask it at all? It felt like a warning. It was dawning on Kim that a warning was actually a good sign. It meant that there was both understanding and concern. Kim’s new boldness was taking over. She started to write a reply that was both simple and direct, much like the message she had just gotten.

JFK8585 – I did NOT mean to. Thanks for telling me. I took it down. I know I should have been more careful.

Kim had gotten up early so it was insanely early on the west coast. She knew it would be until the middle of the day, her time, before she got any answer. Luckily, it was Saturday and at least school wouldn’t interfere.

Just after noon she finally got a response.

womprat619858 – Best not to continue talking on here if you are nervous…

Leilani was becoming more concerned for JFK8585, whoever it was, and figured that this conversation should move to something more secure.

Womprat619858 – Do you have whatsapp? Or signal? Preferably signal

JFK8585 – Not yet. I’ll install one of those

JFK8585 – Ok, I have signal

Leilani paused but then decided to go through with this.

Womprat619858 – Message me at the same user name I’m using here

Kim took a deep breath as she got ready to press the send button. She couldn’t believe that she had accidentally posted the photo of the three of them along with the drawing. That mistake accidentally leading to their potential contact reaching out to her was the dumbest of dumb luck. Now to not screw it up. She still didn’t know how much she should or could divulge. She didn’t want to make assumptions about this other person and drive her away but she had to be forthcoming enough to keep their interest in order to maintain contact.

JFK8585 – I know you don’t know us. Thank you for letting me know. I posted that by accident.

There was a bit of a pause. Leilani realized she was originally correct, there was more than one person. She was also considering how much to give away. If her guess was accurate, these three could use her help, at least emotionally, and other than her user name, they still didn’t know much about her so it seemed like a good risk/reward ratio.

womprat619858 - It’s easy to slip up. And usually it’s no big deal. You just have to stay reasonably careful. Am I talking to one of you or all of you?

JFK8585 – It’s just me right now

womprat619858 – Is that ok with the others? How many are you?

JFAK8585 – I think so. There’s 3 of us. We did this together to talk to you

Leilani pushed her chair back, rolling backwards until she almost hit her bed. Her hands were over her mouth like she had said something she wanted to take back. She was stunned. THEY had found HER! It wasn’t random. Now she had a reason to keep this conversation going. She was going to play it cool but it was important to find out how they had discovered her.

It had been a few minutes while Leilani processed this and Kim was getting nervous.

JFK8585 – You still there?

Womprat619858 – Sorry. Yeah. So, consent being important and everything, do you need to talk to the others?

JFK8585 – I suppose so. Can you still talk in 10 minutes?

Kim was nervous about giving the other time, during which they might change their mind about talking, but they were right about consent, it wasn’t up to Kim to out them. Even if she was reasonably sure that it was ok, this was important and she should ask.

Kim went into Jackie’s room. She held up her phone. “I have her! I’m talking to her! We have to get Freya over here right away before I lose her!”

Jackie had been reading and took a second to process this. “What? How?”

“I’ll explain later but I don’t want her to change her mind. Call Freya real quick, please.”

Jackie called Freya who, upon hearing the news, screamed into the phone causing Jackie to hold it away from her head. With only two houses between them, Freya took off at a dead sprint and was at the Callahan’s in less than a minute.

In her room, Kim had to get the others to quiet down as they gathered around her phone.

JFK8585 – Ok, we’re all here

Womprat619858 – lol, that was fast. Ok, I’m just going to be a little blunt. Is that the three of you in the picture?

Kim realized that she hadn’t yet explained what had happened to Jackie and Freya. She quickly caught them up and Jackie was a bit taken aback by Kim’s mistake and glared at her.

“Jackie, I’m sorry and we can talk later but right now we need to talk to her.”

“And who exactly is ‘she’? Isn’t this a little risky?”

“Maybe but the cat’s kind of out of the bag and she seems cool.”

Jackie paced around the room before her curiosity overtook her caution and she agreed to keep going.

JFK8585 – Yes. And my sister’s mad about me making that mistake

Womprat619858 – Your sister knows?

JFK8585 – Yeah, she’s one of the 3 of us

Womprat619858 – Wow! I didn’t expect that. Ok, we can dance around this forever but it might be time to be a little more direct. Is it safe to say that the three of you REALLY like the water and have certain issues with the moon?

The girls’ stomachs were full of butterflies. They were about to admit to it. Kim still didn’t have the guts to say the whole thing ‘out loud’.

JFK8585 – Yes. It’s still scary to talk about. We are talking about the “M” word, right?

Womprat619858 – Lol. Yeah. We can stay a little coded if you want to. Signal’s safe, though, it’s encrypted. If you delete this, no one can read it.

The girls couldn’t believe that they had found her and she seemed to be willing to talk. They were still nervous, though.

JFK8585 – Thank you. We’re really new to this. We were hoping to find others who might be able to give us tips or answer questions. But we don’t want to be a bother

Womprat619858 – How new?

JFK8585 – June for me, September for my sister and our friend

Womprat619858 – Separately?!?!?!

JFK8585 – Long story but, yeah. Kind of my fault. How long for you?

Womprat619858 – Just over 11 years

JFK8585 – Do you mind us asking how old you are?

Womprat619858 – Not at all. 26. I’m afraid to ask you the same…

JFK8585 – 10 and a half to 11 and a half

Leilani started to tear up. She knew they were young from the photo but how in the world could a ten-year-old deal with this. There was no one to help them, but at least they had each other. She was impressed with their ingenuity in tracking her down. Leilani had been fifteen but there’s a huge difference between ten and fifteen. Leilani already had her learner’s permit when she changed.

Womprat619858 – I’m so sorry you’ve been all alone, but our community tries to stay as hidden as we can. I was talking to my friend about your account and she remembered the ‘hoax’ back in the summer. Was that you?

JFK8585 – Yes. Sorry. That’s one of the things we wanted to know about. We’ve all had the urge to show ourselves occasionally.

Womprat619858 – That seems to be a thing for some of us. I have it. My friend, not so much. It gets better but having a few important people know about you seems to satisfy the need. I have a couple friends who know and my grandma and a couple other family members know. But it still hits me from time to time. I really need to ask this. How did you find me?

Kim felt guilty about having done so but was also proud of their detective skills.

JFAK8585 – Your reddit name from your full moon posts is very close to your DeviantART name.

Leilani was once again shocked into pausing the conversation. She had forgotten how close the two user names were. Her computer and phone automatically remember logins and she had stopped thinking about those things years ago. This also meant that these girls had indeed been playing a long game with their account and artwork. She was very impressed but she knew she now had to change up her reddit account.

Womprat619858 – Impressive! I assume you know where I am from that post?

JFAK8585 – Yeah, San Diego, but you also have your area codes in your name

Leilani literally laughed out loud. She was sloppier than she realized.

Womprat619858 – Lol. Yeah. You in Cleveland?

JFK8585 – Yes… well, in the area.

Womprat619858 – Maybe it’s time to make this a little more personal, do you want to switch this to a video call? Are you alone enough to do that?

Jackie ran to see where everyone else in the house was. Renée was nowhere to be found and her parents were outside doing some fall yard cleanup.

JFK8585 – The coast is clear

Leilani pushed the video button and a few seconds later, three girls appeared on her screen in what looked like a bedroom. Art was lining the walls, some of which she recognized from their account. The girls saw Leilani’s studio in the back ground.

Leilani spoke first to the three grinning young girls. “I’m Leilani. It’s very nice to meet you!”

“I’m Kim. I’m the one you’ve been talking to this morning.”

“I’m Jackie. I’m Kim’s sister.”

“Hi! I’m Freya! I’m their friend!” Freya's face was hurting from grinning so hard.

“Please excuse Freya, she’s a bit excited. She’s been obsessed with… I guess I’ll say it out loud… mermaids since she was five.” Jackie didn’t know if Freya was going to be able to contain herself

Leilani smiled knowingly. It was always a big deal when someone said it out loud to someone else for the first time. “How does it feel to say it out loud to me?”

“Amazing!” Freya blurted out.

All four laughed and the conversation became a little easier. The questions came fast. Leilani answered what she could but had a disappointing admission to make.

“I hate to say this, but I won’t have as many answers as you would like. Many of these are questions I’ve had for eleven years. We don’t really want to be found out, so there’s no real research. Questions like, how does it happen, what’s the science behind it, et cetera, just don’t have answers. I can tell you a few things. First, yes, we all seem to be able to have kids, though many choose not to. Probably most. Many feel it’s not fair to the child to introduce them into this. It’s not easy for a kid, as I’m sure you are finding out. Change doesn’t seem to happen until four or five, thank goodness. It is hard for us to find each other, but that has improved since the internet. I’ve talked to some of the older ladies and the only way they ever found each other was by literally seeing each other in the water. Because of that, it’s long been tradition to be as welcoming to others as possible.

If you don’t mind me asking, how is it that you are sisters and neighbors but changed separately. That seems so random.”

Kim gave a short synopsis of how it had happened.

“That’s incredible. I’ve never heard of that before. I’ll have to ask around. We’ve never heard of it spreading from one person to another, much less two. You guys might be three of a kind. So, Lake Erie has a moon pool?”

“A what?” All three girls looked confused.

“A moon pool, like a cave with water in it that has an opening to the full moon. That seems to be how we become mermaids. I found the one in Hawai'i by accident when I was there visiting relatives. That’s how I changed.” Leilani realized that that was the first time she’d actually said ‘mermaid’ during the conversation.

“No.” Kim answered, still confused.

“So how did you change?”

Kim told her what she could remember from June.

“So, a full moon, on the summer solstice and there were northern lights? I’ve never heard of anything like that. In fact, everyone I’ve ever heard of has had it happen in one of the pools we know about, and there aren’t that many. I think we know of about 15. Something about that combination of events, I guess.”

“What about the ones in Chicago, do they have one of these moon pool thingies?” Freya thought that closer Great Lakes mermaids were very interesting.

“How in the world do you know about mermaids in Chicago!?”

“Reddit.” All three answered in unison.

“I’ll hand it to you; you guys did some serious research. You kids today and your crazy internet skills.” The girls looked pleased. “No, there are group of us there but they all relocated. A lot of us have moved out of California and other expensive places. In between there being too many people and too high a cost of living, there are now mermaids in some odd places. Some of us spend more time in the water than others and those tend not to have great paying jobs.”

The girls nodded along but didn’t fully comprehend the differences in cost of living. They didn’t have to pay their own way in life, yet, and didn’t have a point of reference, but they got the gist of it.

“So,” Kim started, “is there like a newsletter? How do we learn more and meet others? I’m sure you don’t want a phone call every time one of us has a question.”

This struck Leilani as adorable. “Please feel free to contact me. I’ll let you know if you’re getting annoying. Maybe start a list so you can ask a group of questions at a time, but we all try to support each other. You should know that we are like any other group of people. We don’t all know each other. We try to be kinder to each other than most people are, but we’re still people with our friend groups and others who we don’t spend much time with. And, there aren’t that many of us. There are seven billion people in the world and I’ve met maybe 20 mermaids, and that’s with actively trying to meet them. I don’t think there are more than five in San Diego unless someone is vacationing here. It’s blowing my mind that there are three in Cleveland, Ohio. It’s too bad you aren’t older so you could travel.”

Freya had been pretty quiet but, as was inevitable, the dam broke and she had to ask a couple. “Do you know anyone in Seattle?”

“Sorry, no. I’ve never been up there. Why?”

“When I was five, I saw two mermaids there when our family was on a vacation. Now that I know that I wasn’t crazy, I’d love meet them.”

“You just randomly saw two mermaids?”

Freya told the story.

Leilani had a slight smile on her face. “When you guys asked about urges to reveal yourselves, this is what you were talking about. Like I said, some of us have it worse than others. And some, especially newer mermaids, can get resentful and want to be more “normal” so they do these sorts of things, not out of exhibitionism, but because they are angry that they can’t do things like go swimming with their friends anymore. So, they go to the party anyway and this sort of thing happens. It’s honestly more common than you’d think and we get away with it because no one thinks anyone will believe them.”

“I did that.” Kim confessed. “I went up to a little girl and talked to her and showed off my tail. I never felt more alive but I’ve felt guilty ever since I met Freya, because now I know what can happen. I hope I see her again sometime so I can apologize.”

Leilani was moved. “Don’t beat yourself up, you’re just a kid. We all slip up, as mermaids and as humans. You have to learn and forgive yourself. You didn’t ruin her life and most people won’t become obsessed, there’s a good chance you made her day and she left the experience happy to know without any downside. I’m sure she’s fine.”

Freya had another question. “Kim and Jackie have family in San Diego. If we ever get to go out there, can we meet you in person?”

“Of course! We could get a hold of some of the others and have a bonfire on the beach. Also, I need to introduce all of you to my friend Ava who lives just a few streets away from me. You’ll see her soon when we have another call. Where does your family live?”

Kim wasn’t sure but Jackie was checking her phone to find out. “It just says San Diego in the address but the note under it says someplace called Ocean Beach, if that makes sense.”

“Yep, that’s really close to me.” When you figure out a way to get out here, we’ll have a big old party.”

The call was winding down and Kim started to say their goodbyes. “Can we call you next week and talk some more?”

“Absolutely, just remember the time difference. I’m grumpy when I get woken up!”

Everyone said goodbye and the girls sat in a circle and looked at each other. Despite some hiccups, their plan had worked and all three were incredibly happy. Freya had tears streaming down her cheeks as she hugged everyone.

“Ok, everyone, remember not to bug her. When you think of questions, write them down. I don’t want to overwhelm her.”

Everyone agreed and they split up to go about their day, deliriously happy with how things had gone.

Chapter Text

The next week was Thanksgiving and that kicked off the busy holiday season with fewer chances to hang out, much less to go swimming so the day after their big contact with Leilani, they agreed to get up early to get down to the lake. It was now getting pretty cold in the mornings with the occasional dip below freezing and the girls were bundling up for appearances as they headed out, abandoning the winter clothes as they got to the beach. The water was gray and looked cold but it didn’t seem to affect their desire to jump in, which they did with gusto. They gathered a half mile out and decided to go east as they generally didn’t head that way too often and never much past downtown Cleveland. They had all day and took their time to enjoy the mid-autumn view.

They passed the mouth of the Cuyahoga River and continued on, exploring the area around the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame before swimming out along the airport, watching some student pilots practice takeoffs and landings. Heading northeast along the shore, they swam by the mansions in Bratenahl and the high-rise apartments in Euclid speeding up a little before stopping to get their bearings just off Ashtabula.

Kim pulled the phone out of the new, smaller waterproof pack they had bought with Freya’s birthday money. They figured out where they were then Jackie decided she was feeling hungry and everyone concurred. Looking around on google, they found a BBQ place right on a marina in Conneaut, which was about as far as they had been looking to go and headed towards it at a higher rate of speed.

Once at Conneaut, they faced a familiar problem; how to get out of the water unseen. The marina there was definitely on the small side, and most of the boats were already out of the water, but there was still a stream of dedicated fishermen who were coming and going via the boat ramp, plus the people at the restaurant who had a great view of the water. Resigned to a longer walk than they wanted, they headed to a point on the river entrance and climbed ashore in the middle of the industrial area, using their powers to dry off quickly and then trekked across the gravel mounds to get to the marina. ‘At least getting back in the water will be easier' thought Kim as they found a hole in the fence to get to the marina.

Over hot BBQ sandwiches and fries, they discussed what they would do next. Freya wanted to go further east but got overruled by the other two as there was limited daylight this time of year and they’d been out for quite a while, already.

Leaving the restaurant, they walked down one of the deserted docks and sat down on the edge, looking around for witnesses before softly slipping into the water and transforming before heading out of the harbor past the breakwall. They turned west and enjoyed the swim while occasionally popping up to see what was on the shore. They had already passed the nuclear power plant and were near Fairport Harbor and considered speeding up the trip when Jackie thought she heard something. She stopped everyone and they surfaced, straining to hear what Jackie described when Freya heard it, too.

“There it is. It’s an air-horn.”

The girls looked around and Kim saw it first.

“Over there!” She pointed in the direction she had glimpsed something just barely above the waves. She dove under and jumped high out of the water for a better view. She splashed down and urged the others to follow her. Ahead, they saw what Kim had identified. A small boat, barely larger than a row boat was clearly taking on water. On board, the girls could see two people, an older couple. The woman had the air-horn and was blowing it occasionally, while the man was desperately trying to get the engine to run. They were dressed for the weather and had life jackets on but they were about a half a mile out from the harbor.

The girls gathered together and considered their options.

“There’s no way they can make it to shore.” Kim said, remembering Reed’s Sunfish event.

Freya agreed. “They’ll freeze before they get anywhere close.” The water was already up to their calves and the boat wasn’t going to stay above much longer.

Jackie said what they were all thinking. “We’re going to have to carry them to shore. The boat won’t stay up long enough to push it in.” As she said that, the boat’s bow dipped below a wave taking on even more water.

Kim looked nervous but determined. “Ok, let’s get over to it and I guess convince them to trust us.” They swam the short distance to what was left above water, the boaters already colder than they imagined they would ever have to endure. The girls popped up on the starboard side of the boat and Kim yelled to get their attention. “HEY, LOOK OVER HERE!”

The two boaters looked around before looking down and seeing the three girls, a look of shock and relief mixed on their faces.

Kim’s voice took on a commanding tone. “WE CAN GET YOU TO SHORE BUT NOT IN THE BOAT, IT’S GOING TO BE GONE ANY TIME. JUMP IN AND WE’LL GRAB YOU!”

The two in the boat had no idea what to make of any of this but the water was now washing over the sides and the decision was made for them as the boat slowly started descending below them until they were floating in the frigid water. Kim shrugged at the other two mermaids, “I guess we just grab them. I’ll get the man.”

Freya volunteered to take the woman. They each grabbed on to their charges with somewhat of a bear hug and rolled onto their backs to keep the people above water enough to breath and then headed as quickly as they could to shore. Jackie swam behind them to pick up anyone who might have gotten loose from the girls’ grips. Heading for the harbor, Jackie noticed a building on the shore with a bright red roof and directed everyone to head for it. Jackie raced ahead and frantically dried herself, finding herself standing on her legs just as the other two hit the beach, pushing the two victims hard onto the beach before heading back out. Jackie ran to the first building and by sheer luck it was the Fairport Harbor Coast Guard Station. The banging on the door was quickly answered and Jackie frantically described two people washed up on the beach just yards away. The coast guard officer quickly called a few people and ran to the boaters to find them barely conscious and freezing cold. In the confusion, Jackie slipped off to the side and quietly got back into the water heading out into the harbor to meet the others.

The girls watched from a decent distance as the coast guard worked on getting the boaters onto gurneys and then into an ambulance when it finally arrived. They watched as a few of the coast guard people looked around, clearly trying to find the girl who alerted them to the situation with no luck. The three mermaids talked amongst themselves out by the harbor entrance.

“Now what?” Kim was feeling anxious.

“No idea.” Her sister answered.

“Do you think they’ll make it?” Tears were trickling down Freya’s cheeks.

“I hope so, they were still awake when we got them to shore.” Kim still looked nervous. “Does anyone think they’ll understand what happened?”

“Who knows.” Jackie was remembering their conversation the day before. “But hopefully it’s like Leilani said, no one would believe them.”

“I’m going to go get their boat.” Without waiting, Freya headed back towards where they found them. The others followed and they began searching the bottom in the area. Freya found it first. The three gathered around it, grabbing on to the anchor line on the bow and they found they could pull it, albeit slowly, underwater. They were just about out of oxygen when they got it to the beach and shoved it as far as they could up onto the sand. Keeping just their heads out of the water, they caught their breath as they looked from the boat to each other.

“Head back home?” Kim asked. The others agreed and they began their journey home, this time with no time wasted sightseeing, and got home just before dark. As they walked home from Wagar Beach, Freya smiled and said, “You guys, we did something amazing today. I’m not going to be worried about it. We saved two peoples’ lives. Maybe Cole and Reed were right, we were heroes today!” and she grabbed the two sisters by the arms, one on either side and walked home with them arm in arm, her infectious good cheer spreading to the other two until they were all feeling great about what they’d done. Once home, after big dinners, each of the girls worked on homework before finally conking out after a big day, but just before going to bed, Kim set up a google alert to try to see if there were any stories about their rescue.

The next morning, Kim had a couple alerts and found several news stories. The couple had survived. They gave a quote to channel 19 news saying that someone had saved them but they couldn’t remember anything about it. The woman said, “I don’t know how we were saved; I think it must have been angels.” Kim sent the clip to the others and breathed a sigh of relief. They had done a good deed AND gotten away with it. She got ready for the first day of a short school week and felt the best she had felt yet about being a mermaid.

Chapter Text

The short school week ended mercifully on Wednesday and the girls decided to celebrate by inviting Cole and Reed along for ice cream. Despite it being late November, Mitchell’s was still busy and the group finally found a table in the corner away from the pre-weekend treat crowd.

Cole asked if there was anything new going on. The girls had agreed in advance that they shouldn’t discuss their contact with Leilani. They hadn’t asked if they could tell their friends about her and figured it wasn’t cool to do so without her permission. They hadn’t even told Leilani about the boys so they were leaving that subject alone for a while, despite desperately wanting to spill the tea.

What Freya did want to tell them about was their big rescue the prior weekend. She and Jackie went into great detail, each occasionally adding to the other’s story as they went on. Kim seemed to be content to let them tell it and sat back slowly eating her triple scoop. Reed picked up on Kim’s reluctance to join in and when Jackie and Freya went to use the restroom and Cole went up for more ice cream, he asked her about it.

“Honestly, I’m trying to not make too much of a big deal about it.” Kim said while pecking thoughtfully at her ice cream.

“I know you get mad when we talk about being a hero, but that’s kind of exactly what you did.”

“Yeah, I know it’s actually a big deal but that’s kind of the problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just that I’ve never felt like that before. Wait, that’s not true, I just recognize it this time. I felt the same after I put you two back on your boat. It feels good. REALLY good, and that’s the thing, it’s kind of like the ‘showing off’ thing. I’m afraid of liking it too much and risking being exposed. Reed, you can’t imagine the feeling. When you guys were in trouble, I considered it my fault and my responsibility, but this was not like that, they were just some random people and they’re alive because we happened to be there and did something about it. The feeling is incredible and I can’t afford to risk our identities and our lives over chasing that feeling.”

Reed noticed that the others were on their way back. “Hey, everyone is coming back, but I get it. If you want to talk about it more, give me a call later. I won’t push the hero thing; I can tell you're going through something right now. Sorry.”

Kim smiled appreciatively and thanked him just as Cole was getting there. Jackie and Freya excitedly talked more about their adventure and Reed kept a little quieter as he watched Kim stay mostly out of the conversation. Luckily, no one else noticed Kim’s reticence to brag and eventually they said their good byes. Kim lingered for a moment at the table with Reed and thanked him, promising to call over the weekend.

When everyone got home, Kim headed to her room and once it was clear that she wouldn’t be bothered, she sent a message to Leilani. Talking to Reed had been helpful and she felt like it would be a good idea to get Leilani’s thoughts on both the rescue situation and to fess up about Cole and Reed. She was in a confessional mood.

Kim --- Hey, it’s Kim. Do you have time to talk?

There was a longish pause. Kim thought Leilani would still be at work so she was expecting that.

Leilani --- Hello! I’m still at work but we’re getting out early, can I call you on my way home? Give me about a half hour.

Kim --- That’s great. Thanks! I’ll be here

Kim got changed and started work on a drawing related to the rescue that she’d been thinking about doing and was just getting into it when her phone buzzed.

“Hello!”

“Hey, Kim! What’s up? Not in any trouble, are you?”

Kim chuckled. “No, not at all. Kind of the opposite.”

“Do tell!”

Kim went on to recount the story of the big rescue.

“Well, that was certainly an exciting event!”

“Yeah, but there are some things about it that I have questions about. Or maybe I just want advice. But I have a confession first.”

“Go on…”

“When we talked last week, you told us about the people who knew about you and how it helps you. We have someone like that and we didn’t tell that to you. I don’t think we knew how you’d take it but it seems important for you to know.”

“Is this person knowing about you a dangerous thing?”

“No, not at all, but it’s two people. They’ve turned out to be good friends and have been totally cool. I’d almost call them our cheerleaders; they're super supportive.”

“How did they find out.”

“Remember I said I was feeling tempted to show myself?”

Leilani gave a little laugh. “Yeah.”

“That’s how. I swam up to them while they were fishing and said hi.” Kim was blushing as she told the story.

“And they saw what you were?”

“No, but after the park incident, they put two and two together and starting looking for a mermaid. It gets complicated. They were friends with Freya and knew about her obsession with mermaids and wanted someone to confide in, not knowing that it was me. And eventually ‘us’. I ended up having to rescue them while they were out looking for mermaids and accidentally confirmed their suspicions. Still, they didn’t know it was me.”

Leilani wasn’t sure where this was going. “So, how did they end up finding out?”

“Full moon. We forgot about it and it was an early one. All five of us were at my house when the three of us got hit with it. They followed us, thinking we were acting strange, which, of course, we were, and ended up seeing us transform as we jumped into the lake.”

“And that was cool with them?”

“I think they were so relieved to find out that their story now made sense that they just rolled with it. Plus, they’re really nice guys. We felt so bad about having lied to them, especially Freya, but we apologized and they were totally ok.”

“You guys are lucky. There are a lot of people who don’t deal well with it and friendships, even marriages have been broken up over this.”

“Leilani, one of the reasons I need to tell you about this is that they were helping us in our search for other mermaids. I don’t like lying to them and I’d like to tell them that we’ve found others. I guess I’m asking for your permission to do that.”

“Well, seeing as they already know three, and they seem to know about Freya’s experience when she was little, right?”

“Yeah. They do.”

“Then I don’t see the harm in letting them know that you’ve found others. But do me a favor. Don’t tell them who I am by name. I want you to know them better before then. And maybe I can talk to them on a call and get a read on them, myself. Is that ok?”

“Totally!” Kim was happy that this information had not broken Leilani’s trust in her.

“So,” Leilani continued, “you said you wanted to get that out there before talking about the other thing you had?”

“Yeah. The whole rescue thing… it kind of gave me the same thrill that I feel when I think about exposing myself, except that it’s mixed with this amazing feeling of having done a good thing. I’m worried about it being addicting. After they found out, the boys teased us about being super heroes. You know, mermaid powers, strength, not to mention tails. I keep trying to shut that down but they have a point. Except that I’m eleven. I don’t want that responsibility. But now that I’ve saved lives, twice, three times if I include the other girls, I’m worried that I’ll want to do that sort of thing more and that’s obviously risky. I just wanted your thoughts, I guess.”

Leilani thought for a second or two before answering. “I think you will be relieved to find out that this is a common topic when mermaids meet up. Especially if we’ve been drinking a little. What you won’t be happy to hear is that there is no consensus. There are mermaids who have steadfastly refused to help anyone in trouble in the water out of fear of discovery and there are those who have almost made a living out of it. Not literally, turns out there is no money in anonymous rescuing, but there are some I’ve met who claim to have rescued dozen or even hundreds of people. Mostly, no one says anything out of either fear of being ridiculed or they just figure they were hallucinating. Kind of like how your rescues claim to not know what happened. I think my main concern is that you are just so young. We may be mermaids who can stay under water for a very long time, but we still need air, and it’s not difficult to imagine a situation where you get too far in over your head, so to speak.”

Kim laughed at Leilani’s pun. “I get that. That’s why I’m asking. I just want to know more. I don’t want to put myself or anyone else in harm’s way, but the feeling was just so strong. Still is.”

Leilani was glad to be able to give some context. “At least this isn’t the sort of thing that will happen that often. You probably won’t have to make a decision about it any time soon. The odds of you being in the right place at the right time are pretty slim. As long as you don’t go looking for it, I think you are good.”

Kim felt better, even if just for knowing the odds were on her side. “Thanks. That helped. Can we meet your friend Ava soon? I think Freya is being patient but is really about ready to explode!”

“Of course. Unless you are spending the weekend shopping, how about on Saturday after the holiday is over? I’m free all afternoon. Check with the others and I’ll get with Ava and ask her.”

“That would be amazing! Thank you! And thanks for listening. Should I invite our friends so you can see for yourself about them?”

“Good idea. I’ll have Ava join after I get to talk to them first.”

They set up a time and said their goodbyes. Kim was feeling much calmer and more in control of her feelings.

Leilani called Ava. “I just got off of a call with one of our little hatchlings in Cleveland.”

“Oh? How did that go?”

“Good. They’re going through all the usual things, if you can remember that far back.”

“Ha ha. I get it, you’re younger than me. I can’t wait until you are old enough for that to not be something you want to bring up.”

“Just teasing.”

“So what’s the struggle?”

“They rescued a couple of boaters and now one of them is fighting the urge to play hero more.”

“They’ll figure out a balance. Remember when I rescued that surfer out at bird rock and he sat on that rock every day for a month hoping I’d come back? Awkward.”

“Yeah, that’s really the biggest fear, having some poor soul obsess over you. What ever happened to that guy?”

“I asked around, he got over it but hasn’t surfed La Jolla since. I hope I don’t run into him again and send him into a tailspin.”

“Hey, the youngsters want to meet you. Would that be cool? We have a call set up for Saturday. I kind of promised them they’d get to meet you…”

“Of course you did. Yeah, that’s cool. We could do a zoom call like it’s still Covid times!”

“Ugh, those were the worst. I’m evaluating their friends first before subjecting you to them.”

“They have friends who know?”

“Not just friends, friend who are boys! That age old full moon issue. They followed the girls thinking they were in trouble and instead got a little shot of magic in their lives. It sounds like they are good but I want to see for myself before introducing myself or you to them.”

“I’m glad I’ve gotten better at handling the moon. I can almost be normal, these days. It was bad at first. Sounds like you’ve got it figured out, text me when and I’ll come over and join you.”

That sorted, Leilani finished her drive home to help her grandma prep for Thanksgiving.

Chapter Text

Thanksgiving began with an argument at the Callahan’s. Kim and Jackie kept snacking and their mom didn’t want them spoiling their Thanksgiving dinner, unaware of just how many calories the girls were needing these days. It was decent enough to go outside so she sent them outside to get them away from the food so they figured they could get a couple hours in at the lake. Freya was busy with her own family so they headed out, just the two of them. It was windy and there were waves breaking near shore and whitecapping out across the lake, creating good cover for surfacing without being noticed. They swam towards Lakewood Park and noticed that it was mostly empty. For a cold and windy day in November, that made sense, but on closer inspection, Jackie saw a familiar face down on the breakwall. “Hey, it’s Cole!” Jackie dove down, swimming right at him. She came up just far enough from the rocks to avoid being pushed into them by the waves and yelled his name over the noise of the water against stone. Cole had been staring out at the horizon and missed her arrival. He was more than startled to hear his name.

“Oh my god, I was not expecting to run into anyone much less you guys.”

“Mom kicked us out for eating all the snacks.” At that moment Kim came up next to her sister. “Hey, just like old times at the river!”

“How can you guys stand to be out there in this? I’ve got a couple layers on and the I was about to call it quits and head home.” The girls shrugged. “Mermaid metabolism. There was a reason Kim told you ice cream was a mermaid’s favorite food! What are you doing down here?”

“I had to get out of there, the whole family is in town at our place and everyone is arguing about politics. You know, the election is still a sore point between my mom and my uncles. We don’t eat until like seven so it’s a whole day of family hell. I think there’s more than twenty people over for this. My own immediate family is bad enough, this is close to unbearable.”

“Oh jeez, that sucks.” Jackie had other friends who had similar family strife around the holidays and empathized. “We have ours early. One-ish. We were just killing a little time before heading back. You going to be ok?”

“Yeah, I’ll just stay out until it’s time.”

“Want to come over to our place? We’ll be done eating by two and you can stay warm and kill time. We’ll have leftovers too if you don’t want to wait to eat.”

“Actually, that would be amazing. Are you sure it’s ok?”

“Yeah, mom loves when people stop by on holidays, she’d feed the neighborhood if dad let her. She overcooked even with me and Kim eating.”

“If you’re sure, yeah, I’ll be there!”

“Ok, we need to head back, it’s almost 12:30. See you later!”

As the girls disappeared under the choppy waves, Cole marveled at how they would spend less time swimming back to their beach than they would on the walk home from the park. He felt special to be included in their world and wished he could be a bigger part of it. ‘Oh well,’ he thought, ‘better to be near their world than not know about it at all.’ He really did think of them as superheroes and remembered how he felt as Kim hoisted him back onto the boat and pushed them to shore. He was still staring at where they had been as he reminisced. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and scrambled back up the rocks under the “no trespassing on the breakwall” signs that he had ignored and climbed up the solstice steps for a slow walk back to his house to get his bike.

The Callahans were going around the table saying what they were thankful for, Kim and Jackie having to make up something normal sounding instead of ‘mermaid friendship’. They giggled to each other as they covered up with normal sounding things to be thankful for.

Renée thought it was frustrating back when Kim would antagonize her and Jackie but it had been insufferable since they had suddenly become best friends over the summer. Truthfully, Renée was jealous. She would never admit it, but Kim and Jackie’s newfound closeness was something she didn’t even know she wanted, but she found that she desired it more than she thought she would ever. She was used to being the one who made the others jealous and now they didn’t even seem to notice her or her accomplishments, much less be envious of them. She wondered what had changed. She watched them pile an ungodly amount of food on their plates, as had been their recent trend. She watched them while she picked at her more modest portion, not really hearing any of the conversation going on around her. She watched the subtle glances and smirks at what must be inside jokes. She watched as they cleared their places together and got the ice cream and other deserts out. For the first time, she realized that she was missing out on something. She had rushed to ‘grow up’ but was wondering if she was doing it correctly. None of her friends were as close as her sisters were, nor how close they were with that neighbor girl who was always over. They even had boys in their group and despite her newish interest in the other sex, she didn’t have the nerve to hang out with any of them, much less have this very casual but intimate friendship. Renée had surprised herself with these feelings. The holiday was making her emotional. This was the first Thanksgiving in a long time without extended family in attendance. Life had just taken everyone in different places this year. Her mother noticed her quietness and caught what she thought were some misty eyes as Renée quietly ate and watched her sisters.

As dinner wound down, their mom asked Kim and Jackie to help her pack up some leftovers as Renée disappeared upstairs and their dad turned the TV on to watch football.

“You know,” she started once she had the sisters alone, “I’m really happy that you two have been getting along so great this year. What do you think changed?” The girls looked at each other and smiled knowingly, a gesture that their mom noticed. “Seriously. You used fight like cats and dogs.”

“I don’t know,” Kim replied, “I guess we just found that we had more in common than we thought.”

“Plus,” Jackie added, “we both became good friends with Freya.”

“Yeah, and with her friends from her old school.”

Their mom felt like she was still missing something but she was just happy that it had happened, but now she wanted to talk about extending that. “I think that Renée might be feeling a little left out. Could I ask that you try to include her more?”

Kim wasn’t sure exactly how to respond. She sure wasn’t going to suggest that Renée go swimming with them. “Mom, I don’t think Renée has much interest, she’s a teenager and doesn’t want anything to do with her ‘little’ sisters.”

“I’m not sure about that. As a mom, I can tell things and she’s looking a little jealous. It wouldn’t kill you have her around you more.”

“Isn’t it usually the other way around?” Jackie was usually the empathetic one and hadn’t noticed anything in Renée that indicated she would want to hang around with them. “Doesn’t the little sister usually beg to hang around the big sister?”

Their mom agreed to herself that that was usually the case but pressed on. “Regardless, it’s hard to see your two siblings be friends but freeze you out, despite who’s the oldest.”

Kim genuinely could not figure out how to integrate Renée into her group, their ‘pod’, as they were coming to think of themselves but she didn’t want to fight about it. “Sure, mom, we’ll try.”

“That’s all I ask.” She smiled at her girls, surprised to not get more push back. They had seemed so much more self-reliant lately, more self-assured, as well. Now that she thought about it, there hadn’t been any fights or any bad behavior at all since Kim’s late night out back in the early summer. ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’ she thought to herself as the kids went to go answer the doorbell.

“Mom!” Jackie yelled from the front hallway. “Cole’s here, can he get some leftovers and hang out?”

“Sure,” she answered “I’ll put some things on a plate.”

Cole came in and snacked on turkey and pumpkin pie while he and the girls chatted around the table. There was actually a lot to catch up on that wasn’t mermaid related. School, mutual friends, high school football (Lakewood had a bad year, Rocky River did ok but not great), some teacher gossip about some scandals in Rocky River. Their mom was impressed with the easy friendship they seemed to all have. Kim wouldn’t have been like this in past years, even just a few months ago. Something had definitely changed and clearly for the better. She called Renée back down to see if she wanted some more pie and Renée joined them at the table, occasionally joining in the conversation. Their mom was proud of herself for noticing and trying to make things better. Maybe it would stick.

That evening, after Cole left for his own dinner, the two youngest siblings gathered in Kim’s room to hang out and relax, and maybe do a little drawing as Jackie still had a strong interest in keeping up on their DeviantART page. She found that it pushed her and she liked that.

Quietly, Jackie brought up her mom’s request. “I guess we don’t really ever do anything with Renée. She kind of has a point.”

“Yeah, but it’s more like Renée hasn’t had anything to do with us. When we were all little, we used to play together all the time, she’s the one that stopped first.”

“I guess two or three years difference is a lot at thirteen. But still, nothing we do can really include her. I guess mom thinks we’re out playing hopscotch or with dolls? Even if we were, Renée wouldn’t be interested.”

“Maybe it’s not really something we do together, maybe we just start out being nice to her.”

“Because she’s so nice to us?”

“Is she that terrible? Other than trying to quiet us down occasionally, she mostly ignores us. I think I really let her down this summer when I told on her about sneaking out. I think maybe we just make an effort. You know, check in on her, ask her if she wants a snack if we’re getting one. With winter coming, we’re going to be inside more, especially with how early it gets dark. We can ask her to watch movies and stuff like that.”

Jackie saw her point. “I suppose there is no reason not to, and if it keeps mom happy then that’s one less thing to worry about.”

Kim realized that she hadn’t told anyone about the upcoming call with Leilani and Ava and had to figure out how to do so without seeming like she went behind anyone’s back. In the spirit of their new commitment to not freeze out her other sister, Kim decided that honesty would be the best policy. “Hey, I kind of have some news. I’m going to call Freya and see if she’s back. Is that ok?”

Jackie looked slightly worried but nodded.

“It’s not bad,” said Kim, reading Jackie’s expression, “hang on, I’ll call her.” Luckily Freya was done with her obligations and looking for a distraction. In a few minutes all three were together in Jackie’s room, since it didn’t share a wall with Renée. They might be trying to be better sisters but they still had a secret to protect.

Kim started out a little fidgety. “Ok, so I have two things to discuss and they are related. First, I want to confess that I’ve been feeling a little different since our big rescue last week.”

“What do you mean, ‘different’?” Freya was curious, now.

“It kind of, I don’t know, brought stuff back up. Like the ‘showing off’ kind of stuff. I felt so good afterwards and I was, I guess I still am, a little afraid that it will make me seek out that feeling again.”

Jackie was surprised. She had also felt that, but Kim seemed to be so against that sort of thing lately. “Aren’t you the one always telling Reed or Cole to cut it out with the ‘hero’ stuff?”

“I am, but it still got to me. It almost felt like when we are under the moon. Almost a drive or urge to do it again.

Freya was watching and listening while Jackie responded. “I think we all felt like that, right?” Freya nodded. “Are you saying that it was stronger for you?”

“I can’t know that, but it led me to the second thing. I was feeling so odd that I called Leilani without you guys. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t fair to you.”

Neither of the other girls seemed surprised.

“Do you know how hard it’s been for me not to call her?” Jackie was only surprised that it had been Kim who had caved. “The only other mermaid we know and we’ve been trying to play it cool but I’m pretty sure that the only reason Freya isn’t on the phone with her right now is that she doesn’t have one.”

Freya looked down sheepishly but smiled a little. “Yeah, that’s probably true.”

“So? What did she say?”

“She said it was common and that some try to never have to rescue anyone but some do it almost like a hobby. I guess we are all as different as any other group of people.”

“So, do you feel better?”

“Yeah, I do. But I also told her that we have friends who know. I explained how and a little about them. She wants to meet them and see if she trusts them. I hope you don’t mind but I set up a call for Saturday. She can meet the guys and if she’s feeling ok about them, Ava will join and we can meet her.”

“SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?” Freya was quite excited.

“Yeah, in the late afternoon. 4pm. Is everyone ok with that?”

Freya was nodding furiously and Jackie was excited to a somewhat less manic degree.

“So do you guys forgive me?”

“Of course we do.” said Jackie while checking in with Freya for agreement. “The way you started, I thought it was something worse.”

Kim was relieved. She was going to keep trying to be more open. Plans were made for Saturday.

Chapter Text

On Friday the girls broke the news to Cole and Reed at Lakewood Park. It had been an unseasonably warm day and after ice cream, a trip to the park seemed pleasant… and relatively private.

“So… we have some big news.” Freya couldn’t wait too much longer. Cole and Reed looked excited. They had an inkling and were looking forward to good news. “We found her! We found her and talked to her. And she’s soooooo cool!” Jackie rolled her eyes a little at Freya’s exuberance but she felt pretty much the same way. “She actually is pretty cool. And we are calling her tomorrow. She knows about you guys knowing and wants to meet you. Is that cool?”

“Um, of course!” Cole was also quite excited. After years of seeing Freya insist, and then become one, there was finally proof that others were out there. Reed, of course, agreed.

“Can you guys be at our place at 3:30 tomorrow? We’re calling her at 4.”

“Absolutely. I’m not doing anything before that if you want to hang out earlier.” Cole still had relatives at the house and was anxious to find a reason to not be there. It felt good that the girls had included him and Reed in their conversation with their new friend. It was like he was now part of their team.

“Yeah,” Kim agreed, “let’s find something fun to do.”

“Bowling?” Jackie had always liked bowling with the family and thought it sounded like fun.

Everyone agreed and plans were made. They hung out at the park for quite a while, talking about other mermaids they might be able to meet someday and watching the lake with its hypnotic, never ending waves as they relaxed on such a rare, warm November day. They split up to head their separate ways with the girls walking back along Edgewater Dr, watching people put up Christmas decorations along the way. It was nice, Kim thought. Freya and Jackie were deep into their own conversation but Kim, with a bit of the ‘loner’ still in her, was content to hang back a few steps, take in the scene, and enjoy the vibe. She sensed that life wouldn’t always be this easy and was content to be in this moment during the couple miles they had to walk, with glimpses of the lake off to her right as they passed side streets that led to it.

Saturday morning started early for Freya. She was too excited for their call with Leilani to sleep in. She was knocking on the Callahan’s door at 8am, Mrs Callahan answering it with a cup of coffee, not being used to any of her kids being up this early on a Saturday.

“Hi, Freya, the girls aren’t up yet, do you want a piece of toast?”

“No thanks, Mrs Callahan. Would it be ok if I went up and checked?”

Mrs Callahan was secretly enjoying the idea of someone waking the girls up the way they used to keep her from sleeping so she smiled and told Freya that she was on her own if they were grumpy. Freya took the stairs two at a time and knocked loudly, earning a groan from both within Kim’s room and from Renée’s next door. She took that as permission to enter and barged in, launching herself into Kim’s bed, grinning at her as Kim’s eyes slowly came into focus.

“And good morning to you, too.” Kim said with a yawn. “A little excited, today?”

Freya nodded furiously. “Plus, I can’t wait to go bowling, I only ever get to do that at birthday parties. My family never goes. My mom says she hates the smell.”

“We aren’t even meeting the guys until eleven. You get too excited, you know that?”

Freya grinned and sat up. “I know, that’s what you love about me!”

“Come on, let’s at least get something to eat since I’m up.”

They headed downstairs with Jackie showing up shortly after and Renée a few minutes later.

“What in the world are you guys doing up?” Renée was genuinely curious.

“Bowling.” Jackie answered over a mouth full of cereal.

“At eight am?”

“No, eleven, Freya just got here early.”

Jackie looked around the table. Freya and Kim were busy eating but Renée had that same look that her mother had noticed on Thursday. Jackie kicked Kim under the table and gestured discreetly towards their sister. Jackie was making pleading eyes but Kim wasn’t as enthusiastic about what was clearly going on in Jackie’s head. Jackie made a more resolute face and Kim understood that this was now out of her control.

“Hey, Renée, do you want to go with us? We’re meeting Cole and Reed at the bowling alley at eleven.”

Renée looked slightly surprised. She really did want to go. She missed family bowling night, they hadn’t done it in a while, and she was surprisingly good at it. She struggled with the idea of tagging along with her sisters and their friends. It seemed weirdly backwards, but the melancholy from Thanksgiving was still with her a little and she didn’t really have anything else to do.

“I kind of do want to go. Is that ok? I don’t really know your friends…”

“Yeah, of course. You’ve met Cole and Reed, haven’t you?”

“I’ve seen them when they’ve been over but I don’t think I’ve actually met them.”

“They’re cool. It’ll be fun!”

Kim wasn’t sure about the ‘fun’ part. It had been a year or two since Renée stopped hanging out with them and it seemed a little foreign, and it obviously curtailed any mermaid related discussion, not that there was anything new to be discussing. Still, she knew what Jackie was doing was probably the right thing to do and she agreed, telling Renée that she was happy she was joining them. Freya seemed oblivious to all this. She had a giant bowl of Cap’n Crunch in front of her and her parents never let her have any of the good breakfast cereals.

Their mom was happy to drive the girls to the lanes and thanked Kim and Jackie quietly. Jackie felt good about this, even if Kim had her doubts.

The lanes were packed when they got there but the guys had already gotten two lanes next to each other and were waiting for them, though they looked rather surprised to see Renée. They got formally introduced before the girls went up for shoes.

Reed stopped Kim briefly. “Does Renée know?”

“No! So no mermaid talk, ok?”

“Sure, of course. I’ll tell Cole.”

“Thanks.”

“Did your mom send her to watch over you?” Reed still wasn’t sure why she was there.

“No. She kind of begged us to start including Renée in more things. She thinks she’s feeling left out.”

“Is she?”

“Maybe. Kind of. I don’t know. I didn’t expect her to say yes when Jackie invited her but she did; so maybe she does want to hang out more."

“Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting it, is all.”

“It’s good. I need to get my shoes. Be right back.”

They divvied up into teams and Renée found that she was enjoying it more than she figured she would. Her sisters seemed more grown up than she remembered, though they were terrible bowlers. Renée was having a good couple games, beating everyone except losing once or twice to Cole who seemed to have more practice under his belt.

“You’re pretty good, Cole.” Cole took this a quite the compliment coming from a thirteen-year-old.

“Thanks. My dad was really good when he was younger and we go a lot as a family. You aren’t bad, yourself.”

Renée found herself surprised to be so happy to get a compliment from one of her kid sisters’ friends. As time went on, though, she noticed some odd things. Even though the other girls’ actual bowling skills were no better than they’d used to be, they sure were throwing the balls pretty hard, and one time she picked up Jackie’s ball by mistake and saw that it was a few pounds heavier than even what the boys were using. Her sisters really were slightly different than she’d remembered. She had not been associating with them or the rest of the family much. She wondered if she had missed out on changes while too focused on herself. Regardless, it was still fun and she found herself slipping easily back into a more comfortable relationship with her sisters. It was just like old times with the three sharing their own inside-the-family jokes and references while Freya, Cole and Reed formed their own bowling alliance to battle the sisters. Several games and a few baskets of fries later, it was time to get picked up and everyone started packing up to go.

“That was fun.” Renée stated/admitted as they were heading out to the minivan.

“It was.” Jackie agreed. “Let’s do this more, if mom doesn’t mind paying.”

“Your mom doesn’t mind paying." Mrs Callahan had heard the comment as the girls walked towards the car. "You guys can go every week if you want.”  She was happy to encourage more togetherness from her daughters. They headed home, chattering and bragging about their games.

Once back home, Renée headed to her room while everyone else piled into Kim’s room. She had enjoyed the togetherness and suddenly felt a little left out. Still, she didn’t like the idea of looking desperate by asking to join them so she did what she usually did and listened to music while scrolling social media in the couple hours they had before dinner.

One room over, the tension was almost boiling over as they got closer to their chance to both meet another mermaid and to introduce their friends to Leilani and hopefully Ava. Jackie insisted in waiting until exactly four pm before calling, despite Freya’s pleas to see if they would answer early. As per their agreement, they would start the call on voice only to let Leilani get to know the boys without revealing too much of herself.

Leilani laughed as the phone went off exactly at four.

“Excitable bunch!” Ava commented from the other side of room, just out of potential view if the camera came on.

“They’re eleven, give them a break.” Leilani chastised her friend while pressing the button on her phone to make the connection.

“Hey, guys!” Leilani had a smile in her voice.

“Hi!” Answered everyone in unison.

“First things first, why don’t you put your friends on.”

“We’re all here around the laptop.”

Leilani started asking the guys some questions. She was good at this, she had learned to get a good read on a lot people as she figured out who she could trust in her own life and, unfortunately, most people didn’t pass her tests. She had a way of turning probing questions into what sounded like friendly conversation and the boys never felt like they were being tested, but they were. Luckily, Leilani liked the answers she was getting and had a real sense of a connection between the girls and their friends. After a bit, she pronounced them ‘cool’ and declared that they could move to video. The boys were especially thrilled to be called ‘cool’ by an adult mermaid from across the country.

Kim nervously pressed the button to move the call to video and Leilani’s face filled up the screen. The girls had seen her before, of course, but it was still a little surprising to them exactly how pretty Leilani was. She had straight, dark hair cut into messy bangs just touching her eyes that added a mysteriousness to her look and darkly tanned skin with a unique quality derived from her Hawaiian/Mexican background that no one could quite place. She was in a white tank top over a bikini top and board shorts, looking so very Californian in the eyes of the kids from Ohio.

The conversation started a little slowly as they caught the guys up on what they already knew but then branched out, with Freya asking a lot of art questions and all the kids asking about what living in San Diego was like. Leilani was in the middle of trying to describe the cost-of-living differences when the kids heard another voice chime in. “At least you get to share expenses with your grandma, try doing this on your own.” Ava hadn’t planned on joining in yet but she was also not someone who easily kept quiet.

“Well,” Leilani jumped in, “I guess Ava thinks you are all worthy of her contributions!”

A second face appeared next to Leilani, smiling and waving into the camera.

“I suppose you guys are cool enough for me.” She joked. “I needed to get a sense for who you all are, first, but I should have trusted Leilani. Hi! I’m Ava!”

Ava watched the faces on the screen and was pleased to have seemed to surprised everyone. She had a bit of a dramatic streak in her. In many ways, Ava was the opposite of Leilani with dark blond hair, almost like if Kim had highlights, with a tall, athletic build and lots of tattoos. She had a sunny disposition whereas Leilani was a little less outgoing. Ava seemed to be the sort of person who would dare you to do things, maybe a tiny bit of a bad influence. Leilani seemed more grounded and warm.

The seven spoke for quite a while, feeling very comfortable, despite the large age difference. Cole and Reed were reacting more like Freya with large smiles, while the Callahans were a little more composed, but the conversation was easy and by the end, they felt like they had all known each other for far longer.

One room over, Renée couldn’t help but hear occasional laughter and what sounded like some other voices. She didn’t want to barge in but she was really curious. It’s not odd for kids to be on face time or any other platform but for all five to be on it together seemed a bit odd. Eventually, her curiosity overtook her aloofness and she went out into the hall and knocked on Kim’s door just as she heard goodbyes being said through said door.

Jackie opened it and Renée saw the remains of smiles turning into just a hint of nervousness.

“Who are you guys talking to?”

“Just some friends.”

“Aren’t all your friends right here?” Renée hadn’t meant it to sound mean, but it came out that way. Jackie looked hurt.

“Jeez, Renée, we can have other friends.” Jackie was having trouble balancing her feelings of hurt with her need to not divulge who they had been talking to. She didn’t think it was wise to own up to talking to full grown adults from across the country without the context of their shared mermaid-ness. She knew how that would look. She found her answer getting defensive. “They’re friends of Freya, Cole and Reed. From Lakewood.”

Renée knew she had worded things badly. She truly hadn’t meant to be mean. She tried to stumble her way out of it, somewhat badly.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean… I know you have other friends; I was just… Never mind. I’m sorry.”

Renée backed out of the room leaving Jackie alone and holding the door open. She closed it.

Cole had the first comment. “Well, that was awkward.”

“Weird.” Kim added. “Maybe we should have been quieter. Did we say anything too dangerous that would have been loud enough for her to hear?”

“I don’t think so.” Freya was always the more hopeful of the group.

Reed tried to be logical. “She didn’t say or ask anything that showed that she might have heard something. I think you are ok.”

Everyone agreed with him. They had barely discussed anything that could have been construed as ‘odd’ to an outsider. The concluded that they were fine. By now it was almost dinner and everyone headed out with the boys lamenting the longish ride back to Lakewood. Kim was happy that the conversation had gone well and their group of contacts had expanded. She was also feeling relieved that she didn’t have to hide her friends who knew their secret. All in all, it had been a great day, apart from the odd interaction with Renée at the end. She was starting to see her mom’s point with a little more clarity.

Sunday was a quiet day. Everyone was occupied. Jackie was at the library working on a big project with some classmates. Freya’s family were getting a tree and decorating. Mr and Mrs Callahan were putzing around in the yard and going over to the neighbors to watch the game, leaving Kim and Renée alone for the first time in quite a while. Kim had paid attention to Jackie’s efforts regarding Renée and Kim thought she might try to further that. Harmony in the house made their mom very happy and that, in turn, led to her answer being ‘yes’ more often when asking permission to do things, plus, it did feel nice to not be fighting. Kim tentatively knocked on Renée’s door.

“Come in?” Renée said/asked. She wasn’t used to polite knocking.

“Hey, I just thought I’d see what’s up.”

Kim rarely asked Renée anything much less about how she was.

“Not much, everyone’s busy today so I’m just hanging out.”

There was slightly more of a pause than was comfortable before Renée continued.

“Thanks for suggesting bowling. That was actually fun. Can I ask you something?”

Kim nodded while she sat down in the chair opposite the side of the bed that Renée was sitting on.

“What changed this summer?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were the biggest loner I knew and all of a sudden you have friends and seem to be much more outgoing. Mom’s just happy about it but it doesn’t make much sense to me and I’m just curious. Why the big change?”

Kim thought about how to answer this. The answer was plain to her but she couldn’t really say the truth.

“Um, I’m not sure. Jackie says I just came out of my shell. I do feel different.” This was an understatement. “But making friends with Freya was kind of a big deal, she’s so much more open than I used to be. And then I met her friends and, I don’t know. Starting a new school was a big change, even if it’s mostly the same people. You don’t think I’m that different, do you?”

“Yeah, I do. Don’t get me wrong, it looks good on you. It just seemed like such a change.”

Kim struck a dramatic pose and said, “I must just be mature for my age!” Renée laughed.

Kim got back to being more serious. “Listen, earlier in the summer, after I got you in trouble, I felt terrible. I told you that I would never do that to you again and I want you to know that I was serious. Sisters should have each other’s backs and I’ll live up to that. I hope you’ll forgive me for that. My friends and my family mean more to me than I used to realize. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned this year, it’s that that I need to take care of the people around me so that they will do the same for me. Cole had to leave the house this weekend because of all the bickering and fighting. I don’t want us to be like that. Not anymore. If I’m annoying you, please tell me.”

Renée was somewhat stunned. And worried. “Are you sure something didn’t happen to you? Something bad? You are kind of freaking me out.”

Kim laughed. “Nothing bad. Maybe I am a little different but not in a bad way, I hope. I’m fine, but I appreciate you worrying. It means you care.”

Renée found herself tearing up and went over to Kim to hug her. It was the first time since the girls were little that she felt so sisterly.

“But Jackie, too,” Renée sniffled, “you both seem so different. I know I wasn’t helping. And I wasn’t paying attention to what you were going through. I’m glad we talked. I feel better.”

“And there’s a bonus,” Kim added, “Mom’s way more mellow when we don’t fight!”

“True. That’s pretty clever, you know.”

“I know!” Kim grinned at her sister. “I’ve got some reading to do for tomorrow but you wanna get some snacks a little later? We could go up to Martins.”

“Sounds good. Let me know when you need a break.”

Kim smiled at her and left the room but didn’t close the door. She was hoping there would less need for closed doors between them. She did her reading but her mind kept wandering, thinking about whether Renée would handle the truth well if it ever happened. She wondered if was really more of a ‘when it happened’. How long could the secret stay a secret, at least from those closest. She and Jackie had sworn not to tell their parents but would that last forever? There was nothing about her parents, or Renée for that matter, that indicated that they would be anything but supportive. But it wasn’t just her secret to keep. Not even just her, Jackie, and Freya’s secret. Now that they knew there was a wider mermaid population, she had an obligation to them, too. It hurt that her new, improved relationship with Renée was being built on the back of a lie.

Meanwhile, next door, Renée was lost in her own thoughts. She was still feeling emotional about Kim’s declarations of sisterhood but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something big had happened. Kim’s personality change was part of it, but the sudden appearance of a whole new friend group was odd. And there was so much secretive behind-closed-doors meeting. And she kept hearing them use words that, while not odd in and of themselves, were being used in strange contexts. She kept hearing the word ‘swimming’ when it was basically winter and the family didn’t have a pass for the indoor pool at the rec center. And she sometimes heard the word ‘pod’ being used the way other kids say ‘fam’. She’d also heard the name Leilani, occasionally, and she didn’t think her sisters know anyone by that name. She didn’t think the others had noticed but she had been keeping an ear out lately. She couldn’t figure out what any of this meant but she was happy to be getting along better and Kim was right, when they didn’t fight, mom left them alone more. She figured that if something big had happened, Kim would tell her when she was ready, she just hoped that if anything had happened, that it wasn’t traumatic.

Chapter Text

December came and the promise of winter break had all the girls, and the guys, looking forward to more free time. Still, winter was basically here by then and despite the girls being relatively impervious to the cold, it was still gray, dark, and oppressive and they found themselves preferring to stay in and cozy up on the couch. Jackie’s talents were extremely helpful when the hot chocolate came out.

Renée was joining the others more and more and Kim and Jackie occasionally caught themselves on the verge of speaking too openly in front of their sister. They were on the couch in the mid evening watching a Netflix movie called Finding ‘Ohana, a story about some kids discovering their Hawaiian heritage on a trip to O’ahu with their mother, whose character happened to be named Leilani.

Half way through, Renée, forgetting that she hadn’t really been told anything, casually asked: “Don’t you guys have friend named Leilani?” Kim and Jackie stiffened immediately and Renée realized that despite the innocent nature of her question, she had revealed knowledge that she shouldn’t have had. She looked down the couch and saw a badly covered up glance between Kim and Jackie and tried to cover up her own slip. “Oh, never mind, I think that’s one of my friends who knows someone by that name.” Neither side would continue that line of conversation but Renée clearly understood that she shouldn’t have known that name and it made her very worried that someone’s name would illicit such a strong response. She thought back on her talk with Kim and whether something had happened to her and she wondered if the two were related.

On the mermaid side of this awkward exchange, they saw that they had been given an out by Renée’s ‘never mind’, and took it gratefully but wondered what else Renée had overheard. In addition, they had responded with silence and scared looks and they were concerned that Renée would take that as its own statement. It was pretty clear that they had just silently admitted to knowing a Leilani and acted very weird about it. Almost telepathically, they both decided to ignore it and try to stay normal for the rest of the evening. They even did a good job of doing so. Later, in bed, they texted furiously, trying to figure out what to do.

Kim--- Well for one thing… we need to be quieter

Jackie--- absolutely, but what do we do about Renée?

Kim--- I don’t think we do anything. She doesn’t know anything major and if we make a big deal of it things will be worse

Jackie--- I think you’re right. So, what? We just act like that didn’t happen?

Kim--- Yeah. The worst we can do is to do anything at all. Just let it go. What is she going to do? It’s a big leap from knowing that we know a Leilani to figuring out you-know-what

Jackie--- Ok, I guess that’s true. It’s just weird

Kim--- I know, just let it go. Don’t forget, it’s a full moon in a few days. Let’s make plans tomorrow. Get some sleep

Jackie--- GN.

Renée, for her part, had begun to wonder more seriously about what was going on. The only clue she had was the name Leilani. She was sure that she’d never met anyone with that name so it wasn’t anyone she knew. Some basic googling showed that while there were a few Leilanis in the Cleveland area, there weren’t too many and most seemed to be her parents’ age. After that she was a bit stumped. It was a Hawaiian name but no one in her family had been there, as far as she knew. She realized that she didn’t have anything to go on and decided to think about it more later.

As Kim’s google alert reminded them, the full moon would be just a couple days later on the 15^th, which was a Sunday. That meant that a school-night sleepover was probably out of the question. Kim and Jackie did not like the idea of Freya going through it alone but Freya assured them that she would be fine so they made plans to sleep together in Jackie’s room as it had fewer windows and faced west, giving them a chance to fall asleep before any potential moonlight could get in and they would cover the windows just in case.

Their plans seemed solid so on Tuesday night, Kim snuck into her sister’s room and got in bed with her as planned. The night had turned out to be heavily overcast so they figured they were pretty safe as they threw a towel over the blinds and settled in for what they hoped would be a drama free full moon.

Their preparations weren’t perfect, though, and as the moon began its western descent, a tiny sliver of moonlight made it briefly through a tiny gap in between the towel and the window frame, casting an ever-so-tiny beam of moonlight onto the sleeping faces of the girls. It was only a few seconds before the moon disappeared behind the thick clouds but it had its effect, albeit less severely than usual. Both girls slowly woke, groggy with lack of sleep and smiled to each other before Jackie whispered to Kim, “Mmmmm. The moon. It’s so comfy here but should we go swimming?”

Kim was similarly only lightly influenced and somewhat lucidly declared that it was far to cold to go out. But maybe they could compromise.

“What do you have in mind?”

“What if we just take a bath?”

“Ooooo, a nice warm bath. That still sounds cozy.”

The girls each giggled a little as they got up and opened the door, not even bothering to look at the clock that read 4:15am.

In the bathroom, Kim started the water flowing into the large, claw-foot tub that was more than big enough for the two of them. Impatient to get in the water, they climbed in before there was even enough to cover them enough for the change to happen, so they laughed quietly as they splashed water on each other and swapped ends so that they would be face to fin. Eventually, the water reached a critical level and tails sprouted with this feeling extremely rewarding to the two sisters. They let the tub fill up until it was almost overflowing and both sank below the surface, with Jackie adding some additional heat to the tub. Not that they needed it but it still felt delicious.

Their more modest full moon urges quenched, they closed their eyes and drifted off, back into sleep, Kim still completely submerged. By then, the clocks they had ignored said 4:45am. Renée’s alarm was set for six.

Waking up underwater was a bit of a new surprise for Kim. In those odd moments between sleeping and waking, she tried to remember if she had fallen asleep in the water before and didn’t think she had. It had been pleasant. Then sound that originally awakened her came back. Sticking her head back up above the water she was awake enough to place the sound. It was a knocking on the door. A door that no one had bothered to lock an hour and a half ago. Jackie seemed to be reaching the same conclusion and found her voice first.

“Just a minute, we’re in here.” She grimaced, why had she said “we?” The two scrambled to get themselves out of the tub, tangling their tails and splashing water everywhere before landing on the tile floor with an alarmingly loud thump. Renée’s voice came back through the door, “Are you Ok? What was that noise?”

For some reason, Kim answered this time. “I’m fine. I just dropped something. Give me a couple minutes, I’ll be right out.”

“Kim? Jackie? Are you both in there.”

“Please!” Kim was pleading. “Just a couple minutes. Don’t come in. We’ll be right out.”

Kim was using her powers to physically pick up the water off the floor but she dumped it into the still full tub too quickly and most just splashed back out. Jackie had successfully dried herself off and was working on Kim when Renée’s voice took on a more urgent tone. “Are you sure you guys are ok? I’m coming in.” The door knob slowly turned just as Kim herself turned back. Renée walked into the bathroom to a very strange scene. Kim was laying on the floor over by the sink with Jackie hovering above her while the air was full of steam and the floor was soaking wet. A tub full of water was still sloshing around but both of the girls were mostly dry other than where Kim was sitting in a puddle.

Kim quickly stood up. “See? We’re fine. No need to barge in.” Kim calmly walked over to the tub and pulled the plug to let the water out. “Give us a minute to clean up the mess and then the bathroom is all yours. Sorry we were in her when you needed it.” With that, Kim lightly pushed Renée out into the hallway and closed the door. She quickly scooped up the water that was all over the floor and placed it, gently this time, back in the quickly draining tub while Jackie evaporated any remaining water until all that was left was a light fog hanging in the air. They walked out into the hall and passed Renée, still standing open mouthed and looking at them. They retreated back to Jackie’s room and crumpled onto the floor, not believing how close that had been but also very worried that the bizarre scene that Renée had walked in to would be a little difficult to explain if pressed.

Back in the hallway, Renée slowly walked back into a now dry bathroom and turned around in a circle three times trying to find the wet mess she thought she had just seen. She slowly brushed her teeth while continuing to survey the bathroom, which by now looked entirely normal. She showered and did her usual morning routine but she knew some sort of shenanigans had been going on, she just had no idea what. After her talk with Kim the other day, she wasn’t about to tell on them, but something was going on. She left to meet friends for the walk to school still perplexed.

Right about then, Freya showed up, looking like her normal chipper self.

“Everything go ok?” Kim asked.

“Just like I planned. No issues. You guys?”

Kim and Jackie looked at each other before Kim spoke. “We may have had a few issues over here.”

Freya was now very curious.

“We’re running late. I’ll fill you in on the way to school.” They said goodbye to Jackie and Kim explained the situation while they walked.

“Did she see anything?”

“No, but only by a matter of a second or two. I don’t know how to explain the mess, or the sounds, or how we cleaned it up so fast. We weren’t all the way awake yet and didn’t think clearly.”

“Wait, you were asleep? In the tub?”

“Yeah, under water, apparently. So that’s something new.”

“You were sleeping while fully under?”

“Yep. For over an hour. I guess that’s something we can do. I’m guessing we need even less air while asleep. And I have to say, it felt amazing. Our tails were sticking out but the rest of us was covered with warm water. I’m not sure if it was because of the moon but I’m telling you, it felt so good. I need to find a way to try it again. I’m afraid to sleep out in the lake, but in the tub? Awesome!”

Freya felt like she’d missed out. Someday she would find a way to try it. They finished the walk to school and agreed to pick up the discussion about Renée after they got out.

That afternoon, Renée found herself alone in the house, with both sisters working on projects before the winter break started. She made a snack and headed upstairs. She was just about to turn into her room when she saw that Kim’s door was open. She had never been snoopy in the past, and she didn’t want to violate the new peace that she was experiencing with her sisters, but she was too interested in figuring out what they were up to and couldn’t seem to stop herself from having a look around. She hadn’t been in Kim’s room for a while and it didn’t look that different, other than being messier and having more art up on the walls. It took a while for it to register how much of the art was aquatically themed. There were rows of shells on the windowsill. Art supplies littered the desk. She didn’t remember Kim being into art the way that Jackie was. Odd. Her laptop was on the desk but it wasn’t logged in, plus she couldn’t bring herself to be that invasive. She saw the picture of Kim, Jackie and Freya in the lake but it was just their heads poking above the water and that didn’t mean anything to Renée. It was clear from the art on the walls that Kim had a strong interest in the lake, or maybe water in general. A tiny part of her brain was connecting that to the water all over the bathroom the other morning, but it didn’t quite make it to her consciousness, instead it just created a mental itch, like not quite being able to recall someone’s name.

Renée gave up. None of this pointed to some traumatic event over the summer that could have had the effect on Kim that she thought she noticed. She was still looking for evidence of something bad having happened. On the way out, her eyes lingered on a charcoal sketch next to the door. It was of a storm over the lake with lightning striking the water in front of the point where the observer would have been. It seemed more visceral than the other art but like many of the other pieces, it prominently featured a full moon. Renée stared at it for a long time. It felt like it meant something. It seemed important and it had a prominent place on the wall. Renée was startled by the sound of a door being thrown open downstairs and scurried to her room before she could get caught. By the time Jackie came upstairs, Renée was laying on her bed, scrolling on her phone. Jackie called out a ‘hello’ on her way past Renée’s room as she headed for the bathroom. On her way back out into the hallway, Renée was standing in her doorway looking nervous.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” Jackie was continuing into her room to change out of school clothes. Renée followed her.

“You would tell me if something bad happened, wouldn’t you?”

“Um, of course? Why, did I do something wrong?”

“No, I mean if something ‘bad’ happened to you or Kim, you know you could tell me, right?”

“Yeah, sure, but nothing bad has happened, if that’s what you’re asking?”

“I guess that is what I’m asking. Kim just seems so different all of a sudden. You kind of do, too. And all of our relationships have been changing. Not that that’s bad! I’m glad we are all on better terms, but it just seemed sudden and Kim’s personality really changed. Maybe not changed, so much as opened up, if that makes sense?”

 Jackie was finishing her change into sweats. “I can assure you that nothing bad has happened. But you are right, Kim is different, but in a good way. She’s still Kim, but she’s not hiding it anymore. I think it was just one of those summers. You know, like in movies – ‘and that’s the summer that everything changed’, that kind of thing. You aren’t the same as you were a couple years ago, you know.”

“Yeah, I know, and maybe I tried to change too much, but I’m just worried, and I’m nervous asking you about it because you guys are so close now. She came and talked to me the other day; did she tell you about it?”

“No, what about?”

“About us, about sisters. How she would always have my back and how much it meant to her that we were getting along.” Renée was fighting tears. “It felt like something someone would say right before they left or did something drastic.”

Jackie saw what was happening and tried to explain. “No, no, no! It’s not like that at all! I think she meant it to be a new start for us all, a beginning, not some sort of tragic end. Everything is fine. Things might be a little different, but only in a good way. Kim is not traumatized.”

“You promise? Nothing bad happened to anyone?”

“I promise.”

“Can I ask something else?”

“Who’s Leilani?”

Jackie paused. This had come up during the movie the other day and she had hoped Renée would drop it.

“She’s a friend of ours.”

“But she’s never been over here.”

Jackie sighed; she was going to have create some doubt to preserve the truth. “I didn’t want to say this because I know how it’s going to sound. She’s an online friend. She’s not from around here.”

Renée was showing doubt on her face. She had had friends who got into online relationships that turned out to be fake, or toxic, or worse. “You know what mom would say about this, right?”

Jackie wasn’t sure how to navigate this and got a little defensive. “I know, but aren’t we in a new ‘no narcing out our sisters’ phase? I promise you that Leilani is an actual friend who is in no way a danger to anyone. She’s just an artist that we made friends with online. She’s not asking anyone to send her money or anything. She’s just a friend. You have followers on Instagram who you’ve never met…”

“Yeah, but I don’t talk about them with my other friends. I’m not going to narc, I hope you know that, but it’s weird, you have to admit.”

“Yeah, I’ll admit that, but it’s not ‘bad’ weird. In fact, it’s ‘good’ weird.” Defensiveness was creeping back into Jackie’s voice as she stood up from her bed and walked towards the door. “She’s a perfectly nice person who we talk to online sometimes. That’s all. Look, I’m going down to make Cocoa, can we let this go? I’ll make you a big mug if we can just drop this.”

Renée knew she had pushed a little too hard. “Yeah, I’m sorry, but I am the big sister, I’m supposed to worry about you.”

“I know. Come on, let’s head down.”

Renée followed Jackie down the stairs, surprised to find that, like Kim, Jackie was presenting a much more take-charge attitude and holding her ground. Renée felt more like the little sister in the exchange. Both of her sisters’ new found self-assuredness continued to surprise her, though she wasn’t putting it quite like that in her head, instead she took it more as a confident bossy-ness and was a little jealous.

Renée sat at the kitchen table while Jackie fixed the cocoa. She never even noticed that Jackie didn’t seem to use the stove or microwave to heat up the water.

Chapter Text

Winter break finally arrived. Even the end of fall had remained snow-free but everyone was hoping for some to come down so they could have a white Christmas. If there was one thing the Callahan’s parents were good at, it was creating a wonderful Christmas. In true Christmas fashion, they emphasized the aspects of the holiday that really mattered: Peace, happiness, and family. There was always a fire in the fireplace, the decorations were homey and tended towards the home made. Christmas cards were taped to the archway into the living room and onto the mantel. Presents were thoughtful but never over the top, unlike much of Rocky River, which was generally affluent. As such, it was even more of a hangout for the girls’ friends, and in the days leading up to the holiday, the regular gang was almost always there along with other friends and acquaintances, even including Renée’s friends. Mr Callahan was the big baker in the house and had a steady stream of cookies ready.

Finally, on Christmas Eve morning, Kim, Jackie and Freya found the rest of their families occupied with last minute tasks and they elected to go on what might be the last swim of the year. It had been a while and the lake temperature had dropped. This was going to be a test run for winter.

They made their way down to the beach. Surprisingly there were some people there in the cold, watching the gray lake, but they left after a while and the girls gathered at the edge of the cold, steel-colored water.

“You guys ready?” Kim was determined but definitely had a bit of fear in her eyes.

“Yep.” Jackie had a plan for if it was too cold and she practiced warming up a jacuzzi sized chunk of lake while they hesitated.

Freya had had enough and reached out both hands, dragging the two sisters with her into the water.

It was indeed cold at first, but as soon as their tails appeared, they acclimated and were mostly ok with it.

“Not that bad!” Jackie shouted back at them as they headed further out, away from any prying eyes.

Kim stopped to just experience the water. “Huh. Weird, I really thought it would feel colder but it’s not much different than it was a month ago.”

“Yeah, but I bet we’ll be extra hungry tonight.”

Freya showed her agreement by diving deep and leaping up about five feet out of the water before landing awkwardly on her side.

“See,” Kim pointed out, “it’s not as easy as it looks. At least those first two jumps in that video looked good.”

There was still no ice on the lake but it would only be a matter of weeks before that wasn’t the case anymore. They headed out into deeper water, doing some top speed bursts to shake off the rust.

“We need to come up with some destinations. I’d like to swim to more places. It’s a big lake.” Freya was always the most excited about doing mermaid things.

Jackie had been thinking about this. “You know, it’s more than one lake. If we had the time, we could get to Chicago, Green Bay, Toronto, Montreal, even out into the Atlantic.”

Kim started laughing a little too hard.

“What?”

“I’m just thinking about a bunch of kids swimming from Cleveland to New York, the long way, just for fun. It’s so completely bonkers! How long would that even take us? How long can we stay at top speed before we get tired?”

“We don’t know.” Freya liked the way Jackie was thinking. “That’s why we have to try it out.”

“What, like now?” Kim was questioning whether this was a good idea.

“Yeah, why not. Let’s just head east, towards whatever is at the end of the lake, as fast as we can. We can always turn around if we get tired part way there. We were probably half way there we did our rescue.”

The group looked at each other but no one had a good reason why they shouldn’t.

“Ok,” Kim agreed, “but we need a time limit, we have to be back for Christmas Eve dinner.” The group agreed on some limits and took off, with Freya yelling, “Last one to Buffalo is a rotten egg!” as she started out.

Unfortunately, no one had checked a map and even at top speed, there was little chance of getting there and back in time for dinner but they did find that they were able to keep up full speed for the roughly 90 miles they did finish, along with the 90 miles back. They climbed out of the water at the end of their test, tired but not completely worn out. They were quite hungry, however. Jackie did not have to implement her emergency- warming-up plan.

“Ok, so we didn’t get the end of the lake, but that was the farthest we’ve gone.” Freya was proud even if they didn’t get to Buffalo.

Jackie agreed. “And the fastest, I think. Can we get sore from working out? ‘Cause that was a work out.”

“I guess we’ll find out, or maybe we won’t unless we change again tomorrow?”

Kim wasn’t sure she cared. “Whatever, if I don’t get some food soon, I’m going to be extremely grumpy.” The others agreed and they gathered their things and headed home briskly.

Once noon rolled around on Christmas day, the various members of the friend group began to coalesce as obligations ended for the families. The Callahan’s liked to get started early and by 11 had done gifts and had a big breakfast. Cole’s family had decided to repeat the family hell of Thanksgiving with many house-guests and much arguing. Reed’s family was done early, similar to Kim’s and he rescued Cole before heading over to the Callahan’s. Freya’s family had more Christmas traditions and also didn’t like to start early so she wasn’t available until late afternoon. Eventually, as it started to get dark, everyone found themselves in the Callahan’s house, the kids gathered in the basement, even Renée, who everyone was getting more used to having around. For some reason, none of her friends seemed to be available.

Kids that age don’t generally do gifts for each other, but Freya had made necklaces for the three of them. A string of small shells on a cord with a larger shell in the middle. She had collected them all herself and had clearly put a lot of effort into them. She gave them out privately, so as not to make everyone else feel bad. Both of the sisters were taken aback and some tears were shed during the group hug before rejoining the others. They gathered around in beanbag chairs and the old couch that had been relegated to the basement and spent the evening watching movies and generally enjoying each other’s company. Mrs Callahan brought snacks down, not quite believing how well everyone was getting along. She shook her head to herself and went back up as a movie started, another Christmas behind them. She felt like they went by faster and faster as the kids got older and was pleased that she would probably have a few more before the kids started getting too much more independent.

Cole and Reed, of course, understood the significance of the necklaces but Renée continued to be surprised by how into this nautical theme the three were. She didn’t see Kim send a picture of themselves to Leilani in the group chat or see the picture back of Leilani and her grandma with Ava just behind them, wine glasses held aloft.

Chapter Text

Winter in Cleveland can be mild or it can stay snow-covered for two straight months, this one fell somewhat in the middle and the girls mostly stayed on land. January gave way to February with no full moon drama and by the end of the month, everyone was feeling ready to stretch their fins. The weather was starting to break and there were occasional sunny days. This year, the lake had iced over enough to make it dangerous to go in without a clear plan on how to get back out if the ice shifted, but by the end of February, the ice was breaking up into smaller flows, and the ice fishermen were out on the western end of the lake, Freya’s uncles included. Kim was struggling, after being dry most of the winter, with her typical urges and it took everything she had to not pop up through an ice fishing hole and startle the people out on the ice. Though she did strongly consider it for a couple days. Instead, the girls spent some time learning how to negotiate the ice and find openings to come up through without getting crushed by the ice as the sheets occasionally crashed into each other. They gathered out in the open water in the middle of the lake. They weren’t cold in the traditional sense, but it wasn’t as comfortable as when the water was even in the 50s as it had been in November. Still, it was nice to be back in and they explored the underside of the ice, a new experience for everyone.

Back at home, all three were occasionally recreating Kim and Jackie’s full moon sleep-in-the-bath experience. It was hard to find time and the privacy to do it, but each got a couple tries in. It turns out that while still sleeping, they raised their heads above water every half hour or so and could theoretically get a full night’s sleep that way, though no one found enough time to do so. But someone was noticing the infrequent oddness. Renée was more of a night owl, and several times throughout the winter she found the bathroom door closed and locked during the wee hours, sometimes with the sound of water moving in the otherwise silent house. Renée was not yet at a point of suspicion, after all, there was very little chance of her knowing what to be suspicious of, but she certainly was getting more curious.

The three called Leilani shortly after March started. They had been very good about not bothering her too much but they wanted to talk about their experiments under the ice. Leilani was impressed but nervous for them.

“I don’t know guys; it sounds like that could have been dangerous.”

Kim shrugged it off. “We were careful.”

“How was it, in the winter and all. I’ve never been in water that cold.”

Jackie described their experiences and followed up with her own question. “Do you know anything about mermaids from more northern waters? I know there are some in Alaska from the full moon posts, but have you met them?”

“No. Or at least I don’t think I have. Even as you go up to northern California and the Pacific Northwest, the water is pretty darn cold so it might be pretty much the same.”

Freya wanted to know how far Leilani had swum.

“Oh, god, I don’t know. Ava and I go out to Catalina but that’s not that far. I’ve been up the coast to maybe SLO, sorry, San Louis Obispo, but that was a multi-day trip with lots of stops for sightseeing. It’s easier these days, just get out, dry off and order an Uber. I’ve always thought about trying a long one to Hawaii but it seems super-scary to me. I’ve heard of some who have spent months at sea. I’ve never hunted in the wild and ate raw fish or shellfish or anything like that.”

Freya hadn’t thought about how a mermaid might eat out in the open ocean and to all three girls, it seemed like doing that would be crossing a line into the wild that they hadn’t considered or were willing to do, at least not yet, if ever.

“What about you guys. The lake is pretty big, right?”

Jackie felt like bragging a little. “Early on, we swam to Cedar Point to ride the coasters. On a full moon we went to Canada. And we tried to race to Buffalo but ran out of time before we had to be home for dinner.”

Leilani laughed loudly.

“What’s so funny?” Freya felt defensive of their accomplishments.

“I keep forgetting how young you all are. You had to get home for dinner. That’s kind of adorable, and it’s nice that you keep your families in mind. It’s sweet.”

Freya was relieved and all three of them had to admit that the idea of mermaids having to be home for dinner was a funny thought.

“Actually, those are pretty long trips. Hold on…” Leilani brought up google maps on her laptop. “You guys swam like fifty miles, multiple times, at your age and right after you figured out what you were?”

Freya beamed. “It was my idea to go to Cedar Point.” Kim and Jackie looked proudly at Freya for the good idea.

Kim was just as proud of what they’d done. “We’ve talked about it and we might see if we can buy the yearly pass this summer and go a couple times. I figure we’d save mom a lot of gas money!”

Leilani laughed. She had an uninhibited laugh, the kind where she would throw her head back and her dark hair would sweep back over her shoulders, her bangs parting a little to see her eyes better. It made the girls feel appreciated and intimate, it was the kind of laugh that you would expect amongst a close-knit group and it made them feel included. It felt nice.

The conversation moved to other random mermaid topics including diving, shipwrecks, and what it’s like to swim with dolphins.

They wound down the call, excited to talk again, and made plans to talk again soon, as well as to make sure to put more artwork up online.

In the room next door, Renée tried to not pay any attention to the voices coming from Kim’s room but couldn’t help hearing the occasional word, especially as she had turned off her music. It didn’t make a lot of sense. She heard the word ‘swimming’ a lot, and ‘dolphins’ a couple times. If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn she was listening to a bunch of surfers, or scuba divers.

Freya left shortly after the call and Jackie went to the library. Kim passed Renée’s open door. She noticed that Renée left it open a lot more these days.

Renée couldn't help but ask something.

“Hey, who were you talking to?”

Kim got a little nervous. She thought they’d been reasonably quiet and they hadn’t used the ‘M’ word at all. “Just a friend.”

“Leilani?”

Kim had been afraid the topic of Leilani might come back up again but other than feeling a little paranoid, she had no reason to lie and figured a version of the truth was the easiest. Plus, her improved relationship with Renée made it hard for her to not be at least somewhat truthful.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t mean to… I mean, I wasn’t listening or anything. Just curious. Talking about art?”

“Uh huh. She’s really good.”

“Can I see? I mean, like, is she online?”

Kim figured that being cagey about it would be more suspicious than just being open. It’s not like her DeviantArt page said, ‘Leilani – Mermaid Artist”. Kim pulled up her page on her phone and sat next to Renée as she swiped through drawings. Renée seemed to think they were quite good, lingering on a few of the seascapes. She gave the phone back.

“Why the interest in all the lake and ocean stuff? You didn’t used to be into that.”

Kim absentmindedly played with her necklace while trying to figure out how to start getting out of this.

“I don’t know, I guess when I met Freya, she was big into this kind of thing and I just kind of started to like it.”

“And Jackie, too?” Renée was starting to sense that Kim was pulling back but still blurted out that last question.

“I suppose so…” Kim was tensing and looked like she was uncomfortable. Renée mistook that for Kim feeling like Renée might be attacking what she liked.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to be rude, it’s not like it’s not pretty, or interesting, I didn’t want to imply that. Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Just curious about where it came from.”

Kim took that as an out. “Oh, no, it’s cool, I didn’t think you meant anything by it. Hey, I gotta go start some homework.” She got up to leave, trying to look as unoffended as possible.

Renée watched her go, knowing that she’d pushed a little far. They had been getting along so great these last few months. She didn’t want to go backwards. She yelled out as Kim left, “Hey, next time you talk to her, tell her I thought her paintings were beautiful!”

“I will.” Kim answered, genuinely happy that Renée did seem to like them, even if she was still a little worried about Renée’s line of questioning.

Renée, for her part, was relieved that she didn’t seem to really annoy her sister. She pulled up Leilani’s DeviantArt account on her own laptop and took a closer look at her work. She liked it and was impressed. As one does, she fell down a rabbit hole of looking at associated artists through Leilani’s followers until she accidentally found her sisters’ account, which she recognized through some of the art that she had seen in person, the account name, JFK8585, making sense as Jackie, Freya, and Kim’s initials, but she thought it was strange for them to have an account together, that’s not what people normally did. They really did seem to be joined at the hip, or perhaps even closer than that. She flipped through the JFK account, almost as impressed with their work as with Leilani’s. It was clearly less advanced but far better than their ages would suggest. The themes were not surprising to her by this point but reinforced her view that the girls had water on the mind to a degree that seemed excessive. She thought it was odd that they seemed to be so obsessed but that it never came up in conversation, it was like it was a deeply personal shared interest but not something they wanted to talk about with outsiders. Of course, she couldn’t know that that’s exactly what it was. Renée had never spent any time on DeviantArt but quickly found that there was a surprising amount of fan art on there for things that she was interested in and she got distracted and went off in other directions mentally, letting go of her sibling questions for the moment.

Chapter Text

March’s full moon was coming up on the 14^th and over the winter, the girls had gotten pretty good at managing those events, aided by the nearly perpetual cloud cover of the Cleveland winters. By this time, the ice was mostly broken up on the lake and spring was arriving with the grass greening and the daffodils in bloom. The days were almost twelve hours long and daylight savings time had just started, giving a little more freedom in the evenings without their parents getting too concerned. The skies were starting to be a little less oppressively gray and the girls were looking forward to more swimming.

Reed, who had been doing more and more research over the last few months called an emergency ice cream meeting and asked everyone to meet him at Mitchell’s after school.

Reed was already there with Cole when Kim showed up first but Reed wanted to wait until everyone was there to get started, despite Kim wanting details right away. “You guys should hear this together.”

“Why? What happened? Something bad?”

“Jeez, Kim, just hold on for fifteen minutes. It’s not bad news.”

“So… it’s good news?”

“I have no idea. It’s just news. Can we wait for the others? Go get a cone!”

Kim shoved her chair back loudly and stalked off the counter for some much-needed salted caramel. The other two showed up just a bit later with Freya having waited for Jackie to get out of school.

“Ok, what’s the emergency?” Jackie sounded a bit worried.

“Guys, I don’t know if this is actually important, but do you know anything about this next full moon?”

“It’s Friday, we’ve planned a sleep over.” Freya seemed less concerned and was eying the menu over Cole’s shoulder.

“And… it’s a total lunar eclipse. I’ve been tracking the moon phases and it’s this full moon.”

“What does that mean for us?” Kim had leaned forward, dripping salted caramel down her hand.

“I’m not sure, but I’ve been reading some of the same books Freya has and they talk about weird things when this happens. It could be extra powerful.”

“But it could also be less powerful if the earth is blocking the moon, right?” They had just started to get better at managing full moons and Kim was hoping there wouldn’t be extra drama.

“Maybe, but the lore seems to indicate otherwise.”

As if to put an exclamation mark on the end of Reed’s sentence, both of the Callahans’ phones got notifications at the same time. Jackie looked at hers first and then looked up excitedly. “It’s Leilani!”

Both girls opened Signal and saw the message at the same time.

‘I almost forgot to warn you guys, total lunar eclipse on Friday. Not sure if you know. Avoid it!’

Jackie read it out loud to Freya and the boys. Freya was getting more and more distressed that she wasn’t allowed to have a phone, yet.

“Looks like you were probably right.” Kim looked at Reed somewhat apologetically.

“Not that I wanted to be. But no big deal, right? You guys have gotten better at this and if you’re having a sleepover, it should be easier to contain. We can help you cover the windows, right Cole?” Cole nodded as he had just taken a big swig of chocolate malt. Kim picked her phone back up.

‘Thanks, Reed was just warning us. What could happen?’

Everyone waited for a response.

‘Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve always managed to successfully hide during them, but others have told me that it’s like a regular full moon times ten. Super strong. I heard a rumor that one girl woke up the next morning so far out into the ocean that she had to wait long enough to see which way the sun was moving to even know which was the way back, and then it took her all day to get home. Like, she just jumped in the ocean and swam straight west for five hours at top speed. She supposedly also outed herself to her family in the process and her dad flipped out and wanted to have a priest do an exorcism on her, thinking she was possessed by some sort of water devil. It’s said that her eyes changed color from it…’

The girls looked at each other worriedly.

Kim started typing. ‘What are you doing for it?’

‘I’ve got blackout curtains in my room. Actually, they are darkroom curtains for photography and they Velcro all the way around to let absolutely no light in. Grandma’s going to lock me in. I have a latch for the outside of the door for her to lock me in with. I’m also going to take a Benadryl and hope I just sleep through it. Just promise me you guys will be careful, ok?’

‘We promise.’

Kim put her phone down but noticed that Reed was intently scrolling on his. Kim watched him, his face showing signs of surprise.

“So according to this, there are generally one or two lunar eclipses a year. There was only one last year that we could see in Cleveland. Want to guess when?”

The rest of the group shrugged in unison.

“The full moon in October. Apparently, eclipses are always on the full moon. Ring any bells?”

You could see the gears turning in their heads as each girl realized what that date was.

Kim got it first. “That’s they day you guys followed me. The day you changed.”

Reed added some more info. “But it wasn’t a total eclipse, just a partial. So, you had a full moon, a partial eclipse, and then the lightning striking just as you changed. If Leilani is saying that the eclipse could supercharge a full moon, then I guess this is proof of that.”

The group looked at one another. If that was a partial eclipse, did a total eclipse do more? No one knew.

“Ok.” Jackie broke the silence. “I guess we be careful. We already had a decent plan. We just have to make sure we don’t mess it up. Anyone know what the weather is supposed to be?”

Cole had already anticipated that question. “Looks like it’s supposed to be cool. And clear...”

Kim already felt responsible for Freya and Jackie and sternly told the boys to steer clear. “I don’t want you guys looking after us. Stay home, who knows what this does to guys. I don’t plan on getting moonstruck, but if we do, I don’t want to be responsible for any more transformations. Ok?”

The boys agreed, neither even wanting the complications that would come with having a tail. Looking around the group, Kim noticed Reed grinning.

“So, I guess I was right?”

Kim punched him lightly on the arm.

“I suppose so. But, seriously, thank you for looking out for us.”

He was still smiling. “Just doing my part.” He felt good about helping, but he also enjoyed that he had been right.

That night, at dinner, Mrs Callahan said she had some good news.

“Everyone listen up. Do you girls remember your cousin Claire?”

All three nodded while continuing to eat.

“Well, she’s getting married.”

Renée looked up, surprised. “Isn’t she only a few years older than us?” They hadn’t seen Claire since they’d been little.

Their mom sighed a little. “Yes, she’s awfully young but she is nineteen and let’s say she kind of has to get married.”

Kim and Jackie looked confused but Renée picked up what her mom was laying down. “Ha, she’s pregnant?”

“Don’t laugh, honey, she didn’t mean to get pregnant but she swears that they’re madly in love and I guess his family has some money, so your aunt isn’t complaining too much.”

“Ok,” Renée continued, “but why the big announcement, we barely know her.”

“Because we’ve been invited to the wedding, and it’s over spring break next month, so your dad and I decided we should make a family trip out of it.”

All three sisters groaned at the same time. “But mom, that completely ruins spring break!” Renée was almost angry. Kim and Jackie had been looking forward to almost unrestricted swimming time over the break.

“That’s not fair, Renée’s right, that ruins the entire break. Don’t they live in Denver? I don’t want to spend spring break in Denver!”

Their mom patiently sat through their protestations before calmly responding while repressing a small smile. “Well, since the boyfriend’s family has some money, they offered to pay for the wedding and are going to have a ‘destination’ wedding. We’ll be going to your other aunt’s place to stay and the wedding will be in Coronado.”

“Where’s Coronado?” Kim asked suspiciously.

“San Diego!”

Kim and Jackie came to the same realization at exactly the same time and started screaming. “San Diego? We’re going to San Diego?!?!?!” They got up and started jumping up and down while continuing to squeal in delight.

Renée was staring at them like they’d lost their minds. Going to San Diego for spring break was way, way better than going to Denver, maybe even better than staying home, but she didn’t think it deserved the response her sisters were giving it.

Before the euphoria wore off, Jackie found herself blurting out an important question. “Can Freya come with us? Please? PLEASE?”

Mrs Callahan was somewhat surprised, both by the complete change in demeanor as well as the out-of-the-blue request. “I don’t think so, honey, it’s a family wedding.

Kim joined in on the begging. “Please, mom! It would mean so much to us. And to her. Please?”

Mrs Callahan looked even more confused at their insistence. “I guess we can talk more about it later, but right now, let’s get the dishes done and you guys start on your homework.”

Later that night, Mrs Callahan pulled Renée aside into the den, quietly closing the door.

“Honey, I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position, but what’s going on with your sisters and Freya? I know they are close but I swear sometimes I think Freya lives here and it’s all been so sudden.”

Renée was glad to see that she wasn’t the only one who had noticed but she didn’t really have any new information to offer. “I don’t know, mom, I’ve wondered that too, but I can tell you that I’ve never seen closer friends than they all are. It’s kind of weird, but I think it’s part of the reason we don’t fight so much anymore. Freya’s a little quirky but she’s really nice. I don’t know if you want my opinion, but I’m fine with them.”

Her mom was slightly taken aback by Renée’s nuanced answer and thanked her. “I do want your opinion. Thank you. I was just wondering what you thought.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m going to go do homework.” Renée left Mrs Callahan standing in the den, looking a bit confused but also rather proud of her daughter’s maturity in her answers.

Chapter Text

The school week ended and the three girls all rushed to the Callahan's to begin preparations, with Cole and Reed helping. They had some time; moonrise wasn’t until just after 8pm. Blankets were draped over the curtains and taped up on the sides. The boys left and after dinner, the girls headed upstairs ostensibly to watch movies and hang out. Renée was out with her friends and their parents went to bed a little early after what felt like a long work week.

The moon was up but the curtains and blankets were doing their job, though they could feel its pull. They heard Renée come home at around 11pm and each started dropping off to sleep, confident that they had beaten it.

Renée came home to her parents already asleep and decided to take advantage, texting her friend Madison to meet up. Thirteen is a rebellious age and Renée was loosening up on her good-girl image. She quietly snuck back out to meet her friend and they huddled behind the dumpster at the board of education building across the street while taking turns with a joint that Madison had pilfered from her older brother. Not sure if they were actually going to get a little high, they walked around for a while, talking as they followed the railroad tracks back towards Renée’s house. After realizing that they had, indeed gotten a bit high, they sat on the tracks and talked about boys and music and the meaning of life as they quickly jumped from one subject to another. With it getting late, both of them said their good nights and Renée headed home, noticing that the moon looked oddly dim. Searching on her phone while she walked, she discovered that the full moon would be completely eclipsed just before 3am. It was 2:50 and she was almost home.

Feeling pretty good, and wanting to share the interesting event, she walked upstairs and quietly entered her sister’s room, not wanting to startle. She went over to the window in the dark and tried to open the curtains, confused as to why they were not budging. Eventually, she pulled harder and the tape came away from the wall. Not sober enough to really wonder why they were taped up in the first place, she opened them all the way and then loudly whispered to the three sleeping girls:

“Hey, get up. Something cool is happening. Come on guys, check it out.”

The three girls stirred, with just a moment of recognition registering on Kim’s face before it turned to fear and then to a very placid looking smile. “Mmmm. Is that the moon?” Kim asked in what sounded to Renée like a very strange voice.

“Yeah, it’s an eclipse, come check it out.”

Kim urged the other girls to get up and they were all now bathed in the soft reddish light of the almost darkened moon. Each got up and crowded around the window.

All three smiling enigmatically, Freya just said “Moon.” And turned towards the door, the other two following her.

Renée, figuring that they meant to go outside for a better look, followed shortly behind them, but was surprised when they didn’t head into the yard, but instead, took off briskly down the sidewalk towards Wagar Rd.

“Hey, guys, wait up, where are you going?”

They were a few houses down the block by now and Freya smiled back at her before speaking. “I know where we can get a really good view.”

Kim and Jackie laughed conspiratorially. “Yeah, we know a great place, you’ll love it!”

Renée was still moderately high and this was enough to let her curiosity overcome her concern and she followed along. As they turned north and crossed the tracks, she got more curious. “Guys, the moon’s right there.” She looked up at it, now almost completely dark red as it was in totality.

“Yeah, but there’s a better place.” Freya picked up the pace while she spoke. “You’ll see, it’ll be amazing.”

“It’s already amazing, come on, it’s kind of chilly out, how far do you want to go.”

They had crossed Lake Rd by then and it was becoming clear to Renée exactly where they were going, the beach was just ahead of them.

“Guys, we don’t have to go all the way to the beach, we can see it just fine from here.”

“Yeah,” Jackie answered, “but it will be so much more beautiful out on the water.”

“What do you mean on the water?” Alarm bells were starting to go off in Renée’s brain, tamping down the fog from the weed. She was high, something was clearly wrong with her sisters and Freya, and as the oldest, if something went wrong, she would be the one taking the blame. With just a few hundred feet before getting to the stairs that lead down to the water, she started to get a little frantic. “Come on guys, let’s turn around. Mom’s going to kill me. Please? Can we go back?” She grabbed at Kim’s arm but Kim shrugged off her hand without slowing. They were heading down the stairs now. Rapidly.

Kim, Jackie, and Freya paused at the water’s edge and Renée thought they had finally come to their senses, when, instead, they joined hands and stepped a few feet into the lake, stopping when the water was knee high. Kim turned around and looked right at Renée, who had a look of horror on her face.

“Do you want to come with us? It might change your life.” The other girls giggled.

“What? No! Get back here out of the water! Right now! I’m serious!”

Kim looked serene and didn’t press the issue. “Your loss, we’re going to go for a swim. Please don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” Jackie joined in, “We’ll probably be back in an hour or two if you want to wait for us. It’s such a nice night.” Jackie motioned to the benches up on the deck.

Renée was now almost screaming at them. “Get back here! Please! Please! Don’t do this! Mom will never forgive me!” Renée was quite convinced that the three girls, intentionally or not, were about to commit suicide, but they had walked further out into the lake and were now chest deep and for some reason, counting backwards as a group.

“…4, 3, 2, 1”

Renée watched as she assumed this would be last time she saw her sisters alive. All three shimmered, almost disappearing, before becoming visible again. Renée was still a little high and figured she was seeing things. All three turned around and waved before turning back out to the water and dove in followed by three golden tails, surfacing before joining the rest of their bodies heading north into deeper waters.

Renée fell backwards, getting sand in her jeans as she landed. What had she just seen. She yelled out over the calm water but got no response. The streetlight over the deck, above them on the hill, had clearly illuminated the three tails. She knew what she had seen but she didn’t allow herself to believe it. She was still a bit high and that tempered the panic. She could see three wakes. She thought what she had seen was real, but she was having trouble processing. She ran up onto the deck for a better view and could still see the wakes but they seemed to disappear far into the distance. She sat down on the bench and thought. What was the best course of action? Should she be doing something? Telling someone? Or should she do as they had asked and just wait for them? Or should she just go home? Going home sounded like the worst of her ideas; she couldn’t stand the idea of not knowing what would happen. Who would she call? It’s not like the police would believe her.

It had been long enough that if they had drowned, they would have been dead for several minutes by now and no bodies were floating up. She felt frozen in place and after a while she glanced at her phone, it was 3:30 already. They had been in the water for well over twenty minutes. Beginning to cry, she saw a flash through her closed eyelids and opened them up to blurrily see lightning out over the lake. There were no clouds but she hadn’t caught on to that yet. The lightning seemed to be increasing, a flash every few seconds, then every second or so. It was far enough out over the lake that she could barely even hear the thunder. It was no more than a distant rumble. The sky looked strange. Usually, lightning illuminated the clouds, without which, there shouldn’t be any lightning, but without clouds, the bolts stood starkly against the inky black sky. All the lighting seemed to be striking the same part of the lake, the part of the lake that the trails of the girls’ wakes seemed to lead directly to. Renée had no idea what to make of any of this and in between the shock of what had happened, the weed, and the late hour, sleep overcame her and she laid down on the bench, waiting for her sisters to hopefully come back.

It was almost 5am when Renée looked up to see three worried faces staring back at her.

“Are you ok?” Jackie was the one who spoke first.

Kim joined in playfully. “Did you have a nice nap?”

Renée’s brain slowly began working and after it fully rebooted, she screamed. And then cried.

“I thought you were all dead. Then I thought I was crazy. Then I thought both of those things together. Did I see what I thought I saw?”

Freya sat down beside her, putting her arm around her shoulder. “Are you ok?”

“Am I ok? Are you kidding? I think the question is, are you guys ok?”

“Honestly, we’re fine, but you’ve had quite a shock.”

“It looked to me like you three were the ones having a shock.”

“Yeah, we’re not sure what happened out there, yet. But seriously, are you ok?”

Renée nodded. “So I saw what I thought I saw, right?”

Kim felt the need to be blunt. “I’m sorry you had to find out about our mermaid-ness this way. We would have told you at some point, but I didn’t want it to be like this. Not again.”

“What do you mean, ‘not again.’”

“Well, this is the third time this has happened, believe it or not. Look, everyone is tired, the three of us have our own questions about what happened out there and we are actually hoping you can fill in some blanks, so can we get some rest first before we tell the whole story?”

“I guess so. But can I see again? I’m still not sure I believe what I saw.”

Kim laughed. “You don’t believe your own eyes?”

Renée, for some reason that was about to become clear, looked guilty. “I might have been a little…” She paused. “High.”

“Renée!” Jackie was not believing what she was hearing. “When did you become a BAD girl?”

Renée laughed. “I’m not, I swear, we just shared a single joint.”

“We? Please tell me someone else didn’t see us.”

“No, Madison went home before I woke you guys up.”

Vague memories were coming back to Kim. “You woke us up?” Kim started laughing. “Oh my god, this is all your fault!” The three mermaids laughed while Renée looked confused.

“What do you mean, my fault?”

“Full Moons do this to us. It’s a long story. I’m just kidding about it being your fault, you couldn’t have known. Do you really need to see one more time?”

“Could I?”

“Sure.” Kim trotted down the stairs and walked briskly into the water, just far enough for it to happen. It was a calm morning and the lake was almost glassy smooth. After just enough time for Renée to begin doubting that it would happen, Kim shimmered and then fell backwards, a reddish-orange tail sticking up in the air as Kim held it aloft in the shallow water. She pulled herself ashore and made a strange hand motion. A ball of water rose from her body and Kim seemed to throw it out into the lake where it landed with a large splash.

“What the fuck was that?”

Jackie made a “tsk” sound as Kim changed back on the beach. “Honestly, Renée, language!” The other two laughed as Renée’s mouth hung open.

“Come on,” Kim called from the bottom of the deck stairs, “I’ll explain the basics on the walk home. I think it would be wise to get there before mom and dad wake up.”

Renée wondered exactly when Kim had become more like what an older sister would be like but nodded and they started the climb up the steep stairs to Wagar Rd.

Kim began the short version. “Well, you see, what had happened was…”

The next morning, everyone awoke late and started the day slightly wary of what the next sisterly interaction was going to be like. It was relieving when Renée came into Kim’s room and smiled at the other three.

Kim broke the ice. “Are we still cool?”

“Of course!” Renée was mostly happy that the big reveal had put to rest a lot of questions she had had. She sat down on the edge of the bed that Kim and Jackie were sharing. Freya was on the window seat, already dressed.

“I know you have a lot of questions, still, but can I ask you what you saw last night? What happened after we got in the water?”

Renée tried her best to describe the storm with no clouds.

Jackie was putting Kim’s robe on and making a thinking face. “I don’t remember anything after inviting Renée to join us.”

“Oh my god, thank god you didn’t listen to us.” Kim shivered at what might have happened.

“Why, other than drowning, what would have happened?”

“Well, that’s kind of what happened to these two. They followed me in and lightning struck while I was changing and I kind of spread it to them.”

“Best case of Covid I ever got.” Freya was grinning.

Jackie was still thinking. “I think we need to ask about this, see if there are any other cases of cloudless lightning and what it means.” Jackie didn’t really realize that Renée didn’t know everything yet.

“Ask who?” Everyone paused.

“Ooooooooh. That’s who Leilani is!” Renée was putting the pieces together.

Jackie looked guilty. “I really shouldn’t have said that. Look, the best way I can describe this is that it’s pretty much exactly like coming out. It’s not my place to out anyone. I hope you understand.”

Several of Renée’s classmates had come out recently and she fully understood and nodded with a serious look on her face. “I totally understand.”

Jackie gave a Kim a look. Neither had told Freya about the trip that she was not yet invited on and they didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“So, who knows? If you two were the first, and I was the third, who’s second?”

“The guys.” Kim knew that Renée would know who she meant.

“Oh, that makes sense. Man, so much stuff is making sense now. I understand why you didn’t tell me but I’m a little sad that you didn’t think I could be trusted.” Renée glanced around, seeing the matching necklaces on all three girls, recognizing even more connections.

“It’s just a really big deal. It’s not that we didn’t think you could be trusted, it’s more that whatever slim chance there might be that you wouldn’t be cool with it, well, it just wasn’t worth the risk.”

“You know, Leilani said it would be easier for us if a core group of people knew. And she was right. At some point, we need to tell mom and dad. I don’t know if Freya is ready for that sort of thing yet…”

Freya laughed derisively, “Yeah, I don’t know when that is going to happen, my siblings barely talk to me and mom and dad think I’m nuts. It’s going to take me a while.”

“Well,” Renée felt closer than ever to her sisters, despite this new, huge difference, “I support you fully. Whatever you need, I’m here for you.”

Jackie started to tear up and before long there was a huge four-way hug going on.

The rest of the day was spent filling Renée in on all the details. Renée had a million questions and the girls thoroughly enjoyed dishing all the details. It felt great to get it all out in the open.

“So, how many of you are there?”

“Not sure.” Freya answered. “Not that many but more than you would have thought.”

“I would have thought ‘zero’ before yesterday.”

“Ha, true. Leilani says she know of about five in San Diego, as an example. As far as we know, we’re the only ones in Cleveland. There are supposedly some in Chicago. We do know that there seem to be at least a couple in most of the major coastal cities based on what we’ve seen online, but overall, it might be as few as a few hundred. Maybe a thousand or more? There doesn’t seem to be a good way to find out. Maybe there’s tons more. You should have seen us over the winter, we knew they were out there but tracking Leilani down was a huge project. That’s what all the art was about.”

“I’m not sure how to go back to living a normal life, to be honest. Finding this out kind of changes everything. I don’t understand how you are all coping with this so well.”

No one had an answer for a while until Jackie spoke. “I guess we just had to cope. I’m not sure what other option there was. It’s not like your life will change that much, knowing about us, but you get to have a cool-ass secret that almost no one else knows, and, honestly, that’s kind of fun.”

“Is this what’s up with the giant appetites?”

Kim laughed. “I knew you noticed that. Yeah, it seems to take a lot of calories to stay warm.”

Renée had many more questions, and Kim was afraid they would take up the rest of the weekend. But she looked around the room and saw her friend and her sisters and felt content. Once again, everything had worked out ok. She let the others answer the questions and zoned out, pleased with the turn her life had taken over the last year.

Chapter Text

On Monday, the topic of the wedding came up again, with Kim and Jackie still pushing for Freya to come along. Surprisingly to their mother, Renée joined in the chorus of voices in support of the idea. “Mom, you should totally let Freya come along.” She said this without looking up from her diner plate, where she was trying and failing to get some peas onto a fork and trying figure out whether to get up and get a spoon or not.

Their mom looked at Renée with surprise. “I suppose you’re angling to also bring a friend?”

“Nope. They all have plans, anyway.”

They were wearing her down.

“I’ll have to think about it. She would have to pay for her own ticket.” She figured that would turn it into an automatic ‘no’.

The girls knew they were on the verge of getting what they wanted. Kim gave Jackie a look that said ‘take it easy, we’ll work on her some more later’ and Jackie understood, letting it drop for now. If they played their cards right, this was going to be a great spring break.

Renée continued to come up with questions for the remainder of the day and instead of having her bug them over and over, Kim thought it would be easier to take Renée on a long walk down to the beach and have one long conversation to try to get everything out of Renée’s system. Plus, Renée wanted to see a transformation again. Thus, Kim let the other two off the hook, grabbed Renée, and headed out to answer questions.

Renée, surprisingly, didn’t have that many questions about the more magical side of things. She wanted to know how her sisters were dealing with it. How they felt, and how they were managing those feelings. She wanted to know about things that the three still didn’t have answers for; questions about mermaid social rules and other things that she would have to know more mermaids, herself, to understand. The boys had had more questions about the physical nature of them. How fast could they go, how long could they hold their breath, how deep could they dive, what does the tail feel like, etc. Those were way easier to answer. Renée’s questions were hard and it made Kim even more anxious to meet Leilani and Ava in person.

“Renée, I don’t think we actually told you this; remember when I said Leilani thought there were five mermaids in San Diego? That’s because that’s where she lives.”

Recognition registered on Renée’s face. “Oh my god, that makes so much more sense. I thought you guys just needed to be around Freya so strongly that you wanted her to go.”

Kim laughed. “Mermaids can manage to be apart from each other from time to time. She’s supposed to go to Sweden this year and Jackie and I will miss her but we have no need to join her on the trip. It’s just about meeting Leilani and Ava.”

“Ava”?

Kim kept forgetting what Renée did and didn’t know and put her face in her hands. “Argh, dammit, I keep outing people. Please don’t tell anyone I told you.”

“So, she’s another one?”

“Yeah, she’s Leilani’s best friend. They’re both in San Diego. Please act surprised if she comes up, ok?”

“No problem.” Renée thought about how this new information put her sisters’ desire for Freya to travel with them into context. “Come on, let’s get down to the lake before it gets too late. I want to see this again!”

The rest of the trip was filled with questions for Kim and Kim showing off for her sister. Renée sat on the damp rocks at the end of the breakwall while Kim floated just off the end and they talked for a couple hours before it started getting dark. Renée was a little jealous. Everyone wants to feel special, or different, but at the same time, she was glad not to have that sort of complication in her life. Up until a few months ago, Renée thought that she had it rough. Becoming a teenager and dealing with all the changes and feelings associated with that, navigating suddenly more complicated social groups and interactions, trying to figure out who she was, and where she would fit in. All these things were hard and she wondered how the mermaids would deal with all that while this giant secret bonded them but also hung over them and maybe excluded them from their peers. She would have to keep an eye on them and try to help.

On the walk home, Kim noticed Renée disappearing into her own thoughts and took her hand, smiling at her. “Thanks for being so cool. I’m glad you’re my sister.” She leaned against Renée, silently letting her know that their bond was important, too, and they walked the rest of the way quietly, questions done for that day.

Chapter Text

Mrs Callahan knocked on the Swenson’s door. Freya’s mom answered not quite placing the face. They had only met in passing, despite Freya almost living at their house. It struck Mrs Callahan that that was kind of odd until she realized that she hadn’t made any attempts to meet them, either. Mrs Swenson seemed like a nice enough person but it was surprising how quickly she said yes to Freya taking a trip with them. She got the impression that the Swenson’s might not be the warmest family… or maybe they just want the place a little more to themselves, a notion she could understand.

It had all been a bit easier than she had anticipated, even asking the Swenson's to pay for Freya’s ticket was accepted without any pushback. Pleasantly surprised, she headed home to send the details via email. She sent off the dates, times, and flights and waited for the girls to come back to tell them the good news.

She leaned back in her office chair and took out her scrunchie, giving her scalp a nice scratch with her nails and arranging her hair to fall behind the chair. The kids had been keeping themselves busy the last few months as they got along better and she was finding a lot more time to be by herself, which was a very pleasant change. At thirty-seven, she was starting to notice some stray gray hairs amongst the dirty blond that she shared with her middle child. No one knew where Jackie got her red hair from. Their dad was blond and while there were some red-haired relatives, they had been surprised to see it in their kid. It was warming up out and she turned off the heater she kept next to her desk. Her office was also the ‘den’ and it was a former back porch and thus generally the coldest room in the house. She got started with the trip details. She was helping her sister with much of the planning and would be well occupied during their stay. She hoped that the rest of the family could stay entertained, though it seemed like the kids would have their own company, which seemed to be more than enough, lately. Even Renée was spending less time with her friends and more with her sisters. She thought it odd that they were all getting along all of a sudden. She, herself, didn’t start really getting along with her sisters until they were grown. ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’ she thought to herself and got up to get a book to read.

The girls finally came home and she called them into the kitchen, Freya in tow. “I’ve got some good news. Freya, I’ve spoken to your mom and she’s fine with letting come to San Diego with us.” This news was met with the same sort of screaming that Mrs Callahan would have attributed to her and her friends meeting ‘N Sync in person when they were kids. “Please, please, I don’t want to get a headache. Listen, I have a lot of obligations during the week regarding the wedding. I’m helping your aunt and cousin. That means that you have to entertain yourselves as much as possible and I don’t want to hear any whining about being bored.”

The Callahan girls had done a good job of keeping quiet to Freya. She had no idea this possibility existed and was nearly beside herself. All four solemnly agreed to stay out of their parents’ hair, not believing their luck. Not only were they going to San Diego, but they were going to be left to their own devices.

Up in Kim’s room, Jackie pulled up google maps for their aunt’s address. She lived in a neighborhood called Ocean Beach, not far from Leilani and as they zoomed in, the found that the house was even closer to the ocean than the Callahan’s house was to Lake Erie. It was an easy four block walk right to the water. The girls would have a few obligations, including the wedding itself, but it seemed like most of the week would be theirs. Kim picked up her phone and pulled up Signal, excitedly typing a message to Leilani.

‘Amazing news! We are coming to San Diego in late April over spring break for a wedding! Can you spend any time with us?’

All three girls were nervous about this. While Leilani said that they were welcome if they ever got out there, they didn’t know if she was just saying that, expecting it never to happen. They nervously waited for a response but after an hour began to worry that Leilani might night be as excited to see them. Kim started to type another message to try to soften it.

‘Of course, if you don’t have time that’s cool.’

Another hour later, two phoned buzzed and they got their response.

‘Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I was in a client meeting and had my phone off. I’m so excited for you to come out here! I'll have to work but I can take a couple afternoons off and of course evenings. Send all the deets!’

A massive wave a relief spread through the room and messages started flying back and forth with detail and potential plans. Leilani added Ava to the group and they found a time that they could all meet. Freya could barely contain herself and wanted to go for a swim to burn off energy, which sounded good to everyone else.

The next day, the boys were over and were surprised to see that Renée was now in the know. They had saved that info to spring on them almost as a prank, which worked and they could see both of them frantically but silently motioning them to keep quiet until the girls couldn’t keep a straight face anymore and explained.

“Again?”

“I know, right?” Kim agreed that it was getting a bit out of hand. “The good thing is that we are running out of people to surprise with this.”

“I don’t know,” Cole replied, “I think you’ve been lucky there haven’t been any randos down on the beach. Luckily it was late at night, but moonrise is not always that late…”

“True.” Jackie was aware and slightly more concerned than Kim.

Now that Renée had the boys to talk to, she had her own questions for them. “When you guys followed them down there the first time, were they being weird?”

“Oh! Super weird!” Cole was the first to answer before Reed jumped in with more detail.

“Yeah, odd for sure. Kind of cult-y, like they almost gave horror movie vibes. Except with giggling. Lots of giggling. Honestly, I was worried they might have been high.”

The sisters shot a look at Renée who turned red.

Reed continued. “Some of the accounts and myths talk about the moon’s effect in similar terms. But so do a lot of other myths and stories. I mean, moonstruck was already a word.”

“Even a movie title.” Added Jackie while she sketched some of the faces in the room. It’s weird to talk about me and Jackie like that because that’s how Kim was when we followed her.”

With more people there to discuss, Renée wanted to continue. She found she was sharing Reed’s interest in figuring things out. Cole was just happy to know mermaids.

“So what does it feel like to you guys when you are affected?”

Jackie said that it was hard to put into words but Freya offered up a description. “It is hard to describe and we don’t seem to be able to remember everything, but I know I feel calm, but determined. I really need to get to the water. Maybe calm isn’t right. Serene? It’s like what you would think being hypnotized would feel like.” She paused to think. “But also, I kind of stop caring about things.”

“Yeah.” Kim agreed and expanded. “It’s like everything is going to be ok, but at the same time, the not caring part is kinda trouble. Like, we invited you to go with us. It’s like my wanting-to-be-found-out thing.”

“What ‘wanting to be found out thing’”? Renée hadn’t heard about this yet.

Kim explained her urges to be found out or to show off and then reminded her about the Lakewood Park incident, something they hadn’t talked about yet.

“Holy crap! I’d forgotten about that. That was YOU? That was real? Oh my god that was incredibly reckless!”

“Duh! No offense but we’ve kind of covered this already. Having you guys know helps but I still feel it.”

“Sorry, I’m still new to this. I didn’t mean to go all ‘mom’ on you.”

“Leilani says it’s common, or at least it happens to most of us to some extent, but it does sound like Kim has it kind of bad.” Freya was adding info where she could. She found that the sisters seemed to leave questions partially unanswered.

“It sounds like exhibitionism.” Renée was thinking out loud and Kim and the boys understood, Freya didn’t. “It’s a sex thing. People get excited by having sex where others can see them, or flashing people, that sort of thing.”

Freya looked a little grossed out while the boys nodded and smiled to each other earning a kick from Kim. Jackie was busy sketching but chuckled.

“As much as it’s annoying to admit, that does sort of fit the same definition. I mean, I don’t know if the intensity would be the same, and I don’t think it’s sexual, but… Dammit Cole, stop laughing, I’m being serious!”

Cole had just turned 12. There was no way he wasn’t giggling at either exhibitionism or the use of the word ‘urges’ to describe what Kim felt.

“I’m sorry, I know you’re serious. I was one of your victims! I’ll try to keep it together.”

Kim wanted to give up but Renée was insistent.

“What about you two? Same thing?”

Jackie answered first. “Not as bad, not nearly as bad, but I do feel it. But I’m not sure if it’s a mermaid thing or just a ‘secret’ thing. I know people whose head would burst if they couldn’t tell a secret, maybe it’s just that.” She went back to sketching.

“I’m in between the two.” Freya looked thoughtful. But still, Jackie might be right, I spent five years telling everyone I knew that mermaids were real and not being believed, so for me, maybe I’m still trying to be right.”

Renée hadn’t heard Freya’s story from when she was five and that led them down a whole other branch of conversation before Renée had to leave to do homework.

“This is fascinating. Who knew there were so many complications to being a mermaid?”

“You mean other than us?” Kim teased.

“Haha. You know what I mean.”

Chapter Text

Reed, and to a lesser extent, Cole, had taken up the task of doing more online sleuthing regarding mermaids. The girls had backed way off after finding Leilani and Ava. Their main question had been answered and they were content in just knowing they weren’t alone, at least for now. But Reed felt like he needed to contribute to the cause. He wasn’t quite over needing to repay the girls, and Kim in particular, for saving his and Cole’s lives. He didn’t obsess over it but he put in some time almost every day, crosschecking user names across different sites and just generally keeping an eye out for signs of mermaids, though he wasn’t sure what those signs might look like. The girls had gotten lucky with Leilani being a bit more obvious than the others seemed to be. Still, he had a few leads and was cautiously following up on them. Cole was more likely to be sitting on Reed’s bed eating chips while Reed researched.

The boys had finished paying for the repairs to the sunfish just after Christmas and Reed had been badgering his parents for actual sailing lessons on the lake and it looked like they might give in and let him do it. Reed was hoping to be able to actually spend time on the water with his friends as they all got older, to the point where he was looking at the cheapest used sailboats he could find and starting to set aside money. Luckily, being saved by Kim had not soured them on spending time in the water and both had been swimming at the YMCA, trying to be slightly more likely to survive any future trips overboard.

The girls being gone for spring break was a bit of a downer but Reed wanted to use that time to look into lessons and research boats on a more serious level, which Cole thought was a great idea. There was no big family Easter get together for Cole so at least his family drama would be diminished.

Reed’s pile of mermaid books was threatening to take over his room and his mom didn’t know what to make of that, at one point giving Reed the ‘We’ll love you know matter what’ speech. Reed wasn’t sure if his mom though he was gay or trans or just crazy and he kind of liked leaving her wondering. By this time, between him and Freya, they could probably qualify for a degree in mythology. Mermaids and sirens crossed over into a lot of other stories so his knowledge of other myths, cryptids, etc. was increasing in time with his studying. It had gotten to the point where he and Freya had to check with each other if they wanted a new book, just in case the other already had it. Reed’s mom never said no to books but he knew he was stretching her budget on amazon. The library was not that well stocked in this regard.

Just as the girls were about to leave for San Diego, Reed’s mom gave in and agreed to sailing lessons that summer if he would help with the house painting they were going to attempt, which seemed fair to him, so the thought of getting out on the lake in his own way tempered not being able to see the girls’ reaction to swimming in the ocean. He put away some of his mythological research and instead began studying sailing videos on YouTube. He was determined to not need saving in the future.

Cole, on the other hand, had continued to spend more time near the shore. He had always been more of the dreamer between the two and his introduction to the girls had brought out a new appreciation for the lake, and probably the ocean if he ever got to see it, and this carried over to other natural wonders like the desert and the mountains. His spent more time pouring over photography of natural places, hoping to get away to see these things someday. This made him just as anxious for Reed’s boat plans to succeed and he was looking forward to the view of Lakewood from out on the lake. He found his grandfather’s old camera and began practicing for when he would be visiting these places and he seemed to be pretty good at it, with a naturally decent eye for composition. While Reed was studying sailing, Cole dug into photography, mostly landscapes, and decided to start saving up for getting into film instead of digital. Other kids in their grade were discovering vinyl records and cassette tapes and analog was having a renaissance. He liked that, though his parents thought he was crazy. The one grandfather he liked appreciated Cole’s interest and gifted him some more cameras and a record player. His mom started calling his room ‘the museum’ but Reed, and the girls, thought it was cool.

For both of them, learning about the girls had changed their lives a little. Not just in the obvious way of knowing that mermaids were real and they were friends with them, but in allowing them to discover interests they didn’t know they had, things that might set them down different paths in their lives. While neither thought this in explicit terms, they both knew that having had the luck of knowing Freya, combined with Kim’s strange desire to be discovered, had made their lives better and they were excited to hear about the San Diego trip when the girls got back.

Chapter Text

The day of the trip arrived, and it turned out that Freya was, by far, the most seasoned traveler. The Callahans had traveled a lot but almost always by car. Their dad didn’t like to fly so the kids had never done that. He was very nervous and the kids refused to sit by him in case he puked. Freya, on the other hand, had been flying for her whole life and had been to Sweeden twice to visit family. Kim found it amusing that Freya was subtly taking the lead and guiding the group through checking luggage, security, and then finding the gate. Mr Callahan was grateful for the intervention and was happy to let his ego take a hit. All four girls wandered around the various vendors and restaurants while Mrs Callahan attempted to soothe her husband’s nerves. Despite his flying problems, the girls faced no such issue and took turns being plastered against the window, especially as they flew over the great Lakes.

After amazingly not dying in a fiery crash, as their dad had feared, they touched down at San Diego with the airport being located downtown, right on the bay.

They got to their aunt and uncle’s house to find that it was rather small and two kids could share a room but the other two were on couches. Jackie lamented that they weren’t 'out' to their parents as she might have preferred to sleep in the tub, but it was also only a one-bathroom house. Money doesn’t go very far in San Diego. It was late when they got there Friday night but the next morning was full of wedding tasks and they arranged to meet Leilani and told the adults that they were walking down to the beach, which was basically true. Leilani met them a block from the house. Everyone was pretty sure that the parental units would not be particularly excited to see them get in a car with a strange adult. Leilani herself felt very weird doing this but mermaids have to stick together. Renée was prepared to actually spend the day on the beach alone while the others would probably hit the water but when Leilani showed up in her mom’s minivan, she had someone with her and not Ava.

After an enthusiastic round of hugs, Leilani introduced her. “Everyone, this is my cousin, Maya.”

Everyone was already staring at her. Maya was tall, the tallest one there, and very, very goth. In a long black skirt, Doc Martins, and a Cure t-shirt her jet-black hair and pale skin contrasted to the point of being shocking.

“Maya’s about your age, Renée, fourteen, right?” Maya nodded. “I figured you guys could use to meet someone a little closer to your own age and Renée, you might want to hang out with someone when we go swimming.”

Despite her rather fearsome appearance, Maya was quick to hug everyone and started talking right away about the cool stuff to do in OB. The girls warmed to her right away.

As they got in the car to head to Leilani’s first, Kim asked the obvious question. “So, I’m assuming Maya knows, right?”

Maya laughed, “Yeah, since, like, forever. I walked in on her in the tub when she was babysitting me and I was supposed to be asleep.”

“I guess I wasn’t a very good baby sitter. I hadn’t been a mermaid long at that point and I took any excuse to get wet. Maya was four.”

“I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I can’t imagine what my parents would have thought, though.”

“They still don’t know?”

“No, they are very traditionally Mexican Catholic. Though honestly, I think they might take it better than me being goth, they hate this!”

Leilani laughed. “They really do. They tell her to be more like me. If they only knew!”

Renée was sitting behind Leilani with Maya in the front passenger seat. Renée caught a glimpse of maybe a tattoo under the sleeve of the Cure shirt. She had a nose piercing and a lip ring. Renée’s newer tendency towards being not as much of a goody-goody had her feeling seriously curious. Jackie caught her looking and kicked her leg, giving her a you-better-not-be-getting-any-ideas look.

Leilani let Maya control the Bluetooth on the relatively short ride to Pacific Beach and the Clevelanders, who had really only had exposure to more popular music, were rather surprised to hear that The Cure, who they figured would be super aggressive, was actually ethereally beautiful.

Left wanting more by the short trip to Law Street in PB, everyone piled out to see both Ava and who they assumed was Leilani’s grandma. Inside, grandma, which is what she insisted everyone call her, led them to a huge table of food and everyone grabbed a plate and went out back to get to know each other on the patio.

Having talked over Signal for a few months, everyone was comfortable almost right away. The shared experiences making it even smoother. Renée and Maya would split off to talk with each other and grandma when the main conversation got too mermaid-y. Renée was fascinated by grandma, she wasn’t too much younger than her own grand parents but she seemed so much more youthful. She was more relaxed and dressed in light, flowing clothes that made her appear to always be in more motion than she actually was and Renée wasn’t surprised when grandma told them that she still surfed occasionally when the waves weren’t too big. They didn’t know what a long board was but grandma seemed to prefer them. She gave everyone a tour of the avocado trees in the back yard, her pride and joy.

“What do you guys think? Time to take a dip?”

Leilani’s question was heavily anticipated but there was some tension in the air.

“So, we’ve never been in the ocean…” Kim wasn’t sure how to express her trepidation.

Leilani threw her head back into one of her full-throated laughs but it was a laugh that was comforting, not mocking. “I’m sure you guys are nervous, I know I would be, I want to start out in the bay, I know a quiet dock we use to get in unseen on Shelter Island in the bay, you guys can get used to the salt, that will be a little different, and then we can slowly work our way out of the bay and around the other side of Point Loma when you feel ready.” She pulled out an iPad and got the satellite view up to look at and had the kids get familiar with the area, including major landmarks like the Point Loma Lighthouse and the North Island Navy Air Station that made up the other side of the entrance to the bay. She showed them how to find Shelter Island in case they got separated. Everyone felt far more comfortable after that and Leilani and Ave gathered the other three girls into the van to head out while Maya got grandma to take her and Renée shopping in OB for a few hours. Soon, everyone was out and about on a beautiful late April day.

Kim was the first to climb down the ladder after the two older mermaids. The water was surprisingly cold, not much warmer than Lake Erie had been when they left. The salt water felt slightly different as she got in and could immediately taste it as her head went under for the first time. She didn’t realize how slowly she was moving until Jackie loudly whispered from up on the dock to hurry up. Jackie climbed down to join her when Kim moved out of the way and then Freya had to stop herself from diving in right from the dock, she was so excited. Glancing around, Leilani felt comfortable that no one was watching and gave some more instructions.

“Ok, I want you all to stick close, the channel is very busy with boat traffic and it’s not that wide so we will start off deep to stay under anything. Keep your eyes peeled for submarines, there’s a sub base on our way out. Once we get past the sub base, I’ll keep the land off to our right and we will start to go around the point into the more open ocean. The waves are decent today so we’ll spend more time under, it’s more interesting down there, anyway. You guys ready?”

Everyone nodded and followed Leilani and Ava down. As they got out into the actual shipping channel, the girls were shocked at the amount of traffic. Sail boats, motor boats, catamarans, navy ships, Jet Skis… if it floated, they were swimming under it. Kim thought it felt a lot like how the ride from the airport had been, congested, fast, and chaotic. Jackie felt like it was her first time swimming. She wondered this is what it felt like to take a first driving lesson, or maybe even flying lessons, there was so much more to look at and look out for.

Everyone kept close to Leilani while Ava darted away now and again, a little bored with the slow pace. They passed the sub base and Freya was happy to have not run into one in the open water while Kim was a little disappointed not to see one. As they made the turn around Point Loma, the girls noticed the change right away. The water was cleaner and clearer while the surface was clearly much choppier with a strong wind whipping up the waves. Leilani took them further out from the coast to avoid both the rocks and any possible tourists who might see them. They surfaced about a half mile out and struggled a little in the waves.

“I don’t want you to get startled,” The girls weren’t sure they liked Leilani starting out that way. “but we’re sure to see sharks. There’s nothing around here that likes people for food, much less mermaids. We seem to be more of a curiosity to even the bigger predators. I’ve never heard of one of us being attacked. We’re faster than them, anyway, but don’t swim off, I promise, nothing will bite you.”

Not fully confident, but trusting in Leilani, they went back under and swam through the kelp beds. True to her word, they ran across multiple sharks, not big ones but also not significantly smaller than the girls, themselves. Jackie looked nervous and kept close to the grownups. Freya looked fearless and was not staying nearly as close as Jackie thought was appropriate. Kim was in the middle, as usual, wary, but relaxed. Freya terrified Jackie when she joined Ava in approaching one of the sharks, stroking its sides as it swam by, seemingly unconcerned with the tourists from Ohio. Kim got bolder and joined them, while Jackie tried to work up the nerve but ultimately stayed near Leilani.

The water was bluer than they were used to and the sea life was completely different. There was far more kelp and seaweed with more and more varied types of fish. Before Jackie could work up the nerve to check out the shark, Leilani signaled to surface. She made sure not to make fun of Jackie. She remembered her first time. She had been alone, in a strange place, and it terrified her while also thrilling her. She wanted to make sure everyone enjoyed it.

“Everyone alright?”

There were nods all around.

Let’s head north, the same way we’ve been going already. I was going to take you into Mission Bay but it’s pretty shallow and I don’t want a whole pod of us to be seen, plus, it’s a little boring. It’s more fun up top for sailing. Let’s go up towards La Jolla. There are seals and sea lions all over up there. Might see some more sharks. But don’t get too far from me, I have to avoid the common diving spots to miss being seen by anyone. Then maybe we can head up to Black’s Beach.”

“What’s Black’s Beach?” Freya asked innocently.

“San Diego’s only nude beach!”

Ava laughed as three faces turned beet red despite the cold water.

“I’m just kidding, no nude beaches for you youngins, though I see you’re already used to the look, unlike Ava here.”

Ava was the only one with a bikini top on.

“Screw you! I’m shy!” Came Ava’s falsely indignant reply. Ava smiled. She wasn’t shy. “Seriously, you do you. I mostly wear it so that I’m covered while I’m drying off when I get out. Although I guess the tail would be the bigger issue, now that I think about it…”

This was the mermaid content the girls were here for. Real talk, inside jokes, pro-tips, and wonder filled with just a little fear. Each girl’s mind wandered off a little in their own way, thinking of questions, thinking of things to see, and thinking about a million other things.

After La Jolla, it was time to get back before the adults started to wonder. Before they headed back, Ava had a question.

I can’t believe it but I haven’t asked what your abilities are. They looked a little puzzled for a second.

“Oh,” Kim said, “like our powers?”

“Ugh. I hate superhero movie words. I like ‘abilities’, but yeah, what can each of you do?”

“I can move water.” Kim had been the first to answer.

Jackie was next “I can heat water or boil it. But I mostly use it to make hot cocoa.”

Leilani laughed her trademark big laugh. “Heat power for the fiery redhead, makes sense.” Jackie was a redhead but had never been called fiery before. She liked it.

All eyes were on Freya. “I can freeze things.”

“Very useful in the summer! I like that one.” Ava looked slightly jealous.

“What about yours?” Asked Freya.

“Mine’s the same as Kim’s, I can move it. Now this one over here,” Leilani gestured toward Ava with her thumb, “she got a rare one.”

Leilani brought a ball of water up in the air in front of Ava and Ava started manipulating it until it turned opaque. Leilani brought it over to the girls to touch.

“It’s like Jello, but springier. Cool!” Kim was intrigued.

“But wait, there’s more!” Ava looked around, no one thought it was funny, everyone else was too young to have seen infomercials on TV. She put her hand up again and the ball turned clear again but this time it was hard. Like glass. The girls passed it around.

“Woah, that’s crazy.” Jackie was looking through it, like a lens. “Is it glass?”

“No, as best I can tell, it’s an exotic form of ice. Supposedly, there are these strange forms of ice that can occur under high pressures and temperatures and this is like those. But it doesn’t melt and lasts pretty much forever. I’ve heard of some mermaid glass, that’s what we call it, that has been around for centuries.”

Ava looked proud of herself. Jackie was looking a little down.

“You ok?” Leilani didn’t want to see anyone having a bad time on their first visit.

“Yeah, my power just seems a little lame. It doesn’t seem that useful.”

“What are you talking about? I bet you use yours more the me and Freya combined.”

“Yeah, for cooking, mostly.”

“That’s extremely useful!” Leilani wasn’t trying to make her feel good, she meant it.

“I guess so…”

“Let’s see what you can really do.” Leilani was determined to make this a positive. “I’ll gather up a really big ball of water and you heat it up as much as you can.

Leilani created a huge sphere, twenty feet across, letting any fish drop out of it, and held it up about ten feet above the waves. Jackie put her hand up and started heating it. Leilani urged her on. “Put more into it, I can tell you are holding back.” Jackie increased her concentration and the ball started to steam and then bubble. “Come on!” Leilani knew there was more behind those green eyes. “Try both hands.”

Jackie raised her other hand and focused. Hard. The ball was starting to bubble furiously and Jackie pushed harder, her eyes rolling back. Looking slightly possessed, she gave a final mental push and thrust her hands all the way forward.

Out of a clear blue sky, three bolts of lightning struck down, hitting the ball of water and vaporizing most of it, with the rest raining down hot water on the five mermaids who looked stunned and didn’t really know how to react. Small flames danced on the surface of the ocean for a few seconds before going out.

After a long pause, Leilani broke the silence. “Well, that was certainly different.” She still looked a little shell shocked.

Ava spoke next. “Do you know what that was?” Her question was directed mostly at Leilani and her voice was low and conspiratorial, she knew the girls didn’t know. Leilani shrugged. “Weather powers.” Ava was now using the word ‘powers’, this was beyond an ‘ability.’

“I thought those were a myth.” Leilani had heard of them but had never run into anyone who had them.

“So did I, but I think Jackie’s little fireworks display says otherwise, don’t you think?”

“Wait, wait, wait. Weather powers?” Even with all her research, Freya hadn’t heard of this.

“Well, Ava answered, “there have been stories, stories of mermaids who could control or create weather. But so many mermaid stories are just that. Stories. Or myths. This seems to suggest that the old stories were true. I mean, I’ve met some older mermaids, a couple in their seventies, and no one I know has ever seen this.

Leilani still looked surprised. “And you couldn’t do this before?”

“I guess I don’t know. I never tried to, not like that.”

“What about you two?”

“I don’t think so…” Kim looked skeptical.

“Me neither.” Freya looked as surprised as everyone else.

Kim looked at Freya. “Should we try?” They looked at Ava who looked slightly worried. “You go first.” Kim said to Freya.

Leilani gathered up another ball into the air.

“Maybe move it a little farther away this time?” Ava suggested, feeling nervous.

“Good idea.” Leilani moved it about fifty feet away.

Freya brought her hand up and focused, the ball started to freeze. Quickly, considering its size. Freya bore down on it with her mind, willing it to get colder. She raised up her other hand and pushed herself. The ball was clearly frozen but it creaked and groaned as she made it colder, still. Dark clouds started gathering around and above it, rotating counter clockwise. With a tremendous explosion, the ball shattered, falling on the girls like hail as the clouds began to rain heavily until she put her hands down. The clouds began to dissipate. A layer of ice floated on the top of the water.

“Holy moly. Theory confirmed.” Ava looked at Leilani who looked like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Your turn, kid.”

Kim looked at the new ball of water that Leilani was holding up. She focused and took control of the water from the older mermaid. She tried to focus on the ball. She raised both hands but the ball didn’t seem to be doing anything. Leilani held her hand up. “Do you guys feel that?” Everyone looked around. But didn’t understand what she meant. “The wind. The wind is picking up. Kim, I don’t think you need this ball of water. Let it go.”

Kim let it splash into the sea. “Then what do I do?”

“Focus on the water that’s in the air. Try to move the air.”

Kim put both hands back up and picked an area about a hundred feet in front of them. Concentrating, she began to feel a breeze. Focusing on what seemed to make it happen made it stronger. As she got more in tune with what to do, the breeze turned into a wind and then into a gale until the girls were having a hard time staying in place above the water and Ava yelled for her to stop.

Kim put her hands down. She was tired.

Ava looked around. They weren’t as far off the coast as she would have hoped. “Come on guys, let’s get out of here. That was a little too obvious and we’ve been in this one place to long. Quickly, back to the dock, back to Shelter Island, ok?”

Everyone agreed and they took off for the more sheltered waters of the bay, anxious to not be discovered.

Kim and Ava worked on pulling the water off of each of the others as they climbed the ladder before doing the same to themselves. As they walked the dock back to the island, they overheard two old boaters.

“I hear there’s some crazy weather out there. Someone just came in talking about storms and microbursts but I don’t see a cloud in the sky.”

“You know these weekend warriors; they get out there and drink. Sounds crazy to me.”

The girls hurried past, anxious to get back into the van and get back to PB.

Chapter Text

Leilani drove in a very focused manor, but a bit briskly, as they headed back to PB. They actually didn’t have that much time before they were supposed to be back at their aunt’s house. Kim had a text from Renée saying they were already back with grandma.

Kim’s voice said, “We need to get back” but she had a pleading look on her face. She clearly didn’t want to go back to OB. She wanted to know what had just happened.

“I know.” Leilani’s voice was calm and reassuring. “We’ll figure it out. I think we know what happened, it’s just a bit… unprecedented. Let’s get you back. Can you meet up again tomorrow?”

“Yeah, our parents have wedding stuff pretty much every day.”

“Ok, Ava and I will dig around a little tonight. Let’s meet at the same time in the same place tomorrow.” The other passengers agreed. They pulled into the driveway and went in to collect Renée who seemed to have had a great time shopping in the little boutiques in OB. She hugged Maya and they got back in the van to head back with a little time to spare.

Renée noticed the quiet mood. “Everything ok? How did swimming go? How was it being in the ocean?”

“Well,” Kim started out, “Something a little odd happened.”

“Like?”

“Let’s just say that we ran into some rough weather. I’ll fill you in tonight. We’re kind of worn out right now.”

“Sure. Ok.” Renée wondered what was up, but it seemed clear that the others needed a little time.

After successfully getting back in time to not arouse suspicion, the girls faked their way through a nice dinner and complained of being tired after a day at the beach and went to the one room available to them to talk.

“Is someone going to clue me in?” Renée had waited long enough.

“Apparently, we didn’t really understand what we could do.” Kim felt the need to represent the group and took lead with the explanation, filling Renée in on what had happened.

“Weather control? You’re telling me you can control the weather?”

“I’m not sure I’d call it that. It’s more like weather creation? And only in a small area.”

“Oh, only in a small area, well, that’s so much easier to understand. So, no hurricanes on the horizon?”

“Not that I know of.” Kim looked over at Freya, who was scrolling on Jackie’s phone. “Freya, you had better not be telling Cole about this right now! They’ll have drawn comic books about us by the time we get home if they know, I already can’t get Reed to stop making up superhero names for us.”

“Oh my god, chill out, I’m just checking the weather.”

Jackie laughed. “Chill out. I get it.”

This was really the closest the three had ever come to having a fight. The tension level was high.

Renée was annoyed at not being told for several hours, and also feeling a little vulnerable in a room full of super-powered mermaids who might just have difficult-to-control weather powers and were getting snippy with each other. She needed to calm things down.

“Guys, calm down. Freya, you checked the weather, anything odd out over the ocean?”

“No. There don’t seem to be any news stories and the radar has nothing on it. I don’t think we created any big problems.

“Ok, good, that’s a relief. Did your friends have any ideas about how this happened?”

Freya continued answering: “Leilani said she had an idea but that she needed to research tonight. We’re meeting again tomorrow.”

“What did she call it?” Kim couldn’t remember the word she had used.

“Unprecedented? Maybe unexpected? I can’t quite remember.”

“And this never happened before?” Renée hoped asking questions would refocus everyone.

All three shook their heads.

“So, it sounds to me like we wait to hear what they find out tonight and then experiment a little more tomorrow. I mean, better to know, than be surprised later, right?”

Kim saw the logic in that. “Ok, I’m sorry I got weird. It was just so much, you know? Like we weren’t already strange, this just kicked it up a notch.” She reached out to Freya for a hug and Renée could feel the tension leaving the room.

“I know this was all very dramatic, but how was your day?” Freya was looking at Renée, who laughed out loud.

“Until the ride home, I thought I’d had an amazing day! Maya is super cool and she took me to all of these little boutiques.”

“Did you get anything?”

“I DID!” Renée pulled out the bag she had with her. “I got this paisley wrap, for at the beach…” Freya said that it was adorable. “And I got this.” She pulled smaller bag out and pulled out what looked like a necklace, and proceeded to put it on.

“Oh,” said Jackie as she realized it was rather small for a necklace. “Huh, a choker. A rather goth-looking choker!”

“Maybe just a little.” Renée was blushing.

The Van pulled up to the group of waiting girls, Renée included.

“Um, you know we’re going out, right?”

“She’s insisting she comes with.” Jackie sounded put out.

“Maya’s not available until later and as the oldest sister, I need to be there. This seems important. Look.” She held her hand up. “I brought a life jacket.”

“Where did you find a life jacket?”

“In the garage. They have kayaks in there.”

Kim groaned.

“Ok.” Freya felt like someone had to give in. “Ocean initiation for the only one here who can drown. Who’s dragging her out there?”

Leilani volunteered Ava for the job. “You’re probably the strongest swimmer.”

“Fine, I’ll do it but it’s going to slow us way down, unless she can barefoot water ski.”

Freya giggled at that idea of Ava pulling Renée at the end of a water ski rope.

By now, they were at a parking lot near a marina and Leilani put the van in park and turned around. “Let’s talk first, I have some ideas but we need to know more. Has something more out of the ordinary happened recently?” The girls shrugged. “What happened the night I warned you about the moon? The eclipse? I never heard back about that.”

Leilani saw recognition dawning on their faces.

“Oh my god, we forgot about the lightning!” Freya felt she should have known better or remembered.

“What about it?”

“We were so focused on Renée finding out that I kind of forgot about it. I don’t remember much but Renée saw it from the shore.”

“Renée?”

“I was kind of in shock after seeing them change and swim off, I had run to a higher point to look and I watched their wakes but they got too far away to see. Then this crazy lightning storm started way out over the lake, right where they had been heading. Like dozens of lightning bolts, maybe hundreds. It stopped and I kind of passed out or fell asleep and I woke up to them hovering over me. Kim, you remember some of it, you said.”

“Yeah, but just a little. We were way out there and I just remember light all around me. I didn’t notice that it was lighting.”

Leilani looked at Ava knowingly. “Well, that kind of settles it.”

“It does?” Kim was still confused.

“It was the eclipse. We talked to a few others last night and, in general, the consensus is that that must have caused it. There have been other stories. Some mermaids have lost their tails during an eclipse. Some gain an extra power, which looks like what happened. But both of those seem to be very rare. Most of us just get extra moon struck and behave strangely. I talked to a couple girls I know in LA and one in TJ and no one knows anyone who has had this happen. I’m glad you were here when you figured it out. You have to be careful with these new abilities. Legend has it that they tap into emotions and are strengthened by them. Maybe it was originally some sort of magical self-defense mechanism. We need to let you practice and get used to controlling them.”

They heard a squeaking noise from the back seat of the van and turned around to Renée trying to squeeze into a wetsuit. “Well? You heard her. Let’s get you out there to practice. There won’t be any emotional mermaid accidents if I have anything to say about it.”

Kim looked at her oddly. “Where in the world did you get a wetsuit?”

“From the garage. It was with the kayaks and the life jackets. Honestly, did you think I wouldn’t come prepared?”

Leilani led the group to a quiet place to get in and they realized they had a problem. They couldn’t tow Renée on the surface without potentially attracting attention so Ava decided to have her hold her breath and pull her underwater until she tapped out when needing a breath, at least until they got a little further out. Keeping Renée under was hard with the life jacket, but she could go faster than if Renée was floating on the surface so it only took a few times holding her breath until they were out of the bay and far enough out to not be easily seen.

Kim couldn’t believe that Renée was doing this. They were literally miles out in the ocean with only a life jacket and a wetsuit to protect her sister, yet Renée looked calm, almost comfortable. Kim was impressed. Ava was doing a good job of looking out for her and that helped Renée feel safe. Luckily it was a calm day.

Once they were far enough, Leilani led the girls in a practice session while Ava and Renée hung back and commented to each other about how it was going. The girls took turns practicing, with Leilani taking the unusual step of getting them to make smaller effects so as to learn more control. “Anyone can create chaos,” she had said, “the trick is to be able to use these effectively and just as much as you need.” This created a debate about why they would ever need to use them, which was a valid point, but Leilani insisted that if they had these abilities, it would be irresponsible to not be able to control them.

The lesson seemed well in hand, so Ava took Renée on a series of small dives to let her see the underwater world more the way her sisters did. They were in deep water so the bottom wasn’t visible, but there was far more life in the sea than Renée would have thought from above. She had a little freak out when they glimpsed a small shark but Ava reassured her and they continued. Even with the wetsuit, Renée was getting cold and Ava told the others that she was taking her back and that they would wait for them in the park by where the van was. The others continued practicing while Renée got her lift back to land. They took their time, with Ava pointing out more sights along the way until Renée’s eyes were red from the salt.

Ava gave Renée a boost up the ladder at the dock and then found the towel she had stashed earlier to dry off if the coast was clear. Her power didn’t help her dry any faster. Eventually, they made their way to the Friendship Bell at the tip of Shelter Island and stretched out in the sun.

Ava looked at Renée, she looked tired out. “You know, I’m really proud of you. That was a very brave thing to do to be with your girls.”

Renée looked pleased with herself. “Thanks. I might not be of much use out there, but I am the older sister and at least I can provide support. Thanks for taking me. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

Ava started to tell her that she was welcome but Renée had drifted off into a nap in the warm sun and it looked so nice that she decided to do the same.

Renée woke up to four grinning faces over her, blocking out the heat from the sun. “How did it go?”

“Amazing!” Freya looked positively giddy.

“So no more stressed out anxiety?”

“Nope. Everything is mostly under control.”

“MOSTLY?”

“She’s yanking your chain. They did great. I’m super jealous although, honestly, I don’t know when I’d have a use for any of these powers.” Leilani had been complimentary to all three of them the whole way back, they had gotten very good in a short amount of time.

Freya was still charged up. “Anyone want to create a snow day next winter if we need a break?”

Leilani groaned. “What did I tell you multiple times today? What did we learn from Spider-Man?”

“With great power comes great responsibility!” All three answered together.

“I’m serious, the government monitors all the weather reporting stations and you guys don’t have a huge ocean to go out in to get away from them. If you practice, and you should, keep things small, small, small, got it?”

“Yes, Miss Leilani!”

Ava laughed at how strict Leilani was. “Great job girls. Can we go eat now?”

Maya was waiting for them when they got back and everyone hung out for a while before heading back to OB. It had been an educational and fun day. The stress now behind them, the week was looking even better.

Chapter Text

The week seemed to fly by. Leilani joined them when she could, Ava less often. Renée got to spend more time with Maya and they introduced her to the family as a new friend they’d made at the beach, which had elements of truth about it. Renée didn’t go back out on the water with them, they didn’t need to be worried about her. All three were getting comfortable with the area and how to stay away from prying eyes and boat propellers. The girls weren’t going to the rehearsal dinner so Friday night was designated the night for the beach bonfire.

Renée helped Ava drive around and fill the back of the van with wood, mostly pallets from behind big box stores, while Leilani and the other girls got food, snacks, and drinks together as well as towels, beach chairs and whatever else they needed. They made grandma promise to come with them and squeezed everyone into Leilani’s RAV4. Luckily it was a short drive with Jackie on Kim’s lap.

They set up at Mission Bay just as the sun was setting and started a small fire. Leilani hadn’t told the girls, but she had done what said she’d do and contacted the other three mermaids that she knew of in San Diego and they arrived just as dusk was turning to night. Jackie was facing the right way to see two people walking towards them from different parts of the parking lot. They seemed to know each other as they waved and joined up in a hug before heading right towards the group.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet a few people. This is Preeti.” Leilani introduced each of her guests to the newcomers. “And this is Suzanne. I wanted you to meet Xandie, as well, but she got stuck at work, I don’t know if she’ll come later.”

Preeti laughed and in a very perfect posh English accent said, “Xandi The Angry Mermaid isn’t coming? What a shock.”

Suzanne smiled but lightly defended Xandie. “Oh, come on, you know she can barely afford to live here, I can’t blame her for picking up a shift. But still, yeah, I didn’t see her showing up.”

Freya was intrigued. “The angry mermaid?”

Ava explained. “She’s had a hard time adjusting. It’s been, what, three years?” Leilani agreed while getting food out of the cooler for everyone. “She was a surfer. She’d just turned pro and was climbing the rankings when she changed. Australia, right?” The others nodded. “She nearly got exposed on international TV. The morning after she found the moon pool, she had a tournament and ran into the surf with her board. Luckily, she dove under a huge wave while paddling out and changed underwater. She somehow recognized what had happened and she surfaced after the wave passed, just showing her head before ripping off her leash and swimming parallel to the beach until she was far enough away to get back on land. I don’t know how she understood what was happening so quickly. She walked back, called off the search that had started and announced that she was quitting surfing, all within about a half hour of changing. It’s a hell of a story, frankly. It’s actually all on video, you never see the tail, but you can see that her shoulders are bare. We all dodged a bullet that day and we’ve all thanked her but she’s so angry about it. Does that about cover it?”

Leilani added more. “The real tragedy, and I think the main reason she’s so angry, is that more than probably any of us, she loved the ocean so much. She had been surfing since she was a toddler, she was a certified diver…”

Ava interrupted, “Dive instructor, she had just been certified to teach.”

“Oh shit, I didn’t realize. Anyway, she was going to go to school for oceanography, she was hoping that surfing money would pay for school, but that was over now. She still loves the water, she probably swims more than me and Ava put together, but it ruined her sport and cut off funds for school so she’s a little bitter.”

“Yeah, but she takes it out on the rest of us.” Preeti sounded a little angry. “She’s just downright mean to both me and Suzanne. I think you two aren’t as targeted by her because you’re younger. It feels as though, because we are older, she thinks that we are somehow responsible. I feel for her, but she chooses to push us away, at least that’s how I feel about it.”

Suzanne was nodding. “Yeah, that’s true, I guess I just feel bad for her.”

“Oh, I do too. It’s a little tragic, but it’s not significantly worse than your story.”

The girls were all ears as a massive amount of mermaid drama was being dumped on them.

“If you don’t mind me asking… what’s your story?” Kim had been afraid to ask but Suzanne seemed so nice that she couldn’t imagine anything bad had happened to her.

“Oh, it’s not a huge tragedy or anything, but it did sort of cause my divorce.”

“Sort of?” Ava raised a single eyebrow.

“I guess I’ll dive in.” She laughed at her own pun. “So… His name was Ben. We got married right out of college. We’d been dating since high school and he was a very traditional type of person. We both wanted kids so I got pregnant literally within a month of being married. He worked in finance and was taking his masters courses at night while I raised first our first child, and then our second, and then our third and fourth. He was making bank by this point… You kids still say ‘bank’, right?”

The girls giggled.

“Anyway, he had always been religious, I guess we both were, we went to one of those small Baptist colleges and were abstinent and all that crap. After four kids in five years, we were doing ok, but he didn’t help out much and had gotten more and more intolerant. He started saying things in front of the kids that I wasn’t ok with. Meanwhile, I’m at PTO meetings, birthday parties, mommy groups and hearing from single mothers, minorities, gay parents, and so on. It started dawning on me that I didn’t really share his beliefs. We went to counseling and we were doing better. I thought we might make it. The kids were still tweens, I think, when we gave them to his mom to watch while we took a re-connection vacation.“

“At first it was lovely, we went to Italy, Spain, Prague. But I had always wanted to see India so I insisted on at least a few days there. He was horrible about it and all his racist tendencies that he swore he'd put behind him came right back out. We argued and I went off on my own, exploring the coast after driving for an hour to get away from him. Ha, I suppose you can see where this is going. I got stuck in cave while hopping from rock to rock next to the water. Turns out it was the same cave Preeti found, just a year apart. When I finally found my way out of the cave, it was late and I was soaking wet. I felt bad that I had left him in the hotel. I felt bad that nearly made a widower out of him. I felt bad that I might not have a shoulder to lean on when bad things happened. (I thought of my falling into the moon pool as a bad thing at that point.) I resolved to go back and patch things up. I still thought I could change him. So, I went back to him. He swore he’d be better and all that garbage. Imagine my surprise the next morning when I took a bath while he went down to get us food. I just knew I shouldn’t tell him. I experimented until I understood what made it happen and then pushed it back in my mind, vowing to avoid changing. I felt ashamed. I was sure that I was going to hell and that anyone who knew would think I was a freak. “

“I started taking anti-depressants to get through. I thought, you know, ‘stay together for the kids.’ I knew I couldn’t keep it up.”

“One day, in 2005 – I recall it so well – We were living in Phoenix. It was my idea to move there so I could avoid water. I was watching a rerun of Buffy The Vampire Slayer – great show if you haven’t seen it. I’d turned into a bit of a junkie for any supernatural shows. It was the only way I could indulge in the other side of me that I suppressed. I’m on the couch with my popcorn, watching Willow cast a spell, and Ben walks past and says ‘I don’t know why you watch that crap. Witches are an abomination, not heroes to be looked up to. This shouldn’t even be allowed on TV.’”

“I turned off the TV and went to the computer to look up lawyers. With that one statement, I knew it had to be over. I could never share what I was with him. I filed for divorce a week later. He didn’t even want custody of the kids. Somehow, I ended up with a great alimony payment and went to law school and completely changed my life. I moved here when the last kid left for school and now I’m on the beach with all of you!”

Preeti looked happily at her, clearly pleased that Suzanne had salvaged her life.

“How long did you avoid changing?” Kim asked.

“Jeez, five years? Not completely, though, I would occasionally have what I thought of as a ‘relapse’ and take a bath. Like it was an addiction that I should fight. Once we separated, I moved to a house with a pool!”

“Did he ever find out? What about your kids?” Freya looked sad as she asked.

“No, he never did. I was afraid to jeopardize the divorce settlement. I waited until the kids were slightly older, maybe another year or two. By then, they were so disillusioned with Ben for basically wanting nothing to do with them that it was safe to tell them. But they know, and are fine. I’m actually about to become a grandmother!”

Everyone cheered at the news.

“You didn’t tell me!” Preeti pretended to look offended.

“I just found out yesterday. And as much as I will probably not shut up about it, I think we’d all rather hear the new girls’ stories? I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who changed this young! I was thirty-five with a teenager in the house!”

“Wait until you hear it. It’s crazy, I’ve never heard a story like it.” Leilani gestured to Kim to start and Kim took a deep breath before retelling the tale. She loved telling it; times like this were the few times that she could talk about it with someone new and it always felt validating to tell someone, even if they already knew the outcome. She continued up until the events of October and then asked her sister and Freya to tell their portion.

When they were done, Preeti and Suzanne had a bunch of questions, for which the girls did not have any answers.

“Kim, this wasn’t in some sort of cave with a pool in it?” Preeti’s scientist brain was often at odds with the magic that had transformed her but she needed to try to understand it more.

“No, it was just on the edge of Lake Erie. Our friend Reed thinks it was something to do with all the cosmic stuff going on that I talked about.”

“And the second time, for the others, was it in the same place?”

“No. Nearby, but at least a quarter mile away.”

“So it was the events, not the place, most likely.”

“Maybe, but it’s a big lake, there has to be a chance that someone else was in the water, too. We’ve done a ton of digging and there are a ton of reasons someone might be in the water in late June, even if it isn’t super warm yet. But we haven’t found anyone; in the lake or on the internet. And we’ve tried. It’s weird that it’s just us.”

“That you’ve found…”

“Yeah.”

Suzanne had less technical questions. “Did you cope with this ok? You’re all so young…”

“I mean, it was freaky at first, and kinda lonely, so it was a little tough, but then I would go out in the water and all that went away. Then these two joined me and it’s way easier, but Jackie didn’t dig it at first.”

“I had a hard time at the very beginning but I came around quickly, mostly because Freya couldn’t have been happier. She’d been looking for mermaids for years and becoming one was a dream come true for her.”

“Why had you been looking?”

“I saw two on vacation in Washington. When I was five. I got a little obsessed.”

Jackie chuckled. “That might be an understatement.”

“But then there’s the weather thing.” Leilani knew Preeti would have more questions.

“Yes, you told me about it but can you tell us yourselves?”

All three, plus Renée, took turns telling the story from just a month prior.

“So, again, an astronomical event but not tied to a pool or cave. Fascinating.” We’ve heard stories about weather abilities but you’re the first I’ve met who can do it. I’d kill for a demonstration but I know you are leaving soon. Let’s trade contact info, I’d love to ask more if I think of anything.”

“Sure.”

Suzanne was sure everyone else was getting bored after seeing Renée and Maya wander off. “Enough with the details. Let’s get the fire roaring and just enjoy ourselves!”

Which everyone proceeded to do. Hot dogs and s’mores came out and stories started flowing. Things that they’d seen. Lessons learned, close calls with both dangerous situations and with people. Preeti finally realized that the internet video was Kim.

“Was that you all over Facebook last summer?!”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

Preeti laughed. “No worries. I actually thought it was fake. Luckily, everyone else did, too.”

Suzanne wanted to know how they had been enjoying San Diego.

Freya had the most to say. “It’s amazing, but it’s so busy. In the water and on land. Our first swim was kind of scary but we got used to it. And the salt is so different.”

Ava said she couldn’t imagine swimming in fresh water.

“You’ve swum in my pool; you know what it’s like.” Suzanne reminded her.

“I guess so, maybe it’s not that different.”

The fire was winding down and it was getting to be time to think about going home. Contacts were exchanged and Jackie went off to find Renée and Maya to let them know they were leaving. Freya, ever the optimist, asked Suzanne to relay a message. “If you see her, please tell Xandie that we’re sorry we didn’t get to meet her. You can give her our numbers if she wants them.”

“That’s so sweet of you. I’ll let her know. I usually run into her once a month or so.”

As they were packing up, Suzanne had some final thoughts for the girls.

“I want to say that I’m very impressed with all of you, including Renée. To be so young and handle it this well is impressive. Being a part of this community means maturing a little faster. No one will be around to stop you from doing foolish things in the middle of the lake… or ocean. Others like us, your peers, will treat you more like adults. We know you share the risks and rewards of being who we are and we won’t baby you. But it’s important to be aware of the effect your actions could have on others, and I’m speaking mainly of your parents. Bear them in mind as you decide to do anything risky. Eventually, you might want to tell them. Make sure you all agree, first, including Renée. It sounds like they are good people, but you have to be sure they can take it, if at all possible. You will miss things. Pool parties, going to the beach with other friends, things like that, but don’t alienate the land people in your life. You need a support system, even more than regular folk. And make sure to keep doing regular people things. You may be mermaids, but you are still human with the need for social interaction. You can’t spend all your time alone in the water. Join a club, play music, have hobbies. Be careful, but have fun. Ok?”

The girls nodded and took turns hugging the older mermaids goodbye. It was time to get back and be ready for the wedding.

Chapter Text

The wedding was beautiful, but long, and even Mr and Mrs Callahan were getting bored by the end. The reception was good and, once again, Renée was surprised at how much her sisters and Freya piled on their plates at the buffet.

Back at the house, after the festivities were over, Mrs Callahan called a quick meeting. “Well, now that that’s over, we’ve still got tomorrow and we should make a family day of it, plus Freya, of course. Do you guys want to go to the beach again?”

The girls looked at each other before Renée spoke up. “You know, I think we might be a little beached out. Maybe just some sightseeing?”

The others chimed in, agreeing with Renée.

“Ok, no beach. I’m a little surprised, you’ve been there every day. But no problem. Your dad and I will look up some places to go.”

The group did just that and had a very nice Sunday hitting all the tourist spots, including seeing La Jolla cove from the land for the first time, though the girls found it hard to resist jumping in. Eventually, the trip drew to a close, and they caught their Monday flight, heading back home, where life would be a little less exciting for a while. Freya, specifically would miss having more mermaids around and she knew she was going to go back to looking for more like them, maybe a little closer to home. Renée was happy for her sisters and had had her own adventures on this trip. She absentmindedly played with her new choker as she drifted off to sleep with her head resting against the window.

Chapter Text

All three sisters had had birthdays shortly before the big trip. None of them were having a big ‘milestone’ birthday so they were all a little low-key. Birthdays, followed by the big trip, made them all feel a little older as they returned and got back to their normal lives. It was an adjustment after all the events of the trip. A little boring, but they needed some down time to process.

School started back up and everyone settled back into their usual routines, though the trip had bonded the girls, Renée included, even more. Renée only had a few weeks of middle school left and she had taken to walking with her sister and Freya, instead of on her own like she used to.

The boys were excited to hear what had transpired on the trip and they made plans to get together as soon as possible. At Kim’s insistence, they met in an isolated area of the Metroparks.

The girls arrived, with Renée, and found the boys already waiting at the beat-up picnic table that someone must have dragged into the woods. This was one of the places Kim had discovered back in her loner days. They dropped their bikes and joined Cole and Reed at the table.

“What’s with the strange meeting place?” Reed figured something mermaid-y was up but then why meet so far from the lake?

“Well, you know the night that Renée found out?”

“Yeah.”

“Turns out that the eclipse was kind of a big deal. Now I know exactly how you are going to respond but I beg you, please, PLEASE don’t go where I always ask you not to go.”

Cole looks a little confused. “Sure. Not sure what you mean but you know we’re always cool.”

“No,” Kim responded, “you aren’t always cool, and just lay off the Marvel comments.”

Cole and Reed looked at each other and grinned, figuring that they were about to see something cool.

“Argh, this is what I mean. Just chill, ok?”

Reed stopped grinning long enough to assure them that they would restrain themselves.

“So, it turns out that lunar eclipses can do strange things, and in this case… well, we can do some new things. We’ve been practicing so I think we can keep it small enough to not cause trouble. Freya, you go first.”

Freya put her hands up and focused on a point right in the middle of the table. The air began to turn dark gray in front of them and then coalesced into a miniature cloud just before rain started to fall from it. Freya lowered her hands and the cloud dissipated leaving a soaked picnic table to drip on everyone’s legs.

“Did you just create a storm?” Cole looked somewhat shocked.

“Yep!” Freya had a look of smug self-satisfaction on her face as she confirmed what they had just seen.

“And that’s the small version.” Kim felt the need to give some additional commentary. “It’s actually harder to keep these things small. Her first one was huge. I’ll go next.”

Kim put her hands up and focused, the air beginning to stir. Before long, the breeze turned into a wind and then into something more threatening before she turned it off. The boys didn’t have a comment this time.

“Jackie? Your turn. I think for this one, we should all get up and stand back from the table a few feet. Maybe more. Ten, I think.”

The boys were now verging on concerned and did as they were told, slightly worried about what was coming.

Jackie put her hands up and focused extra hard, this was potentially the most dangerous display and she wanted to make sure she was maintaining control. She subtly moved her hands and the world’s tiniest lightning bolt flashed down from about five feet above the table, striking it dead center sending wood fragments flying and leaving a two-inch wide hole in the middle.

With smoke still coming from the hole and a few embers glowing, Freya thought it would be best to put a little rain storm above it to make sure it didn’t ignite.

The boys looked genuinely a little frightened and then a little too excited.

“Don’t!” Kim almost shouted.

“But Jackie’s basically Thor!” Cole was having a hard time containing himself.

“I know, but I keep telling you, eleven-year-olds aren’t super heroes so just put it out of your head. You just need to know about it in case it ever comes up.”

“Come on, the only time these new powers could ‘come up’ would be if you need to use them to help someone or stop someone. You know, super hero stuff!”

“That’s not true.” Freya responded, “This morning I made little miniature storms over the plants in my room to water them. It was very useful.”

Cole and Reed looked at each other. Of course Freya would find a way to turn a super power into a cute way to do chores. Then they just started laughing. The other girls hadn’t heard this yet and joined in. The absurdity of it all was too much to take seriously.

“So,” Cole asked, “we can’t give her the super hero name of “The Watering Can””?

“Or,” Renée joined in, “The Sprinkler””?

Kim realized how futile it was going to be to stop the boys from going down the path so she gave up while they continued to come up with more and more ridiculous names for the girls. The tension now gone, everyone settled down and had a more thoughtful discussion.

“All jokes aside, this is kind of a big deal. These are powers that might get noticed. You need to be extra careful.” Cole was seeing the danger, now.

“No kidding.” Kim appreciated his concern but it wasn’t like she didn’t have an eight-hour plane ride to think about all this. “Once Leilani found out, she made us practice to control it, which we’ve all been doing ever since, and we’ve gotten good. Apparently, these types of abilities can be linked to emotions, so your job is now to keep us calm.”

She was joking but she did want them to know what the stakes were.

Reed was in thinking mode. “What about bad weather? Can you calm a storm, or stop the wind?”

This was a good question. A very good question. One that no one had thought of, yet.

Kim was surprised by the question. “Huh. I’m not sure. We hadn’t considered that, and no bad weather has happened since then for us to try it out on. We need to figure out how to even test that.”

“Too bad no one can know. You could make a great living clearing rain away from baseball games and holiday weekends in the park.”

Everyone got a little quiet as they considered the implications of weather control.

“Ok.” Cole was changing the subject. “But how about the rest of the trip? Leilani? Ava?”

“Amazing!” Freya was first to speak up. She went through everything, from meeting the girls to swimming with sharks, to the wedding itself, which she had thought was beautiful, ending with meeting the other, older mermaids. The boys were very curious how that went and asked more about them. Jackie fielded that question.

“They were incredibly nice. They had lots of great advice and were very interesting people. Suzanne just became a grandmother.”

“So are her kids, you know…”

“No. She didn’t become a mermaid until she was in her thirties and already had her kids, but they did say that they knew of others and the kids can be Mer, but that a lot of mermaids choose not to have them.”

“Why?”

“Generally, it seems to be that some of us don’t think it’s fair to have a kid and force them down this path.”

“But some do?”

“Yeah. I’d love to meet some of those one day. Both the mothers and the kids.”

Freya made a noise that sounded a lot like “Squeeeeee.”

Cole looked over at her. “Um, what the heck was that? And why does your face look like an anime character all of a sudden?”

“Oh, I just was imagining a bunch of tiny mer-kids playing with me in the water.” She had a faraway look in her eye.

“Well,” Kim interjected, “I guess we see where Freya’s thoughts on the matter lie.”

“You don’t think that’s the cutest think you’ve ever imagined?”

“Sure, but it’s kind of a big decision to make for your child.”

“Every parent does that though. Anyone born into a poor family, or a certain religion, or of parents with, say, red hair,” she looked at Jackie, “those are all choices that parents make for their kids, some are trivial, some are huge. This is just the same thing. Your cousin is having a baby at nineteen, is that fair to the kid? Would the kid even know or care that that choice was made for them? I think they would just be happy to be alive.”

“What if they end up like Xandie? Resentful and angry.” This was turning into a two-way discussion between just Kim and Freya but it was fascinating to everyone and they watched the exchange with great interest. They had considered these issues in passing but this was the first time they’d really debated it.

“Sure, they could, but we know kids at school who are like that despite growing up in Rocky River with almost every advantage.” Kim had to concede that point and nodded.

“I get what you’re saying, this just seems bigger than those other things.”

“Maybe, but there’s a scale of big to small, and this is just somewhere on that scale.”

There was a pause.

“Wait… who the heck is Xandie?” Reed was confused by the new name. Jackie filled the boys in on the back story of the fifth San Diego mermaid.

“But you didn’t get to meet her?”

“No. She was working.”

“That sucks. That’s kind of a tragic story.” Reed couldn’t imagine how much heartbreak that must have caused Xandie.

Jackie felt the need to lighten the mood. After all, they had plenty of time to consider the issue of having kids. “So… Renée made a new friend! I mean, we all did, she was cool, but they got to spend more time together while we swam.”

“Who?” This hadn’t been mentioned yet as the talk had been a little mer-centric up to this point. Cole and Reed were curious.

“Maya, Leilani’s cousin.” Jackie launched into a description.

Renée played with her choker while Jackie talked. If anyone had looked, they might have seen some red in her cheeks.

Reed had some questions about the family. “So, you thought Leilani was Hispanic, but that name is Hawai’ian, right?”

“Yes. She’s Mexican on her dad’s side and Hawai’ian on her mom’s. She lives with her Hawai’ian grandmother and oh my god, you have to try Hawai’ian food. Amazing!”

“Did you meet her parents?”

“No, I got the impression that they weren’t in the picture and I didn’t have the guts to ask what happened.” The other girls’ faces told the same story.

Jackie turned to Renée, “Have you talked to Maya since we’ve been back?”

Renée seemed a bit shy all of a sudden. “Yeah, we’ve face timed a few times.”

“Come get us next time so we can say hi.”

“Ok.”

Only Jackie, the perceptive one, noticed the blushing, raising an eyebrow, slightly.

“So, that’s the trip in a nutshell.” Kim needed to wrap this up and get to some reading done for school.

The boys had a lot of new information to take in and were jealous that they didn’t get to meet Suzanne and Preeti. Everyone walked their bikes up the steep hill out of the park, still chatting, before heading their separate ways once at the top.

Chapter Text

It was a few days later, after Jackie had time to process a few things, when she stopped in Renée’s room, interrupting Renée’s fifth listen to The Cure’s new album.

“Hey, got a sec?”

Renée took out her airPods. “Sure, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to ask, when we were talking about San Diego, I thought you might jump in and tell the boys more about Maya, you got to know her much better than the rest of us and you seemed to get pretty close.” She eyed the choker that Renée had yet to remove since their trip and sat down in the chair, making it clear that she was expecting at least a bit of a conversation.

Renée fidgeted with her phone for a bit.

“I’m not sure what to say. I know you well enough to know that you picked up on something, right?”

“Kind of.”

“I guess if we are all being more honest with each other, I was just a little embarrassed to talk about it yet.”

“Talk about what?” Jackie knew that there was something in the air but at eleven, she wasn’t savvy enough to completely understand what she was picking up on.

“Well, I think I kind of like her.”

Jackie was still not quite getting it.

“You know,” Renée was having a hard time with the words. “LIKE her.”

“Oh. OH! Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t understand!” Now Jackie was getting it. Renée’s face was turning a shade of red that Jackie had never seen before. “I shouldn’t have pried. That wasn’t cool of me!”

“It’s ok. I’m feeling a little relieved. I think I need someone to talk to about this. I know your secret. Mine shouldn’t even be secret. But just keep this between us for now.”

“Of course!” Jackie got up and went to the bed. “But, come on, it’s time to spill. Tell me everything!”

“I don’t know. I’m confused. I thought I was into boys. I think I still am. But Maya and I clicked. It was so easy spending time with her and by the second day, I was anticipating seeing her again and I had butterflies in my stomach. I feel like I wasn’t really me until I met her. It’s like, she knows herself so well, and I feel like meeting her is making me start to know myself, as well.”

“Does she know you might like her?”

“Oh yes.”

“Wow. That sounds interesting.”

“She started it, I guess. We got boba and were sitting on the patio and she put her hand on mine. Really casually, and said, ‘I really like you; it’s nice spending time with you.’ Jackie, I just melted.”

“Oh my god. And I thought I had an interesting trip! What did you say?”

“I told her I liked her too. We finished our drinks and left to hit some little shops nearby and she reached down and held my hand. Thank god we were in OB, which, if you didn’t notice, seems to be a pretty accepting place. We weren’t the only girls holding hands that day. I’m not sure if I’d be ready to do that in River, yet.”

“So, where does that leave you guys?”

“I’m not sure. A small part of me wishes it never happened. What can I do about being thousands of miles from the first person, girl or boy, that I’ve ever kissed.”

“Oh! There were smooches?”

“There were smooches, yes! Rather a lot of them.” Renée pulled aside the collar of her shirt to show the remnants of a hickey that was almost faded away near her collar bone.

“Is that what I think it is?”

Renée blushed deeply and nodded.

“Well, this wasn’t on my mermaid trip bingo card.” Jackie looked thoughtful before leaning over to hug her sister.

“You’re cool with this?” Renée was still nervous about letting anyone in on it.

“Of course! I’m so happy for you. I don’t know what to tell you about the long-distance thing, though. That doesn’t seem very doable, just from a practical standpoint.

“Yeah, Maya and I have been talking about that. Neither of us can figure out how to sustain it. We both think that we might just have to be friends treat it like a short-term thing that happened.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, but let’s be realistic. We’re fourteen. It’s not like either of us are going to run away to be with the other. It just is what it is.” Renée looked a little sad but not too bad.

Jackie hugged her again. “I’m here for you if you need to talk. I hope I didn’t out you, that wouldn’t have been cool.”

“You’re good. I was going to tell you, anyway. I was surprised you didn’t figure it out.”

“I knew there was something but I didn’t think it was this, I don’t know, developed?”

“Yeah. But what about you guys? All hangin’ out with the boys all the time!”

“Ha! Honestly, they’re like brothers. I could see Freya and Cole being a thing someday but they’re both too dorky to realize it. Reed seemed like he had a little crush on Kim early on, but I think that was just left over from before he knew who the mermaid was. Nothing to report, really. Do you think you’ll tell mom?”

“Oh, absolutely! I’ve been loving making her uncomfortable, it’s nice to turn the tables on her after the last few years of her waaaay oversharing.”

"What do you mean?"

“Well, mom gave you ‘the talk’, right?”

Kim roller her eyes. “Yes. Awkward.”

“Well, that’s just the first talk. She’s given me about five ‘talks’ and each one gets weirder. Like you keep saying, it’s not my place to tell her story... I don’t know if you know, but mom used to be pretty wild.”

“Mom? Our mom?”

“Yeah, she had some scares and some, let’s say unconventional relationships early on. Did you know she got me on the pill this year?”

“No. Oh my god, are you…”

“Ha, no, not even close, but she’s very upfront about wanting us to be protected. You're twelve now, she’ll start telling you more, and it will be uncomfortable, but at least you have some context.”

“Christ, Renée, please don’t tell me more about mom, that’s so weird.”

“Oh, don’t worry, she’ll tell you way more than you want to know. For example…”

“LALALALALALALALALALA I DON’T HEAR YOU!”

Renée laughed. “And the new look?”

“It’s just a necklace.”

“I don’t know, I thought I saw some boots sticking out of your closet…”

“I'm Not gonna lie, I thought Maya’s look was hot. I don’t want to copy her, but it’s time I mix things up a little, give my friends a little shock!”

Jackie laughed. “That’s awesome.”

“What about you? Do you think you’ll tell mom?”

“What, about you?”

“No, about you…”

“Oh. Well, that’s way more complicated. There are the others to consider. I don’t think we can hide it forever. Full moons happen often enough be a real struggle. But it has to be a group decision. I know mom will take it ok. I hope. Not sure about dad.”

“Honestly, I think he’s just happy to have us not be in any trouble.”

Jackie laughed. “Yeah. Kim and I have talked about it. I hate lying, or at least hiding. We’re letting it be for now. One thing’s for sure; we don’t want her finding out from the news someday, or piecing it together before we come clean. That would break her heart. Just not yet.”

“You can count on me to keep it quiet, but do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

“After I tell mom about Maya, make sure to bring it up occasionally just to see her squirm a bit.”

Jackie laughed loudly. “Sure. That will be fun. Are you going to tell Kim about Maya?”

“Yeah, it’ll be easier now that I’ve talked to you. Besides, I’m not sure you could keep it to yourself.”

“I like to think I could, but, yeah, it would be hard.”

Renée got up and shouted down the hallway. “Kim! Come in here! I’ve got something to tell you.”

Chapter Text

Freya thought the walk to school would be boring. “Seriously? You and Maya?”

Renée filled in the last mermaid to know.

“Huh. I didn’t see that coming.”

“Neither did I…” Renée was getting used to confessing it. It turned out to be far easier than she expected.

“Well, cool, I guess. Sucks that she’s so far away. Anyone on your radar around here?”

“Not really. There’s guy in my class I’m kind of interested in but I’m not sure.”

“So, you’re bi, then?” Freya had a way of being blunt but in the sweetest way possible.

Renée laughed. “I guess? I’m not labeling it. I suppose I just like who I like.”

“That’s a nice way to think of it. You’ll keep us informed?”

Renée was amused. Freya was so odd but endearing. No one else would put it that way. “Yeah, I’ll let you know what develops.”

“So, not much school left.” Kim was not nearly as interested in Renée’s love life. She was interested in Renée’s move to high school. “You nervous about next year?”

“A little. Obviously, I’ll still have the same classmates, but I hate being the youngest again. Still, only four years left. You guys looking forward to not being the lowest of the low?”

Kim didn’t seem to care much. She wasn’t as standoffish as she used to be but she didn’t really care what her classmates thought of her.

Freya was pragmatic. “I’m looking forward to it. I’d like the classes to get a little more challenging.” Kim looked at her like she was insane.

“What?”

“I’m just being honest. Aren’t you bored? You’ve probably read the entire reading lists for all of middle school and half of high school.”

“That’s true. I could probably spend the summer writing book reports for the next few years’ worth of English classes and just coast through them.”

Freya had unknowingly done herself a big favor with her mermaid obsession over the years. All her research had led to her reading a bunch of books that she wouldn’t have otherwise. She’d already read Homer and that led to other classics. Her knowledge of myth and legends was extensive, perhaps even college level and her reading comprehension was right up there with Kim’s, which was formidable. Math still sucked for her but she also had a jump on languages, having ordered books in several other tongues as well as being exposed to quite a bit of Latin and Greek. None of the girls realized it, but Reed was following a similar path.

“At least we’ll get to see Jackie at school every day next year.” Freya always found the silver lining. “The art classes are soooo much better in middle school.”

“Did you hear that Reed talked his parents into sailing lessons this summer?” Kim was excited to get more of her friends out on the water.

“Really?” Renée wasn’t as in the loop. “That’s super cool. Can he take me out there?”

“I imagine, but not at first. If last year taught us anything, it’s that sailing is harder than it looks…”

“Cole picked up some new vinyl over spring break. His grandfather gave him most of his collection and he found a cool used record store over in Cleveland.” Freya loved Cole’s interest in old, analog things. “He called me yesterday to talk about it.”

“Yeah, on your ‘land line’!” Kim was teasing but it was frustrating not being able to get a hold of her more privately.

“Argh, it’s getting so bad. No one can get any info to me. I rely on you guys to tell me everything.”

“What about the Chromebook I gave you?”

“The battery lasts about an hour and if my mom caught me with it, I wouldn’t be swimming for a week. I’d be so grounded. It basically lives in my closet.”

“At least you only have about six months left.”

“The longest six months of my life. Anyway, Cole is too shy to ask, but I think he wants us all to go check out his new albums. Wanna go after school?”

“Are you sure he’d be cool with that?”

“Trust me. Give me your phone, I’ll check, but he’ll be down.”

Plans were made and Cole was playing it cool but was thrilled that anyone took an interest.

The older girls waited for Jackie and then biked over to Lakewood. Freya got a few looks as they rode. Her old schoolmates were confused about her. She was formerly a bit of a social outcast, the kooky mermaid girl, but now she was seemingly close to Cole and Reed, who were both fairly popular, and she had this gaggle of cute River girls with her. Kids that used to tease her were giving her subtle waves when they saw her.

She’d oddly never been to Cole’s house before and they headed upstairs right away without any introductions, there being an argument going on in the kitchen.

Reed was already there, looking at album covers. Cole closed the door behind them. Renée looked around. “What’s with the foam?” Cole had sound deadening foam on the inside of his door and some of his walls. The kind you’d see behind a youtuber, sometimes.

“Sound proofing. They don’t have to hear me and I don’t want to hear them. I’m sure you noticed the hollering as we came in.”

There were some nods but no one wanted to comment.

Freya wandered around, looking at everything. “Where did you get all this stuff?” She was examining a very old camera while she asked.

“My grandfather mostly. I seem to be the only one interested in him. He was a photographer for the Cleveland Press and then the Plain Dealer and he’s far and away the coolest adult I know. He has a basement full of old stereos and cameras. Weird old tape recorders. His dad’s old fishing gear. It’s like a museum.” He laughed. “I guess my room is, too, now. He’s got a whole dark room down there.”

“What’s a ‘dark room’?” To Kim it sounded sinister.

“For photography. To develop the film. It has to be in the dark.”

Kim’s ears perked up. “An entire room that the moonlight can’t get into?” She let the question hang there.

“I never thought about that. Too bad he lives way down in Berea. Plus, the ‘room’ is about the size of a large walk-in closet. There’s no way three of you are sleeping in there. Plus it smells.”

“Too bad. Hey, Leilani talked about that. She said her room has ‘dark room’ curtains. With Velcro or something.”

“Something to google later?” Cole was happy that the conversation might help.

“Absolutely.”

Freya had waited long enough. “Show us what you got?”

Cole pulled a few more crates of records out from under his bed and the girls started looking through them.

“Wow, how many did he give you?”

“All his vinyl. He switched to CDs in the 80s and still prefers them but he’s also on Spotify. There’s almost a thousand. Plus the couple dozen I’ve bought that are newer. They’re expensive, though.”

“I recognize a bunch of these. Maya sent me a lot of this on Spotify. This is so cool.” Renée was digging it.

“Pick something and put it on.” He gestured towards a turntable on his dresser.

Renée picked out a Smiths album but couldn’t figure out the record player. Cole jumped in and showed her. Vibing commenced.

“Hey, you said you were shooting film, right?” Jackie’s art detector was going off.

“I just started. I’ve shot two rolls. My grandfather’s teaching me how do develop them in the dark room next week.”

“Could you shoot us? I’m scared to do it with phones, we’ve seen what can happen…” She looked at Kim.

“Jeez, I said I was sorry. Besides, it all worked out.”

“Anyway, if you took them on film, we could have copies but no accidental uploads. You could take some on the boat this summer if Reed’s plans work out.”

Reed looked up from the album cover he was studying and grinned.

“Yeah. I suppose I could. After I get good enough to not need his help printing them.”

“Cool. Very cool. Analog mermaids!” Jackie was looking forward to it.

“In fact, we could take a couple right now, I’ve got a few shots left in that Nikon over there.”

Cole set the camera on the dresser next to the turntable and set the timer, waiting for everyone to get in place before pushing the shutter release. The flash was surprisingly bright. They took a few more, getting in more and more wacky poses until he reached the end of the roll.

When they were done, Cole pulled up the Cleveland Press photo archive on his laptop to show off some of his grandfather’s work and he and Jackie looked through those while everyone else rummaged through the crates of records. Renée was writing down names of bands to look up when she got home, just based on the album art.

For Cole, this was a very welcome respite from his usual ignoring of his parents fighting. It nice to share his interests with someone other than Reed. None of his other friends were into any of this stuff.

“Better be careful,” Kim teased, “don’t go full hipster. If I see you in a fedora, I’m calling for an intervention.”

He laughed. “Granddad tried to give me one of his old ones. Don’t worry, it stayed safely at his house. I’ll just be a closet hipster.”

Jackie smiled and elbowed Renée.

“Hey, no closet over here. I’m an out and proud potential bisexual! Hey, can we face time her? She’d go crazy over all these records.”

No one objected and they spent the next hour showing Maya all the vinyl and introducing her to the boys.

By the following week, Jackie had bombarded Cole with questions about his photography and Cole figured it would just be easier to take her with him to his grandfather’s house than to try to explain developing film when he was just learning, himself. His grandfather picked them up and they headed down to Berea.

Once in the basement, Cole’s grandfather began a lesson on how film worked and what they would be doing. Jackie was used to considering the light when drawing and found that the technical side of how light affected film was just as interesting. He covered the basics and then talked about the development process itself. He showed them what they would be doing with some ruined film so they could see it since the real film would have to be loaded into the development tank in darkness. They took turns putting the film into the reel and closing up the tank until he thought Cole could do it on his own. They turned off the light and started working on the first roll. It wasn’t as hard as either kid thought it would be and once the tank was loaded, they added the chemicals and started the actual process.

When the process was done, they got the film out of the tank and hung it up to dry, images clearly visible on negatives. They both found the results to be almost magical and Cole’s grandfather was happy to see the kids excited about what he was passionate about. The worked on the next two rolls and then took a lunch break while the film dried before learning about printing.

Working with the paper was easier as they could have some red light to see by, but harder to judge how long to expose to get a good print. After some trial and error, they had actual prints to look at and they finally got to see what the photos really looked like. It was so different to what they were used to, but Jackie thought it felt more like drawing, where the creation happens gradually and it takes a while to fully see what you’ve done. It was very appealing to her.

They finished up by cutting the prints to size and cleaning up a little.

Cole asked if they could wait to drive back. He wanted to show Jackie around Berea a little bit.

The two left the house on West Bridge St and Cole headed them east towards down town. They crossed the river, the same one that separated Rocky River and Lakewood up by the lake, and walked past the triangle before turning past the commons to look at Coe Lake, an old quarry that has filled up with water and is now a centerpiece of the downtown area. They sat on a bench and talked.

“You took me here on purpose, didn’t you?” Jackie was gazing at the calm water.

“Mostly I just thought it was pretty. Sorry, if it’s like a tease or something.”

Jackie gave a little laugh. “No, it’s cool, I just start evaluating any body of water now when I see one. How deep is this?”

“Not very. There might be some deep spots but I think it’s around twenty feet with some shallow areas. I’ve been fishing here. It’s an old sandstone quarry and when they were done cutting rock out, they just left it to fill up. Supposedly there’s still a bunch of equipment down there. The lakes in the Metroparks here are also old quarry.”

“Are they close? Can we see them, too?”

“Sure, they’re really close.”

They walked through the parking lot and crossed the street, taking the park road that came right out of downtown Berea. Within minutes they were at Wallace Lake.

“This is cool. The park runs right through town!”

“Yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time down here. It’s nice to get away from home. Reed and I used to swim at the kiddie beach here when we were little.”

It was a warm day in late May and parents had their little kids out in the lake with floaters on. It was busy.

“This one is really shallow. I think you might be able to stand up in most of it.”

“So, no diving in?”

He laughed. “I don’t think so. I don’t even think you could get deep enough to hide your tail.”

“Maybe someday at night. Hit both lakes just to say I’ve done it.”

“Is that a bucket list item? Swim as many local lakes as you can?”

It was her turn to laugh. “Maybe. I hadn’t thought about it until you showed me. I would like to eventually get into all of the great lakes. And I’ve got one ocean checked off!”

“You guys talked about that once, swimming to Chicago and up into Superior. Big trip.”

“Yeah, maybe when we’re older. We’d need enough money to stop and get out to eat.”

“No fresh perch dinners?”

“Leilani talked about mermaids who have spent a lot of time way out at sea, catching and eating their own food. Honestly, the idea is partly gross and partly exciting. Like going wild. Being in the Pacific on our trip, I could see the appeal.”

“Feral mermaids. I can see the Discovery Channel special in my head.”

Cole led the way out of the park and they got back to the topic of photography as they walked back to get their ride home, a couple of great group photos in a folder with them.

Chapter Text

The school year was ending on June 5^th. Renée was planning a big bash that weekend to honor getting out of middle school and with her sisters now being directly in her circle of friends, it was looking like it would be a pretty big party. Mrs Callahan was a little worried about the number of people coming but she liked it when friends were over so she wasn’t complaining. Renée was planning for an afternoon party, hoping to end it before things got a chance to get too rowdy in the evening. She had been given some advice from an aunt who had been drinking a little too much at a family event. “Renée!” She said rather loudly. “You’re getting older and listen up, because this is probably the best advice I have. If you ever want to have a party, remember these two things. First,” she paused for some wine, “never get drunk at your own party. Second, never have your own party. Trick some other sucker into having it.” Then she broke down in laughter and nearly fell off her folding chair.

Renée had always thought that despite the drunken state of her aunt, it was probably good advice. In fact, BECAUSE of her drunken state, it was probably good advice. Still, she wanted a party so she was going to mitigate those sorts of problems by keeping it early. She knew it wouldn’t be the most memorable blow out, but a lot of other parties were happening that night and she could just go to one of those to watch a disaster happen. She wanted to be entertained but she was no fool.

By one pm on Saturday, the party was in full swing with the mermaid group there, as well as all the peripheral friend groups of all the Callahan girls. A great time was had and by dinner, most everyone was gone except the core group and they cleaned the place up. And sat down at the picnic table to chat.

“You guys want to go to slightly more adventurous party tonight?” Sometimes they forgot that Renée was actually part of the popular group.

“Why? What’s going on?” Jackie was suspicious.

“Madison Westerburg is having her party and they live on the lake, with a pool and a huge back yard. Her dad is some famous heart surgeon. I hear the parents are gone and she’s getting a keg.”

“Count me out.” Jackie seemed adamant. Her bother Dennis is in my grade and he’s an ass. Entitled rich kid.”

“Wow. Kind of judgmental. Madison’s really nice. She’s been over here before and she’s always been cool.”

“Hold on.” Kim’s brain was kicking in. “Madison? As in ‘The Madison you got high with on the eclipse, Madison?’”

“I can’t believe you remember that. Yes, that Madison. Not like you have room to talk, little miss ‘I violated international law and snuck into Canada.’”

Kim grinned. “Point taken. It sounds like Jackie is out. Freya?”

“No thanks. If my parents catch a whiff of me being at a party with the older kids, I’ll be in trouble, and my sister will probably be there and she’d for sure narc on me.”

“Why do you and your siblings get along so poorly? They seem nice enough on their own.” Jackie was genuinely curious.

“Like you guys always got along like this?”

“Yeah, but we weren’t as openly hostile.”

Freya looked slightly defeated. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve tried, but they are just mean to me. You guys know me, it’s not like I’m an instigator.”

Renée laughed. “That was Kim’s job.”

Freya continued. “Seeing you guys get closer has been awesome, but I am a little jealous, sometimes. Sunny and David don’t just pick on me, they fight with each other just as much. Mom and dad never do anything about it. I think that’s one reason they were so quick to let me go to San Diego; it just reduced the fighting. But it’s fine. I’m sure it’ll be better when we’re older. However, no. I’m not going to Madison’s party. Maybe Jackie and I will go for a swim. It kind of sounds like Kim might go, though.”

“Yeah, I might. Broaden my horizons a little. Plus, I get to see Renée in her natural habitat. What about you guys?” She looked at Cole and Reed who had been awfully quiet.

“Yeah, no thanks. We know her brother, too. Jackie is seriously right about Dennis. If him and his friends are there something bad will happen. He gets in fights every couple of weeks and daddy just writes a check to the school to get him out of trouble. I wouldn’t mind checking out the drama, but I’ll bet you the next round at Mitchell’s that the cops come and break up the party after he does something stupid.”

Kim was a little stunned at how adamant Reed was. “You guys, he’s a sixth-grader, how bad can this kid be?”

Even Cole was wary of him. “Bad. I heard that two kids’ parents made the school put their kids in other classes instead of staying in Dennis’s class. He’s just mean.”

Kim rolled her eyes just a bit. “Ok, well I’m going to go, just to have Renée’s back in case things do get weird. But I get it, no pressure.”

Jackie and Freya left to go swimming and the boys headed back to do whatever they were going to do, leaving Kim and Renée to get ready for their second party of the day.

The Westerburg’s house was walking distance, not far from the beach at Rocky River Park, and the two sisters got there with about an hour of sunlight left. Renée had dressed up a bit, wearing a short-ish skirt with a fairly fancy top. Kim chose to be a little less glitzy in a light blue tank top and white shorts over her newest bikini. After all, there was a pool, even if she wouldn’t be using it.

The party seemed fine. There was, indeed, a keg. Several of them. Kim, in the spirit of continuing to come out of her shell, grabbed a cup and poured herself one. She took a few sips and decided it was best used as a prop. She didn’t care much for it. She was surprised at a few things. First, she had forgotten how popular Renée was and marveled at how effortlessly she talked to people and mingled. Secondly, she was surprised at how many people she knew. Both her sister’s friends and others from school. And they were all being nice to her. She was starting to feel comfortable and had even been sipping her beer enough to start to feel it a little. She headed back to less busy keg by the hot tub built into the patio for a second cup when a small group of boys noisily emerged from the house. She didn’t think much of it until she heard them behind her.

“Well, look who showed up. The weird Callahan.” The other boys laughed.

Kim turned around. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“You fucking should, it’s my house.”

“Uh, you mean your daddy’s house.” Kim’s arms were crossed. She wasn’t going to take crap from this little shit.

Dennis walked up to her and tried to look intimidating. “Show some respect, you’re at our party.”

“And what are you going to do about it?” Kim was starting to get a little hot.

Dennis got closer. “You seem kind of upset, maybe you should cool down.” And before she could brace herself, he reached out, shoving her backwards until her foot had nothing but hot tub under it and she tumbled into it, fully submerging.

Madison had been upstairs in the house getting towels when she heard the commotion and looked out the window to see her brother shove Kim into the water. She screamed at him through the window and rushed to go downstairs but it was a big house and in the time that it took her, Kim had pulled put her hands out and conjured a huge wind gust, causing anyone in the area to turn away from it, knocking down several, including Dennis before jumping out of the tub just as she changed. With everyone looking the other way, she quickly removed all the water from herself and was just changed back when Madison got to the patio holding a stack of towels.

Madison started apologizing for her brother while Kim stood there seething and Dennis was picking himself up about twenty yards away. Kim looked at her with fire in her eyes and realized that Madison was just trying to help. She calmed herself and took a few breaths.

“It’s fine, no damage done. I was warned about him. I shouldn’t have let him get to me.”

“He’s an ass. I thought I had him away from the house for the party but I guess that didn’t work out. I was getting towels anyway, do you wan…” She stopped mid-word, clearly seeing that Kim wasn’t wet. Which was a little odd as she had seen her be pushed into the hot tub. “Um,” She continued, “I guess you don’t need one.” She set them down and crossed her arms, a tiny smile creeping across her face. “You wouldn’t know where that huge gust of wind came from, would you?”

“What? No.” Kim was still so mad she wasn’t processing. Madison came closer and put a hand on Kim’s shoulder. It was oddly calming.

“I’m sorry, again. Kim.”

“Yeah. It’s ok. Like I said, I should have seen it coming.” She shook her head and tried to clear it a little. “And here I thought I was having a good time.” She was feeling better. Madison came closer still and wrapped Kim in a tight hug. Kim felt the rest of her anger drain away. Damn, this girl had great hug.

“Better?”

“Yeah. Thanks. I need to find Renée. I think I’m a little partied out.”

Madison put her hands on both of Kim’s shoulders and spoke way too calmly. “Again, I’m sorry for my brother. Dennis will get his someday. Dad’s just about done protecting him. You are welcome here, any time. I’ll watch out for you, though something tells me you don’t really need help in that department.” She smiled warmly and Kim looked at her quizzically as Madison turned to pick up the patio umbrella that the wind had picked up and blown over.

Instead of going to find Renée. Kim got a new cup and poured another beer, standing alone on the patio looking out at the crowd who were still trying to figure out what had caused the gust of wind. Dennis had bolted when he heard his sister scream at him. Clearly, he was afraid of someone, odd that it would be Madison. Kim sipped and thought while she scanned the crowd for Renée, finally seeing her out of the edge of the lawn near the lake, too far to have heard the argument or felt the wind. As angry as she had been, she had controlled it well and it was very localized. She let her mind wander back to Leilani’s warning that weather abilities were tied to emotions and she had let hers get away from her. She was practiced in controlling the power but not experienced enough to control her emotions. She would have to figure out how to do that.

Kim refocused on the party-goers and saw Madison looking at her from a bit of a distance. She waved and Kim gave a half-hearted wave back. ‘What was that about?’ she thought to herself. Now that her emotions were in check, the oddness of Madison’s interaction with her came into focus a little. Dennis had been a problem but he was the kind of problem that she could deal with if she was prepared. Madison was something different. Nice. Warm. But a little too knowing. Had she seen Kim during the moments she changed? Kim didn’t think so since she saw when Madison came out of the house and Kim was standing by then.

Kim circled the crowd and found Renée and pulled her aside. Renée read Kim’s face and knew something was wrong. She tilted her head, sister speak for ‘what’s wrong’.

“Two things.” Kim was still a little heated. “First, I hate it when Jackie is right. And second, she wasn’t right enough. But Cole was. That kid is an asshole.”

Renée smirked. Kim didn’t usually swear and she found it slightly cute.

Kim recounted the events and Renée stopped smiling. “Where is he, I’ll beat his scrawny ass.”

Kim stopped her. “It’s fine. I escaped undiscovered. I think. But there’s something odd about Madison. I know she didn’t see me but she acted like she knew something. I know you wouldn’t do it on purpose, but she doesn’t know about me does she? About us?”

“No! Oh my god, no.” There was a long pause. “But…”

“But what?”

“Well, Maddie’s always been a bit, I don’t know, almost psychic. I mean, not literally, but she reads people really well and seems to be very good at diffusing situations. Everyone seems to get along better when she is around. I just thought she put out a lot of good vibes and people could sense that.”

Kim thought for a minute. “I mean, I get that, she calmed me down when I was angriest at her brother. It was weird. She hugged me.” Kim wasn’t traditionally a hugger.

“Yeah, her hugs are legendary. I’m jealous that you got one. She doesn’t give them out willy nilly.”

“You don’t think that’s all a little odd?”

“You don’t think it’s odd that sometimes you have a tail?”

Kim laughed out loud, almost a Leilani laugh. “Fair enough. I’m going to head home soon. Are you coming or do you want to stay?” Kim punctuated the question by draining beer number three.

Renée laughed. “Who’s the bad girl now? Is that a beer?”

Kim looked down. When had she started enjoying the beer? “Fine, neither of us are angels. I think I’m going to take the long way home.”

Renée looked confused. “The long way?” Kim pointed at the lake and then walked to the rocks and slipped quietly into the water. Renée watched as a subtle wake marked her path east. She was clearly going to blow off some steam in the water before heading home. Renée laughed to herself as she saw something breach the surface far out in the lake. Kim just couldn’t help herself. Renée walked back to the party and poured herself another beer before finding her friends again.

Chapter Text

Kim’s phone was blowing up the next morning as word of the events of the party spread through the group chat. The school Instagram was also blowing up about the strange wind storm that knocked over some guests at Madison’s party. Luckily, no one had really seen Kim’s argument with Dennis other than Madison.

Jackie – I told you so

Kim – Yeah, but why did it have to be me he picked on

Cole – He’s just an ass. It would have been whoever he came across, you were just there.

Kim – He called ‘the weird Callahan’ If I see him again I’m going to show him just how weird I am

Reed – I don’t think that came across as threatening as you wanted it to

Cole – There’s a lot of talk about the weird weather…

Kim – I wish Jackie had been there, a nice zap to the head would have been good

Jackie – Sorry, Freya and I swam up the river and watched the fireworks after the baseball game

Cole – Speaking of, what if we all chipped in on a cheap phone for her?

Reed – I’ve got old phones around the house she could have, it’s the plan that would be expensive

Jackie – and not like any of us have a credit card to sign up with

Cole – We could do a pay as you go

Reed – That’s still expensive – plus it doesn’t solve her parental problem - a phone is no good if she’s too afraid to have it on

Kim – just like the Chromebook

Renée – Jesus, guys, it’s like 9 o’clock. Do we have to start this so early

Kim – How are you feeling? A little hung over?

Renée – I don’t know how about you, Beery McBeer Face?

Reed – I’m shocked. Shocked, I say!

Jackie – Kim’s breaking bad!

Kim – Whatever   anyone know when Mitchell’s opens??????

Jackie – 11

Kim – Ugh, I need sugar. I think I swam to Buffalo last night. See you guys there?

Jackie – Yeah. Dibs on the shower.

Renée – lol, Kim took a bath at Madison’s last night

Cole – lmao

Kim – I’m out. Someone go get Freya

Cole – I’ll call her on her “phone”

Reed – hahaha

Two hours later everyone was meeting at Mitchell’s

“How is this place packed already?” Kim was hungry and annoyed.

Freya, of course, had the answer. “It’s a warm Sunday. This is the post church crowd.”

Kim looked around and saw all the kids dressed up. “Huh, I guess so.”

Eventually, everyone had their sugar of choice and, lacking any available tables, they sat on the grass around the sign on the corner. Kim was into the second of a record four scoops when someone walked up to the group. Renée looked up and exclaimed, “Hi!” while Kim kept her head down, focused on getting to the next bite.

“Renée, Kim, guys…”

Kim looked up after hearing her name. “Madison? What are you doing here?”

“Nice manners” Reed whispered to her.

Madison either didn’t hear or wasn’t fazed. “What a coincidence! Mind If I sit?”

Renée welcomed her and Madison squeezed in between Kim and Renée, eating a truly decadent sundae.

Cole addressed the elephant in the room. “So, quite the party last night I hear.”

Madison blushed a little. “Yeah, it might have gotten a little out of hand but I’m told it was a magical night for a lot of people.”

Kim looked at her sideways before turning her head all the way to study Madison’s face. Madison smiled right back at her. Kim was getting downright unnerved. She powered through the rest of her ice cream and announced she was heading over to Whole Foods to get some snacks to take home. Her tone made it clear that she didn’t want company.

After she crossed the street, Madison also got up. “You know, my mom wanted some watermelon, I think I’ll go catch up to Kim. I’ll see you guys later.” She popped up and nearly sprinted, catching up to Kim before she got in the building.

“You know,” Reed was full of interesting or sometimes not so interesting facts, “Madison wasn’t a name before the 1980s.”

“What do you mean? That can’t be true.” Cole always called him on this sort of thing but Reed was usually right.

“It's true. In the movie Splash, Daryl Hannah’s character has to invent a name and she sees a sign for Madison Ave in New York and says that’s her name.”

“Splash? The mermaid movie?”

“Yep. The name didn’t exist before then as a person name, or at least as a first name. It’s only like forty years old.”

“You’re telling me,” It was Jackie's turn to be incredulous, “that Madison, the person that almost saw Kim as a mermaid, is named after a mermaid?”

“Yep. Truth is stranger than fiction.” Reed finished his ice cream and everyone else just sort of looked at him. “What? I know things. Come on Cole, you’re meant to be helping me with the yard today, remember?”

Everyone split up and headed out, a weird energy lingering over them all.

Kim was not too pleased to see Madison catching up to her. Something was off about their interaction the night before. If the door hadn’t been automatic, Kim would not have held it for her. But it was, and Madison grabbed a basket and glued herself to Kim’s side.

“I want to apologize again for my brother. Please don’t hold it against me.”

“Um, I don’t. It’s fine. I’m ready to move on.” Kim had a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

“Still, I feel bad.”

“Maybe keep him on a leash?”

“I deserve that, I guess. Still, I can’t just wave my hand and make him go away. I guess I just need to…”

Kim interrupted her.

“Look, I’m not sure what you want. You didn’t do anything, he did, but honestly…” Kim stopped as another shopper walked close by. Kim grabbed Madison by the arm and dragged her to a quiet corner of the store near the bathrooms before continuing. “You’ve been a little weird and it kind of feels like you’re stalking me.” Kim looked at Madison, who was analyzing Kim’s face while she talked. Kim shook her head. “See? This is weird.”

Madison looked oddly nervous all of a sudden. “Look I don’t want to dance around this anymore. Something happened last night, something magical.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“I didn’t think anyone else in River was practicing. Didn’t you feel it?”

“Practicing? Practicing what? Being a stalker?”

“The craft!” Madison was speaking in a whisper that was almost a shout at the same time.

“The craft? Oh! The CRAFT! Oh my god, no. You think I’m a witch?”

“Shhhhh. Not so loud.”

Kim lowered her voice to an almost comical whisper. “I’m not a witch.”

It was Madison’s turn to grab Kim’s arm. She dropped her basket and dragged Kim outside and around the back of the building.

“Look, I don’t know what you’re playing at but I saw you fall into that hot tub and thirty seconds later you were standing there, completely dry, and a mysterious gust of wind knocks down my asshole brother and three other people along with a patio umbrella and some plants. I know magic when I see it!”

“Because,” Kim drew out the words in a way that she knew was infuriating, “you… are… a…?”

“WITCH! I’m a witch! And you’re a witch! Jesus, why are you making this so hard?!”

“Maybe because I’m not a witch?”

“Bullshit!”

“Madison... Maddie... I appreciate you confiding in me but I’m seriously not a witch. Seriously, I’m down with whatever you are, you do you, but I’m not a witch. Throw me in the water and I’ll sink if you want medieval proof.”

Kim was being very careful to not actually reject the idea of magic. She was going to keep trying to stick to a version of the truth and everything she had said so far had been true.

Madison looked truly hurt. Kim wasn’t sure what to do. This girl had told her secret and was sure that she had found a kindred spirit. Kim understood how that would hurt. She led Maddie to a table behind whole foods that the employees probably used for smoke breaks.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so dismissive. I promise you I won’t tell anyone what you’ve told me. For what it’s worth, I do believe that there is magic in the world. I felt it when you hugged me and my anger drained away. That makes so much more sense now. But please, I didn’t know that witches were real, I honestly thought it was made up. But there is so much we don’t know. Anything can be out there so you don’t really surprise me. Are you the only one in River?

Madison was somewhat shocked by Kim’s acceptance of her, though she still couldn’t believe she had been wrong.

“Yeah, I think so. There are a lot of wannabes in Lakewood but I don’t know any real ones there, either.”

“How did you learn? Were you born this way?”

“I don’t know. I found a spellbook in the woods when I was little. We were down in the park and I’d run off. Before anyone found me, I hid the book under my dress and snuck it home with me. I tried some of the easy ones and found that I could do them. Levitating small objects, making things invisible for a few seconds. That sort of thing. I don’t know if it’s just something that anyone can do or if I was born different.”

“You were sure born different from your brother!”

Madison nodded. “Yeah, he really is a piece of work.”

“And the magical hugs? Renée said I was lucky to get one and that they were legendary.”

“That’s just something else I learned. My magic seems to be very empathetic. I can’t, like, create anything destructive. I’ve always tried to be a positive force. You seem like force of good. You can deny it but there’s magic in you. I can tell.”

“I think there’s magic in everyone. And I hope I am a force for good." Kim turned the focus back on Madison. "What do you know about yourself? Your abilities? Your people? Assuming that witches are some sort of group.”

“Not much. The fairy tales and myths seem to have it all wrong.”

“Ha, you can say that again.” Kim wished she could unsay that.

“Why do you say that?”

“Oh, just that humans always fear what they don’t understand so they create stories that are based in fact but twisted to make others fear, you know… you, I guess.”

Madison straightened up and smiled a little, wagging her finger at Kim. “You… I don’t know what you are but there’s something about you…”

“Hey, I’m just a gal trying to get by in this crazy world, just like you.”

“Except not just like me, right?”

“Exactly. Come on, I’ll buy you some more ice cream and you can walk me home. Or can you levitate me home? I’m pretty much on your way, right? I assume that doing magic makes you hungry, right?”

“You have no idea. Or apparently, you do… I’ll figure you out, yet. Give me your phone.” Madison was still sure there was something magical going on. She added herself into Kim’s contacts and called her own phone from Kim’s to get her number.

While she was typing, Kim had a question, “Let me ask you this, how does it feel to tell someone?”

“Honestly, you have no idea. It’s like a burden being lifted mixed with a nervous energy that I can’t describe.”

“Did it give you butterflies as you were doing it?”

“Yeah. Why are you asking?”

“I’m interested in secrets. In how they’re kept and how they’re revealed. It’s interesting.”

“Like your sister?”

“So she told you?”

“Seriously? She’s been telling everyone. Do you know this Maya?”

“Yeah, she the cousin of a friend of ours in San Diego. Does she know about you?”

“That I practice? No.”

“No, not that. Does she know that you’re interested in her?”

Madison stopped walking. “So, you are a witch?”

Kim gave her best Leilani laugh. “I keep telling you… No! But I saw you following her around last night and I've seen how you look at her. Tell the truth, you knew she was going to Mitchell’s, didn’t you?”

“It was on her Instagram…”

“Give her some time to get over Maya, or at least figure out what she wants to do about it. And you better not break her heart or I’ll have to drown you.”

“That’s terrifyingly specific.”

“Just be careful with her.”

“How old are you?”

“Twelve.”

“Only a witch would be so wise at twelve.”

Kim sighed dramatically. “Again, I’m not a witch.”

“Whatever.”

They arrived at the Callahan’s house. “This is me. Can I have one of those hugs before you go? Or do you only have energy for one a week, or something?”

“Come here.”

She hugged Kim and again, Kim felt her tension slip away. “You could charge for that, you know.”

“But then I wouldn’t be doing it to do good. Call me when you want to tell me your secret. You know it feels good.”

“I’ll let you know.”

Kim went inside, her mind racing with thoughts of what else might be out there and feeling guilty for not sharing. ‘I’ll get to know her more.’ She thought. ‘Maybe I can tell her someday.’

Chapter Text

Now that school was out, summer was officially in full swing. It was warm, the days were long, and the trees were the bright green color that signifies new growth, before they darken in July. Swimming was obviously on the agenda but summer brought other activities. The girls had plans for at least three trips to Cedar point and were coordinating with the others for a larger group trip. This meant scrounging up money for at least three Gold Passes so they could save on admission. Freya had offered to pay, cryptically implying that she was getting it from her parents somehow. The others were skeptical but Freya didn’t usually offer to do something if she couldn’t come through.

Reed had started sailing lessons before school let out and had only capsized twice so far, but he swore he was getting better. Cole was immersed in his new photography hobby and he and Jackie had been spending a lot of time learning more about it. He had given her one of the cameras from his grandfather and she coerced her mom into ordering film from Amazon.

Freya and Reed had finally figured out that they were duplicating much of the same research into all things mythic and decided to do it together to both save money on books and to bounce ideas off each other. They had pretty much exhausted mermaid mythology but that had led them down many other branches, including some of the older theologies.

Much to Kim’s concern, Maddie had been hanging out with Renée a lot more than usual. Jackie had told Kim Reed's story about where the name Madison came from and Kim was now calling her Maddie to remove that connection in her mind.

Kim was really struggling not to tell the others about Maddie. On one hand, this was important magical knowledge and everyone should know, but she’d promised not to out her and that was sacred to Kim. She thought about asking Maddie if it was alright to tell the others, or tell her to tell them herself, but what rational would justify that? Plus, there was a potential romantic entanglement that might make anything Kim did about it seem like it had underlying motives and that was also bad. She resigned herself to the status quo for right now but it didn’t sit well with her.

On top of that, Maddie, inadvertently or not, tended to stare a little too long, or give knowing looks to Kim when she was over. Not in a creepy way, but almost in a stalking way. Like Kim was prey. Which, she supposed, she kind of was to Maddie. Maddie remained convinced that something was up and this was another reason that Kim struggled with not telling the others about the witch in their midst. It was also the others’ secret that Kim had to keep.

Kim’s habit of referring to Madison as Maddie had rubbed off on the others and at first Madison wasn’t too happy about it. Her parents had called her that when she was little and she regarded it as being only for use by family and her absolutely closest friends, which these middle schoolers weren’t. At least not yet. Unbeknownst to her, the others all thought that the mermaid connection was a little too on the nose and were all too happy to follow Kim’s lead.

A week into summer, Maddie cornered Kim in the kitchen while Renée was upstairs getting ready to go out to the shops with her. “How did you get everyone to start calling me Maddie? I never use that nickname.”

“We didn’t have meeting about it, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“So, what, you just bewitched them into doing it?”

“Maddie,” Kim smiled at her while deliberately using the name, “I swear to God, or the Goddesses, if you prefer, I never even said anything to them about your name and I certainly didn’t ‘bewitch’ them. Is that even a thing? Can you do that?”

Madison shuffled her feet. “…No. I don’t think so. I guess I don’t know.” Madison was a full four inches taller than Kim but she felt tiny when they argued. Kim seemed so self-assured, almost strangely so. Almost magically so. She felt the need to stand up to her just a bit. “Don’t mock the Goddesses.”

Kim felt bad. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I thought I was putting it your terms but I guess that sounded mean. But how do I prove to you that I’m not what you think? As Reed would put it, how do I disprove a negative? I can’t NOT do magic hard enough that you believe me.”

“I understand, but you’ve done a pretty good job deflecting. I saw you get wet and half a minute later you are dry and my yard is a wind tunnel, you haven’t even tried to explain that.”

Kim was running out ways to deflect, Madison was correct that that was what she had been doing. It was making her actually angry that she didn’t have a way to get out this. She didn’t want to upset Maddie, she knew the other girl was desperate to find another of her own but the pushiness was frustrating and that frustration was about to spill over.

“Excuse me? You think I owe you an explanation? I understand where you are coming from, but I'm the one who got verbally and physically assaulted and somehow I owe You an explanation?!?!” Kim had lifted up her hands to make the point and a rather strong breeze blew through the kitchen as she lost just a little bit of control.

Madison stepped back and put her finger up. “Then what was that?”

Kim looked around, luckily it was nice out and the windows and doors were open. She pointed at them. “Some wind? It was literally just some wind. Look around, all the windows are open.”

Kim was getting drained from this and was wondering what in the world was taking Renée so long to get ready. She sank down onto one of the kitchen chairs. Madison took the one opposite. Kim looked tired and Madison looked guilty but determined. Kim was running out of ideas to put Maddie off the trail. And decided to just remove herself.

“I’ve gotta go. I don’t know what else to tell you.” Kim knew she was losing this battle and had her hands around her head in a way that indicated that she just wanted this to stop. Maddie knew she might have pushed too far and tried to change the subject.

“Ok. Where are you going?” She figured Kim was going shopping or meeting someone.

“Uh, I’m meeting the girls for a swim.” She said it, not realizing it in her post argument head space, that it was the literal truth. Maddie cocked her head. Not ‘going to the pool’ or ‘going swimming’. Kim had said it like there was a pool in the back yard, or like she was at a resort. She said it like a runner would say ‘I’m going for a run.’ It was just ‘off’ in some way. She had said ‘swim’ like it was something different than what most people do.

Maddie felt bad. Kim was clearly a little distressed, but Maddie had a strange way of staying on course. She smiled warmly and grabbed Kim’s hand across the table. “I think I pushed you too hard. I’m sorry.” Kim literally felt the apology through Maddie’s hand. She felt horrible hiding when Maddie was being so open. She didn’t even know Maddie that well but she wanted to pour the truth out to her. However, there were others to consider. She smiled a little weakly at Maddie.

“I have to go.” Kim yelled up the stairs; “Come on Jackie, Freya is waiting.” Maddie waited at the table and watched the two sisters leave the front door. She wandered over to the door after they left and she saw them meet Freya three doors down and walk down Erie Road Towards Wagar Road. Knowing full well that there wasn’t a pool anywhere near that direction. But there was a lake. No one had a towel or was wearing a swim suit.

Renée finally came downstairs, her hair wet but otherwise ready to go. “Did I hear shouting?”

“Just Kim calling to Jackie.”

“Oh, did they leave?” Renée was wandering around gathering her purse and a bottle of water as she talked.

“Yeah, she said they were going swimming with Freya.”

“Cool. You ready to go.”

“Yeah. Hey, where do they swim? They’re getting a little old for the city pool and it’s not like you can swim laps there with all the little kids in the way.” She hoped her questions didn’t seem too out of place.

Renée didn’t see where this was going and was honest. “Probably the lake, it’s warmish by now.”

Madison let it be and they headed out to do some shopping.

On the way to the lake, the others noticed Kim’s odd mood.

“What’s going on? You seem distant.” Jackie, was always the one to point out when a vibe was off.

“It’s nothing. I’m just a bit off, I think I need the water more than I thought.”

Jackie left it at that and they found a quiet spot on the shore and waded in. They had been taking longer swims and they were heading back to Canadian waters today to explore around Pelee Island. There were a lot of shipwrecks in that area and Freya wanted to dive some of them. Jackie had their dad’s waterproof camera and wanted to see what she could photograph down there. Kim just wanted to swim. It was a fine day and they headed off keeping far under the surface to avoid the now substantial boat traffic.

Freya found the first wreck and they went down for a look. Jackie and Freya were exploring and when they were ready to move on, they noticed that Kim was not doing much, just sitting on the ruined machinery of the wreck with her tail wrapped around herself, clearly deep in thought. Jackie went to go get her and they headed off to the next wreck that Freya had on her list.

Kim had to admit that it was interesting. And a bit morbid. They hadn’t found any bones but bodies were definitely still down here according to other research Freya had read. Too bad her heart wasn’t in it. Her argument with Maddie had really taken its toll, emotionally. She felt cornered. She was going to either betray Maddie’s trust or the other mermaids’ trust if she took any action at all. However, there was an element of mutually assured destruction that gave Kim some security. If Maddie did find out, she had as much to lose through exposure as the girls did. If the worst happened, at least that ensured that there was a chance the lid could still be kept on the whole thing.

Kim was buoyed by that last thought and decided to get her head back into the right space for their swim. The water had helped her think. She was sitting the steam boiler of another wreck as she found the silver lining in the situation and she looked up to see that Jackie was just in front of her with the camera lined up. Before she could react, Jackie had taken the picture and turned around to show it to her on the small screen on the back. Kim was sitting on the boiler, her tail curled around herself like a puppy, her hair floating around her head like a halo as the bright light in the shallow water lit it up like fire. It was a stunning photo. Feeling better, she smiled and joined the others to continue the day before heading back after a few hours.

It was hard to find a place to beach themselves, the weather was nice and lots of people were out. Eventually they found somewhere although they’d have walk quite a way to get up from the shore.

On the walk home, Jackie asked about the mood.

“I know, I was off a little bit. I’ve got a problem I’m trying to work through but I think it’s just a ‘me’ thing, I don’t want to drag you guys into it.” It was killing her not to fess up. If nothing else, more brains might come up with a better solution.

She continued; “I know someone. They have a secret. I know the secret but there are reasons why I can’t discuss it. There are consent issues, and they are pressuring me to talk to them but I can’t without creating more problems.”

Jackie looked at her sister. “Do you think you could be more cryptic?”

“I told you it was probably a me problem.”

“Do we know this person?”

“Argh, this is why I didn’t want to talk about it.”

“So, I’ll take that as a yes.”

Freya was wracking her brain. “I can’t think of anyone we know who would have a giant secret. Renée let her own cat of the bag almost immediately.”

By this time, the girls were getting close to Freya’s house and then Kim saw Renée and Maddie turn the corner on their bikes as they came home from the other direction... unluckily, at the same time as the mermaids.

“Fuuuuuck.”

Freya and Jackie stared at her.

“That was a little out of character…” said Jackie, taken aback.

Freya chuckled. “Well, I guess we’ve narrowed the suspect list down to two.”

Kim hung her head. She was not doing well at keeping the lid on this.

Maddie rode right past the Callahan’s house and stopped in front of the girls.

“So? Have a good swim?” Clearly, either Kim or Renée had told her they were going swimming.

Freya didn’t sense the tension right away. “Yeah, it was great.”

Maddie looked like she knew something and started to talk. “So where do you guys go to go swi…” Kim cut her off and walked up to her sternly.

She whispered, “Not now, not here. Follow me.” She turned to the others. “Please excuse us. You guys stay here.” she said to the rest of the rather confused group. She grabbed Maddie by the arm and drug her over to her house and headed down to the basement, the most isolated area of the house.

“Fine, you wanna do this?” Kim was turning red. “I know something about you, you wanna know something about me. You aren’t going to get the answer you are looking for but we can do this. I have rules, though, and you aren’t going to like them.”

Maddie blanched. She hadn’t expecting this heavy of a response but she was willing to hear the rules.

“I’ll tell you my secret, but you have to tell yours to the group.”

“Who’s ‘the group’?”

“Me, my sisters, Freya, Cole, and Reed.”

“I don’t understand? Why would they have to be involve…”

Kim cut her off again. “Those are my terms. Mutually assured destruction. You have something to lose, obviously, I have some sort of secret that’s worth all this trouble. You seem nice. I think I trust you, and I know my lack of answers has been painful. But those are the terms. Do you need to think about it? Do you need to know that badly that you’ll out yourself. Just so you know, my friends are EXTREMELY accepting. I don’t want you to be too scared, but I know it’s a big ask. I’ll warn you though, if you don’t do this, then you lay off of me. Trust is important to me and I’ll protect yours with my life, until you give me a reason not to. Am I clear?”

Kim stood back with her arms crossed. Maddie thought she saw a red aura around her, she wasn’t good at that sort of thing yet, but she knew Kim meant business. Still, she had been right, there was something magical going on. Normal people didn’t give her visions of auras and Kim was basically admitting that there was something. Maddie had felt alone for so long. While Kim was being fiercely protective of her secret, Maddie could tell it was coming from a place of love, not hate, and was leaning strongly towards agreeing to the conditions.

“I’ll do it.” She was surprised how small her voice sounded.

“I’m sorry? I couldn’t hear that very well.”

“I’ll do it! Your rules. I’ll follow them.”

Kim looked surprised mixed with something. Admiration? Maddie couldn’t quite place it but it wasn’t what she expected.

“Ok, when do we do this?”

“Everyone else is here, let’s see what the boys are doing.”

“Again, I don’t see what…”

Kim made a ‘zip it’ motion across her lips as she pulled out her phone. Maddie was still quite surprised that she was letting herself be bossed around by a twelve-year-old.

“Hey, Reed. What are you and Cole doing right now? M-hm. Can you wait on that and come over? Someone is over here and has big news. Ok. Forty minutes? That’s cool. See you then. You and Freya are going to love this. Later.”

Maddie looked like she’d seen a ghost. The gravity of the situation was becoming apparent.

“Still want to go through with this? Do you want to know this badly? They’ll all know about you, even your crush.”

“But you said they’d all be cool with it…”

“And I meant it. You will always be safe with us, but not if you think you can bully it out of me. I’ll bully you right back.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of getting that. But you don’t understand. I have to know. Whatever you are offering to tell me it might help me understand me.”

“I’m telling you. You will be disappointed. It’ll be interesting, maybe even unbelievable but I don’t think it will help you much. Maybe emotionally? You’ve got about a half hour if you want to change your mind.

Maddie’s mind raced. She felt like she was going to throw up. She’d been looking for signs for years. She wanted to tell her parents but couldn’t. None of her friends knew. The minutes were passing like hours as she watched Kim for any sign of reprieve, though it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. She steeled her resolve.

“Where are we doing this?”

“You’re sure, then?”

“Yes.”

“It doesn’t matter as long as it’s a private place. Right here is fine, it’s comfortable. You stay here. Don’t disappear.” She laughed at the inadvertent joke and a smile broke on her face. “Get it? Disappear? Like magic?”

Maddie didn’t know how to respond to the change in tone.

“I’m going to go get the others.” She texted Reed to come straight down to the basement as she went out to get the other girls who had literally stayed right where she left them.

“Kim? What’s going on?” Renée was particularly confused.

“Maddie has something to tell us and I have something to tell her. We’re waiting for the boys but they’ll be here soon. Let’s go down to the basement.”

The group walked down the stairs to see Maddie pacing the floor.

“Everyone grab a seat. We have to wait for Cole and Reed.” Kim was standing near the stairs with her arms crossed. Minutes ticked by before they heard bikes in the driveway and the boys laughing as they came downstairs. They stopped at the bottom.

“Whoa, who died?” The mood was weird and faces were hard to read.

“Guys, have a seat. Maddie has something to say. Maddie, why don’t you explain why we’re all here.”

Maddie did not know how to start so Kim prompted her.

“What did you want from me, Maddie?”

“I guess I needed to know what your secret was.”

“And why is that? Do you have your own secret.”

“Yes.”

“Tell them our deal. If they aren’t all ok with it, then the whole thing is off. They deserve their own consent.”

Maddie swallowed audibly. “Kim says that if I tell all of you about me, then she’ll tell me about herself.”

The group was starting to understand but no one had any inkling that Maddie has something to hide.

Kim asked, “Is everyone ok with this?”

Jackie had a question. “She wants to know your secret?” The implication was clear, she was asking if Kim was outing the rest of them.

“Correct. My secret.”

“I guess I’m ok, then.” Everyone else nodded.

“Ok, then I guess we are all ready. Maddie? What would you like to tell the group.

Maddie cleared her throat. “I’ve had this secret for a while. I’ve struggled with it and then something happened at the party and I thought I’d found someone like me. I’ve been pushing Kim to admit it but she says she isn’t and I guess I wasn’t being very cool about it. I’m sorry.”

Maddie paused. She was about to divulge her hidden self to a rather odd assortment of friends, acquaintances, and some people she barely knew.

After an agonizing pause, she came out with it. “I practice witchcraft. I guess I’m a witch.” She gave nervous laugh as she scanned the room to try to read faces, desperate for signs that it would be Ok but she was getting an odd vibe. Amusement? Were they finding this funny? She thought that was the weirdest possible response.

Oddly, it was Reed who spoke first, basically ignoring what Maddie had just said. “Kim, are you sure you want to go through with this?”

“I made a deal. And I already knew about her. She’s honoring our trust. I’ll honor hers.”

Now it was Kim’s turn to feel her stomach flip. Even though the number of people who knew had expanded, it was hard each time. She drew in a big breath.

“I told you I wasn’t a witch. I wasn’t lying. But something magical was happening. Apparently, there’s more to this world than either of us thought. Your turn to be surprised. I’m a mermaid.”

The pause was longer than anyone expected but then Maddie jumped up from her chair.

“This is bullshit! I fucking bared my deepest secret in front of all these people and you’re just making fun of me. Mermaid? What kind of crap do you expect me to believe?!?!”

She was more than angry but Kim had a smile on her face and then started laughing. Then the others started laughing.

“What? This is funny? Everyone is in on the Joke? Make Madison look like an idiot?”

“Jesus Christ, Maddie, settle down.” Renée felt really bad and had to jump in. “She’s serious. She’s a mermaid. You know? Tail, water, swimming… all that stuff.”

“You’re serious?”

Everyone nodded their heads.

“Don’t you think this is a little hard to believe?”

“Said the witch…”

Kim was done laughing but the smile was still there. “Look, this is easy enough to prove. Bath tub or lake? There’s a lot of people down on the beach and the tub is closer. Let’s go upstairs.”

Maddie was starting to feel like Kim might be telling the truth.

“For real? Like, really for real?”

“Yep.” They climbed the stairs and piled into the bathroom while Kim started the water.

“This is going to take a few minutes. I’m showing mine; I think you need to show us.”

The group stared at her. The pressure was intense.

“Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, I guess.” Maddie held her hand out and casually levitated the bottle of hand soap off of the sink and then made it disappear before making it reappear on the window sill. The group made a collective “Oooooo” sound, like they were watching fireworks.

“That’s so cool!” Freya was thrilled. “What else can you do?”

“It’s not that impressive, really. I can affect peoples’ moods, I can do some light healing, I like saving injured animals. Animals seem to be able to communicate with me to some degree. I can’t fly around or anything like that.”

The sound of water stopped and Maddie looked to see Kim start to step into the tub.

“Um, your clothes?”

“You were right. There was magic. Maybe not witchcraft but it exists. You’ll see in a second.”

Kim lowered herself into the water and the whole group started counting down from 10. It was rather odd to Maddie, then they got to zero and Kim turned translucent and then was back, with a rather large reddish-orange tail sticking up out of the water.

Kim put her hands up like a magician’s assistant. “Ta-Da! That’s my magic trick. Well, that and this…” Kim scooped a golf ball sized bit of water from the tub and moved it just to in front of Maddie before lightly splashing it in her face. Maddie sputtered from the water and Kim reached out and pulled the water back off of her. Maddie sat down on the toilet seat. The bathroom was rather cramped with seven people in there.

“I had no idea. I’m so sorry. I really thought you were like me.”

“Well, to be fair, I kind of am. It’s still some sort of magic. But I know that’s not what you were hoping for.”

Kim looked at Jackie and Freya, her eyes asking them if they wanted to jump in. Freya was nodding but Jackie wasn’t sure.

“I’ll get dried off and let’s go back downstairs. A little help, please?”

Jackie and Freya helped Kim out of the tub and she pulled the water away from herself and set it back in the tub, quickly changing back.

“Huh.” Maddie was possibly more taken aback than the others had been and slowly followed them back down the stairs.

“Well, I guess you were exactly right. I’m surprised and you aren’t a witch. I’m sorry I pressured you.”

“You couldn’t have known. I’m sure you thought that you were positive.”

“I was. I was so sure.”

“Well, we wouldn’t have guessed about you.”

Renée remained very surprised. “Yeah, I’ve known you since kindergarten. Nice job keeping it to yourself, I guess.”

“Thanks, I suppose. So, the wind thing?”

“Oh yeah. That was me. You were right. Some of us can do weather-related things. Mine is wind.”

“Some of US?”

“Yeah, there are others. I guess I’m luckier than you like that.”

Maddie laughed. “Anyone I know?” The quiet in the room was telling. “Get out of here! Who?!?!”

“Like you said, in for a penny in for a pound.” Freya spoke while raising her hand. Jackie sighed. “Me, too, I guess.”

Maddie was floored. “All three of you? Anything else I don’t know?”

Kim laughed. “No, that’s about it. We’ve met some others but not from around here.”

Maddie started crying and sat down on the floor. It started small and then grew into huge sobs, her head buried in her hands. Renée moved next to her and put her arm around her. The sobs slowed down to sniffling before she spoke in a voice that was choked by her crying.

“I don’t know how to feel. I forced you into this terrible situation and didn’t find what I wanted, but I found something similar enough to make me feel part of something bigger. I’m sorry, but also… thank you. Can we be ok after this? I need it to be ok.”

Kim joined Renée on Maddie’s other side. “We’re ok. I told you we were accepting and trustworthy. If I was the only mermaid in town and thought someone else was one, I don’t think I would been any different. We’re cool. Do you want some ice cream? I could use ice cream.”

Maddie nodded. “Yes, please.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

Chapter Text

The group seemed to continue to get larger. With seven people, side conversations start and people drift in and out of sub-groups like they are at a party. This slows down the pace and the mermaids were hungry after diving on wrecks all day before the big emotional reveal. The three worked their way up to the front to lead the pack and pick up the pace. Mitchell’s was a little slower and they pushed some outdoor tables together. A certain amount of eating needed to be done before the conversations started back up.

“So, I actually was curious when I started to ask earlier. Where do you guys go swimming? I mean, I know it’s the lake, now, but more specifically?”

Freya had wanted to go there the most so she answered. “We were diving shipwrecks up off of Pelee Island.”

“In Canada?”

“Well, in Canadian waters, though we’ve been to Canada.”

“You guys know this is a little hard to believe, right.”

“Well, Jackie took pictures today, so you don’t have to just take our word.”

Jackie fished the camera out of her bag and passed it around, proud of her work. It almost didn’t make it past Cole as he really wanted to see what she had taken but he reluctantly handed it to Maddie. She scrolled through the photos. The water is shallow on the western end of the lake and that let a lot of light in for the photos. Maddie got to the one of Kim and turned it around for everyone else to see.

“This is beautiful. You’re beautiful, Kim. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.”

Kim was embarrassed but it was nice to be complimented. Jackie felt the same.

“It should be called ‘Pensive Mermaid’. What were you thinking about? Or was that a pose?”

“No pose, I just saw Kim sitting like that and swam over to take the shot.”

“If you want me to be honest, and we really try to be honest in this group, Maddie, I was thinking about you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, I was trying to figure out how to deal with what we eventually did deal with today.”

“Sorry. I guess I ruined your swim.”

“You didn’t, not much, anyway. And Jackie got a good photo out of it. But let’s talk about you for a second. What you don’t know is that we, and by we, I mean mostly Freya and Reed, are really knowledgeable about things like myths and legends. And history. And a bunch of other stuff. They like the research and for a long time we were desperate to find out more about ourselves. So maybe they can help you in your quest, too.”

Freya and Reed nodded as Kim continued. “Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to find about mermaids that was realistic. But witches seem to be a little better known. There might be good info out there. Have you done much research?”

“Not too much. I’d focused more on spells, potions, that sort of thing. But like you found, it’s mostly garbage.”

“No dusty grimoires lurking in old libraries?”

“No, and how do you even know what that means. I still think you might be a witch.”

Kim grinned. “No, Reed and Freya just teach us a lot of stuff. Plus, I’ve watched a lot of Buffy. My mom has the DVD set.”

“Buffy?”

“The Vampire Slayer?” Even Jackie was going to tease her for not knowing it.

“Sorry.”

“Well, we know what we are doing tonight!”

There was so much to tell a new member of the group and everyone was excited to add to the stories, so they went back to the Callahan’s and caught Maddie up. They needed her stories, too and the conversation stretched into the late evening before various parents started calling people home. What had started as a stressful day had turned into a pleasant surprise. Kim hoped the rest of the summer would be more like this evening.

Chapter Text

Reed had just finished a sailing lesson. He looked at his phone in the car on the ride home and read the text from Freya.

“Mom, can you just drop me at the library?”

“It’s summer vacation, honey, you don’t have to hang out at the library.” She thought better of what she had just said. At least the library was free, Reed was spending a lot on books lately and she hated to say no to them, so the library was looking better to her.

“I just have to check out a couple things.”

She acquiesced and he got out of the car briskly, getting to Freya’s table, just as she was putting an arm load of books down.

“I’m not sure what we are going to find, the subject is so broad and a lot of the older writings are really just church propaganda. Hard to find really good stuff.”

Freya concurred. “Yeah, but I thought we’d try looking at it from an angle.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, maybe look for books or stories that aren’t about witches but still have them in them. Just to see what’s mentioned.”

“Interesting. Maybe that bypasses the crap.”

They got Reed’s laptop out of his backpack and cracked open a few books and got started.

Kim and Renée were hanging out with Maddie. Maddie wanted to compare notes on her levitation vs Kim’s water manipulation. The results were very similar but how they got the job done seemed to be a different mechanism. Kim’s was easier for her. Maddie took a lot of concentration to do it, but Maddie didn’t need to use her hand, though it helped her focus if she did. And, of course, her magic worked on any object, not just water. Maddie could lift water, but she couldn’t manipulate it like Kim. She could just lift it up, not shape it. Kim could make any shape and even put it in motion, plus she could draw water from the air so it was always available to her even if liquid water wasn’t around.

Maddie had been borrowing some of Renée’s new clothes and Kim was a little worried that they were both going full goth. Now that a few people knew about Maddie, she was wearing some of the witchier things she’d acquired but never had the nerve to wear. Some pagan necklaces and a bunch of rings with various gem stones that she felt had energy. Renée had taken her music list from Cole’s record collection and started figuring out what she did and didn’t like and comparing to what she had been suggested by Maya. Previously, Renée’s musical taste had been mostly things that her friends liked. Music hadn’t been important until she found some that spoke to her. Now that that had happened, it was like a floodgate had opened. Her spotify algorithm didn’t know what to suggest to her, it was all so different than before. Maya had been very much an old school goth, listening to The Cure, Siouxie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy… But Renée was finding industrial very interesting and was currently digesting as much Nine Inch Nails as possible. Kim found it a bit odd that blonde, popular Renée was getting a little less sunny in her appearance and tastes. Likewise, Maddie was in the same social circles but perhaps even more popular. And she was a cheerleader, for crying out loud. And now she was wearing Renée’s boots and an ankh necklace. Kim was a little worried for their social lives when school started back up, though she had to admit that the Renée’s new musical preferences set a better mood for the magical comparisons they were doing.

Jackie walked in to Renée’s room to get everyone for lunch and couldn’t help making fun.

“Oooooo, spooky!”

“Ha ha. They’re just comparing notes.”

Kim had a ball of water gently turning in the air in between herself and Maddie and Jackie quickly zapped it with a tiny lightning bolt, blasting the small amount of water into steam.

“Hey!” Renée put on her best mom voice. “Not in the house! How exactly would we explain indoor lightning damage to your dad, or worse, to the insurance company.”

Jackie stuck her tongue out.

Kim chuckled. “Let’s get some food.” She got up to leave, the others following her, Renée and Maddie’s boots thudding down the hallway.

Over lunch, they compared the dates that Freya had suggested for the first Cedar Point trip but they also had June’s full moon in just two days and they’d neglected to make any plans. Maddie knew that the full moon was a big deal for them but wasn’t prepared for how seriously they took it. Jackie thought they should try doing it again in the water.

“Last time we nearly got run over by a freighter.”

“Wait, really?” Maddie had not heard this story yet.

“Yeah, but really, what are the odds?” Jackie still wanted to try it.

“I say we ride it out with a sleepover. We can sneak the boys in and Maddie and Renée can look after us.”

“Or we can try something new.” Maddie surprised everyone by chiming in.

Freya was back from the library and walking into the house as Maddie spoke.

“Something new for what? And did you leave any food? I’m starved.” Freya rooted around in the fridge while Maddie started back up.

“I was just suggesting someplace new for the full moon tomorrow night. As far as I can tell, these are important for us, too. Witches, I mean. I always feel supercharged after one.”

“Hey! Us too!” Freya was excited to find the similarity.

“But I usually do it on land. Either in my back yard, or lately I’ve been sneaking out to go down to the park. I find a nice clearing in the woods and draw a circle and meditate through it. I get in somewhat of a trance for about an hour. Then I go home and sleep and in the morning I feel amazing.”

Jackie was intrigued. “What about mixing the two? Cole took me to this place in Berea where there is a lake right in the middle of the Metroparks. There were all sorts of nice trees and open spaces around it. Nobody would be there in the middle of the night; the park closes at ten or something. There’d be no ships and enough space to swim around a little. We would only be laying there, mostly. There’s a cute little beach and everything.”

Kim liked the idea but saw a flaw in the plan. “How do we get to Berea? It’s like a twenty-minute drive by car. I don’t feel like biking for an hour or two each way.”

“I’m not sure but let me call Cole and check a few things, there might be a way.”

Kim shrugged. “Sure, it can’t hurt to try to figure it out. It kind of sounds like fun. Maddie? What do you think?”

“Works for me, if we can get down there. I’d suggest my back yard but I don’t trust Dennis, which is too bad because you could use the pool.”

“Maybe we can do that if we ever know he’s gone.”

Jackie went upstairs to call Cole and send him some photos she’d taken. She had the beginnings of a plan forming. Jackie was sitting on two rolls of undeveloped film and she knew Cole had some too. She also knew they would be going to Berea to develop it. She picked up her phone.

-Hey, Cole

-What’s up?

-You keep telling me how cool your grandfather is. Exactly how cool do you think he is?

-Why?

Jackie laid out the basics of her plan. She’d met him and he was pretty awesome. Plus, he was alone after his wife died and he loved having Cole over. Why not see if he would host a big sleepover after they do their film developing. Then they could just sneak away for an hour or two in the middle of the night, recharge, and then sneak back. Easy peasy. He only lived about a ten-minute walk from Wallace Lake. Fifteen if they lagged. They could even get a ride to and from Berea from him. He would have picked up Cole anyway.

Cole was intrigued and said he’d work on grandpa and let Jackie know. Jackie felt like a new adventure was waiting for them.

The next night was the full moon and Jackie’s idea had paid off. Cole’s grandfather was happy to have everyone over and planned a big barbecue. He had always been the black sheep of the family and he suspected Cole was, too. Most of the family was decidedly non-artistic and as Cole got older, he had found himself growing closer with his grandfather, bonding over photography, music, and movies. Cole loved the idea of everyone meeting him.

The minivan pulled up to Cole’s house and the whole group was waiting out front. None of the other family members came out to greet him but he saw the group of kids, excitedly talking to each other, and that was more than enough. It would be nice to have guests and he missed having kids around.

The kids piled their backpacks and duffels into the back and started climbing in with Cole making introductions as they did so.

“Jeez, I don’t think I’m going to remember everyone’s name right away, forgive me if I get it wrong occasionally. My names Henri,” He used the French pronunciation, “but you can call me Henry if that’s easier.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Henri!” Freya used the French version, rolling her ‘r’ nicely.”

“Very good! Do you take French at school?”

“No, they don’t offer it in my grade but my grandparents were immigrants and I try to get names right for them.”

“Where are they from?”

“Sweeden.”

“Ah. ‘Freya’, I should have figured that one out.”

The others made a mental note to copy Freya and say his name correctly. The van pulled onto Warren Rd and they were on their way south.

The other kids were surprised by the size of the back yard and Cole asked if it was ok if he showed the others around Berea for a while before they ate. That was fine with Henri and Cole led the other down to where they would be later that night.

“This is great!” Freya loved it and ran ahead of the group a bit while they walked along the shore. “Hey! Up here!” She was behind some trees on a slight bend in the lake shore. The others caught up. “Is this good?” She was in a nice clearing on the edge of the lake with a grove of oak trees between them and the park road, protecting them from view if anyone drove by.

The others wandered around, checking it out before agreeing that it was perfect.

“I’ll set up right here.” Renée had staked out her spot. “I don’t suppose the other land people would be willing to join me in the circle tonight?”

Cole, Reed, and Renée weren’t sure what that meant.

“The circle is supposed to concentrate the moon’s power but it works better if the participants are also in a circle within it and I’ve never had anyone to do that with me.”

“What would we have to do?” Renée was willing but a bit nervous about not knowing what to do.

“Nothing specific. Sit with me. I think holding hands would help. Just be in the moment.”

Cole laughed. “I think I can manage that. Sure.” The others agreed. They made sure they could find the place again easily in the dark and then continued on, spending some time watching the waterfall on the other side of the road before walking through downtown Berea and then back to Henri’s.

Henri had food in the smoker and there would be some time before it was done, so he, Cole, and Jackie went to the basement to work on their film while the others relaxed and talked about the upcoming night. Most were wondering about what Maddie’s night would be like.

“I’m not sure. Usually, I just space out and then feel charged up. I’m hoping that having a circle will do something more.”

“Like?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe just intensify it? I don’t know what to expect. What about you, guys, what usually happens?”

Freya was the expert on keeping details. “If we’re on land, we feel very compelled to get to water. And we get really goofy. Like we’re hypnotized. In the water, it’s a like you just said. We float, looking at the moon and get trance-like. Either way, we call it ‘getting moonstruck’ and we also feel charged up afterwards. But it’s been hard. Jackie and I got transformed because of following Kim, and the boys and Renée all found out about us from following us when we were acting weird and ended up seeing us. We even invited Renée to come swimming with us and I don’t know if that would have changed her or killed her if she had. We’ve made it through a few, lately, with no incident. I’m hoping this one will be the same. If I don’t get in the water during it, I feel like I missed out, so maybe this is a good plan.”

The photographers emerged from the house with some prints to share and Henri went to work preparing food with help from Renée and Reed.

They spent the evening around Henri’s fire pit, listening to his music suggestions and hearing stories from his time as a press photographer covering war zones, back when newspapers still did that sort of thing. The kids were mesmerized by his story telling and night came quickly. The kids feigned being tired and Henri had them all set up with cots and mats on the screened in back patio and headed to bed himself, enjoying the sound of quiet talk and laughter coming from out back.

Chapter Text

The group opened the back door and waited until they thought they heard snoring before setting out with about an hour before the moon was up. They quietly slipped through the side gate and made their way down into the park about a block away.

Reed chuckled a little. “Henri couldn’t have made it any easier for us!”

Renée, who probably had the most experience sneaking out of a house agreed. “And no squeaky steps to avoid.”

They got to the clearing and began helping Maddie set up as they didn’t have any prep work of their own to do. Maddie had a large bag of salt with her and was drawing a circle on the ground with it. When she was done, she began drawing another, more intricate circle on the outside of that one, this one being made of two braided lined with runes at the four cardinal directions. Freya asked if she could take a picture for research purposes, which was fine with Maddie. After a few additional touches, she got out four small candles and placed one in each of the runes and a fifth, larger one, in the middle. She showed each of the other three where they would sit and then went to the edge of the water with the mermaids. They didn’t have to wait for moon to get in and were keen to swim around for a while.

“Remember to stay quiet, there are houses on the cliff across the lake from us.” Cole reminded them.

The girls acknowledged that and waded out to the deeper part, which seemed to only be about five feet of water. They transformed and began lazily checking out the lake.

The moon was about to rise and the girls swam back while the other four got into their circle, the boys being a little nervous. They lit their candles and waited, sitting cross-legged.

The moon peeked above the tree line, but it would be a while before it cleared the nearer trees and the girls in the lake got hit first, giving the others a chance to watch them slip under its silvery spell. Finally, it reached the circle and Maddie took a deep breath, almost seeming to inhale the moonlight. She started to trance out and the others were feeling a bit of its effect through their shared hand-holding. Cole got nervous enough to begin to draw his hand away but Renée held it tight and he resolved to get used to the feeling. After a few minutes, all four were sufficiently under the spell and they began to feel energy in the air around them. There was crackling, like static electricity, and if they’d had their eyes open, they would have seen some smaller pebbles and leaves beginning to lift off the ground within the circle. A small breeze picked up, not enough to extinguish the candles, but noticeable.

This went on for a while before a cloud began to cross the face of the moon, snapping Maddie out of her trance while the mermaids also came back to reality. The other three, non-magical people in the circle were still under but Maddie looked frantic.

“No, no, no! it wasn’t done, we have to finish it!” She looked up at the cloud with obvious frustration in her face. Freya looked at Kim who knew what Freya was thinking.

“Try it,” she said softly.

Freya reached her hand up towards the cloud and concentrated, willing the water in the cloud to dissipate. Slowly, it began working until the moon was once again unobstructed. Maddie fell back under and the wind grew stronger, this time blowing out the candles. Maddie looked like she was mouthing words silently and to the mermaids’ surprise, the four people began to lift slightly off the ground, Maddie’s head thrown back to catch the moonlight directly in the face.

Then, without warning, it was over. The four fell about a foot back onto their butts and everyone was startled into waking from the trance.

“Ow!” Cole was not sure what happened but his rear hurt.

The mermaids were drying off to come check on everyone. Only Maddie was left sitting, looking like it was taking her a while shake the cobwebs from her brain. When she finally stood up, the mermaids were looking at her with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

Freya wanted to capture the most information she could. “Has that happened before?”

“Has what happened?”

“The wind, the levitation, the intensity?”

Maddie looked confused. “That all happened? I don’t remember any of it.”

“So your guess about completing the circle seemed accurate.”

“I suppose so? Can you tell me more?”

“Yeah, us, too.” Reed was just as anxious to find out what he’d just been a part of.

Freya, with help from the others, did her best to recount the events of the last hour as they brushed away the salt circle and picked up the candles.

The group discussed what had happened on the short walk back and huddled in the patio once back to Henri’s house.

Maddie was confused and also felt a little guilty. “We came here so you guys could have a good full moon and I feel like I stole your thunder. And I don’t even know what happened. Please at least tell me you enjoyed it?”

Kim didn’t want Maddie to feel bad. “It was really nice, actually. I feel totally recharged. I thought the lake was a very peaceful place to do it. Ten out of ten, would definitely do this again. You guys?” She gestured to the other two who agreed wholeheartedly.

“Plus,” added Freya, “we got new information. When you freaked out about the moon going away, I was able to get rid of the cloud, so I guess our weather powers do work both ways, or at least mine does. I’m really happy with how this went. It was a great idea, Jackie!” Jackie smiled at the compliment. “But we need to figure out what happened with you. All four of you were freaking floating! In midair! Something definitely happened and it was pretty darn interesting.”

“Yeah, that’s never happened before.”

“How long have you been doing the full moon thing?”

“Years. I think I started when I was nine after seeing some stuff online about it. It always felt good and I would get into a trance but this is the first time that I can’t remember what happened and I don’t think I ever floated before. Having a circle of people was supposed to help and I guess it did.

“But it’s not like we’re witches. How did we help?” Renée didn’t see the connection.

“I’m not sure. Maybe just the act of making the circle? Maybe witches aren’t born, but made. Maybe everyone has some magical ability. These three weren’t born mermaids. It sucks that I don’t know more about it.”

“Did it change you in any way?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, like can you do more magic?”

“I don’t even know how to tell that.”

“Try lifting something bigger or heavier. What’s the most you’ve done before?”

“I tried a bag of sugar once. What’s that, like two pounds? But it was really hard and I only got it about an inch off the counter.”

Renée looked around the patio for something to levitate. “How about that stool by the door. That’s way more than two pounds.”

Maddie focused on it and the stool shot up, almost hitting the ceiling and then nearly slamming into the floor after she got startled and let it go before catching it again.”

“Whoa!” pretty much the whole group in unison before everyone shushed each other.

Kim stood up and walked over to Maddie, sitting directly next to her. “Try it again, but gentler. Try using your hand to focus it.”

Maddie reached out and the stool popped up a few inches before she gained control.

“Good. Now lift it up a little more.”

Maddie did and found she could hover it there.”

“Can you move it left or right a little?”

Maddie used her hand to focus it and the stool wobbled to one side and then the other. Then Maddie got a little fancy and turned it upside down. Freya had to stop herself from clapping before whispering “Do me! Do me!”

“Absolutely not!” Maddie set the stool down. “Nothing on people until I know I won’t hurt them.”

“You could practice on your brother…” Jackie looked a little too gleeful at the prospect. Maddie was visualizing what it would look like.

“No, no, no. Tempting as that is.” There was a pause. “So, I guess something did happen.”

Kim felt the need to settle everyone down. “We can talk about all this stuff tomorrow. We won’t be getting much sleep as it is. Let’s get some rest.” Everyone reluctantly agreed though they all struggled a bit to get sleepy with the moon’s energy coursing through them. Eventually they nodded off.

Unfortunately for Cole, Henri was an early riser and wanted help getting breakfast ready. Cole rubbed his eyes as he headed to the kitchen, trying not to wake anyone else. Henri started getting ingredients out for pancakes and was having Cole do the mixing by hand with a whisk.

“Did you kids have a good time last night?”

“Yeah, it was really fun. Thanks for letting us do that.”

“No problem. But do me a favor, just let me know that you’re leaving if you go out in the middle of the night. I don’t mind you guys wandering around but I want to know so I don’t worry.”

Cole’s felt the blood drain out of his face. They had been caught. He began apologizing.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t think…” He paused unsure of how to finish that statement.

“What? That I would notice?” Henri was enjoying watching Cole squirm just a little to let the lesson sink in.

“Yeah, I guess so. But we just went down to the park, we weren’t out getting in trouble.”

“I know. I trust you, and your friends seem almost abnormally adult for their ages. But I don’t want to have to worry, not at my age.”

“I understand. Are you saying that you have been ok with it if I’d told you, though?”

Henri was getting bacon and some fruit out as he talked. “Yes. I wandered around my home town when I was teenager and I don’t even know what your mother got up to. You kids aren’t doing anything new and we all survived. I think you will too. What are grandparents for other to spoil their grand kids? Just warn me.”

Cole indicated that he understood.

“So, what did you guys do?”

Cole had been learning from the girls’ policy of trying to avoid lies. “We went down into the park to watch the full moon by the lake.”

“You should have taken a camera.”

Cole looked shocked that he hadn’t thought of that. Next time. He might as well ask about that now. “Do you think we could do this again next month so I can do that?”

“I don’t see why not.”

They got back to work cooking before Henri spoke again.
“Do you mind if I ask a question?”

“Sure.”

“If you don’t mind me saying so, your friends are little bit of an odd assortment. In my experience, groups of different ages don’t usually hang out and at your age we wouldn’t be caught dead with girls, even cute ones. What’s the story?

It hurt Cole to not tell the whole truth so he picked and chose the parts he could tell. “You know, we just kind of fell together. Reed and I knew Freya from Lakewood before she moved to River and we worked on a project together that involved Jackie and then we got to know her sisters and things just snowballed. A lot of shared interests and everyone just gets along really well. For me it’s almost like a second family that doesn’t argue.”

“I hear you there, son. I hear you there. It’s nice when you find your people. You’re lucky. Why don’t you start waking people up, I’m dropping the first few pancakes now.”

“Hold on, I need to make another batch of batter. This crowd has a huge appetite.”

Chapter Text

The drive back was quiet with everyone still sleepy and with full stomachs. Henri had gifted Cole and Jackie two more cameras out of his vast collection and they spent the trip looking them over and discussing places to take pictures.

Henri went out of his way to drive the River people back to the Calahan’s house and Renée said she’d walk Maddie home. Maddie seemed to want to talk.

“Can I ask you a few questions?”

“Of course!” They were just getting out of the driveway and Maddie was unable to hold back.

“I know I’m new to the group. I don’t know everyone that well yet. What’s all the back story, again?”

Renée tried to fill in the gaps that Maddie hadn’t heard or had forgotten. There was a pause as she finished the main parts of the story.

“I like Freya, she’s giving Luna Lovegood vibes.”

Renée laughed loudly. “That’s pretty close to perfect. Yeah, I suppose so.”

“Can I ask you about Kim?”

“Sure.”

“It’s just that she’s your sister, and you are close. I don’t want to pry.”

“No worries. Until a few months ago we fought like cats and dogs so I get it if she might rub you wrong.”

“No, no, no. Not at all. We had a rocky start but that was my fault. I was just wondering if she was always so… I’m not sure what the right word is. Not bossy, ‘cause she’s not. Maybe ‘commanding’? Sometimes intimidating. Just really, really in charge.”

“You know, it’s really weird. I mean, no. Not at all. She used to be silent unless we were fighting. Then, out of nowhere she’s suddenly this badass, take-charge person. It happened about the time she changed, but I’m not sure if that was the cause or if it just brought it out. Jackie and Freya didn’t really change that much, other than just being more confident, which even I am, I think from just being around them. But Kim… It’s like I’m not even the older sister and I don’t even care. It’s so weird. She’s going to end up the first mermaid president or general or something.”

“Yeah, it’s like I don’t even mind being bossed around by her. You should have seen her stand up to Dennis. If he hadn’t caught her off balance, I’m not sure how that would have ended. Not well for Dennis, I’m assuming.”

“That was a close call, though. I want to talk to her about practicing her control more. Not her powers, but her emotions. She should take yoga. Speaking of practice. I think you might need the same advice. You need to make sure you don’t take something too far by accident. I was there when Jackie first made a storm and it was a full-sized thunder storm. It took her a few days to reign it in. I don’t want you lifting a car onto someone!”

“I seriously don’t think that’s possible. That stool was easy but I could feel it’s weight. I definitely can’t lift a car.”

“Still…”

“Ok, I’ll practice. Help me?”

“Of course!”

Chapter Text

The Cedar Point trip happened with Reed’s mom driving the non-aquatic part of the group, thinking that Mrs Callahan was bringing the others. Meanwhile, the girls cruised up the coast at a reasonable pace to not beat the minivan too badly, stopping occasionally for Jackie to take some photographs.

They got home that evening and Renée headed into her room and closed the door. That wasn’t so common, anymore. An hour later, Jackie passed by and thought she heard sniffling. She debated but knocked on the door anyway. She didn’t get an answer but her spidey sense was tingling and she cracked the door open. Renée looked at her with a face that said, ‘you might as well come in’.

Renée had been crying. Maybe not sobbing, but her eyes were red.

Jackie sat next to her and put her arm around her. She knew.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. I mean yes. I don’t know. I knew it wouldn’t work. We never expected it to. I’m not sure we were even trying. But it still hurts to know it won’t be a thing.”

“Was she gentle about it?”

“She didn’t need to be. I’m the one who said it first, even if we’d both been thinking it.”

“Can you stay friends?”

“We promised we would. I don’t see why not. Neither of us are mad at the other one.

They paused for the sniffling to subside before Renée spoke again.

“Thanks. I needed that. If you don’t mind, I’d like to tell the others.”

“Are you sure, If I let them know, maybe they won’t bring it up.”

“No. I think it will help me to say it a couple more times.” There was a long-ish pause. “She was really nice, you know?” Renée broke out in a new round of light crying. Jackie stayed with her until they both decided a snack would help.

Chapter Text

Kim felt bad for Renée following the breakup with Maya. She made sure to check in on her but to Kim’s eyes, Renée was doing alright. It did, however, remind Kim that she hadn’t talked to Leilani in a while and she grabbed her phone and left the house, deciding to multi task a call to Leilani with a trip for ice cream. With a cup of delicious coolness in hand, Kim popped her ear buds in and walked down to the tracks for some solitude and called Leilani.

The older mermaid answered and sounded happy to hear from one of what she now considered her extended pod. They caught up for a while and Leilani asked if Kim had heard about Maya and Renée. They talked about that for a while. Eventually, Leilani figured out that there was something specific on Kim’s mind and asked her what it was.

“I’m not even sure. Something good happened and we’ve made a new friend.”

“Like, a friend who knows things, wink, wink?”

“Yeah, but it’s the same old story, they have a secret and I’m dying to talk to you about it but I can’t.”

“I’m assuming it’s another mermaid, which, frankly, is pretty weird for Cleveland, but also, we would both be cool, it’s kind of mermaid code.”

The lengthy silence told Leilani that it was more complicated.

“Jesus, you kids lead very complicated lives.”

“You can say that again, and you’re a freaking mermaid so you should know.”

“Can you tell me what the secret is?”

“God, I want to. It’s pretty darn interesting.”

“Ok, can you not tell me that but tell me who it is?”

“You can figure that out on your own, I think.”

“Ah, the new face I’ve been seeing on Instagram?”

-Silence

“Ha, well, that’s a ‘yes’.”

“What did you do when you discovered other mermaids? Did you have to worry about all this?”

“No. But it was so much simpler. I met Ava in the water. She already knew Suzanne, and so on like that. It was more like networking. One mermaid doesn’t really care so much about another one knowing. What would the point be? But that’s all outside of social media, which muddies the water, so to speak. I know you guys are really good about keeping each other’s secrets and making sure you have permission before discussing someone else’s situation, but you might have to consider that there sometimes aren’t other options.”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“Ok, so you know me pretty well by now. We share a community and a decent amount of trust, right?”

“Yeah, I almost think of you as family.”

“Awe! You’re going to make me tear up! Sometimes people just need to trust each other. Let me ask you this, do you want to tell me just to gossip or do you have a reason?”

“Both, though gossip isn’t fair, more like I want to share it. Mostly because it might be new information about our world.”

“The mermaid world?”

“More like the magical world at large.”

“At large?”

“Yeah.”

Leilani took a deep breath. “I mean, I’ve always assumed that there had to be other things out there, but I’m not aware of any other…” She paused again before resuming. “I like to think that I’m an experienced mermaid, but Ava has several years on me and I’ve met mermaids who were in their seventies and had been living this life for over half a century. No one I know has ever mentioned any other mythical beings. It’s kind of like aliens; they probably have to be out there somewhere but we’ve never seen them. But you’re saying you are friends with someone, let’s just say ‘special’?”

“Yeah, my sister’s best friend.”

“Is there something in the water over there?”

Kim laughed. “Actually, the lake’s really clean these days.”

“Ok, so before I fly out there and physically make you tell me, do you think this important to our kind?”

“In a roundabout way, yes. If we’re magical, and other magic exists, doesn’t that interest you?”

“Very much so. But bear in mind, there isn’t some magical institute that would want to learn about this. We’re just a loose group of individuals who don’t all share the same interests.”

“So, you wouldn’t go blabbing?”

“I don’t blab, but information has a way of becoming free. I can guarantee that if you don’t tell me, one of the others will, even if by accident so you might as well spill.”

“Ok, hold onto your hat, as my dad would say. I can’t believe that I’m about to say this and if I wasn’t already a mermaid, I would expect you to think I’m crazy.”

“Oh my god! Out with it!”

“Witches are real.”

“Witches. Like in Wicked? Which was excellent, by the way.”

“I know, right?”

“Argh I sidetracked myself. You’re telling me that your sister’s best friend is a witch? An honest to God witch.”

“Well, that’s what she calls herself and she has what I would call magical abilities. I’m not sure what else you would call her.”

“What can she do?”

“All I know about in person is that she can move things without touching them, she can make things invisible, she can affect people’s mood by touch, and she says she has some healing abilities, though I’ve been lucky enough to not need to test that. She’s talked about some potions and whatnot but she’s frustrated that she doesn’t have anyone to learn from to get better or more advanced.”

“Hmm.”

“Oh, and she’s affected by the full moon.”

“You could have led with that… Now that’s interesting. I mean the other stuff is too, but this is probably an important clue.”

Kim recounted the events of the full moon.

“Wow. Fascinating. Also, you’re really making a group activity out of full moons. I’ve never heard of anything like what you guys are doing. Interesting idea to move it to a smaller lake! That seems safer if things get wacky. And you bring the boys and your sister. And now a witch. I’m not sure what to ask about first.”

“Look, the important part here is that other magical… I’m not sure what to say… People? Beings? Anyway, they exist and they seem to have similar ties to the moon.”

“I mean, it makes sense. Many stories about witches include the moon in some way and pre-Christian religions were often very concerned with moon phases, lunar cycles, etc. Plus, the female reproductive cycle largely follows the lunar cycle. Maybe this all ties together for a reason. I assume Freya is all over this?”

“Yeah, and Reed. They’re two peas in a pod. I swear, their rooms look like Giles’ library in Buffy.”

“Oh my god, you watch Buffy? It’s so good!”

This time Kim felt like she had let the conversation get away from her.

“So, anyway, I’ve got this friend with a secret. Is it cool that I tell you so we can talk about it? Which I guess I already have, but, you know, for next time?”

“Ha! Next time. I hope your discoveries slow down and there isn’t a next time. But, yes, you can tell me. I won’t tell anyone else, including Ava, until you tell me it’s ok. And I’ll act surprised if it comes up some other way. Everyone needs someone to confide in and I’m remote enough to safely be that person for you. Just like you are probably that person for someone else.”

“Thank you!”

“We stick together, remember? By the way, you never told me her name.”

“Madison.”

Leilani nearly fell out of her chair she laughed so hard.

Kim joined in. “I know, right?”

Maddie found out about Renée and Maya from Freya. Kim was the only one who had figured out Maddie’s interest in Renée and she had kept the secret. Maddie didn’t want to scare Renée away and she also didn’t want to be the cause of a breakup, so she was happy that it happened the way it did. She wasn’t ready to jump right in and pursue a relationship with Renée. They had been friends since kindergarten and she valued Renée’s friendship to the degree that risking it on turning it into a romance was too scary for her. Both girls were quite popular and while other friends had drifted in and out of their orbit, they had remained a constant. To Maddie, the idea of losing Renée’s friendship made the risk not worth the reward. She would have to be patient and try to read Renée in this new, post-Maya world and see if there were any signs. But just because Kim was discrete, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t bring it up.

“You know the Maya thing is over, right?” Kim had run into Maddie coming over as Kim was leaving to go to Freya’s.

“I know.”

“Do you think you’ll let her know that you’re interested?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to be a rebound. And I’m not sure she’s interested. She’s never given me any signs.”

“I won’t say anything. I was just curious. By the way, did you know your name was a mermaid name?” Kim had been meaning to ask and it popped into her head.

By now they two had moved to the big swing that hung from the maple tree in the yard and were sitting close enough to be lightly touching.

“Argh. I was hoping no one would notice. Yeah, I know.”

Kim laughed. “Why are you frustrated by it?”

“Because it’s so basic. It’s not my mom’s fault, she didn’t know. It was just getting to be a more common name and when my grandmother suggested it, my mom liked it and here I am. But my grandmother only suggested it because it was her favorite film in the 80s. So, yeah, I have a mermaid name. The irony. I think if my grandmother ever met you guys, she would have a heart attack and die.”

The story made Kim smile but there was something else. “I’m not sure if you know, but I can sort of feel your emotions right now.”

“You can? I was hoping that was a one-way street.”

“So, you can feel mine?” Kim found this fascinating.

“If we are touching, yeah. I think it’s related to what you felt when we hugged the first time. But you feel it back?”

“Just now, yes. I don’t remember this from before. It’s like it’s flowing where we touch; our arms and legs in this case.”

“That’s how I always felt it. When you say you don’t remember it from before, what does ‘before’ mean?”

“Well, probably since the full moon. And it’s only a faint feeling. If there were other things going on, I don’t know if I would have noticed it. Has anyone else said anything?”

“No, but I’m not always very touchy. I’ve learned that if I keep clothing between me and everyone else, I can keep it at bay. I don’t always want to feel what others are feeling. It’s kind of heavy. When Renée told you that my hugs were legendary but rare, this is why they’re rare.”

“Interesting. You know, you should tell Freya and Reed. They’re looking into witch mythology and it could help.”

“Maybe. It’s always been private. I don’t want people to have to put their guard up around me.”

“I get it.”

“It’s a little scary that it’s now flowing the other way.”

“I can only feel it a tiny bit. It’s not overwhelming and I’m not sure anyone else would notice. Maybe Jackie would.”

“That moon must have really been something.”

Kim said her goodbyes and walked the short distance down to Freya’s.

“You ready?”

“Yep. Where do you want to go?”

“Just out. Stretch our tails a bit. Maybe go deep and see what’s down there, we tend to stay up top, more.”

“Sounds good. Lead the way.”

The two took off for a day of exploring.

Chapter Text

After the June full moon, and all that had been going on, Kim decided to spend just a little bit of time to herself. The full moon had been her one-year anniversary but everyone had missed it, including her. She realized it a few days later and was a bit angry with herself for forgetting. She didn’t blame the others; they didn’t have that event seared in their minds the way she did. Still, she was feeling reflective and wanted a little ‘me’ time. On a quiet day when everyone else seemed to have something to do, she went down to the water, specifically to the little cave that she had been reading in when it all started. She climbed back up into it. She had grown a fair bit in the last year and it was more cramped than it used to be. Kim figured that within a few years she wouldn’t fit comfortably at all.

She laid in the little nook in the cliff for a few hours, just watching the lake. She could picture the events of the night in her head, superimposed over the sunny view she was currently looking at. It seemed so surreal. After a year, she was pretty used to what had happened to her and the fact that it had essentially fixed her relationships with her family members and introduced her to a number of real friends was such a large positive in her life that she couldn’t complain at all about it having happened. But still, it had been a year since she was a ‘normal’ girl and she couldn’t help but think about that. What might have happened if last June she had just stayed home the night of the full moon? It seemed most likely that she would have stayed on her former course: reading alone, fighting with her sisters, getting D’s in math, and being painfully shy. Or maybe something else would have changed. She would have still met Freya, after all, and her and Jackie becoming friends with their new neighbor really hadn’t had anything to do with her becoming a mermaid, so maybe she would have still come out of her shell, even if to a lesser extent.

However, she would have missed out on all the things that did depend on her transition: Cedar point, going to Canada, swimming under the lake ice in winter, and having saved several lives, at least two of which were not because of her in the first place. She also wouldn’t know about this wider, hidden world, of which she was not only a part, but had brought other people into. She knew that she was responsible for Freya and Jackie, regardless of whether they wanted to be like this or not, though that wasn’t a question with Freya. But her path had also changed the trajectories of Reed, Cole, Renée, and even Madison. She had added to Leilani and Ava’s understanding of their own world, as they had also for her.

She decided that overall, the net effect had been positive.

She sat up onto the ledge of the little cave, her head nearly hitting the rocky upper edge of the opening. She let herself drop down the couple feet into the water and waded out past the rocks that littered the shore line and lowered herself in, gently getting all the way wet, and waited the ten seconds, feeling the now familiar change happen, ok again with what had happened and who she was. She had the whole day to herself and she was going to spend it alone, reconnecting privately with the water for the first time in quite a while. She set off north, thinking that a little time in Canadian waters might be a nice change. Maybe check out one of the small towns that dot the northern shore.

After swimming quickly to get up to the other side of the lake, she slowed down and cruised east along the shore, eventually finding a place that looked like a nice little town to check out. It was a Saturday in June, so people were out at what looked like a municipal beach, so she swam past the breakwall, into the little harbor and up the mouth of whatever river the town sat on. She found a little marina just past a drawbridge and chose a quiet dock to climb up onto. She had gotten very proficient with her power and she could remove the water in just a second or two, being back to her leggy form in less time than the ten seconds it took to get her tail. She walked out of the marina and into what looked like the downtown area.

It was a cute little town, not much different than similar towns on the US side of the lake. Luckily, she had stuffed some money in her shorts pocket before leaving. She didn’t plan to go to Canada when she left the house that morning. ‘Oh crap,’ she thought, ‘I’m in Canada.’ Just realizing that her money was American. She didn’t have a lot of it, either. Still, hungry from the swim, she took a chance on the first place that caught her eye, a cute little ice cream shop. She had noticed a few places along the way with “Port Stanley” in the name so she figured that’s where she was.

She waited in a short line and then asked the server if there was any chance they might accept some American money.

“If you don’t mind missing out on the exchange rate, absolutely. It’s mostly tourists in the summer and we’re pretty used to it.”

Kim thanked her good luck and looked over the menu. She decided to go fruity today and settled on a triple cup of Lemon Meringue, Orange Pineapple, and St Jacobs Apple Pie, which looked like a local flavor that she hadn't heard of before.

She got her treat and headed back outside to explore. There were a lot of cool looking restaurants and a vintage clothing store that she thought Renée would like before remembering that Renée couldn’t swim there with her. She walked the small downtown area before crossing the lift bridge over the river and finding the beach area. She sat on the sand, finishing her ice cream, and watched the beachgoers enjoy the early summer sun. There were mostly families there, with a smattering of small groups of teens. The beach was deep, almost football field length from the water to the end of the sand. It was a little more ‘beach-y’ than Kim was used to on the Cleveland side of the lake. She liked it and stretched out on the sand to lay in the sun for a while as the sounds of kids splashing in the water mixed with the waves coming ashore to create a sort of white noise. She nodded off for a bit until the sun got too bright for her eyelids to completely shut it out. She yawned and sat up, collecting her empty ice cream cup and getting up to throw it out. She walked to what seemed like the middle of the beach and looked out over the sand, the people, and the waves. On the horizon, there was a light blue sky that met a darker blue water. The horizon itself stretched endlessly left and right. She felt it pull her towards it.

When she left that morning, she didn’t know what she would do or where she would go. She just had some dark blue shorts and a white tank top on with some converse sneakers. She was dressed fine for the beach but walking into the water in ‘normal’ clothes would seem a little odd to the crowd there.

She found herself just staring at the water. The sun still felt great and she knew the water would too. These places, where the land and sea met, were magic to her, places where the various parts of her could live in harmony. She stood for quite a while, not really thinking of anything. She was startled out of her quiet contemplation by a tugging on her shirt hem. She looked down at a little girl who was looking up at her. Kim smiled and leaned down to get closer to the girl’s level with an expression that silently asked what the girl wanted. Surprisingly, the girl asked if she was ok.

Kim gave a little laugh. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“You seemed sad.”

Kim thought about that. “No. I’m not sad…” She wasn’t sure what she felt.

“’Cause you look like it, but you shouldn’t be. It’s the beach.”

Kim laughed, a little heartier this time. “I guess you’re right. It’s hard to be sad at the beach. But I wasn’t. I was just thinking about whether to stay out here in the sun or get in the water.”

“Well,” the little girl continued, “I want to go in the water but my mom wanted to rest and I can’t go in alone.”

“My mom used to do that to me, but I’m big enough now to go in on my own. But your mom is right, don’t go in without her.”

The girl sat down on the sand and Kim followed, sitting next to her. The girl was probably four, a little younger than Charlie, the girl on the boat from almost a year before.

“Do you like the water a lot?”

The girl thought about it. “Yes. But only for a little while, then I get cold. Do you like it?”

Kim remembered being younger and getting cold, even if that didn’t happen anymore. She liked the straightforwardness that comes with talking to a young child. There were none of the lies and complexities that she faced, especially with having what amounted to a secret identity. Being here, alone, talking to this little girl, was nice. There were no pretenses, and no minefields to tiptoe through.

“Yes. I do like it. I love it, actually. Sometimes I feel like I could just live in it.”

The girl giggled infectiously. “You can’t live in the water!”

Kim smiled, teasing her; “Why not? Maybe I want to!”

The girl laughed again. “Only mermaids can do that! Like Ariel!”

Kim leaned in and whispered, like she was going to tell a secret. “What if I am like Ariel?”

“Nuh uh. Ariel’s made up.”

Kim laughed. A huge ‘Leilani’ laugh with her head thrown back until another voice grew louder. “Olivia, there you are!” A young mother was walking briskly towards them. “Don’t bother the other kids.”

“It’s fine,” Kim said to her. “We were just discussing whether Ariel might be real.” Kim pointed to the ground next to her daughter offering for her to join them. The mom looked bemused by this and did so. She must have had her daughter quite young, similar to Kim’s cousin. She looked college aged. The mom wasn’t sure why she joined them instead of just taking her daughter back to their own beach towels. Instead, she asked what the consensus was regarding Ariel.

“Well, your daughter says there is no way; she thinks that Ariel is made up. What do you think?”

The mother was indeed young and she didn’t want her little girl to be jaded so soon in life. “I like to think she could be real. Maybe the movie is just a made-up version of a real girl in the ocean.” She was looking at her little girl as she spoke and the girl had a smile. She liked that idea. “And you?”

Kim laughed again. “Oh, I think mermaids are real. I think they love swimming but they also love ice cream so they come on land all the time to get some.”

The mother laughed. “That seems very specific.”

“Well, that’s what all the mermaids I know say. Especially chocolate ice cream.”

The mom cocked her head at Kim’s reply. “All the mermaids you know, eh?”

“Sure, but I only know six or seven so maybe it’s not universal.”

The mom laughed again. “Only six or seven?” She turned her gaze out to the water not expecting any response to what she figured was amusing banter designed to entertain her daughter.

Kim, felt like her stomach was in knots. She was talking about mermaids to a random mother and daughter in a foreign country that she was going to swim home from soon. She was here after missing her own anniversary and she didn’t know if she could continue to hold it together and was losing the battle.

“Well, six or seven is more than you know! You only know the one.”

The girl drew in a deep breath. “Mommy? You know a mermaid?!?!?”

The woman gave a sigh and looked at Kim as if to say, ‘great, now I have to explain to her that I really don’t.’

“But you do.” Kim’s resolve had completely faded away. “You know me!”

The mother didn’t know whether to be amused or angry at Kim but Kim continued.

“Thanks for the conversation. Your daughter is so cute.” Kim rubbed the girl’s head. “But I need to get home. It’s ok to believe, you know. I’m going to walk straight into that water, dive in, and if you watch, after a little while, I’ll splash my tail at you.”

The woman looked at Kim with a mixture of concern and disbelief but Kim got up, said goodbye to the girl and ran the fifty yards or so towards the water, splashing into the waves and then diving once it was deep enough. The woman and the girl stood up, not believing that Kim had just done that. As they stood, not sure if they should be looking for a lifeguard, Kim lifted her tail out of the water and splashed it dramatically against the surface twice before going back under and heading south. She didn’t stick around to see if they had indeed watched her but they had. The mom lifted the little girl up and they stared at the water, wondering if they’d get another glimpse as the girl screamed and pointed at where the tail had been. They watched until it was clear that Kim was gone. The mom looked around. No one else seemed to have noticed the girl run into the water, much less the tail. The mom sat down in the sand and pulled her daughter to her in a hug, having a hard time believing what she had just seen. The girl said, “Mommy, we have to tell daddy that we saw a mermaid!” The mother did not really know what to say. “We’ll tell him when we get home, ok, honey?” The little girl smiled and nodded and they sat there on the beach.

Kim swam, a little slower than usual, and smiled. She knew she shouldn’t do that sort of thing but she just didn’t seem to be able to stop herself if the desire got too strong. She finished her day of swimming alone by cruising along the Cleveland shoreline, from east to west, looked at her home town as she made her way towards somewhere near home where she could get out unseen. One reveal was enough for today, she figured. It was nearing sundown when she finally got back to the house to a chorus of voices asking where she’d been.

“Just out exploring, a little.” Jackie and Renée knew that meant something different to what their mother thought. Kim had a tiny bit of a sunburn on her shoulders. It felt good to get a little time to herself and to give in to her urges, but it was also good to be back, to be around people she knew and loved. It was like she had taken a mini vacation and was now ready to rejoin her regularly scheduled life, as messy and chaotic as that sometimes was. She got a snack and went up to her room to relax before going to bed, tired from the long swim. The others sensed that she was still in the mood for personal space and figured they’d catch up the next day. She fell asleep in about two minutes.

Chapter Text

A few days after Kim’s Canadian adventure, Jackie noticed that Freya hadn’t been around much. She brought it up over bowls of breakfast cereal.

“Anyone seen Freya around lately? She hasn’t been over here in a few days.”

“I saw her down by Rocky River Park.” Renée had run into her when she was on her way to Maddie’s. “I just figured she was going to the water to meet you guys.

The other two shrugged. Freya wasn’t generally a loner and with her not having a phone, it was a little hard to find her if she took off on her own.

“How did she seem?” Jackie felt like something was off.

“Quiet, I guess. She waved but didn’t stop to talk. You think something’s up with her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. It’s just not really like her. I’ll go down there later and check in.”

The girls finished eating, hoping that Jackie was imagining things, though they didn’t generally go even a day without some contact from the girl.

Jackie knocked, expecting Freya to bound down the stairs to get the door but instead was let in by her older sister Sunny, who just pointed up the stairs, Jackie taking the hint and heading up to Freya’s room. She found her friend sulking in a bean bag chair in the corner of the room.

“Hey. What’s up? We haven’t seen you in bit.” Jackie sat down next to Freya in the oversized chair and put her arm around her. Freya sighed, her eyes red, now that Jackie could see them up close. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Freya looked around the room and seemed like she might cry again.

“My mom’s making me get rid of all this stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“All the mermaid decorations. She says that I’m getting too old for this and that I need to start living in the real world.” Freya smiled weakly at the irony. “She thinks I live in a fantasy world and that I need to taking things more seriously.”

Jackie would have laughed if Freya hadn’t been so upset. “If only she knew…”

Freya tensed. “She absolutely cannot know. Of all our friends and family, she’s the last who should know. She has all these ideas about how our lives are supposed to be. I’m supposed to go to college and become a doctor, or a lawyer… something that makes a lot of money. She would banish me from the water, afraid that it would ‘interfere’ with my success.”

“Wow, I didn’t really know she was like that. I guess I don’t actually see her that much.”

“There’s a reason I’m always at your house. My grades are good so she leaves me alone, but I get the feeling that our success is far more important to her than it is to any of us kids. She puts even more pressure on David. At least Sunny took the heat off of me a little.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe you haven’t noticed, but Sunny is actually the rebellious one. Her grades kind of suck, and she keeps getting caught sneaking out and drinking. I don’t talk about it much… it’s kind of a downer. But I guess mom’s given up on her and is going to make me her new project to ‘fix,’ starting with getting rid of my ‘childish infatuation’ with mermaids.”

“Is that what she actually called it?”

“Yeah. So I’ve just been kinda sitting in here, enjoying it before it goes away. She wants to donate it all to Goodwill.”

Jackie looked around the room. Other than the mermaid wallpaper boarder, everything else was non-permanent: plushies, figurines, artwork, etc. It wasn’t actually that much stuff.

“Why don’t we just move it ourselves?”

Freya looked at her quizzically.

“Let’s just take it all to my house. We can put it in my room. Or maybe the basement. My mom won’t care and then it will all be waiting for you to take it back later. Or to college. Whatever you need. But at least it won’t really be gone.”

“You would do that? What about your mom, I’m sure she doesn’t want it all over at your place.”

“It’s no big deal. Honestly, she’s so happy that we’ve stopped fighting that she would probably say yes to a pony. You can just tell your mom that you got rid of it all and then she’ll get off your back.”

Freya thought about it. It was a decent plan, but it meant giving in and pretending that she was someone who she wasn’t. She didn’t want to lose all her stuff, especially now that it meant something more than it used to, but she felt like Jackie’s plan was just going delay the eventual fight.

“Let me think about it. I’ve got a few days and I might be able to put it off a bit longer. Thanks, though! I really appreciate you offering. We’ll do it if I can’t figure something else out.”

The sky the following day would have been familiar to anyone who lived in the Great Lakes region. It was bright without being sunny, a light haze obscuring the horizon, blending the sky into the lake without any discernible line demarking the two, heavier weather clearly on the way. It was an ugly day to match Freya’s ugly mood.

For some time, now, she had tried to keep her friends separate from her home life, always choosing to go to the Callahan’s to meet up with everyone. It made sense, logistically, so the others never asked why they so rarely went to her house, which was just a stone’s throw away. Her friends knew that her siblings, David and Sunny, fought a lot, mostly between themselves but with Freya if she was around. What they didn’t know was how much of that came from the relationship with their parents, which could probably be best described as ‘chilly.’ The Swenson’s weren’t cruel, and they provided well for their kids, but they didn’t really seem to want them around. The ease with which Freya had been allowed permission to go to San Diego was an example of that. Despite not really being there for their kids, they had remarkably high expectations. David was about to be a senior and was well into some preliminary college coursework, hoping to complete his undergraduate degree in three years, fewer, if possible, before going to law school. Freya thought she could see the stress in his eyes. When sunny, who was a year ahead of Renée, began rebelling against those expectations, their parents quickly wrote her off and decided to focus on Freya, thus the attempt to make her shed her ‘childish fantasies’ as they had called them.

But being eleven and a half, that’s not really the way that Freya thought about it. She just thought they were cold and demanding. She missed the warmth of her grandfather who had softened much of the girl’s early childhood and she was looking forward to her trip to Sweden this August to see him. Her parents thought that seeing the old country would instill more of a work ethic. After all, her grandfather was still running a fishing boat despite being well into his sixties. She would be out on that boat with him while on the trip, after all, and they’d instructed him to put her to work. Freya didn’t mind that. She wasn’t a lazy person, and working with her grandfather would be bliss to her, though she did wonder exactly how much water she could expect to encounter on board.

What she was really looked forward to were the evenings; the slow trip back to land, dinner, and then sitting around her grandfather’s house while he smoked his pipe with the fragrant, cherry scented tobacco that she remembered so clearly from when he was still in the States. And then the stories. The fish that got away, the storms that nearly sank the fishing boats, the daring rescues of other boats in distress, and of course, the mermaids he claimed to have seen.

But that would be later in the summer. For now, she had to contend with being on her mom’s radar. She had been thinking this while watching the water from the top of the stairs that led down to Wagar Beach. She was grumpy enough to not want to actually get in the water. There was a part of her that wanted to stay a little upset and going for a swim might have ruined her funk. She sighed and got up from the bench, choosing to go home and sulk some more in her room before it got re-decorated.

Her parents were at work and David was at some summer school program, trying to get a few more credits in his ‘off’ time. Sunny was in the living room, zoned out in front of some youtube video on the TV while she scrolled on her phone. Freya chanced sitting down near her, suddenly not wanting to see her room. Sunny looked up and nodded at her little sister. The usually cheery youngster clearly not in a good mood.

Truthfully, it was mostly Sunny and David who fought. Freya just got caught in the crossfire a lot as she tried to broker peace between them. She had only recently learned to just stay out of it, though it hurt her after seeing how Kim had come together with her sisters. She wanted that, but she realized that some rather extraordinary events had brought that to be. And David seemed to be a bit of a lost cause, clearly very much into their parents plans for him. Sunny, though, had opted out of that, which led to a high degree of drama.

None of this ran through Freya’s mind consciously, though. She just wanted to watch whatever Sunny had on and be near someone close who wasn’t going to tell her how she should be living her life.

Sunny, who was not really liking her nickname, lately, looked up from her phone after Freya had been there for a while. She didn’t really want to talk to her little sister, but there was a sadness that she was having a hard time ignoring, having spent the last few years battling her mom.

“I hate to ask, but are you ok?”

Freya glanced over at her, unsure if engaging would end up in a fight.

“I guess. Just mom stuff.”

Sunny laughed; a knowing laugh, not a ‘ha ha’ laugh. “That, I get. What’d she do?”

“She’s going to redecorate my room. Make me get rid of all my stuff.”

Sunny knew what ‘stuff’ meant. She had never believed Freya’s story about the mermaids in Seattle, and she had teased her quite a bit about it, but she knew it was important to her sister.

“So just don’t let her.” Sunny looked back down at her phone.

“How do I do that? She’s just going to throw it all away. She says it’s time I grew up.” Tears we just starting to gather in Freya’s eyes. Not enough to drip down, just enough to cling to her lashes until she wiped them away.

Sunny sighed. She didn’t really want to deal with an emotional little sister, but after going through her own battles, and seeing David mindlessly (in her view) following their parents’ plan, she decided she could endure for a little while and she put down her phone to focus on her younger sibling.

“Growing up is overrated. Look at David, does he seem happy?”

Freya laughed a little. “No, he seems miserable, but not to hear him tell it.”

“Exactly. Just because mom and dad are ‘successful’, doesn’t mean that you have to do what they want you to do. I’m not.”

Freya debating teasing about how that was working out for Sunny, but decided to be more adult about it.

“Can I ask you about that?”

Sunny looked a bit perplexed. “Ask me about what?”

“I mean, you’ve kind of gotten in a lot of trouble, and I know it’s about mom, mostly, but I guess I’m wondering if it was worth it. You know, to go against her and do your own thing.”

Sunny was surprised by the question. She was used to less subtle barbs from her family. After all, ‘her own thing’ had mostly consisted of getting bad grades and drinking on weekends with some of the ‘bad’ kids.

“I guess I didn’t really think about it. Screw mom and her plans. I don’t think me having some fun is, like, some way at getting at mom…” She paused for longer than was comfortable as she considered this. “At least I don’t think…” She continued considering this and looked at her sister who was patiently waiting for an answer. “Jesus. Am I that much of a cliché?” She laughed a little. “Well, maybe I am. Maybe this is my rebellious phase? I don’t know. All I know is that mom made my life hell starting at about your age and I just wasn’t going to do it. I don’t want to be a doctor, or whatever she wants me to be. I don’t know what I want to be, but I don’t want to have to make that decision right now and be miserable for the rest of my life, like dad is. I guess the question is, what do you want?”

Freya sat back in the chair and mindlessly answered “I think I want to go swimming.”

Sunny laughed. Loudly. “I meant in life. Like, do you want to do any of the things on mom’s very short list of careers that she approves of.”

Freya blushed, embarrassed by what she had so casually blurted out. She was used to being able to have open conversations, like she did with her friends, and it had slipped out.

“I know. I just meant that I need to think about it and I like swimming for that. But, no, I don’t want to do what she and dad do, or what David wants to do.”

Sunny regarded her sister. “I know I make fun, but you’re all into that mermaid stuff, and you like to read, maybe you want to do something marine related?”

Freya was not used to having to think that far into the future. College still seemed like a long way away.

“Maybe.” She finally answered, while still lost in thought and staring at a spot just past her sister’s shoulder as she considered it. “I would like that, I think, plus I’d have an advantage.” Again, she didn’t really realize what she’d said out loud. Luckily, Sunny didn’t have any idea what that meant.

“Exactly, you’ve already done all the reading!” Now Freya realized what she said, but Sunny, luckily, had figured it meant something else.

Freya had never had this deep a discussion with her sister before. It was probably the most they’d talked since they were little. While she hadn’t resolved anything, it had been nice to talk it out with someone who understood the family dynamics. And, she felt like she knew her sister a little better now.

“Thanks, Sonja. That actually helped me a lot.” For some reason, it just felt right to use her sister’s given name instead of the nickname that didn’t seem to fit her anymore.

Sonja smiled at that choice and liked that her sister had done that.

Freya had a final thought. “Oh, and I don’t know if you need it, but I don’t want you to get in trouble, like you have been, so I’ll cover for you whenever you need as long as I don’t have to tell too big a lie.”

Freya got up and walked to the stairs, not really waiting for, or expecting a response to that. She just wanted Sonja to know that she had her back. Her mood now significantly changed, she stopped half way up the stairs and turned around. She was pulling open the door when Sonja yelled out, “Hey, where are you going?”

“Swimming.” Freya yelled back, now willing to let the water further soothe her, the door clicking shut behind her as the closer on the screen door pulled the latch firmly against the door frame.

After spending some time in the water, Freya ran into Renée as the latter was coming back from Maddie’s house and they walked back together.

“Hey, you’re alive!” Renée was glad to see Freya out of the house, having been filled in on the mom drama.

Freya blushed a little at knowing that others had been thinking about her. “Yeah, just went for a little swim to think about things.”

Renée had been a bit like a surrogate big sister for a little while and Freya found her easy to talk to, especially as she had a bit of a different view, not being blessed/burdened with a tail.

“Hey, do you know my sister at all?” Freya’s conversation with Sonja was still on her mind.

“Sunny? Not really. She went straight into high school when you guys got here and I won’t be there until next fall. Why?”

“I don’t know… I just had a nice talk with her today and was hoping someone knew more about her outside of the family.”

“I know that she hangs out with a bit of a rough crowd, well, at least as rough as it gets in Rocky River.” Renée chuckled a little. Rocky River didn’t really have a ‘bad’ part of town and was generally considered to be a little snobby. “Why? Are you digging up dirt on her?”

Freya laughed. “No, not at all. I just thought I’d ask around. I guess I hadn’t been paying much attention to her and it seems like the last few years were rougher on her than I thought.”

“Well, I guess I’ll be seeing a lot more of her next year when I’m a freshman. I suppose we could even end up walking together.”

Both families lived ridiculously close to the high school with no need to drive, even if one of them did get their license.

“Ok. I just thought I’d ask.”

“Well, if you need to talk, let me know. You never mention her, or your brother. I just assumed you weren’t that close.”

“I guess we weren’t. Aren’t? I don’t know. But we had a nice talk and she helped me with the mom stuff.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely! Just kind of surprising, in a nice way.”

“You never know. I thought the three of us would never be friends. I figured that we’d go away to school, move somewhere, and only see each other on holidays or at weddings. Now I can’t imagine being that distant from them. In no small part because of you, so thank you for that!”

Freya’s face reddened deeply at the compliment. She didn’t think it had anything to do with her.

“That was all the full moon’s doing, I think.”

“Not true, you befriended both of them before anyone knew about Kim and things started getting better right away. Jackie wouldn’t be, you know, the same as Kim, unless she had gotten close enough to Kim to care to follow her and that had a lot to do with you.”

Freya knew this, but she found it hard to accept the compliment. Her mom didn’t dole those out much and she wasn’t used to it. The two continued on for the rest of the short walk home.

“Thanks.” Freya finally said. “It’s nice of you to say that.”

“It’s the truth. Do you want my advice?”

Freya nodded.

“Just keep talking to her. You’ll find out what’s going on with her. And maybe she can help more with your mom. By the way, what Jackie offered? Same goes for me. I’ll be happy to hold on to your stuff.”

“Thanks. I’m still looking for a way out of it but I’ll let you know.”

The girls were almost home and split off to head to their respective houses. Freya wondering more about what to do regarding her mother. Now that she’d had some time to think about it, she knew it wasn’t really about the ‘stuff.’ Those things were important to her, but she had a way to salvage them. It was, she was now realizing, more about her mom and the different ways they saw Freya’s life. Most kids want to make their mom happy or proud, and Freya of course felt like that, but she was angry that her mom didn’t trust her to take her own life seriously. She almost wanted to have a fight about it but she knew that wouldn’t get her far. Her mom was incredibly stubborn. This would require some more thought.

Chapter Text

In a little café in Ocean Beach, San Diego, Leilani was surprised to find that her server was fellow mermaid, Xandie.

“Xandie! I didn’t know you worked here. What happened to that other place in Mission Beach?”

“Ugh, they got popped with too many health code violations and ended up on the news. Business is way down so no one is getting their hours. They’re probably going to fold soon. The owner’s an ass, anyway.”

“Cheery as usual…”

“You know me…” Xandie shrugged. The younger waitress took Leilani’s order and went off to serve some other tables before coming back with her sandwich.

“Hey, it’s busy right now, and I know you don’t really like me, but can we talk some time?”

“Xandie, I really don’t dislike you, I hope you know that.”

Xandie wasn’t sure how to respond. She did great interacting with customers but never seemed to be able to get personal relationships right. After a moment of not knowing what to say, she just sidestepped the issue.

”Um, either way, can we talk?”

“Of course. I’m off all day. After your shift?”

“Yeah, that would be cool. I’m usually off by seven. Is eight good?”

“Eight’s fine.”

“Is it ok if we meet in the water? I haven’t been out there for a couple days.”

“Even better!”

“Straight out from the PB pier? Just past the drop off?”

“See you there at eight. Oh, I think that table’s trying to get your attention.”

Xandie growled before putting on a smile and heading over. Leaving Leilani to finish eating.

Leilani figured on getting out to the meeting spot early, just to relax, and she was floating on her back, nearly asleep when Xandie found her.

“Hey.”

“Hey, yourself. It was good to see you.”

Xandie seemed embarrassed by the interaction.

“You don’t have to be nice to me. I know people talk about me.”

Leilani looked sad, and a little hurt.

“Honestly, Xandie, no one dislikes you. You just never join in and we don’t know what to do to get you to. But you don’t have to. We get it. You got dealt a tough hand.”

Xandie was surprised at the compassion. She’d always been a loner. One of the reasons she loved surfing was that it’s a solo sport. If this interaction went on for too much longer, it would probably count as one of the longest that she’d had with any of the local mermaids. She had expected that the terseness that she’d exhibited would be returned to her by Leilani and the others and wasn’t really ready for Leilani to be nice to her.

“Um… Thanks.” She stumbled a bit. “I wanted to talk about my situation and ask you about some things. Is that ok?”

“Yeah.” Leilani didn’t know where this was going but she sensed tension, or maybe not tension so much as anxiety. “Are you ok? Do you need anything?”

“No. No, no, no. It’s not like that. I’m ok. But I’m just kind of existing. I think I need to make a change and you know things.”

“Sure, whatever you need to talk about. I’ve got all night and it’s nice out here.”

“It really is.” Xandie looked around. It seemed to Leilani that Xandie was hesitant to go on.

“Xandie?”

“Yeah?”

“What were you going to ask.”

“Sorry, I got sidetracked looking around. That’s the thing. I don’t know how much longer I can stay here. I guess I just got lost thinking about that. It’s so pretty and I might have to leave.”

Leilani looked at her questioningly.

“It’s just so expensive. I’m barely making ends meet. When I transitioned, I thought I had it all planned out. I DID have it all planned out. Surf, school, job at Scripps, or maybe out in Hawai’i. Then this happened.” They both knew what ‘this’ meant. “I mean, it’s been amazing. I’m connected to the water in a way I never thought I could be, but it put the brakes on my whole human life. It’s been a few years, and I think maybe I need to get back on some sort of track.”

“So you’re thinking about leaving San Diego?”

“Yeah. Even if I can keep my head above water, no pun intended, I’ll never make any forward progress. I can’t make enough to ever get back to going to school.”

“What about family? Is there anyone who can help you out?”

“I was already emancipated when I turned. I’d been on my own for two years at that point. Let’s just say it was a bad situation at home. I haven’t talked to my parents since I was sixteen.”

“Oh, shit. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. As rough as things are, they were much worse before.”

“Well, I guess I can see why you’d be bitter.”

“Please don’t tell the others. I’m not saying all this for sympathy. Honestly, I don’t know why I’m saying all this. You shouldn’t have to deal with my shit.”

“Xandie, I’m sure it’s hard when you’ve been on your own, but it could be easier if you let some other people in. Listening to you is not a burden. At least not for me. I know you don’t want to talk about that, though, so what did you want to ask me?”

Xandie sighed. She hated asking for any sort of help, even if it was just for information.

“So… If I want to get some of my old life back, I’m going to have to move; to someplace where I can afford to live and go to school. Preferably near water, which rules out most of the west and east coasts in terms of affordability.”

Leilani wasn’t really seeing where she fit in to this.

“I don’t know. Aren’t all the good marine biology schools on the coasts?”

“Yeah. But that’s probably off the table, anyway. There aren’t a lot of marine biologists who don’t have to spend at least some time in the water. So I’m thinking, just biology. Or one of the other physical sciences. Or maybe something else that I end up finding or liking. I just need to get back to school.”

“Ok, well that opens up a lot of options.”

“But it has to be cheap and I still have to swim. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. Because of your friends.”

“Ava?” Leilani was confused.

“No, you’re Ohio friends. The girls that came out to visit.”

“Oooooh. That makes more sense. But they’re literally girls. The oldest is twelve!”

“I know, but I’ve lived in San Diego my whole life. I’ve surfed all over, but that’s not like living there. I was wondering if you could let me talk to them and just see what life is like for them there. I mean, Cleveland? Right? That sounds crazy, but if they… What are there? Three of them? If they can actually BE mermaids in whatever lake that is, then I’d kind of like to know more. It’s cheap there, right?”

Leilani chuckled. “It’s insanely cheaper than here. It’s Lake Erie, by the way.” Leilani had noticed that some of Xandie’s gruffness was making its way back into the conversation.

“Erie. Right. I knew that.”

“I’m assuming you’ve googled it, right? Most of what you’d need to know is on the internet.”

“I have. Financially, it totally works. I can live super cheaply, go to Cleveland State pretty affordably, and then see what comes next. I’m just… I don’t know… I guess I just want to talk to someone who lives there and knows things. You know, get a local feel. Like talking to a local surfer when you’re in a new place.”

Leilani was pleased to find that Xandie had put some thought into this.

“Yeah. Absolutely. They’d love to meet you!”

“Really? I figured the others had talked too much crap about me.”

“Oh my god, Xandie, no one is talking shit about you. Did we tell the girls about you? Yes. Did it come up that you were sometimes a little grumpy? Yeah, but in context. They heard your story. I think the youngest one looked heartbroken for you. Then they got to hear Suzanne’s crazy story and yours didn’t seem that bad. Look, those girls were so excited to find out that other mermaids existed. They’ll be over the moon to talk to you.”

Xandie looked guilty. “Thanks. I guess I don’t give people enough credit.”

“Or yourself…”

Xandie gave a shy smile. “Yeah, I guess that, too.”

“Do you still have the same number?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok. Let me talk to them and set something up. Between them having school and the time difference, it might take a little scheduling. Text me your work schedule later and I’ll work it all out.”

Xandie looked relieved. Not about being able to talk to the girls, though that was her goal, really about being more accepted than she thought she was.

“You know,” Leilani wanted to say one last thing. “This is the most we’ve ever talked, and we’ve known each other for three years.”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“Maybe we can do that a little more before you leave? Get to actually know each other?”

Xandie continued to be surprised by Leilani, if a little embarrassed by the attention. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

The two ended up chatting for much longer into the evening once the tension was broken, with Leilani promising to work on a meet up in the next few days. Then they had a little swim together, which is really the best thing two mermaids can do.

Xandie surprised Leilani by quickly diving down and coming back up a minute later with two shellfish, briskly opening them and offering one to Leilani while downing the other. Leilani had never eaten ‘in the wild’ and was quite taken aback. She didn’t want to seem rude, but she gently said no thank you and Xandie shrugged before finishing the second one. It dawned on her that perhaps Leilani hadn’t done this before and she rather bluntly asked about it.

“You don’t ever do this?”

Leilani felt almost prudish but acknowledged that she had not. “I actually haven’t. I’ve always been a little afraid. Do you eat out here a lot?”

Xandie nodded. “How do you think I’ve afforded to keep living here? Uneaten food at wherever I work and the all-day seafood buffet out here. It really is better fresh!”

Leilani felt a mixture of sadness and admiration. It sucked that Xandie had to resort to eating in the wild just to get by, but there was a feral quality to the younger woman that tugged at her deepest mermaid heart strings and part of her wondered if this was supposed to be the way she should be living; truly wild and free.

Chapter Text

Freya was still moping in her room when Kim called the land line.

“Hey, you should come over. We have business to discuss.”

‘Business to discuss’ had become code for mermaid related talk, so she put her bad mood aside and made the short trip to the Callahan’s.

“What’s up?” She asked as she went into Kim’s room, finding all three sisters there.

“I’m not sure. I got a text from Leilani asking if we could talk.”

Freya’s mood perked up. “So not just local mermaid business?”

Kim smiled. “Transcontinental mermaid business!” Kim saw Freya’s mood lighten and that, in turn, made her happy.

“Cool. When?”

“Half an hour.”

Freya smiled. All of them liked getting to talk to Leilani but Freya remained the most excited out of all of them. Her lifelong infatuation with mermaids not abated by actually becoming one.

At the appointed time, they gathered around Kim’s laptop.

“Hey, everyone!” Leilani’s generally good nature was always nice to see.

“Hey!” They all parroted in unison.

“Oh good. I see Renee is here, too. That’s good.”

The girls were wondering what this was about.

“This is going to seem a little out of left field, but if it’s ok with you guys, I’ve been asked to introduce you to Xandie. You remember who she is?”

Freya looked like she was going to explode and she immediately spoke up, not really caring what anyone else thought.

“Oh my god! Yes! Of course!” She turned to the amused group around her. “OMG, we finally get to meet Xandie!”

Kim took control of the conversation back, rolling her eyes.

“I think Freya would kill us if we said no! But, of course, we’d love to meet her. But, like, why exactly? I thought she wasn’t too into meeting others.”

“Uh, we might have overstated that. Sure, she’d kind of bitter, but we had a really long talk the other night and it was nice.”

“Yeah, but why the whole introduction thing? It’s kind of weirdly formal.”

“She has a reason. Suffice it to say, she wants to pick your brains about something.”

Everyone seemed confused as to what Xandie would need to know from them but it didn’t really matter, they were cool with it.

Leilani got all the info she needed to line up schedules and then spent an hour more on the call, with both sides filling in the other with all the latest news. Leilani said she’d get back to them soon and they got off the call, with everyone worried that Freya’s brain was going to explode. Truthfully, Leilani liked teasing them like this. She knew it wasn’t anything bad and watching them, especially Freya, ponder what it was about was a little fun.

Leilani got it all figured out and set a call up for a few days later, the girls spending an inordinate amount of time wondering about it. Then she set about warning Xandie about what she was about to step into.

“What do you mean you want to give me a heads up?” Xandie was a little worried about what that might mean.

“It’s just that… well, you’re sort of a private person…” Xandie snorted a little laugh acknowledging that. “…and, well, they’ve kind of made a little community for themselves.”

Xandie remained confused. “I don’t get it. I mean, I know there are three of them.”

“Oh, my sweet summer child.” Leilani let out one of her huge laughs. “Look, it’s not my place to tell you about everyone, but they have a handful of other people in their lives who know about them and they are thick as thieves. Plus, they’re a bit excitable. It’s going to be a case of ‘in for a penny, in for a pound.’ But I have to say, they are incredibly trustworthy and loyal. I don’t think it will matter, but you tend to keep to yourself. I kind of should have said this to you before I set everything up, I guess.”

Xandie didn’t look terribly put out by this. “Meh. I’m kind of over the lone wolf thing, I think. That’s part of the reason I’m making changes. I doubt it would matter if a few extra people know about me. Who’s going to believe some random kid in Cleveland, right?”

Leilani laughed, a little surprised at how open Xandie was being. “Ok, just letting you know. Odds are, a few of them will be lurking, trying to get in on the call.” Xandie didn’t seem to care so Leilani got ready for the call, getting Xandie a drink and setting up the laptop, as well as making sure grandma could poke her head in to say hi.

The time came and the screen came to life, the girls punctual as always. The screen in Kim’s room filled with two faces, one familiar, and one brand new. The kids took the face in for a second before starting up. From what they knew about the former surfer, they expected someone who looked a lot like Ava; sun-bleached, athletic, and socal blonde. What they saw, instead, was a tiny, black-haired girl, maybe half a head shorter than the averagely sized Leilani, with deeply tan skin and features that seemed Asian but were harder to determine.

Kim, as usual, took the lead, introducing the three before Xandie returned the introduction, further surprising the girls with a smokey, almost gravely voice, instead of the somewhat girlish voice that she looked like she might have. Jackie saw how she might be viewed as gruff, just based on the timbre of the voice.

Leilani figured she’d save a little time by quickly outlining what the call was about, with Freya squealing in delight at the idea of Xandie coming to Cleveland. Xandie looked at Leilani, surprised at how accurate her predictions were about the girls, Leilani shooting back an ‘I told you so’ look.

“So,” Kim said, gaining control back again from her overly excited neighbor, “Leilani said that you had questions? I’m not sure how much we will know but, what would you like to ask?”

Xandie launched into a series of questions that tackled things that weren’t easily found on Wikipedia. Questions about where to live cheaply, how people of color are accepted, what the music scene was like, were there good opportunities to get a job at a decent restaurant, etc. Unfortunately, the girls didn’t have great answers to a lot of these questions but they suggested bringing some other people onto the call who might know more. Xandie looked at Leilani who gave her another ‘I told you so’ look before sighing and agreeing.

Leilani chuckled. “I’m sure they are right off camera, anyway, so, sure.”

Freya gave a pretend shocked look. “No! We would never! They’re next door in Renee’s room.” This was followed by Freya shouting for the rest of them to come in while Kim and Jackie looked slightly embarrassed. Both the boys, Renee, and Maddie shoved their way into view, excitedly waving hello.

Xandie actually laughed out loud, something she didn’t do that often, and after more introductions, she posed some of her questions again. Reed, who spent the most time researching things, had some answers about neighborhoods, demographics, and such. Renee filled her on what she had learned recently about the music scene, and Cole, whose older brothers were all actively in the job market, told her what he could about their experiences looking for work, which sounded positive in terms of finding a decent server position. The group talked at length, from their somewhat limited experience, but keen to sell Cleveland to Xandie, who was feeling better about the idea.

Xandie being Xandie, she was still a little blunt. “It’s just that, you know, Cleveland has kind of a reputation.”

“That’s just not fair, though.” Reed was particularly interested in pushing back. “Yeah, it used to kind of suck here, but that was true of the whole Midwest, especially the industrial cities, and that was a long time ago. Sure, a lot of factory jobs are gone, but not all of them and there are tons of great restaurants, great museums, the lake is clean, and it’s pretty much like any other city the same size.”

“How’s Cleveland State? I was thinking about a bigger school, like OSU, but, you know, no big water in Columbus. And it seemed more expensive.”

Cole had thoughts. “My oldest brother goes to CSU. He thinks it’s fine.”

Freya added to that. “My brother is taking some classes there before he gets out of high school. Same thing. He might even stay there to do his law degree.”

The conversation continued for quite a while, with Jackie not joining in much, but very interested in Xandie’s hard to read demeanor. Jackie was always the best at reading people, but Xandie was so reserved that it was hard to figure her out. She took that almost as a challenge, hoping that she’d get to know the surfer better to figure her out. For Xandie’s part, the kids had verified much of what she’d already researched and was feeling better about maybe doing this move. She wondered what it would be like to be the oldest mermaid around, instead of the youngest and got lost in her thoughts towards the end of the call, her brain racing ahead to what it would actually be like to move there.

Leilani sensed that Xandie was losing focus and started wrapping things up. The kids happy to have been helpful and Xandie truly appreciative of the conversation. Leilani ended the call.

“So. What did you think?”

Xandie still looked pensive. “That was cool. It helped.”

“Tell the truth, when’s the last time you talked to that many people at the same time?” Leilani was enjoying needling the girl a little.

Xandie smirked. “Probably since I was surfing. Honestly, it was weird for me. They were all so damned nice to me.”

“That’s because they weren’t a table full of drunk customers.” Leilani laughed. Xandie had to agree.

“So, when are you thinking about doing this?

“I’m not sure. I need to get with the school and see if I can even be accepted, and I’ll need to work for a while to save some money for the actual trip, but I’d probably leave soonish. Honestly, there’s not much keeping me here. I just need enough money to drive there and start paying rent somewhere. Maybe in a couple weeks?”

“Wow. That soon? You’re just going to go for it.”

“There’s not much of a downside. I’m not crazy about the idea of winter, but it’s not like it will bother me very much.”

“Yeah, ask the girls about swimming under the ice some time.”

Xandie gave a legitimately shocked look. “Seriously? That’s brave.”

“I kind of think they’re a little nuts. Kim’s only been doing this for a year, the others for less than that.”

“Not at the same time?” Xandie had the same questions that Leilani had had.

“You’ll have to have them explain it; I don’t think I can do the story justice.”

“Weird.”

“You know, if you move there, you won’t be able to avoid them. They will find you, and they will force you to hang out with them. They’re like a litter of puppies, I swear to god. They are just too excited; even Kim, who is the least excitable, though that isn’t saying much.”

Xandie looked a little nervous for the first time. “Yeah, I kind of picked up on that. But… Fresh starts and all that. Maybe I can do that.”

“Don’t forget, you’ll be the older, more experienced one. They’ll look up to you.”

“Barely. I’ve got, what, two years on them? I’m almost as new at this. I’m barely an adult, myself.”

“I’m just saying. Be nice. They’re my friends.”

Xandie understood. She wouldn’t have as much room to hide herself away, and unlike the other San Diego mermaids, who were older and had busy enough lives to not need to seek her out, these girls would probably force their way into her life. If she was making changes, she would have to figure out how to accommodate them. She had always felt judged by the older women in SD, whether that was a fair characterization or not, but this would be different. Maybe she could handle it.

Chapter Text

Freya’s excitement at meeting the other mermaid had died down a little and she was thinking about Xandie’s story and her own struggles with her parents’ expectations of her. Being eleven is not supposed to be this fraught but as she considered what Xandie had been through, maybe her own life wasn’t as bad as she thought it was. One of the things about what the girls had gone through was that it exposed them to the more adult world. They had adult friends. They were interacting with older kids and siblings. They were dealing with secrets that most kids didn’t have to keep. Fairly or not, they were being forced to grow up a little more quickly, at least in some ways. None of them were thinking of it in exactly those terms, but all of them knew they’d been exposed to a bigger world, even the boys and Renee, and a lot of the middle school drama seemed somewhat quaint to them, even after just a few months of being a little different. Freya was thrilled at possibly meeting Xandie in person and her worries about room decorating didn’t seem worth it anymore. Again, she didn’t think of it in exactly these terms, but she knew that her mother had no idea of what had been going on with her, and Xandie’s emancipation put Freya’s assessment of her own mother in a different light. As much as she felt she was giving something up, she decided to take the high road and give her mom the ‘win,’ while accepting her friends’ offer of keeping her stuff.

Freya figured she had most of the day to clear out her room. Her parents and brother were on a college tour and Sonja had been left in charge. The painters were coming the following week, her mom using this as an excuse to finally paint other parts of the house that she wanted to change. So she started the task of gathering up her various mermaid related objects into a couple of totes from the basement, taking the time to stash some of her more important books deep in her closet.

Sonja watched unseen from the doorway for a bit as her little sister packed stuff away, looking wistful but not as broken up as she figured she would look. She finally made her presence known.

“Hey, small frey, you doin’ ok?”

Freya winced at the old nickname but sat down on the edge of the bed to reply to her sister.

“Yeah. I just thought I’d do this without mom around to gloat.”

“So you’re giving in?”

“I guess. It’s not worth the fight. Plus, the girls are going to hold on to everything for me. I’m not actually giving it away.”

“Devious. I like it!” Sonja walked the rest of the way into the room and sat down at Freya’s desk, spinning around to face her sister. “What made up your mind?”

“I don’t know. Just thinking about things, I guess. I met someone who hasn’t talked to her parents in six years and I don’t want to end up like that. Plus, it’s not like I’m letting this stuff go. In my heart, this will always be my ‘thing.’ I don’t need this stuff to know who I am.” Freya was being far more forthcoming than her sister understood.

“How do you know someone like that? I thought you had to be like, fifteen, to be emancipated.”

Freya laughed. “And how do you know that?”

Sonja smirked. “I may have looked it up once or twice the last few years. I’m over it, now. But you didn’t answer…”

“Friend of a friend, sort of. Through Kim’s sister.” She felt the need to lie just a little bit.

Sonja let it go. She had her own secrets. She understood. “Do you want some help?”

“Sure.” This wasn’t the sort of thing that Sonja would normally do, so it was nice of her to offer.

The two loaded up the totes and headed down the street to the Callahan’s. Sonja had never been to Freya’s friends’ house but didn’t think much about it until she walked upstairs and stepped directly into the midst of the entire friend group hanging out, rather crowdedly, in Kim’s room.

“Hey, I’ve got all my stuff. Where do you want us to put it?”

Everyone looked up, a little surprised to see Sonja there with Freya, a couple of them never having even met her before.

“Oh yeah, this is my sister, Sonja.” She set her tote down and gestured at Sonja to do the same. Sonja tried to look around as subtly as possible while everyone said hi. Various types of artwork covered the walls, most of it strikingly similar in theme to the stuff that her sister was getting rid of, though more realistic and less fanciful.

“I see why you were willing to take Freya’s stuff.” Sonja stated, rather innocently. “You mind if I check this all out?”

Kim’s room had been the main hangout spot for a long time so it didn’t really strike her exactly how mermaid themed it had become until someone from outside their group saw it. Especially someone who already had a sister with similar likes. She got slightly nervous but there was really nothing to be done about that at this point.

“Sure.”

“Did you draw all this?”

“Some. And some is Freya’s. But most of it, and all the good stuff, is Jackie’s, she’s the artist.”

Jackie and Renee were busy with Freya, deciding where to put everything, heading out of the room to split it all up between Renee, Jackie, and the basement so as not to overwhelm any one space. That left Kim with Maddie, the boys and Sonja, which felt a little awkward for a minute until it was clear that Sonja was just going to keep checking out all the stuff in Kim’s room.

“So, like, you guys are all into the same stuff as Freya?”

Kim wasn’t sure what the right answer was. “Kind of? But I guess most of it just ended up in my room. Jackie does tons of drawing and it’s not all the same subjects. Renee’s more into music, along with Cole, who’s other big thing is photography, which Jackie also does. Everyone’s got their own thing.”

Sonja was a little off kilter. She thought her sister was a bit eccentric but her friend was just as into it, it seemed. And Renee and Maddie were clearly older. On top of that, her parents would never let her have boys in her room, even as platonic as this all seemed. Sonja traced her finger along the side of a mermaid tail drawing absentmindedly as she thought this. She couldn’t have known that the very drawing she was looking at was her sister’s tail as sketched by Jackie.

It surprised Sonja that all of Freya’s friends seemed actually cool. They were interesting people. The type of kids she would have been friends with if they were her age. The thought struck her; was her sister actually cool? She always thought of Freya as an outcast, to some degree. Bogged down by her ‘crazy’ infatuation with mermaids, but she had this whole group of people who seemed to be totally into her vibe and cared about her. If she hadn’t offered to bring Freya’s stuff over here, she might never have realized this about her sister. It shook her a little. If her sister was cool, what else was she missing about people.

Sonja stayed for a bit after her sister came back, asking Renee and Maddie some things since they’d be at her high school come fall. Eventually, Freya dragged her away, wanting to finish doing some things in her room.

“Your friends are cool.” Sonja remarked as they walked the three housed back to their own.

“I know.” Freya simply replied. There hadn’t been any question in her mind.

They went upstairs and Sonja helped Freya for a while with her room. The day had ended up being a bit eye-opening for her.

“So, I see why you gave in to mom. You’re over there most of the time, anyway, right? You won’t even miss this stuff.”

“Yeah.” There was a slight pause. “Just so you know, mom’s wrong about me.”

Sonja was a bit surprised by the forcefulness of the statement. “What do you mean?”

“She thinks that I’m not serious because of the mermaid thing. That’s not true. My grades are great, I fully plan on going to college and maybe grad school. I just don’t want to do the boring things that she wants me to do. But I’m fine. I want someone in the family to get that.” She looked just a little pleadingly at her sister.

“Hey, I’ve got you.” And she did. Probably for the first time, she really ‘saw’ her sister. Maybe because she was old enough now, but the simple act of witnessing her in her own element had made her see her.

“What about me?” Sonja wasn’t sure why she was asking this, but it suddenly felt important.

“What about you?”

“Do you get me? I fought mom hard and she kind of gave up on me. Am I the crazy one?”

Freya thought for a while. “I don’t think either of us understood each other for a long time. Maybe we do, now? I’m not sure that I totally get you, but you wouldn’t be you if hadn’t had your issues with mom, I know that. You’re not crazy. We’re all just different. I’ll get you. I just need to figure you out some more.” She hugged her older sister and went back to sit on her chair, looking a little forlornly at her rather stark bedroom.

“You really want to piss mom off?” Sonja was full of bad ideas. “Replace all your mermaid stuff with K-Pop!”

Freya laughed. “Now that’s funny!”

Chapter Text

Apparently, once the door was open, Xandie was all in. After three years of almost no contact, Leilani found herself talking to Xandie almost every day, with the diminutive mermaid even coming to the house and meeting grandma. Xandie asked a lot of questions about the girls in Cleveland but Leilani was not very forthcoming. She figured that if Xandie had questions, that was a good way for her to come out of her shell after moving, so she demurred, telling Xandie that she should be asking them those questions and often fibbing that she didn’t know certain answers.

In truth, it wasn’t so much that Xandie was coming out of her shell, as that she was coming out from under a black cloud. For three years, she had felt like the life she planned for herself was over, that it had to be over. Now that she’d found a path, even if it wasn’t the path she had planned on, she could feel the darkness lifting. She was never going to be gregarious, at least she didn’t think she would, but it turns out that if she likes you, she’s a little hard to get rid of.

Leilani had actually been enjoying this. She was pleased to have helped, and watching Xandie go from ‘the angry mermaid’ to ‘the determined but still slightly off-putting mermaid’ was good to see. By the time Xandie had saved enough money for the trip, she was actually sad to see her go.

The two sat on Leilani’s patio, just a few days before Xandie was to leave. She was already packed and out of the apartment but she wanted to wait three days until the next full moon was past. She didn’t relish the idea of dealing with a full moon while sleeping in the middle of Nebraska in a Geo Prizm, but more than that, she wanted one more Pacific full moon before she left.

Leilani’s grandma had graciously offered up their couch and Xandie had unexpectedly accepted. Three days with Xandie had not been on Leilani’s bingo card, but apparently it was happening.

Xandie turned out to be an amazing house guest, spending the first day cleaning and generally trying to earn her keep. That night, the two mermaids came back from a swim and settled onto the couch to watch a movie. Before it was half way done, Xandie had dozed off, her head against Leilani’s shoulder. Leilani gently extracted herself and pulled a blanket over her before heading to her room, surprised at how odd it was that Xandie had gone from avoiding everyone to falling asleep against her on the couch. She wasn’t sure that she understood Xandie very well.

The final day arrived, it being the full moon, and Leilani wanted to both surprise and test Xandie a bit. They had agreed to do the full moon out on the water and as night fell, they went out and swam for a while as they waited for the moon. Leilani led them to a specific place, where the others were waiting, having been filled in on Xandie’s plans.

Xandie pulled up short of the group, not expecting that, but Leilani beckoned her over and she tentatively joined, the others gathering around to congratulate her on her move and the changes coming in her life. Xandie still hadn’t fully grasped that she wasn’t really disliked and after some time, she untensed and allowed the others to close in a little more until there were actually some hugs given.

The moon rose and five mermaids relaxed in the light, letting it soak into them. Being a cloudless summer night, the effects lasted as long as possible and it was a couple hours before the group started to become more awake. Xandie came out of it first and dove straight down, finally coming back around the time that the others were rousing. She offered each an oyster, the others finding it hard to say no on a full moon and they joined her, each surprised at how natural it felt to be doing so.

The others wished Xandie well and the group headed for shore before splitting off into each of their own directions. Leilani and Xandie walked the mile back up Law Street to the house. Tired, they each fell asleep until Leilani woke to see Xandie standing in her doorway.

“It was nice tonight. I don’t really want to be alone. Can I sleep with you?”

Leilani wasn’t sure what to think, but the full moon was still coursing through her and she slid over and patted the mattress in a welcoming manor. The smaller mermaid curled up beside her and was asleep again in minutes, Leilani still not understanding the other girl, but happy that she had a great full moon.

The next morning, Leilani awoke alone to the sound of breakfast being made as Xandie helped grandma in the kitchen.

“Breakfast, sleepyhead? The moon really got you last night, huh?” Grandma was always up earlier than Leilani and never stopped teasing her about it.

“Today’s the day, right?” Leilani looked at Xandie who had a determined expression on her face.

“Today is indeed the day. After we eat, I’ll shower, then I’m out of your hair. Thank you for letting me stay. It was a bigger help than you know.”

Grandma dismissed the thanks. “It was no problem. Any friend of Lani’s is a friend of mine.”

Leilani carried some of Xandie’s things as they went out to the car. “This is it. You’re on your way! I have to say, I’m a little excited for you. I’ve never lived anywhere else. It seems like an adventure.”

“Not too much of one, I hope. But, yeah, big changes. Thank you again. Sorry about last night. The moon tends to make me feel a little needy. I hope I didn’t overstep.”

“Not at all. It was nice, actually. I’m sorry we didn’t really get to know each other until the very end. I wish I’d tried harder.”

“It was all me. And honestly, until I decided to make a change, I wouldn’t have been very good company. But I’m glad we did finally get to know each other. Good luck. I’m going to get going.”

“You better let me know how you are, ok?”

“I will.”

Xandie started the car and backed out, taking the first turn onto a street that would lead to the rest of her life.

On the other side of the country, this full moon had been very much like the last. The group got to stay in Berea again and lounge in the warm, shallow waters of Wallace Lake while Maddie tried to duplicate the effect from the month before. While it was pleasant and fulfilling, there was no levitation or huge power-up like the last time. This time, Cole and Jackie stayed later, having brought cameras to try to get good photos of the full moon before themselves heading back to Henri’s house. On the whole, it had been a great full moon for everyone, though their minds were on the travels of the soon to be new Clevelander who they knew would be leaving in the morning.

Chapter Text

Freya was pacing around Kim’s room. Kim had been trying to read but that clearly wasn’t happening.

“Can you relax. She won’t be here for three days, and even then, she’s not going to make us her first stop. She’ll have things to do. We don’t even know if she has a place to stay.”

Kim immediately regretted that last sentence. Freya stared at her.

“Oh my god, what if she doesn’t? What if she’s homeless when she gets here? Maybe I can hide her in the basement if she needs someplace.”

“Freya! Get a hold of yourself. She’s a big girl. I’m sure she has a plan. Just give her time and let her get settled. We’ll see her eventually. She might not even want to hang out with us. Remember? She’s ‘the angry mermaid.’” She even seemed a little moody on the call. You’re going to be disappointed.”

Freya looked a little downcast. Kim hadn’t meant to depress her, but she was just getting way to excited.

“I guess you’re right. I’ll try to not think about it.”

In actuality, Xandie did not have a plan. Or, rather, her plan was more like a basic outline. She didn’t really have the funds for hotels. All the money she had was earmarked for Rent once she got there. She had driven eighteen-hour days, sleeping in the car and eating on the road, anxious to get through the remarkably dry middle of the country. Her plan for housing was to figure it out once she got there, which she jumped on right away, driving straight to Cleveland State University and checking all the job and housing boards before looking online for rooms for rent or roommate situations. For the first night, she found a safe place to park and hit the lake, finding a quiet cove to float in, sleeping out there, just like how the girls had discovered to do it in the bath tub. This wasn’t the first time she had been between places to live.

Despite having had a bit of a rough life, Xandie had an uncanny knack for landing on her feet. She got a serving job almost right away, and then found an ad for a roommate wanted in a house full of students in a bit of a rough part of town. She was shocked at how much cheaper she could live here. Sharing a house with three other people got her down to $300 a month plus a quarter of the utilities. Living on W. 91^st St wasn’t quite walking distance to the lake, but it was less than two miles, which meant that she could still go swimming pretty much any time she wanted to.

By her third day in town, she was housed and working, waiting to find out whether she could start classes in the fall or have to wait for January. She was anxious to get started with school, but didn’t mind waiting if she could save up some money. Either way, she had at least a month and was finally able to relax, her move complete and her new life underway. She texted Leilani:

Xandie--- I’m here and settled in. Thanks again for everything.

She got a response almost right away:

Leilani--- Great! Trip ok?

Xandie--- Uneventful. It went fine

Leilani--- You’re settled?!?! You found a place to stay already?

Xandie--- Yes. I got a job and found a house that needed a roommate. All students. Perfect.

Leilani--- But you just got there?

Xandie--- Two days ago. Got the job and room yesterday.

Leilani laughed to herself. Of course Xandie didn’t tell her when she arrived.

Leilani--- Did you call the kids yet?

Xandie--- No. Do I have to right away?

Leilani--- Yes. We talked about this.

Xandie--- Ugh. I was getting used to being by myself again. Ok. I’ll text them

Leilani--- Thank you!!! They’ll be so excited:)

In typical Xandie fashion, she left the conversation at that and texted the group of two numbers that Leilani had set up in her phone. Leilani hadn’t given the girls her number so they wouldn’t distract her on the drive, but they would have it very soon…

Xandie--- Hi. I’m here.

Renee wondered what the scream was for in Kim’s room. She wandered in to find Freya trying to restrain herself as Kim glared at her.

“Jesus, Freya, I’d like to keep my hearing intact.”

“I’m sorry! Why aren’t you texting back yet?”

“I take it Xandie’s in town?” Renee had figured out what happened.

“Yes, and Freya’s probably going to convince her to get right back in the car and go back west if she doesn’t settle down.”

“Fine. I’ll calm down. But guys! This is so exciting! We have another mermaid, right here in Cleveland!”

“That we know of…” Kim figured she’d wind her up just a little more to get back at her. “After all, it’s a big lake and someone else could have been in the water the same time as me…”

They’d talked about this before but Kim brought it up every so often to get a rise out of Freya.

“You’re just trying to distract me. Text her back! I can’t wait till November when I can have my own phone.” Freya couldn’t decide between being pouty and being excited and Kim watched her face fight between the two expressions for a few seconds before starting to type.

Kim--- Hey! Glad you made it safely.

Kim figured the best way to get her to meet with them was to offer up a swim.

Kim--- Want to go for a swim? We can show you around a little and say hi

There was a long enough pause that even Kim was getting worried about a negative answer.

Xandie--- Cool. I’d like that. Where?

Kim--- Where are you staying?

Xandie--- W91st near Madison Ave

Kim--- Perfect! Let’s meet near Edgewater Park. There’s a little beach called Perkins Beach. Google it and you should be able to get in the water there. Let’s meet at the Crib. It’s a big concrete building a couple miles off the shore. It’s orange and round. You can’t miss it. What time?

Xandie--- I can leave now.

Kim--- We’ll need a half hour to get everyone together and get down to the lake

Xandie--- That’s fine. I’ll wait out there. It looks nice today

Kim was starting to see what Leilani had described in regards to Xandie and her gruffness. She hoped Freya wouldn’t be too let down. Kim sent Freya to find Jackie, who had uncharacteristically not joined in the text. Freya found her in the basement, cleaning all her water color brushes in the laundry sink, unaware that they were about to go meet the new mermaid in person for the first time. The two bounded back up the stairs to meet Kim and they biked down to the shore, not wanting to leave her waiting.

They were getting in the water when Kim told them where they were going. Jackie glared at Kim.

“You know there’s a webcam on the Crib, right?”

“Um…” Clearly Kim did not know that. “Oh shit, let’s go!”

The girls dove in, swimming strongly before they even changed, getting to the Crib in just a few minutes. Luckily, they found Xandie hanging out in the shade on the north side of the large structure, the webcam facing south towards the city.

The girls approached, glad that she was on the correct side but worried about whether she’d swum around it on the surface.

“Thank goodness,” Kim got out before they even introduced themselves, “there’s a web cam on the other side of this thing.”

“I know. I looked it up before I left.”

The girls looked relieved but startled that she’d been so thorough.

“I didn’t know what the heck a ‘Crib’ was so I googled it on the drive down.”

Kim shook her head at forgetting to give Xandie any extra information in her haste to meet her.

“Yeah, it’s one of the water inlets for the city water system. I should have said.”

“Convenient landmark.” Xandie’s terseness was odd but it was in an endearing way.

“I’m sure you remember from the call, but I’m Kim, this is my sister Jackie, and that is our friend Freya.” Freya lunged forward, wrapping Xandie in a hug, the other girl looking like she didn’t quite know what to do before giving a gentle hug back and then slightly disentangling herself from the excited eleven-year-old. Kim looked slightly mortified but Xandie understood.

“I’m trying to be a little more social, so it’s ok.”

Freya blushed.

They spent a few minutes discussing the trip, and her housing situation, eventually becoming more comfortable. Xandie found that they were easier to talk to than the adults she knew. There was no artifice; the girls said what they meant to say and were genuine in a way that grown ups often aren’t. She began to feel like she would get through this, and maybe even enjoy their company.

“So,” Xandie said, anxious to explore a little, “would you like to show me around?” Freya didn’t need to be told twice and grabbed Xandie’s hand, heading east to check out the downtown shoreline first. The tour lasted much longer than Xandie thought she would want to put up with and she was still sociable, though just about done, a few hours later. The girls led her to Wagar Beach to show her their primary way home.

“So this is it.” Kim waved towards the small beach from a few hundred yards out. “Do you think you can find your way back to Perkins?”

Xandie nodded. “Yeah. I’ll head back, I think. I need to relax a little before work.”

“You have a job already?” Even Jackie, who didn’t usually think about things like that, was surprised at how fast the older girl was moving.

“I’ve got rent, and I need to start saving for school, so, yeah. I’m serving at a bar and restaurant near me called the Happy Dog. Weird name but they have a lot of hot dogs on the menu.”

There was a pause before Freya couldn’t help herself and came in for another hug, Xandie being a little more participatory, this time, even laughing lightly at the enthusiasm.

“Thanks for coming out with us. And for moving here. It was so fun being in San Diego and meeting everyone else, I’m glad we finally got to meet you, too.”

“Yeah. This was nicer than I expected. Let’s do it again soon.”

“Xandie?” Freya had a final question.

“Yeah?”

“Is that your full name?”

Xandie looked at her for rather a long time, clearly thinking something over. She had always been Xandie, ever since she was little. But it wasn’t her full name. She spent a lot of years being protective of it and correcting teachers who tried to use it. To her, ‘Xandie’ was a holdover from an earlier, better part of her life, but she had clung to it through the terrible parts, too.

“Alexandria. It’s short for that.”

“That’s pretty.” Jackie decided out loud.

“Thanks. I’m going to head back now. I’ll text you guys soon.”

The group said their goodbyes and the girls watched as Xandie dove under and kicked towards her new home.

“Crap.” Freya almost looked like she wanted to chase after her.

“What is it?” Kim asked.

“I forgot to ask her what her power is.”

Leilani was surprised to get an actual phone call from Xandie that night.

“Hey!”

“Hi.”

“Did you text them? How did it go?”

“It went well. We went for a swim. They showed me around the area. It was nice. Freya hugged me. Twice.”

Leilani laughed. “And you survived?”

Xandie gave a soft laugh back. “Yes. I did. It wasn’t unpleasant. They were all really nice. A bit overwhelming, but nice.”

“So is the new Xandie on track?”

“I am. Home. Work. Acquaintances. School, hopefully soon.”

“So what’s it like there? I hesitate to ask the girls; it’s all good to them.”

“It’s somewhat of what I expected but also not. It’s slightly run down, but it looks like parts are making a comeback. I don’t know for sure. I’m going to drive around and explore a little.”

“How are your roommates?”

Xandie filled Leilani in on the rest of her new life, discussing housemates and coworkers. They talked for an hour. Far longer than Leilani would have thought and when they hung up, Leilani teared up a little. She was happy for her, but disappointed that she’d missed out on having another friend. It turned out that they got on very well. She felt a little lonely and called Ava to see if she wanted to go out.

Chapter Text

As late July rolled around, Renee decided to organize an outing for Maddie, who would be leaving for a week in August to visit relatives. They all thought it would be fun to indulge Maddie’s witchiness with a tour of all the local witch/wiccan shops in Lakewood, combined with stops for food, since Lakewood had way more restaurants than Rocky River. Per Renee’s count, there were at least four stores in Lakewood focused on the spiritual/supernatural/metaphysical. With 2 more that seemed to have either closed or were temporarily closed for some reason. Maddie had always said that Lakewood was full of posers, and while most of what these places sold was really just decoration, they did have decent supplies of herbs, oils, and crystals. None of these had done much for Maddie’s attempts at spells and potions, but at least the vibe was good.

All five of the River group met the Lakewood boys on their home turf on the other side of the Detroit Ave bridge and they made their way to the far east end of town, deciding to work their way back so as not to give up and miss anything.

Their first stop was Oktober’s, a cute shop with some interesting things. There were some cool books and Renee picked up a Stevie Nicks altar candle, which she thought was pretty funny.

They stopped at Mahall’s, a bowling alley/concert venue/snack bar, and considered bowling a few games but settled on getting chicken strips and continuing their quest down Madison, Ave., everyone enjoying that several of these shops were on a street with the same name as Maddie.

The next stop was Sagittarius Moon, a newer place that was still sort of empty. They moved on, stopping for drinks and checking out Bear Soul Studio and passing the unfortunately closed New Moon – A Witch Store. Coven was also closed as they moved back down to Detroit Ave, but Spellbound was open, the last store on their list.

Spellbound was probably the spookiest of the places they’d gone to. It was a little camp, but they had some interesting things. The lady behind the counter immediately picked Maddie out as the witchiest of the group and singled her out to talk to and show around while the others browsed.

“The good stuff is in back. Are you interested?” She whispered conspiratorially.

Maddie wasn’t sure what to make of the woman. She was a little on the goth side but middle-aged and otherwise unremarkable. Maddie indicated that she was interested and followed her behind the counter. The woman had a table set up in back, with a couple chairs. She said she gave readings and she beckoned Maddie to sit across from her at it.

“I don’t see many like you.”

“Like me?”

The woman looked at Maddie over the top of her glasses. “You know what I mean.”

Maddie did know what she meant and she was more than a little surprised to be picked out so easily, the spooky atmosphere suddenly becoming a bit more foreboding than it had seemed before.

“I would imagine you don’t have too much experience yet, is that right?”

Maddie nodded, her throat a little dry. She felt like the woman was staring right through her.

“Give me your hands.” Maddie reached out and the woman flipped her hands, palm up, and placed her own on top of them.

“Hmmmm. You’ve been one with the moon. Many times. But once more recently that was stronger.”

The woman held her eyes on Maddie’s. Maddie felt like she was being almost dared to look away but she didn’t, focusing on the woman’s own eyes.

“You seek more. Good. It’s in you to do so. And others around you are likewise special – interesting!”

The woman pulled her hands back and straightened in her chair. “I will help you. Stay here.” She got up and shuffled about the room considering certain objects and bringing a few with her back to the table. She set down a small number of things. A vial of liquid, a small bag that had various herbs in it, and a book.

“The path you seek is one that requires practice, a honing of skills. It is not easy to become proficient, but very little worthwhile is easy. These things will help you. Do you have a book of your own?”

“A small one. Basic. I found it in the woods years ago.”

“No. It found you. As has this one.” The woman moved the larger book in front of her. This is what you need.” She flipped it open, a few pages in. Hand written notes were interspersed with sketches of plants, seeds, and other things that Maddie didn’t yet recognize. She reached out and opened the book further till it was half way open, but the pages that far in were blank. Maddie looked at the woman, not understanding.

“This is to be your book. This is your story to tell. There are things in here to start you out, but you must do your part to fill it in. This will take your entire life. If all goes well, you will pass it down in some way, as the book in the woods was passed to you. But know this; your journey must be one of light. Of helpfulness. If you turn dark, nothing you’ve been given will stay with you. This book, your abilities, your friends and family – all these and more will be lost if you stray.”

Maddie gulped. She did not expect her fun little shopping trip to turn quite so existential.

“These herbs are to help you get started. They are in the book along with directions, though they are not easy to discern. You will see me no more after this. I’ve waited for one like you, now my task is complete. Do you accept the terms? Will you stay in the light?”

Maddie nodded again.

“You have to say it, my dear.”

“I do.”

“Excellent.” The woman’s tone shifted. The room seemed lighter, with fewer shadows. “Now, that book is a bit heavy. Would you like a bag?”

“Yes, please.”

“Paper or plastic?”

Maddie stared at her.

“Just a joke honey, to lighten the mood! I’ve got a nice old NPR tote bag around here somewhere…” The woman rummaged around for a bit before pulling a tote out of a drawer and put the things in it, handing it to Maddie who was finally working up the courage to ask something.

“Wait, what was in the vial?”

“Lavander, for in the bath. It feels wonderful.”

“Seriously?”

“Oh, my dear, life should be a little fun. Go. Practice. Do good. Keep that group close.” She looked to the front of the store where Maddie’s friends were still browsing. “Not everyone is so accepting of one such as you or I. Nor as interesting, I suspect. Now shoo. Go. I have packing to do.”

Maddie walked back out to the front of the store, glancing behind her as she did so, not really sure if what had just happened was real, though the NPR tote bag was real, as was the grimoire inside it.

“Hey guys, you ready to go?”

“Where did you disappear to?” Renee noticed that she was gone but no one had seen her go into the back.

“I’ll tell you guys on the way. Come on. And let’s stop by Mitchell’s on the way, please, I seem to be hungry again.”

The group left the store, turning right onto Detroit, the bridge to River not that far away. Maddie hung back behind the group by a pace or two, the metaphysical weight of her very own book of shadows creating just a bit of distance between her and her friends, though she would catch up soon.

The girls gathered around a table in front of Mitchell’s, the boys having begged off after the long walk around Lakewood.

“So, what’s in the bag?” Maddie still hadn’t told Renee or the others what had happened, using the walk home to process the strange encounter. She pulled the bag up from it’s place next to her chair and displayed the contents briefly, lest anyone nearby catch a glimpse of the dark, leather-bound tome.

“I’m pretty sure she was like me. And she gave me this.” She showed the cover and flipped through a few pages then put it back in the bag, as though it might fly away if she left it unattended. She looked at Kim, knowing that for some reason she would know what it was.

Kim smiled. “Weird, but cool. Your own book. Nice.”

“What do you mean ‘your own book’?” Jackie looked confused. Maddie nodded to Kim, silently giving permission for her to explain it to the others.

“It’s a grimoire – a spell book. Or a book of shadows, which is more like a magical journal, though the difference is subtle and the two can be combined. It’s not set in stone.”

“And you know this how?” Jackie was a bit taken aback by her sister’s oddly specific knowledge of witchcraft.

“Duh. I looked it up. Honestly, were none of you curious when we began hanging out with a witch?” Kim shoveled some caramel sea salt ice cream into her mouth.

The others looked a bit sheepish. Of course they probably should have done that, and of course Kim did.

“Plus, Reed filled me in on a lot of it. He’s learned a lot, just not anything that Maddie probably didn’t already know.” Kim smirked a little at the admission that she had help.

Relief settled on several faces once they reasoned that Reed was behind some of Kim’s understanding, though it wasn’t lost on them that Kim had bothered to ask him.

Renee leaned forward a little. “So what does this mean? And who was she?”

“I honestly don’t know. She certainly seemed to know things about me. And she picked up on the fact that my friends were… um…” She struggled for the right word. She settled on ‘unique.’

“Is that what she called us?” Freya seemed both proud and a little scared.

“Actually, she called you ‘interesting’ and she said to keep you all close. It felt like she meant all of you, even the boys. I got a strong sense that she saw us as kind of a single unit.” Maddie wavered before deciding to go into more detail regarding what she had talked to Kim about on the swing earlier that summer.

“She grabbed my hands, and I felt something.” Kim, understanding what that meant, wondered if Maddie was ready to tell everyone. She was. “I haven’t mentioned this to everyone, but something else changed that first full moon at Wallace Lake. I’ve always been able to feel emotion in people, and sometimes influence it, but it’s stronger now and it seems like others can feel mine if I’m feeling strongly about something. That’s why I’m not very touchy with people. But she took my hands, I guess to read me, and she just seemed to know things. And I felt her intentions. It’s why I didn’t bolt out of there when things got a little strange. I could tell she was trying to help. I didn’t get the impression that she understood exactly what some of you guys actually are, but she definitely felt that you guys were not completely normal. It was weird, but through her hands, it felt like she viewed us as a group. It seemed really important to her that we stay that way. It was a little scary. Here,” She put her hands out, offering for everyone to take hold of her. She closed her eyes and stretched out her feelings. “Do you guys feel anything?”

A faint energy passed between the group, a range of different emotions playing across the groups faces, as well as passing between their hands. Renee nearly pulled away, unaccustomed to feeling any magic move through her, before relaxing and letting herself feel it. Maddie pulled her hands back, with Freya reluctant to let go.

“Did you guys feel it?”

Freya, particularly, was blown away by the feeling. Jackie looked slightly overwhelmed. Renee hid it well but had a tinge of embarrassment on her face, her cheeks slightly flushed. Kim had felt this before but not the four-way exchange that had just happened.

Freya was grinning. “Can we do that again?”

“Are you sure? It’s a little hard to control. And if the mood is negative, you’ll feel that as well.

“Please? We all seem really positive right now so it should be good, right?”

“I’m not sure, guys. I’m really not used to this stuff.” Renee was nervous after the first time.

Freya looked like she was going to have a meltdown so Renee gave in, not sure what she felt that first time but willing to try again for Freya’s sake. The four put their hands together in a big pile in the middle of the table and Maddie pushed outward with her feelings again. This time, Kim tried to help. She had a feeling that she could open or close herself to it and it felt like the others might be able to, as well.

The energy started to flow and Kim opened up to it, feeling it course more strongly. She chanced talking and tried to coach the others.

“Try to open up. I think I’m able to control the flow a little.” Based on the good vibes coming from Freya, Kim guessed that she might be wide open already but Renee seemed like she was actively closed off. “Renee, relax. I can feel you choking it off. Try to feel it and relax like it’s a muscle you’ve been tensing and now you can untense it.”

She could actually feel her older sister trying and as the stream got a little wider, she felt Renee close back up, actively afraid of letting it get stronger, but each time, to her credit, she opened back up a little more until the feeling broke through, like water finally breaching a broken dam, and the energy flowed in torrents as each became keenly aware of each other’s emotional state. The flow slowed, like it was somehow equalized between all their mental states and what was left was a pure connection, a conduit, that they could now connect to each other with via feelings and thoughts. A telepathic bond that felt like floating in a sea of thought, ideas and feelings streaming around them.

A car horn from a near accident on the corner startled them out of their trance and Kim pulled her hands out, not sure if the potential accident was a threat to them, being so close. The others followed and the link was broken. All four blinked in the bright sunlight, feeling like their eyes had been unused for a long time, though it had only been a minute.

“Wow.” Freya’s interjection was inadequate to sum up what everyone felt, but no one had a better word.

“Yeah. Wow.” Kim’s words also failed her.

Renee had slightly more to say. “Do you guys feel this sort of thing all the time? I mean, being magical and all.”

Everyone shook their heads, including Maddie.

“I usually sense how others feel as like a hint, or an echo of an emotion. This was something else. I’ve never experienced anything like that.” She looked around and started laughing, the others not sure what was going on, puzzlement in their expressions.

“Guys, I just had the most profound emotional experience of my life and I had it at an outdoor table at an ice cream shop, twenty feet from a busy road. That’s hilarious. What a mundane place to have that happen!”

The others now understood and had to admit that it was pretty surreal.

“So, is this going to happen every time we touch you?” Freya was a bit concerned about this happening too often.

“I don’t think so, I really opened up. I think I can close back down, but I’ll have to practice. Here, try it again.” She grabbed Freya’s hand before she had a chance to object. After an initial burst of energy, it slowed down to a trickle until it felt like she was used to it feeling.

“Fwew. I don’t think I could handle that full time.” Freya felt relief but not as much as Maddie, who turned to Kim and took her hand. She started out with the connection clamped down this time and to Kim if felt like it did on the swing when she’d first noticed it. She turned to Renee, who was feeling more comfortable now that her sisters had had a more normal interaction. Renee reached out her hand.

This time it came back full force, with Maddie’s head thrown back and Renee looking like she holding on to a downed power line. Kim reached over and pulled them apart.

“What the hell?” Maddie had no idea why it had happened. She thought she’d turned it all the way down. Renee was blinking, trying to get her brain back in order, but she wanted to try again.

“I think maybe if I try to close it, too, we can control it.” Instead of grabbing Maddie’s hand, she lightly touched one finger to the witch’s hand. The jolt still happened, but this time, Maddie could sense Renee trying to close down and did the same on her end. Much like when Renee was trying to open up the first time, she was slowly figuring how to turn it off and each time she tried, it worked a little more, until the two got it under control and the energy and feelings were manageable, though still strong.

Maddie was able to talk clearly. “Wow. Ok. Well, I’m not sure what that was all about but I think we figured it out, right Renee?”

Renee was also just on the coherent side of things and was able to verbally agree and keep pulling herself further out of it.

Kim pointed at their hands. “You guys can let go, now.”

Maddie and Renee looked down, not realizing that they were still in contact. Maddie blushed as she pulled her hand away, the connection dying out the rest of the way, but the air around the table still charged with energy.

Kim smirked. “Well, aren’t you two special!”

“I swear, I have no idea why that was different.” Maddie was looking at her left hand as she spoke, the one that had been touching Renee. It still tingled.

Renee slumped in her uncomfortable metal chair. “Is this why you guys always need ice cream? Because I need more ice cream. Without waiting for anyone else, she got up and went inside to get more. Kim and Jackie looked at each other and laughed, feeling like their sister finally was able to understand them a little more. Renee came back and set her cup down with her spoon while she put a hair tie in before sitting. After getting settled, she reached for her spoon. No one noticed the inch or so that the spoon elevated to meet her hand, not even her.

Chapter Text

After everyone left Mitchell's, the group spent a little bit of time in Kim's room decompressing from the frankly overwhelming emotional bond they had just felt. 

Eventually, Freya had to go home. She couldn't spend all of her time at her friends’ house. She walked upstairs to her room, still buzzing with the energy that she had felt. She ran into Sonja at the top of the stairs. 

"Hey, small Frey, Mom's been looking for you. Dinner is soon.”

"See, she would know where I was if they would let me have a phone!"

Sonja grabbed Freya's arm and dragged her into Freya’s own bedroom. She lowered her voice to nearly a whisper. 

"What do you mean you don't have a phone?" 

"You know they won't let me have one until I'm 12!" 

"Yeah, duh, but why don't you have a phone? You can have one, you just need to be smart about it." 

"And how exactly am I supposed to pay for a phone?"

"That's the wrong question. Phones are basically free. There are three old ones in a drawer downstairs that mom, dad, or David have upgraded from. What you're worried about is paying for a cell phone plan."

"That's kind of the problem, isn't it? "

"Not really. At home you can be on the Wi-Fi, at school you can be on the Wi-Fi, at nearly any store or restaurant you go to there's free Wi-Fi. All you have to worry about is when you're not in one of those places. Just have your friends turn on a hotspot when you're around them. You know, be nice, don't use all their data, but unless you are alone and out walking around, you should be able to have some sort of service pretty much all the time."

Freya seems shocked that neither she nor any of her other friends had really thought about this. It was glaringly simple in hindsight. 

"Wait, so how long have you had a phone?" 

"Uh, since I was 10, I think. I mean, I guess this doesn't solve a problem like today. It's not like Mom would know to try to get a hold of you. This would just be for the other parts of your life, you know, the important ones."

"Oh man, would Signal work just over Wi-Fi like that?"

"Signal, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, whatever you want to use. Is that what your friends are on? Signal?"

"Yeah." Freya answered, not realizing that that was a bit of an odd app for 11-year-olds to be using.

"Ok, a little weird, but yeah you'd be fine. You can just never have a ringer on. You have to be a little bit disciplined. I'm not sure if you are, you seem like maybe you wouldn't be too good at keeping a secret..." 

Freya had a hard time not looking amused at that comment. 

"Thanks, Sonja. I literally don't know why I didn't think of this myself." 

"Do you want me to go grab one from downstairs?" Sonja had a conspiratorial smile on her face. This was the kind of trouble she liked to do.

"Thanks, but I think I'm going to ask my friends first. It would be just like Mom to notice that one was missing." 

"Wow! Even more devious! I didn't know you had it in you..." Sonja laughed a little at the thought of her younger sister joining her on the dark side, even just this little bit. "So, you trust your friends to not accidentally give you up on this?" 

Freya's mind had already rushed ahead to who might have a phone that they could give up. She was immediately thinking about one of the boys since they both had a lot of siblings and there were probably a lot of phones in the house. She didn't really process her sister's question until she stopped to think for a second. 

"Oh, yeah. With my life." 

Sonja thought that was a bit of a strong response to the question and laughed a little bit. "Well, I don't think they need to take it to the grave with them. They just need to keep their mouth shut till November." 

Freya chuckled nervously realizing that she had been in friend group mode for a second there. "Yeah, I guess. I just meant that they're really trustworthy." 

"Quite a change from when we were in Lakewood, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you didn't have that much of a social life when we lived in the old house, but here you've got all these friends. It's just sort of surprising. I kind of hung on to my old Lakewood friends. I'm the social outcast here, I guess. I'm glad for you!"

"Thanks?" Freya wasn't really sure what to make of that. She wasn't sure if it was a slightly backhanded compliment or just heartfelt. She made the mental choice to decide that it was heartfelt. 

"Hey, one last bit of advice. Whatever phone you get, when you set it up, make sure that you don't use your real name on it. I have no idea if Dad checks the Wi-Fi router occasionally to see what's connected to the network. Better safe than sorry."

Freya thanked her sister and they both started down the stairs to dinner. 

Meanwhile, Renee had walked Maddie home, and without telling the others, they had resumed their experiment from the ice cream shop. They set up an old card table in the basement where they could be sure to be left alone, and sat across from each other. They each tentatively reached out and touched just one index finger to the other's, the flow of energy again erupting in an almost uncontrollable way. With no one else there to pull them apart, they had to figure out how to get it under control. Renee was the least experienced at this sort of thing so it fell to her to do the majority of the learning. Eventually, she figured out what part of her brain controlled this and began practicing it. They spent about an hour ramping up and then dialing back the energy flow until they both felt that it was well and truly under control. They sat back, exhausted from the effort. 

"Thank God we figured that out," Renee said. "That would not be okay to have randomly happen if we just bump into each other in the hallway at school." 

"No kidding. I wish I knew why we had a harder time. Everyone else seemed to be able to shut it off very easily." 

"No idea, but it sure took me by surprise. And you never felt it this strongly before?" 

"No, never. Before this it was just really subtle. What was it like for you? I'm sorry that I haven't asked that yet. I may never have felt it this strongly before, but I at least had experience with the general idea." 

Renee had to think about it. She wasn't sure how to put into words what her experience had been. She didn't know exactly how much to tell Maddie. She thought that maybe she felt some things that wouldn't normally have been set out loud. She decided to play it a little safe. She didn't think that Maddie needed to be traumatized on top of the events of the day. 

"It was certainly strange. When it was all four of us, it felt almost like I was floating in our emotions, or maybe not emotions so much as... I'm not sure how to finish that. It was like being in the lazy river at a water park, and the flow of the river was all of our thoughts and feelings while we floated on top of it. It was like I could dip my hands or feet into the stream and feel it more strongly, or pull them out and just let it carry me down the river. Does that make sense?"

Maddie nodded. That was just about as good of an explanation as she would have been able to come up with. 

"Yeah, that does make sense. I wish that I had a better way to describe it but that comes closer than anything else."

But Renee knew that didn't adequately describe when it was just the two of them. 

"When it was just us though, it wasn't quite like that. A lazy river goes around in a big giant circle which is sort of what we were when we were all together, the four of us. With just us, it felt so much more intense. Almost like our thoughts were just slamming into each other until we got it under control."

Maddie considered that. Again, she didn't have a better way to put it, and she had no idea how someone without her experience would process that.

Maddie smiled and reached her hand out again, silently asking Renee to do the same. Renee did, and she took Maddie's hand across the table allowing the connection to open back up, this time in the more controlled manner that they had learned. They each opened up the mental faucet that turned on the flow by just a little bit until there was a pleasant, all enveloping warmth that flowed between them. They stayed that way for a while until Maddie got a message on her phone telling her that it was dinner time. They each pulled their hands apart. Renee laughed. 

"It's kind of crazy that your house is big enough that it's easier to call you than to go find you!"

Maddie always felt a little self-conscious about her parents’ wealth and blushed at the statement.

"Come on," Maddie said, "I'll walk you out."

She saw her friend to the door and gave her a hug goodbye, just allowing the briefest feeling to pass between them. Renee smiled at the effect. She pulled away and headed back to her house. 

Somehow, Freya’s mom had not been in Freya’s room since it had been de-mermaided. She knocked on the door as Freya was doing her summer reading and came in, intending to tell her daughter that they would be clearing out her room the next day. Instead, she looked around, surprised that it was already bare and nearly ready to paint.

“Honey? Why didn’t you tell me you already cleared out all that old junk? And what did you do with it?”

Freya physically cringed at her mother referring to all her old mermaid stuff as ‘junk.’

“I just wanted to get it over with. Kim’s mom was making a trip to Goodwill and offered to take it for me.” She knew her mom never talked to any of the Callahan’s and that the lie was safe, though she hated having to do that.

“Well, I’m very impressed. Thank you for taking it seriously. See? It wasn’t that bad, was it? Now you can stay focused on what’s important.”

Freya was having a hard time keeping it together. Then there was another voice from her door.

“Really mom? And what is so important that she needs to be focused on? School? Because she does great. What did you need to do that to her for?!”

Mrs. Swenson rounded on Sonja, anger from the past few years of their battles bubbling up inside her.

“This has nothing to do with you, Sunny! I don’t want you dragging your sister down with you to whatever bleak future you will be faced with! She still has a chance to make something of herself; like her brother will.”

Sonja blinked, tears still willing to flow despite this argument having gone on for years, now.

“Jesus Christ, mom,” Sonja was speaking very calmly, so calmly that Freya was getting nervous. “I’m fifteen. You think I’ve already ruined my life? You think so lowly of me that you can’t even refer to David as ‘our’ brother? He’s only Freya’s brother, now? And all this because I didn’t want to take some classes that you wanted me to and because I broke your stupid curfew a few times?”

“A few times! Try too many to count! And it’s your attitude that let’s me know that you’ll never achieve anything. I’ll be damned if I let Freya throw her future away like you’re doing.”

Freya had been staring at the showdown that was happening at the threshold to her room and couldn’t take it anymore. She started crying and stood up, her fists balled up at her side and began to yell. “OUT! I CAN’T TAKE THIS! GET OUT, MOM!”

She ran across the room and physically shoved her mother out into the hallway, slamming the bedroom door behind her as she slumped down to the floor, her back holding the door shut and her arms wrapped around her knees as she sobbed. She had no idea that her mother could be that cruel. She’d heard her fight with Sonja but only muffled, from rooms away, never in the sort of clear detail that she’d just experienced. Her heart broke for her sister who had been actively trying to speak up for her. ‘Now,’ she thought, ‘now I understand Sonja.’

Her mother was yelling at her to open her door, trying to push it open, not counting on mermaid strength holding it shut with far more force that Freya should have been able to produce. Freya refused to answer, or to open the door. The shoving against the door stopped and she heard her mother yell at Sonja as she stomped down the stairs.

“This is all your fault, you ungrateful…” She could tell that her mother had stopped before saying something that truly couldn’t be taken back. She presumed that she was going to get her father and she made a split-second decision. She jumped up, threw open the door, and grabbed Sonja’s hand. She pulled hard, running to the door at the end of the hall that opened onto the upstairs balcony that was built atop the back porch roof. She’d seen Sonja use this route before to sneak out and she quietly led her sister to the edge where they each shimmied down the tree that grew beside the house. From just outside the house, they could hear both parents inside, yelling as they ascended the stairs, and Freya once again took her sister’s hand and silently pulled her around the side of the house until they were running down the street, quickly turning the corner on Detour Ave to zig-zag their way away from the house in as convoluted a way as possible in case their parents chased after them. They found a house on Beachwood Drive that had no lights on and no fence in the back yard and cut through it to the railroad tracks before slowing down a little. Freya was on autopilot and heading to where she felt safe. The water.

The two girls reached the deck at the bottom of the stairs that lead to Wagar Beach and took the final flight to the sand where they could hide out under the deck and finally try to catch their breath. They sat on the sand in the late evening light, the sun almost down over the lake. Freya turned and hugged Sonja.

“Thank you. You didn’t need to stand up for me like that, but thank you.”

“I did need to. It was as much for me as it was for you, if I’m being honest. But it’s the same fight we’ve been having, just maybe a little…”

“Meaner?”

Sonja eked out a little chuckle. “Yeah. That was meaner than usual.”

“You know,” Sonja continued, “I’ve never seen you like that before. It felt like the room got darker; you were so angry.”

Freya’s eyes widened, suddenly realizing that she may have slightly lost control of her weather powers, possibly creating the beginnings of a storm in her heightened emotional state. It didn’t seem like Sonja was saying exactly that, and her mom had been facing out the door, so she decided to just let it go.

“Yeah, sorry. I shouldn’t let myself get that upset.”

“It’s ok, sometimes it’s good to let that out.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea for me.” She didn’t dare take it any farther than that.

“So what do we do now?” Sonja had been in fights with her parents before, but she’d never just run away. Much less the two of them together.

Freya stared out at the water as she let her sister’s question percolate in her brain. The water was right there, not twenty feet in front of her. She could walk into it and just disappear. She could be in Canada before twilight ended. It was so hard to not let her flight or fight instinct take it’s course and lead her into the lake, but she had her sister to think of. And it was not just the secret that stopped her, she also couldn’t leave Sonja there alone to face whatever repercussions would be coming.

“Freya?”

Freya snapped out of her contemplation, unsure of how long she’d been silent. “Yeah?”

“Where’d you go just now?”

Freya laughed. “I was just thinking that we could swim to Canada. It’s just over there.” She pointed at the horizon on the lake.

Sonja laughed back at her. “Yeah, that would be cool, wouldn’t it. Just swim away and disappear into the water.”

“You know, there’s this cute little town right across the lake. They have this nice harbor with a light house, and a little marina right off the downtown. It would be nice to go there right now.”

Sonja turned and looked at her sister, a very confused look on her face.

“I saw it on Google Earth.” She quickly recovered. “It’s right across from us right now.” She kicked at the sand in front of her, hating that she couldn’t just dive in. Hating that she couldn’t take her sister with her.

“Give me your phone.” Sonja handed it to her. Freya didn’t have many numbers memorized but she knew Kim’s and she texted her.

Freya--- Hey this is Freya on Sonja’s phone. Can you text Maddie’s number to me?

Kim--- ??? Sure.

Kim sent the number.

Freya--- Thanks. I’ll fill you in tomorrow. No big deal.

Freya--- Maddie, this is Freya, I’m on Sonja’s phone. RU at home?

Maddie--- Freya? Yeah Why?

Freya--- Can Sonja and I come over on the dl

Maddie--- Sure, text me when you get close and I’ll sneak you in the back.

Freya---thx

“Come on. I know where we’re going, at least for a little while.”

Sonja was still looking confused but Freya seemed to have things under control and followed her up the steps. “Where are we going?”

“Maddie’s house. She lives over in Tangletown. She’ll let us hang out there. Mom and dad have no idea where she lives. I don’t even think they know her last name. We’ll let things settle down and either go back later or tomorrow depending on how mad they are.”

Sonja looked down at her phone. “They haven’t even called. They’re not even looking for us. Or at least for me.” She handed it back to Freya. “Here, text Maddie when we get close and then turn it off. I don’t need to be reminded that they don’t care anymore.”

The two walked quietly to Maddie’s. She let them in the side gate and Freya turned off the phone.

“I was going to hide you in the basement but mom and dad left and that means they will be out til early morning, probably. We can do whatever.” Maddie walked them over to the pool and they moved the deck chairs around so that they were close together.

“What about Dennis?” Freya asked.

“He took off as soon as our parents left. I’m sure he’s out for the night.” She looked at the two sisters, who seemed pretty miserable. “So, what’s going on? Does anyone know you’re here?”

“Family drama.” Freya answered. “And no. We kind of…” She wasn’t sure she should say it.

“Ran away?”

Freya looked at her with eyes that said that she was correct.

“Oh, dear.” Maddie let it go. “Snacks? We’ve got pretty much everything.” She got up and led the other two inside to get something to eat before heading back to the patio area.

“Maddie?” Freya had a certain look in her eye that Maddie thought looked a little dangerous.

“Yeah?”

“We’ve had a rough night and I think Sonja could use a hug. Just a little one. Just to take the edge off, if you know what I mean.”

Sonja looked confused for about the fifth time this evening. “Um, that’s ok, Maddie totally doesn’t have to hug me.” She looked at her sister. “That’s kind of a weird thing to ask your friend to do, isn’t it?”

Instead of an answer, Maddie stood up and took Sonja’s hand, almost forcing her to stand up, before lightly hugging her in as non-intrusive a way as possible, letting Sonja’s fear and anger and resentment drain away until they were still there but in more manageable amounts. She let go and turned to sit back down.

Sonja stood and looked at Freya’s somewhat odd friend. “That was amazing?”

“See?” Freya asked. “That was just what you needed, right?”

“I guess you were right. Huh.” Sonja sat back down and grabbed a bag of pretzels.

Freya shot an appreciative glance at Maddie who smiled knowingly.

“So, what do you guys want to do for the evening? Movies?” Maddie asked.

“Sure, but could we, just for a while, take the chairs down by the lake and watch the water for a bit?” Freya couldn’t get the swim to Canada idea out of her head.

Maddie laughed, sensing what the mermaid wanted. “Sure, maybe till it’s all the way dark?”

Freya nodded and walked down the yard towards the water.

Chapter Text

At midnight, the two sisters decided to chance a walk home to see what the mood was at the house. They were greeted by their father, who had clearly been up waiting as he was sitting in a lawn chair in the front yard. He stood up as the girls tentatively approached, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble. He saw their posture and sat back down motioning in the quiet of the night to come over to him. They did but stayed just past arm’s distance from him. He spoke softly.

“I know things got out of hand, but you need to come home and be safe. This is your house.”

Sonja stood with her arms crossed. Her expression projected her feelings of mistrust. Their father had always been the more reasonable parent, though he almost always fell in line with what ever his wife wanted or said. She didn’t trust him to be speaking for himself.

“Because we felt safe while mom screamed at us and tried to get into Freya’s room while Freya held the door shut?”

“Look, your mom just wants everyone to have the best lives they can possibly have. Obviously, things got out of hand but she only has your best interests at heart.”

Freya was starting to feel like there was hope that the rest of the night might start to get better but Sonja had heard this before from their mom.

“Dad, that’s not ok. That’s what she says to me every time we fight and it doesn’t make it right. Where is mom? Why isn’t she out here saying this if that’s what she ‘means.’”

He sighed. He knew this would be an issue and he also knew that his older daughter would probably call him on it. “Sunny, I’m sorry…”

She didn’t let him finish the thought. “Don’t call me that. My name’s Sonja. No one here think I’m very ‘sunny’ anymore, anyway.”

A tear slipped down Mr Swenson’s cheek. That stung. He was the one who first called her that and when she was little, she truly had been his sunny little girl. He wasn’t sure how to go on, but clearly this wasn’t going to be a case where solidarity with his wife was going to win any hearts.

“Mom’s asleep. I told her to take an ambien. I thought it was best if we create some space for at least the night. I’ll run interference in the morning before she goes to work. After everyone has cooled down, we can have a talk tomorrow night. But please, come inside and get some sleep. I was worried sick. I had no idea where you’d gone.”

“Like you even tried to find us?” Tears streamed down Sonja’s face at what she saw as abandonment.

“Would you have answered?” He gave a small but knowing smile.

Sonja had to give a small laugh in between trying to catch her breath from crying. “No, I guess not.”

“I know. And I wanted to give you the space you needed to cool down. Maybe that was wrong, I don’t know. I walked all around the neighborhood looking for you, though, even down those damned railroad tracks until my feet hurt from the rocks. But you’re fifteen, Sunny – sorry, Sonja, and I know you know how to be careful. Still, I have no idea how you so thoroughly disappeared. Where did you go?”

Neither were willing to give up Maddie, and the beach was a sacred place to Freya, so neither spoke.

“I get it. Sorry I asked. Come on. Come to bed?”

The two looked at each other. Freya’s eyes were begging to give in and go to bed. Sonja was willing to do it for her sister. She also didn’t have anywhere else to go at nearly one a.m., so she acquiesced and nodded to her father, who got up and opened the door for them. Nothing else was said as they got ready for bed. Sonja fell asleep quickly, being used to the higher level of tension, but Freya tossed and turned, feeling somewhat sick about what the next day, and the rest of her time living at home, would bring, before finally succumbing to sleep. Both slept well past the time both their mother and father would be leaving for work. Any more confrontation would have to wait for the evening.

When they finally woke up, sometime after eleven, emotions were settled, but still raw, and Freya desperately needed to get into the water to calm down and either think about things, or at least work off the emotions. It pained her not to be able to do this with her sister but the pull of the water was just too strong. Emotions did that to her.

“I’m going to go out for a while.” Freya declared over a bowl of Cheerios, the most tolerably cereal their mother would allow in the house.

“Where to?” Sonja figured the Callahan’s house.

“I’m going for a swim.” Freya was getting tired of hiding all the time and figured that that was enough truth without giving too much away.

“Be careful, ok. The lake can be dangerous.” Sonja knew that the girls liked to go down to the lake, and the family didn’t have pool passes.

Freya laughed. “I couldn’t be much safer. I’ll be back in a few. I just want to think.”

“I get it. Me too. But I think I’ll stay here and read. I’m not sure I have the energy to go anywhere. Hey, do me a favor?”

Freya looked at her in a way that said ‘sure.’

“If you see Maddie, tell her that I said ‘thank you.’ That was really nice of her.”

“Of course. She’s in your texts, now. You should put her in your contacts.”

Sonja looked down at her phone and read through the conversation, getting emotional all over again. Maddie hadn’t questioned for a second that she would help them. The time stamps on the individual texts were all less than a minute apart, probably seconds. “You’ve got good friends, Freya.”

Freya smiled. “I know, right?” She got up, rinsed her bowl out, and turned to leave. “I’ll be back in an hour or two. Maybe three. Help me set up a phone later if I get one?”

Sonja smiled back. “Of course, small frey!”

Freya rolled her eyes and left, letting the door slam shut behind her.

Sonja sat at the table. It was going to be a hot day, but the windows and doors were all open, both their parents averse to spending the extra money on running the air conditioning unless it got really unbearable. She heard the birds outside and the smells and sounds of grass being mowed a few houses down drifter to her. The sound of the screen door slamming shut echoed in her mind. All these sensations were things that reminded her of what summer looked, smelled, and sounded like. They triggered memories of all her summer vacations over the years and they had a calming effect. Summer, for most kids, meant freedom. From school, from parents, from winter. She basked in that feeling, letting herself drift back to summers where things weren’t so fraught… so tense. She got up and left to go to the store and get a Popsicle, happy to regress a few years to a more carefree time in her childhood. As she walked up the street to the store, she decided that she would try to help the problem, despite wanting to wallow in it and make her mom miserable. She decided to try to fix things because it wasn’t just her now. She had her sister to worry about, and she wasn’t about to let Freya go through what she had gone through the last few years. Freya had been there for her; she needed to return the favor.

While Sonja was contemplating and eating her Popsicle, Freya was in the water, working off her frustration with a deep, full speed run northeast, up the length of the large lake. While Lake Erie was certainly a large body of water, one of the largest in the world, it was one of the two smaller Great Lakes and the girls were starting to test its limits. Not that there wasn't a lot left to discover, but a brisk top speed swim could easily see them reach one end or the other of the lake if they had the time. Freya, in particular, was keen to stretch her tail and travel a little further. Thinking about this was taking her mind off of the conflict at home. She wanted to think about her problem, but found it hard to concentrate with the cool water flowing over her. She stopped at what she supposed was the middle of the eastern end of the lake and let herself gently glide upward until she broke the surface and looked around. This was more like it. No visible land in any direction; truly in the middle of nowhere, not even any boats around.

The girls had gotten better at directions in the lake. They weren't sure if they were more in tune with the sun's position, or if it was some innate ability that they didn't understand, but Freya felt comfortable that she would know which way to go, despite nothing visually to guide her. She floated, finally able to make space in her mind for her problems. Despite this, all she could do was to replay the events of the night before and hear her mother's cruel words over and over. She imagined comebacks that she wished she'd thought of in the moment, pretty sure she never would have had the courage to actually speak them. She was starting to regret leaving the house. She wasn't figuring anything out and she realized that she should have been talking to her sister about it. Still, the swim had been physically relieving and she liked burning off the energy.

She sighed, resigned to going back to talk things through with Sonja. She set a course for what she figured was the way back, checking the sun for confirmation before starting, slower this time and just below the surface, forcing herself to be looking out for boats.

Sonja was trying to relax in the rather hot living room when her younger sister came back in the house, looking calmer and not exhibiting the nervous energy she had when she left.

"Feeling better?" Sonja asked.

"Yeah. Not great, but better." She collapsed on the couch next to Sonja and put her head on her sister's shoulder.

"We should talk." Sonja turned to look at Freya as the other sat back up.

"I know. I decided the same thing on my way back."

One of them had to say something first and Sonja beat her sister by a breath. "I made a decision. I'm ending the war."

Freya looked concerned. "What does that mean?"

"I'm going to try to meet her in the middle. I'm not sure that she's willing to do something like that, but I'm going to try. I watched you do basically that and if I hadn't stuck my nose into it, last night wouldn't have happened. You're being a lot smarter about this than I was."

Freya wasn't sure how to respond and took a little while to process. "But you've been pretty clear that you want to be your own person and not what she wants you to be. Are you ok giving that up?"

"I'm not giving it up, but here's the thing, I'm not sure I know what 'being my own person' means to me. I've been mostly focused on just not being whatever she wants me to be, but I'm not sure who I want to be. Not being what mom wants me to be is not an identity. It's kind of the opposite of that."

"But one of the things that you keep saying is that you don't want to be forced down 'her' path so that you can figure out who you are. You said that you were too young to decide what you want your future to be. If you give in to her, then aren't you giving that up?"

"I'm not giving in. I'm just not going to engage in the fight. You taught me this. When you said that you weren't defined by your things, that you knew who you really were inside and that that wouldn't change by getting rid of all your stuff… that was super smart. You aren't trying to win at her game, you're not even playing it. That's where I fucked up and I'm going to fix that. You managed to boil down what for me was three years of fights and threats and anger, into a week of figuring it out. I hope that I didn't ruin that by starting the fight back up. The difference is that you seem to know yourself. I don't."

"Oh my god, Sonja, I have no idea who I am. I don't know what I'm going to study, or what kind of job I'm going to have. Exactly the things that you've always argued with her about."

"No, that's different. You're talking about the things that you will do, not 'what you are.' The mistake I made is thinking they are the same. You can be a doctor who is extremely into mermaids. You can be a factory worker who is extremely into philosophy. You're choosing to appease and delay, which sounds like giving but really, it's just a good coping strategy. It's not like your middle school and high school classes will be that different. Mine really aren't. I'm just doing badly at them as a form of protest, which is stupid. I keep telling myself that I'm just trying to be me and that I want to have 'fun', but I could do that and still keep her complacent with decent grades, and not punish myself. I've been hurting myself to hurt her and honestly, that's just dumb. Your way is smarter."

Freya took this in. She didn't really understand just how much a teenager could try to rebel, though she understood the cliché about it. Still, she didn't want her sister to give in just to appease their mom. It seemed like giving in to cruelty.

"I don't know, Sonja… Some of the things that mom has said to you…"

"And to you, don't forget."

"I guess. But some of it seems almost unforgivable. I still don't want to see her or talk to her."

"And you thought I was crazy when I said I'd looked into emancipation…"

"Yeah, I hadn't realized how bad it was."

"Look, I was willing to give up a lot of things that would have only hurt me. In the next three or four years, I've got to get my driver's license, which she could be a bitch about and cause problems, I've got college to thing about, which I shouldn't sacrifice just to piss her off, and paying for that is not easy on your own when your parents actually have some money… And there's a ton of other stuff. All I need to do is keep my head down, and get better grades, which, honestly, wouldn't be that hard, and she'll be off my back. And that means that she'll be off your back, too."

"Sonja, I… I mean, I think she's been borderline abusive to you. That's not ok."

"No, it's not, but what am I going to do? Run away? I just need to get through. Three more years at home, then get to be more on my own if I go away to school, and then I can be done with her."

"That's pretty bleak."

"No, it's realistic. And it's what you're already doing."

"I don't mean your plan. I just mean the situation. When I look at Mrs Callahan, I see something so different from what we've dealt with."

"Yeah. I've got friends with mothers I like better, too. But it is what it is, and I can make life better for both of us by at least pretending to do what she wants. I feel like it will be easier now that you understand. It's like I have a secret ally."

Freya smiled at the idea of an alliance with her sister. It sounded both nice and a little subversive.

"Honestly, Sonja continued, "I'm pretty jealous that you get to go to Sweden soon and spend time with grandpa."

Freya looked a little guilty. "Yeah, I was looking forward to it, but now I feel almost desperate to go. Sorry."

"Don't be. It will give me a chance to start my new plan, and I won't be getting wound up by seeing her bully you, so maybe I can get things started without losing my cool."

The two sat in silence for a while until Sonja noticed the clock on the wall.

"They'll both be home soon. I'm going to go upstairs and read, or play a game, or something. I just don't want to be here when they walk in the door. Then I have to figure out how to try to tell her that she's right without vomiting while I do it."

Freya laughed a little. "Yeah, me too, I guess."

They both heard their parents come home, but there was no contact until their father called them down for dinner. The atmosphere at the table was tense. He was giving little smiles but their mother was icily silent until the meal was almost over. Eventually, as they knew she would, she drew a deep breath and started to say something.

"Your father and I have discussed things. We think it's best if both of you take some time to really think about where you want your lives to go. Freya, I'm moving your trip up a week and Sunny, you will be going with her. Your trip will last until it's time to come home for school in late August."

Both girls looked at each other with a look of surprise that their mother took for anger, but the girls were both actively suppressing smiles. Somehow, Sonja knew just the act to put on.

"MOM! That's not fair! I've got a whole month left before school! You can't do this to me! I don't want to waste my summer in boring Sweden!"

Their mother sat up straighter and raised her voice. "I won't hear any more complaining about it. Some time with family and some good old fashioned hard work on the boat is what both of you need to come to your senses. You're going and that's final. I've already changed the itinerary and bought the additional ticket. This is not up for discussion. Hopefully your grandfather can work some sense into you both. You leave the day after tomorrow."

"I can't believe you're making me do this! Sweden sucks! And stop calling me 'Sunny!'

Sonja pushed her chair back dramatically and stormed off to her room.

"And what about you? Are you going to create a fuss? Again?"

"No, mom." Freya got up from the table and couldn't suppress her smile as she walked out of the dining room towards the stairs. She knocked on Sonja's door and let herself in, with Sonja sitting on her bed with a huge grin on her face.

Freya walked in and sat across from her sister. "That was some performance! I actually thought you were upset!"

"I know, right? This is amazing! An entire month away from her. And I get to pretend that that's what causes my change in behavior when I get back. We get to spend a month with grandpa, and each other, and do it in a place we love!"

"But Sweden sucks?" Freya teased.

Sonja laughed. "I know, right, she totally bought it. Best August ever! Oh shit. You're really going to miss your friends, though."

"Yeah, but I was already going. And Maddie will be gone with her family for part of that, too. It will be ok. I wonder what swimming in the North Sea will be like?"

"What?"

Freya was getting more and more used to being casual around her sister and it was harder to remember that she didn't know what her friends knew.

"Oh, you know, there's probably beaches there, I just wonder what it would be like to take a dip." She hoped that she'd recovered.

"Okaaaaaay. Weird. You know the water's freezing cold up there, right? Please don't tell me you want to go looking for grandpa's 'mermaids' that he always went on about."

Freya laughed and decided to play to her perceived quirks. "But wouldn't that be amazing? What if he was right?"

Sonja laughed. "I don't know, maybe mom was right about you!"

Freya shrugged and smiled. "Like I said, I know who I am inside, and that's that I'm a die hard believer!"

"Ok, but for real, don't act too excited, mom needs to think that this is some sort of punishment."

"Oh, I know." Freya got up to leave. "I'm going to start packing."

"Hey, do me a favor?"

"Yeah?"

"Slam my door on your way out so mom thinks we're still pissed."

"Ha. No problem!"

Freya—- Guys, emergency meeting today. Need ice cream

Freya started the group chat up early the next day, needing to explain that she'd be leaving soon. Jackie was the early riser and replied quickly.

Jackie—- Ok. What's up

Freya—- I was going to wait till we met but I might as well let you know now. I'm leaving early for Sweden. I'll be there almost until school starts

Jackie—- OMG. Is that good or bad?

Freya—- Good I think

Jackie—- Ok. I guess we should wait for everyone

Jackie—- Mitchell's at 11?

Freya— Good with me. Just have to wait for everyone else

Eventually everyone woke up and joined in, surprised by the news. They were all on their bikes in time to meet and let Freya fill them in.

Ice cream in hand, Freya filled the group in on what had gone down.

"So Sonja's going, too?" Jackie was surprised by that. She didn't think Sonja would want to.

"Yeah. Honestly, it's great. We've been getting along and she could use to get away."

Kim looked concerned. "I didn't know things were that bad. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. We'll manage. Sonja has sort of a plan to cool things down. This will work out. But I'm going to have to be careful around her. I accidentally wondered what swimming would be like in the North Sea. Out loud to her."

Eye's raised around the table.

"I played it off. It's fine. I'll be more careful."

"What about being on the boat? Isn't there a chance you could get soaked?" Rene was pretty curious about this as she didn't really know exactly how wet the others could get before changing.

"If things get rough, I'll just go into the cabin. I don't think they'll care if the eleven year old hides out in a storm."

"True."

"Doesn't your grandfather have stories about mermaids?" Kim asked.

"Yeah. He swears he's seen them. My mom thinks he's just humoring me but he seemed pretty convincing."

"So there might be some around there?"

"I guess so. I'll have to keep an eye out."

"That would be pretty cool if you found them."

"Right?" Freya was looking downright giddy at the thought. "But I won't get to see Xandie again before I leave. If you see her, let her know where I went. And ask her if she knows anyone in Sweden."

Kim laughed. "I'm sure she doesn't, but I'll ask."

"Oh, something else. I need a phone. Does anyone have an old phone around the house that I could use. Only til November, hopefully. Sonja told me what to do to be able to keep it hidden and I'm tired of being out of touch."

"Thank god. We've been talking about that for you for weeks." Reed was happy to hear that she'd come to the same conclusion. "I've got a handful to choose from if you don't mind a older android. My parents won't spring for iPhones."

"Literally anything would be good. I feel bad asking, but I don't think I should be without one in a different country."

"It's totally no big deal. My mom keeps threatening to throw them out. Come over after this? You can pick whatever you want."

"Oh my god, Reed, that's so cool of you. Thank you!" She turned to look at Maddie. "And you guys should have seen Maddie in action, she calmed Sonja down with a just a little hug and made that night so much better!"

Maddie blushed.

"Awwwwww." Renee liked it when her friend helped people that way.

"And what about you guys?" Kim motioned to Renee and Maddie.

"Um, what do you mean?" Maddie worried about where Kim was going.

"Do you guys have that whole 'out of control psychic power' thing figured out?"

"Oh." Maddie relaxed now that she knew that Kim wasn't talking about the other thing. "Yeah. We practiced a bit more and we have it figured out. Right?" She looked at Renee.

"Right." Renee stretched her hand out across the table to take Maddie's, showing that they could react normally, now.

"Thank goodness. I was a little worried." Kim did notice the slight blush on Maddie's face, though. And that they hadn't pulled apart yet.

"Cool, because that was weird."

"Yeah. A little overwhelming. I don't really know what that was about."

Kim raised an eyebrow at Maddie in a silent question that said 'Really?'

Maddie gave a subtle glare back as a response and Kim smiled and dropped it.

"Ok, everyone, I've filled you all in but I need to finish packing and I'd like to get a swim in before I leave. Should we go to your house, Reed?"

Reed agreed and everyone biked off to do their own things, Freya relieved to finally be able to be more in touch with everyone.

Reed and Freya sat on the edge of Reed's bed, a box full of old cell phones between them. Reed began pulling out old phones and de-tangling cables, working his way through the mess of ancient phones, putting aside the flip phones, Blackberries, and anything else that wasn't current enough to run the apps she would need.

Reed sighed. "I actually think my mom might be right, we need to get rid of all this stuff. My dad saves everything." He set aside a third Nokia charger as he finally got the more recent androids into a small group. "Ok, I think this one is the newest." He pushed everything else aside and plugged the phone in to let it charge a few minutes so he could wipe it.

"So, almost a whole month in Sweden?"

"Yeah."

"Do you speak Swedish at all?"

"Just common words and phrases. And foods, lots of food names. Supposedly I knew more when I was little but I don't remember that. Maybe it will come back, I don't know. It doesn't really matter, I'll be with Grandpa most of the time. I kind of can't wait."

"Well, I'll miss you. We all will. Maybe check out the libraries there? Maybe they have some cool old mermaid books that we don't know about."

"Definitely."

They were quiet for a while as Reed started the phone up and began resetting it back to factory settings, wiping out whatever was already on there.

"Do, uh… Do you want to talk about it at all?"

She knew what he meant.

"Thanks, but no. You guys kind of know the whole story at this point."

"What about your dad? What does he think of all this?"

"I think he's happy for us to be getting away. I know he means well but he's never been able to make mom act nicer. I think he's kind of afraid of her. Which I get, but it sucks. Sonja really hurt his feelings, but honestly, he kind of deserved it. I think he might be the reason we're going early and together, so I probably owe him for that.

"But what about you? What's the rest of your summer going to look like?"

"Well, I took all those sailing classes, way more than I probably needed but my dad wanted to make sure I really knew what I was doing. With all your news, I kinda forgot to tell everyone, but he bought that Sunfish off of his friend so I guess we actually have a boat, now. If I can get him to tow it down to the lake occasionally."

"Oh my god, that's so cool! So I guess we'll see you out in the lake!"

"Hopefully ON the lake for us! From time to time. Sorry you'll be gone when I get to try it the first time."

"It's ok. Just enjoy yourself and don't make Kim save you!" Reed looked a little embarrassed and she smiled at it.

"You guys are never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Nope!"

"Fair enough. Not like we don't deserve it. A little. You want me to set this up for you?"

"Thanks, but it's ok, Sonja's going to help me so I can learn it."

She started to get up but looked at him before getting too far from where they'd been sitting. "I really appreciate this. If I ever get my own, I'll return this to you."

"No need. Come on, I'll ride back part way with you."

Chapter Text

Their father dropped Freya and Sonja off at the gate, them being minors, with only minimal scowling from the girls who were just trying to keep the façade up until they could relax on the plane. It was almost a whole day of travel to Sweden, and the kids were truly tired of being on the airplane by the time they got through two layovers and finally arrived in Gothenburg, their grandfather waiting at the baggage claim to pick them up. They piled into his beat-up old Volvo and fell asleep on the drive, with Freya distinctly smelling the scent of the sea on the old fisherman's clothes as she drifted off, looking forward to experiencing the salt water again for the first time since the wedding in San Diego.

After sleeping off the jet lag, they finally woke up to the sound of their grandfather banging around in the kitchen and to the smell of breakfast cooking, the two wandering into the kitchen, still not quite all the way awake.

"Good morning Morfar," Sonja said, using the Swedish for maternal grandfather. Freya didn't seem to quite be awake enough for speech, yet.

"God Morgon!" Their grandfather was used to being up early and the kids would have to get used to that for the duration of the trip.

"So!" Their grandfather had lived near them in the states for quite a long time and could speak perfect English, albeit with an accent that was not that hard to understand. "I am sorry to have to put you both to work so quickly, but that's what you get for arriving on a week day!" He laughed and started setting plates of food down in front of them.

"That's ok…" Freya paused mid-sentence to yawn. "I'm looking forward to it."

"Are you, little one?" Freya liked hearing his pet name for her. It made her feel little and safe. She smiled at the memory. The smell of his pipe and the sea seemed to be permanent in his small house, just the way she recalled from her prior visits. She nodded her response to him as she dove into the food.

He sat down to eat quickly with them, offering coffee, which Freya had never had but loved the smell of. She took a cup, surprised at the bitterness, but finding the caffeine to her liking. She added another teaspoon of sugar and decided that it wasn't terrible.

"Ok, girls. We need to be out on the water soon, so go get dressed. Jeans are good for now but we should buy you proper gear. Wear layers. The weather changes quickly sometimes. There will be a lot to learn so stay close, and pay attention! A ship is a dangerous place sometimes. The sea is not to be trifled with. Understand?"

Both girls nodded and they got ready to head out.

He led them down the dock to his fishing boat, several of his deck hands already readying the boat. "First lesson - Always think about where you are about to step, especially when getting aboard. There's an old saying: 'there's many a slip 'twixt the dock and the ship.' Plant your feet firmly and carefully. We make deliberate movements on board.

The girls understood and Freya was inhaling the scent of the water as she came aboard. Sonja thought that maybe her grandfather was being a bit dramatic, but she also didn't like the idea of falling in the quite cold water. Temperatures in the water off of Gothenburg averaged in the mid-60s Fahrenheit/high teens Celsius in August. Not a problem for Freya, but Sonja didn't know that and she chose her footing appropriately.

Gratefully, it was a calm day, and they were able to learn some basics without too much drama, their grandfather keeping them clear of the really dangerous work. Freya watched the first net full of catch get lowered into the hold and to her the smell was intoxicating. They were far enough out that the land was just barely visible and she was surprised at how different it seemed from being actually in the water.

By the end of the first day, both girls were tired, but it had been interesting, and almost fun, to learn their grandfather's trade (or really just get a taste of it.) On the trip back to port, the girls hung out on the bow, wind in their hair as they copied the scene from Titanic. They enjoyed themselves as the normal stresses of their home life slipped from their minds, replaced by hard work and the demands of the boat. They pulled into port to unload their catch and then tied up at the dock. He showed them some of the things to do to secure the boat for the night and then it was a short ride home for dinner, fresh fish from the day's take being the main course.

He tried to show them both how to clean the fish, slicing it quickly into fillets, but only Freya seemed to have the stomach for it. She had to fight the urge to take a small bite while cleaning one and she assumed that was a mermaid thing, as she never would have wanted to do that before.

"You're a natural, little one. You've never done this before?"

"No. It just seems easy."

"Well, let's go get your sister and cook this up. It's been a long day."

The three ate outside, the sun still remarkably high in the sky this far north in the summer. He shared a small amount of wine with the girls, making them promise not to tell their mother, and he lit his pipe as he began telling tales of his time at sea.

The evening was winding down and they had one more work day before the weekend so he was urging the girls to get to bed.

The day at sea had made Freya anxious to ask about what she always wanted to ask her grandfather about.

"Morfar, have you seen any more? You know…"

He laughed. "Mermaids? Nej, little one. Not in many years. Not since well before I was in the states and you were born. I'm afraid you've seen one more recently than I have."

Sonja rolled her eyes. "Don't encourage her!"

He laughed again. "What? You don't believe her? Or me?"

"Well, I was on the same boat she was and I never saw them." She smiled. "And I think that maybe you like to tell tall tales…"

"Well," he said, laughing, "I do love a good story, but there are many things in this world that we don't know, and if you spend enough time on the water, there's a good chance you'll see something hard to explain. Don't be too closed minded!"

It had been years since he had told his stories the first time and she assumed they were for the consumption of little girls, but he seemed like he was sticking to it.

"So you're serious? You've seen them? For real?"

He crossed his heart. "I swear it's true. Twice. The first time, I was a young man. Nearly as young as you are now, eighteen or nineteen. I was working the boats right here in Fiskebäck. We got stuck in a powerful storm that blew up out of nowhere and we ended up way off course, south of Vrångö Island. We were low on fuel by then. It was July, I think, and the sun was up until well past ten, luckily, as we had to cruise slowly to save fuel. We picked our way between the little islands along the shore as we came back north. I was on the foredeck all alone. Everyone else was bored on the slow trip back and staying on the bridge or down below where there were places to sit. But I loved the sea more than most, still do, and was content to watch the water pass slowly by. That's when I saw her. She slipped off of a rock on the edge of a tiny island and watched from the water as we passed. When she was roughly abeam, she turned and dove, her tail shining in the late evening sun. A coppery gold color. No one believed me, of course. I was the only one to see her.”

Freya was listening with rapt attention, the storytelling being so vivid that even Sonja was enthralled.

"The second time, I was much older. We had been fishing nearer to shore but it was a windy day and one of the men misjudged the boom that holds the line for the net. That's the part that's like a crane. The wind took hold of the net full of fish and the momentum swung the boom around, knocking the man overboard. We called for the captain to stop, but a vessel like that takes a while to stop moving. When I ran and looked over the railing, the man was right near the side of the boat. He should have been a hundred meters or more behind us, but he was right there, then I saw the hands holding him up above the water line. His head was to the side. He had been knocked unconscious but she had saved him and brought him back to the ship. I threw down a life preserver and whoever she was, she slipped it over him before turning and swimming away. By the time everyone else got to where I was, she was gone."

He chuckled. "Just my luck, two times and no one else to prove that I wasn't making it up. Just like you, little one!"

Sonja had to admit, if nothing else it was a good story.

"What about the tail. I mean on the second one." Freya asked, excited by the new level of detail he was giving.

"Same as the other one. A reddish gold. Beautiful. She saved that man's life. He never saw her either, but he believed me. He quit fishing that day. Figured he'd used up all his luck. Maybe he was right, I don't know, but whoever that was in the water, she was his guardian angel that day."

Sonja looked at her sister, remembering the picture of the tail that Jackie drew. The one that was hanging in Kim's room. The one with the coppery-gold coloring. 'That's an awfully big coincidence.' she thought.

"Well, time for bed, you two. Early day again tomorrow. Then this weekend, we'll go into Gothenburg and have some fun. And get some proper boat clothes for the both of you."

The girls were sharing the only other bedroom, with two single beds, one on the opposite wall from the other. They were settling in when curiosity got the best of Sonja. "Freya?"

"Yeah?"

"How did Jackie know the color?"

Freya had almost fallen asleep. "The color of what?"

"Of the tail that she drew. It was exactly the same as grandpa just described."

Unseen in the dark, Frey's eyes grew very wide as she realized what Sonja meant. "Oh. I told her. That was how I remembered it from Seattle." It was a plausible story, far more so than saying 'Because that was a drawing of my tail.'

"So you're both serious? You both think you saw the same thing? With the same kind of tail?"

Freya now found herself in the very strange position of having to convince her sister of the existence of mermaids in order to keep her from finding out that there was a mermaid roughly ten feet away from her. Or at least to try to keep her stories consistent.

"Yeah. I mean, I've spent six years telling you I saw it. That would be a long time to keep a silly fib going, don't you think?"

"Huh. I guess so. Kind of wild, don't you think?"

'You don't even know.' Is what Freya wanted to say. Instead, she just agreed. "Yeah. Hey, I'm falling asleep. I'll talk to you in the morning, ok?"

"Yeah, goodnight."

"'Night."

Chapter Text

While the Swenson girls were learning to fish, things were calm in Cleveland. Maddie would be leaving with her family in a few days for a week, and as anyone from the area can tell you, late July into August is a bit of a quiet time. The excitement leading up to early summer gives way to a languid, humid, heat-soaked state of being. Sometimes called the dog days of summer, sometimes called the summer doldrums, it's a time when often not much is going on. Older adults sit under shade trees on folding lawn chairs, young kids get dropped off at the pool, and older kids tend to lounge around the house until their parent's get frustrated and tell them to go do something. The latter is exactly what was going on at the Callahan's. It even seemed like too much of an effort to get down to the lake to go for a swim.

All three were in the basement, the coolest part of the house. Jackie was draped over an old recliner sideways, mindlessly watching SpongeBob. Kim was on the old couch, doom scrolling, and Renée was napping in the beanbag chair, waiting for Maddie to come over for a bit before she had to get ready for her trip. The door slammed upstairs and Maddie poked her head down from the top of the stairs. She surveyed the scene.

"Could this get more boring down here?"

Renée slowly roused herself while the other two barely looked up to say hi.

"Oh my god. Come on, Renée, I've only got a couple hours." Renée made a grunting noise that sounded suspiciously like a sixty-year-old man getting up as she struggled to get out of the beanbag chair. Maddie rolled her eyes and led Renée up the stairs to go raid her closet for clothes to borrow for the trip.

"Ugh." It was probably the first word Kim had said in two hours. "I guess we should go somewhere before mom makes us clean something."

Jackie hung her head upside down off the arm of the chair and looked at Kim inverted. "Yeah, I suppose. Swim?"

"Sure."

It was probably the least enthusiastic agreement to go swimming that either mermaid had ever uttered, but it was enough to slowly get them up and moving. They hollered up to the second floor as they passed the stairs.

"We're going swimming!"

"'K, see you later." Came the response from their older sister.

The girls grabbed their bikes, they wanted some wind in their faces to counter the muggy air, and they pedaled to the shore, finding the beach surprisingly empty as people opted for air conditioning over the shore. They carefully got in, with no real chance of anyone seeing them, and very slowly swam out to a decent distance from the shore before surfacing to discuss what they were actually going to do.

"Mmmmmm," Kim said. "Feels nice and cool." Jackie agreed, but still, neither seemed to want to go anywhere.

"Why don't we just go out farther and nap?"

Kim laughed. "I guess today was really a day to do nothing. But, no, too many boats. Getting hit by a boat while sleeping wasn't really on my to-do list."

Jackie laughed at how that sounded. "Yeah. It's not like I want school to come back, but we really need to find something to do. We can only hang around the house for so long before mom starts bitching."

They were bobbing in an area that was further out than the typical pleasure boaters would go, but not so far as to be in the shipping lanes of the larger vessels.

"Hey, I haven't heard anything from Freya. You?" Both she and her sister had been on Jackie's mind since the big blow up a couple days ago.

"No. I think she'd put it in the chat if she said anything at all."

"It's funny, she's probably out on a boat right now while we're out in the water, too."

Kim softly exhaled through her nose in the subtlest laugh possible. "Yeah. Except she's probably working her tail off while we float here, bored. I have to say, I'm a bit jealous."

"Of her working her tail off?"

"Maybe, I am pretty bored, but no, that she gets to explore a whole new part of the ocean. Of the world. I know her mom thought this was like, a punishment, or something, but it's honestly pretty cool."

"Do you think there any others of us over there?"

"I hope so, but who knows. I don’t think there were any Swedish cities on that list that we found Leilani on. Her grandfather told her stories, though, so maybe."

"I hope so, too. Though we'd be extra jealous then."

"Ok." Kim said, finally gathering some energy. "We've got to get moving. Get the blood pumping. I'll race you to the Cleveland sign at Euclid Beach and back, then we go find something else to do on land. Deal?"

Jackie looked like she was trying to work up the energy. "Ok. If I have to. But let's make it interesting. Last one back has to do the dishes tonight!"

"Oooo. I like a challenge. You're on."

They took off, swimming low to miss any boats, finally getting a little energized. They got parallel to Euclid Beach at almost the same time and made the turn to head back, Jackie slightly in the lead. There were a lot of boats out and they were dodging anchor lines as they got close to their starting point.

Out of nowhere, Jackie pulled up short, coming to the quickest stop she could. Kim looked back and Jackie had a pained look on her face and was thrashing around in the water. Kim swam back to her as quickly as she could, a slightly panicky Jackie pointing to her fin, which was moving in a very strange way. They couldn't talk underwater but they were under a quite a number of boats and couldn't go up to communicate.

Kim got close enough and then saw the problem. Jackie must have swum directly under someone who was fishing, as she had a hook in her fin and the line was still attached. Some lucky fisherman, twenty feet above them, thought that he had the catch of the day on his line and was reeling in like his life depended on it.

Kim silently mouthed to her sister, "Fish hook!"

Jackie mouthed back. "I know." and shrugged her shoulders as if to ask what she should do.

While they considered this, the line kept yanking on her and Jackie was starting to get seriously annoyed. As Kim inspected it further, Jackie had had enough. She pointed to herself with both thumbs and then pointed west and mouthed the word "GO!" Kim smiled, curious to see what was about to unfold.

Jackie put some pressure on the line. It was clear that the hook was in pretty deep and wasn't going to rip out. She got a look on her face that basically said, 'screw it,' and started pulling, the line paying out behind her as the drag on the fisherman's reel was clearly set for a much lighter and less powerful catch. The resistance from the line increased as the guy in the boat was trying to tighten the drag as she swam, until she felt it let go and the entire rod and reel splashed down behind her in the lake.

She wasn't about to stop, and they swam to somewhere that they could surface and talk. Now that there was no one attached to the other end, Kim grabbed the line, wrapped it around both hands, and easily snapped it, letting the rod float away.

"Damn it!" Jackie was steaming mad. "I can't believe that just happened."

Kim Laughed. "Well, that guy’s surprised."

"Yeah, but how do I get this out? If I change, it will just still be there when I get wet again. And then is there a hook inside my legs somewhere? How does this work?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. But let's do this. You stay out here, and I'll go back to the house and get some tools to get it out. Ok?"

Jackie did not look happy but she didn't see another option. "Ok. I'm going to go further out, but right off of Wagar. I guess I'll just hang out.

Kim smiled.

"Damn it, Kim, this isn't funny."

"It's a little funny…"

A smile broke through onto Jackie's face. "Just go get some tools." She crossed her arms in frustration and watched Kim swim for shore while she psyched herself up for the wait, feeling a dull throb in her tail where the hook was.

It was almost a half hour later before Kim came back, their father's tackle box in her hand.

"You have got to be joking me! You brought a tackle box to the fish with a hook stuck in her?"

"Relax, Jackie, it has everything to get a hook out. That's literally what half the stuff in here is for."

She pulled out some needle nosed pliers and a pocket knife and dove under to see what she could do.

The pain from the hook had been minor but annoying, Kim digging around in her tail with a pocket knife was a little more difficult to deal with and Jackie was having a hard time holding still. Kim got frustrated with the movement and came back up to look through the tackle box to see if there might be something more helpful.

Jackie looked pissed, the redhead a little more fiery than usual. "I'd like to still have a tail when you are done, please!"

"I'm sorry, what would you like me to do, exactly? I know, how about I carry you to urgent care and see what they can do about it." She scowled and ducked back under with a different set of pliers and a pair of diagonal cutters.

On closer inspection, it looked like the hook had gone all the way through, and instead of trying to get it out the way it went in, Kim cut it at the eyelet where the line tied on and then pulled it the rest of the way through so that the barb couldn't get stuck on anything. She resurfaced with the hook firmly in the jaws of the pliers and a look of success on her face.

"Got it!" She smiled triumphantly.

Jackie stuck her head into the water to look. There was a tiny trail of blood seeping from the hole that was left, but she felt relief and the pain was mostly gone. She came back up. Kim was still smiling.

"Oh, this was funny?"

Kim laughed. "I guess not, but I'm happy with the way that I solved it." She described what she'd done.

"I suppose that was pretty clever. Thanks." The frustration was finally wearing off.

"Come on. Let's get ashore and back to the house." Kim gathered the tools and put them back in the tackle box that she'd left floating on the surface before they found a quiet place to get out and dry off. They climbed the stairs up off the beach and Kim asked how she was feeling.

"Fine, actually. It seems to go away when I change. Not a huge fan of having a hole in my tail. Do we get infections?"

"I have no idea. When we get back, get in the tub and change back. I'll put some disinfectant on it then."

"Huh. That's another good idea. Sorry I got angry. Thanks for being there to help me."

"No problem. I guess that's something that we have to look out for that I hadn't considered before. But you have to admit, getting hooked by a fisherman is a little funny, looking back on it." Jackie rolled her eyes.

On the way, they ran into Maddie riding home from their house with a bag full of items from Renée's closet hanging off her handlebars.

"Hey Jackie? Go ahead and get started. I want to talk to Maddie for a sec."

Jackie said ok and gave Maddie a quick hug then took off for home.

"So…" Kim wasn't sure how to ask what she was wondering about. "Any, um, you know… revelations?"

Maddie got what she was saying. "I don't know. I think I blocked it but it was all so intense."

"So you haven't said anything about being interested in her?"

"God, no!"

"And she didn't feel it during the big… whatever that was that we felt?"

"Yeah, I don't know. It was such a huge amount of feeling that I'm not sure anyone could pick out any one thought or emotion. It was like trying to drink Niagara Falls through a straw, you know? Why? Do you know something that I don’t?" Maddie looked nervous.

"No. I don't. It just seemed like you guys really connected during that and then you went and 'practiced' on your own."

"Oh my god, don’t put air quotes around that. That's really all we did!"

Kim grinned. "Sure."

"Honestly! Look, I have no idea how she feels. I just felt this blast. It was like white noise. And then when we got it under control, we were both clamping down so one way or the other, I didn't feel it."

"You really should just say something, otherwise you'll never know. Unless you guys touch accidentally, I guess."

"No. I'm not taking the chance. We've been friends for ever. That's way too valuable to risk."

"Yeah, I know. You keep saying that. But you guys spend so much time together, and I might not really know how it feels to feel that way, but when you guys were connected over the table, you were seriously locked in on each other."

"And if I make it weird, and she doesn't feel that way, I risk her friendship and by extension, the rest of you, as well."

"I really don't think it's that dire. We're all your friends. That won't change."

"Yeah, I know, but it just seems like a risk."

"I suppose it is, to some degree, but there's an old saying that Reed taught me from his sailing lessons: 'A boat is safe in a harbor, but that's not what boats are for.' Or something like that. Point is…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The point is, 'take a chance.' I get it. I'll think about it. But I'm not in a rush. Hey, I've got to get packing. I guess I'll see you guys when I get back!"

"Yeah, have a great trip. I've got to go, too. I have to clean up the hole in Jackie's fin." Kim put a foot on her pedal to start biking away.

"Wait! What?"

Kim looked over her shoulder and shouted "Fishing accident. I'll tell her to call you later and fill you in."

Maddie stared after her before turning around to go home. 'I certainly have stumbled into an interesting group of people.' she thought.

Kim got home to find Jackie already in the tub with Renée fussing over her, the first aid kit out.

"What in the world?" Renée didn't know what else to say.

Kim shrugged. "I guess we're lucky it hasn't happened sooner. I suppose it's something we need to be more careful of."

"You think?" Renée had the Neosporin out and was dabbing it on the hole with the end of a Q-Tip. "At least it's small. Jackie, lift it up so I can do the other side."

Jackie lifted her fin up, the light from the overhead fixture showing through the translucent fin, her sister's shadow visible through it.

"Ok. It's pretty clean. And it's small. I'm sure it will be fine, but still, why don't you stay in the tub for a while to let the antiseptic do its thing before you change back. Kim? Do you guys know what happens in this situation? Does it heal while the tail's gone? Or will it still be damaged when she's wet again? Did this happen to you or to anyone else before I knew about you?"

"No. And we don't know how it works. But I guess we'll find out."

Renée looked mad. "You know our sister is not a science experiment, right?"

"Jesus, Renée, I didn't stick the hook through her! You don't have to holler at me."

Renée put her hands to her head. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried."

"You guys! It's fine. It's a tiny hole. Either it heals while the tail is gone, or it heals when it comes back. I don't think it's a big deal. It doesn't even hurt any more. Maybe I should put an earring through it!"

Both her sisters laughed at that. Then they heard the front door.

"That would be Maddie," Renée said, "I called her before you got home, Kim."

"But we just saw her on the way here."

"I know, I called her about this. Remember? She can heal sometimes."

Maddie walked in and closed the door behind her, looking at the tail in question.

"So this was the fishing accident?"

Kim nodded. Jackie grinned. Now that she was safely at home, she was actually seeing the humor in all this.

"What do you think?" Renée was anxious for her friend's opinion.

" I don't really know. I've helped a few small birds, a squirrel with a broken leg… Tiny things. I have no idea if this works on people."

"Well…" Jackie was hoping to reminder her that maybe 'people' wasn't the right word.

"Ok. People, mermaids, elephants, whatever. I'm not sure it works on someone so big."

Maddie looked at the tail up close. While she was looking, Kim had a question.

"Have you done this since the big power up?"

Maddie turned to look at her. "Actually, no. I haven't."

"So you could be super powerful, now?"

"I suppose. Or super dangerous, we just don't know."

The three looked at each other for a while before Jackie broke the deadlock. "Do it. Give it a shot. It's a tiny hole. I have faith. And I don't want to have to deal with it the next time I swim. Go for it.

"You sure?"

"Oh my god, get on with it!"

Maddie set her jaw and took Jackie's tail in both hands, one palm on each side of the fluke. She closed her eyes. "Let me know right away if something feels off, ok?"

"Got it."

Maddie focused and reached out, trying to move the energy the way she'd done it in the past with the animals she'd healed. The skin of the tail glowed between her hands and she held it like that and counted to ten mentally, trying to guess the right length of time. She shut off the energy.

"You guys ready to see?" She was nervous and began slowly removing her hands. Everyone gathered around.

Jackie couldn't see it from down in the tub but Kim was smiling.

"It's completely gone!"

Renée grinned. "You did it! I told you you could!" She wrapped Maddie in a hug, overwhelming the witch with a flood of uncontrolled good vibes.

Kim finally realized what was going on and tugged on her sister to get her to pull back. "Easy, Renée, I think you’re on full blast, there."

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry!"

Maddie blinked, still recovering from the touch. "No, it's cool." She went and sat on the toilet seat. "I think we just need to work on it some more. I don't get why it's just us…"

Kim felt the need to move everyone along. "Ok, well, I think Maddie is meant to be getting ready for the trip. You guys help Jackie out of the tub. I'll walk Maddie out."

Renée looked a bit conflicted but reached a hand out to Jackie as Kim and Maddie left down the hallway. They got to the door and Kim stopped her.

"Thank you. That was amazing. That’s really something special. I hope you're around the next time I get hurt."

"Let's hope I never have to do that again. Or maybe just for a paper cut or something."

There was a silence, both of them knowing that Kim was going to say something.

"It happened again."

"I know."

"You feel anything?"

Maddie's pause was long. "I don't know. Maybe she was just grateful for me helping. Honestly, it was just like a feeling of goodwill? I'm not sure."

Kim smiled. "Ok, well… either way, thank you."

Maddie blushed. "Happy to help. You guys be careful around those hooks, ok?"

"Have a great trip. Tell your brother to go to hell, for me." She smiled.

Maddie smiled back. "Oh, I'm sure I will." She turned her bike around and got on before riding out of the driveway.

Chapter Text

After another interesting but tiring day, Freya was spending Friday evening on her grandfather's ancient computer, studying online maps of the area. One of the things that she and Reed had discovered during their studies was that there were other maps that could be useful to a mermaid, specifically shipping maps. Maritime traffic was easy to look up in real time. Compared to something like Google Maps, this let her get a good idea of where ship traffic went. Larger vessels seemed to follow more specific routes and after some studying, one can get a good idea of the area since it concentrates on the water in a way that traditional maps don't. There are also depth charts that have relatively detailed depictions of what the bottom looks like, especially in the areas nearer to land.

She was indulging in her newfound enjoyment of coffee while she scrolled through the various maps and charts, trying to commit as much of the area as possible to memory. The next day was a day off, and she fully intended to take a dip and check out the local waterways.

Freya was startled by her sister sneaking up on her, not giving her time to close out the browser. Not that looking at maritime shipping was a giveaway, but it was weird enough to elicite some teasing.

"Whatcha lookin' at, small Frey?" Sonja bent over and looked over her little sister's shoulder. "Nerd. Why are you looking at shipping stuff?"

Freya sighed. "It's interesting. We're out there with all these other ships. I like to know more about what we're doing."

"Fair enough. And coffee? Who are you?"

"Just a local fisherperson, I guess." Freya grinned over her shoulder at her sister.

"You're really digging this, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I kind of am. You?"

"It's not horrible. And grandpa's fun to be around. You know that next week he's going to give us harder stuff to do, right?"

"I hope so."

"You're so weird."

"I know. Check it out." Freya pointed to the map on the screen. "This is about where grandpa says he saw the first mermaid." She scrolled up to closer to the Norwegian border. "And this is about where the second one was. We won't get anywhere near the first one but we'll probably work right around the same area as the second one."

Sonja saw her sister grinning in the reflection in the monitor. "Well, we'll just have to keep our eyes open. But honestly, what would you do if we see one?"

"Probably jump in after her."

"Ha ha. That's not really funny."

"I know... Listen I want to talk to you about something serious."

Freya pulled herself away from the computer and sat down on the sofa, clearly intending for Sonja to follow her. She had joked about jumping in, but it brought up a concern she had.

"I know mom thinks we're just out here getting a work ethic drilled into us, but this is actually kind of dangerous. I'm not even sure why grandpa agreed to this. I want you to promise me something, ok?"

"You're kind of scaring me."

"Good. I'm trying to. Will you promise?"

"Depends on what it is. You're being creepy."

"If something happens, and I go in the water, I want you to promise that you won't try to go in to 'save' me. You'd freeze and drown in minutes."

Sonja was totally taken aback. "That's so morbid. Why would you say this to me? Are you actually planning on jumping in?"

"No. But I'm serious. If I get knocked overboard by the boom, like the guy grandpa told us about, let someone else try to save me. YOU DON'T DO IT!"

"Ok! Jeez. I promise. Seriously, why are you being so weird?"

"Because you are important to me. I love you."

Sonja fought back tears. "I love you, too! So try not to fall overboard, ok."

"I'll do my best."

Sonja cocked her head. "Do really think it's that dangerous?"

"I think it can be. Just stay safe. Don't get complacent."

"Aye, aye, captain." Sonja fake saluted.

"Thanks for promising."

Their grandfather's voice echoed in from the other room. "Time for bed, but you get to sleep in tomorrow." The kids left to get ready for bed.

Freya had no intention of sleeping in. The morning was hers for exploring, as far as she was concerned.

"You're up early, little one."

"Yeah, I'm going to go explore a little if that's ok."

"Sure, be careful if you go down by the water. And be back by noon so we can do some shopping."

Freya agreed and started the short walk down to the water. The house was close to the docks, which were fairly deserted on a Saturday. She picked a secluded space and dropped into the water, feeling it for the first time in a little while.

It smelled different than Lake Erie, of course, but also different that the water around San Diego. She swam out of the protected area around the docks and turned south, through the sea of small islands that dotted the waterway along the coast south of Gothenburg, explicitly swimming in the area where her grandfather's first mermaid sighting should have been. She didn't expect to run into anyone but you never know.

It was a little stressful being in a new place without someone to guide her, like Leilani and Ava had done in San Diego. She would have to learn this on her own. She swam until she got through all the small islands and then turned west, pointed straight out into the North Sea. She dove down, further than she would normally go in the lake, with much, much more depth still below her. She reveled in the feeling of freedom. Unlike in the Pacific, where there was nothing but open ocean for thousands of miles, from where she was, it was feasible to swim to either Denmark or Norway. It just had a different feeling than any place she'd been so far.

She turned north, keeping the islands off her right side, until she started to see the large container ship traffic that was steaming into Gothenburg. She followed the shipping lanes until the mainland came into view and then turned south, back towards where she started, having traced a giant oval. She hadn't brought a watch but figured it was time to get back. She walked the short distance back to the house just in time for her sister to finally be getting up. She walked in the door, Sonja surprised that she had already gone out.

"Where were you?"

"I took that North Sea dip I talked about"

"Ha, ha. There's coffee in the kitchen."

"Thanks." Freya smiled at her truth mistaken for a joke and poured a cup. It would be time to go shopping soon.

Chapter Text

Cole looked at Reed. "I've got to say I'm a little bit nervous about this."

"You know I had, like, a gazillion lessons, right? I'm certified and everything!"

"Still, after last time…"

" Ha ha. The weather is going to be perfect today. No sudden storms. Plus, this time, the girls will be out there with us."

Reed's father hadn't really trusted the word of the instructor, so over the weekend, he made Reed take him out several times on the Sunfish. He didn't have any real sailing experience, but he knew his son well enough to know if was handling himself in a confident and competent manor. After three sails over two days, he was impressed. Apparently, having five weekends of lessons when only one is required for certification had paid off. After about three billion discussions about life jackets, which Reed took great pains to explain were now called personal flotation devices, he cleared Reed to take Cole out on his own.

"So where are we meeting them."

"Kim said to just head straight north out from Rocky River and that they'd find us."

The boys were almost ready to go. "Are you sure we have our life preservers?" Cole was lightly ripping on Reed's dad.

"PFDs!"

They laughed to themselves as they cast off and began the sail down to the mouth of the river. They turned slightly to the north as they cleared the breakwall and, somewhat nervously, began sailing directly away from land.

Reed had been right; it was a perfect day for what they were doing. A cool front had moved in over the weekend and it was one of those perfect post-front days with cooler, dryer air, calm seas, and a light, west by northwest wind of about five knots. If that wind direction held, they wouldn't have to tack on the way there or even Gybe on the way back.

Without much actual work to do, the boys enjoyed the steady progress they were making until Cole started to wonder exactly when they would see the girls as land was receding behind them, and personal flotation device or not, his nerves were starting to get to him a little. Kim had teasingly decided to let them get a little farther out on purpose, just to mess with them. In fact, they had been tailing the boat all the way from the breakwall.

Kim gave a thumbs up underwater and the girls accelerated, breaching the surface on either side of the boat and gracefully arcing through the air, diving back in just ahead of the bow before circling back and popping up right next to the boat on either side.

"Jesus Christ, Kim!" Reed was holding his hand to his chest, feigning a heart attack as he dropped the sail to come to a stop.

"Did you like that? I thought I'd make an impression!"

"Wait…" Reed looked on the other side of the boat and saw Jackie but also another head, bobbing a few yards further away, and he knew Freya was in Sweden. "Is that?"

"Yep, I thought I'd introduce you guys." Kim ducked under the boat and came up on the other side, beckoning Xandie closer. She pointed to each of the guys as she named them. Reed, Cole, this is Xandie. Xandie? This is Reed and Cole."

Xandie swam up to the boat and put her hand out, which the boys thought was an oddly formal gesture in the middle of the water but they enjoyed the quirkiness as they reached down towards the water to shake her hand. This was the first of the adult mermaids the guys got to meet and they were a little intimidated, despite her diminutive stature.

"Hey." Cole wasn't sure exactly how to address her.

"It's nice to meet you." Xandie replied. "Leilani spoke very highly of all of you."

Both smiled sheepishly, not expecting to ever have been a topic of conversation for the San Diego mermaids.

The boys hung their legs over the port side of the boat, having taken the sail down to float, stationary, with the girls. They dangled their feet in the water and chatted as Xandie got to know everyone.

"So, Reed," Kim asked in a natural break in the discussion, "how is it being out in the boat now that you're all trained up?"

"Pretty cool, actually. I completely know how I screwed up before."

Kim related the story of saving the boys to Xandie, who thought it was pretty funny.

"I'm not sure funny is the exact word I would use." Cole was still slightly traumatized.

Xandie apologized. "Sorry, but you have to admit that being saved by the mermaid you were looking for is kind of funny."

"The irony was not lost on us…"

"Come on," Kim was sensing that everyone was wanting to do more than sit in the water and talk. They could do that on land. "you came out here to sail, not to chit chat! Let's see what that thing can do."

Reed laughed. "Well, it's not going to beat you in any races. But, yeah, let's head west towards Bradstreet. It will be a lot of tacking."

"Great." Cole said sarcastically. "Back to the scene of our embarrassment."

"An adventure is just a crisis you've survived. No shame in that." Xandie had a weird way of being formal and comforting at the same time. "Lead the way."

Reed raised the sail and the girls swam lazily beside them, chatting as they went. Reed almost collided with Jackie on the first tack before they figured that the girls should stay just ahead or just behind the Sunfish.

As they got close to Bradstreet, Kim asked the boys how brave they were feeling. "You guys want to head further out?"

"I don't know…" Cole was already nervous. "I'm not sure a boat this size should be out that far."

"Reed?" Kim asked. "Is the weather ok to do that?"

"Technically, yes."

"Then come on. We've got you if something happens. Just drop the sail if it gets rough and I'll tow you back."

The boys shrugged, trusting Kim. "We won't get far very fast, so, we're not going to Canada or anything."

"I know. Let's just get far enough out to be more isolated. I want you guys to feel it like we do sometimes."

Reed got goosebumps. He'd done so much reading and research but he would never get to feel what the girls feel, and it thrilled him to have a glimpse of their world. They sailed north, Reed getting to show off his seamanship a little and Cole getting more comfortable as Reed described to him what he was doing.

After quite a while, the land had turned to a distant line in the distance and Kim called for them to stop. "Okay, this is good."

Reed dropped the sail, drifting almost to a stop as only the wind against the hull and the light current would move the boat. They looked around at the vast amount of blue water around them, both nervous and excited by how far out they were.

"You guys want to get in? Really experience it."

Reed didn't even think, nodding enthusiastically. Cole was scared, but cinched the straps of his PFD tighter and also nodded. "But what happens if the boat gets away from us?" He asked.

Kim laughed. We can either bring it back to you or you to it. We're not staying nearby it, anyway."

"We're not?"

"Nope. Jump in!" Kim had planned this with Jackie. The boys got in the water. Reed jumped excitedly off the deck, cannonballing in and rocking the little boat while Cole elected to just slip into the water slowly, not sure how quickly his vest would float him back to the surface if he went under. He was surprised by how buoyant it really was when they weren't in the middle of a storm.

Each of the sisters grabbed one of the boys and began swimming, dragging them at least several hundred yards in front of the boat. They floated to a stop, Xandie amused by the mixture of fear and wonder.

Reed was surprised by how little he could see from just eye level on the surface. Floating in the water, the horizon was only about one mile away. Standing on even the admittedly small deck of the Sunfish afforded a much further view, more like five miles. From down on the surface, the shore was now barely visible. Cole was a little too nervous to process the difference.

"Ok, we're going to let go of you now. So just float. We're right here, though." The boys nodded and Kim and her sister let go, floating just out of reach.

Reed moved his hands in the water to spin himself around, the PFD keeping him remarkably safe. He laughed sort of maniacally. "I can't believe I'm just floating out here. Oh my god, my parents would be horrified!"

"I'm still kind of horrified." Cole sort of joked. Jackie saw the fear still in his eyes and swam back up to him.

"You ok?" She asked quietly while gently taking a hold of the straps on his vest to reassure him.

"Yeah. I think so. Stay here with me for a bit?"

"Of course. This is supposed to be fun, not scary."

Xandie was swimming laps around them, enjoying the kids' interactions. She thought it was sweet.

Reed was bolder, putting his head under water and trying to catch Kim as she swam around him. Eventually, Reed got a little tired and Cole became more comfortable. The lake was warm in the August sun and they had a little time before the boys got too cold to stay in the water. They floated on their backs for a while, looking up at the blue sky.

"And you guys can sleep like this?" Reed asked.

"Yeah." Kim didn't get to do it much, though. "It's almost better than a bed."

"Do you promise you have me if I do something stupid?"

Kim laughed. "I guess it depends on exactly how stupid."

"I want to take the vest off. And my shirt. I want to float out here with you guys. Cole and I did a lot of swimming over the last year. It's not like I want to swim to shore or anything, but I'm pretty sure I can float out here for a while."

Kim raised an eyebrow. "If you want to try it. I'll be right here."

Reed started undoing the clasps on the PFD. He let it float away as he treaded water. He took a deep breath and pulled his T-shirt over his head quickly, throwing it near Cole so that someone could grab it.

He found that floating or treading water here was no different than doing it in a pool, but the vastness of the water around him was both jarring and beautiful. He allowed himself to float onto his back, gently moving his arms underwater just enough to keep his face above the surface, the lake being remarkably calm in the light winds.

Kim had been hovering near him with her hands just under him. She knew that Reed was in no real danger with her being there, but she also understood how overwhelming it could be if someone thought about it too much.

"This is kind of amazing! I'm not sure why you guys ever even go home."

All three mermaids laughed.

"There are times," Xandie said, looking thoughtful, "that I have considered staying out there."

It struck Jackie how little they really knew about Xandie. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you stayed out in the water?"

Xandie looked like she was doing math in her head. "About two weeks, I think."

Everyone turned to look at her. Even Reed flipped from floating on his back to treading water normally to look at her.

"Two weeks?" Even Kim was surprised by this and she knew more about Xandie's past than anyone else.

"It's a long story and I don't want to bore anyone with it, but there have been times where it's been hard to find somewhere to live. I thought I'd give living in the wild a chance. But I got lonely."

"Wow." Cole couldn't really think of anything other than that to say. She didn't seem like the kind of person who liked people prying into her life, so everyone else decided to let it go. They figured they'd learn more in time.

"What about you?" Xandie change the subject so quickly that it nearly gave people whiplash. "Do you want to give floating a try like your friend?" This was directed at Cole who looked like he was considering the idea but ultimately decided not to.

"Maybe someday, for right now this is good enough."

"Okay guys, I'm starting to get pretty chilly. Any chance you could drag us back to the boat? And maybe toss my vest back to me?" Cole had been holding onto the vest for him, enjoying the extra buoyancy, and threw it back close enough for Reed to grab it and start putting it on.

"Okay. I'll grab Reed, Jackie, you get Cole. You guys ready?"

The boys nodded and the group set off towards the boat which had drifted quite a bit further than Reed thought that it would in that amount of time. Still, they caught up to it quickly and the girls helped hoist the boys aboard.

The guys got settled and pulled up the sail. The winds had actually calmed down by a knot or two and it was going to be a longish ride home. Kim asked if they wanted any extra speed, offering to tow them a little bit. But Reed was insistent on finishing the trip on his own. Kim and Jackie were content to escort the sunfish back towards Rocky River and Xandie opted to swim straight to home to get ready for her shift that night.

The guys were quiet on the sail back. Being out in the water had been more tiring than they expected, but they were also just content to have had a successful trip and to meet the new mermaid, both of them having a new appreciation of what it was like out in the water.

Once back at the marina, Reed called his dad to come pick them and the boat up.

"Did you guys have a good sail?" His dad asked while supervising the boys winching the boat onto the trailer.

"Awesome. It was amazing." Reed was actually downplaying the day, floating in the deep water a mile off the shore and swimming with mermaids not being something he thought his dad would approve of.

"And you guys were safe and stayed close in?"

"Totally safe, dad." Cole suppressed a grin and kicked Reed in the leg. "Ok, dad, all loaded up."

His dad checked their work and hauled the boat out, stopping to let the boys in before driving off.

The girls got back from their sailboat adventures, heading upstairs to find Renée, discovering her reading in her room.

"Hey, how was the sail? The boys manage to stay on the boat this time?"

Kim grinned. "No, not at all."

"Oh my god, are they ok? Did they trash the boat, again?"

"Nothing like that. We took them swimming." Kim went on to describe getting Reed and Cole into the water.

"Thank god. That actually sounds like fun. I'd like to try that."

"Um, you already did, except out in the ocean."

"Yeah, but you guys were busy with your weather stuff and it's not same as just swimming and hanging out."

"Well, yeah," Kim looked at Jackie who seemed to agree. "I'm sure Reed would love to take you out there with us. Or we could just drag you out there in Reed's life vest like in San Diego."

"I'd rather take the boat, that was a rough ride that day."

They chatted for a bit before Renée indicated that she wanted to get back to her book and her sisters got up to leave the room.

"Dang it!" Renée had gone back to her book but was frustrated. Jackie turned back.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, I've just been having this static thing all day. I keep getting shocked and the book pages keep sticking to me." She held her hand over the book in demonstration and the page did seem to be attracted to her hand, making it hard to turn the page.

"Weird." Jackie said. "Usually it's only static-y like that in the winter when it's really dry."

"Yeah, mom stopped using dryer sheets, I think that's why. You guys aren't getting this?"

Jackie shrugged and turned to leave, not thinking much about it. Renée decided that a change in what she was doing would help, she went to go get a snack in the kitchen, the problem seeming to go away as she cut up an apple and sat on the couch to watch something on the TV.

Chapter Text

Freya and Sonja were now into their first full week on the boat and they were learning new things every day. Sonja was surprised by Freya's ability to do some of the more physically demanding tasks seemingly as easily as some of the deck hands, pretty much disregarding her own suggestion that Sonja stay out of harm’s way.

They'd gotten more appropriate clothes over the weekend, including heavy weather gear, which left Freya feeling more comfortable about the odds of getting too wet. She would have actually looked forward to some rain to keep them cool while working if she wasn't still worried about getting soaked. The ride back to port, however, was her favorite time of the day. She stood at the bow and watched the water pass by, examining every island, every cove, every bit of shoreline for any sign of the rescuer of her grandfather's shipmate. She knew it was unlikely. That had been decades ago. Still, she liked to imagine that it might happen.

The weekdays were full but she still found time for a couple evening swims. Her grandfather didn't seem to mind her disappearing for a few hours, he grew up in a time when kids went less supervised. But Sonja was genuinely curious about her sister's disappearances, her questions met with vague answers about going for a walk or going exploring, but she never came back with any interesting information about her explorations.

One evening, in their second week, Sonja asked if she could come along. Freya seemed to need a lot of alone time but it was making Sonja feel a little lonely. Freya begged off, offering to spend time together the next night to make it up to her.

Freya felt bad after shooting her sister down. She realized that she needed to spend more time with her, not to protect her other identity, but simply to be nice to Sonja. She resolved to chill on her alone time after tonight and be a better sister. But for that night, she had a specific place she wanted to check out after seeing it on the ride back to port that day. She trotted out of the house, briskly heading towards the docks at the marina. The bountiful summer sun had plenty of locals out strolling near the shore so she wanted to use the cover of the boats to slip unseen into the water.

Sonja had let her curiosity take hold of her and after trying to resist, she headed out the door herself, to see where her sister had been spending time. She wondered if there was a cute local boy that Freya had met, though she thought eleven was a bit young to be that interested. She glimpsed her sister as she made the turn onto another street a few blocks ahead. 'Damn,' she thought, 'she's really moving.' and she picked up her own pace to try to keep Freya in view. She caught sight of her again as she turned into the marina, heading down one of the long docks with boats lining both sides. Sonja didn't understand where her sister might be going. Was she getting on another boat? That seemed irresponsible. Maybe a mystery boy was hanging out on the end of the dock, waiting for her to join him. That seemed romantic but unlikely.

As Sonja got to the beginning of the dock, she saw someone in the distance turn onto another dock that split off from the main one. She thought it was her sister but the sun was in front of them both, turning whoever it was into just a dark silhouette. She lost sight again and then heard what sounded like a splash. She picked up the pace and turned the corner only to find that this was just a short extension of the dock that only went another fifty feet or so. There was no one there. Had she misjudged where the other person had turned? She looked back down the row of boats and didn't see anywhere else to go. Was she on one of the ships tied up here?

Sonja tentatively called out Freya's name, quietly at first and then with more volume. She stood on the dock and turned in circles a few times as she tried to figure out what had happened. 'Obviously,' her brain concluded, 'that couldn't have been Freya.' She figured that she must have missed something and turned to walk back. She retraced her steps slowly, trying to figure out where she had lost sight of Freya, confused at where that other person had gone and why her sister had headed down to the docks in the first place.

A couple hours later, Freya came home, looking calm and satisfied, like she'd just finished a good meal. She smiled at Sonja as she grabbed an apple and sat down next to her on the couch, completely unaware that her sister had tried to tail her.

"You want to play a game before it gets too late?" Freya was beginning her attempt at being more available.

"Sure." The two went to the shelf with the games, settling on a simple game of Uno before moving to the table to play.

Sonja observed her sister closely. If she was going somewhere in secret, she didn't seem to be showing any signs of it.

"So, have you met anyone here?" She was starting to probe a little.

Freya laughed. "When would that have happened? We're on the boat all day."

"I don't know, you've been taking those walks. I thought maybe you made a friend."

"I would have told you!" Freya seemed a bit indignant at the idea that she would make a friend and not introduce her sister to them.

"Ok. I didn't mean to accuse! You've just been on your own a lot. I didn't know if you were holding out on me."

It was clear that she should have spent less time alone. Sonja was also in a foreign land with no friends, but she didn't have the outlet that Freya had. "I'm sorry. I guess that was a bit selfish of me. I won't do that as much." She reached across the table and affectionately put her hand on Sonja's, legitimately feeling bad.

Sonja appreciated the apology and let herself get more involved in the game, mostly forgetting about the evening's weirdness.

However, as the sisters were lying in bed, trying to get to sleep while there was still light in the sky, Sonja's curiosity began to overcome her willingness to let her sister's whereabouts go unquestioned.

"Freya?"

"Mmm-hmm?" Freya was just getting settled and was not really sleepy yet.

"I have to ask. Where did you go?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you left. Where did you go? I tried to catch up to you but I couldn't and I swear I saw you on the docks but there was no one there. Did you get on someone's boat?"

The lights weren't out yet and Freya was acutely aware of Sonja studying her face as she struggled to find an answer that wouldn't be too ridiculous. In truth, despite saying that she was out walking and exploring, she had done none of that and had no idea what was around them. She didn't know where the closest store was, or even if there was one nearby. Instead, she deflected.

"What? No! Why would be getting on someone's boat?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

"I think being on the boat all day is enough. I don't need someone else's to hang out on."

"Just… Are you being safe? If there's a boy, I just think it would good to let me know. Just in case."

Freya wished it was as easy to explain her mystery disappearances with as useful an excuse as a boyfriend, but she knew there was no one for the introduction that Sonja would press her for.

"No." She laughed. "There's no boy. I was just out walking."

"If you want to talk, you know you can talk to me, right? If you're out there just thinking, maybe it would helpful to have someone else with you."

"You're right." Freya just needed to get out of this conversation. "I could use that. We can walk tomorrow night. That would be nice. I've just been thinking a lot." In actuality, she'd been stress free since they'd been there and nothing was really weighing on her. Now she felt like she would have to make up things to talk about. She regretted taking so much 'me time.'

"Ok, just know that I'm here for you if you need me."

"Thanks. And, same to you, by the way."

The girls said goodnight and turned off the lights, blissfully ending Freya's need to lie. She didn't mind not telling her sister things, but outright lying was hard, especially after getting to be so honest with her friends. She didn't feel good at all as she turned over and fell asleep.

Back home, the Callahan's were actually slightly bored without their friends. Even the boys had been busy with family things, much to Cole's regret. The same night as Freya's difficult lie to her sister, Renée had been scrolling on her phone when a weather alert buzzed. She looked at the thunderstorm warning and clicked onto the radar part of her weather app and saw the line of heavy thunderstorms approaching from the northwest. Her memory went back to the night she followed the mermaids down to the lake, discovering them for the first time. She'd always liked storms and wondered if her sisters might want to go watch them come in over the lake.

"Guys," she called out as she went out into the upstairs hallway, "Do you want to go down to the lake and watch the storms roll in?"

No one really had anything to do and it sounded fun, or at least pretty. It looked like they had about a half hour before the line hit them, so they hustled down to Wagar Beach, getting down on the lower-level deck just as the lightning began really lighting up the sky.

"You guys remember the last time we were all down here for a storm? Or at least for the lightning?"

Kim and Jackie still felt a little bad about that whole thing, even if it worked out well.

"Sorry, again. That must have been scary." Jackie said.

"I guess it was, but it certainly was exciting. And I got to find out, which was cool."

The three sisters leaned on the railing of the deck, turned slightly to face the incoming weather. The lightning was flashing all up and down the squall line, from the shore, all the way to the horizon; and beyond, it looked like, based on the lights over the horizon.

"God, I love a good storm." Jackie was loving it as it came in.

"That's because you are a storm!" Renée teased.

"That's Freya, actually. I'm just the lightning." As if to prove her point, she reached out and created her own bolt, just off the shore, the almost immediate thunder battering their ears.

"All right! Calm down!" Renée was just slightly unnerved by the display. Kim looked at both of them and smiled. It was nice being down here together.

The first drops began to fall. Renée reached for the umbrella she brought but Kim took care of it for all of them, creating a large, invisible umbrella of her own above all three. The rain and the wind picked up, the line of storms nearly upon them now. Even Jackie was getting a little worried about the volume of lightning and suggested that they climb the stairs and hang out in the little stone gate house room by the entrance gate. No one seemed to understand what that little room had been built for, but they were thankful that it was there as the storms were possibly more severe than even the weather warning on their phones had predicted. Much like the weather on the night that Jackie and Freya had transformed, the severe part of the storm passed quickly, leaving a light rain trailing behind it that was not at all dangerous, especially with Kim's magic umbrella. They ventured back out of the little gate house to go back down the stairs and watch as the weather receded to the east.

Renée led the way, with Kim in the back, holding up the rain. At the top of the stairs, Renée reached for the metal railing and a huge spark jumped the gap to her hand, knocking her down, causing her to slide two stairs down on her butt before coming to a rest.

"Damn it, Jackie if that was you…" She turned to look at her sister who had her hands up in the universal 'that wasn't me' gesture shaking her head.

"I swear, I would never do that. It wasn't me!"

Renée glared but she saw the honestly in Jackie's eyes. "There wasn't even any lightning just then. It's been weird for me all week. Every doorknob I touch has been shocking me, too."

"Did you ever stop to think that it might just be you?" Jackie was back in teasing mode.

"Ha ha. Isn't this your thing? I mean, it's getting downright annoying. And that one hurt." Renée was rubbing her butt where she had fallen on it. "Come on, let's just head home before something else happens."

The other two agreed, mostly to keep Renée from getting more frustrated, and they started the walk back. They got home and Renée went to change out her wet clothes. When she had fallen, she had slipped outside of the protection of Kim's umbrella and gotten decently wet.

"Of course," Renée was still ranting, "the only one of us that doesn't have issues if she gets wet and so I get soaked. I'm taking a shower."

She walked across the hall to the bathroom, letting out a small yelp as she grabbed the door handle and got a decent sized shock from it.

"I swear to god, Jackie, if I find out this is you…" She slammed the door, leaving Kim and Jackie looking bewildered and standing in the hall.

"This isn't me, is it?" Jackie was worried that she was doing something without knowing.

"I don't think so. She was complaining about this earlier when you weren't anywhere around."

"It is weird. It's crazy humid out. That shouldn't be happening."

"The one on the stairs was too big. I actually thought it might have been you."

"Nice. Very trusting…"

"You have to admit, that was more like lightning. It zapped her pretty good."

"Maybe there was just a big static build up in the hand rail from the storm?"

"You'd know better than me. Can that happen?"

"Hey, I only make lightning, I didn't gain magical knowledge of how it works."

"Ok, well I guess we just see if it goes away?"

Jackie shrugged. They split off to their own rooms, letting it slip from their minds. Jackie went to watch something on the TV and Kim began an email to Freya to see how she was doing. Renée let the water run over her, pleased to not be being shocked by anything.

Chapter Text

As their trip went on the weather seemed to be getting less friendly for the Swensons. By the end of the second week, it looked like there was going to be a few days of storms coming in from the North Sea. Their grandfather pulled them aside as they were getting on the boat.

"Listen. It might get a little crazy out there today. I want you two to go to the bridge if it gets bad. I don't want to have to worry about you, too. Ok?"

Freya picked up on his seriousness. "Ok. How bad is the forecast?"

"Bad, but not enough to not work. These men… This is their livelihood and fishing is good right now. Maybe it won't be so bad. You girls will be fine on the bridge. But for now, we fish."

The seas were still not too bad and he let Sonja steer the boat while it remained reasonable. Freya's aptitude was doing the hard work on the deck. Sonja was better at controlling the ship, seeming to have a natural aptitude for navigation. The girl kept her eye on the compass. The ship was rolling but she was keeping the heading averaging the right course, freeing up her grandfather to direct the deck hands, Freya still being among them, wrangling lines and helping get ready to pay out the nets. Freya took a moment to look at the skies, a line of black clouds ahead of them.

Freya did truly love a storm, even before they gained their extra powers. She was secretly, or not so secretly if you asked her sister, thrilled to see a large storm brewing. The power of it was palpable. She and Reed had done some storm research after her new power came into being, and what she learned about the amount of energy released in a large storm had been surprising, and impressive.

They drove on towards the line, the old man relieving Sonja at the helm as the seas got to the point where experience outweighed skill. He deftly maneuvered the boat, keeping the bow pointed into the waves as the crew brought in the first net. He looked down and saw Freya among them. He leaned out the side window and screamed at her to come up into the wheelhouse. Reluctantly, she did so as the rain started.

The rain picked up, as did the wind. The crew were about to pay out more net when the seas seemed to be getting to be too much. Freya watched her grandfather as he made the decision to pack it in for the day. He got grabbed the microphone and told the crew to stop deploying the net. They understood and began winching it back in as a massive wave broke over the bow, knocking several of the hands over and leaving everyone scrambling to get things back under control.

"Secure that hatch!" The captain had caught a glimpse of a hatch that was still partially open from the first catch.

Two men rushed over to secure it when another wave broke over them, hampering their efforts and flooding into the forward hold through the opening.

Their grandfather had no choice but to leave the bridge to help. Several of the men looked hurt and if they didn't get the hatch closed, they ran a very real risk of taking on too much water.

"Listen!" He pulled Sonja back up to the wheel. "I have to go help. This is very important. Keep the bow going directly into the waves. I know I've already taught you this, but if we turn, and the waves hit us from the side, we will go down. Am I clear?"

"Clear. I've got it. Go keep us from sinking."

"Good girls. You're doing great." The captain left, closing the door behind him. The wind was driving the rain against the windshield, the wipers barely keeping up. The sky was black by this time. Freya watched, feeling helpless as wave after wave pounded the boat, several men now working to try move the stuck hatch back into its closed position.

Another wave came over the bow, inundating the deck. Not even her rain gear would have kept Freya from changing in that deluge. She watched as the water washed all the men, including her grandfather, away from where they needed to be. Their grandfather struggled to get back up. Between the pitching deck, the relentless water, and the howling winds, it looked like everyone might be in more trouble than they bargained for. One more wave struck, pushing everyone even farther from the hatch. Freya needed to take a chance.

She screamed over the noise of the storm at her sister, who was now struggling to keep the craft facing into the waves. "DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU PROMISED?"

"WHAT?" Sonja screamed back.

"YOUR PROMISE. TO NOT GO AFTER ME! NOW IS THAT TIME. YOU STAY HERE. I HAVE TO HELP!"

Freya buttoned up all of her rain gear, opened the door and stepped out.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?! GET BACK IN HERE!"

But Freya was beyond the point where she could hear her sister, not that she would have turned around even if she had heard her.

'Enough is enough,' Freya thought. Her first instinct was to go to the hatch but even with her strength, she still could be washed away. She would survive but she wouldn't be there to continue helping. Instead, she decided to attack the storm first.

Sonja looked on in horror as Freya hooked her foot under a cleat on the deck to stay steady and raised both hands, working on dissipating the storm. This was far larger than anything she had practiced on. It was going slowly, but it was clearly working and the clouds were steadily parting, the wind dying down. She couldn't control the seas, though, and the waves would not abate for quite a while. She worked on the storm until it was barely a light rain with very little wind and then crawled to the hatch. Several of the others were also making their way back to it and between the three deck hands and herself, they got the hatch slid shut and the men secured it as she retreated to the bridge before she got wet enough to turn.

The girls’ grandfather followed her, limping, into the wheelhouse, finally taking over for the now very tired Sonja. He picked the best set of waves to turn the boat around in and they began motoring back towards land, the seas still roiling but the weather calm enough that they would start to settle. There seemed to be several injuries and the able-bodied helped the others down into the galley or any other place they could find that was below.

"I thought I told you to stay in here, little one! What were you thinking going back out there?"

"We had to get the hatch closed. Go work on getting the water out. Everyone is below. Am I right that we have to pump out the holds? Sonja can steer. I'll help her."

Their grandfather looked at her. He couldn't understand where the confidence and command had just come from. His granddaughters exhibited more courage than he thought he would have, himself.

"You are right little one. Steer 080 degrees. I'll be back in a few minutes.

Without the winds, the waves were slowly dying down, and the pressure on Sonja was reducing. Eventually, the various systems on the boat were back under control and anyone who wasn't injured was back at their station, doing what they could to get ready to get back into port.

The old man came back onto the bridge.

"Morfar, is everyone ok?" Freya felt responsible for not acting sooner.

He took the wheel from Sonja who slumped against the side wall, exhausted from the effort and the concentration. "I think so. There are a lot of bruises and a sprain or two. Everyone is accounted for. Mostly, they are just banged up."

"Are you ok?" From her position against the wall, Sonja could see that he was favoring a leg.

"Yes. Twisted an ankle, I think. Come, let's get this boat back to port. At least we saved the first catch."

The ride back became less and less eventful. The ocean settled out as they got nearer to land and Freya went back down to help as they got behind the breakwall.

They got tied up and their grandfather put several of the men in the Volvo to take them to the hospital to get checked out, himself included.

"Can you girls get home from here? I'm sorry that I have to leave for a while but I'm responsible for these men and I have to get them some help. Are you two ok?"

"We're fine. Just tired." Sonja didn't particularly relish the idea of walking after that but it wasn't far.

"Go. We'll get some food started for when you get home." Freya was oddly peppy.

The walk home was awkward. Freya didn't know what Sonja's view was from the bridge and whether she had been able to see Freya or not. She was hoping to not have to talk about it.

Sonja was too tired to ask anything. She changed and fell asleep before Freya could get any food ready. Freya thought that she could eat a horse, she was so hungry. She cooked up whatever she could find, ate an enormous amount of food, left a plate out for her grandfather, and then passed out on her bed.

The next morning, he let the girls sleep in. There would be no fishing this day. Crew members needed time to mend, the boat needed a full inspection to see what it exactly needed, and repairs needed to be done.

The sisters woke up at seven after sleeping for almost twelve hours. Freya needed more calories and started cooking. Sonja soon joined her at the table.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, then Sonja could hold out no more.

"Are you going to tell me what happened out there?"

"What you don't remember almost dying?" Freya made an attempt at joking, hoping it would change the topic. It didn't.

"You know what I mean. You did something. What did you do?"

"I helped get the hatch closed."

"GOD DAMN IT, FREYA, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" Sonja slammed her silverware down, causing Freya to visibly flinch. "What did you do? Weird shit has been going on all week and all of it involves you."

Freya slumped in her chair. She wasn't prepared to keep lying. It was too much to take and it was against her principles in general, but she was still afraid of letting Sonja know the truth. Right now, it looked like her sister might not even react well to it.

"Look. I'm not sure what you want me to say…"

"I want you to tell me the truth. You're my sister and there's clearly something I don't know about you. You crawled across that deck when everyone else couldn't hold on. I watched that hatch get closed. Two of those guys barely had a grip on it, that was all you. And I don't even understand what happened to the storm. You looked like Moses parting the Red Sea and then everything cleared up."

Freya sat in silence, ashamed of lying but afraid to tell the truth. Clearly Sonja had seen everything.

"Ok.” Sonja continued, taking a different approach. “Let's start with a simpler question: Did you save us out there?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Possibly."

"Possibly as in - you don't know what you did? Or possibly as in - you don't know if we would have made it if you hadn't done whatever you did?"

"The second one."

"So what exactly did you do?"

Freya began crying. Sonja couldn't understand. She just wanted to know what had happened. And she wanted to know her sister. Not know 'what she was' but 'know her.' She thought she did know her, but clearly, not all of her.

"Sonja…" Freya tried to get words out between bouts of crying. "I love you. I don't want to lose you. I'm afraid that if you know, you'll hate me or think I'm a freak and I don't know what I'd do if that happened…"

Sonja realized that she was pressing pretty hard. And she was now questioning whether demanding answers was the right thing to do. So instead, decided to be what Freya needed most at that moment. A sister.

"I'm sorry. Of course I love you. I'll love you no matter what you tell me. If you saved my life, why wouldn't I do anything but continue to love you? I'm just confused. I don't know if that was some old Norse mythology shit happening or what, but I'm here for you. Nothing you tell me can change that. I don't know how we're different, but doesn't change our sisterhood, ok? I've got you."

"Even if I tell you, you may not believe me."

"After yesterday, I think I'll believe you."

Freya sighed. Her stomach was churning. She had just begun to get close to Sonja and she didn't want to lose that. But the cat was at least part way out of the bag, and clawing the rest of way out quickly.

"Do you promise not to laugh?" Her cries were settling down to the occasional hiccup.

"I can't imagine in what circumstance I would laugh. What is it? Are you a witch or something?"

Freya laughed. "No, I don't think weather control is a witch power. Oh god, after all these years of what I've been saying this is going to sound so ridiculous…"

Sonja just looked perplexed.

Freya took a deep breath and closed her eyes to avoid seeing the reaction. "I'm a mermaid."

Silence filled the kitchen for an uncomfortably long time.

Sonja did laugh a little. "Look, I get it if you don't want to tell me. It was wrong of me to push but I'm your sister and I'd like to think that you could trust…"

Freya cut her off. "No, seriously, I'm a mermaid. I've been one for almost a year, well, a little less."

Sonja just looked at her. Freya sure seemed serious, but did she expect her sister to believe that?

A demonstration was looking necessary. "Ok. Come on." Freya got up and grabbed her sister forcefully by the wrist and marched her to the door.

"Where are we going?"

"Back to the water." She marched her sister down the short walk to the bay and then down the same docks that Sonja had chased her down until she got to one with no one around.

"That's why I made you promise. Because I would have been fine." She sat on the edge of the dock and lowered herself into the water, motioning for Sonja to come closer. The ten seconds passed and she shimmered briefly before reappearing, this time with a tail. She floated backwards and lifted the tail out of the water, bringing it back down sharply so that it sprayed her sister who had been rendered speechless. Sonja dropped to her knees and started laughing uncontrollably.

"SHHHHHH! Keep it down. I don't need the attention."

Sonja slowed to a giggle. "So all this time, you were telling the truth? You really did see one in Seattle?"

"Well, I think there were two actually…"

"And Grandpa's stories were true?"

"I guess. I mean, I wasn't there."

"And the picture in Kim's room?"

"Yeah, that's my tail." She flicked her's, as if to drive the point home.

"So, she knows. And I assume Kim, as well? But I didn't?" Her tone was getting a little frosty as she began to realize that she was late to the party.

"Yeah, but there's a reason for that."

"That you didn't trust me?"

"No, I had others’ secrets to protect, too."

"Oh, what? So, you mean to tell me that they're, what, werewolves? Unicorns?"

She sighed, not wanting to have told her sister about them. "No, they're mermaids too."

Sonja stared at her. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"As a heart attack. Kim was the first one. Then me and Jackie."

"Renée?"

"No, she's normal, as far as I know."

"Those boys? Maddie?"

"Um… The boys are normal."

"Oh my god, Maddie's one too?"

"No, she's not. Damn it, Sonja, it’s not ok for me to be saying all this. These aren't MY secrets.

Once again, Sonja realized that she wasn’t being who she should be in the moment. She sat down all the way and let the information infiltrate her brain.

"Look," Freya continued, "Let's go home before someone sees me. I'll fill you in as we…"

"Wait, what does all this have to do with the storm going away?"

"Some mermaids have weather powers. Mine is that I can create or control storms. That and freezing things."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"No, and if we can go home, I'll explain more. Help me get back up onto the dock, please."

Sonja might have been in shock as she did so, and for the walk home, but by the time they got inside, she was ready to start accepting things. Still, Freya was worried.

"So, you still love me? I'm not a freak?"

"Oh, you were always a freak, but of course I still love you! This is just a lot to take in."

Freya liked that Sonja was ready to joke about it. It was a good sign.

"Tell me about it. It was a lot for me, too."

Sonja was gathering her wits and getting somewhat back to normal. "Can I put on some coffee?"

"Please. That would help. Then get ready for a wild ride."

Chapter Text

Sonja got a text from their grandfather letting her know that the boat repairs were started but that he would be visiting some of his crew who were home injured and that he wouldn't be home until late.

"Well," Sonja said, relaying the message to Freya, "I guess we have plenty of time so let's hear it."

Freya began back at the beginning, in Seattle. She took her sister through all the various bits of the story, secretly enjoying the shocked looks and gasps from Sonja as some of the more interesting parts were told. Sonja seemed to be very surprised to find out that there was an even a wider mermaid world.

"Well, I see why you were so excited about going to San Diego." Sonja leaned back in her chair, finding that she had been literally on the edge of it through Freya's retelling of her adventures over the last ten months. "So there’s, what, a school of you?"

"We prefer pod."

Sonja laughed. "Of course you do."

Freya studied her sister's face, looking for reassurance that all this was going to be alright with her. "Are you ok?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's just… I mean, it kind of changes your world view, you know?"

"Sort of. But we're still the same. Things aren't that different. We still have to go to school, deal with friends and our families, it's really just like this layer on top of all that."

"Sure, but magic exists! That's wild. And what else is real that I didn't know about? Vampires? Werewolves? Witches?"

"We've wondered the same thing. Especially with the connection to the moon. No sign of vampires or werewolves, yet."

"And no one else knows?"

"Well, you mean other than the people I've told you about? No. No parents, no other friends. It has to stay contained. Who knows what would happen if everyone found out, you know?"

"Nothing good." Sonja agreed.

They both paused to sip some coffee, Sonja still looking like there were a million questions tumbling around in her brain.

"What about Morfar?”

"I don't know. He's the only one who believed me, or at least acted like he did. And I think he's telling the truth about seeing us." Sonja noticed how her sister spoke of herself as being part of the group of others. It drove home how life altering this was, even if Freya downplayed it.

"What part of his story makes you believe it?"

"The descriptions. The tails."

"Like the picture in Kim's room?"

"Yeah, Jackie actually has dozens of those. She's sketched or drawn all of us. That was just a particularly good one."

"I'm not sure if I understand why you gave in to mom, given all this. It seems way more important than it did before I knew about this."

"Like I said, I know who I am. And I have more to lose, now. It's not worth the fight. Plus, I'll sneak some back in, just to mess with her." Freya smiled slyly.

"I knew I liked this more devious side of you! I think you need to tell me more about this weather stuff, though."

"Like what? It's pretty straightforward."

"Jesus, come on! You make storms!"

"Yeah, and I generally use them to water the plants."

"What?!"

Freya conjured up a tiny storm and moved it over one of the several houseplants that their grandfather kept. Sonja got up and walked around it, feeling the water falling from it onto the plant. She poked her finger into the cloud and felt the chill from the cool air within the storm. Freya shut it down before she over-watered the plant.

"Huh. Well, that's about the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

"Yeah, well, don’t annoy Jackie too much, that lightning is real and packs a punch."

It was becoming clear to her sister that these were real powers, not party tricks. Freya and her friends were potentially dangerous if provoked. It worried her a little.

"She wouldn't really, like, you know, hurt someone, right?"

Freya looked heartbroken. "Oh my god! NO! See this is what we're afraid of. This is why we don't tell people."

Sonja saw that her sister was withdrawing a little, clearly hurt by the question.

"I'm sorry, it's just that you said that about the lightning and…"

"I was joking!" Freya realized that maybe she had gotten too casual too quickly with Sonja. She felt a need to provide reassurance before the tension got too great.

"None of us have ever, or would ever hurt anyone, not even defensively, if possible, even Maddie has sworn to do only good and…" Freya stopped mid-sentence. 'Damn it,' she thought, 'why is it so hard to not be more careful.'

"Maddie? I thought you said she wasn't like you?"

"She's not. Christ. Look, I can't keep doing this. I've betrayed so much trust already." She put her head in her hands.

Sonja looked shocked at her sister's response. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. You have my word. Not a soul will hear about this. I promise." It was Sonja's turn to feel bad, clearly not fully understanding what the girls meant to each other and how much they must rely on trust. She moved over to where Freya was sitting on the couch and sat beside her, offering a hug. Freya hesitated before giving in, returning the hug, but crying a little.

"You don't know how hard it is." Freya wasn't sure she could properly convey how much all the lying hurt her. "I've wanted to tell you for weeks. I want to tell everyone. I don't want to have these secrets. I have to lie to everyone. Yeah, sometimes it's a little fun, but not with family. Not with you. Then a day like yesterday happens and I have to throw caution to the wind and hope for an outcome that doesn't hurt, or isn't dangerous. I get why people like Xandie and some of the other adults don't try to get into relationships. I'm sorry I had to lie."

Sonja was now breaking down along with her sister. She was just beginning to understand the complexities of what she'd just learned.

"So what does that mean for Morfar?" Sonja was wiping her nose on her sleeve as she recovered.

"I don't know. I need to think. If anyone deserves to know, it's him. No offense."

"None taken. I see that it's not my place to say, but I say tell him. He's not getting any younger, and he loves you."

"I know. I'm considering it. But it's getting a little out of hand. You make the fifth person outside of ourselves who know. And that doesn't even include the mermaids in San Diego and Renée's ex-girlfriend out there."

"Wait, what? Why would she know, and holy cow, you guys were only out there a week!"

"She's the cousin of one of the other mermaids. It was kind of a sudden, whirlwind sort of thing. It wasn't going to survive the distance."

"Ah. Man, this is all very complicated. And what about your guy friends?"

"What about them?"

"Any sparks?"

Freya blushed and hit her sister on the arm. "It's not like that. They're just friends."

"Really? I mean, they're hanging around all these gorgeous mermaids…" Sonja smirked at her sister. Freya blushed harder at being called gorgeous.

"They're eleven. I'm eleven. Just dealing with all this is hard enough."

"Ok, ok! Just asking. It's kind of a big sister's job to ask embarrassing questions, you know."

Freya smiled. Sonja smiled back. It was feeling like the tension was slipping away. This had been harder than when Renée found out. The boys had been thrilled to find out. Maddie had been dealing with her own coming out so that wasn't too traumatic. But Sonja had taken a while to adjust, even if it was all good, now. It reinforced that this wasn't information that was suited for just anyone.

Now that it was becoming more comfortable for Sonja, she had another question.

"Can I go swimming with you some time? I think I'd like that."

"Of course! Just, not around anyone else. Have you ever been in the lake?"

"Only up to my knees. I was always afraid. It would be kind of a big deal for me to try it, but I feel like I should know more now."

"Well, you'll have your very own lifeguard, so you'll be safe. If you don't mind the cold, we could even do it here for a few minutes."

"You don't? Mind the cold, I mean."

"No. Mermaid metabolism. We swam all through the winter, though not as often."

"That's fucking nuts. You guys are crazy!"

"Yeah. Probably just a little. Even Leilani thought that was a little crazy, but it was so fun. And interesting."

"Are there shipwrecks?"

"Tons. Here, I have a photo." She got out her phone. The only picture she ever kept with her was the photo she took of Kim sitting on the remains of a ship on the day that Maddie found out about them. She was so proud of it that she kept it in an out of the way folder on her phone. She handed the phone to Sonja. Sonja put her hand over her mouth in surprise as she looked at it. Until that moment, the idea that there were other mermaids had been theoretical, but here was her neighbor, her sister's friend, sitting on the wreckage of an old ship on the shallow bottom of Lake Erie. It confronted her with a truth that hadn't set in yet. The beauty of the photo made it that much more stunning.

"You took this?"

"Yeah."

"It's really good. It's beautiful. I'm not sure what to say about it. That's Kim?"

"That's Kim; In a thoughtful mood that day."

Sonja handed the phone back. She sensed that Freya was getting near the end of wanting to talk more that day. "I'll stop bugging you for now. Sorry to ask so many questions. I just have one request."

"What's that?"

"The next time we sail into a storm, do something about it a little quicker, ok?"

Freya laughed. "Yeah. Ok. Now that I don't have to worry about you finding out, it will be easier. I promise."

It was a few days until the boat was ready to go back out, the repairs successful and the boat as good as new. Their grandfather came back from the docks with the good news.

"The boat is ready. I need to go check it out. Do you kids want to go with me and give it a test run out the channel?"

Freya looked excited to get back out. Sonja wanted to, but she thought this might be a time when Freya could tell him. She begged off, feigning fear from the storm. "You guys test it first, then I'll try it if it doesn't sink." She smiled, letting her grandfather know she was partially joking.

"Ok, little one, it's just you and me. Let's go."

Freya completely understood why her sister had left her alone with him but she hadn't made up her mind yet. She wasn't sure she was ready, after the emotional day with Sonja.

She accompanied him to the dock and they boarded. He took time to point out the various repairs that had been made and he fired up the engine as she helped make ready for getting under way. They left the dock and he took them down the more protected route south through the islands that dotted the water near the coast. He let Freya run the boat occasionally as he checked out the various systems to make sure that everything was running as it should.

Content that the boat was fine, he took the wheel back.

"So, little one, all seems well. Should we head back or stay out a little longer."

"A little longer, please. Morfar?"

"Yes?"

"Can you show me exactly where you saw her?"

The old man laughed. "I suppose it's the least I could do after the big storm. It's just ahead, actually."

He steered the vessel in between two smaller islands and then pulled the power back, letting the craft coast to a standstill.

"Right there." He pointed at a group of rocks just off one of the islands. "I remember it like it was yesterday and I came back here so many times to try to see her again that I have the place memorized. You know, there are stories that say that seeing a mermaid is a curse, bringing bad luck to all who see her, but there are other stories that tell of good fortune brought to those who encounter one."

"Which do you think it is?"

"Neither. I've had my share of good and bad experiences over the years. Some say that there is no such thing as luck, just coincidence. So many who sail are superstitious but I've never gone in for all that. The only thing that I ever considered 'lucky' was seeing her that day, and then seeing the second one years later. For me, it was like a confirmation that I belonged at sea. Just like you, I suppose."

"You think I belong at sea?"

"Maybe. If you truly love it, then… yes. But that might be an old man wishing for someone to follow in his footsteps." He laughed.

Freya thought about that, unsure if her love of the water truly translated to something more, like making a living at sea, or even living at sea. Much like with her concerns about what her mother wanted for her, she decided that she was far too young to have to make up her mind. She had all the time in the world to figure out who and what she should be. For right now, she was content to watch the rocks with her grandfather, imagining another like herself, lounging on an island before getting back in the water. She wondered about the mermaid who he'd seen. She had been bold, clearly allowing herself to be witnessed. Who was she? Where was she now?

"Are you ok, little one?"

"Yes. Just thinking."

"Well, let's get this old tub turned around and head back. Sound good?"

"Sounds good. Thank you, Morfar. Thanks for showing me this place." Freya felt that the moment hadn’t been right to tell him. Another time, perhaps.

He ruffled his granddaughter's hair and smiled as he moved the throttle lever forward and began a lazy turn to the north.

Freya walked home from the boat, her grandfather wanting to do some more work on it for a while.

"How's grandpa's ankle?" Sonja was relaxing on the couch when Freya came in.

"Much better. I didn't see any limping."

"And the boat? Is it going to kill us the next time out? Well, the rest of us, anyway…"

"Jeez, I'd save you, you know!"

"I know. I'm just joking."

Freya was still a little sensitive to Sonja's responses to this new reality, and she wasn't picking up on sarcasm well, yet.

“Did you tell him?”

“No. The timing didn’t seem right. And this week has already been kind of a lot.”

“I get it. So," Sonja continued, "while you were gone, I realized something."

"What's that?"

"You were telling me the truth the whole time. I don't think you ever once lied to me. When you said you were going for a dip in the North Sea, all the times that you said you were going swimming in the lake, which seemed weird at the time, the Seattle mermaids. All of it was true." Sonja had a look on incredulousness on her face. "I kind of can't believe I never suspected anything."

Freya smiled. "Yeah, I really hate lying, but to be honest, sometimes I would just forget that you didn't know. It starts to get really hard to remember who knows or how comfortable I can be around people who I'm often around. It's a really big relief that you know."

Sonja was still surprised that all these signs had been there and she had noticed almost none of them.

"What about David?"

"I don't think I’ll tell him. He's so far up mom's butt; there's no way he doesn't blab. Plus, he's pretty much nothing but rude to me."

The conversation petered out as each of them thought about their strained relationships with the rest of their family. The quiet was interrupted by Freya's illicit phone buzzing. She looked at it and was pleased to find that it was an update/check-in message from Kim, with the majority of it devoted to the excitement around Jackie getting hooked in the tail, including a photo of the injury.

"Oh my god!" She couldn't help but say it out loud as it was a bit surprising, especially with the photo.

"What is it?" Now Sonja was curious.

"Jackie almost got reeled in! Well, not really, but she got a fish hook caught in her tail."

"Like, from a fisherman?"

"Yeah, like you and me!  Not really, but yeah, some guy in a boat off of Edgewater."

"Is she ok?"

"Yeah. Just a small hole. Here, there's a pic." She handed the phone to her sister.

Sonja looked at the photo, having a difficult time processing that right after learning about her sister, she was looking at another mermaid. She shook her head to clear the bizarreness of it all out of her brain and refocused. There was a tail that looked remarkably like her sister's with a small hole in it; a little blood still trickling from it. It looked like it was taken in a bathroom. The hole was near the edge of the fin, in the thinnest part. She studied it for a moment. It was a clearer view of a tail than she had seen yet, even of her sister's, given that she hadn't really been able to see it up close yet. She was fascinated by it but she handed the phone back despite wanting to look at it longer.

"What does she have to do to help it heal?"

Freya read the message again. "She says it's better already."

"Is speed healing a thing for you?"

"Honestly, none of us have ever been hurt, so I don't know. But come to think of it, I'm not sure any of us have had a cold since we changed. That could just be luck, though. But basically, we don't really know."

Freya started typing a response to ask more. Sonja had another question.

"What do you guys know about your physiology?"

"Um, you mean like our tail structure and stuff? Almost nothing. Reed and I have done tons of research but as you'd imagine, there are no mermaid anatomy books. Plus, we only have them in the water so it's not like we've been able to give them a long examination on land. But I will admit to taking some selfies to look at it." Freya blushed at the admission.

"Ooooo, can I see them?"

"I didn't save them. It seemed like a bad idea to have photos that could leak. I think the one I showed you is the only one I kept, and that's mostly for artistic reasons."

"Well, we should try to find out more. What if one of you gets hurt worse? Like from a boat propeller or something."

"I guess. Are you saying you want to inspect us?" Freya laughed a little.

"Kind of, yeah. And, I don't understand. Where do your clothes go?"

"We literally have no idea. It's not just clothes. Anything in our pockets, jewelry… it's definitely weird. We just consider it to be part of the magic. It's really useful, actually. And it goes the other way, If I put on a necklace when I have a tail, it will disappear when I'm dry but be there again when I get the tail back. Reed thinks it's something to do with alternate universes but I think he's just being a nerd about it."

"And you guys haven't looked into it more? The anatomy, I mean."

"Well, it's not like we have a way to do that. We're not going to a doctor for an x-ray."

"No, I suppose not. So what does it feel like when you have it? Does it feel like legs, still?

"No. But it's not weird or anything. The first few times I changed it was odd to have something else down there, but it feels natural both ways. When I have the tail, it feels like that's how I should be. On land, with legs, it's the same thing. When I dream, I often dream that I'm in the water. But I sleep in the water so rarely that I'm not sure if I dream of legs when I'm like that."

"You can sleep in the water?"

"Yeah. We don't need to breath very often."

"So it's not just the lower half of your physiology that changes… There are other changes."

"I suppose so. We all changed a little in appearance, too. Our hair seemed to get a little fuller. My eyes were already really blue so I'm not sure about me, but Kim's eye got these gold flecks in them that weren't there before and I think Jackie's look a little greener."

"This is fascinating."

"I mean, yeah. But we've kind of gotten used to it so we don't think about it that much."

"Can I check it out again? Now that I'm not in freak out mode?"

"Of course! Ask a mermaid to go swimming and she probably won’t say no. But if you want to see it up close, you're going to have to get in the water and it's on the chilly side."

"Just for a few minutes, then?"

"Sure. Grab a suit."

The girls went down to a quiet part of the dock area and after Freya changed, Sonja came in after her. She swam over to the mermaid and Freya obliged by floating on her back, letting Sonja inspect her tail while she treaded water.

"Is it fast?" Sonja hadn't really seen Freya swim yet. In response, Freya turned around and gave a sudden blast of speed, leaving a wake behind her. In a flash, she was across the marina, waving from the end of a different dock. Just as quickly, she swam back, nearly running into Sonja after coming in a little too hot.

"Honestly," Freya said after coming up, "slowing down is the hard part. The drag slows you down quickly at first, but once you're slow, you tend to glide farther than you'd think. Hey, you're looking a little blue. I think it's time to get out."

Sonja's teeth were chattering and she had to agree. She climbed the ladder at the end of the dock, wrapping up quickly to warm up.

As they walked back to the house, Sonja's lips still a little blue, she asked if Freya really wasn't cold out there.

"Not at all. I prefer it a little warmer, but it's fine either way. We went out under the ice last winter when there was enough open water for an escape route."

"Jesus."

"No, he walked on top of the water!"

Sonja was caught off guard by the joke and laughed loudly. They got home just as their grandfather did and he saw Sonja in her swim suit and looked very confused.

"Why are you all wet?" He didn't think they could possibly have been in the water, but there was little other explanation.

"We just went for a little swim." Sonja was enjoying being in on the secret.

"Are you crazy? The water is very cold! Freya, did you let her swim alone? This really isn't very safe."

"No, Morfar, I just already changed. Don't worry, we were being careful."

The old man shook his head, believing that his girls had clearly lost their minds. "Did you two hit your heads in the storm? Get inside, I'll make coffee."

Chapter Text

Back in Ohio, the Callahans were hanging out with the boys for the first time in a while, enjoying the lazy last few weeks of summer vacation, when Freya's response to Kim's update arrived. Kim opened it and started reading to the group since they were mostly all together.

Freya—- That's a crazy story. How is Jackie now? Sonja says we should be learning more about our physiology in case we get hurt.

The five kids looked at each other, realizing what that sentence meant. Kim's phone went off again just as they were all working up to ask questions.

Freya—- Yep. She found out. No choice. I had to save the fishing boat and she saw me. But it's good. She's good. She says hi and that she worries about you and to be careful.

This simply asked more questions than it answered. Save the fishing boat?

The messages flew back and forth as the various stories were told until Kim had had enough and moved them to a voice call. Sonja tried to keep her cool as the reality of talking to multiple mermaids sank in, but ended up grinning despite her best efforts. Eventually, it was getting too late in Sweden to keep the call going and they all said their goodbyes.

"Well," Cole said, "I guess it would have been hard on a damn fishing boat, but I didn't see storm powers being part of it. Thank god she was there, actually. She could have lost her grandpa if she hadn't been."

That was a sobering thought.

"You know," Reed added, "you guys keep saying not to call you superheroes, but that was pretty damn heroic."

Even Kim had to agree and she sighed. "Yeah, but not, like, as a profession."

Reed looked at Cole, who was grinning. "Luckily, there's no money in being a professional hero so it's not even an option. It's probably more like a volunteer position!"

Renée laughed. "At least I don't have to worry about this dilemma." She got up to leave. "I'm going to go out with some friends. We're hitting the last garage sales of the summer. See you guys later."

There was a loud cracking sound as she reached for the doorknob followed by "Fuck! I swear, Jackie, if I find out this is you…" before she stomped down the hall.

"What was that about?" Reed had no idea what had just happened.

Jackie shrugged. "She's been getting zapped by static shocks all week. It's kind of weird. She thinks I'm doing it but I'm really not."

"Odd. Ok, well, I think we should get going, too."

"I honestly still can't quite believe it." Sonja was still figuring out how to incorporate this new information into her world view. The boat was ready for work again and the next day would be a fishing day so it was an early night for the Swenson girls. Sonja was in bed but not ready for sleeping as she replayed the video call in her head. There hadn't been anything revelatory, or at least nothing she didn't already know, but just the knowledge that she was talking to two other mermaids was blowing her mind. Actually, it was the casual nature of the conversation that got to her. They talked about things like having a tail or have honest to god powers like it was an everyday occurrence, which, she realized, it was for them.

Freya understood. She knew what it was like to know something that most people didn't know, but she was more tired than her sister and was ready to turn the light off. "I know, but we need to get up early tomorrow…"

Sonja cut her off. "Yeah, but do you understand the implications? Mermaids are real. Other things might be out there. Magic is real!"

"Honestly, Sonja… Things?"

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, I just don't know how to say it."

"I'm joking. We've had the same problem. But so far, we only know of m…"

"What's that now?" Sonja heard. She knew it was about Maddie and it was killing her to not know what the story was.

"You know what?" Freya had made the decision to stick to her guns. "You'll have to wait till we get home and you talk to her. That's your punishment for keeping us up later than we should be!"

"Aaaargh! I can't believe you won't tell me what she is. What's some other magical thing, sorry! Is 'being' ok? Is she a unicorn? No, those don't turn into people. Fairy?" She looked at Freya who was maintaining a perfect poker face. "Elf?"

"For crying out loud! I'm not telling you! Please, can we go to sleep?"

"Fine. But I'm going to guess it and you'll give it away."

"Good night, Sonja." There was a finality in her voice that told Sonja that the guessing was seriously over for the evening.

"Good night."

Around the same time, but in Rocky River, Renée came home from her garage sale tour and had been clomping up the stairs multiple times before Kim came out to see what the commotion was. Renée came around the landing at the top of the stairs, unable to see through the giant speaker she was lugging up to her room. She set it down in her room and saw Kim.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself. What's all this?" She looked into Renée's room and saw a pile of audio equipment stacked on her desk; wires draped over everything.

"Garage sale. Mrs. Baker over on Morewood. She's moving to Arizona and is getting rid of all her husband's old stuff. I guess he passed a couple years ago and she wants it to have a good home. She was going to give it to me, I guess it wasn't selling. I felt bad so I gave her $20."

"Um, it's kind of big for your room, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's going to be awesome! No more crappy Bluetooth speaker or cheap Five Below ear buds."

Kim raised both eyebrows, wondering just how loud this was going to be. "Not to be that kind of person, but do mom and dad know?"

"Dad does, he seemed excited for me."

"Did he."

Renée ignored her and went downstairs for the last speaker. She had already called Cole to see if he would help her set it all up and he was on his way over. Kim went back to her room, a little worried about the volume levels in the future.

Cole arrived, looked at the pile of equipment and smiled. "Nice. This is some high-end stuff. How much was it all?"

"Twenty bucks!"

Cole looked pained. "Why can't I ever find something like this?" He started laying out the components on the bed to organize everything, evaluating as he went. "Wow. Onkyo, Technics, Rotel. Nice stuff. Okay. Let's clear a space and get started."

With the help of some youtube videos, they got everything hooked up and Cole got out the only vinyl album he had brought with him, Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, one of the albums his grandfather Henri had given him.

They sat on the bed as the first song started, the room filling with sound. Renée looked at Cole and thanked him.

"It's no problem. I love this stuff." He ran an auxiliary cable to her laptop for a touch of modern convenience and she pulled up her spotify.

In Kim's room, the pleasant, calming sounds of Fleetwood Mac coming through the wall gave way to some obscure industrial music. Kim was not into it but she smiled for her sister who was still clearly exploring some darker music since she had met Maya. Eventually, she turned it down and Kim went back over to talk to them both.

"Cole, did Renée fill you in on the Maddie thing?"

"Yeah, that sounded crazy. When do we get to try it?"

Kim laughed. "I don't know! You'd have to ask her, but she's coming back soon, right?"

"Late tomorrow." Renée answered.

"Cool. If you guys are hanging out here for a while, I think I'll grab Jackie and go for a swim. See you guys later."

The door to Renée's room closed and the volume went back up.

Sonja got up a quite a bit earlier than usual and looked across the room at her sister. Her initial confusion and, if she was being honest, fear, were largely gone and she began to think about Jackie, and what her minor injury meant for Freya and the others. She had already decided to try to appease their mother, but now she was seeing how she might be able to do that without resentment. She got her phone out and pulled up The Rocky River High course catalog and compared what was available to what she was already signed up for in the coming school year. After seeing some obvious things she could change to redirect her studies, she emailed her school guidance counselor. Hopefully she could change a couple courses. For the first time, she felt like she knew what she might want to do with her life. If going to med school would satisfy her mother, well, she didn't have to know that it was just the means to an end. Maybe she could find a way to help people like her sister if they ever needed it.

By the time Freya woke up, Sonja was up and about. Finding a way to keep the peace in the house, while moving towards doing something that now interested her, had made her quite a bit happier than normal and she had breakfast ready for everyone, a touch more pep in her step.

Maddie got back the next evening and was so sick of her brother that she left for the Callahan's without even unpacking. Kim answered the knock at the door, surprised to see Maddie so soon after coming back.

"Sorry I didn't text, I just had to get out of there. I swear, someday I'm going to do something to Dennis."

"Don't let me stop you." Kim tried not to speak poorly of Maddie's brother too often, after all, Dennis was still her brother, but she wasn't going to disagree when Maddie bitched about him. "Anything in particular?"

"No, just basic assholery. Someone's going to get sick of his shit someday and beat the crap out of him."

Kim smiled at the thought. Maddie noticed.

"Exactly. That's how nearly everyone would feel about it."

"Your parents don't do anything about him?"

"Look, I love my parents, but my dad is a very 'boys will be boys' kind of guy. He thinks Dennis is just an excitable boy, but he's a menace. I'll be surprised if he doesn't end up in Juvie."

Kim liked the idea of Dennis being arrested for something, but figured she'd let the topic go. They had walked upstairs by this time and Renée was on her way to see who was there. She smiled and went in for a hug when she saw it was Maddie but at the last second, they both stopped, Maddie putting her hands up in a way that implied "let's make sure we are in control before we touch." Renée got it and they both set their minds to try to keep a lid on the energy before actually hugging. When they touched, they found that they were successful, with only a light amount of background feelings flowing between them, both relieved that they caught it this time.

They walked back to Kim's room and Renée reached for the handle of the partially closed door but stopped and then swatted at it in a very strange way.

Maddie looked at her. "What was that? Did the doorknob need to be punished?"

"Argh, I'm just sick of getting shocked all the time, if I hit it quickly the spark isn't as bad."

Maddie looked perplexed. "Shocked?"

"Yeah, like a static shock. It's been bad for a while. I don't know what it is. No one else is getting shocked so I don't understand it. I thought it was Jackie messing with me but she's not here a lot of the time that it happens."

"I used to get that sometimes. I'm sure it's like, your socks on the carpet or something." Maddie dismissed it outwardly, but alarm bells were going off in her head. She had experienced bouts of this, everyone knows the sensation, but it was weird to have happen in August and in her case, it had been an early sign of her abilities, before she learned any control. She was confused by this, though. Her own abilities began to show when she was still little, around the same time she found the book. Renée was much, much older and there was no book magically appearing. Maddie had never known whether finding the book had a hand in developing her talents, or if it just appeared at the right time. The older witch from the store seemed to imply that the book finds you, meaning that when you begin to show your abilities, the book is somehow attracted to that. She wished the other witch hadn't left town; she could use guidance. If this was really a case of Renée beginning to show abilities with witchcraft, why so late in life? And really, what would the odds be of something like this happening?

She figured it was probably not what she was thinking and more of a coincidence, but it would be easy enough to figure it out. She decided to leave it for the next day. Right now, she just wanted to see her friends and let go of her anger over spending a week not being able to get away from Dennis.

Chapter Text

The following day, Maddie woke up feeling unsettled. She'd had a great time catching up the night before, and her stress from dealing with her family trip was definitely decreasing, but her dismissal of Renée's static electricity problem was gnawing at her. She knew it didn't seem normal but she didn't see how it could possibly be happening. It's not like she had a lot of experience, though. She only had her own experience to go off of. Maybe it was different for everyone. But still, what would the odds be that someone she grew up with, was friends with, had a crush on, even, would end up being like her after she spent years looking for another person like her? It seemed so wildly unlikely.

Despite the slim odds, there wasn't a lot of time left before school would start back up, and if it was the case that she was developing talents, then it would be better to work through that without the distractions of freshman year of high school. She sent Renée a message.

Maddie—- Hey, I think we should talk. Can you meet?

On the other end of the communication, Renée thought this sounded ominous. It was an awful lot like the message she sent Maya when she decided that they couldn't deal with the distance and should just be friends. She'd gotten a few odd vibes from Maddie during and since the weird energy transference events and that just made this seem more concerning.

Renée—- Um, yeah… what's up? This sounds weird.

Maddie—- Is there anywhere that we can be by ourselves? It might be a little weird, but not in a terrible way.

Renée was feeling a little better after that text. Sort of.

Renée—- No one's home. I need to give you your old book back, anyway. You left it over here.

Maddie—- What book?

Renée—- Your witch book, the old one, not the new one

Renée felt weird saying 'book of shadows' or 'grimoire,' it just felt too bizarre.

Maddie freaked out. Not a full freak out, but a freak out just the same.

Maddie—- I'll be there in ten minutes. DON'T LEAVE

Now Renée was getting freaked out.

Seven minutes later, Maddie was bounding up the stairs and burst into Renée's room, out of breath and anxious. Once there she realized that she had no idea what she was going to say or how to say it. She wasn't even sure if she should say it, but her emotions were telling her to do so and to get it over with. She stared at Renée for slightly longer than was comfortable before she got her nerve up.

"So… Your problem with getting zapped? I think I know what it is and I have no idea if you are going to be ok with what I'm about to say, so I'm just going to say it. This is how it started for me. I think you might also be a witch."

There. She'd said it. She looked at her friend who didn't seem to have had any change in facial expression.

"What are you talking about?" None of that made any sense to Renée.

"Your static electricity problem. I think you might be showing signs of emerging powers. That's exactly what happened to me before I learned some control."

"Yeah, and you were what, seven when that happened?"

"Well, six, and I know that's eight years younger than you are but the signs are there."

"Other than getting annoyingly shocked every time I touch metal, is there some other sign that I'm not seeing?" Renée thought that this was just wish fulfillment for Maddie. Her friend had looked for another witch for so long that she figured she was just reading the 'signs' wrong.

"The book."

"What about it? Here, I don't want you to forget it." She handed it towards Maddie who took a step back away from it.

"I didn't leave that here."

"Then how am I holding it here in my house. Of course you did."

"When?"

Renée thought but didn't remember it being there any time lately. Come to think of it, she was pretty sure Maddie had never brought it over.

"Ok, I'm not sure, but it's here, right?"

"I didn't bring it. I've never had it here. It found you. Like it found me."

"You think it magically, literally magically, appeared here?"

"I think maybe so, yes. I don't know why or how, but now that I have my new book, I think this one found you once I didn't need it. Or something. I don't know. But I know that we can use it to determine if I'm right."

Renée was certainly not in full-on disbelief mode. After all, she had two mermaid sisters and a witch best friend, but she had sort of enjoyed being the only 'normal' one. It seemed way less stressful. She sighed.

"Ok, if you think there is some sort of test that will prove it, I suppose we can try it. Are you going to throw me in the lake and see if I sink?"

"Ha. Ha. I'm serious. Sit at your desk and open the book."

Renée got up from the edge of her bed and sat at her chair. She set the book down. Maddie reached over her and opened the book to one of the earlier pages.

"This is a very simple levitation spell. It's the first one I tried."

Maddie put a pen down in front of Renée who pointed at it and said "wingardium leviosa."

"Very funny."

Renée grinned at Maddie. "It was a little funny."

"You don't have to say it, just think the words and focus your energy on it. Hold your hand above it, that helps at first. After a while, you won't need the words either."

Renée looked at the page. It seemed so mundane. It just said 'I command, arise.' "Are you sure? This seems, I don't know, silly. Especially since I don't think it's going to do anything."

"Oh my god, just try it. Take it seriously and try it."

Renée looked at the Pen. She put her hand above it and said the words, despite feeling silly about it.

The pen rose. Slowly, but it rose, until it hit Renée's palm and she curled her fingers around it, wearing an expression that could best be described as 'befuddled.' She opened her hand back up and the pen dropped back down to the desk, making a much louder noise than expected in the otherwise silent room.

She looked back over her shoulder at Maddie. "You did that didn't you? That wasn't me."

"Oh, that was you. You want me to leave the room so you can try it again?"

"Yes." Renée realized that sounded a little rude, but she needed to be sure. Maddie rolled her eyes but left and closed the door.

From the other side of the door, and clearly down the hall, Maddie's voice was muffled but understandable. "I'm down on the stairs. I'll have no idea when you try to do it, so it can't be me."

Renée held her hand out. It was shaking a little. She thought the words this time, so that Maddie couldn't hear here. Just as before, the pen drifted upwards into Renée's hand, a little more forcefully, this time.

"Ok! You can come back in! You were right, dammit!"

Maddie came back into the room. Renée just sort of looked at her.

"Are you going to say something?" Maddie was concerned about Renée's reaction, so far.

"Like what? I have no idea what to say. This doesn't seem possible. What did YOU say the first time you did this?"

Maddie tried to remember. "I think I freaked out. Come to think of it, I think I threw the book into my closet."

"I'm sorry." Renée was having a hard time. "I'm not sure what to say. Or to think. I don't know if you thought I'd be excited, or scared, or what, but I don't really know what to think. Even though I seem to be surrounded by magical people, I wasn't. Magical, that is. Or at least I hadn't been.

"Please," Maddie said, "know that I didn't expect any particular reaction. I just thought you should know."

"Well, I suppose it's better to know than not to know. Too bad I can't keep being mad a Jackie about it, that seemed easier."

"But at least now I can show you how to stop getting shocked all the time. That was just your unfocused energy trying to figure out where to go."

"I'll admit, it would be nice for that to stop. It was giving me PTSD."

"Yeah, I remember what that was like."

Renée thought about a little six-year-old Maddie trying to figure this out by herself and became aware exactly how much easier this was going to be for her than it was for her friend. In fact, now that she thought about it, that was about the time that she first met Maddie and she had shown no signs of going through anything. Maddie was stronger than she figured. Perhaps she should reconsider her mood.

"I'm sorry. I'm being a little bitchy. That's not fair."

"Really, Renée? You missed the opportunity to say 'witchy' instead." Maddie smiled.

Renée was able to smile back. "It's just all a bit much. But I have to say, you never seem upset about it, so I'm not sure what my mood is about."

"Learning you're different is never easy. Luckily, you already had other secrets to keep so you're used to it. I almost told people like a hundred times, probably thousands of times. I almost told you right after I met you. It was rough. That's why I went so hard on Kim when I thought she might be one. I thought I'd finally found another. Finding out what Kim and the others were was amazing, and interesting, and fun, but I was still disappointed that I didn't find another me. Now I have. Please don't be angry that I'm happy about it, ok?"

Renée looked at her friend and understood. "I could never be upset for that. I'm glad you have someone, now. I just need to get used to it. And I'd love to know why and how this happened and why now."

Maddie looked a little sheepish. "We can't know, I guess, but there's a chance that it's my fault. Our little energy thing? I'm guessing it was that strong because you were already in tune with it. There's also a chance that that unlocked it, or jump started it. I hope that's not the case; I don't want to be the reason you're now a little different. But I might be…"

"Even if you triggered it, it must have already been there, or the connection wouldn't have been that strong. And you couldn't have known. I know you would never do that me. Or anyone."

Renée got up and turned to hug Maddie, letting her know that it was fine. Neither remembered to try to tamp down the energy but it didn't seem to matter. It flowed, but not uncontrollably, and it was full of warmth. They let themselves be immersed in it. They hugged tighter until they were cheek to cheek. Like before, when it was all four people, the energy leveled out, becoming more like a pool than a torrent and they floated in that feeling for a long time. Eventually, they each became a little self-conscious about how long the hug had been going on and they backed away, still smiling and still holding hands, finally letting go, somewhat sad to let the feeling end but each just slightly afraid of continuing it, afraid of it becoming addictive. They both understood that this was different than when the others had been involved. It was stronger and more intimate. The self-consciousness fell away and they sat down on the edge of the bed and reached out to hold hands again, eyes closed. This was a feeling that they both thought they could get lost in. They stayed that way for quite a while, finally deciding, mutually, to let go and actually talk.

"So," Maddie began, "the others…"

"Not yet, I don't think. I still need some time. Plus, who knows, maybe it will wear off."

"When were out of town, we visited my aunt who is pregnant but she hadn't told anyone yet. My grandmother was so angry at her not telling the family. My aunt said she didn't want to say anything in case something went wrong with the pregnancy. My grandmother told her that you should always share things like this with your community so that they can support you whether things go well or badly. It seemed like good advice."

Renée laughed. "I hate that grandparents are always right. But still I need a few days, just to get used to the idea. Also, this brings up so many questions. Why me? Why now? Would I have been like this if you weren't around? Why and how does this happen?"

"Mostly the same questions I had. I never got answers, but I know this; I know what we're dressing up as for Halloween!"

"Oh man, is that going to be, like, a religious holiday for me now?"

Maddie laughed; Renée was definitely still Renée. "Come on, I'll buy the ice cream."

"Yeah, I think I finally get that craving. Kim's going to make so much fun of me."

Renée spent that evening in her room with the door closed. She felt like she was in a dream but it didn't have that quality that dreams have - that changing, morphing effect where the scene changes and flows into a different reality with no delineation between them. Instead, she kept remembering that her life had just changed. She wondered if the others had gone through the same thing. Probably not Freya, she simply stepped into the life she had always dreamed about. But Kim… Kim had gone through her change alone. She thought she'd ask about that when she finally owned up to what she was now. Maybe what she'd always been? How did this work? Born or made? Nature or nurture? Or had she just been susceptible when the energy went through her.

She rolled from her front onto her back as she thought about all this. Her new/used stereo was playing an ambient playlist that she liked for studying or thinking. No words. Almost no melody, just droning notes that flowed around a tonal center. White noise that wasn't actually white. She got up and changed it to something more real. Something driving but dark to match her existential angst. She sat at the desk next to the dresser where her stereo components were stacked. The pen was still where she left it. She wondered if it would work the same now that Maddie wasn't there but she was hesitant to try. She put her hand out three different times before holding it there and thinking the words. The pen lifted off the desk. She was almost surprised that the magic still worked. It had been hours since Maddie had left; longer since her last attempt.

The pen hit her hand and she let it rest against her palm, a subtle upward insistence pressing on her. She let her thoughts urge it downward a bit and it reacted, falling in slow motion. She mentally pushed it back up and it stopped its fall. She got it to move up and down until she came close to being able to hold it stationary in the air. She couldn't quite do it yet, but it was close.

She came to realize that the words weren't vital to the process. The incantation brought her mind to focus on the desired effect. Once she learned the resultant control, she could abandon the words, the spell being purely a mental thing once mastered, which she hadn't done yet, clearly. She took her hand away and let it drift up to the ceiling. She turned the pages of the book, leafing through the scant pages. Maddie had not filled any of the blank pages in. She didn't know she was supposed to until just a few weeks ago, but now they both knew. She took a different pen and wrote in the margins next to the simple spell. She detailed the thoughts and feelings that led to the outcome of floating the pen. She looked up, the original pen still stuck in place on the plaster ceiling. She removed all thought and it fell into her hand, stinging a little from the speed it picked up free falling from five feet above her.

She was getting tired. The mental effort was real. And taxing. There was a knock on the door and she slammed the book shut as Kim came in.

"Hey, Renée. You doing ok? You've been closed up in here all night."

"Yeah, no, yeah. I'm good." She felt like she'd just been caught doing something wrong. It was a strange feeling for her.

"Jackie and I were going to watch a movie in the basement. Wanna come with?"

"Yeah. Let me get changed. I'll be right down."

She changed into some cutoff sweats and a spaghetti strap tank top, the heat of August still a bit oppressive and the A/C set higher than everyone would like at their dad's insistence. As she left her room, she felt like she was leaving the night's experiment behind her and she mentally got back to normal, but needing snacks. The camaraderie of her sisters brought her further back to her old self. She was getting used to this new normal, but it would be a while. She would have to tell the others sooner rather than later, but not tonight.

Chapter Text

Renée had the chance to be alone with Kim a couple days later over cereal, which she seemed to be eating more of now that she was expending a surprising number of calories during her practices.

"Hey, can I ask you a weird question?"

"I guess."

"When you first changed was it hard to accept?"

Kim laughed. "Um, yeah. For days. Maybe weeks. I was walking around in a haze. It was like being stuck between waking and sleeping."

"What made it eventually seem normal?"

"Time, I guess. And getting into the water. But to be honest, I didn't really feel normal until Jackie and Freya found out about me and that was a bigger deal for them than I would have liked it to be. Which is an understatement. Why?"

"Oh, just curious."

Kim looked at her questioningly. "Does this have anything to do with Maddie being back?"

Renée felt exposed. Kim had this way of seeing through layers of defense. "Why would you say that?" Renée's response came off way more defensive than she intended it to.

"You've been weird ever since she came back. Quiet."

"Maybe. I don't know."

"Do you feel different in some way? It was kind of a specific question."

Kim was thinking that maybe her sister had picked up on Maddie's interest in her being perhaps more than friendly, but Renée was already comfortable with being with another girl so it didn't seem like that was what she meant.

Renée wasn't sure if she was ready to discuss it. She knew that she was just delaying it, but she was oddly concerned with being something different than she used to be. She knew that that was silly, given her sisters' already having gone through this, but it was hitting her differently, for some reason.

"I'm… I think… I don't know." Renée was stammering and it was becoming clear to Kim that something was up that Renée was struggling with.

"Hey. Whatever it is, it's fine. Ask me anything you want and get comfortable with whatever you are trying to decide." Kim sat back in her chair and drained the rest of the milk from her cereal bowl. She looked at her older sister, who was fidgeting and looking uncomfortable. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Look, something weird happened and I'm not sure I'm ok with it."

"You're kind of looking at the queen of 'something weird happened.' Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be ok."

"I know you'll be fine with it, and everyone else, I'm just not sure if I'm ok. I was kind of enjoying being the normal one."

Kim was now fairly certain that this wasn't a Maya/Maddie/girl thing but she was getting a little concerned about her sister's level of concern.

"When you say 'normal one,' how 'not normal' do you think you are, now?"

"Pretty 'not normal.'"

"Ok." Kim had to laugh a little. "You've definitely got my attention. And you might just have to give in and tell me, because you're kind of killing me at this point."

Renée groaned. "Remember the day that Maddie and us all did the big energy swapping thing?"

"I'm pretty sure we all remember that."

"Well, I had a bit of a different response than you guys did."

"Yeah, it was a little intense." Kim was starting to see where this might be going but wasn't sure, yet.

"I don't know if I was just susceptible to it, or if there was something already there, but…"

Renée held her hand out and levitated her spoon up about a foot and caught it mid-air.

Kim's eyes widened. "Um. Well, that's certainly different than you were before."

"Understatement."

"So what does this mean? Is this like a power transference thing? Temporary?

"I don't think so. I'm thinking it might be a little more permanent."

"Because?"

"Because Maddie's first book found me."

"What do you mean, 'found you?'"

"Maddie came over and I tried to give her her book back but she had never brought it over in the first place. It just appeared here. It's just like what the older witch told her. 'The book finds you.'"

"Are you sure she didn't leave it here? It seems like an easy thing to be mistaken about."

"No. Since we've known about her, she's never even taken it out of her room. And I know she's never shown it to me here. No. It definitely found me."

"Huh." Kim was legitimately surprised by this turn of events. "So you think you're actually…"

"Yeah. A witch now." Renée cringed as she said it. "It's very weird to say that out loud."

"Can you do that? Can you just all of a sudden 'become' a witch? Are you sure that you just didn't get some left over energy from her? You guys were really weirdly connected when that was happening."

"Yeah. I can tell. Plus… the book."

Kim could still feel the tension in her sister's voice. "I mean, it's not like there isn't already a lot of weirdness going on around here. You're really just catching up, if you think about it."

"It's nice of you to say that, and please don't take this the wrong way, but I liked being 'normal.' I got to watch what you guys were doing and not have to be stressed that it was my life that was crazy. I found out I like girls and I’m still the least different of all of us. I'm sorry. That probably sounds kind of shitty."

Kim didn't take it badly. She'd been through this, or at least something similar. She knew that some stress was going to show itself. She let it slide.

"So, what does this mean?" Kim thought she'd put the ball back in Renée's court.

"I don't know. I guess I'm just different, now."

"You don't have to be."

Renée wasn't sure what Kim meant by that.

"You don't have to do anything witchy. It's not like you are physically different. All you have to do to not be different is… not do things. Don't levitate things, don't cast spells, don't brew potions. These are things that you didn't do before, you could just continue to not do them, except by choice, now."

Renée hadn't really thought about it like that. But she had to admit, it seemed somehow irresponsible to not use her new talents.

"But how do I not do something if it might help someone. It's not like you decided to just let those two boaters drown. You did something. You HAD to."

Kim smiled. "Hey, I was the one trying to give you an out. How does Maddie feel about this?"

"About not using my talents? Or just about me being like her, now."

"Either, I guess."

"I think she worried that it was her fault, but she was pretty happy to find someone else like her. I didn't think about not using my powers - Jesus that's a weird thing to say - She doesn't really know that I'm questioning that."

"Well, what did you think when you found out about Maddie?" Kim thought she already knew but she had been so focused on the trading of secrets that day that she hadn't really seen Renée's response.

Renée sighed. "I thought it was pretty cool. But I was also a little mad that she never told me over all these years that we've been friends."

"So is there any reason that it would have been cool for her but not for you?"

"Not really. I just… I just don't know how I feel."

"Yeah, it's a life changing thing, isn't it?"

"But you love it. All three of you do."

"We do. But not at first. Well, except for Freya."

Both girls laughed at that.

Kim continued. "Can I see the book? I never saw it when it was Maddie's."

"Sure." Renée got up to go to her room. She came back a minute later with the book.

"I have to say," Kim said, "I thought maybe you would summon it and it would float down here on its own."

Renée Laughed. "I guess I'll have to try that."

She sat the book down in front of Kim who opened it up and leafed through the first few pages, noting the newer writing.

"Your writing?"

"Yes. Notes mostly. What worked, what didn't work. It's supposed to be sort of a living document."

"Cool."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I journaled my transition. It turned into a lot of drawing, but I wrote down what I thought and what I felt. It helped me."

"I didn't know. Can I see it?"

It was Kim's turn to go get a book. She put it down next to Renée's and Renée looked through it.

"I guess this is sort of what I should be doing." She went backwards until she saw where the journal changed from the everyday thoughts of an eleven-year-old to the very first page written the night of the change. Kim hadn't really gone into too much detail about that very first day but it was all in here. Her thoughts, her first drawings of her own tail, before she even knew she had one, her descriptions of her initial experiments in the bathroom and then her thoughts about her very first swim in Lake Erie. She flipped further forward, seeing Kim's thoughts about the trip to San Diego and meeting Leilani and the others.

"Wow. I'm an asshole." Renée closed the book and set her head in her hands.

"Why in the world would you say that?"

"Because I am. Look at everything you had to do on your own. You had no one. I have nearly everyone. I'm here bitching about not being normal when my own friend is already the same as me and my sisters are in an even crazier situation. Thank you."

"For?"

"For showing me this." She pointed at the journal. "It kind of put some things in perspective."

"That wasn't my plan, just so you know. I mean, you asked… But you're not an asshole."

"I kind of was. But I'll stop."

Kim was surprised by the sudden reversal. "So, you're ok with this now?"

"I'm not used to it, but I'll get there."

"Thank goodness, 'cause I'm not sure what we would have done about it if you really rejected it."

"I guess it's probably time to tell the others. Really set it stone, you know?"

"If you're ready for that."

"I'm not sure when I'd be ready so let's do it. It's like I'm going to come out again. I don't know how you guys were so calm about this stuff."

Kim laughed. "We weren't calm about it. It was just forced on us all as a group and we had to confront it immediately. The morning after Jackie and Freya tried to rescue me, I had to tell them right away to explain their new reality. We didn't have time to worry about it. If we had had the time, we might have gone through what you’re going through."

The two sisters fell quiet as they contemplated all this.

"So… How's Maddie been through this?" Kim asked after a few moments.

"Amazing. Excited. Supportive. Worried. Feeling Guilty." She sighed. "I need to give her credit. She explained things, and helped me."

"So you guys are all good, right?"

"Totally! It was just me being inside my own head, I think."

"Ok, so group meeting? How do you want to do this?"

"I still feel weird. Making some big announcement seems, I don't know, a little 'grand.' Maybe you could tell everyone? Or maybe I'll just send a text."

Kim laughed. "Yeah, that will go well: 'Hey, everyone, I'm a witch now.' They'll totally not have 5 million follow-up questions that you'll have to type out."

Renée laughed. "Yeah, that's true. Ice cream?"

Kim smiled. "Of course. I'll get with everyone. What about Freya?"

"Let's just send her a message. Let her freak out a little. That's what she gets for being banished to Europe! Oh shit. We've got to still deal with her sister. She doesn't know about Maddie; or me, now."

"That can wait. They'll be home soon. We all kind of need to get to know her better. She seemed cool, though."

"She did. Ok. Mitchell's. I'll psych myself up."

All six who were in town gathered around some pushed-together tables outside of Mitchell's as Renée worked up the courage to tell everyone. She didn't know why, but she was strangely embarrassed to be saying it. She wasn't sure why she felt that way. Kim hadn't given anything away and neither Jackie nor the boys knew that there was any big news. Everyone was chatting and talking over each other. Eventually, Renée felt like the time was right and took control of the conversation.

"So… I'd like to say something. When we did that big energy sharing thing? It was a little different for me and, um, I kind of picked up some of Maddie's abilities when that happened."

Reed and Cole both looked disappointed. "Man," Cole complained, "we never get to be there for the good stuff. When do we get to try that?"

Renée looked a little amused that so far, the biggest response was not one of surprise, but a complaint. So much for feeling weird, apparently. Reed and Cole thought they were the outcasts now.

"Well," Maddie countered, "we could try it again right now and let you feel it. No guarantee that you come out of it normal." Maddie knew deep down that Renée probably had some sort of predisposition to what happened and felt ok offering.

Reed and Cole looked at each other and grinned, agreeing right away.

"Are you sure, Maddie?" Renée was a little more worried.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Maddie seemed perfectly fine with it and held her hands out to Renée on one side and Cole on the other. Everyone else joined in and Maddie closed her eyes.

Truthfully, she didn't really know what adding a newly powerful Renée to the mix might do. Still, she opened up whatever the mechanism was that controlled the effect and everyone felt it flowing. Renée tried to match her energy to Maddie and the flow strengthened, the boys feeling it for the first time, somewhat shocked at the feeling and also not used to holding hands with each other. They nearly pulled away, but Cole gripped Reed tighter and forced them both to stay with it. Like before, the flow leveled out, a river of feeling and thought supporting all of them as they sat in an oval with their eyes closed.

Everyone was able to feel a bit of Renée's slight discomfort, Maddie's excitement, Kim's pride in her sister, Jackie's quiet acceptance, and each of the boys' feelings of novelty and their expanding view of what consciousness could mean. After everyone became accustomed to the feeling, Maddie let it stay like that for a while before starting to shut it down before someone wondered what the kids were doing, after all, they were sitting on a patio just a few feet from dozens of other ice cream eaters.

The energy slowed to a stop and eyes began to open, hands being pulled apart.

"Wow!" Cole was blown away. That was amazing! Can we do that again sometime?"

Maddie laughed. "Sure. It's kind of nice, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Totally. I didn't know that you two…" Cole was pointing at both of the witches but stopped himself.

"That we what?" Renée wanted to know what he meant.

"Um… just that you guys could do this. It's really cool."

"Yeah, apparently we can."

Kim picked up on Cole not saying what he actually was going to say but filed it away for later when she could talk to him alone.

"So," Reed said, "that was pretty intense, but then really calming. My mom does yoga and talks about meditating and feeling something like that, but I'm guessing not really the same. Any thoughts on what it actually is?" Reed was a little disappointed that Freya wasn't there to talk to about this.

Maddie shrugged. "I think it's mostly emotional energy of some sort. I think it might be like what happened when we were all in the circle on the full moon. Except that no one seemed to be able to remember that and now we all can." She went back to eating her ice cream.

"Well, whatever it is, it's freaking cool and I could do that every day."

"Until one of us is in a bad mood. Then we would all feel that, too."

"Oh. I didn't think about that. Could it help, though? Like if I was depressed, could I get good vibes to use to get out of it? Like magical Prozac?"

"Probably. I've been doing a smaller version of that since before this. But not with a group. It might be interesting to try but I'm not sure exactly what would happen.

Everyone pondered that.

"So," Renée finally said, "I guess everyone is cool with me being a you-know-what?"

"Oh yeah." Reed and Cole said in unison before Cole took over for both of them. "Sorry, we kind of sidetracked your thing. So what changed? What's the story?"

The boys hijacking the conversation had been just what Renée needed to take the edge off her nervousness and she was now able to talk about it without being afraid of responses or feeling odd about her new status. She was relieved and dove in to the whole story.

Chapter Text

The end of the Swensons' trip to Sweden was fast approaching. They only had a few days left on the boat and then a weekend with their grandfather who had gotten quite used to having the girls around and was going to miss them. As a celebration, He took them both to somewhere where they could get something other than seafood.

"Well, girls, this is just about it. This time tomorrow you will be on your plane home. I hope all the work wasn't too much. Did you at least have some fun?" He watched as Freya worked on her second desert that she practically begged for. He was astonished at how much food his 'little one' could put away.

Both girls smiled. "Absolutely," Freya answered, "it was a great trip. I loved working on the boat, I learned so much. Thank you for having us!"

Sonja echoed her sister's feelings. Even if it hadn't been a traditional vacation, they'd truly enjoyed themselves, despite nearly sinking in a storm.

Their grandfather had a hard time believing that with all the hard work, they'd actually enjoyed themselves. "Really? What part of your trip did you like the most?"

Sonja thought for just a second before replying. "Getting to know my sister better."

"Awwwwww." Freya knew what Sonja meant, and she also knew that she was being genuine. "Me, too!"

He laughed, assuming that they were teasing. "Ok. Well, tomorrow is the last day and we have some time to fill, what would you like to do?"

"Could we go out one more time? Just for fun. No fishing?" Sonja truly had been enjoying being on the boat, at least when the weather was ok.

"Really? Last day and you still want to go out on the water?" Sonja nodded. "And you, little one?"

"Sounds good to me."

He remained surprised but heartily agreed. "Ok, one more trip. But just for sightseeing. You got it."

The next morning, Freya cornered her sister early. "I'm not going to go. You and norfar go, ok? I'm going to go for a swim instead."

"But this is the… Ohhhhhhhhh." She smiled at Freya. "You have a plan, don't you?"

Freya smiled back. "Just a little one. I'm not telling him about me, though. I just thought I'd give him a third mermaid sighting in case those others truly aren't around here anymore."

Sonja appreciated her sister's plan and agreed to insist on going out without her.

It was a couple hours later that Sonja and her grandfather were motoring out of the port without Freya, who had begged off, complaining of a headache. They turning south at Sonja's request to see the 'mermaid rocks' as her sister called them. Sonja got to run the boat one final time as they threaded their way between the islands and rocky areas that would have been dangerous without her grandfather there to guide her.

They were approaching the area that he had shown to Freya, the late morning sun creating a glare on the water that made it difficult to see the rocks and the island they were attached to. They were almost too close for Freya's identity to remain hidden when Sonja finally called out to get her grandfather's attention.

"There! Morfar, over there!" While he was turning around to see what she was so excited about, Sonja secretly began flashing the ship's searchlight; a prearranged signal that the show was about to start. Freya began counting down from thirty as her grandfather followed Sonja's gaze towards the outcrop just off the small island.

He saw the figure on the rocks, finding it difficult to believe his own eyes as the mermaid slid off the rock and disappeared below the water, just as he had seen all those years ago. A tear fell down his cheek and he looked at Sonja, silently asking if she'd seen the same thing, unsure if he could trust his own vision. She clearly had and was smiling broadly at him.

He wanted to hang around the area but he knew that he would not see her again. He made one circle around the island before suggesting that they go back.

Freya had not disappeared under the water. She was just behind the rocks, her eyes barely out of the water, her head not visible in the choppy waves. She watched as the ship circled and then withdrew from the area. That's when she started getting hollered at in Swedish.

She whipped around in the water, expecting to see someone on the tiny island but instead came face to face with a very angry mermaid who was pointing her finger accusingly and yelling quite harshly, though Freya couldn't make out any of it. Freya held her hands up defensively and tried to get a word in.

"Jag pratar inte Svenska! (I don't speak Swedish.) Engelska! Amerikansk!"

"Ugh. Amerikansk. I could have guessed." Her English was passable, if heavily accented. What are you doing? You do not display yourself like this! You children. You do not think to have to follow rules but we must be careful!"

Freya was still struggling to get a word in.

"I know. I know! Let me explain!" The older mermaid paused in her tirade, arms crossed and clearly still angry. Freya wasn't sure how to start the story without continuing to anger her.

"That's my grandfather, my morfar. That's his boat. It’s called Bára"

"You know this ship? You know Bára?"

Freya was extremely surprised to hear the other woman say the boat's name like she knew it. "Yes. I do.” She repeated. “That's my grandfather… Morfar's boat."

The older woman softened and Freya took the moment to evaluate her. She was much older, perhaps as old as her grandfather, with white hair streaked with the remains of dark brown or black from her youth. Her posture was straight and her features were striking with sharp cheekbones and similarly sharp nose.

"And does this man know of you? Of your secret?"

"No, but he knows of us. He's seen us before. I was trying to give him one more chance to see one of us. It meant a lot to him, knowing we exist. He's been looking for years - decades - hoping to see one of us again. I was just being nice to my grandfather. You don't have to be this angry." Freya really didn't want to end this trip with a confrontation. It had gone too well.

The softening the older woman had shown continued. "I am sorry, I have been rude. My name is Lena. I did not understand at first. This man, I protect, when I can."

Freya did not understand and the look of confusion on her face encouraged the other to explain further. Still, she remembered to introduce herself back to the older mermaid. "I'm Freya."

"That is a beautiful name. Please excuse my anger. This man, your mother's father, I owe him a debt, though he does not know it. He knows of us, yes. He saved my best friend's life. When she was young and foolish she would play around the boats until once she got too close and was caught in the net. I watched, unable to do anything. This man, he was young then, he heard her cries. She was at the bottom under so many fish. Crushing her. He cut her free and helped her over the side of the ship. He saved her. She would wait to see him and eventually she found him and his ship again. She would let herself be seen to him. Like you today. Her only way to say thanks, though it was against the rules. So we watch for him, and protect. He was gone for some years but not too long ago, he returned with a different ship, Bára. So I watch when I can for him. To thank him."

"Why don't you just tell him? If he already knows about us, then there is no secret to keep."

"Our rules were very strict. No admitting, even if we know they know."

"Whose rules?" Freya didn't think there were organized rules or groups based on her limited experience.

"Our Pod's rules. Though there are so few left, I'm not sure it would matter anymore."

"Why are there so few, now?"

"Our moonpool was destroyed. The cave collapsed in a storm decades ago. We've not had a new mermaid in these seas for, oh, forty years. Maybe longer. The elders eventually died off. Some left. There are just a handful, now, all older, like me. I was so surprised to see a child. I should have understood that you would not be from here."

"And your friend, the one in the net? Is she here, still?"

"No. I'm sad to say, she passed away several years ago. On land. In an automobile accident of all things."

"I'm so sorry. Look, you should tell him. He told me stories of seeing mermaids, but he never told me about saving one. He kept her story to himself. He would love to know that what he did mattered to someone. You should tell him. Where do you live? On land, I mean.

"South of here, though I stay in the water mostly."

"I can give you his address, or his phone number, or tell you where the Bára is tied up. Screw the rules. If you've been trying to tell him ‘Thank you' in your own way, why not say it in his own way? It would thrill him to meet you."

Lena agreed to at least consider it, and they talked for as long as they could before Freya would have to start swimming back in time to beat the boat and be home before her grandfather and sister came home. The two said their goodbyes and Freya had to speed to get back in time, passing the Bára just as it entered the harbor.

"You would not believe it, little one! We saw one! After all these years, I finally saw another mermaid and your sister even saw her. I’m so sorry you missed her."

Freya did her best to look excited yet upset that she hadn't seen the mermaid while Sonja smirked at her from behind him.

When the excitement died down, it was unfortunately time to begin loading the car to get to the airport and Freya would have to wait until they were alone on the plane to tell Sonja the story of what really happened after the boat turned around. It took most of the first leg of the trip to Amsterdam for Freya to tell the story, Sonja barely believing it. Eventually, they got on the long leg of the flight over the Atlantic and slept the rest of the way.

Freya's return was eagerly anticipated by the others and Jackie planned a get together barbecue at the marina in the park, near where the boys had first seen Kim. It was close by for everyone and she wanted a place where they could be away from other people and have room to spread out and just hang for a while. It was the last weekend before school started and everyone was down for a relaxing day of enjoying each other's company before the fall and the attendant workload from classes.

Freya met up with the Callahan girls who were surprised to see Sonja joining her. Sonja was clearly not all the way comfortable around the others, yet, and stuck close to her sister as she got acquainted with the younger girls. They gathered all the supplies that they had finagled, borrowed, or outright stolen from their combined kitchens, including what they could afford to buy. They put it all in the old bike trailer that Mr Callahan used to use to take the girls for rides in when they were little. Kim hooked it to her father’s bike, taking on the task of towing it down to the park.

They arrived to see the boys there. They had unpacked the food they’d brought, which was mostly snacks. They already had the charcoal in the grill.

"We thought you'd like to do the honors." Cole said to Jackie who sent a few small lightning bolts into the grill to get the fire started.

They were just beginning to open up various containers of food when a faded green Geo Prizm drove by on the way to the parking area, Xandie joining them a few minutes later.

"I didn't know Xandie was coming!" Freya was excited to learn of her attendance.

"I thought I'd ask and she unexpectedly said yes." Jackie replied.

Xandie felt a little odd hanging out with the group of younger kids outside of the water. In the water, age didn't matter but on land she worried that it looked strange. Luckily, she was actually shorter than Sonja and Renée so she didn't stand out. She was also slightly concerned to see a new face but Kim filled her in on Sonja. Xandie had a skittishness to her, born of years of being on her own preceded by a terrible home life. She hovered on the periphery, taking in the group dynamics for a good while before tentatively joining the conversation from time to time. She noticed similar behavior in Sonja, though she understood it was for different reasons. She gravitated towards her, feeling that they both existed somewhat outside the group as a whole and also because they were the two oldest people there.

Sonja was surprised to have the older girl seem to latch on to her. Sonja thought that she would be glued to her sister's side, or maybe talk more with the boys since they also weren't magical. Instead, she fell into a comfortable conversation with Xandie, who was also changing her educational track and planning on similar types of courses with biology and medicine sharing many attributes.

Eventually, if Freya was going to hear more about Renée's newfound abilities, the decision would have to be made about whether Sonja would find out about the witchier side of the group. Sonja knew there was something going on besides just the mermaids, but not the details. Her enthusiasm was winning that argument, though, and both Maddie and Renée were feeling ok with it and gave Freya the thumbs up, indicating that they were interested in letting her sister know about them. It helped that both the witches thought that Freya's sister was pretty cool.

"Ok," Maddie started, addressing Sonja directly once they were all seated around the picnic table, "I know that Freya sort of spilled the tea, but I'm sure you're interested in finding out the rest and we've talked and we'd like to tell you about us if you'd like."

"'Us?'" Sonja looked at her sister, unaware that Renée was also somehow involved.

"Yeah," Freya answered, "apparently, there were some developments while we were in Sweden."

"Ok. Yeah! I totally would like to know more. I was ready to drag it out of Freya but she wouldn't tell."

"Well, as you've found out, magic exists in the world. It was just as much of a surprise to me to find out about mermaids as it was for them to find out about me. It was quite the eventful day, actually. But we fall on the more, I don't know, traditional(?) side of the magical spectrum. We practice witchcraft." She looked at Renée, who was sitting next to her, and smiled.

Renée followed up. "But I'm pretty new to it. It's just been a couple weeks, I think."

Sonja was taken aback. She didn't know what to expect but it hadn't been witches.

She was quiet for a beat as she took this in before speaking. "Well, that certainly was a surprise. I mean, it's amazing! And super cool! I just didn't expect to hear that. And you get to be together on top of that? That's so cool!"

It was the witches' turn to look surprised. "Together?" Maddie asked.

"Aren't you dating? I'm sorry, I kind of assumed based on, you know…" She gestured at the two of them, who were sitting close enough to be touching at the legs and arms and had been very touchy with each other all afternoon. She paused, worried that she'd completely misread them and had now stuck her foot in her mouth. The body language had seemed too obvious to her, though. "I'm so sorry! I just thought... Oh my god, I'm so embarrassed!"

Sonja was mortified and afraid that she'd just made a giant ass of herself. She wished that she could just disappear.

"Um, no, we're just…" Maddie stammered.

"Yeah, it's just that we…" Renée cut her off but also didn't have a way to finish the sentence.

"Again, I'm so sorry. Please, I just… I shouldn't have assumed anything. I don't know you yet. Totally my mistake. Oh my god, I want to die." Sonja hid her face in her hands.

Kim felt like someone had to save Sonja, and as she knew about Maddie's feelings and had a pretty good idea about her sister's, she decided to come to the older girl's rescue. "Don't worry about it, Sonja, we've all wondered the same thing."

Maddie looked at Kim with wide eyes. Kim gave just the tiniest smile back, while Renée turned an incredibly bright shade of red.

"But enough about what's been going on here." Kim was now going to rescue everyone from the first and second hand cringe that was going around the table. "I think we all need to hear the whole story about Sweden, especially about Lena!"

Sonja was extremely happy to change the topic and Freya was thrilled to finally tell the full story to everyone. Even Xandie, who had silently been enjoying the drama, was pleased to hear about the older mermaid.

Freya launched into the whole story, from their arrival, to the storm, to Sonja discovering her, to the final day meeting Lena. It took quite a long time, with many questions being asked and by the time she was done, most of the food was eaten and the coals were dying out in the grill. Embarrassment aside, it had been one of the best days of the summer and it was getting towards sunset when phones started going off, parents wondering where everyone was.

They began packing up, an easier job since almost everything had been eaten and there was no charcoal to lug home.

Kim brought up the rear on the ride home, the trailer being a little harder to pull. Renée dropped back to ride next to her.

"Did you mean that?" Renée asked. "Do you wonder if we're dating?"

"Not whether you 'are' dating, just whether you were going to, or if you were involved in something less defined. But, kind of, yeah. You're together constantly, you seemed to inherit your powers from her, you've been friends forever, you're always touching - despite the rather dramatic energy thing that happens if you're not careful. Sure, I wondered. I think everyone did."

"But Maddie's not… I mean I don't even know if she, you know…"

"When Sonja said what she said, and you two so adorably tried to deny it, Maddie didn't pull away from you. You guys couldn't have been physically closer together. I think it's safe to say that she's at least comfortable with the idea. I'm also sorry if I'm assuming anything, but it's not that big of a leap." Kim laughed. "At least now you can talk to each other about it!"

Renée rode on in silence, wondering if her sister knew her better than she knew herself.

Chapter Text

It wasn't until the next day that Maddie and Renée could each work up the courage to talk to each other, with Maddie showing up at Renée's house in a state of severe embarrassment. Jackie let her in and then grabbed Kim to vacate the second floor to allow some alone time for the two. Maddie knocked on Renée's door before coming in. Renée had been re-reading the same paragraph over and over as she waited for Maddie to get there, unable to concentrate on her book. She sat up on her bed and Maddie joined her as they both sat on the edge of the mattress, neither wanting to look the other in the eye just yet.

"Well…" Renée was taking the reins and speaking first. Sort of. "Um… I, uh… I guess we should…" She wasn't doing a great job of saying words but eventually cut to the chase. "Are we? You know, dating?" Her stomach felt like it was trying leave her body she was so nervous.

"I'm not sure if what we've been doing counts." Maddie wasn't sure she knew, but she knew how she felt. "If we aren't, then I'd still be happy just to be around you. But if we could be dating… that would be even better."

She'd said it. She'd said that she would like to be dating; to be official. She struggled to bring her eyes to meet Renée's afraid of what a bad response would feel like, seeing it in Renée's eyes, but when she dared look, she saw acceptance and enthusiasm in her eyes instead. Relief washed over her.

"So it's ok that I said that? I couldn't bear to risk losing you."

"Yes. And I'm sorry that I didn't have the courage or the confidence to think you might feel that way. Even though I thought you might have felt it when we connected."

"I did but I wasn't sure if it meant what I thought. I just couldn't be sure."

Renée laughed a little. "Apparently everyone else seemed to know, even Sonja who barely knows us."

"Maybe because she barely knows us." Maddie countered.

"Maybe." Renée twisted a little so that she was facing Maddie more directly. Maddie did the same until they were looking directly at one another.

"So what do we do now?" Maddie asked.

"We can start with this…" Renée leaned towards her and brought her hand up to the back of Maddie’s neck, drawing her nearer.

Kim and Jackie were in the basement. After an hour of trying to stay out of the way, they were getting antsy and Kim listened from the bottom of the stairs to see if she could hear anything.

"They didn't leave and we missed them, did they?" Kim asked.

"I think we'd've heard them. They're both wearing boots. Should we just leave for a while? I don't know how it's going and I'd hate to not be here for Renée if it's not going well."

"I think Maddie would have left earlier if it wasn't going well. Let's just put a movie in and wait it out." They put on Lilo and Stitch and settled in for a while. Eventually they heard footsteps and peeked up the stairs, wondering if they should go up.

They heard Renée’s voice from above them. “You guys can come upstairs!”

The two younger sisters climbed the stairs to find Renée and Maddie sitting next to each other on the couch, each trying to suppress a smile while holding hands.

Kim smiled slyly. “So, I’m guessing that went ok?”

Renée blushed while Maddie grinned.

“I’ll just take that as a ‘yes,’ then?”

Both girls nodded, seeming to not be able to speak quite yet.

“Ok. Well, I think I’ll just head back upstairs and leave you two be.”

Jackie followed Kim up the stairs and at the entrance to Kim’s room and asked, “Aw, that was so cute. So I guess Sonja was right, then?"

Kim smiled at Jackie, "I guess so."

"You don't seem very surprised by this whole thing. Jackie studied Kim's face. "You knew, didn't you?"

Kim just smiled some more.

"Hmm, maybe Maddie was right, you might still be a witch…" Jackie teased.

"I cheated. Maddie accidentally touched me right after that big powerup and I got a sense of it."

"Sure… I totally believe you. Listen, we've only got two days till school starts. I'm going to sort through my closet to get rid of what doesn't fit and just generally get ready."

Kim groaned. Both of her sisters were so much better organized than her, but she figured she should do the same. "Ok, that's actually smart. But what do you say we take a final big swim tomorrow?"

"How big?"

"How do you feel about Michigan?"

"The state or the lake?"

"Just the state. I thought we could at least get into Lake Huron, just to say that we've been in it. You in?"

"Absolutely! I'll call Freya, I'm sure she'll be up for it. One last big swim before the grind starts."

Chapter Text

The next day started out beautiful and they got an early jump, hitting the water at sunrise. They'd spent a fair amount of time in the shallow western basin of Lake Erie and didn't feel the need to linger there, so they cranked up the speed until they got to the mouth of the Detroit River where they slowed down to start taking in the sights a little more. They were surprised by the amount of boat and ship traffic and struggled to stay out of sight while avoiding the traffic. It hadn't really been that enjoyable to go through Detroit, but they got out into Lake St. Claire and were able to take it a little easier. They then picked their way between the various islands and channels that led into the St. Claire River. This seemed more interesting, with much less traffic and more rural surrounding areas with small towns dotting the shores as they swam north.

They got out of the river where it hit Lake Huron at the city of Port Huron. It was time for some lunch and to check in with various sisters to let everyone know they were ok. They checked out the downtown area for a while before continuing up into the newest great lake that they'd been able to swim in.

Sonja got Freya's text and was surprised both by the boldness of the girls, but also by the degree to which she was nervous for them. She'd seen Freya handle a pretty sticky situation but three tweens swimming up into Lake Huron was still a bit much for her to comprehend.

She decided to see if she could share her worry with the oldest Callahan sister and for the first time, knocked on the Callahan's door without Freya. She was more nervous than she thought she'd be.

Renée answered the door, seemingly happy to see Sonja.

"Do you mind if I hang out here? I just got a text from Freya and I have to say, I'm a little stressed out by what they're doing."

"I know, right?" Renée was in agreement but clearly less worried.

"But it doesn't bother you that much?"

"Not any more. I mean, you've seen what they can do, right? Other than literally running into a ship, I'm not sure what they couldn't handle. When they swam under the ice last winter, now that was crazy. You should ask Freya about that. She took a camera with her and got some amazing views under the ice."

"This is all so strange. I thought I was getting used to the idea. I mean, mermaids…" She whispered it conspiratorially.

Renée laughed. "Who'd have thought. You'll get used to it. If you don't mind, Maddie's on her way over. It's cool if you stay, I'd like that, but I don't want you to feel weird."

"Are you sure that's ok?" Sonja didn't yet know about the change in Renée and Maddie's status but was still nervous about having made the assumption and whether either of them held it against her.

"Absolutely! We were going to mostly chill and listen to some music."

"If you don't mind. I'm still feeling a little weird about what Freya's doing and I'd like the company."

"Yeah, let's go get some snacks together."

The two headed down the stairs. After raiding the fridge, they heard the front door open and Maddie yelled hello before finding them in the Kitchen.

"Oh! Hey, Sonja." Maddie then gave Renée a light kiss hello, eliciting a small yelp of surprise from Sonja.

Renée laughed. "Yep, you were right, only we didn't really know it yet. I guess we owe you for letting us figure it out."

Sonja made a 'squee' sound that actually sounded a lot like Freya when she was excited.

"Ok, ok… give me a hand with the snacks." Renée grabbed one plate, and the others took what was left and they went upstairs.

"Are you sure I'm not being a third wheel?"

"Nonsense. We were just going to hang out and maybe practice a little magic. I'm still just getting started."

Sonja had almost forgotten. "Life certainly has gotten more interesting lately. Can I watch?"

"Sure, it's a little boring, probably. But yeah, why don't you pick something to listen to."

Sonja looked through the playlists on Renée's computer. "I haven't heard of half of this, should I just pick something?"

"Yeah, it's all pretty good, or at least I think so!" Renée laughed, knowing that there was some music on there that a lot of people wouldn't like.

"What in the world is 'atmospheric death metal?'"

"Ok, maybe start with something a little lighter." Renée went over to the laptop and found a darkwave playlist that was less abrasive.

"So, you guys excited to finally be in high school?" Sonja was a year ahead and was about to start sophomore year.

They both nodded. "Well, maybe not excited so much as relieved. Middle school kind of sucked, I'm hoping everyone will be a little more mature."

Sonja rolled her eyes. "Good luck with that, but the classes get a little more serious. Any extracurriculars?"

"I'm doing cross country and Maddie's JV cheer. I might do swim over winter."

Sonja had the start of a smirk on her face. "Swim?"

"I know, but I like it, and I want to get better at it so I can be out in the water with them sometimes."

"That's fair. I hadn't thought of that."

"What?" Maddie asked. "No comments on me doing cheer?"

Sonja put her hands up. "Hey, no shade from me. It's not something I'm interested in but it's really physical, so if you can do that, more power to you." Sonja looked at the two girls, who were mostly in dark colors and not at all looking like a typical cheerleader. She wondered if there were very many goth-leaning cheerleaders out there.

"You?" Renée was under the impression that Sonja had been having a bad girl phase, but she didn't really know much about her. She was dressed completely neutrally in jeans and a white t-shirt with Converse sneakers. Renée knew about the problems Sonja had with her mom but that's not the same as being rebellious.

"Well, I've kind of slacked off the last couple years and I need to get back into school more seriously, so I'm taking a bit of a heavy workload. Your idea about doing swim is interesting. Maybe I'll see if I'm good enough to join the team."

Renée loved the idea of Sonja swimming with her. The girls talked for quite a while; Sonja being surprised at how easy they were to be around. She was used to hanging out with kids a year or two older than herself but sharing knowledge of an entire hidden magical world had a way of bonding them. The hours passed quickly while they talked.

Up in Lake Huron, the three mermaids were cruising up the coast of the "thumb" of Michigan. The area was mostly rural with pretty little beaches and lake houses lining the shore. The water that was deeper and seemed bluer than Lake Erie's. They got all the way up to the tip of the "thumb" before they figured that it was time to head back. They swam over to the Canadian side of the lake to go back south.

"Is anyone hungry again?" Asked Kim as they exited the St. Claire River into Lake St. Claire.

Both of the others agreed that it was time to find some food and Jackie had a suggestion.

"I looked up a few things before we left. I want to try Detroit style pizza that's actually from Detroit. I found a place called Belle Isle Pizza. It's just a block off the water and it looks like there's a pretty good place to get out safely." Jackie pulled the phone out of the dive backpack that they'd taken turns wearing. "Here." She pulled it up on the map and passed it around.

It sounded good so they navigated their way to it and a little while later they were looking at a very messy, rectangular, deep-dish pizza.

"What's with the sauce on top?" Freya asked.

"That's just the Detroit style." Jackie countered.

They walked a few blocks down to a park on the river while the pizza cooled a little, and found a picnic table to sit at. They looked at the water while they absolutely destroyed the large pizza. Kim threw the box away as they all laid down in the grass to relax a bit, enjoying the late afternoon sun, before needing to head back.

Kim felt like she had to get everyone going. "Come on, guys. We've got a long swim ahead of us and I'd like to get back before it gets dark and mom starts asking questions."

The others groaned, more than a little full.

"Aren't we supposed to wait a half hour after eating before we swim?" Jackie was being a smart ass.

"Come on." Kim grabbed them both by the hand and yanked them up. It wasn't easy, but she eventually got them both in the water.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah." Freya reluctantly agreed.

"Ok. Let's go."

The three set off. The swim had felt longer than they'd thought it would and none of them wanted to set any speed records on the way back, eventually getting out of the water just at nightfall, tired and not excited about the walk back to their houses from Wagar Beach.

They all went to the Callahan's to wind down and Freya was surprised to see her sister there, lounging on Renée's bed with both the witches, listening to something that Freya could not identify but that sounded slightly exotic.

"Oh, thank god!" Sonja exclaimed upon seeing her sister.

"What? Were you worried?"

"A little. It's not every day that your little sister swims to Michigan." She got up and hugged Freya who looked a little startled. Just as Sonja was having to get used to having a mermaid for a sister, Freya was still having to get used to having much closer relationship with Sonja, even after the trip to Sweden. "How was it?"

"Fun. We tried some real Detroit style pizza, which was yummier than I thought it would be. And Huron was interesting. It has a different vibe than Erie."

Renée's room became the hangout for an hour or so.

"So… Tomorrow's the last day off. Everyone ready to go back?" Kim was curious how everyone was feeling about school. So much had happened over the summer.

"Weirdly ok." Sonja answered. "I'm changing some things up this year. I'm sure I'll be tired of it soon enough, but I'm trying to look at it differently."

Both Renée and Maddie were looking forward to high school.

"I've actually got my first cross country meet in a week and a half, so I've already been running." Renée was keen to get back into doing something competitively.

The day wound down and the following day, the last day of vacation, was typically the day that Mrs Callahan did all the school shopping; partly because things were on sale by then, and partly because she was, at heart, a procrastinator. Cheap school supplies purchased, and some winter clothes attained, everyone went to bed early, both excited yet dreading another school year.

So much had changed since the same time the previous year. On the first walk to middle school, Kim had been alone in her mermaidness, Jackie wasn't in middle school with the others, yet, neither Maddie nor Kim knew about any wider magical world, and the Callahan sisters were still quite antagonistic towards each other. A year later, there was a tight-knit group of kids, all aware of a much wider world than they could have ever imagined. Starting school seemed mundane, yet grounding; a way to remember that they still had other friends, they were still kids, and that they had a lot of life and learning ahead of them.

Kim and Freya walked to middle school for the first time with Jackie, who was relieved to not always be out of the loop and on a slightly different schedule. Renée and Maddie walked to school, all of three blocks away, with Sonja, who was keen to give them the best advice possible to survive their freshman year.

"Renée, when's your cross-country meet?”

"Saturday, eight am."

"Mind if I show up to cheer you on?"

"That would be cool! As long as you don't mind getting up."

"No problem. I need to get used to a morning schedule, anyway."

The cross-country meet was in a park near one of the schools they were competing against, Euclid High, a school not normally on their schedule but there had been some shake ups in the local conferences and for probably the first time ever, the two schools would be competing this year.

Renée's race started with Sonja lined up with the other spectators along the first part of the route. The 5K race would last a while so she wanted to move to near the final stretch to urge Renée on at the end. The throng of runners took off and passed Sonja's position with Renée near the front of the pack. Sonja watched until the runners were out of sight and then wandered over to the end of the course to reposition herself.

Out on the course, Renée was doing well near the back of the lead pack in fifth position. She was pacing herself and was slowly reeling in the leaders.

At about 1.5K, she had pulled into fourth as the lead pack began to spread out. Some of the others were slowing down, having set too fast a pace off the line and she soon found herself in third. The course left the relative flat section that it started on and turned in a wooded area. The girl ahead of her tripped on a tree root and Renée found herself in second place with the leader a reasonable distance ahead but slowing slightly, giving Renée enough of an opportunity to catch her.

Renée studied the lead runner from behind. She was long-legged, not unlike herself, and she was moving quickly but with an awkward gate that suggested that she didn't have much experience and was perhaps just naturally fast. Renée had been running and playing soccer for years and knew how to take advantage of the uneven terrain, placing her feet in the most stable parts of the course while the lead runner occasionally stumbled, despite her speed.

The course was just getting into its most technical part, where Renée's experience should help her. She was gaining on the leader who turned to look over her shoulder, surprised to hear foot steps behind her. They were quite a bit ahead of the rest of the runners at this point as they weaved between trees just a hundred meters from the tree line after which the rest of the race would be in open field.

Renée was picking a spot to pass when the other girl put her arms out as though she was trying to right herself while losing balance, but to Renée's surprise, she found herself sliding as though she was on slick mud, though the course was dry. Renée's feet slid out from under her and she slid along the now-slippery ground as the other girl pulled far enough ahead to probably be out of reach. Renée struggled to get back up quickly, but paused as she felt the ground with her hands. It was frozen. Not cold. Frozen. What she had slipped on had not been mud, but ice, which was now melting in the eighty-degree heat. Renée heard the rest of the pack coming and finished getting up and getting back up to speed, now clearly unable to get back into a passing position in the last half a kilometer left.

Renée broke out of the woods and poured on as much speed as she thought she could, putting more distance between herself and the third-place runner but not getting much closer to the lead runner who was even faster now that she was back on even ground. She passed Sonja who was cheering for her but who had a surprised look on her face as she saw Renée bruised and bleeding in a few places from her fall.

Renée took second place comfortably but about twenty-five meters behind the winner who was already letting her curly black hair out of its ponytail and heading toward her coach. The other girl showed no signs of elation at having won, maintaining a look of grim determination.

Renée pulled up near her coach and the rest of her team but stared at the winner, studying her features.

"Hey coach, who's the girl that won? Is she like, a big deal or something?"

Coach shrugged. "We've never raced against Euclid. I wasn't able to study their runners very well. But she had a better time than anyone Euclid ran all of last year based on what I could find out. You ran a hell of a race, though. Your time should have gotten you a first. Great job!"

Renée thanked her coach and watched the other girl until she disappeared into the crowd as the rest of the runners slowly straggled in. 'Ice in August,' Renée thought to herself, 'that's not very normal; or very sporting.' Her eyes narrowed and she left her team to move towards where she thought the other girl was heading.

"Hey!" She yelled, as she spotted the girl walking out of the crowd towards the parking lot. The other girl looked back but continued on.

"Hey! Hold up!" Renée broke back into a run and grabbed the other girl's arm as she passed between a row of parked cars.

"Let go of me!" The other girl yanked her arm back and glared at Renée.

"What the hell was that?" Renée wasn't as mad as she was surprised; and curious.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know damn well what I'm talking about; your little skating rink back there. Not cool." Renée held up her slightly bloody forearms to indicate what had happened during her fall.

The other girl's expression took on a brief look of remorse before she reiterated that she didn't know what Renée was talking about. "I'm sorry you fell, but it's not like I tripped you."

"No, you only froze the ground. Just to be clear, I don't care what you are, or how you did that but someone could have been seriously hurt. For what? First place at a JV cross country meet? Be better than that. And you can bet your tail that I'll not be as forgiving the next time."

At this moment, both girls realized something. The other girl realized that she'd just been called out in a very specific way by someone who clearly had a decent idea what she was and that her facial expressions had done nothing to counter the implied accusation. And Renée realized that she just picked a fight with someone clearly magical and that she should be finding out more about her rather than expressing her anger. Both girls faced each other in the quiet car park, standing between two rather large SUVs that obscured them from anyone who might be around.

They stared wordlessly for a long while, each trying to work up the nerve to both end the argument and to find out more about the other. As the standoff continued, both of their expressions began to soften as common sense took over from emotion.

Renée decided to break the deadlock. She figured that she had a good idea of what the other girl was and that she had her at a disadvantage. She figured that acting first while having the advantage might create some good will.

"I'm sorry. I still think that I have a right to be a little angry but that's probably not as important as us calling a truce. What do you say? I'm Renée"

Renée held her hand out to a now very surprised girl who didn't know what to do other than return the introduction. She grabbed Renée's hand and shook it.

"Aisha." She didn't know what else to say yet. She was still processing that this girl from the west side seemed to instantly know what she was, and it scared her. "Are you going to narc me out? Because if that's your plan we're gonna have more than words."

"What? Of course not!" Renée was appalled that anyone would think that but she had come on strong and had Aisha at a disadvantage. "I would never! But I'm not down with what you did. However, that's not as important anymore."

"So… what? What does this all mean now?"

"For one, it means you can't be that obvious, and for two, it means that perhaps we should get to know each other. If I'm right, there are others like you and maybe you'd like to know about that."

Aisha was not ready to admit out loud that there was something different about her, no matter how interesting this turn of events was and she had an agenda that she needed to focus on. She stiffened up and tried to make her face show less of… anything. "I'm sorry you got hurt, but that wasn't my fault. I gotta go." She turned to resume her trek to wherever she had been heading.

Renée was mildly shocked that after all that, Aisha would just walk away. Not only did she not seem to want to know more, but she had doubled down on her story about the ice not being her.

"Hey! No more cheating! I'll make sure we keep an eye out for you in the water." Renée took a chance to try to get her point across more strongly.

Aisha's shoulders visibly tightened and she almost came to a stop before continuing on. Renée had clearly rattled her.

"Sorry, I'd love to chat, but I'm no rich kid from River, I've got places I gotta be." Aisha shouted without turning around as she continued walking.

Renée watched her for a moment and then turned and jogged back over to the officials table and looked through the rosters until she found an Aisha Taylor running for Euclid High. She grabbed a pen and wrote down everything she could find on her arm and went back to her team. The meet had turned out to be much more surprising than she thought it would be.

She found Sonja in the crowd, who was showing concern for Renée's arms, which still had some dried blood on them.

"It's nothing." Renée stated plainly as Sonja inspected the scrapes. Sonja noticed that Renée was glancing around furtively. Renée knew that they wouldn't be alone for a while, having caught a ride together with some varsity runners in a crowded minivan.

"What is it?" Sonja wasn't yet used to having to be so careful all the time, but she was very aware of Renée's odd mood after doing so well in the first meet of the year.

"That girl, the one that beat me…" Renée looked around some more and led Sonja further from the crowd. "I think she's a mermaid, or at least magical in some way."

Sonja looked stunned. In fact, she was surprised to look stunned; after all, she'd learned a number of very surprising things in just the last month, but it added to the look of shock on her face. "Um, why would you think that?"

Renée held up her arms. "I didn't fall. I slipped. On ice."

Sonja hadn't been that exposed to the girls' abilities yet. "But it's hot out. How did…" A look of recognition dawned on her face as Renée raised her eyebrows and nodded in silent confirmation of what Sonja was thinking. "Ohhhhh. I see. So what happened?"

"She froze the ground in front of me and I slipped on it, thus the scrapes." She held up her arms again to make the point.

"Did you talk to her?"

"Yep. She denied it, then almost admitted it, then denied it again, got really angry and walked away."

"What did you say to her?"

"I was angry at first, then I figured I'd take a different approach, but I accused her directly of freezing the ground and implied that I knew she had a tail. She didn't seem surprised at all at being accused of freezing the ground, so that's a pretty strong sign that I was right. Then I told her we'd be looking out for her in the water and she reacted to that."

"So you let her think you're like her?"

"I didn't mean to, but I didn't want to out anyone else, so, yeah, kinda. But there was something weird about the whole thing."

"You mean other than having beef with a mermaid in the woods?"

Renée laughed. "Well, yeah, other than that. She was really aggressive and defensive. And she didn't seem to care that much that there might be someone else out there like her. But I can tell you this, we face Euclid in two more meets, not including regionals or state if either of us go, and she's not going to pull that crap again. Not to mention the fact that she's already cheating with having extra mermaid speed, even out of the water. I'm surprised I was able to even challenge her."

Renée showed Sonja the writing on her arms from where she'd copied the info from the roster. "Here, grab a picture of this before I sweat it all off." Sonja got her phone out and snapped a few pics. "Do me a favor; send those to the group and ask Freya and the boys to dig up what they can on her. Come on, let's start getting ready to get out of here."

Chapter Text

"Wait. Seriously?" The group had gathered down in the park, at the same picnic table they'd been at just before school started. Freya was as surprised to hear the news of the cross-country meet as any of the rest of them. Kim had teased her multiple time about the chance that she might not have been the only one in the water that night, but Freya knew the odds were small. Plus, they had no idea how that magic had worked and if it might have had the same effect anywhere else in the lake.

"Seriously, I'm like 90% sure." Renée had just finished retelling the story of the cross-country meet.

"And she's from Euclid?" Maddie asked?

"Yeah. Anyone find anything out from the photos we sent?"

"Not really." Reed replied. "At least not much beyond what you sent. I couldn't find an address. She's a sophomore, but didn't seem to run cross country or play any sports before this. I'm pretty sure I found her instagram but there's nothing on it in the last year. Like, at all."

"As in, since June of last year?" Kim asked.

"Yeah." Reed responded, realizing the implication.

"So, what do we do about it?" Maddie hadn't spoken up yet but didn't like the idea of her girlfriend getting hurt, much less through magic.

"I'm not sure. She really didn't seem to be interested in knowing more about us… or really you guys, I guess. She seemed like she was about to, but then she sort of hardened back up. Like she was putting up a barrier. We have two more meets with Euclid, so at least we have a way to contact her again.

"Changing subjects," Kim said, "how's high school?" She was directing that at Renée and Maddie, obviously, but Sonja objected.

"Is that it? No more about this Aisha?" Sonja said.

"What else are we going to do about it?" Kim asked. "She'll be at the meet in two weeks. Until then, I don't know, I'll swim over that way a couple times and look for her, but it's hard to find someone out there. It's a big lake. She's her own girl; it's not up to us to make her like us or not be mean."

"Well, I don't like that she cheated. Renée's all scrapped up." Maddie was still upset about that.

"Yeah, but I'm not letting that happen again." Renée added. "Maddie and I are going to start practicing more. I need to get stronger so that I have something to counter with if she tries that again. And I'm going to train more to make sure I can keep up with her. Her form was terrible." Renée had clearly thought about this.

Maddie concurred. "We have witch practice later today, and we have a full moon between then and now. How does everyone feel about a trip to Berea and a stronger circle?"

"Wait, what?" Sonja hadn't yet learned about full moons beyond some very basic information. She had no idea about what the others got up to in Berea occasionally. The others filled her in on the full moons that they'd spent in Wallace Lake.

"This is wild. Thank god I didn't learn all this at once, I'm not sure I would have handled it well."

Freya laughed. "I'm not sure you handled it well with just finding out about me."

Sonja blushed. "Yeah, I suppose I sort of didn't."

On the periphery of the conversation, Kim sat and observed. She didn't like the idea of a mermaid rival or antagonist out there. The talk had moved on to other subjects but she felt like she needed another opinion.

"Hey, I've gotta take off. I'll see you guys later, ok?"

No one noticed that her mood was slightly off and she grabbed her bike and rode off, finding herself eventually at Rocky River Park. She found a bench away from everyone else and got her phone out to start texting.

Kim —- Leilani, do you have time for a call? Just me…

There was a bit of a pause before her phone buzzed with a voice call.

"Hey! Thanks." Kim said.

"Sure! What's up?"

"Well, you won't believe this…"

"Jesus, you've got to be kidding."

"No joking. We think we found someone else."

"Why do you sound so off about it?"

"Renée's the one who found her and, let's say it didn't go well." Kim described the event to Leilani.

"She used her powers against Renée?"

"Yeah. Sort of. More like for cheating to win the race. Not really directly against her."

"Still, that's generally considered to be, well, rude at least, and worse from there."

"Yeah, but I don't think she knows anything about us. About anything. Everyone else is ready to go to war. Something about her really rubbed everyone wrong."

"But only Renée met her?"

"Yeah."

"Weird. Maybe you just need to get to know her."

"Maybe, though it seemed like she had no interest in getting to know anyone else."

"Well, maybe just calm everyone else down for now?"

"Yeah, but Renée runs against her again in two weeks and based on their times, it looks like they'll both be in direct competition again and right now she's practicing to counter any shenanigans with something witchy. The whole thing seems dangerous. I think I'm going to go run interference."

"That's probably a good idea. I'll ask around online, send me her info. Maybe she's from somewhere else and someone knows her."

"Thanks. That's a great idea. And thanks for talking to me about it."

"Of course! That's what friends are for!"

Kim enjoyed being called a friend, not just a fellow mermaid. They talked a while more before hanging up, with Kim determined to try to reduce the tensions a little.

School had started well for everyone. Renée and Maddie started at the high school. Going from top dogs at the middle school to being lowly freshmen was a bit of a disappointment but they'd expected it and their burgeoning relationship took any edge away from the decrease in status. They'd walked the short distance with Sonja, drawing a few looks as they held hands while clearly being friendly with a sophomore. Sonja was just as helpful in providing tips as Renée had been to her sister the year before.

Jackie's first day at the middle school was even less eventful as she got to ride Kim and Freya's coat tails a bit and all three had been benefiting from their association with Maddie and Renée, gaining some coolness points that Kim, at least, probably wouldn't have had if she had still been the loner she used to be.

After the usual chaos that the first few days of a new school year always bring, Renée and Maddie took a late afternoon to meet up in a wooded clearing in the park. They both brought their books and sat down side by side. Maddie intended to begin copying the pages from her old book/Renée's new book into the larger tome the older witch had given her. As Maddie opened to the first blank page, they were both stunned to see the larger, newer page begin filling with copies of what had been in the older book, adding to what had been in the new book when she first got it. Maddie turned the page as each filled up, eventually catching up with the contents of the smaller book.

Renée looked at Maddie grinning. "It's like syncing up a new phone to your old one!"

Maddie laughed at how accurate that was. "Okay, let's start looking through these and see if there's anything that might help you at the next meet."

They leafed through the pages. Neither girl knew what some of the pages represented. Many seemed to be potion recipes but for things that neither of them had much use for yet. One was for finding missing people or items, one was for boosting confidence, something that neither Maddie nor Renée normally needed help with, there was something to become incognito/un-noticeable, and some other potions, none of which Maddie had ever felt a need to try out. There were also some spells that she had never had the nerve to try; a fire-conjuring spell, a sleeping spell, a memory enhancing spell, and so on. Some of these seemed dangerous. Some of them seemed unnecessary. She didn't like the idea of trying out spells or potions on herself or her friends so she hadn't attempted almost any of them.

Then they came across one that Maddie had seen but forgotten about because prior to just recently, she couldn't imagine ever needing anything like it; a spell for reversing other magic. Contra Incantatio.

Maddie pointed at the book. "This is what you need. Look at the description: 'Use to reverse magic - especially magic used against you. Warning: this spell is limited and cannot stop the other practitioner from continuing to perform magic. Amplify with a Daisy Wheel as a pendant, brooch, or other adornment.'"

"What's a daisy wheel?" Renée felt out of place, like she was trespassing in this world. She wished she knew more. She leafed through the book while Maddie made the more modern effort; googling it. Maddie found the definition and using images from the search, they found the same pattern in the book with descriptions of how to make one and what materials to use.

"Ok," Renée said while reading about it, "so it's like a circle with some flower-like pattern in it. We can do this."

"Looks like it, but we should just practice the spell first." Maddie was worried about getting ahead of themselves.

The witches cleared the books from in front of them and stood up. Maddie decided to play it safe and levitated a large leaf that had been on the ground, figuring that if something went wrong, a leaf couldn't cause any damage. "All right, Renée, focus on the leaf and say the incantation while directing the energy with your hands."

Renée felt a little silly, like she was emulating the sort of witchcraft she'd seen on TV shows, but focused and said the words. "Contra Incantatio." The leaf wavered a little but stayed up in the air. Renée wasn't sure if she had made it move or if the wind had just picked up.

"Ugh. I feel ridiculous. And it didn't do anything."

Maddie left the leaf floating casually and gave a pep talk to Renée. "Make sure you don't just say it. You have to really focus on it. Internalize the words."

"I'm not sure how to do that. And why does it have to be Latin? Magic must have been around before Rome."

Maddie could sense that skepticism might be holding Renée back. "It doesn't have to be Latin. I've done a lot of research, and at least as much as the internet can be trusted, people just use Latin because it's familiar enough to know what it means while not being your native language. That way, you don't get derailed by the existing meanings of the words. If you just said 'reverse the spell' your brain might think about putting a car in reverse or think of a spelling test at school. It's just a way to let your subconscious focus on the outcome instead of the meaning of the words. Don't forget, after you learn it well enough, you won't need to say it and you won't even need to think that hard about it. We could be doing this in German if we wanted."

Renée had an 'ah-ha' look on her face. "That makes sense. Ok, let's try it again."

Maddie's leaf was still floating and she put more emphasis on it to hold it still. Renée held her hand out and repeated the words to herself before directing them at the leaf. "Contra Incantatio!" She said it with more conviction this time and with more confidence in the pronunciation. The leaf shook a little in the air and then began drifting downward.

"Are you letting go?" Renée asked, not sure if Maddie was taking it easy on her.

"No, not at all. I'm going to try to hold it up stronger." Maddie closed one eye and put more energy behind it. The leaf rose back up to its original position. "Ok, now try harder. Narrow your focus onto just the leaf."

Renée did as Maddie asked and she felt her vision narrow along with her focus. The energy she was directing felt stronger to her and the leaf fell more quickly this time, with less drag from Maddie's magic. The leaf hit the ground. In Renée's head, it sounded like dictionary being dropped on the floor as it carried the weight of all her newfound talent, even if it didn't actually make any noise. Renée looked up at Maddie. She almost squealed in delight.

Maddie was smiling. "You did it!"

Renée grinned. "I did, didn't I? I'm a freaking witch!" Renée had never felt so powerful. "But how is this different than just moving it down to counter you? Like just doing the same as you but in the other direction."

"I've been thinking about that. What you just did is more like a nullification. If you try to move it while I try to move it, I think it would put the forces in conflict. I'm not sure what would happen."

"Can we try it?"

"Sure." Maddie brought the leaf back up and got prepared to hold it in place. Renée put her hand out and tried to think of how to use the levitation that she already knew but in reverse. It didn't seem like it would be that hard and she began tugging on the leaf, reaching out to focus the energy.

The leaf was now obviously trying to go in two directions at the same time and each girl slowly ramped up the power until the leaf violently split in two, one half slamming into the forest floor and the other shooting up into the canopy of branches above them.

"Whoa! I didn't like that at all! It felt like we were fighting each other and I got a seriously negative vibe from doing it." Renée found that she was surprised at how different the two events had been.

"Agreed. That kind of sucked." Maddie felt a little bit like a headache was coming on. "It seems like countering the effect directly with the same force is harder for some reason. Let me try the new spell. I haven't done it yet."

Renée silently agreed and found another leaf to levitate. Maddie spoke the incantation and the leaf fluttered down. She had far more experience directing the energy and nailed it the first time.

"Even from the other side, that's completely different to what we did before." Renée was again taken aback by the difference in the two ways of doing it. "It was like I just couldn't hold on to it."

The two spent the next half hour trading places and practicing the new spell before getting a little worn out and sitting on an old log to recuperate.

"Hey," Renée whispered, "check out that crow." She pointed to the other side of the clearing. "It's like he's watching us."

Maddie followed her Renée's finger and smiled. "Oh! That's Allen! Hi Allen!" The bird hopped across the clearing and perched on Maddie's knee, cawing loudly, surprising Renée.

Maddie looked at Renée and chuckled. "I fixed Allen's leg years ago and he visits me at the house sometimes for snacks and to bring the occasional gift. He's never found me anywhere else before, though.

"Allen, say hi to my girlfriend!" Allen looked at Renée and cawed again.

Renée blushed. She still wasn't used to being referred to as anyone's girlfriend and for some reason, even though Allen was a bird, it still felt very personal to hear Maddie call her that out loud to 'someone.'

"Sorry, Allen," Maddie said, "I didn't bring any snacks with me." Allen cawed again, almost to say it was ok and then hopped over to Renée's knee, looking her in the eye and moving his head around as if to be evaluating her.

Renée was a little nervous. Crows aren't small birds.

"He likes the back of his head scritched." Maddie told her.

Renée slowly reached a hand out and Allen didn't object to being touched. Before long, Renée was comfortably stroking the crow's feathers and coming to enjoy the company.

"This is so cool! Why didn't I know this?"

"I guess I didn't think about it. Plus, how would I have explained how I healed him before you knew about all this. I haven't seen Allen in a month or so. He's just grateful for me mending him. Weird that he found us down here.

"Ok, Allen, Renée and I need to get going so you're going to need to get off of her. Come here…" Maddie held her hand out and Allen flew up to it, grabbing on to her finger. Maddie stood up and Renée followed her. They began walking out of the woods.

Maddie and Renée emerged from the woods, both dressed in dark colors, carrying their ancient looking books, a crow now perched on Maddie's shoulder. They looked very witchy.

"Allen, we'll see you at home, ok? I'll have some snacks for you there." Allen cawed and took off from Maddie's shoulder and the girls grabbed their bikes and pedaled off.

Kim cornered Renée after dinner later that night in Renée's room.

"I'm a little worried about how worked up everyone is about this new girl. I think we don't know anything about her and we're kind of jumping to the conclusion that she needs to be fought."

Renée was expecting a talk like this but she had expected it from Freya, not Kim.

"I actually think you're right. At least a little. Maddie and I did some research and we've found a way to counteract her magic without it being some kind of battle. I'm still really mad at her, and I think she was incredibly irresponsible, but I don't want to do anything to hurt her or get back at her. At least not until we know more."

Kim was happy to hear Renée's position soften even if she was still quite untrusting.

"Thanks. It seemed like everyone was ready to fight this girl and we don't really know what's going on. I was getting a little worried.

"I get it, but Kim, you weren't there. She used magic against me. She used her powers. I'm not going to take that lying down; and I'm in a unique position to do something about it. What if she gets angry at someone who can't defend themselves? What if she hurts someone? What if she's discovered? There's no way that ice wasn't still there when the next group of runners came through."

Kim thought about all this and Renée had a point.

"Okay, but what did you and Maddie figure out?"

"It's a nullification spell. It cancels magic."

"And it works on mermaid powers?"

"Um, we think so, but we haven't tried it."

"So do you think we should test it before you use magic against someone?"

Renée looked a little embarrassed. "I suppose so. I hadn't really considered that part of it."

"Should we get Freya and see if you can undo her freezing something?"

"I suppose so. Maddie was coming over, anyway. Maybe we can all be there. For support."

A half hour later, after much debate, the mermaids and witches gathered behind the shed in the back yard. They'd decided against the basement or garage in case the two magics reacted badly. Kim put a paper cup full of water on the ground.

"Ok, Freya, do your thing."

Freya quickly froze the cup solid.

"Everyone else, back up a little. Are you ready?" Kim asked Renée.

She nodded. Renée held her hand out and clearly spoke the words, tamping down her embarrassment over saying the spell out loud in front of everyone. She was still self-conscious about it. "Contra Incantatio!"

Not much happened right away and everyone pressed forward to look at the cup. The water was melting quickly, but not immediately. Renée looked disappointed.

"That's not very fast." By this time the cup was back to all liquid but it had taken a good thirty seconds.

"Try again." Maddie urged. "Try to put more energy into it."

Freya froze the cup and Renée got ready to try again. She noted that no one backed away this time and she felt a little disappointed but steeled her resolve and focused harder.

"CONTRA INCANTATIO!"

This time, the cup melted at least twice as fast but still not fast enough to counter the magic quickly enough out on the cross-country course if the race was close. Still, Maddie smiled widely at her girlfriend.

"That was WAY faster!"

Renée appreciated the enthusiasm but knew she had to do better.

"Can we practice more? This isn't fast enough."

"Sure." Freya replied.

They set about working on it for about an hour before it started getting dark. Everyone had homework to get to. Renée got incrementally better but never broke the ten second mark.

"Maddie, can you try it?"

Maddie was reluctant to do so. She had way more experience and the big powerup after the full moon had made her significantly more powerful than she used to be. Renée's abilities seemed more in line with ‘pre-powerup Maddie’ and she didn't want to show up her girlfriend. Still, they needed to know what was possible.

Maddie agreed but her tone of voice indicated that she had qualms about it. Freya froze the water and Maddie held her hand out. She didn't think she needed to actually say the words but she wanted a clear idea of the amount of time it took.

"Contra incantatio."

The ice became liquid in about a second.

"Shit." Renée was clearly disappointed that she couldn't do this as well as Maddie.

Maddie looked kind of guilty but had thoughts. "Renée, don't feel bad about this. I wasn't expecting it to be quite so hard. It didn't melt immediately for me either. Either mermaid magic is way stronger than I thought or it's different enough to be hard for us to counter, but Freya's freezing power is seriously strong."

The group broke into a couple different conversations about what had just happened and how to proceed. Kim quietly pulled out her phone and texted someone, her phone buzzing back at her a few seconds later.

"I have to go do something." Kim announced though no one paid much attention. Kim walked off towards Freya's house, heading into the back yard where Sonja was waiting.

"What's up?" Sonja asked as they walked to the back of the yard and sat on the edge of the trampoline.

"You were at the race. How did Renée describe what happened with this other girl."

"She was angry and I had a hard time getting the whole story but she said the girl froze the ground on the course."

"Did she say how much of the ground?"

"She said it was the whole path between the course markers for like twenty or thirty feet."

"Do you think she was exaggerating?"

"Not really. She talked about how hard it was to stand up and that she had to be careful for quite a few steps before she got off of it. Why?"

"I'm just curious about the other girl. It sounds like she was pretty reckless, though. I thought maybe it was a small amount of ice but it seems like it was a lot. Did any other runners say anything about it?"

"Not that I heard, but I was more concerned with Renée's scrapes and bruises. I was following her, not the other runners.

"Hmm."

"What are you thinking?"

"Two things. One, that this girl seems careless, or reckless, and two, that I'm worried about Renée's response if they meet up again."

Sonja was still not used to having talks about magical or mythological subjects and felt deeply strange discussing what would happen if a witch had to counter mermaid powers, especially since this was her sister's power.

"You understand how weird this all sounds to me, right?"

Kim laughed. "I guess so. Sorry if it's too strange, but you were only other person there."

"No, I get it, I'm just still processing. I think I'll steer clear of the two of them next time."

Kim nodded. "That would probably be a good idea. Thanks for the extra info."

"No problem. What are you going to do?"

"What I can to settle this down. But Renée's really competitive. If she feels like she's been cheated, I don't think she'll let go. I feel like we should be trying to talk to this Aisha first."

"I'm not sure how much Renée told you, but she did try to talk to her and got blown off."

"Yeah, that worries me, too. I'd've thought that she would have been happy to hear about there potentially being others like her."

"It didn't sound like she cared."

"Yeah, weird. Thanks, again."

"Sure. Hey. Let me know what's up with all this later, ok?"

"Of course."

Kim said goodbye to Sonja and went for a walk to think about things.

Chapter Text

The next afternoon, the boys were over. Reed and Freya were deep into a discussion about the history of magic and witchcraft while Cole was talking music with Renée and Maddie. Everyone else was in Kim's room, just generally hanging out while avoiding homework.

Renée had already filled the boys in on the latest news regarding Aisha and the new magic reversing spell, which had led Freya and Reed into the aforementioned sidebar.

"You know," Cole said to the witches while listening to some new/old vinyl that he'd bought earlier that afternoon. "The full moon is Sunday, and Labor Day is Monday so we have it off."

Maddie smiled. She was hoping to bring this up but Cole beat her to it. "So…"

"Yeah," Cole replied, taking over the point. "I was thinking about asking my grandfather about having a final summer sleepover at his place."

"I think that's just what the doctor ordered, don't you, Renée?"

Renée's face lit up. "Absolutely!" She got up and almost ran to Kim's room.

"Everyone, clear your schedules for Sunday night! Sleep over at Henri's!"

Cole followed her in at a slower pace and rolled his eyes. "Easy, there. I haven't asked yet. But I did suggest it and I'm reasonably sure he'll say yes."

Everyone looked particularly pleased at the idea, though if anyone had watched Kim closely, they would have seen a moment of hesitation on her face before she agreed.

"What do you guys think about me inviting Sonja?" Freya asked.

No one had any objections.

"And Xandie?" Freya continued with a hopeful look on her face?

Glances flew around the room as people considered. She didn't seem like a joiner but she'd shown up every time they invited her. "Sure." Kim finally said, hoping to have a more mature member of the group there in case things got weird.

Freya was texting before anyone could stop her, everyone else worried that Freya's sometimes overly enthusiastic nature might scare Xandie off. To everyone's surprise, Freya's phone rang with a voice call from the older mermaid. Xandie had heard about these excursions but her anxiety was bringing up a lot of questions, not the least of which was what Henri would think of a twenty-one-year-old being there.

"You can totally pass for sixteen. You can just be Sonja's friend if he asks." Freya was pretty sure of this and Cole was nodding. Kim was continuing to get the feeling that all of this was becoming slightly out of hand.

"Guys, by my count, this is nine people. Cole, your grandfather's minivan only holds seven of us. He's going to want to cook for us and that's a lot of food, especially on the magical side of the group. I don't want him paying to feed us all, that's just kind of rude."

But Cole seemed certain that this would work out. "We can bring some of our own food."

"I can drive." Came a voice over the speaker on Freya's secret phone.

Everyone stopped and looked at Freya's phone, all of them having forgotten that that was an option.

"Are you sure?" Kim asked. "I didn't want to invite you and then make you drive."

"It's no problem. I've been driving all over since I got here. I've been doing a lot of exploring. But I haven't been down that way, yet."

Kim shrugged. "I guess we have it mostly figured out, then. Cole, why don't you see if he's up for it."

Cole made the call and to Kim's surprise, all of that was ok with him and it looked like the plan would work.

Sunday afternoon, feeling guilty for inflicting themselves on Henri in such numbers, everyone schlepped their things over to Cole's house so there would only have to be one pickup place. Xandie met them there so that she could introduce herself first before the drive down. She was still nervous. She hadn't spent this much time around this many people, outside of school, since she had been little. She was feeling anxious. But the introduction to Henri went well and he didn't seem to question her age. Much like at their picnic in the park, Sonja teamed up with Xandie to keep her from driving alone and she got in the aging Prizm and smiled as she thought that this was a bit of what her future might look like - an independent young academic with the freedom to do what she wanted. She was looking forward to college and getting out of the house. She glanced at Xandie, her seat pulled up as far as it would go forward on its tracks, and grinned as they pull away from the curb to follow the minivan.

They'd started the day much earlier this time, wanting to have more time to relax and hang out. The group included Henri from time to time and they got to hear more tales of his times in various war zones and conflicts as a photojournalist, and some stories from his time with Cole's grandmother before they had their family. Cole was mortified to hear what his young grandparents had gotten up to around the world as she often tagged along on some of the less dangerous trips.

Everyone broke out the random foods that they'd brought with them and had a dinner that could best be described as 'eclectic.' In the evening, they built a fire in the fire pit and generally relaxed and talked.

Cole went inside for some drinks and Henri stopped him in the kitchen. "Don't forget, if you guys are leaving the house at all tonight, please give me a heads up so I don't worry."

"Well, I might as well tell you now, we're going to head back down to the park once the moon comes up. I'd like some photos and it's a cool place to hang out."

"Ok, just knock on my door and let me know when you leave. And be careful. When groups get large, people start doing stupid things. Be smart, ok?"

"Got it. Trust me, we'll keep to ourselves and be good."

Henri ruffled Cole's hair and went back to his room to read. Cole went outside with some sodas. There was an hour or so until moonrise and it was dark already. They had to start getting ready.

Other than Cole and Freya bringing cameras, the rest of what they had to bring was witch related. Candles, books, salt, and some herbs to burn beforehand. Maddie wasn't sure if that actually did anything but purifying the area seemed like a good thing to try.

Most of them knew the drill by now and with Renée to help, drawing the circles and placing the candles and runes went quickly. They had some time to kill and Sonja went in the water to swim around with her sister for a while. They'd consulted a few resources, online and in their books, and they were going to add a fifth person to the circle. Sonja had agreed to be that fifth. Freya had volunteered, despite it meaning she would miss out on the water during the moon, but Kim pointed out that they had no idea what adding a mermaid to the circle could do and Freya reluctantly agreed and bowed out. Sonja hadn't yet experienced the energy that the witches brought to a circle and she was nervous, verging on scared. Kim was also nervous but Maddie seemed confident that it was safe.

As the moon slowly appeared above the trees, the mermaids felt its power and they drifted off towards the middle of Wallace Lake, bathing in the glow and losing track of their surroundings for a while. The witches, the boys, and Sonja took their places in the circle and lit their candles, Sonja still wet from her swim with Freya. Instead of cardinal directions, with five people, Maddie took the north position and the rest spread out evenly in a pentagram. Again, this worried Sonja a little but she stuck with it and they all lit their candles and took each other's hands as the moonlight hit them. It took some time before the entirety of the moon was upon them, but once it was, without even trying, the energy began flowing, one person to the next, from Maddie and Renée who were next to each other. The boys had felt this before and were excited to experience it again. Sonja was initially shocked at the feeling but she looked around and everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves so she calmed her nerves, took a deep breath and closed her eyes, the rush of energy creating patterns and lights behind her closed lids.

Unlike the first time they'd all done this, everyone seemed lucid and aware of what was going on. That made it all the more surprising when the levitation began. This time Sonja nearly broke the circle, a look of panic on her face. But the boys on either side of her held on tight and she relented, only occasionally glancing down at the ground which was, by now, a good two feet beneath her.

Even the mermaids, through their hazy moonstruck trance, noticed something going on and looked over to see the circle of people floating in midair. Xandie had not really had any experience with the witches and their magic and looked on, wide-eyed, at the scene in front of her.

Energy crackled in the air and leaves and pine needles that had fallen from the surrounding trees were floating up to join the circle. Time stood still. No one knew how long they been like that. The moon reached its zenith and from a clear sky, A bolt of lightning shot down and struck the candle in the middle of the circle, blowing everyone backwards a few feet and sending them tumbling back onto the ground.

The candles were all blown out by the blast and any trance that the they'd been in was snapped away. The moon began passing behind a cloud bank and all four mermaids crawled ashore, Kim pulling the water away from all of them in one fell swoop. Legs reappeared and they ran over to the circle where the other five were standing up and dusting off the dirt, leaves and salt.

Everyone seemed fine. No one seemed to have been hit by the lightning. Sonja looked a little shell-shocked. Cole looked like he'd just gotten off a roller coaster and wanted to go again. Reed was checking for burns or bruises. Maddie and Renée were standing, facing each other, and holding both hands with the other, looking deeply into the others' eyes. Freya was certain they were about to kiss but they just stood there, a look of contentment on both of their faces.

"Well," Cole joked to anyone in earshot, "was it good for you, too?"

Reed laughed and Sonja, who was starting to come to terms with what had just happened, joined in on the laughing though somewhat nervously. Maddie and Renée both started blinking and coming back from wherever they had just gone.

"Is everyone ok?" Kim was still a bit concerned. She'd started the night a bit worried and had not been proven entirely wrong.

One by one, everyone answered in the affirmative and the whole group gathered in a loose circle, quietly checking each other over for any sign that something was amiss. When it was clear that everyone was truly ok, they began wordlessly picking up their things and cleaning up the area, doing their best to cover the main scorch mark and the spiderweb of burn lines that led from the center of the circle radiating out to where each person had been sitting.

Reed and Freya were examining those lines.

"It looks like the lightning actually did get to each person, based on these." Reed was kneeing down to inspect them.

"But none of you feel like you got shocked, right?" Freya was crouched down next to him while they talked.

"No. I feel fine."

"No one's hair looks fine, though." Freya pointed all the longer haired members of the circle who looked like they seriously need a good hair brushing.

"Yeah," Reed agreed, "that was a lot of electricity. or at least some sort of energy."

"Well," Kim said, stating what everyone was thinking, "any changes to you two?" She pointed at the witches.

"I feel mostly the same, just really, really good." Maddie had answered first.

"I'm not sure." Renée added. "I need to test it."

"Well, maybe we should do that back at the house before someone comes to investigate the lightning strike on a clear night." Kim was anxious to get everyone going and urged them along towards the short walk out of the park.

Back at the house, Cole ran inside to let Henri know they were back and safe while the others set up camp in the screened in patio.

"Well?" Maddie asked Renée.

Renée reached out towards the same stool that Maddie had tried her powers on the last time. She lifted it with ease and floated it around the room a little before setting it down with a smile.

"Well," Kim interjected, "I suppose that answers that. Powerups all around, I guess!"

Renée and Maddie grinned at each other.

Ignoring the love birds for a moment, Kim turned towards the civilians in the circle, Sonja and the boys. "How do you guys feel? Everything ok?"

"I'm fine." Cole answered quickly.

"I'm good, a little tingly, but good." Reed was generally in agreement with Cole.

"Sonja?"

"I think I'm fine. Is this always like this with you guys? I have to say, I was a bit scared. And my butt hurts a little."

"No." Kim answered. "It's not always like that. It's usually pretty chill. That was all a bit much."

"Oh good. I was afraid it was just me and I was overreacting."

"No, you reacted pretty much how you should have."

Freya needed to know more about how her sister felt. "But what did you think? Before the lightning, I mean."

"I don't know. I was scared at first, then calm, then the feeling when the energy hit scared me again. After that, I got, I don't know, filled maybe? With thoughts, feelings, energy… It was a rush. I've never felt anything like it. Then we floated, which was both amazing and scary, and then the lightning hit and I thought we'd all be dead. I feel like I just ran a marathon through a fun-house. But I do have to say, I feel really, REALLY awake. Energized, you know?"

Everyone agreed with that. It was going to take a bit for them all to come down.

"So, overall," Freya asked, "it wasn't too much?"

"I mean, it was a lot. Just a few weeks ago I had no idea any of this existed and now I'm being levitated while my new friend gains witch XP. But I'm good. I just need to, you know, get used to this."

Xandie watched Sonja from her usual position just outside of the main group. She liked the girl and worried a little about her. Sonja caught Xandie looking and returned the look. Xandie held her gaze when Sonja expected to see her look away. Sonja was taken aback by the direct eye contact.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Xandie asked, holding her eyes on Sonja, almost as a challenge.

"Yeah. I think so. Maybe. I don't know. To be honest, I'm freaking out a little bit." Sonja's perception narrowed to just Xandie, the others seemingly gone for the moment.

"What is it that's causing that?"

Sonja felt free to talk, the others were no longer there. It was just Xandie and she seemed like she was pulling Sonja's thoughts out of her. "This changed everything. I was always a person who needed things proven to me. I like science. I like knowing what is known. I like certainty. When I found out about Freya, all that started to crack. Then I met Kim and Jackie, really met them, for who they are; then I learned about Renée and Maddie and the cracks turned into sinkholes. I feel like I'm falling, like everything I knew is invalid. There are all these things that not only did I not know, but they aren't explainable by the methods I'm used to using. And I feel so lost. Everyone else is either part of it or completely ok with it. I feel left behind, and scared that I won't catch up. And I'm afraid I'm letting everyone down by feeling that way. But I want to be there for Freya. I just don't know how."

Sonja felt tears run down her cheeks and her field of vision began broadening back to its normal range, the others now clearly visible, watching her with pained expressions like they were sharing her confusion and doubt. She would have sworn she and Xandie had been alone a minute ago. Movement caught her eye and she saw the others coming to her. She felt arms wrapping around her and she felt a spark of the energy from before.

"Can I help you? Will you let me?" Maddie was next to her, her arm around Sonja's shoulder.

Sonja nodded, still crying lightly. Maddie gestured everyone away and took Sonja's hands to help her up. Once standing, Maddie slowly put her arms around the older girl and physically implied that she do the same. She pressed against Sonja, wrapping her as completely as possible with her own body until they couldn't be more entwined. Then she began letting go with her emotions, opening the gates to her power, energy surrounding them both, flowing between and around them. Maddie felt the doubt. The worry. The fear. She felt it all and she soaked it up until all that was left was everything good. Then she let all of her own good feelings flow the other way. All the wonder at what everyone had discovered. All the love and friendship between the group.

Sonja had almost collapsed from the exchange and Maddie was holding on tight. Slowly, she let Sonja sink to the floor until she was sitting, cross-legged, on the patio astroturf. She sat down across from her and waited for her eyes to open.

"Wow." Was the first thing Sonja said. "Your magic is fucking incredible!"

Everyone laughed. Sonja didn't care who had seen all that and she didn't care who had heard her express all her fears.

"Can I feel like this forever?"

"Sorry, no. Real life will always intrude, but I'm available for refills from time to time." Maddie smiled at Sonja.

"And that's a Maddie hug. Just imagine, I get to kiss her!" Renée was coming over to help Maddie get Sonja standing again and they each took a hand and guided her to her sleeping bag. Freya pulled her bag up to her sister's and they both looked ready to finally go to sleep. Everyone was pretty drained by that point and they started dropping off. Kim closed her eyes after she watched Xandie begin to sleep across the room. 'What had that been?' Kim thought to herself. If whatever Xandie had done was a mermaid power, it wasn't one that anyone else seemed to know about.

There was no rush the next day. Uncharacteristically, Henri let everyone sleep in, having heard talking into the wee hours. It was Labor Day and no one had any obligations so the morning and afternoon were spent together, like a family gathering, which to them, it sort of was. It was one of those early September days where the humidity of summer is largely gone. The sun was bright but temperature was moderate. The boys and Renée played Frisbee, Sonja and Xandie talked about school, with Xandie having started at CSU. Groups came together and broke apart as conversations ebbed and flowed. After another dinner of seemingly random foods, it was getting to be time to get back home. After cleaning up, the van and car were loaded and the group set off.

Henri insisted on dropping everyone at their respective houses and finally had Cole alone after dropping Reed off. He pulled over a block from the house, Cole looking at him with a confused expression.

"Cole. We need to talk."

"Um. Ok?"

"I'm not sure what all went on last night but I need to make sure you're ok. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, of course. Why?"

"Because I think some strange things were happening last night."

"Um, like what?" Cole's brain was racing. What was his grandfather implying?

"Well, I don't know but I know this - I've been all over the world, to some of the most forsaken places and to some of the most beautiful places. I've seen war, I've seen joy… I've seen most everything. But occasionally, in more remote places, I've seen things I couldn't explain. I was upriver in Vietnam and saw things in the water that I couldn't describe. I’ve seen lights that I couldn’t explain.  I know there are things out there that I don’t understand. And I had that feeling last night. There was, I don't know, an energy in the air."

Henri had been leaning forward towards his grandson but he sat back against the door. "Then there was the matter of the lightning in the park. Right where you would have been, I imagine. On a clear night. Odd, that."

Cole looked caught. "You saw that, huh?"

"Yeah. I saw that. Do you have anything that you should be telling me?"

"Well, not that I need to tell you…"

"I'll ask you again - are you ok? Are you being safe?"

Cole knew he could answer honestly. "I promise, I'm ok, and I'm safe. We all are. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Freya and Sonja have had some problems at home, but nothing too bad. They're ok."

"Regular trouble, though, right?"

"Yeah. Their mom's kind of a piece of work."

"Ok. But listen. I hope that sometime you'll let me know what's going on. I can't help notice that you and your friends like to come over on full moons and disappear when it's strongest. I know there's something special happening. Someday, I hope you’ll tell me and I'll tell you the things I've seen, ok? Oh, and there's no way Xandie is sixteen. But if you promise me, then I'll believe that you're ok. I'm always here to confide in, though. For any of you."

Cole now understood that his grandfather knew things but that he was giving him, giving them all, an out.

"I promise. I'm ok. Everyone's ok. But if there's anything to tell, it's not just my story, and they would have to be the ones to say it's ok to talk about. Does that make sense?"

"It does. And it sounds like you have good friends. Odd. But good. Let's get you home."

Meanwhile, in Xandie's car, the ride home had been mostly quiet for the first half until Xandie felt the need to check in on Sonja's state of being.

"How are you doing now?"

"So much better. I feel like a weight is off of me. I didn't even know how much I was holding in. Thank you for making me say all that."

"I didn't make you say anything, I hope you know that."

"I guess. But I felt sort of… compelled?"

Xandie laughed "I definitely didn't compel you."

"But you did something, right?"

"Not really. People just want to talk to me. It makes waiting tables interesting."

"Yeah, but more than normal, right?"

"I don't think so. I'm actually not usually around that many people. I've always kept to myself. Except for with you kids all of a sudden. Frankly, that's what's weird. I've never wanted to be around groups. Ever. Even when I was little."

"Well, whatever you did, I appreciate it."

"Thank Maddie. I think she was the one who helped you."

"And that wouldn't have happened if I didn't feel like I needed to spill my guts to you."

"Again, I didn't make you do that."

"Whatever you say!" Sonja grinned at the usually surly mermaid.

Xandie gave the smallest smile back. "Maybe I need one of those hugs."

"What? And risk being permanently cheered up?"

"Yeah, I can't have that happen."

Xandie pulled the car up to the curb a few houses down from Sonja's house and Sonja grabbed her things and got out, the door creaking as she shut it.

"Thanks for driving. It was fun."

"You're welcome. See you around."

Sonja watched Xandie pull away. 'What a weird girl.' She thought to herself but decided right then that she would work harder to be her friend. 'She deserves friends.' Sonja thought and headed into the house.

She went upstairs and opened her laptop, looking through the last day's worth of emails that she almost never paid attention to. One stood out. She looked at the sender. It was their grandfather. She clicked on it and a photo filled the screen.

She heard her sister come in the door after being dropped off. "FREYA, GET IN HERE!" Sonja shouted down the stairs. "YOU AREN'T GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!"

Freya rolled her eyes at the sound of her sister screaming to her. They'd been together the last two days and had only been apart for about twenty-five minutes on the ride home. She couldn't imagine what new news could have her so worked up.

"Hold on, let me drop my stuff in my room and get changed."

Sonja reached out through her door and grabbed Freya as she walked past, not willing to let her wait.

"Jesus, what's so urgent?"

Sonja pointed at the laptop on the desk, a photo taking up most of the screen.

Freya followed Sonja's finger towards the picture of her grandfather, on the deck of his boat, with his arm around the waist of a sharply featured older woman. Both were smiling.

"I'm assuming, based on your description, that that's…"

Freya didn't let Sonja finish.

"Lena!?!?"

Chapter Text

The next cross-country meet was coming up and Kim was still concerned that the brewing conflict could escalate. She couldn't understand why the others weren't more interested in trying to make peace but she did have to admit that having powers used against her sister was infuriating. And Aisha's lack of interest in knowing more about herself or any of the others confounded her. Complicating matters, Maddie intended to attend the meet to protect Renée, regardless of whether she needed it or not. Kim was determined to try to calm things down.

"Look, guys, I'm not letting us get into a mermaid war…" Kim was in Renée's room trying to convince Renée and Maddie to ratchet down the developing antagonism but Maddie cut her off.

"Luckily for you, we're not mermaids."

"Isn't being this aggressive sort of against your code?" Kim was going to use Maddie's own words against her if necessary.

"I'm not going to do anything to her unless she does something first, and even then, all we've practiced are defensive spells. I'm not that kind of person."

"I know you're not, but I'm just concerned that this is escalating."

"That's up to Aisha.” Renée chimed in. “And I'm right here, you guys are talking about me like I can't handle this myself." Renée was getting annoyed with Kim and Maddie both trying to control the situation. "Neither of you need to be involved. I'm strong enough to fight off anything she throws at me. Plus, now I know what I'm up against. And this course is almost all technical with woods and hills. I should be able to stay ahead of her."

"That's what I'm worried about." Maddie added. "She could attack you from behind and you wouldn't know to counter it."

Renée had not thought about that. "Ok, granted, but what are you going to do to help. It's a 5K race and you can only be in one place."

Maddie realized just how limited her ability to help really was. She just felt that she should be there.

"Thank you so much for trying to protect me, but no one's going to be able to be out there in the woods with us."

"I can." Kim couldn't believe that she was about to offer this. "I can keep up with both of you."

"And you'd be cheating, just like her."

"I'm not going to run the race for real, I'm not on the team and I'm sure I wouldn't even be allowed to be on the course, but I could shadow her from off to the side."

"In the woods, off the path? That won't be easy."

"I'll wait about half way out. She won't do anything while you're still in the pack and by then you'll probably be out front and I'll be fresh. I'll just be there as a warning. I don't intend to do anything unless I have to. But I want you to compete fair and square. And maybe we can talk some sense into her if we keep it clean."

Renée thought about it and it could work. The scabs on her forearms were just starting to fall off - Maddie had offered to try to heal them but Renée was stubbornly holding on to them as motivation for beating Aisha at the next meet. She had been training pretty hard. She looked down at her arms and considered Kim's offer. "How will you get there? The meet is down by Brecksville and I'll be on the bus with the team." Brecksville was about a half hour's drive.

"I'll figure something out. I'll bike if I have to, but I'm serious about trying to find a better way to handle her. The last thing I want is to be out on the lake and get attacked by an angry mermaid and end up an iceberg."

The thought of retribution out on the lake hadn't really occurred to either of the witches, even though Renée had already been the one to threaten it, and the idea made them both reevaluate their anger.

"Ok. I get your point. But, to be clear, I'm not planning on giving in on the course. She's the one cheating and I'm intent on trying to win."

"You should be. I understand. I just want to keep it calm.

Renée hesitated but decided to admit something. "You know, it bothers me a little that you're probably faster than me. I just felt that I should admit that in case I look jealous."

"I get it. But I'm a little jealous that you can levitate things. We all have something that bothers us about someone else. I'm just trying to help."

Renée laughed. "I hadn't thought of that. I suppose I can get over it. Just don't join the team!"

It was Kim's turn to laugh. "Like I'm a big joiner."

Maddie smirked at her. "You didn't use to be, but you kind of are, now. It's just that the team you joined is a little unusual…"

Kim gave her a look that said 'well played' and excused herself to get some homework done.

Maddie looked at Renée. "You know, Kim's probably right, just like you are. I got a little possessive and protective. I know you can take care of yourself. Sorry."

Renée smiled. "Don't be sorry. It was cute. But I appreciate it." She reached out mentally and flicked the light switch off from across the room and leaned into Maddie for a kiss.

The morning of the meet came and Kim and Maddie were in Xandie's Prizm for the drive to Brecksville. For someone who traditionally didn't like being around too many people, Xandie had an odd affinity for drama and was curious to see what was going to happen.

Kim had seen the course layout and already had a place picked out to wait at. Maddie stationed herself near the end. Xandie had wandered off; no one knew where to.

Renée saw Aisha with her team before the race. She seemed to be waiting till the last minute to come to the starting line to avoid Renée. Eventually she lined up, as far from Renée as she could. No one had had a chance to talk to her before the race.

The race started in much the same way as the last one, with Renée in the lead pack and Aisha in front. This time, the course went into the woods almost immediately and Aisha had a much harder time holding on to the lead on the tricky terrain. Still, she set a fast pace and the others started dropping back. She stumbled quite a few times, relying on her natural, or supernatural, speed to make up for it. This time, Aisha was aware of Renée's presence right behind her but she couldn't get clear of the rest of the group and didn't want to risk being caught.

As the race wore on, Renée and Aisha approached the half way point and Renée was within a few paces of the other girl and thinking about attempting a pass.

"I told you I intend to win." Aisha said without turning around, panting between the words.

"And I told you no more cheating, at least not more than you already are." Renée was in excellent shape and her breathing was far more controlled.

"I'll do what I have to do." Aisha didn't notice the person waiting in the woods as she reached her hand out to freeze the path behind her. She did hear some words she didn't understand and then looked back to see Renée still on her heels and no ice in sight.

"What did you do?" was all Aisha could get out before her surprise slowed her down enough that Renée strode past her. Then she heard the other set of footsteps and looked to her left, surprised again to see a smaller girl off the path but keeping pace with both of them. She looked like she was about to try the same trick again from behind when Kim shouted out.

"I wouldn't do that." Kim moved closer and was just on the other side of the trees that marked the course. She conjured up a significantly sized ball of water out of the humidity in the air and threw it just past Aisha's head, making it clear that she wouldn't miss the next time. "No cheating and we won't have any problems, got it?"

Aisha had a mixture of anger and fear on her face but realized that she would have to comply with Kim's demand. Instead, she refocused on running and pulled back within a few meters of Renée. They were nearing the end of the technical section and Renée put in some extra effort to broaden the lead before the last fifty meters of open field after leaving the trees. Kim was keeping pace just off to the left.

They hit the flat land and Aisha's speed began increasing without the rough terrain to slow her down. They were neck and neck as Kim poured on even more effort just to prove a point from the sidelines. Maddie held her breath as they neared the finish but Aisha got one step ahead and finished one hundredth of a second before Renée.

Completely gassed, Aisha stepped off to the side, fell to her knees and threw up. Renée was almost as used up. Kim was not used up and started towards Aisha but the other Euclid runners were moving in to congratulate her and Kim wasn’t going to get the chance to speak to her alone. Instead, Kim went to find Renée with her coach who was stunned at Renée’s time and shocked that she'd lost again.

"Your times are strong Varsity times. You shouldn't even be running JV. That was an amazing run."

"Thanks coach." Renée was beginning to catch her breath. She looked over the crowd and saw Aisha walking to the team bus with a few other runners. Clearly, she was trying to avoid Renée.

At the Euclid bus, the other team members split off from Aisha as they were going to watch the other races. Aisha climbed the bus steps on shaky legs. She was halfway down the aisle when she saw a small Asian face smiling at her from a seat.

"Here, have a seat." Xandie motioned to the seat across the aisle from her.

Aisha was confused but sat down, the friendly looking face not seeming to be a threat.

"Why don't you tell me what the story is? Why do you need to win so badly?"

Aisha stared at Xandie, not understanding who this was or why she seemed to know something. But as she looked at her, she found the rest of the bus melting away until it was just the two girls and the seats they were on. "I have to win."

"Yes, but why?"

"Because it's my only way out."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't be stuck in Euclid. Mom's got no money and is never home. We're constantly at risk of losing our apartment. Then this stupid thing happened to me and I thought I was going insane. But if I can get a scholarship, I can go to college and have a chance. So I have to win at this - and at track in the spring."

"What if someone finds out about you?"

"Couldn't be worse than the rest of my life."

"Why were you in the water when you changed?"

"I jumped off the Edgewater pier."

Xandie was not surprised by this. There weren’t a ton of reasons someone would be in the water at night. She thought she understood what Aisha meant by "jumped off the pier" and didn’t want to ask any more about it.

"You know there are others whose secret needs to be kept. It's not just you."

"Some stupid rich chick from River? Pft. Who cares."

"I'm not rich. But I have to protect my secret, just like you have to."

Even in the strange state that Aisha found herself in, she seemed genuinely shocked that this other girl was like her.

"Um. I didn't know. I guess I didn't know there was anyone else at all."

"Well, there are others. You have responsibilities. To yourself and to all of us."

"I don't want your shitty responsibilities! I need to take care of me! I've got nothing! NOTHING! And I'm going to get out of here and make something of myself. If I can use this curse to my advantage then I'll do that."

"Listen to me very carefully." Xandie narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. "I know that you think doing things like this will help you, but I won't let you put others, or yourself, in jeopardy. Do I make myself crystal clear?"

Aisha gulped. She didn't understand how this tiny girl could be so intimidating.

"Yes ma'am. I think I understand."

She didn't know what Xandie could do to her but she firmly believed it could be bad.

"If I ever hear about you risking being exposed or using your powers against anyone, I'll come after you. If not, we're cool. I'd like us to be cool. How about you?"

"We’re cool. Cool as the other side of the pillow. I'll be careful. But I still need to get that scholarship."

"Understood. But that girl that almost beat you today? She's not like us. She's not using mermaid speed to win. She's that fast. Maybe think about training."

Aisha swallowed hard again. She thought that Renée had implied that she was the same. "What about that other girl? The one that threw the water at me?"

Xandie hadn't seen what had happened on the course but she knew Kim's plan. She laughed. Loudly. "Oh, her? Yeah, she's like you, and that's her sister you're fucking with. And she's a whole lot better at being what we are than you are. Maybe think about making friends the next time. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, you know."

"So I've heard." Aisha was still sulking. She didn't know why she kept talking to this strange girl, but it was the first time she'd ever had any of these conversations. It was also the first time she or anyone around her had used the word 'mermaid' and it filled her with fear. She'd spent the last year and a quarter in denial. She hadn't been in the lake again after she tried jumping off the pier a second time, the morning after the first attempt, and found out that drowning herself was not going to be a successful way to solve her problems.

"Wait," Aisha had more questions. She hated the idea of asking any of them, she felt like it made her seem weak, but she couldn’t not know. "So what happened to my ice. I froze the ground but it disappeared. If the other runner isn't… um… like us, then what did she do?"

"You'll have to ask her."

Aisha was afraid Xandie would say that.

Xandie fished a pen and a scrap of paper out of her bag and scribbled her number down.

"Here. Call me if you ever need to talk. I had a rough time with this, too."

"How? I can't afford a phone."

"Borrow one. Steal one. Everyone around you has a phone. You can reach me. You know that."

Aisha nodded. She'd been called out on everything by this girl.

Xandie sat back up straight and Aisha found her peripheral vision returning. She seemed surprised by the sudden intrusion from the rest of the world. Xandie stood up. "My name's Xandie, by the way. I hope I hear from you." She turned and walked down the aisle. "One last thing." Xandie stopped for a moment and turned around. "Go for a swim. I promise, it helps. I imagine you feel the draw. It must be hard ignoring it." Xandie turned back and got off the bus, leaving a baffled Aisha in her wake.

Maddie was waiting by Xandie's car as she came across the lot.

"Where did you go?" Maddie asked.

"I had something to take care of. Everything good here?"

"Yeah, I think Kim put the fear of god into her. I imagine we'll be good from here on out."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're probably right. Do you want to stay for the rest of the meet or take off?"

"I'm good to go. Just need to go collect Kim. Give me a few minutes?"

Xandie agreed and Maddie went to find Kim and say goodbye.

The car ride home was oddly quiet. There was no celebration at having stopped Aisha. No one felt particularly good about the whole thing.

"So," Xandie asked, after a particularly long silence to start the trip, "did you achieve your goal?"

Kim stared out of the window. They were passing through an industrial part of Cleveland on Interstate 77. It looked run down. It matched Kim's mood.

"No." Kim groused. "No. I didn't."

"What do you mean?" Maddie asked. "I thought you got her to stop using her powers."

"Yeah. This time. But that wasn't my goal. I came here to try to deescalate the situation and instead I ended up threatening her. I guess my whole plan was bad." Kim watched as they passed a huge column of fire rising up from a smoke stack at one of the remaining steel mills. She felt like it symbolized something.

"You know, my old surfing coach used to talk about the carrot and the stick - how some students needed encouragement and some needed to be shamed or threatened. And some needed both. Maybe what you did is part of what she needs."

"Maybe. Which did you need?"

"Neither. I was very motivated."

Kim chuckled softly. It was an on-brand answer for Xandie. Xandie's lips curled into the slightest of smiles upon hearing Kim's little laugh. They were beginning to understand each other.

Aisha's bus pulled out of the lot to go north to Euclid. Euclid wasn't the worst place in the world. It had its rough spots, and it was poorer than it used to be, but it had the lake. The lake; it taunted Aisha.

She'd never even learned to swim. Thus, a little over a year ago, she thought it would have been the perfect way to end things. She'd heard it would be peaceful after the initial panic. Instead, after jumping, the first wave of the storm that hit her simply washed her ashore onto the jagged rocks. She thought she was seeing stars from hitting her head as lights seemed to dance around her. She crawled out of the water, coughing, her knees and arms bloody from the collision with the sharp stones that lined the shore to keep the erosion at bay. She didn't even try to go home. She found some bushes to hide in down at the end of the beach and cried herself to sleep. At first light, she got her nerve up to try again. She stood up, her scabs cracking back open. The park was silent. The usual early morning joggers were oddly absent. She walked the long beach back up the stairs to the pier, the water calm after the storm the night before. She walked as far out as she could and jumped. She let herself sink, trying to expel as much air as possible to hasten the process, but she was not yet able to make herself breath in the water. Seconds passed. She opened her eyes. Everything was oddly clear. Why didn't she seem to feel the need to breathe? She'd been cold when she hit the water but now she wasn't. Eventually, she looked down and saw what had happened. Panic filled her. Not the panic she had expected to feel with the first deep breath of water in her lungs; instead, it was the panic of the sheer unknown. The tail moved when she commanded it, cementing the reality of what was happening in her mind. She raced to the far end of the beach and pulled herself out. Back into some bushes, she dragged herself. Back into hiding. The wetness eventually evaporated and she grabbed at her legs, unsure if they were really back or not. Crying, she ran out of the cover of the shrubs and continued out of the park, all the way to Detroit Ave, desperately trying to flag down a ride before an old man in a pickup truck offered her a ride in the bed with the scrap he'd been collecting. An ignominious end to a string of failures.

She tried changing three more times; just enough to understand what happens, then no more. Even then, it was in the bath. The lake could go to hell. It had done this to her. Somehow, it had changed her, and she wanted nothing to do with it. Not that Xandie had been wrong. Sometimes, when she had nothing to do, she found herself walking towards it, stopping herself when she realized how close she was. When she had to be near it, like when her science class took a field trip to the beach, the waves hypnotized her and she had to find a way to get away from it. Xandie was right. It was getting harder and harder to deny herself. She resented it mightily.

Her memories of the events of the previous June filled her mind, the bus ride back passing in what seemed like a blink of an eye. The bus disgorged its contents onto the parking lot of the high school and she fought the urge to walk north, towards the lake, and started the long walk home.

It was hot in the apartment. There was no money for air conditioning. As usual, her mother was nowhere to be found. Aisha stopped at the bathroom to pee and looked at the tub. After the events of the day, maybe she should try it. Just one more time. To prove to herself that she didn't need it, that she was stronger than that. She talked herself out of it, but she knew deep inside that it would have to happen one day.

She sat on her bed and thought about the race. Mermaid drama aside, she knew Xandie had also been right about training. It wasn't uncommon for cross-country runners to throw up, after all, most were just kids who didn't run outside of the season and weren't really competitive. But it was rare for the winner to do that. God damn it, why was that girl right about everything? With her stomach empty, she got up to go to the fridge. There wasn't much in there. She hunted around the kitchen until she'd scrounged enough food to settle her stomach. She couldn't decide whether to be angry about her situation or start crying. She settled on angry and cracked open her math book to do homework. Even if she got a scholarship, she’d still have to be good enough academically to get in and stay in. If she had been being honest with herself, she would have realized how much the events of the day had shaken her, but she was good at not being honest with herself and pushed it all back down. How long it would stay there was the real question.

Renée got off her own bus and walked the couple blocks home. Maddie, Sonja, and the mermaids were all there.

"Well, I heard that was interesting." Jackie was downstairs when Renée came in.

"Yeah. Despite everything, I ran really well. Coach might move me up to varsity, so that was good." Renée grabbed a cup and filled it with ice and water. "How's everyone else? Kim looked upset when she left the meet."

"They got home about an hour ago. She's been pretty quiet other than telling me and Sonja what happened. She's bummed at how it all went down."

"I told everyone I could handle it, myself."

"So the spell worked?"

"Almost perfectly. It still took a second to take effect and I almost slipped while it worked but, yeah, it nullified the ice. At least no one behind us would have noticed it or been affected. It's funny, it works so much faster on Maddie's magic. I don't know if mermaid magic is stronger or just different, but you guys have some serious mojo."

Jackie blushed a little at being called powerful. "At least no one was hurt. And you race her again?"

"Supposed to. If I move to varsity, I might not, but I'd bet she gets moved to varsity, too."

"This sucks. We find another mermaid and she's hostile. At least we know what her power is. I keep forgetting to ask Xandie." Jackie switched subjects. "Regardless, Freya and Sonja said they’ve been sitting on some big news and they've been waiting for all of us to be here."

"News?"

Jackie shrugged and led her sister upstairs.

"Hey. What's up?" Renée took a sip as she entered the room. Freya looked like she was about to explode.

"MORFAR'S DATING THE MERMAID!"

Jackie blinked. "Say again? in English?"

"She means our grandfather. Morfar is Swedish for 'mother's father.'" Sonja was going to have to interpret for her clearly overly excited sister.

"The one you met in the water?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah! Lena! I told her she should go meet him finally and she did!"

"And now they're dating?"

"He didn’t use that word, but yeah."

"Wait, I thought you didn't tell him about yourself?" Kim was now putting some pieces together.

"I didn't but I don't think… Oh, I see what you're saying." Freya was just figuring out that she hadn't told Lena to not mention her secret. She hadn't really expected that Lena would find him, or at least she hadn't thought that far in advance.

"I don't suppose you got her number or have any way to get in contact with her?"

"Um, no…" Freya tailed off, wondering just what her grandfather now knew and whether he'd be mad at her for keeping it secret.

"While Freya freaks out, here's a picture." Sonja opened her laptop and held up the screen with the picture on it.

"Wow! She's stunning!" Jackie was blown away by the woman. Her gray hair was still streaked with remnants of its former dark color but when dry, it was tightly curly and fell to her shoulder blades. High cheekbones framed a sharp nose and piercing gray/blue eyes burned themselves into the camera. Their intensity was tempered by the warm smile she wore. She was wearing some sort of flow-y wrap over what looked like a bikini top with a shell necklace and bracelet.

"Um, your granddad did pretty well for himself!" Maddie exclaimed.

"Hey, no perving on Freya's new step-grandma!" Renée joked back at her girlfriend.

Freya glared and slugged both of them on the arm. "This isn't funny. What if she already told him about me? Aaaaargh. I'm an idiot. I practically set them up. You know, Sonja, he's going to assume you knew and also kept it from him."

"He just met the mermaid he's been chasing his whole life, I'm sure that will soften the blow. Plus, as a group, you seem to be pretty discreet. But I knew you should have told him."

"Yeah, in hindsight…"

"So? Have either of you replied?" Kim asked.

Freya and Sonja looked at each other.

“Yeah,” Sonja answered. “but we had to play it off like we didn’t know who she was.”

“And?” Kim asked.

“He said he was going out fishing for most of the week and he’d write us again when he got back.”

“So he’s basically just out at sea with her.”

“Basically, I assume.” Sonja laughed.

Jackie looked at the date on the email. It wasn’t that recent. “How long were you guys waiting to tell us?” She asked while pointing at the date.

Freya looked a little guilty. “Sorry, I just wanted to see if we got more of a response from him but I couldn’t wait any longer.”

“Well, regardless, you guys look pretty happy for him.”

“Yeah,” Freya said. “We never knew our grandmother - so to us, he’s just always been alone. Not sure what mom will think.”

“Yeah. She’s gonna freak.” Sonja smiled at the thought.

“I’m still not sure if she’s going to tell him about me; accidentally or not.”

"Well, not much to do about it, now. What do you guys want to do?" Jackie was needing to get some homework done but didn't want to outright break up the get together.

Everyone had different things they either needed or wanted to do so it looked like that was it for the day. Kim was the first to leave, despite everyone being in her room. She was still in a funk and wanted to burn off some energy in the water by herself.

Kim got in the lake and felt the tension start to melt away. She blasted straight north out of the beach, probably leaving a visible wake if anyone had been looking. Her frustration at how she had handled the Aisha situation was gnawing at her. Despite not planning to, she fell right in line with how everyone felt about dealing with it. In retrospect, she wished she'd gone to find Aisha in advance to try to talk to her, or done anything less confrontational than what she ended up doing. It had been nice of Xandie to say that maybe her actions had been useful, but Kim had her doubts.

A mile or two out into the lake, she coasted to a stop and changed her mind about where she was going, or rather, she thought of some place to go. She turned east, towards Euclid. She doubted that Aisha would be in the water and knew that even if she was, the odds of seeing her were minuscule. Still, she wanted to do something, so at least she could scope out the area.

All the girls were pretty familiar with the coast line by now and Kim was no exception. Euclid didn't really have that much public access to the lake, the main spot being Sim's park. Euclid Beach Park was also a big point of access but it was in Cleveland, not Euclid, despite the name. She'd check out both, but focus on Sim's.

The waves were choppy and if she stayed low in the water, she figured she could get pretty close without being seen. There weren't many places to get in the water that weren't right out in the open. Sim's had a small pier, but it was surrounded by rocks and the water under it was quite shallow. She didn't see an obvious place to get in or out easily. There were plenty of people out, but none looked like Aisha, whose rather untamed curly hair stood out. Kim floated stationary for quite a bit as she watched the comings and goings. She left the pier area and went down the short beach that extended from it on either side, not seeing anyone or anything that stood out. She went under and swam far enough away to not have any risk of being seen and raised herself up out of the water to her shoulders and continued just watching. Her mind was obsessing over how she could have handled things differently that morning. The sound of approaching jet skiers pulled her out of her own head and she vanished beneath the water before anyone could get close.

She wanted to head west. The jet skiers were pretty much right above her. They were jumping waves, doing various tricks, and generally playing around. When she was just a girl, she'd liked the idea of jet skis and figured they would be fun to ride. Now that she was in the water, they seemed like a nuisance. They were noisy and always changing directions randomly so that she didn't always know which way to go to get away from them.

Kim sat on the bottom and watched them above her. They were annoying but the constant movement kept her interested. Two of the jet skis came to a stop near her and she thought she heard yelling. She drifted a little higher in the water. There was definitely hollering going on. It sounded heated. Kim didn't understand what people on jet skis could be arguing about.

One of the jet skis started up and quickly took off. As that sound abated, the yelling became clearer again. Kim finally figured out that there was more than one person on this one. She only heard two words clearly: "swim" and "bitch." Then the machine started up and as it lunged forward, whoever was on the back flew off and landed behind it as it drove away.

Kim was startled by the crashing sound of the body hitting the water and saw feet kicking as the sound of the motor decreased with distance.

Kim would have chuckled if she was above water. Whoever this person was, they were going to have to wait for their friend to come back or start heading to shore, which was a good third of a mile.

Kim was close enough to see that it was a bikini bottom above her. Whoever she was seemed to be moving around a lot more than some floating in their PFD would have to and she got a tingle up her spine as she realized that she didn't see the bottom of the flotation device. Was this person foolish enough to go out without one? That's when she heard the first "Help!"

'Crap.' Kim thought. This was turning into a decision that would have to be made. The cries for help were continuing and were sounding more frantic. Kim knew the cries for help couldn't be heard from the shore. The girl looked like she was beginning to try to swim but she seemed tired already. No one thinks a third of a mile is a long way until you have to swim it in waves, but it is, and despite the water being warm, you can lose energy quickly.

Kim exhaled a little as she suppressed a sigh, the bubbles rising up from her. She was going to have to do something. She popped up behind the girl, who was flailing ineffectively, and she saw the jet skis off in the distance. They clearly weren't turning around.

Kim splashed her hands on the water to create some noise so as to not completely startle the soon-to-be victim if she didn't act. "Hey! I'm going to grab you! Understand?" Kim semi-yelled it at the young woman who didn't look like she was out of her teens. The girl tried to whip around to see who was talking to her but doing so made her drop further in the water and she struggled to get back up high enough to breathe.

Kim swam up to her in as controlled a fashion as she could and grabbed her around her waist from behind. "I've got you. Stop struggling. You'll use all your energy."

The girl tried to turn her head far enough around to see her rescuer but she only caught a glimpse. Kim saw the tears and terror in her eyes.

"I've got you. You're safe, ok?"

The girl nodded.

"I'm going to turn you around so I can talk to you easier."

"NO! DON'T LET GO OF ME! PLEASE!"

"Shhhhhh. It's ok. I'm just going to spin you around. It'll be fine." The girl whimpered an unintelligible response and Kim took that as enough of an acknowledgement and slowly turned the girl towards her. Kim had read that a drowning person is dangerous because they'll grab on to anyone to try to stay above water and she now understood that as the young woman wrapped her arms around Kim so hard that it would have been difficult to use her arms at all. If she didn't have a tail, they would have both gone under.

Kim hugged her back and spoke softly in her ear. "I've got you. It's going to be fine. Let's get you to the shore, ok?" Before she could get a response, she felt the girl's foot hit her tail and the screaming started.

"Aaaaaaaaah! There's something in the water! Something touched me!"

Kim laughed. There was no way that she was going to get out of this without being found out.

"Take it easy, that was just me."

"No! It was a giant fish or something! Something's going to eat us!"

Kim took a firmer tone with her. "Seriously! That was just me. We're going to be fine. Except for my ear drums, maybe. Stop yelling!"

The girl was surprised at being scolded while probably about to be devoured by… well, she wasn't sure what in Lake Erie would eat a person, but surely it was right there under them.

"Take a look down. At me."

The girl looked down and then screamed. Again.

"Jesus Christ, stop screaming in my ear!"

"Oh. Sorry. But you're…"

"Yes, and we can discuss that here, or I can finally start to rescue you. I can stay out her all day if that's what you'd rather do." Kim was annoyed but in a way that she found amusing. After all, this was really scratching the itch that she constantly suppressed.

The other girl was starting to realize that she had wrapped herself tightly around the mermaid that was rescuing her and she began to loosen her grip, though Kim's warmth had felt good.

"Ok. No more freakouts, right?"

The other girl nodded, her chin hitting Kim's shoulder as she did so.

"Good. Where did you guys get in the water?" Kim hoped it was nearby.

"East… somethingth?"

Kim raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Some marina? I don't know! I don't live in Cleveland!"

"I can just drop you off any old place and you can try to get home from there. Or I can take you to your car if we know where you guys got in. Please tell me you have your own car where I can drop you off…"

"Wait, I can remember it. Just give me a sec. There were airplanes going over us."

"Ah! anything else?"

"It was really douchy, does that help?"

Kim laughed. "Yeah. It probably means it was a yacht club. Edgewater? Lakeside?"

"Lakeside! Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It's Lakeside and I got off the highway at E55th!

Kim exhaled. This was certainly the most tedious rescue she'd ever handled. "Right, that's a bit of a swim, are you up for it?"

"We're swimming?"

"How did you think I was getting you there?"

The girl looked incredibly embarrassed. "Is it safe?"

"Safer than the guy who left you to drown."

"Fair point."

"Ok, I'm basically going to give you a piggy back ride. I'll stay under water and you'll just have your head up. Also, I'm staying out away from the shore so I won't be seen. You ready? Grab my shoulders and swing around to the back. Then hold on."

The girl followed Kim's instructions without freaking out when her foot touched Kim's tail again and pretty soon they were swimming. Kim wanted to go slow to make the ride more comfortable, but the girl was starting to shiver and as warm as Kim was, she needed to get her on land a little more quickly. Kim swam just under the speed at which the girl would be being blasted by water and after a half hour they were nearly there.

"Ok. There's a point where the parking lot sticks out into the water. You can climb out there and no one will probably notice. I'll get you close enough that you shouldn't have to swim."

"Wait, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"How can I repay you?"

Kim wasn't sure how to respond and just stared for a second.

"I could get you lunch." The young woman said. "I can go up to the clubhouse and bring a sandwich or something back for you."

Kim laughed so loud that she was afraid she might draw attention.

"I can come up on land! Sure, you can buy me lunch. Do you have any money in that bikini top?"

"Do you even have a bikini top?"

"Wow! Touché! Yeah, I think you'll be surprised. Why don't you climb ashore before someone comes along and I'll meet you up there in a minute."

"Meet me at the red Ford Escape. I need to get a wrap and my purse, I'm curious to see how you're going to do this!"

"You don't get to see, but I'll be right behind you." Kim pushed her off towards the land and the girl scrambled up the steep embankment, probably gaining a few scratches and cuts along the way.

'Ok,' Kim thought, 'she's not afraid to get a little scraped up. Maybe she's tougher than she looks.'

As soon as the girl was out of sight, Kim launched herself onto the dry land and quickly drew the water off of herself. She had legs back in just a few seconds and climbed up after her, now completely dressed in shorts, a yellow top and running shoes. She jogged to catch up and was at the car just after the bikini-clad near-homicide victim.

"Hey."

The girl spun around to find a totally normal twelve-year-old talking to her. "How did you… Wait, you're just a kid!"

"Very perceptive. And you're, what, eighteen?"

"Nineteen, actually." She said defiantly. "Wait, you had a tail, right? I mean, you were a… mermaid." She whispered the word as though if she said it, it would no longer be true. "How did you do that?"

"Mermaid magic." So, if I'm letting you buy me lunch, can I at least get your name?"

The other girl was still standing in her yellow bikini. "Lilly. Martin." She took the key from on top of her front tire and unlocked the car, grabbing her bag and a cover up to throw over her swim suit. She took a towel out of her bag and started drying off, finally beginning to feel a bit warmer.

"And you are?"

"I prefer to remain anonymous."

"Ah. Secret identity. I get it. Like Batman, except Fish Girl. So, what do I call you while we eat?"

Kim thought for a moment and then figured she'd only pretend to lie. "I guess you can call me… Kimberley."

"Nice. Easy to remember and vaguely out of style. Good choice. Come on. Anything on the menu, it's all on me."

Kim and Lilly walked up to the clubhouse and took an outdoor seat away from everyone else.

"So, you don't seem quite so freaked out anymore."

"And you don't seem like a mythological creature anymore. Easier to relate to."

Kim took a long swig from her glass of water that the waiter brought. "True. So, if you don't mind me asking, how did you end up out there?"

Lilly shivered a little. The fact that she probably would have died if not for Kim was still sinking in. "Poor judgment, mostly. Those guys were friends of a friend of a friend. I met them at a party last night and they invited a couple of us to go out. I should have backed out when I was the only one that showed, but they seemed ok. Until they wanted me to go to some private beach with them and I said I wasn't comfortable with that. We argued. I ended up in the water."

"Great, so they're rapists and murderers. Nice."

"Wannabes, apparently, not very good at either."

Kim smirked. She liked this girl.

"You know they’re going to come back here, right?"

"I'm counting on it. Cowards like that won't try anything while people are around. I intend to have something to say to them. But enough about my troubles, so… mermaid, huh?" Lilly took a drink as if to punctuate the question.

"Yep. Though I'm going to ask you to keep that to yourself."

"Right. Secret identity. As though if I told anyone I wouldn't be put in the loony bin. Trust me, your secret is safe. But I do have a whole bunch of questions."

"Go ahead, but I'm not sure how many I have answers for."

The waiter came and Kim double checked with Lilly before ordering a burger, fries, a salad, a milkshake, and pre-ordering some ice cream for dessert.

"Have you eaten this week?"

"Side effect. Very fast metabolism. Hauling you from Euclid to nearly downtown wasn't exactly easy."

"You made it seem easy."

"Ok, it wasn't exactly hard, but it did take a lot of energy."

Lilly looked at her. "How old are you, really?"

"Pretty much as old as I look."

"There's no 'Peter Pan' - never-grow-old aspect to this?"

Kim laughed. "No. At least not that I'm aware of. I seem to keep growing."

"Were you born like this?"

"No. It's been a relatively recent development."

"Interesting. So it came on with puberty?"

"Oddly, no. Purely magical. I have to say, you seem weirdly ok with all this."

"Inquisitive mind. Are you the only one?"

"As far as you know."

Lilly laughed. "Pretty cagey for a kid."

"Well, you know…"

"Yeah, yeah, secret identity, blah, blah, blah."

The food began arriving. Kim dove in like she actually hadn't eaten this week.

"You know, you're going to have to wait a half hour after eating all that before swimming."

Kim groaned. "Do you think I've never heard that before? Someone told the same joke a couple weeks ago."

"So someone else knows about you then?"

Kim smiled. "Yeah, Robin and Alfred."

Lilly took a bite and chewed it slowly. "What's it like out there, for you?"

"Honestly? Amazing. Free. Calming. Exciting. Occasionally terrifying. Everything life should be."

"Sounds great. Where do I sign up?"

"I think it has to choose you. I'm not really sure how it works." Kim couldn't resist and raised a good-sized dollop of water from her glass and directed it to her mouth.

Lilly's nonchalance temporarily disappeared and her mouth hung open. "Do that again." She finally said.

Kim did, but pushed it towards Lilly's mouth this time and she nearly choked on it when it hit the back of her mouth.

"So you weren't joking about magic."

"No. Not at all."

"Huh."

By now, Kim had polished off her food and they were sitting quietly, enjoying the evening sun as it started setting. Then Kim saw the jet skis come around the breakwall.

"Look who's back."

Lilly got up and switched sides of the table, sitting next to Kim so that she could watch her attackers tie up. They were laughing as they walked up the dock.

"Plan?" Kim asked.

"I didn't have one. I thought I'd just punch the main one in the nose."

"Want some help?"

"You're a bit young to take these guys on, aren't you?"

"Trust me, you want my help."

Lilly was intrigued by that statement. "So do you have a plan?"

"Sort of. Which one are we singling out?"

"The blonde one is the leader. He's the one with the membership here."

"Ok, I'm going to hold him in place, you punch him in the face and if he doesn't look sorry, I'll take a swing myself."

Lilly wasn't sure how Kim was going to hold a grown man in place but she didn't think she should doubt her. The two got up, timing it so that they'd meet the guy at the end of the dock right before he got on land. He looked genuinely surprised to see Lilly there and the other guy took off, seeing that trouble was brewing.

"Lilly? How did you… What did…" He was at a loss for words as Kim came out from behind Lilly and subtly put her hands out, a wall of air preventing the guy from moving forward. Behind him was water and he was close to the edge.

"What the hell? What's going on?" He struggled to move but Kim kept the air pressure on him as Lilly walked up and took the biggest swing she could muster and clocked him right in the jaw. He almost looked like he was going to go down but looked back up with fury in his eyes as he tried to fight through the wall of wind that Kim was keeping in place with.

"Ok, my turn, asshole." Kim kept the pressure up with her left hand, wrapping the wind around him to keep his arms pinned as she reared back and swung with the power of someone much larger than she was. This time, she heard a crack as her fist connected with his jaw. She was pretty sure he was going out but she applied a little extra wind and he tumbled back into the water. He did not look conscious as he floated on his back.

"Come on, let's get out of here before the cops come." Kim stopped one of the women running towards them. She had a life preserver in her hands. "Rescue him if you want, but he's an attempted rapist and murderer." Kim walked away, following Lilly to her car.

"What's your number?" Kim asked with her phone already out.

Lilly shouted it at her as she jumped into the driver’s seat and cranked the starter, taking off in a cloud of gravel and dust. Kim punched the numbers in and then ran for the water before anyone could figure out what was going on. In an hour, Lilly was back in Strongsville, just south of Berea, and Kim was in Canadian waters, trying to cool down. They didn't know it, but an ambulance had loaded up Lilly's attacker, attending to his broken jaw and concussion.

Chapter Text

Kim blew through the door briskly as she got home, intending to head straight to her room but Jackie and Renée were in the kitchen.

"Hey, where've you been?"

"Committing assault. Probably aggravated."

A spoon clattered into the sink.

"You what?" Renée didn't hear any joking in Kim's voice.

"Trust me, it was deserved. I'll fill you in later."

Kim continued on to the stairs and ran up them. In her room, she typed Lilly's name and number into google. She sat back and read the results. The girl was not shy about her online presence and Kim quickly found out most everything about her. It looked like everything she'd said over their lunch was true. Kim was a little worried about how much information she'd divulged. It was a relief that Lilly was who she said she was.

Kim logged into one of her old alt accounts from when she was looking for Leilani and sent an instagram DM to Lilly:

—-Hey, had fun swimming and hanging out at lunch. Want to get together again soon and get in some trouble?

The account she was on had all fake information on it but Kim was pretty sure that Lilly would understand who it was. It was only a few minutes before she got a response.

—- Batman?

Kim laughed.

—-I had an idea. Can I call you?

—-You have my number!

Kim looked at Lilly’s contact in her phone and hesitated for a second before pressing on it.

"Hey."

"Hey. How are you doing?"

"I'm good."

"Seriously, though. That was actually traumatic. How are you really?" Kim didn't think that Lilly could possibly be as chill as she seemed.

"Well, I'm not sure I'll sleep anytime soon, but I'll survive. Thanks to you."

"Listen, how about a little free therapy?"

"Depends on what you have in mind…"

"Sabotage."

"I'm listening."

"Do you think you could tell me which of the Jet Skis are theirs if we go back to the marina?"

"I think so. He kept saying something about 'center dock' so I should be able to figure it out."

"You don't mind driving back up here?"

"You know where I'm driving from?"

"Instagram."

"Right. I should have known. Frankly, I'd drive to Idaho if I could cause them some problems."

"Cool. Meet me in an hour at Edgewater Pier?"

"Ok. By the way, secret agent girl, this means I have your number now!"

"Ha. It's a throwaway google voice number, not actually mine. This isn't my first rodeo."

"Dammit, girl, you're good! See you there."

Kim didn't need an hour, but she wanted to be ready and to calm down a little before doing this. She was concerned that she was letting her emotions run away with her, but she thought back to Lilly, who would have certainly drowned, and figured a little extra property damage, on top of the broken jaw, was the least she could do. She descended the stairs to a barrage of questions from her sisters but she put them off.

"I have to go back out. It's best if you don't know about it right now. I'll see you guys later on and explain." The door slammed behind her on her way out and Jackie and Renée let her go without further questioning.

Kim and Lilly got out of Lilly's car on the side of North Marginal Road, alongside the fence that marked the boarder with Lakeside Yacht club. They looked through the chain link.

"There." Lilly said softly as she pointed to the two small watercraft tied up at the end of the middle dock, 'center dock' as the asshole had referred to it.

"Easy. This should be no problem."

"What exactly are we going to do?"

"Me, not us."

"Oh, no. I didn't drive all the way up here to not destroy something. What did you plan on doing?"

"I was going to drag them out into the lake and let them drift to Buffalo."

"I'd really rather do something more destructive."

"Such as?"

Lilly walked around to the back of her SUV and opened the hatch. She pulled out a formidable looking power tool.

"And that is?" Kim asked.

"My brother's Sawzall"

Kim looked like she didn't know what that was.

"It's a reciprocating saw. It can cut into about anything. You know, like fiberglass or whatever else those things are made of. That way, they can find them but they'll be useless to anyone."

"And send more of a message?"

"Exactly." Lilly was looking proud of her plan. Kim looked impressed.

"Ok. I like it. But where do we do it?"

They both took out their phones and started looking at a map.

"We can't get caught. I don't want to get tied to our little altercation earlier." Kim said.

"What about here?" Lilly was pointing to a small cove that looked protected but easy to get to from the lake and from the land.

Kim nodded. "Perfect. Drive over there. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Wait. Can I watch?"

"Watch what?"

"You take them!"

"Just get in the car. This is dangerous enough already. Don't go all mermaid-groupy on me."

"You're no fun. I'll see you over there with the tools."

Lilly's car drove away and Kim easily scaled the ancient chain link fence and dove straight into the water, getting to the jet skis in just a few seconds. She easily untied them and it took her a second to decide if she was going to tow them slowly or quickly. She settled on quickly and used the tie-up lines to start pulling to the two craft. It was easy enough for her to do and she was at the meet-up spot in the allotted time. Lilly climbed down the embankment with the saw.

Lilly lowered herself into the shallow water and began attacking the boats while Kim held them still. She carved huge chunks out of the hulls and the foam underneath them. She tore the seats to shreds and sawed through the gauge clusters. Electric wiring was cut through in just seconds. Kim even took a turn, enjoying the catharsis immensely.

They were just finishing up, the two craft now partially submerged, when Kim heard a car door in the distance and a flashlight beam began dancing around as someone was clearly running towards the power tool noise.

"Shit!" Lilly whispered.

It was clear that there was nowhere for her to go on land.

"Feel like swimming again?" Kim had the only real solution.

"I thought you'd never ask."

"Grab on, just like before. Better lose the saw."

Lilly chucked the saw into deeper water and jumped on Kim's back for the second time that day.

"Deep breath. We're going under."

Lilly gulped as much air as she could and Kim dove down just beneath the surface, kicking as hard as she could with the extra weight and drag, which was still an impressive speed. Lilly let her swim as far as she thought she could before tapping out, letting Kim know to go up. Kim surfaced. They were more than far enough away and Kim kept just their heads out of water. They watched as a flashing lights headed towards the jet skis, the police clearly on their way. Lilly chuckled from on Kim's back.

"Ok, I'm going to drop you on the other side of the parking lot where your car is. You think you can get out of here without getting caught?" Kim asked.

"Sure."

"Contact me when you're safe somewhere. I'll swim home from here."

"And home is?"

"You want me to dunk us? Secret identity - remember?"

"Fine. Wait, before we go, can I feel it, now that I'm not afraid?"

"What, my tail?" Kim looked back at her. "Ok, but you're not going to make this weird, are you?"

"I just want to see."

Lilly reached down and ran her hand along what would have been the side of a thigh if Kim had had legs.

"This is the coolest thing ever. Too bad it nearly took me dying for it to happen. You know, you make a pretty good vigilante hero, for a kid."

"Aaaaargh." There was that word again. "I'm not a hero. Just someone in the right place at the right time."

"Sure thing." Lilly said sarcastically. "Ok, I'm ready. Wish me luck."

Kim got her close to the land and watched to make sure she made it out ok. She saw Lilly get into her car wetly and make her getaway. Relieved, she made her way out into the open lake and sprinted for home. It was well after dark and she was sure her mother would be pretty upset by now.

"Where have you been? And why didn't you answer your phone? I was worried sick." Mrs Callahan was definitely upset. Luckily, it had been well over a year since Kim had been in any serious trouble and she got away with an 'I lost track of time' excuse. She was pretty sure that 'My phone disappears into another dimension while I'm destroying the boats of murderous douchebags' was not an acceptable reason. Kim took her verbal lashing and went up to her room, in a much better mood than she would have thought she'd be in.

"Care to fill us in?" Renée and Jackie were waiting for her on her bed.

"Not right now, guys. I'm exhausted. It's been a full day. Can I tell you about it tomorrow?"

Her sisters acquiesced and left the room. Kim collapsed onto her bed after kicking off her shoes and fell asleep in her clothes. It had been a heck of a day.

Luckily for Kim, the next day was Sunday and she got to sleep for just over ten hours though she still woke up groggy. And hungry. She stumbled down the stairs and poured about half a box of cinnamon toast crunch into the biggest bowl she could find. From the looks of the Kitchen, everyone else was up and had eaten. Kim powered down the cereal, preferring to continue to avoid talking about the day before. She struggled with what she should say. On one hand, she didn't want to keep things from her sisters, but on the other, she had just been talking about deescalating the situation with Aisha and here she was assaulting someone and then stealing and destroying his boats. It was pretty extreme. Plus, and she couldn't believe this was the less egregious of her transgressions, she not only let herself be discovered, but sought out another encounter with that person. The day before felt like it had almost been dreamed, not lived, like she'd been in some sort of fugue state. To say that she had behaved differently than usual would be an understatement. The house was quiet. She wondered where everyone was but not enough to look for them; she still wanted to be alone. She went upstairs to go back to sleep until Mitchell's would be open.

Meanwhile, Renée and the other mermaids were in Sonja's room gathered around her laptop.

"Play it again." Jackie said.

Sonja scrolled back the video and let it start. Grainy night time security camera footage played while a news reporter's voice narrated.

'19 News can report that police are baffled by the apparent theft and destruction of two personal watercraft from their dock at Lakeside Yacht Club on the city's near east side last night. Apparent, because no one can be seen taking the Kawasaki Jet Ski and the Yamaha WaveRunner despite this footage of the craft leaving the dock and rapidly leaving the yacht club. Police have no leads. The watercraft were found shortly thereafter, having been destroyed. Police have not yet located the owner though they note that neither craft had up to date registrations and they are considering it to be a possible case of insurance fraud.'

The view changed from the looping security video feed to the reporter, who appeared to be broadcasting from outside the yacht club. He continued speaking.

'Police are asking anyone for leads but remain perplexed by the seemingly underwater heist.'

The scene cut back to the smiling news anchors in the studio who were treating this more like a prank.

'Thanks for that report, Steven, I'm sure the internet has been having a field day with this one.'

'Indeed they have, Aria. So far, the police have fielded "tips" from "Ariel," "Squidward," and "Aquaman." Someone else suggested they contact the Chicago PD to see if the "Wet Bandits" could have been involved. All in all, the investigation seems to be - all washed up. Back to you, Aria.'

Sonja stopped the video.

"Well, given that she came home super late and exhausted, I think it's safe to assume that Kim at least had something to do with this." Renée stated.

Freya laughed. "Squidward. At least people are getting a laugh out of it."

"So what do you think this was all about?" Jackie was concerned with what event might have driven Kim to this. It had to be something specific. "And she said she assaulted someone. I don't think Kim's ever been in a fight. This seems extreme. And why wouldn't she ask one of us for help?"

"Because I think she knows that no one would have volunteered." Renée said.

"Well, if there was a good enough reason for her to do it, maybe it would have been enough reason for one of us to help her." Freya figured it must have been something bad.

Renée was sounding a little angry. "Kim's always had this loner streak. She'll get mad or frustrated and just take off. It's not as bad as it used to be but it's still there."

"Wait, what's that?" Renée pointed to the Channel 19 news page that was still up on the screen. On the right side was a list of other stories and one headline was 'Assault at local marina.' Sonja clicked on it. It was a text-only article and quite a short one.

'Police were called to a possible assault at Lakeside Yacht Club late Saturday afternoon. Witnesses described an altercation between two women and a man that resulted in the man being taken to Metro Health for observation. The women remain unidentified and the victim is refusing to file charges. Police are describing it as a possible domestic violence situation but won't investigate any further without victim cooperation. No video footage exists. Yacht club officials had no comment though this reporter interviewed a bystander who claimed to have witnessed the altercation, but who wishes to remain anonymous. They stated to our reporter, "The guy was a creep. He had it coming. Whoever did this should be given a medal." Police are considering the case to be closed without any charges from the man.'

Renée suggested that they wake up Kim. "This should be an interesting story."

"Just let her sleep." Jackie said. "She'll be up soon. Whatever it was, it must have been serious. We can wait for her."

"Yeah, but let's wait for her over at our house before she disappears again and robs a bank or something."

Kim woke up for the second time that morning feeling slightly more rested. She checked her phone. There was a message from Lilly.

—-Home safe. Thanks!

Kim smiled and walked down the hall. By the time she reached the first floor, she realized that everyone was now waiting for her, clearly more aware of the situation than she would have guessed.

Jackie ran up to her and hugged her. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Just worn out. How in the world do you guys know anything?"

"You're kind of all over the news. Again." Renée pulled up the stories on her phone.

Kim sat down on a chair to watch the video. The security footage was dark and grainy and at least there was no sign of her tail.

"I've got to start looking for cameras."

"How about you stop ending up on cameras?" Renée offered.

"Sure, easy for you to say." Kim clicked on the second story. She had a feeling that the anonymous quote might have been from with woman with the life preserver that she spoke to briefly. She finished reading. "Anyone up for Mitchell's? The only way I'm telling you any of this is over about five scoops of ice cream."

The group got their things together and biked to Mitchell's. Kim told her story between bites of sea salt caramel, each new revelation eliciting gasps from the group. For a generally quiet person, she was turning into a good story teller.

Kim had considered leaving out some of the parts that implicated her in exposing herself to an outsider, but there was no real way to tell the story without doing so. She cringed as she waited for the backlash.

"So, this Lilly person. You think she's trustworthy?" Renée voiced everyone's' concern.

"I think so. Here's her instagram. She didn't post anything, just like I asked her. Kim handed her phone around. The only recent post was a selfie from the night in question that just said '#quiet night in' with a photo in her pjs. Kim grunted and held her head as a wave of brain freeze hit her from the ice cream.

It was just then that the group chat lit up everyone's phone. It was Xandie. She linked the news stories and typed a very short message:

—- ??????????

"Well," Renée said. "I guess Maddie and the guys now know, too."

Kim replied:

—- I'll tell you all later

"At least that will put them off for a while. Honestly, can you guys just fill them all in? I kind of don't want to go over it again. I'm feeling really weird about it.

Jackie watched Kim eat her ice cream. On the hand holding the spoon, her knuckles were red and scraped up. Jackie reached out and took the hand to examine it. Kim rolled her eyes.

"How hard did you hit him?" Jackie asked.

"Pretty hard. Actually, all the way hard."

"It says he's in the hospital, so at least he's not dead." Jackie said it like it was supposed to be a comfort but instead, everyone suddenly realized exactly how damaging Kim had been. The very idea that he could have died was sobering.

"Jesus." Renée muttered.

"I told you, I feel really weird about this."

Sonja was more curious than the others. She'd been in a few fights and knew about the regret that can settle in afterwords. "Would you do it again?" She asked.

Kim looked at her. "God. I think I would. When Lilly hit the water right above me… I mean, it was just dumb luck that I was down there. She'd be dead. I'm not even sure that she fully understands that yet and It's going to mess her up when it sinks in. He just left her there.” Kim had to pause as she got choked up at the thought. “ I waited as long as I could to see if he would come back. If I'd waited much longer, she would have drowned. I gave him every chance to come to his senses and come back for her. I shouldn't have gone back for the boats, but I was still so angry."

"Yeah, we noticed when you came home the first time." Renée said.

"But still. I should have calmed down. They would have been there a week later if I still wanted to do something. And this after I threatened Aisha on the course. I'm not sure what's wrong with me."

"I think it's called being human."

"But I'm not. Not really. I have to be more controlled. Someone could really get hurt. Someone DID get really hurt. Not that they didn't deserve it, but still. I've got to do better."

Kim seemed to have gotten that off her chest and looked a little better as she finished her last scoop.

"You have to admit," Freya said. "The people calling in tips as Ariel and Squidward were pretty funny."

Kim smiled a little. "Yeah, that was funny." She leaned back and sucked on her spoon, getting whatever was left off of it. "You guys should have seen Lilly go after those boats with her saw. It was like watching an artist. But it was weird, she kept wanting to touch my tail."

Sonja laughed. "What's strange about that? I want to touch all your tails, I've just been too embarrassed to ask."

"Really?" Kim asked.

"Yeah. It's been killing me not to, but I guess I'm asking now."

"Awe! Of course you can!" Freya was delighted to show it off for her sister.

"It's not too strange?"

"Not at all! Right guys?"

Kim and Renée looked at each other. "Um, sure." Kim was still unsure.

"Of course." Renée said while kicking Kim under the table.

"Well," Jackie said, getting back to the topic of Lilly. "It seems like maybe you made a friend."

"Sort of. But she only knows 'dangerous vigilante mermaid' me. I'm not sure she'd care too much about 'boring middle school' me.

Renée was more cautious than Jackie. "Just be careful, ok?"

"Don't worry. I will. I probably won't ever see her again to be honest.” Kim took a breath. “Ok, I've got a book to read. Back to normal life, ok?"

Kim left for home. Everyone else stayed put, giving Kim the space that she seemed to need to process all that had happened.

"You think she's ok?" Freya asked.

Jackie replied first. "Yeah. She's pretty tough; and she did it for the right reasons. She'll just need some time.

Renée agreed. "I wish she hadn't done it; other than the rescue part, obviously."

Renée remained a little nervous. "Freya, you're good at this stuff, can you set up an alert for this Lilly. Just in case she decided that the world needs to know about you guys?"

"I'll do it right now if you start up your hotspot for me. I swear, as it gets closer to my birthday, time seems to slow down."

"How are things with your mom? You haven't said much lately."

Freya and Sonja both rolled their eyes.

"Frosty." Sonja offered.

"That's about right." Freya added. "I talk to her as little as possible and she's made no effort to smooth things over."

Sonja agreed. "She was happy with my new class schedule but her comment was, 'We'll see if you stick to it.' I've got three years left here and it can't go by fast enough."

"I was hoping it was getting better." Renée truly felt bad for them.

"Meh. It could be worse. Not that I'm counting on it, but as my grades improve, I'm hoping she'll lighten up. In the meantime, We just all steer clear. I think Dad's taking it badly. Though it's not like he does anything about it.

"In other drama, Renée, how's your training coming?"

"Good. I'm putting in about five miles a day and I'm seeing improvement. I'm running varsity at the next meet so I'll probably be more like mid-pack, which sucks but I run better from behind so my times should improve. And if Aisha also ends up running varsity, she won't be able to pull any stunts with more runners around."

"Makes you wonder what she's doing at races where you aren't there?" Freya mused.

"Crap. I hadn't really thought about that. I hope all the other runners are safe around her."

Across town, Aisha was thinking similar thoughts but from the point of view of someone trying to maximize their reward while minimizing the risk. Her run in with Kim - and whatever Renée did to nullify her ice - had her convinced that it was a bad idea to try anything like that around them again. Then there was the issue of that Xandie girl. To say that Aisha had been rattled would be an understatement. Prior to yesterday’s race, she had no idea that anyone else like herself existed. Obviously, the existence of mermaid myths made it likely that there were others, but she certainly never expected to meet one. She barely even admitted to herself that she was one.

On one hand, it was somewhat of a comfort to know that she wasn't alone, but it was also a stark reminder that she couldn't just pretend that this hadn't happened to her. If she hadn't gotten greedy in the first race, none of this would have come to light and she could have continued to live in denial. She regretted letting her more aggressive side come out.

Still, all she had to do now was to keep her power in check and she could go back to the way things were, back when she didn't have to keep thinking about it. As it was, her brain kept replaying the events of both races. As is the case for anyone, once her brain latched on the memory of an embarrassing situation, it just wouldn't let her forget it.

She walked over to the waste basket where she had thrown out the balled-up scrap of paper Xandie had given her. This was the third time she'd fished it out of the trash and it was getting hard to read. She recopied it into her notebook, finally realizing that the fact that Xandie existed was not going to change. Having the number didn't mean she had to call it. She closed the cover of the notebook and left to go for a run. She didn't understand the best way to train. She was very new to running and pretty much ignored any advice her coach gave her, but she at least knew that running would be important to improving. She closed the door quietly behind her, her mom's boyfriend-of-the-week asleep on the couch in the living room.

Aisha didn't have a plan for her runs and she went somewhere else mentally while doing it. About a mile into her run, she realized she was heading north, and north meant water. Water meant having to deal with things. She turned east. Ten minutes later, she realized that at some point she'd turned north again. God damn it, that tiny mermaid was right. She felt the pull, the draw, the need. She had no intention of giving in to it. She turned back south and dropped to a walk to keep her head clearer. She would try this again tomorrow.

Instead of going home to do her reading, Kim detoured to the lake. She didn't like how the day before had been hijacked by the events of Lilly being left to drown. She'd been there to scout the shore of Euclid to see if she could find Aisha. She swam out towards the Pier at Sim's Beach, duplicating her swim from the day before; from before things got crazy. But she found herself at the same place where she'd found Lilly. There was a sand bar there, and the water wasn't that deep. She recalled hearing the argument. Now that she knew what it had been about, she second guessed herself for not understanding it better at the time. She remembered seeing Lilly’s body hit the water. At the time, she figured it had been an accident. She had even been amused until it became clear that they weren't coming back for her.

Kim surfaced and looked around, half expecting to see the Jet Skis, despite knowing that those particular vessels would never operate again. She tried to focus on the area around the beach, looking for the unruly head of curly black hair that she knew to look for, but her mind kept going back to the image and sound of Lilly hitting the water. Each time she remembered it, the sound grew deeper in her head, the visual becoming more dramatic. It was becoming more and more difficult to remember it as it actually happened.

Kim gave up for the day. Her mind was playing tricks on her. She swam home and stared at her phone as she walked off the beach in River. She redialed the number from the day before.

"Hey." Lilly answered. "I kind of didn't expect to hear from you again."

"Um, I just wanted to check in on you; see if you're okay."

"Yeah, I guess. How about you?"

"I don't know. My hand hurts."

Lilly chuckled. "Yeah, mine too."

"You talked about not sleeping. Did you get any last night?" Kim asked.

"Not really."

"I have to admit, I stalked your instagram. Thanks for not posting anything."

"Yeah, ‘quiet night in,’ right? So I have the insta for the guy," Lilly paused. She didn't feel like using his name, like it would give him power, but Kim didn't even know who he was, yet. "He never posted anything about us going out on the lake. Neither did his friend. I think they knew what they were going to try to do and didn't want evidence. Luckily, that also means there's nothing to tie me to him."

"I assume you saw the news stories?"

"Yeah, must have been a slow news day." Lilly laughed halfheartedly.

After Kim had placed the call, she hadn't moved, sitting on a bench at the top of the Wagar Beach stairs. There was a long pause before either of them spoke again as Kim looked out over the water.

"Do you ever get up this way? I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime. Or is that weird?"

"Well, I don't really know where 'up this way is,' remember?"

"Oh yeah, secret identity and all that. Sorry. West side, by the lake."

"I go to CSU, so it's not too far out of my way. I still owe you lunch, anyway."

Kim laughed. "I think I ate the entire kitchen that day, what do you mean?"

"You ate, but I didn't buy it for you. We kind of skipped out. We went to confront him before the bill came and then just took off."

"Oh. I guess I didn't think about that."

"Tomorrow, after school? My treat; so I can thank you properly."

"I'd like that. Is four ok? By the same pier?"

"Yeah. See you there, Batman."

Kim smiled a little to herself. "Cool. See you then."

The call ended and Kim stayed on the bench for a while before walking home slowly. The mania that she'd felt the day before and that led her to go on her boat destruction rampage was gone. The enormity of what had actually happened, and the weight of what she'd done, were setting in. Not the fight. Not even the Jet Ski demolition. It was the assault on Lilly and the rescue that occupied her thoughts. She continued to think about how lucky it had been that it had happened right above her. Sheer luck. Dumb luck. A one in a trillion chance. Kim didn't save her, she thought, chance saved her. Kim was just the vehicle. She thought about the terror in Lilly's eyes and voice as she held her in the water and her mind drifted to what Lilly would have experienced without her intervention. The sight of Lilly's face, slowly falling further into the water, fear plastered on it with bubbles streaming out of her mouth as she screamed helplessly underwater, filled her mind's eye. Kim began breathing shallowly and had to shake her head violently to get the image out. She jumped up and began running back to the house at a sprint. She needed to change the scene, the location, anything to try to get the thought out of her head.

As she ran, Kim thought back to the older couple they'd rescued from the sinking boat. She didn't feel like this about that event. Sure, that was also luck, but it seemed different. She never imagined what their fate would have looked like if three mermaids hadn't been randomly swimming by. She still didn't. It was different, somehow. Luck had been on both sides of the equation that time. That had just been an unfortunate accident. Lilly's situation wasn't random. Kim could excuse Fate from blame. Fate, or luck, was not a person. Not a consciousness. Luck doesn't 'decide' to leave you to drown any more than a tornado 'decides' to destroy a trailer park. Lilly's situation could be traced back to an action. A decision. A person. That was the difference.

Kim ran out of motivation to run and slowed down a block from the house. She wanted to go home but she didn't want to see anyone yet. She knew she'd have to, though. She walked in the door and ignored her parents as they greeted her. She went up the stairs. Both her sisters poked their heads out of their doors.

"Hey, you ok?" Jackie asked.

"Does anyone care if I use the bath for a while?" Kim asked without answering Jackie’s question.

"I'm good." Renée answered. Jackie silently agreed.

Kim turned into the bathroom and took the time to wash the sweat and grime off, one section of her body at a time. Then she plugged the drain and let the water fill, quickly sprouting her tail as the water covered her. She let it fill up as far as it would and then laid back, sinking under other than her tail, which hung over the end.

Kim drifted in out of sleep in the warm water, her sisters making excuses to her parents for her, not that she knew that. She would have stayed in there all night if Renée hadn't knocked and told her it was ten pm. Kim got up and drained the tub, drying herself off in the process. She grabbed her clothes and went to her room, intent on sleeping another nine hours if possible.

The next morning, Kim left early, not waiting for Jackie or Freya. She passed Renée who was finishing a run and gave a small wave without saying anything. She sat outside the school, waiting for the doors to open, then went to the library, where the comfortable chairs were, and waited for actual school to start. Her phone was on silent.

Jackie and Freya were getting worried, as was Renée. Old Kim would do this sort of thing, but this was clearly different.

"Do you think she's ok? Freya asked on the way to school.

"I think what happened might be giving her some problems." Jackie was always the more emotionally connected one. "Let's give her some space for a while."

Freya agreed and they walked quietly the rest of the way.

Kim met Lilly at the pier at four and they hugged before getting in Lilly's Ford. They didn't talk that much as Lilly drove them to a nearby restaurant, a coffee shop on W.65th.

"Thanks." Lilly said. She didn't feel the need to dress it up.

"You're welcome." Kim replied. She was going to say 'no problem,' but they both knew that it had been a big deal.

"Any sleep last night?" Kim asked.

"Some. Bad dreams. I kept waking up. I was all sweaty and it felt like I was back in the water."

"Shit." Kim felt bad for her.

"You?" Lilly asked in return.

"I actually slept a lot, but I think I do that instead of dealing with things. I used to sleep after fighting with my sisters to escape. You'll like this, though, I slept for a few hours in the bath tub. I wish I could have spent the whole night in there."

"That sounds kind of amazing. I didn't know you could do that. Well, to be fair, I don't really know anything about what you can do. Do you fight with your sisters a lot?"

"No. Not anymore. We used to fight constantly when I was younger but we're good, now. We're really close."

"That's nice. My sister's way older than me. She's been out of the house for years. I don't see her much."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's good. I take it you're closer in age?"

"We're all a year or two apart. I'm in the middle."

"Uh oh. Classic middle child, seeking attention by becoming a mermaid."

Kim laughed. "Something like that, I guess."

The food came and they each took a few bites before talking some more.

"CSU, huh? What are you studying?"

"I'm a freshman, so it's mostly getting prerequisites out of the way but I'm thinking biology. I don't have to declare a major yet so I'm taking my time. I'm sorry, I keep forgetting that you're so young. Middle school?"

"Yeah. Is this too weird for you? I was afraid it would be weird. I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have asked you to do this."

Lilly smiled. "Yeah, it's weird, but in a good way. You literally saved my life. I would feel weirder if I didn't do this. Plus, you hardly seem… whatever age you are."

"Twelve." Kim answered, feeling like that was a safe fact to share.

"Wow. I had to be rescued by a twelve-year-old. Fourteen-year-old me would have been mortified."

"Don't worry, twelve-year-old me is mortified by something almost every day." Kim answered back, reassuringly.

Kim took a few bites.

"I'm sorry that we can't go to the police about it. I know that me having to stay hidden keeps that from happening, and those guys deserved way worse."

"Don't be. I wouldn't have been able to get them arrested. There were no witnesses, no one knew I was out there with them, there'd be no case. There's literally nothing to be sorry for. For what it's worth, I've been stalking him and he's still in the hospital according to his friends' instagrams."

"It's funny, after it happened, I was upset with myself for losing control and hurting him that badly. But it's the only punishment he's going to get, so I'm starting to not feel so bad."

"Yeah." Lilly agreed. "I mean, there's a good chance I'll never encounter him again, but it's not a zero chance. I'll feel good knowing we did that to him if I ever do see him."

"I know you're not better, and I'm sure you want to downplay it, but is it at least not getting any worse?"

Lilly thought about this for a while before answering.

"I know you don't drive yet, so I'm not sure this will make sense, but if you've ever had a near miss in a car, like nearly being in a bad accident, after the adrenaline wears off, you start to realize what would have happened if you were two feet to the left, or if you hadn't slammed on the brakes just in time. It makes your stomach sink and feel this, I don't know, dread, I guess?"

"I kind of get it."

"Well it's like that but it's not wearing off and every time I think about it my stomach drops and the feeling starts over again."

"This fucking sucks. It feels so out of control. Like, I don't know what else to do and it hurts. I should have finished him off. It would have been so easy."

"Jesus, don't say that. I don't know you well enough to say this, but it doesn't sound like you. And it's not like that would have changed what I'm going through; what we're both going through. The example I gave? About the car accident? Well, the accident didn't happen. Everything was ok. Same here. I'm not dead. I'm not even injured. And he's in the hospital and probably out thousands of dollars, more if you count the Jet Skis. He got his."

Kim sat back and sighed. "You're right. But you shouldn't be talking me down. I'm sorry."

"Please, no need. This helped; talking like this." Lilly laughed. "Kimberley, my emotional support mermaid."

Kim smiled. "Just Kim, actually. I never use my full name."

Lilly looked surprised. "So that's actually your name? I thought you were just a really convincing liar."

"No. I'm a terrible liar. And I hate doing it. If I'm going to be your emotional support animal, you should at least know my name."

Lilly smiled. "So, do you make a habit of going around saving people?"

Kim laughed. "Only three or four times, counting you!"

"Wait, seriously?"

"Unfortunately. Though two of them were times that I consider it to be my fault that the people needed saving in the first place, so I probably shouldn't count those."

"Care to share?"

Kim felt like she could safely describe two of the events without giving too much away and she launched into the abridged versions of the stories. The mood was lighter and the two talked until Kim would have to leave. Lilly drove her down to Edgewater and they took the stairs down to Perkin's Beach where they walked to the deserted far end for Kim to get in.

"Can I watch?" Lilly asked.

Kim smiled. "Sure. Walk out on this breakwall. I'll walk in next to you. Watch your step. I'll warn you when it's coming."

Lilly walked out, the moderate waves breaking over the lower rocks around her. Kim waded in and then dove, coming up next to Lilly.

"About five seconds from now." Kim said as she stood about neck deep. The tingling increased and she felt it coming. From the rocks, Lilly saw Kim turn liquid briefly and gasped as Kim re-solidified with her tail visible in the clear water.

Lilly climbed down to the lowest rock and sat on it, her legs dangling in the lake water, shoes and pants soaked. She held her hands out and Kim swam up, taking them in her own.

"Thanks. Not just for rescuing me. Thanks for sharing."

"Thank you. I think I needed to talk about things. But I have to get going. My mom'll be pissed if I'm late for dinner. I'm already in trouble for the other night."

Lilly laughed.

"What?" Kim asked.

"I'm just picturing Batman getting in trouble from Alfred because he missed dinner."

Kim smiled embarrassedly. "Can I call you again, this was nice."

"Any time."

Kim waved and swam away from the rocks before turning and heading out, taking one leap into the air to show off before diving deep and heading west.

Chapter Text

Kim got back home just in time for dinner after having left Lilly. Kim’s talk with Lilly had calmed her. It had been good for both of them. Having just eaten wasn't a terrible burden for her. Jackie and Renée looked at each other. Kim seemed a little lighter in mood, but still quiet.

"So," Their mother started out, "How's the new school year starting out for everyone?"

No one really wanted to talk about that. It was still early enough in the year that there wasn't much to report.

"Renée? How about you? How's high school?"

"It's fine, I guess."

"Fine? It must be a pretty big change. Nothing new?"

"I mean, it's mostly the same people I've been in school with my whole life, just a new building. The classes are a little better. It sucks that it starts earlier. At least I get to go with my g…" Renée had been pretty open about her relationship, and with the gang, it was not something she had to worry about, but she'd forgotten that she wasn't really out.

"With your what, honey?"

"…Guys. You know, the crew." She thought she'd recovered decently. Jackie tried really hard to suppress a smirk.

"Jackie? How's middle school?"

"Oh, it's way better than Kensington. Kim and Freya are there!" Jackie reached for another serving of nearly everything on the table.

Their dad watched Jackie's plate fill up, again, after seeing both the other girls put down an amount of food that would make a football team have stomach aches.

"Listen, girls. There's something we need to talk about."

All three girls looked just a little worried. No good conversation starts that way.

"I did the shopping a few days ago and we're already out of food. I can't help but notice that you three are eating us out of house and home. Your mother and I have gone through the credit card statements and we're buying well more than twice as much food than we did last year."

Mrs Callahan looked fidgety. "Dear, I didn't know we'd be talking about this yet, I'm not sure that I…" She tailed off, conflicted.

He turned to his wife, the conversation now partially hijacked. "I know, honey, but with the prices these days, it's not insignificant, and there are health issues that I worry about."

"Do they look like they're having any health issues? Jackie's downright skinny."

Jackie looked down at her legs poking out of her shorts. 'Am I really that skinny?' She thought to herself. Kim caught the look and the facial expression. She figured there was an angle to work. She knew that reducing the amount they were eating would be difficult.

"Nice, guys. Now you've made Jackie self-conscious."

"No, no, no!" Their mom exclaimed. "I didn't mean to imply… "

"See?" She said, directed at their dad, "This is why I didn't want to do this. The last thing I want is the girls to have self-image problems."

"Well, they’re going to have image problems if keep eating like this! But we need to consider the cost. The economy is in bad shape, we're both frustrated at work and we're not getting any younger. We've got retirement to think about…"

The conversation had turned into an argument; Kim having put her old skills back to work. The girls quickly finished their plates and quietly began clearing the table as the argument, though a civil one, raged between their parents. Renée gave Kim a knowing look and they retreated to Kim's room.

"You know, they always fell for that. I'm just glad you use your powers for good and not evil." Renée had learned to recognize Kim's manipulations years ago; she was just never able to avoid joining in when the fighting started. Now that they were a team, Kim didn't need to do this much, but Renée was still impressed with the skill.

"That was really two bullets dodged at dinner. You know it would be ok to tell them, right?" Kim asked Renée. "I can't believe that they'd have any issues."

"Yeah, I think we all believe that, but it's harder to talk about than you'd think. Well, actually, you know this. You didn't tell anyone about your tail until we each found out on our own."

"Come on, that's not exactly the same thing. You guys have a flag and everything! There's not much representation in our community. Are you flying some sort of witchcraft flag out front letting everyone know about that?"

"See that's the thing. I mean, you're right, kind of, but I have two secrets to keep and it's getting harder to keep things straight."

"That's what she said!" Jackie was quick with the joke.

Renée groaned but laughed.

"All I'm saying," Kim continued, "is that maybe it would be easier if you let go of one of those secrets. Aren't you the one that told me that mom used to pretty 'wild'? Thank god, you never went into detail on that. But it seems like she'd be ok."

"I know, but it's just not easy."

"I didn't say it was, but it might be easier than forgetting who knows what and blurting something out when it might not be the right time. Not to say that it wouldn't've been funny for that to have come out at dinner tonight."

Renée pretended to be upset at Kim thinking that would be funny. "Maybe. I'll think about it."

"If you do it tonight, it'll derail the whole food discussion. Just saying."

"Damn it, Kim…" Renée saw the logic. She didn't like her parents fighting, either, no matter how politely they did it. "Ok. But you two have to be there."

Jackie protested. "Why me? Shouldn't this be a 'private moment' or something?"

"Oh, no. You guys talked me into this; you have to live through the cringe."

Kim and Jackie both looked like they regretting Kim pushing the topic.

"Fine." Kim finally said, unconsciously happy to take her mind off of her own problems.

"Thanks for volunteering us." Jackie complained.

Renée got up. "Well? Let's go. This witch isn't going to out herself alone."

The others sighed and got up, following her down the stairs.

"Nice plan." Jackie whispered to Kim.

"You act like I had one. I just couldn't shut up for some reason."

Their parents had moved into the den/office area and they were both gathered around the computer screen, actively debating how they were saving for retirement when the girls came in, Renée flanked by her sisters standing a step behind her.

"Um. Mom? Dad? I have something I need to tell you."

Both their parents froze. If they'd been facing the other way, the girls would have seen the look of terror on their faces. Just like at dinner, they knew that no easy conversation starts that way. They both turned around.

"Of course, honey. What is it?" Mrs Callahan was doing a good job covering up her nervousness, but just barely.

"Well, I've meant to talk about this for a while but it's not easy and I hope you'll understand. There's no way to do this that isn't hard so I'll just say it. I like girls."

There was a long delay as their parents took that in.

"You're gay?" Her mother asked?

"Well, maybe. Maybe bi. I'm not completely sure. But I'm seeing a girl and she's not the first one."

"Oh, thank god." Mrs Callahan finally said.

"What?"

"I already thought you were. I was afraid that you were going to say you had a disorder. You know, an eating disorder."

"Oh my god, we're still talking about eating? I'm queer, mom, do you know how hard it was to do this?"

"Oh honey, I know. But I've been reading about bulimia and all three of you are eating so much but you're so thin, and I was just worried that, you know, it was something else. And Kim and Jackie, you both are in the bathroom so much. I'm just concerned."

"MOM!" Renée was nearing a meltdown. "First, I don't think any of us are 'skinny.' We're all pretty much where we should be. I don't think that it's helpful that… I mean… I don't know what I mean, but I don't have bulimia! None of us do!"

"Renée, you have to admit that there's reason for us to wonder. All that food, plus ice cream constantly, where is it all going?"

All three girls looked at each other. That had backfired spectacularly.

"You know what?" Kim was jumping in to the conversation for the first time. "I think we all need to take a second, here. If we were teenage boys, you wouldn't be thinking this."

"Well, I still be concerned about with the costs." Their dad said, unhelpfully, as everyone glared at him.

"Maybe you're right, Kim." Their mother said. "But boys go through that too, and I just think it's worth having the discussion. Just in case."

"Mom," Kim continued. "All of us are fine. We're just growing kids. Maybe you don't remember being our age." At this point, Kim was just gaslighting her mom, trying anything to get out of the conversation. "I can promise you that we're all fine." She was going to say 'normal' but that was just not true, not in the way anyone would have thought.

Mrs Callahan was beginning to understand that she'd really screwed up Renée's coming out.

"Oh, Renée, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I know you had to be brave to say that and I messed it up."

Renée was glad the talk was back on track, but the wind was out of her sails. "It's fine, mom. I'd only been going over this in my head for six months." She didn't know whether to be relieved that no one seemed to care, or be peeved that it hadn't generated any drama. She'd expected to have to do a lot of explaining.

"And we're here to support you, sweetie."

"Wait. What did you mean 'I know?'"

Well, we just thought, I mean, aren't you involved with that nice Madison girl? We figured that after Maya, it seemed like…"

Renée cut her off. "You knew about Maya?!"

"Honey, you talked about her the whole trip home. It was pretty obvious."

Renée glanced at Kim who was wearing the most subtle of smirks.

"I hope," Their mother continued, "that all three of you know that you can talk to us about anything! I only wish that people had been as accepting when I was your age. I remember when I was in college, and…"

"No! Mom, stop! I don't want to hear about this!" Renée was desperate for her mother to stop. "Look. Yes, I'm seeing Maddie, no, I don't know how do define myself yet, and I'd like very much to stop talking about this, now! Please?"

Her mom stopped. There was a chance, she thought, that in her rush to accept her daughter, that things might have gone a little sideways.

"Of course, sweetie. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I'm just trying to help. I just want you all to be safe and healthy. And happy."

"Thanks, mom. I know. I just would like to let it be. Please."

"Of course. I'm here if you want to talk."

Renée couldn't imagine wanting to do that any more than they just had.

"Ok. But I think we're all just going to go, now." Renée started backing out of the room.

"Oh," Their mother added. "Kim and Jackie, I think it's so nice of you both to be here to support your sister."

"No problem, mom." Jackie was nervously following her sister out of the room before the attention turned to her.

All three kids quickly retreated to Kim's room where they collapsed wherever they could.

"I'm not sure that could have gone much worse." Renée complained.

Jackie disagreed. "That's not true and you know it."

"I know. But oh my god. Now how do we deal with the eating thing?"

"Still happy to be magical?" Kim asked. Renée didn't use up quite as many calories as the mermaids, but it had been a substantial increase. All that extra energy has to come from somewhere.

"Yeah, but it definitely complicates things."

"You know," Jackie said. "Eventually, we're probably going to have to tell them. Well, maybe not you, Renée, but we're pretty lucky we haven't been found out, already."

Kim sighed. She'd had a rough last few days and didn't want to have to think about this, too.

"Sigh all you want, but Jackie's probably right." Renée stated.

"You're just saying that so we have to go through what you just went through. No offense, but it's not exactly the same thing. I mean, I guess it's still sort of a coming out, but mom's college experimentation is not going to prepare her for a tail. Or a cauldron, for that matter."

"Argh, stop talking about mom, I don't want to think about that. Also, I feel like that's a hurtful stereotype." Renée joked. "I know you're right, but Jackie's right, too."

"Well, right now, while they think we're 'normal,' they let us do pretty much what we want. Do you think that would be the case if they knew what we got up to? No more trips to Canada. Or Michigan. We'd be on lockdown while mom searched for a 'cure.'"

"I think you're being a little dramatic, Kim, but Jackie's still right. Someday, one of us is going to slip up. You slept in the tub for hours the other night. Obviously, mom is noticing some of these things."

Kim wanted to go back into the tub. Despite the distractions of the evening, she was still unsettled. Her talk with Lilly had helped but had not come close to fixing how she was feeling. The same was probably true of Lilly. If Kim was still going to be having those feelings, that was going to be one more thing to keep hidden. She unfortunately had to keep her mom in the dark about being emotionally off, particularly since explaining the reason why would mean talking about the mermaid situation. Jackie was correct, this was getting harder and harder to keep a lid on, but it still needed to be kept secret, in her opinion.

Kim's brain was getting close to being saturated, emotionally.

"So what do you think we should do, Jackie?" Renée asked, not seeing Kim's increasing level of stress.

"Well, we don't have to do anything tonight, of course. But I think we should consider…"

"Consider what?!" Kim blurted out. "Consider telling her that we're mermaids? That Renée's new girlfriend is a witch, oh and by the way, she's one too, now?" Do you hear how that will sound?"

"Well, we won't have to tell her anything if you're shouting it like that." Renée was worried about Kim's increased volume as the discussion became more heated.

"Fine. Then let's just forget this for right now. I'm tapped out. I'm going for a swim."

Kim got up and strode purposefully down the hall and went down the stairs loudly, slamming the front door on her way out. Renée and Jackie looked at each other.

Their mother's voice called up. "Where did Kim go? Is everything ok?"

"Everything's fine, mom. Kim just needed some air." Jackie kind of lied but she didn't know what else to say.

Kim grabbed her bike and sped to the lake, not even bothering to lock it as she threw herself down the stairs to get to the water. She ignored the people on the beach. It was late and they probably wouldn't really see her in the waning light.

The ten seconds it took to change seemed like an hour. Tail finally in place, she rocketed east, subconsciously finding herself back of the shore of Sim's Park in Euclid. She told herself that she was occupying her mind by looking for Aisha, but she found herself lingering by the sand bar that marked the place where she'd seen Lilly fall in. Despite being under water, she felt her tear ducts producing liquid and she became overwhelmed with frustration. She shot up to the surface and screamed as she broke through the barrier between lake and sky. Her head hurt as her sinuses stuffed up, the crying now leaving visible trails below her eyes.

Kim dipped her head underwater to clear her eyes. She was angry and she didn't know why. In fact, she was angry that she was angry. It was dawning on her that being in this place had nothing to do with Aisha as she replayed the events of Saturday afternoon. Again.

She looked at the shore, relieved that she was too far away to have been heard. Kim didn't remember the last time she'd screamed. It wasn't like her. She was the one who rolled her eyes when someone around her screamed. Her unfocused anger blended with shame at not being able to control herself; not with Lilly's attacker, not with the Jet Skis, not with her sisters just an hour ago, and not now, alone and crying in the middle of a lake. Much like her screaming, crying hadn't been on her list of approved actions for years. Kim didn't cry. Kim carried herself above that. But not now.

Kim steadied her breathing and rolled onto her back. She would get it together. One way or another. She closed her eyes and breathed. Occasionally, a tear would sneak out and she would hiccough as she suppressed a sob, until she was finally calmed. But she couldn't move or think without risking the crying starting up again. So she lay there in the water, looking up at a hazy, starless sky, until she felt composed.

It was quiet out there. There were no boats, and only moderate noise coming from the land and that was mostly the constant hum of traffic. As the calm overtook her, she fell into what she had been wanting for two days. Sleep. In the water. She drifted down, just below the surface. After half an hour, she unconsciously floated up and took a deep breath and sank back down. She repeated this for eight cycles. On the last breath, she woke, startled. She looked around, unsure of her surroundings as she woke up.

Kim had no idea what time it was, but everything was silent. There was very little city noise coming from the land and the lake was glassy smooth with no wind. She looked up. The sky had cleared and while she didn't know how to tell time from the stars, it felt late. And she realized that she hadn't just nodded off for a minute. She turned west. She had drifted quite a bit east in those four hours. She didn't recognize any landmarks in the dark. She started swimming. Not fast. It felt wrong to go fast, like she was disrupting the night. After fifteen minutes, she was back at Euclid. In another hour, she was back at Wagar. She came ashore and used her powers to remove the water from her body and sighed. She stood up and crossed the small beach to the stairs. At the top, she was surprised to see her bike missing and yellow caution tape across the entrance to the stairs. She ducked under it and figured that she'd deal with the stolen bike problem the next morning, depressed that she hadn't secured it.

She trudged home, not expecting to see her house fully lit up. She walked in through the strangely open garage door and saw two things. Her bike, and Jackie, who was quietly coming into the attached garage from the house. Jackie held her finger to her lips.

"I saw you coming up the street. We tried to cover for you as long as we could but mom called the police."

Kim blinked. "What time is it? she asked."

"Almost two. They found your bike at Wagar and they were here most of the night. Kim, they thought you… you know… tried to kill yourself."

"That's crazy!"

"Shhhhhh! I'm just saying what they thought. Someone saw a girl go into the water and not come out. After the call from mom, they found your bike and assumed it was you. I don't know what you're going to walk into. I just thought you should know. Where did you go?"

"I fell asleep."

Jackie raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Well, I guess I had a little meltdown first, but I did fall asleep. I ended up quite a ways east. What should I do?"

"I have no idea, but I suggest you let everyone know you're alive before mom and dad have heart attacks."

"Ok. Can you stay with me?"

"Of course. Renée's up too, and Maddie's here. They all know that you were probably out on the water, but they'd like to be sure. You ready? What are you going to say?"

"Not sure, but yeah, let's go in.

Jackie opened the door with a little more noise than was necessary. "Hey, look who I found!" She said as Kim followed her into the house.

Mrs Callahan ran from the living room, eyes red, and scooped Kim up into a hug that Kim thought would crush her. Then her dad did the same. Renée and Maddie just had relief on their faces.

Neither parent said anything for about two minutes, until her dad broke away to cancel the police search that was apparently under way.

"Girls, now that Kim's home, please go to bed while we talk to her."

"Mom, I'd like them to stay, please."

"You're not in trouble, honey, we just want to know what's happening."

"I know, I just need them around me, please. Maddie, too."

Mrs Callahan looked confused but took Kim into the living room to sit next to her on the couch.

"Where did you go? Why did you go? Oh my god, we thought you were dead." Tears streamed down her mother's face.

"Mom. I'm so sorry. I've just - I've just had a bad week. I didn't mean to disappear like that. I just went to get out and clear my head and I laid down and I didn't mean to, but I fell asleep and it got so late. I'm really sorry."

"Where did you go? We looked everywhere. The police looked everywhere."

Kim didn't have a good answer so she stayed as close as she could to something resembling the truth. "I went down to the lake. I laid down in the sand under the deck at Wagar. When I woke up, my bike was gone."

"Yes, the police brought it back. But they looked all over Wagar. Dad looked all over Wagar. We didn't see you there…"

"Like I said, I was under the deck. It's hard to see under there."

Mrs Callahan ran her hand through Kim's messy hair. There was, indeed, sand in it. She pulled Kim in for another hug. "Ok, honey. We don't need to figure it all out tonight. Why don't you go get ready for bed. Promise me you'll stay in it?"

"I promise, mom. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to create all this drama. I love you."

"I love you, too. Get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning."

Kim climbed the stairs, the other girls behind her. Kim went into the bathroom to clean up a little and the other girls followed her, surrounding her for a group hug.

"You ok?" Jackie finally asked.

"No. But I will be. I'm sorry I kept you all up so late. You know I wouldn't do what they said I'd done, right?"

"I know," Renée said. "But we couldn't be completely sure. You really scared us."

"I'm sorry. I'm not sure how many times I can say that, but I don't know what else to say. I'm really sorry."

"Come on." Jackie said as she pulled the others away. "Let's give her some space."

"Hey, if anyone wants to stay with me tonight. I think I'd like that."

"Sure, Kim." Jackie was volunteering. Jackie walked with Kim to her room and they were both asleep in minutes.

Aisha had watched the news Sunday morning. Without a phone or a computer, or a mother who was home much, she'd grown up with the TV on pretty much constantly, and in the mornings, local news was at least something that wasn't a rerun. She was getting ready for a run when the story came on. It seemed funny at first, until she realized that it was likely that she knew who was behind the heist. She only knew of two other mermaids. She figured it was one of them. Of the two, she couldn't be sure who it would have been. Xandie had been nice to her but there was a threatening undertone that said 'I'm dangerous.’ On the other hand, the younger mermaid had been literally threatening to her and either seemed like they were capable of doing this, no matter what the cause was. She didn't even really care about the context. Jet Skis meant rich assholes, so she figured that whoever owned them deserved what had happened, but it cemented in her the idea that she'd bitten off more than she could chew by exposing herself to them. She made a mental note to steer clear of both of them, and that meant the sister, too. If she had to lose one race, so be it. She'd gone to the first meet feeling tough, but as the saying goes, there's always a bigger bully. She left for her run, more convinced than ever that what had happened to her was a curse. These other girls were clearly nuts and if this is what being in the water did to you, then she wanted no part of it.

Xandie, for her part, had almost written off Aisha. It wasn't like Xandie to put herself out there like she did on the bus, and if it hadn't been for the younger girls, she wouldn't have. But Xandie didn't think that Aisha would ever call her, so she tucked the encounter away in her mind and decided to let it be. It was looking like any potential thaw in relations was unlikely and that the two sides would remain separated, much like the entire Cleveland area tends to separate the east side from the west side, a metaphor that wasn't lost on anyone. Not that Freya was willing to let it go, but there seemed to be bigger issues going on right now. Even she figured that finding and befriending Aisha could wait until they figured out what was going on with Kim.

Monday morning came and Kim was surprised to find that she'd been allowed to sleep in. Her sisters had not been as lucky and were already at school, despite the scant four hours of sleep.

Kim wandered downstairs and found her mother there, clearly having called off from work. She was mixing some pancake batter.

"Ah, there you are. Breakfast?"

"Mom? What are you doing home?"

"Well, I figure that we need to talk, and no job is more important than you. Or your sisters."

Kim didn't want to talk. She had no idea what she would possibly say. She'd been looking forward to having to go to school so she could keep the weekend's events out of her mind. But it was clear that she wasn't getting out of this. She sat down at the table, pancakes already cooking on the stove. She took a piece of bacon from the table, her mom had been cooking for a while, it seemed.

"Obviously," Her mother started, "something's wrong. Please let us help you. No one has to do anything alone in this family."

Kim ached to talk about it but how could she? She wasn't really alone. She had her sisters and her friends, but even though they knew what had happened, talking to them about it wasn't the same. When things are really bad, there's something a parent can provide that's just different. Whether that's experience, parental empathy, or just the appearance of authority, something about it makes it different to talk to your mom. Still, she remained silent as she ate.

"Kim? Sweetie? Please tell me what's going on. I know you weren't on Wagar last night. Your father combed the entire area. He looked under the deck. There's no place to hide under there. Where were you really?"

"You know, mom, it's honestly not that important where I was. I was safe. I just fell asleep."

"Were you with a boy? Because I could understand. At your age, things can feel so intense…"

"No, mom." Kim cut her off. Maybe she should blame it on some budding romance. She could sense that it would be believable to her mom. But she didn't think that quickly enough. "I'm not seeing anyone."

Her mom wasn't sure she believed her, yet. "You're pretty young for that but if you are, we need to make sure that you're being safe."

"Mom, seriously, it's not a boy. Or a girl, if that's the next thing you're going to say. I just had a bad week."

"Honestly honey, you're twelve, how bad a week could you have had? School's barely started and I know grades can't be an issue yet." She was getting frustrated that Kim wouldn't let her know. Twelve can be a volatile age, but until this weekend, Kim had never done anything like this, or been so clearly distraught.

"Mom, I just need to get back to normal. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Kim, it's hard to get 'back to normal,' as you say, without knowing why you're currently not 'normal.'" She made air quotes around normal. "Would you like to talk to someone? Someone who isn't your mother?"

Kim couldn't imagine how anyone would believe her story. But the appeal of talking it out was strong. Her talk with Lilly had helped both of them. It was killing her not to spill the whole story to her mom, who was offering nothing but support.

"Mom, look, I'm going through something. Something I don't think I can talk to just anyone about. If I tell you about it, you'll want me to do something but I can't. It's just something that happened and I need to deal with it."

Mrs Callahan appreciated that Kim was opening up, if only a little, but it made her even more worried. It sounded like something bad had happened and she knew enough to know that it could be something like an assault and she was not going to let that go. Kim realized that she'd given the wrong impression and tried to back track.

"Mom, I didn't mean that it happened to me. I'm fine. I just saw something and it's messing with me."

"Should we be calling the police? Honey, you're scaring me."

"No." Kim replied. "That wouldn't help." Kim slumped in her chair; the pancakes largely uneaten on the plate in front of her. "I'll explain a little bit about it, but I need you to promise not to make me say more, ok?"

"I'm not sure I can promise, but I'll try not to."

That would have to be enough for Kim. She could feel relief at the idea of talking, though she was scared.

"I saw something. I don't know what to call it. An attack? An assault? A girl was in trouble and the guy she was with did something that could have killed her. Luckily, someone was there to help her, and she's fine. Well, physically fine. I'm just having a hard time getting past it. I keep seeing it happen, again and again in my mind. Don't say anything, though. There are reasons that I can't do anything more about it and I need you to believe me about that. It's just something that happened and I need to get past it. I need time."

"This attack, why shouldn't we be talking to the police?"

"Because for one, the other girl can't. Two, there's nothing to tie this person to the attack, and three, there are other things about this that I can't talk about."

Mrs Callahan sat back in her chair. She hadn't expected such a reasoned response, though she was completely baffled as to why this had to be a secret. "Honey, many victims feel like there is nothing that can be done but often they are wrong. If there is someone out there who is dangerous, especially to women, we have an obligation to do something about it. I'm sure that it would be more possible than you think to file charges or at least make a report."

"Trust me, there is nothing about this that is reportable that won't hurt either her or me."

"I don't understand. Are you mixed up in something? Is this a drug thing? Where did this happen?"

Kim laughed. It was an odd response, her mom thought.

"No. It's not a drug thing. I'm not in any sort of trouble. But I just can't say more. You are going to have to trust me. I really do just need to get through it."

"I'm having a hard time with that answer, Kim. If what you're saying is even partly true, I think you need to talk to someone. It doesn't have to be me, though I wish you felt that you could, but it should be someone. And this other girl, she probably needs it more. Why can't she go to the police?"

Kim sighed. "She just can't mom. It's complicated."

"Do I know her?"

"No, and before you ask, neither did I."

"I still don't understand. Where would you have seen something like this? We don't live in the kind of place…" She paused. She knew she was wrong. She knew that something like this could happen anywhere.

"Yeah." Kim said. "You see what I mean? Even you know that that's not true."

"Yes. I do." Kim's mom looked crestfallen at the idea that that sort of violence could occur anywhere.

"I'll do it if you want, mom. If you find someone, I'll go to some sort of therapy, but I'm not sure how much it will help. I can't tell them everything, either."

"Oh, honey, they're confidential, they can't say anything. It's a law."

"Still…"

"Ok. I'll set something up. You sound like you'd like to be done for now."

"Please." Kim said as she eyed the pancakes and heard her stomach growl. Without waiting for any further response from her mom, Kim started back up on the food, not worrying about how it looked. She just needed the energy.

"Since you're already not going to school, is there somewhere we can go together? Just to spend some time?"

"Mitchell's opens at eleven, can we go there?" Kim hadn't really thought about the optics of that.

"Honestly? After all that?" She pointed to Kim's plate. She blinked in surprise but wasn't about to get back into that right now. "Sure, honey. Why don't you go get dressed.”

The next day, the whole group was at the Callahan's after school. Kim had asked everyone to come. She felt the need to explain, plus, even though she'd possibly created more confusion for her mom, talking had helped. It had been almost twelve hours since she last imagined Lilly drowning in front of her.

By now, everyone was aware of Kim's meltdown and disappearance. They were all worried. The boys and Sonja hadn't heard the full story, yet. Kim told it to everyone, trying not to get too emotional. She reached the end and looked at Cole.

"Go ahead, get it out of your system."

"I mean, seriously Kim," Cole knew that Kim was hurting, but there was no way he wouldn't at least mention it. "She called you Batman. You used your powers to save her and then to avenge her. As much as you're going through, you were definitely a hero."

"Anyone here would have done the same if they could."

"I'd hope so," Cole countered. "But you're the one who did. Like it or not, you seem to be inclined towards this sort of thing."

"But I don't get why it's always me. Jackie, you and Freya go out for swims on your own, why doesn't this ever happen to you?"

"Well, to be fair, it did, once." Both of the others had been at the first real rescue.

"Yeah, I guess. But what are the odds. It's a huge lake."

"I'm telling you," Cole continued. "It's your calling."

"It's not my calling. It's some sort of curse." Kim didn't realize that she was echoing Aisha's feelings at that moment. "You guys don't know. That guy tried to kill her. Or at least he didn't care if she died, which is pretty much the same thing. I don't remember any of the super hero movies showing this side of what happens."

"Spider-man does." Reed had been quiet until now. "You know - When Uncle Ben dies because Peter didn't act. It wrecks him. It's his origin story."

"Reed, I'm just 'Kim' I don't have an origin story, other than being born, I guess. This isn't a comic book, it's real life." Kim didn't sound angry. She thought she was just stating facts.

"Well, regardless, you seem to have a tendency to find yourself in situations where your skills can help people. That's not a curse. Certainly not to Lilly, or that couple in the boat. Or ME for crying out loud. And it's not just you. Didn't you say that Leilani said that there were mermaids who had rescued dozens of people over the years?"

"Yeah, but she also said there were some who refused to rescue anyone and risk being caught."

"And do you think you could do that? Not rescue someone, I mean."

"No." Kim said after a pause.

"Could any of you? Even those of us without any special abilities?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"So it's settled." Reed stated plainly. "We're all heroes, we just haven't all been needed, yet. And that means you, too, Kim."

Kim laughed. "Wow. Pretty rousing speech. Fine. We're all heroes. But I'm still not going out looking for people to save. She was wrong to call me Batman."

"To her, you were. Don't take that away from her."

Kim wasn't sure how to answer that. She wasn't sure if Reed was right or wrong about that. But she did care about Lilly's well-being, and she supposed that Lilly could think of Kim in whatever way she needed to.

"So," Renée asked. "Mom wants you to do therapy?"

"Yeah. She already set up an appointment. I'm not sure what I'm going to say that won't get a paper written about me but I'll go. Talking does seem to help."

"What about Lilly?" Renée asked. "How's she?"

"Probably not great, I guess I should check in on her again. What a thing to go through."

There was a break in the talking for a moment as everyone considered all that had been said.

Sonja wasn't sure she should speak up but did, anyway. "You guys know that's PTSD, right? Therapy is totally the right thing to do. I'm glad you're going."

Kim nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so. It's weird to think of that way. Trauma is something that happens to someone else, or that's how is seems like it should be."

"Yeah, but that's what it is. If you can, you should see if Lilly can get therapy. She's going to need it worse than you."

"It's funny. Right after it happened, she was all jokey and acting brave. The next day she wasn't doing very well. I guess you're probably right."

"Maddie?" Renée asked. "Is this something you can help with?" Renée hadn't inherited Maddie's healing powers but she wondered if they would work for this sort of thing.

"I don't know. I don't even know if I should. It's one thing to cheer someone up, but what if I mess up with real pain. What if the result is different than I'd expect. I don't want to make anything worse."

"Test it on me." Kim said without hesitation. "Just a little. Let's just see where it goes. Lilly might need this. She's even less likely than me to go to a professional."

"Are you sure?"

"Just start slow."

"Ok. If you think so."

Maddie walked over to Kim who stood up. Kim wasn't always comfortable hugging anyone much less her sister's girlfriend but Maddie moved in and held her loosely. Maddie opened up and felt what Kim was feeling. Kim felt some of the feelings in her begin to soften, but Maddie pulled away abruptly.

"Whoa. That was strong. Sorry. I had to stop for a moment."

"What's wrong?" Renée asked?

"It was just stronger than I expected. When I do this. I don't actually absorb the bad feelings; it's more like they go through me to escape. I'm like a ground wire, or a lightning rod. But apparently, it can flow too strongly. It started to hurt. I don't think I've ever handled trauma before."

"It's ok." Kim said. We don't have to do it. It was nice for a moment, though. I do feel a little better."

"Let's try one more time." Without waiting for a reply, Maddie took a hold of Kim again and held on tighter, the energy flowing through her until she couldn't contain it anymore and she fell away.

"Wow. Ok. I lasted longer that time but it was rough. How do you feel?"

Kim evaluated herself. "Better. Definitely. It helped. It's still there, but not nearly as bad. Wow."

Maddie sat down. "Now I need ice cream. But I could do it for her. It might take a couple sessions."

"So basically just like therapy." Jackie quipped.

"I suppose so." Maddie thought that what Jackie said was closer to the truth than she knew. "But I think I could help her. Especially if she wasn't going to get any other help."

"Interesting." Kim said, mostly to herself. If I ask her to do this, you understand that she'll know even more about us?"

"Yeah, but like Reed said, if we can help, we probably should. This is going to be less weird than being rescued by a fish girl."

Kim laughed. "That's true. I'll call her. Maybe she can meet us at Mitchell's and we can be ready to recharge after. I'm still going to do the therapy for mom, though. This helped but not all the way and maybe it will be nice to talk to someone. Tomorrow afternoon?"

"After cheer practice, yeah. Maybe around four?"

Kim agreed and they all decided to move on to homework, before any of them started falling behind.

Kim talked Lilly into meeting her under the semi-false pretense of just getting ice cream and talking. Lilly figured she was getting shaken down for free ice cream but that was fine with her, she liked ice cream, obviously, and she liked Kim and still felt like she owed a debt to the mermaid. She was surprised to see Kim already there and sitting next to a slightly older girl in a cheer leading outfit.

"Kim?" She asked, questioning the company.

"Lilly, this is Maddie. Maddie, Lilly." Lilly looked befuddled.

"I want you to meet Maddie because I think she can help you. But we need to go get ice cream first."

Lilly agreed, but still didn't understand what was going on. She'd assumed that Kim needed to keep the whole thing quiet.

They sat down outside with their snacks. Each had insisted on paying for their own, to Lilly's surprise.

"Ok." Kim started. "Maddie has a bit of a special talent. She can make people feel better. I know what you're going through, and I'd like to see if she can help."

"What exactly do you mean, 'feel better?'" The whole thing seemed just a little sketchy to Lilly.

"You trusted me in the water, I'm asking you to trust me again. Nothing bad will happen."

Lilly looked skeptical, but she certainly wasn't sleeping any better. She'd try it. They were at an ice cream shop in broad daylight, what could possibly happen?

"Ok, what do I do?"

"Just let Maddie give you a hug."

"Seriously?"

"Yep, that's it."

Lilly stood up and Maddie walked around the table. She gave Lilly a completely normal hug, until it stopped being normal and Lilly felt negative energy being drawn out of her. Her legs got weak and the cheerleader held on tighter until she also gave out, dropping Lilly into a chair as she quickly sat in the one next to Lilly.

"Fwew." Maddie was worn out.

Lilly looked at the two of them, still shaking a little. "What in the world was that?"

"How do you feel?" Kim asked.

Lilly tried to evaluate her state of being. She wasn't sure, yet. It was like she was still rebooting. "Well. I'm not sure. Better, for sure. But tired. Tired but also weirdly energized at the same time. I know that doesn't make sense."

"It does, actually. I felt the same yesterday."

"You did this for Kim, too?"

"Yeah. Just a little. I went a little further with you, but there's still a lot of pain in there. We can do it again in a little bit after I recover.

"I mean, I want to, but isn't this like, cheating, or something?"

"It might be." Maddie answered. "I don't do this a lot because it seems like I should save it for more extreme circumstances, but this feels like one. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. We all can recover from things, I was just hoping to jump start it for you."

Lilly thought about it. For some reason, this didn't seem weird. But she also didn't want to make it all go away. She wanted to hold on to a little of the pain, to remember to be cautious or angry when it was appropriate. If all your problems disappear, you don't learn anything.

"One more time, but no more. I need to keep a little of it." Lilly had no idea why she was just accepting that this was happening, but as predicted, it wasn't the weirdest thing that had happened this past week.

Everyone had more ice cream and then Maddie was ready to go again. She hugged Lilly, carefully monitoring the feelings that were flowing out of the girl and cutting it off as they started to taper off.

"There." Maddie sat down hard as the strength left her legs.

Lilly did the same. "Wow." Lilly shook her head to clear it. "So, how did you do that?"

"It's just a talent I picked up."

"I don't think mood control is just a talent you can casually pick up."

Kim gave Lilly a look.

"You're not going tell me, are you?" Lilly asked.

"It kind of goes along with the whole..."

"Yeah, I know. Secret identity, yada, yada, yada. I guess I don't really care, just - thank you. I really do feel better. Actually, I take that back, I do care, but I guess I'm going to have to deal with it.

"So, Kim," Lilly continued, "you had trouble, too?"

"Yeah." Kim replied. "My mom wants me to go to therapy and my friend helpfully explained that we both might have PTSD. I kind of spiraled out a little over the last few days. I'm still going to go to therapy, though. Just like you, I had Maddie stop before I was back to normal. It didn't feel right completely erasing it."

"So other people do know about you?"

Kim smiled a little. "A couple, but trust me, it's way more complicated than you're thinking."

"Oh, I was already thinking it was complicated. Does anyone want more ice cream? My treat. I don't think my mom's health insurance covers magical treatments so it's the least I can do."

Both girls nodded enthusiastically and soon enough, Lilly was back with three more cups.

"You know you guys are killing me, right? Not knowing more about you both is painful."

"Poor choice of words, Lilly…" Kim said.

Lilly thought about it. "Oh, yeah. I suppose so." She chuckled. "Still…"

"I'm sorry. We both need to be careful. You have to imagine what would happen if word got out."

"Yeah, but who would believe me?"

"And that's one of the only things that keeps us safe."

"Ok, ok. I owe you so much more than ice cream and discretion. I'll stop. But can we keep in touch? I feel like once you've destroyed a boat together, there's a bond. Wait, I assume your friend here knows about that?"

"Oh, trust me, we know about the Jet Skis." Maddie had a slightly concerned look on her face.

"Yeah, of course we can stay in touch." Kim liked the idea.

"Maddie, thank you. I was getting worried about, well, me. But I'm a little better, now."

"No prob. Any friend of Kim's is a friend of mine. Thanks for the ice cream!"

Lilly got into her beat up Ford Escape and left the busy Mitchell's lot. Kim and Maddie sat back down after saying goodbye to Lilly and relaxed. Maybe the stress of the last week was behind them, now.

"Come on, Kim, we’re going to be late." Kim came down the stairs, not looking forward to the appointment. She wanted her mom to feel like she was helping, though, so she dog eared the book she was reading and got in the car.

"Honestly, mom, I'm doing a lot better."

"Honey, if what you told me is true, and I'm sure it is, then I'd like you to talk to someone. I wish you'd talk to me, but maybe a professional is better anyway."

"I get it mom. Please tell me insurance is paying for this, though."

Mrs Callahan smiled warmly. "Not that you should have to worry about that, but, yes. So don't fret."

Kim had promised her mom she'd go. Maybe it would even help, but without telling too much of the truth, she wasn't sure how useful therapy would be.

She was surprised to find that it helped, even with leaving out certain important bits. The therapist had been a little surprised at even the edited story of what Kim had seen and been through. Renée's magic had reduced the impact of her feelings but not removed them. Kim didn't want those gone, she just wanted to be able to cope better. Maybe therapy would help a little more.

"So how was it, honey? Did it help?" Mrs Callahan was trying her best to not pry too much on the way home but she thought this was safe territory.

"Yeah. Actually, it did. It's nice to talk about it and get it out." She realized as she said it that it came out wrong and might hurt her mom.

"You know," Her mom was going take another swing at getting Kim to tell her more. "You could always talk to me. You know that, right?"

"Jeez, mom, if you want to save money on therapy just say so!" Kim was deflecting. She made it clear she was joking but she hoped it would send the conversation in a different direction.

"I'm serious. There's nothing you could tell me that would result in anything but me still loving you."

Kim really did believe her. Her acceptance of Renée, as oddly as that had gone, made all the girls happy, but this was different. If it had been just Kim, maybe she would have come clean. Almost certainly, the more she thought about it. However, it wasn't just her own story to tell and her, her sisters, their friends - all those stories were so intrinsically linked that there was no way to tell her mom without drawing the rest of the group into it. And even if everyone agreed to that, it was still so large of a secret that it seemed unlikely that it would stay contained. After all, a parent's job is to worry about their kids; and act if needed. She didn't want to put that sort of pressure on her parents. Maybe someday. Her sister was probably right that one day it would get out. But it didn't have to be this day.

All that passed through Kim's thoughts as her mother waited for a response to her last statement.

"Kim?"

"Hmm?"

"You kind of disappeared there for a while. Everything ok?"

By now they were parked in their driveway. The car was off and it was quiet. The engine made soft ticking sounds as the metal cooled down. The sound of a distant lawnmower drifted in through the open window.

"Yeah." Kim finally said. "I love you mom. Thanks for caring so much. I can't say that for all my friends’ parents." Kim unbuckled and reached over to hug her mom.

Her mom was openly crying. "But you can't tell me what was wrong?" She asked while wiping tears away with the back of her hand.

"I want to, mom, I really do. But I can't. Maybe someday. I need you to trust me. I'll be fine. I promise." Kim had joined her mom in crying. She hugged her again. "Come on, mom, let's go inside." Kim opened the door and looked back, waiting for her mom to do the same. They walked into the house.

Kim walked in through the door, followed by their mother. Kim exchanged knowing glances with her sisters who were in the kitchen as they entered. Their mother noticed. Kim went up to her room. Mrs Callahan got a water out of the fridge and watched as Renée and Jackie talked quietly to each other on the other side of the room. She left the Kitchen and herself went upstairs.

Kim looked up as the door handle turned and her mother walked in, softly closing the door behind her. She had been hoping that the conversation was done for the day. It didn't look like it.

Kim's mom had an expression on her face. It wasn't anger - or frustration. It was hurt.

"They both know what happened, don't they?"

"Who?" Kim knew who she meant, she just didn't want to incriminate them.

"Your sisters. They both know what happened."

Kim sighed. She was now at risk of actually damaging her relationship with her mom and she didn't want to do that. But she also didn't want to be grounded or put under scrutiny. Still, she had to give her mother something.

"Yeah."

"But you won't tell me?" The hurt was clearly visible.

Kim sat up straighter in her chair and then leaned forward. Her mom sat on the edge of the bed.

"Do you promise to not overreact? Or lecture me?"

Kim's mom was not feeling better about this but it was clear that she would have to meet Kim in the middle if she was going to get the truth.

"I'm your mother, Kim, I have a right to be worried, but I'll try my best."

That had to be good enough for Kim.

"Ok. What I told you was true but I was more involved."

Kim's mom's face went pale. She didn't know what 'involved' meant.

"I did witness an assault, but it was a little more severe. The person involved, her name's Lilly, and she was in a situation where she was either going to have to, um, you know… for a couple of guys. She didn't want to do that. She argued, they fought, and she got pushed off of a boat and left to drown. I swam to her and pulled her out. The reason that I've been moody was that I keep thinking about what would have happened if I wasn't there. It was just luck, you know? Me being in the right place was just luck. If I hadn't been there, or if I hadn't acted, well, I guess Lilly would be dead. It messed with me. But I'm doing better. Therapy really did help. I think it will help to go for a while."

"I don't understand, if you could swim to her, why couldn't she just swim ashore?"

"She was further out than I'm making it sound, I guess. I'm a strong swimmer. She isn't. She wasn't going to make it."

"And you talked to your sisters about this?"

"Yes." Kim looked down. She knew that that would not feel good to her mother. "At the time, I hadn't started feeling what I'm feeling. I just didn't want you to worry. But I made it worse."

Mrs Callahan's hurt was turning into sympathetic pain as she considered this new information. "Where did this happen?"

"Um, down at the lake."

"No, I mean where? What beach? Where were you."

Kim froze. She was sort of out of 'invent a story' mode since she was trying to be more honest.

"Honey?"

"Does it matter, mom?"

"Yes, it does. My daughter's been through a traumatic experience and I'd like to know as much about it as I can."

"Just let it go, please. Please?" She asked, a little more emphatically the second time. Her mom heard the hint of panic in Kim's voice. For as much as Kim liked being discovered, this was neither the time nor the place.

Kim's mom saw the panic and let go, despite it hurting to do so. Kim had happily gone along with therapy, maybe that was enough.

"Ok, honey. I just wish you'd been able to tell me about this. It must have been horrible."

"At the time it wasn't. At the time, it was exciting. It was just after, when I thought about what could have happened…"

"That's the 'post' in ptsd, honey."

"Yeah, I get that now. But honestly, I'm better."

"Is there a way that I can help the other girl? What did you say her name was? Lilly?"

"Yeah. But no, she's going to therapy. We've kept in touch. We talk. It helps."

"You know, honey, I can't help but be a little mad with you, still. Or maybe frustrated is the right word. But I'm proud of you more than anything. You could have drowned, though. Rescuing anyone in the water is very dangerous. When someone is drowning, they'll…"

"I know. They'll latch onto the other person and potentially drag them down with them. I've read about it. And it was true. If I wasn't a great swimmer, it would have been pretty dangerous. But I am, and I knew what to watch out for. I'm fine. I was never in physical danger."

Mrs Callahan shook her head. "I don't understand when you became so composed. It seems like just yesterday you were a little girl. You and your sisters. You're all so…" She trailed off, unsure of how to state it.

"It's fine mom. We're just growing up. Time moves pretty fast, I guess."

"That it does, Kimmy, that it does. My mother used to tell me, 'The days are long but the years are short.' Once I had kids, that made a lot more sense to me."

"Oh my god, mom. Not 'Kimmy,' I beg you!"

She laughed. "Ok, KIM." There was a pause. "Thank you. For telling me. And for trying to protect me. But I'm you mom. I'll always be your mom, and I'll always have the strength to hear the truth from you, no matter what. It's not your job to protect me, at least not for a few more decades."

Kim laughed. "I know. Thanks."

"I love you Kimmy."

"I love you too, mom."

"Jackie, Renée, can I talk to you?"

The older and younger sisters were still talking in the Kitchen when their mom came back downstairs.

"Sure." Renée answered for both of them.

"I just want you both to know that I appreciate your loyalty to your sister. And I appreciate you being there for her." Both of them could hear the 'But' coming. "But something as big as this? It's the sort of thing that can change your life."

Both girls looked at each other.

"Kim told me everything. About that poor girl and what happened, and especially about her swimming out to save her."

"She told you that?" Jackie asked.

"Of course, because I'm here for her, for all of you. I don't ever want you to feel like you can't tell me something."

"She told you everything?"

"Yes. And I hope that in the future, you'll all urge the others to come to me, honestly, if such a life changing event happens."

"So…" Renée asked. "When you say 'everything,' what exactly do you mean by that?"

"Honestly, you two don't have to keep protecting her. I understand what's happened and I'm very pleased at how she's handling it. Frankly, I'm surprised that you two seem so calm about it. But I think therapy will help and she seems better adjusted than I would be if it happened to me. Just, remember that I'm here to help for whatever is going on in your lives."

"Um, ok, mom." Renée was feeling a strong need to get out of this conversation and figure out exactly what Kim had said.

"Yeah, mom. I got it." Jackie echoed.

Both girls walked out of the kitchen and slowly picked up speed without trying to look too alarmed as they went up the stairs as casually as they could pretend.

"Exactly what did you tell mom?" Renée blurted out as soon as they were in Kim's room.

"That I actually rescued Lilly."

"Not about…" She looked around to make sure their mother hadn't followed them up the stairs. "Your tail?"

Kim laughed, but it wasn't a reassuring laugh. "No. I did not."

"Because she kept saying that you'd told her 'everything.'"

"Just about the rescue and what I saw…" But Kim had a strange look in her eye as she said this.

"What aren't you telling us?" Jackie asked.

"I'm not going to lie. It was hard not telling her. She looked so hurt that I had hidden something from her. And I know she'll be ok with it, at least on the surface. I get that we'd be under way more scrutiny if she knew, but it was hard."

Jackie sat down. She knew that she'd have had an even harder time not telling if it was her. Renée was more inclined to think that she could manage to hold on to the secret, but then, her secret was much easier to hide.

"So," Jackie asked. "How actually was therapy?"

"You know, it was good. It's nice to talk about a problem. I didn't think I'd like it, and I have you guys to talk to, but there was something about it that was, I don't know, pleasant, I guess. I'm going to keep going. If nothing else, it makes mom happy, but I think it might be an ok thing on its own."

Renée was surprised by this. Kim the loner willingly going to therapy?