I. I'm a Mermaid

David walked out of the café, and saw Sirena standing on the jetty. Personally, he thought Sirena was both the prettiest girl he had ever met, and the nicest. He felt incredibly lucky that she felt a similar way about him.

She glanced around quickly, completely missing David. He was about to call out to her when she took two steps and dived into the water. "She was still wearing all of her clothes," David thought. "What's going on?"

He waited for her to come back up, so he could ask her about it. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. "Something's happened to her," he thought. He sprinted down the jetty and dived in himself, desperate to save her.

The water was empty. No Sirena, no blood or anything. Just a long trail of bubbles leading out into the ocean.

The next morning, when Sirena came in for their music rehearsal, David decided to ask her what happened. He wasn't sure she would be there, given how she had suddenly disappeared, but she walked in the door right on time.

Sirena was an excellent singer, and her songs were incredible as well. He didn't think she had written them, but he had never heard them anywhere else. Her choice of topics was slightly confusing to him, many of her songs seemed to feature lyrics about the sea (not a bad choice for singing at a café named after the ocean) or the moon (which just seemed random), but he didn't really mind. He just liked the way she seemed so happy while singing.

But today he had a question to ask. "What happened yesterday Sirena?"

"What do you mean?"

"I was closing up the café yesterday. I saw you on the jetty."

Sirena suddenly looked nervous.

David continued, "You jumped into the water and didn't come back up; I thought you were in trouble, so I dived in, and you were gone. What happened?"

Sirena's expression had changed from nervous to guilty. "I... I can't tell you," she said quietly.

"Why?" David was worried about Sirena. He knew that she and her sisters had a few quirks: their disappearance from the Halloween party, Sirena suddenly saying she was leaving, then not going, but he had no clue what Sirena should feel so guilty about keeping from him. He just wanted her to like him and trust him.

"I... I... I just can't." Sirena appeared to be almost on the edge of tears.

David decided not to push any further. She clearly wanted to tell him something, but for whatever reason was unable to. He would let her tell him in her own time. Even if that was never, he would rather she be happy than know whatever it was she was hiding. "OK. I won't ask any more, but if you need to talk, I'm here."

Sirena's look of relief was clear.

"So what do you want to practice first?"

Nixie walked into Rita's grotto to find Sirena crying. "Sirena? What's wrong?"

Sirena looked up, seemingly debating whether or not to say anything. Finally she said something too quiet for Nixie to hear.

"What was that?"

"I want to tell David."

"Tell him what?"

"Everything!" Sirena practically shouted. "I just feel so bad lying to him. I think he already suspects something after he saw me disappear into the sea yesterday."

"That's not something you can just do. When were you going to tell the rest of us about this?"

Sirena looked at the floor. "I was trying to work up the courage. I didn't know how you'd react."

"If it helps, I think David could handle it, but we really need to discuss this with Lyla and Zac."

"I know. I'm just worried about what they'll say. Where are they, anyway?"

"Last I heard they were going for a swim. We'll probably find them near the pool."

Lyla and Zac saw the two trails of bubbles leading towards the moon pool and followed them in. As expected, Sirena and Nixie were in there.

"You two came in here in a hurry," Zac said.

"We didn't know where you were," Nixie replied. "It seemed like the easiest way to catch your attention."

"Ah. So you wanted to talk to us, then?"

"We needed the whole group, but I should probably let Sirena explain." Nixie looked across at Sirena.

Sirena seemed to hesitate before speaking. "I want to tell David the truth. All of it."

"What brought this on?" Lyla asked.

"He nearly caught me yesterday. He doesn't know what's going on, but he suspects something. I can't keep lying to him."

Nixie spoke up at this point. "If I was going to trust any land-person it would be David, especially when it comes to Sirena, but this has to be a decision we all agree on."

"Zac, you've known him longest," Lyla said. "What do you think?"

Zac thought for a moment before answering. "David's probably the most trustworthy guy I know. I think he could probably handle it."

Lyla had the final vote. "I don't know him as well as Sirena and Zac, but if I had to guess, I'd say we can trust him."

"Then it's decided," Nixie said. "We all think David can be trusted with the secret. But if we tell him, I'd want it to be somewhere nobody else can hear."

"How about on the island?" Zac suggested.

"That could work," Lyla said. "If we keep him on the beach and away from any sensitive areas like the land entrance it's a quiet enough place, and well within our territory."

Sirena's smile was almost dazzling. "I'll invite him to a picnic on the beach tomorrow. I can ask him now before the café closes." She ducked under the water and swam out through the underwater entrance.

David had left Carly in charge of the café, and borrowed his brother's boat to go out to Mako. His brother seemed happy that he was finally doing something more than singing with the girl he was clearly head over heels for.

He was half way there when a pair of dolphins performed massive leaps right next to the boat. He was amazed, not knowing that Sirena had found them and asked them to do it earlier that day.

He had been happy to go for a picnic with Sirena, although he did find the choice of location a bit odd, as well as the fact that she had clearly had a few nerves about asking him. He wondered if the nerves were related to the secret she couldn't tell him; it was certainly a similar reaction, albeit on a much smaller scale. Maybe she had decided to tell him.

As he neared the shore, he saw Sirena standing next to an already-set-up picnic.

"Hi!" she called cheerily.

"Hey," he replied. He motioned towards the picnic. "How long have you been here?"

"A little while," she replied. "I always end up arriving early when I'm nervous about something."

"Nervous? Why?" he asked. He had already seen she was nervous, but at least now he could find out why.

Sirena looked at the ground. "I got permission from the others to tell you the secret, as long as you swear not to tell anyone. I just don't want this to change how you see me."

"I'm sure nothing you say could change how I feel, but whatever it is, I won't tell. I just couldn't do that to you."

Sirena smiled nervously. "I just hope you feel the same after hearing it."

"What secret could possibly be so big that you think I won't like you for it?"

"Well, um... I never thought I'd ever tell this to a land-person, but here goes." She took a deep breath. "I'm a mermaid."

"What?"

"I'm a mermaid."

"That can't be right."

"I can prove it if you want." Sirena took a few steps down the beach until she was in the water. "All it takes is water."

David stared as his girlfriend turned into water for a second, then fell over. There was no mistaking the fact that she now had a tail. "But... But... How?" he stammered, running over to her.

"I've always been like this. Well, not exactly like this, I used not to get legs. Before we were banished."

"Banished?"

"The pod banished us for making a huge mistake. They left the island, and us, behind because they were afraid of the results."

"Us? Wait, you don't mean Lyla and Nixie do you?"

"That's them. Remember that time your brother chased that dolphin?"

David groaned; his brother could be such an idiot sometimes. "How could I forget?"

"He was actually chasing Nixie; she was invisible under the jetty."

"Invisible?"

Sirena raised a hand and twisted it quickly downwards, clenching a fist... and disappeared. When she appeared again, David was speechless, but he recovered after a few seconds.

"I have to ask. What did you do to get banished?"

"We were supposed to protect the island from land-people. A couple of land-boys made it past us to the island, and one of them was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was turned into a merman, and the pod fled. Mermaids don't really get along with mermen. We went on land to try to change him back."

"And did you?"

"Nothing worked. When I thought I was leaving? That was just before we made our last attempt; it didn't work. We made friends with him eventually." She paused before adding sadly, "We still can't contact the pod to bring them back though. I don't even know if they would."

"Who was it?"

"Guess," Sirena said playfully. "I'll give you a clue: we really like seafood."

Realisation dawned on his face. "Zac."

Sirena nodded. "Yes. It was his camping trip with Cam." She shuddered. "So glad they aren't friends any more."

"What happened between those two? They used to be together all the time, now they look like they want to hit each other."

"Cam got hold of an old merman weapon and tried to destroy the source of our power. Nearly succeeded too. Zac stopped him at the last minute. That's what finally got Nixie to trust him."

"Cam tried to hurt you?" Now that he had got over the shock of discovering his girlfriend wasn't human, he was able to process what she was saying, but the fact that someone he had considered a friend had tried to hurt Sirena... He was going to have words with Cam.

"And he lost almost all his friends over it," she replied. "Zac, Evie. Even Nixie had thought he was her friend, and it takes a lot for her to trust someone."

"Sounds like he got what he deserved."

Sirena had never seen David so angry. She understood – she felt the same when it came to Cam – but it still came as a surprise to her that he would get so angry over someone trying to hurt her. She realised right then that she had made the right choice in telling him; he still cared about her.

"Mm," she agreed, before realising she was still in her tail. "Would you mind giving me a hand out of the water?"

David reached down to help her back onto the beach, and once she was dry again they went back up the beach to have their picnic.

Sirena was happy. Everything would be OK.