"Oh my God…"

"Janette?"

The two girls were resting in a small cave near the shore. Janette was lying on her back, staring at the rocky roof of the cave, shell-shocked.

"I'm a fish. You're a fish. We're fish. Why are we fish?"

"Janette."

"There's a fucking fish tail attached to me!"

"Janette!"

The older girl turned to look at her sister. She said nothing.

"Look, I know this is totally weird and kind of scary. We have no clue where we are, if there are more of us out there or if we can ever become human again. That being said, we are safe. We never have to go back to Bellevue again! We never have to see those people again!"

"And what about Momma, huh? She's probably going crazy with worry, if not grief! All that's left of us on the surface is our clothing and my car."

Meghan frowned. "Yeah…but there's nothing we can do about that now. I'm hurting too, you know."

Janette scoffed. "Right. You seem so torn up right now."

Meghan began to retort, but stayed silent. She was hurting, but all she could think of was the fact that the both of them were free! They were mermaids, for crying out loud! They didn't have to worry about the struggles of human life anymore! They didn't need jobs, or money. The sea was a wide open expanse, they could go wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted.

"Janette, think about this for a second. I know we may never see our mother again, but this is probably for the best. We might have died in that accident. We could have been charged with vehicular manslaughter, because I don't think anyone in that van survived. This so exciting, and scary at the same time. I think we should at least try to find other mermaids, ask them what's going on."

"I'd rather stay here. Besides, who says there are other mermaids? We could be the only ones out here."

"Okay, but what about food? A place to sleep?"

Janette made vague motions towards the cave. Meghan let out a gusty sigh, and slipped back into the water. "I'm going to try and find other mermaids, and if I can't find any, then I'll try to find some food for us."

"Have fun with that."

Meghan shook her head sadly, then dove into the water.

Lucette Gray Korchak took her time swimming back to her cave. She'd seen the purple-tailed mermaid laying inside, but she wasn't sure if she should approach her or not.

'She doesn't look like any mermaid I know. Thank god she's not Anais. Well, it's my cave, so at the least I should find out where she came from and offer her shelter.'

Luce swam up to the entrance of the cave, popped up out of the water and cleared her throat.

The mermaid groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Meghan? It's been hours, where've you-"

The girl blinked a few times, realizing the mermaid before her was not her sister. "Oh! Sorry, you are?"

"My name is Luce, this cave is my home."

"Oh! Oh, god. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, I'll go." Janette started to slide back into the water when Luce stopped her.

"You don't have to go, really. Are you new?"

Janette nodded. "My sister and I both. Speaking of which, I still don't know where she is. I should go find her."

Luce shook her head. "If you're both metaskaza, your safest bet is for you both to stay here. This cave is more than enough for you two to live here."

"I really don't want to be a bother."

Luce smiled. "If you were a bother, I would have ordered you to leave. Just stay here and I'll go look for her. Her name is Meghan, right?"

"Yeah. I hope you can find her."

Luce smiled again, wider this time. "I've been a mermaid for nearly forty years. I'll find her."

Janette did a double take as the other mermaid disappeared into the sea. Forty years? The girl barely looked like she was into her teens, let alone a middle-aged woman!

Megara Wales stared outside of the window of the Seattle police station, her heart heavy with worry. When she'd arrived there she'd only expected to report the monsters responsible for hurting her daughters. Now those same daughters were missing, possibly dead, and Janette was facing vehicular manslaughter charges, if she were to be found.

'How could everything gone from bad to worse so quickly?' she thought, tears welling up in her eyes. 'They were supposed to be safe and happy, now no one knows where they are.'

The weary mother's heart had sunk when the chief of police had informed her of the accident, and how there was nothing left of the two girls but clothing and trinkets. The state of the two cars was grisly, only one victim was confirmed to have survived, a teenage girl named Charlotte. The grieving child had only given Megara a steely glare, as if she were responsible for her family's deaths.

'Insolent child. I'm grieving too.'

At the same time, Megara realized, she couldn't blame the child for being angry. For all she knew, Janette was just another irresponsible driver.

'But how can we be sure that Janette was completely to blame? The girl's family could have been the cause.'

"Ms. Wales?"

Megara looked up. The chief of police looked down at her, the various lines and wrinkles of his face accentuated his tired gaze.

With a sad sigh, Megara followed the man back into his office.

Meghan rushed back up to the surface, taking in a long, relieved breath. She'd had no clue how long she'd been swimming for, and she had a sneaking suspicion that she was lost.

As time went on, the bag of mussels she held in her arms got heavier. As disgusting as it was, she somewhat appreciated the disrespect humans had for their once beautiful planet. If not for the pile of plastic bags she'd found near the shore of the beach, she had no clue how she'd be transporting her and her sister's dinner.

She was about to dip back into the water, when the wind started blowing. As she appreciated the nice, cool breeze she noticed something hidden in the whistle of the wind. A voice, familiar and unfamiliar all at the same time, whispered her name.

She knew it was a mermaid; nothing else could produce that beautiful, unearthly sound. It didn't sound like Janette, but the voice knew her name.

With hesitation, she took a breath and followed the voice. She was surprised that she could still her it calling her even underwater. She stayed as close to the surface as she was comfortable with. She didn't want to be discovered on her first day as a mermaid, after all.

Not too far ahead of her, she could see the torso and lower body of another mermaid. She had emerald-tinted skin and an emerald tail to match. Meghan pushed herself to swim faster, and her fatigued body seemed to scream at her. She started to sink, and she struggled to keep swimming. Finally, she reached the other mermaid, and surfaced again.

"Hi. Were you the one calling me?"

The other mermaid nodded, smiling softly. "My name is Luce. Your sister is waiting for you."

Meghan sighed, and collapsed into the other girl's arms.

"Don't worry Meghan. We'll be there soon." Luce took the plastic bag from her and led her back to the cave, into the waiting arms of her worried sister.

"I brought dinner." The younger girl said weakly.

"I see that. I found another mermaid without even trying." Janette said, pushing wet strands of hair out of Meghan's face.

"I see that." Meghan parroted, soon falling asleep on the rocky shore.

Janette turned her attention to Luce. She spoke softly, as to not wake Meghan. "So, you said you've been a mermaid for forty years?"

"Around forty. I was turned in 2011."

"Twenty-nine."

Luce looked at her, confused. "Pardon?"

"You've been a mermaid for twenty-nine years."

Luce chuckled softly. "Not like I've had a chance to look at a calendar any time recently. Being solitary warps your sense of time."

"I'd imagine being away from any kind of technology could warp your sense of time. So, do we stop aging or something?"

"Yeah. I imagine my father's quite old now, and I still look fourteen."

"Hey, at least you're technically legal."

Luce rolled her eyes and laughed. "As if I have any interest in sex or alcohol. Men can't be turned anyway."

"I have absolutely no problem with that." Janette smiled. She was more than free. She could never be hurt by another man ever again! Meghan was absolutely right to be excited about this.

At that moment, Meghan flopped over in her sleep, smacking Janette's arm with her tail.

"Ow. Butthead." Janette shoved the shimmering ruby tail back into the water, wincing at the memory of her own tail burning unbearably the first time she attempted to fully hoist herself of the water.

Luce chuckled softly. "She's quite the energetic sleeper, isn't she?"

Janette nodded. "She used to be, when we were both still kids. I haven't seen her that active in seven years."

Luce's smile faded. "It's horrible, what those people did to you. I know the feeling all too well."

Janette would have asked what the elder mermaid meant by that, if not for the second onset of fatigue she'd felt that day. "I think I'm going to join my sister. This day has been a complete whirlwind."

Luce nodded. "Those mussels won't last all night. I'll show you a discrete place to eat in the morning, mussels aplenty."

Janette yawned, then lay down next to her sister. "Thank you, Luce."

"You're very welcome. You're more than welcome to stay as long as you want. I really am glad I ran into you two."

Janette nodded tiredly, then sank into a long, quiet slumber.