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Darkness pooled around Nixie as she swam. The full moon shone through the velvety water, filling Nixie's underwater world with pale silver light. She sped up to the surface and burst into the air, gasping, inhaling the cold night breeze. Tears stung her eyes. She took a last breath and then dived down deep again.

She wasn't in love.

Was she?

No! How dare Lyla accuse her of loving a Landboy? That was Lyla, not Nixie. Lyla loved Zac. Lyla had fallen for someone who didn't belong with her. And the more Nixie thought about it, the more it seemed that he was falling for her, too.

They were from separate worlds, Zac and Lyla. Couldn't they see it would just cause them pain? Couldn't Lyla see how she would have to break her barrier at some point, to admit her feelings to her friends? What if Zac didn't return Lyla's feelings? What would it make Ni–––Lyla do? And what would become of them and the pod?

Mermaids weren't meant to fall in love. But it had happened–––first to Sirena, and then to Lyla, and finally, to–––

Nixie was afraid.

...For Sirena and Lyla.

When Nixie next resurfaced, she was just off the shore of Mako.

She spent a while splashing in the shallow water around the island, pretending she didn't see the boat. Finally, when she couldn't avoid it any longer, she dragged herself onshore. The moonlight reflected of her tail, making it shine with a thousand shades of amber, turquoise, silver and gold. It looked as magical as the moon itself.

"It's beautiful," said a voice from behind her.

Nixie jumped violently. "Yeah. Always loved full moons," she said briskly, and got to her newly-formed feet. Cam stood a few feet away, staring past her. He was smiling.

"I meant your tail. It's beautiful."

Nixie wasn't sure what to say. She kept walking, pretending she hadn't heard him. Eventually, he caught up.

"Wish I had one." He turned to her and grinned. "But only the elite, right?"

Nixie didn't speak. She couldn't make herself say a word.

"Bad mood? Someone woke up on the wrong side of the kelp bed this morning."

Nixie rolled her eyes at his overused joke.

"Aha! She lives," said Cam, spotting her reaction. "I was worried there for a second."

Nixie kept walking.

It wasn't until they had made it to the top of the mountain and were facing the stone wall that she spoke again. "Get the trident, Cam," she said. "And get ready."

Cam darted into the bushes and reappeared with the trident in his hands. "All right," he said. "When will it–––"

At that moment, the doorway began to shine with light.

"Hurry," Nixie said. They raced forward, skidding to a stop in front of the door with the trident symbol on it. "Remind me why we came this way again?"

"We have to be in the pool before Zac gets there. And I couldn't have used the underwater entrance," he continued, answering her unspoken question. "I didn't bring diving gear. Not available at night."

"All right. Just hurry," she said. The moon was already a quarter of the way through the sky.

Cam reached out and brushed the trident mark with his hand. The ground underneath them shimmered and shivered like rippling water, and then they were plunging down toward the stormy surface of the Moonpool.

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