Thanks to everyone whose shown an interest in Strange Scales – you guys keep me smiling.

Disclaimer: I do not own twilight, but the mermaids and other original points are mine. Please don't take them.

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Chapter 4: The Colony – BPOV

"What am I going to do?" I muttered as I crouched alone in a darkened corner.

The mermaids were gone now. Mara, their apparent leader, simply said, "Give her some space, she needs time to adjust," in her flavoured, what-sounded-like-Russian accent. And they left me alone to wallow in my own crushing despair. I had promise Charlie so faithfully that I wouldn't go anywhere near the beach and what had I done?To be fair I hadn't gone anywhere near that beach. The beach I had been attacked on was in the opposite direction of the one up by Port Angeles where that kid had been found. I hadn't even been planning to step on the shore, it should have been safe. That knowledge wasn't much of a consolation right now though.

I suddenly remembered my lunch date with Charlie – I'd let him down. Again. I'd even gone as far as to say: "Sharks and wild bears couldn't keep me away." Well maybe they couldn't but apparently mermaids had.

For some reason that thought hit hardest, and I clutched at my chest trying to obscure the hollow ache that stemmed from there. The ache in my neck had long since passed, and my legs, or rather tail, was mobile once again. Now it was my heart that hurt.

Worse still were thoughts of Edward. I pined for him most of all. He would be frantic, crazed. Did he think I was dead? No, don't think on it!

Some of the last words I had said to him were, "I'll see you in a few hours."

Another promise broken

Even though none of this was my fault, I still felt ashamed – at myself and my uncanny ability to hurt those I loved me. I redirected my thinking; it hurt too much to focus on him. Instead, I thought about my situation.

Mermaids, I was still having trouble with the concept. It was just so… unbelievable. If I'd been composing a list of my next potential supernatural creature run-ins vicious mermaids wouldn't have made the top-ten, hell, they wouldn't have even made the list. If mermaids existed, what else was out there? Next it would be Demons and Angels.

I sighed, looking down at the ice-blue tail that was yet to vanish.

Becoming a Mermaid… This hadn't been in the plan. I'd had it all laid out in a nice neat order: leave Charlie and Renée with the best resolution I could give them, let Alice have her fun with the wedding, and tie myself to Edward in every human way before becoming immortal. Now, my plan was totally, tragically and irrevocably messed up.

Throwing my hands over my face, I squashed my palms into my eyes and groaned.

"Carry on like that and your eyes will bleed," a rather sly voice said. "Not a pretty sight. Not to mention the fact that you won't have any sight."

Carefully looking up through my tresses of floating hair, I saw a girl in the opening to my dark room. She was young, perhaps a year older than me, with masses of dark red hair and a waving green tail. Her smile was crooked, and not in a cute way, it was almost a sneer.

"Go away."

My voice wasn't the least bit accommodating. I didn't want interruptions, especially uninvited interruptions of the mermaid variety. I'd had enough of them.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said, in a voice that was anything but apologetic. She placed a hand over her heart in mock sincerity. "Am I interrupting your pity parade?"

I snarled, and was shocked that I had. Where had that come from? Tips of fangs pressed down, elongating to indent my bottom lip and I cringed, hunching down to wind my arms around my legs – err, tail. It wasn't smooth like skin, but almost metallic. Lips quivering, I tried not to look at the tiny interlocking discs of scales that now covered everything below my torso, as my arms tightened and I dropped my face, hiding in my floating tresses of hair.

"Ah, still working through the mermaid motions," she nodded, knowingly, "that parts a bitch. Still, you seem more depressed than our usual haul. Resenting the change a bit, are we?"

I didn't say anything, just glared from my corner.

"Uh-huh," she said, and held up her hands. "I get it, you don't want to talk. That's fine because I don't want to listen. See, we're already getting along so well."

I frowned. "Who are you?" I asked as the fangs retracted. "Why are you here?"

"Ah, glad you asked," the girl grinned. "I am Riana."

She made a show of curtseying. And she actually pulled it off quite gracefully, considering the tail.

"Mara has assigned me to be your mentor and teacher," she grimaced as if at a bad taste. "Ick, that makes me sound so old. Sigh, the last thing I ever swore I'd be when I grew up was a teacher, oh well, time and tides."

She shrugged and I started to wonder if this girl had some kind of mental problem, she acted a little strangely. She's a mermaid, of course she's strange, my mind barked.

"Anyway, I'm supposed to show you around, show you how to hunt, track, and generally how to act like a badass little mermaid." She looked me up and down. "Although, in your case I may have to reconsider the badass part, you look kind of wimpy to me."

The snarl rose in my chest again, like a swarm of angry bees as the fangs re-sharpened. This girl, this Riana, really knew how to push on my nerves.

She chirped up immediately, "That's the spirit. Now c'mon, I'll show you around."

Feeling the weight of my despair pressing down on me, I hunched backwards, pressing into the wall behind. The stone was smooth and cold and I just wanted to huddle, alone, in my dark corner and mope about what a hag Fate could be. I had no interest in doing anything else.

Riana's smile faltered. "Look, I get that this probably wasn't what you envisioned as an ideal future. I bet this change has crushed your dreams, or ruined some major I'm-going-to-be-a-singer career but hey, it's happened. So, you can either wallow in self-pity in this miserable excuse for a bedroom, which will inevitably accomplish nothing, or…" she reached out a hand towards me, "you can come with me and take a look around. What'll it be?"

She had a point, wallowing was useless.

"I'll even show you where we hide our secret stash of surface contraband…" she sang.

Perhaps if I get a good look around this place I can find a way out. Perhaps I can find my way back to Edward. That thought alone gave me the energy I needed. It flooded my body with hope, and reaching out I took her hand.

She grinned, hefting me up. "Awesome."

…

Riana, as I quickly found, was vivacious. She had a sparking personality, like a match just lit, but she was sardonic too, and deeply sarcastic.

"By the way, we're roomies," she had said, the second she had pulled me up, "so you'll be seeing a hell of a lot more of my pretty face."

I think my mouth dropped open. This girl was sharing my room… err… cave? How was I supposed to escape with one of them watching my every move?

"You're thrilled I know," she nodded solemnly, "not many are as lucky to be graced with my incandescent company, but save your appreciation until the end of the tour."

With Riana leading the way, we swam from the dark room out into what appeared to be a vast hallway. It was a strange feeling, not to walk from the room, but to swim. Stranger still was that I couldn't even swim as I used to – with two legs – I had to kick and flip with my one powerful tail. It propelled me swiftly through the dark water and even in the limited light its scales caught and glittered. So bizarre… The water around me, though, was cool and comforting across my skin – all of my skin. What had they done with my clothes?

"We live in an underwater cave system," Riana told me, "it maps the ocean floor for miles and miles. I still don't know how far it reaches and I've been here for a long time."

As we swam, the darkness dimmed. There was no natural light; the underwater illumination had a greenish glow that made everything look all the more ghoulish.

"What is that?" I asked. "Where is that light coming from?"

"Glad you asked."

She pointed to a tentacled anemone sat on the wall – a squat little creature with bioluminescent colours that glowed green and yellow. There wasn't just the one either; as we swam their numbers grew. They coated the walls, lighting our way.

"Pretty cool, huh," the red-head said.

There wasn't just one colour either. There were: pinks and lilacs, oranges and blues. They cast off light like a dying rainbow.

I tried to listen, to take in every word that she said – who knew which bit of information could be the most vital to my escape – but with my head aching as it was, it was hard, so hard. An incessant buzz was drilling into my mind – was it an after-effect of the change?

"Now, on your right," she continued, "you will see a set of tunnels…"

It was extensive, just tunnel after tunnel after tunnel. As we moved further, her descriptions washed over me until they lost all meaning. Not that she was putting that much effort into it in the first place, considering her commentary.

"…another tunnel followed by a tunnel, a tunnel and, oh, wait… another tunnel. That's a tunnel too…"

I imagined this was what living as a worm would feel like.

"So," I said, in an attempt at pleasantness, "you guys have a lot of tunnels, then?"

She turned to eye me warily, probably wondering at my sudden participation.

"Oh yeah, its tunnel madness down here," she smiled, and for the first time it seemed genuine. "The only thing you really have to remember is the location of your own tunnel and the store-tunnels, it won't be too hard. Plus, you'll have me to show you the ropes for the next few weeks. If you get lost just screech and someone will find you and show you the way. Anyway, you distracted me, now I've lost my place, oh yeah, on you right there's a tunnel…"

And so it continued. As we progressed, my hopes of finding an escape route quickly began to diminish. How was I supposed to find my way around, let alone out? Everything looked the same – all the tunnels and all the caves. And it was all dark. Endless dark…

"Ah, and now for the pièce de résistance…" she paused at a corner up ahead and light flooded across her face.

"Is it another tunnel?" I asked.

Snorting, she turned away, and with a grand arms-out gesture, she pulled me to her side and revealed the vast space beyond.

"No, it's the dome!"

The thing was massive; perhaps five hundred meters wide by… well I had never been very good at calculus. It was unbelievably huge, and pitted on all sides with tunnels on every level. Riana and I had emerged from one of the lowest caves which only served to enhance the grandeur of the mermaid's lair.

As I stared – half-awed, half-horrified – at the massive beehive-like structure before us, Riana continued with her tour-guide façade.

"This is the epicentre of our colony. The communal hub if you will. You will find the exits are located here and… Oh, hang on, there is only one exit. That's not very safe. You'd think management would have been more careful and account for fire regulations, but since we're underwater that apparently got overlooked. So if there is a fire, we'll all drown."

I barely heard her past the part where she said 'one exit.'

"Where is the exit?" I quickly asked, too quickly. "I didn't see where you pointed."

With one eyebrow raised, she simply lifted a finger skyward.

I followed it, up and up and up… There was no ceiling, only one massive opening in the roof that allowed light from the water's surface to filter down into the dome. And below it there were many other shapes, shadows, flitting about.

Mermaids swam, glittering in the sun, the way honey-bees buzzed about a hive. They did buzz too; the incessant trill of their chatter filled the water.

"How many are there?" I asked, breathless. The sheer numbers were overwhelming.

"We," Riana stressed, "number at about three thousand… in this colony."

I only saw girls too; there was not one boy among them.

One thought echoed hollowly in my head: how was Edward ever supposed to find me?

"Okay, now for the serious stuff," the red-head clapped her hands together. "There are only a select few rooms or areas really that you need to know about: One, the food court – which is really just a massive stock-room; two, the meat-locker, although you won't be allowed in there for a few weeks yet. Three…"

My focus slipped. That incessant buzzing still drilled into my head. What was that?

"It's simply an after-effect of the change," Riana said, "don't worry, it'll go off."

I stopped dead, looking at her.

"I didn't ask that out loud."

She paused, starting to grimace. That was the look people got when they 'let the ball drop'.

"Can you…" No, the idea was too horrible, "can you read my thoughts?"

No, no one could read my thoughts! Not even Edward! This was… this was…

"Alright, don't panic again, I don't want to have to deal with a meltdown like the one you had when you arrived. Mara wouldn't like that either. So, just… deep breaths, okay?"

Swimming back, she took hold of my shoulders and stared into my eyes.

…Calm?

The thought, so clear in my mind, felt horribly foreign, not my own. And now that I thought back, I could remember a few moments like this when I had woken up – thoughts that did not feel quite like mine. Misery consumed me – they could read my thoughts. All I could do was stare at Riana, stare into her shining green eyes – they were so sharp the colour almost glowed.

"I'm not going to sugar-coat it," she said, carefully. "We can all read thoughts, every single one of us. We all read each other's, it's like this telepathic link we all share."

The incessant buzzing, I thought.

"Yes," she nodded, "you'll get used to it. We all do. I can even show you how to block it a little, and how to listen only when you want to. But it'll take time."

Time… TIME! I needed to block out my thoughts now! They were mine, my own. Oh God, had she heard me plotting to escape? My eyes darted.

"Hey, look," she said, "it's nothing to be worried about. We all have our own dark secrets and half of the time we just bypass them. We try to give each other as much privacy as we can." She paused then, gifting me with a sad little smile. "And you aren't the only newbie to hold onto thoughts of escape. That's natural, but it passes. It always does."

A mire of depression swept me under. Did anyone ever escape this place? How many others were there here like me? How many had been taken from their homes? …How many had managed to return? I knew the answer to that last question would be bleak.

Riana sighed. "I can literally feel how miserable you are right now. How about we take your mind off your impending despair, huh?"

What do you mean? I thought at her, but she only smiled, holding out a hand.

"Come on, come meet the others. They've been waiting to meet you."

They flocked forth then, as it at some invisible signal. The dome was suddenly full of mermaids and as Riana led me into the centre of the sandy floor they circled and flitted through shafts of light. Their colours shimmered magnificently: liquid gold and platinum, sapphire blues and ruby reds, and as I stared my trepidation began to wane. These were no creatures to be feared, they were exquisite, beautiful beyond belief! The sudden urge to accept them as such was nearly overwhelming. A little voice at the back of my mind screamed at me – that these were not my thoughts, not my feelings, they were other – but it was easily quelled beneath the mass. With the mermaids came a flood of words and emotion – nonsensical and fully-formed, enthusiastic and intrigued. There was no malice, no hostility, just interest; and they fluttered about like butterflies or flashing fish in a rainbow shoal. Sister, they called – a thousand silent voices at once.

Beneath the myriad of consuming thought I began to drown, in an entirely different way. I felt myself slipping, losing my grip, losing myself. I was swept away on a tide of their making, and I began to forget how I had come to be here, and why I should be afraid. There was no room for fear. Not among my own kind, not among my sisters.

Edward, that little voice screamed, but it faded fast.

I forgot about the surface-world, I forgot about my mother and my father, I forgot about school and my friends. And I forgot about the girl was who had once been Bella Swan…

…