I couldn't believe Dash had betrayed us like that. I mean, I could-I knew what he was like-but I had thought we were friends. Almost friends, anyway. How could he sell Sylvie to that creep?

I sat there feeling like I was about to cry. She'd saved my life. All she wanted to do was survive, and for her species not to die out. And I'd failed her. How could I have failed her?

"What do we do now?" Simon asked me.

"I don't know," I had to admit. "It's all my fault. I never should have dragged us all out to the island that day. Sylvie would be safe under the water, and everything would be okay."

"We gotta get her back," he insisted. "You have a plan, don't you?"

I had to admit that I didn't.

"You gotta have a plan! Can't you think of one?"

I was about to answer when someone knocked on the door frame. It took us both by surprise. We were pretty sure that no one else knew about this place, so it could only be one person.

"Go away, Dash!" I shouted.

"Hey, man," he said, staying outside behind the curtain, "I only came to apologize."

"Keep your phony apologies! Why should I believe a single word you say?"

"Look, I'm coming in so we can talk face to face."

"We've got nothing to talk about."

"So I guess you don't want to hear my plan to break her out, then."

I started to say something, but then I thought about it. I didn't have a plan. And my plans were good, but Dash's were foolproof. He thought of everything. If he had a plan, and he was sincere about it, then maybe things would turn out okay after all.

I pulled the curtain aside and let him in. "This had better be good."

"Oh, it will be. Listen, I . . . I thought about some things, and it's just not worth it. She kept staring at me, you know, and she looked so sad, and I couldn't do that to her, I just couldn't. Is this what they call a conscience? Cause I don't think I've ever had one before."

"What about the money?" Simon asked.

"I left the money. Just dropped it right on the floor when I left. It didn't feel right keeping it. Maybe if it's still there, when we go back to get her, could we take . . . some of it?" He was looking at me.

"Let's hear your plan first," I said. "Once Sylvie is free and on her way back to the beach, if we happen to find any money just lying around, you're welcome to it. All of it. If, and only if, this plan of yours works."

"Oh, it'll work. Yes, it will. My plans never fail."

"Actually-" Simon began, but then he saw the look on Dash's face and thought better of it. "Never mind. What's the plan?"

"Glad you asked. Okay, Doc is holding her in the old abandoned aquarium just outside of town. It's just him, so there's no security or anything. And I know the codes for all the doors."

"So we just walk in, grab her, and walk out again?" I was more than a little skeptical. "It can't possibly be that easy."

"Oh, there's more. Listen up."

He outlined the rest of his plan for us. Part of me was listening eagerly, hopeful that it would actually work and I would see Sylvie again. The other part was listening for anything that could possibly go wrong with the plan. And I knew something would. Plus I still wasn't sure Dash was really on our side. I hadn't quite given up being mad at him for his betrayal, and unless his plan succeeded beyond all expectations, I would still be mad at him for a long time.

" . . . so that's it," he finished. "It's not enough to just get her out of there, cause the doc'll just chase her all over again. We've gotta make sure he's not in a position to do that. And I know how. The stuff he's keeping in that place has got to be against some law or other."

"So we call the cops on him?" I asked.

"Basically, yeah. I'll handle that part. So you guys know what you need to do, right?"

"How do we know we can trust you?" Simon asked.

"You're gonna have to have faith, little man. I wouldn't pull that kind of thing on you twice."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Believe what you want, but we gotta go now! C'mon, the car's waiting."

"You've still got the car?" I demanded. "I thought you were gonna bring it back!"

"When we're done! When she's safely swimming towards freedom and everything is okay, then I'll bring the car back! Okay?"

"And in the meantime, we're driving around town in full view of everyone. We'll get caught!"

"No we won't! I know how to get there on the back roads. Let's go already!"

I gave up. There was no point in arguing further; we'd never get there in time. We ran out to the convertible, climbed in, and were off.

Dash's plan was simple: one of us would distract Dr. Omen while the other two broke Sylvie out of her tank and snuck out the back door. With any luck, he wouldn't notice she was gone until we were already at the beach.

"And that's when Phase Two of my brilliant plan kicks in," Dash told us.

"What's Phase Two?" I asked.

He just grinned and wouldn't tell us anything.

"You're not gonna hurt anybody, are you?"

"Not anyone who doesn't deserve it."

"Dude, you're scaring me. What are you planning to do?"

"You'll see. When the time comes."

"If anybody gets killed, I don't even know you," Simon said. Dash looked at him and laughed.

"Don't worry, half-pint, I'm not a killer. All I wanna do is make him think twice about coming after us. It's probably best if you don't know how. That way if we do get caught, you can claim plausible deniability."

"What's that mean?"

"It means we don't know him," I explained.

We drove past the old aquarium, parked up the street, and walked back. Before we approached the building, I pulled out my disguise kit from my backpack. I had to make sure Dr. Omen wouldn't recognize me.

Once everything was in place, I walked up to the front door, carrying a box that looked heavy but didn't actually have anything in it. I wasn't planning on actually delivering it, but it was vital to the distraction.

There was a buzzer. I pressed it.

It was a few minutes before the doc answered it, just long enough to make me nervous. He peered out with a curious expression. "Yes? Who is it?"

"I have a delivery here, sir," I said, trying to make my voice low and gruff. "Sign here, please."

"I didn't order anything."

I pretended to read off the address from the clipboard. "This is what I was given, sir."

"No, no, that must be wrong! I didn't order anything!"

"I just make the deliveries, sir, I don't handle order fulfillment." I had to keep him busy for at least five minutes, probably ten just to be on the safe side, while Simon and Dash snuck in and broke Sylvie out of her tank. Then I was supposed to meet them at the back door and we would drive to a pay phone. Why, I wasn't sure, but it was all part of Dash's plan.

"Let me see that." He grabbed for the clipboard, but I held it out of his reach.

"I'm sorry, sir, it's too technical for you to understand. Your copy is on a different page." The real reason I didn't want him to see it was because it was one of my old homework papers, because we hadn't had time to print up a real fake order form.

"Is there someone I can talk to? Do you have a supervisor?"

"I'm afraid the office is vacant right now. It's after hours, everyone's gone home. We have a twenty-four-hour eight-hundred number for customer service-"

"I don't want a recording! I want your boss! Right now!" The doc pulled out a cell phone that was bigger than the clipboard. "Call him. Call him at home if you have to. I want this sorted out right this minute!"

"I don't understand what the problem is." Had it been enough time? Should I be wrapping this up and going around to the back? "If you're worried about charges, the item's been paid for already. Our returns policy is on the second page of your invoice-"

There was a thud from inside the building. Dr. Omen looked over his shoulder. "What was that?"

I shrugged. "The wind?"

"Something's going on. Just leave that here, I'll get it in a minute."

"Um . . . on second thought, I think I may have the wrong address after all. Sorry to bother you. Bye!" I grabbed the box and raced around the side of the building as the doc slammed the door. I could only hope that Dash and Simon had completed their part of the mission.

When I got to the back door, the car was waiting . . . but there was no one in it. That was not good. I threw the box in the back and got in, waiting.

The back door suddenly banged open and my friends came running out. "Good, you're here," Dash said. "Buckle up, we gotta go now!"

Sylvie ran to me and threw her arms around me. "Thank you!" she sobbed.

"Don't thank me," I said. "I was just the distraction."

Simon had something in his hand that he was waving back and forth. "These things take forever!" he complained, and I saw that he was holding a Polaroid photo.

"By the time we get to the beach," Dash said as he started the car, "they'll be crystal clear! Phase Two, well underway. Let's go!"

"What did you do?" I asked, though I wasn't sure I really wanted to know.

Dash looked at me and grinned. "Seems we weren't the only ones who had the idea to block up the tunnel. There's enough explosives inside to blow all of downtown Eerie sky-high. Once we make that call to the police, the doc'll be too busy to come after us. Ingenious, no?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "Pretty clever."

"I know." He sat back and smirked, then turned his attention to the road. As he had said, he kept to the back roads, though there wasn't much traffic on the main streets this time of night. We couldn't take the chance that we'd get stopped. After what seemed like hours, we finally pulled up at the beach.

The gates were still open from our previous visit; we'd close them on our way out.

I walked with Sylvie to the edge of the water. "I guess this is goodbye, then."

"For now," she said. "Until we meet again."

"I'll be there," I promised.

She pulled me close to her and kissed me. It felt really good. After we broke apart, she said, "Turn around."

I did so.

"All three of you."

"What? I'm not looking," said Dash, although I knew he totally was. "Okay, fine. I hope this means I get my shirt back."

"It's not even your shirt!" I said. He ignored me.

When both shirt and shorts had hit the sand, there was a splash. We turned around just in time to see a fin sticking up out of the water. Then that horsey head poked up.

From behind me came the click-whirr of a Polaroid camera. "For the evidence locker," Simon said.

"Yeah," I said. "Sure."

I stood there and watched until she was out of sight, diving down deep to swim through the tunnel to freedom. Ten years seemed like such a long time at that moment. I felt like I'd never see her again.

Dash clapped his hands together. "Well," he said, "it's been fun, but we've got a phone call to make." On the way back to the car, he picked up the shirt and tossed it in the back of the car. The shorts he left behind. Guess they didn't fit him.

"Bye, Sylvie," I said.

"The little mermaid swam through the tunnel and out to sea. She was very sad to leave her true love behind, but she knew she'd see him again. In the meantime, there was a whole big world to explore. All she had to do was be at the cat-shaped rock at the Jersey Shore in ten years. Plenty of time for exploring."

We drove to a pay phone and called the police, filling them in on Dr. Omen's illegal explosives cache. Sergeant Knight wasn't too willing to believe us at first (okay, so maybe Simon and I had made one too many claims about aliens or Bigfoot or whatever), but when we told him we had actual photographic evidence, he was at least willing to come out to the old aquarium and take a look.

I thought Doc would have long since cleared out (the reason that Simon had taken the pictures), but when we pulled up along with two cop cars, he was just loading the van.

"Excuse me, sir," Officer McNamara approached him. "Mind if we take a look inside?"

"I was just leaving, Officer."

"Sure you were," I said. "If you think you're going to find her, she's already gone."

"Her?" The cop peered into the back of the van. "Were you holding someone here, sir?"

"No, no-you don't understand . . ."

"Understand this." Simon stepped up and handed one of the other officers the photos. "We got a good look at what was inside. Shouldn't you ask him what's inside those crates marked DANGER-HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE?"

"Maybe his buddies in the Army gave them to him," said Dash. "Wonder what they're gonna say when they turn up?"

"Yeah," I said. "I bet they won't be too happy. You were going to sell them something you no longer have, isn't that right?"

"What did you do with her?" the doctor demanded. He lunged for me, but the cops intervened.

"I think you'd better come take a ride with us," said Officer McNamara. "Joe, you bring the van. We want to get a good look at what's inside. The rest of you search the facility for anything you can find."

We hung around while they searched. They asked us a few questions, and then basically let us go. They didn't even ask where we got the convertible. It was too bad, because Dash had a great story ready for that one that he never got to use. I know because he told us all about it while he drove us home.

He dropped us off at my house and said, "I'm going to return the car now. Just like I promised."

"Good."

"I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Yeah, see you." I happened to glance at my watch as Dash drove off. It was ten-thirty. Way past curfew, but with all that had happened, I thought it was after midnight.

"See ya, Marshall," Simon said as he headed back to his own house.

"Yeah, hope you don't get in too much trouble."

"Oh, I doubt my parents will even notice I was gone."

It was sad but true. Simon's little brother Harley was such an unholy terror that he took up all his parents' time and attention. That was part of the reason that Simon was always over at our house. Every once in a while my dad would joke about adopting him, since he was practically part of the family anyway. At least I think he was joking.

When I got in, my parents were watching TV. "Hey, guys," I said. "Sorry I'm late."

My mom jumped up and came running over to me. "Marshall, where have you been? We were about to call the police!"

"It's okay. I already talked to them."

"What's going on?" Dad asked.

"Sylvie's gone," I said. I sat down on the couch and felt like crying. "She had to go home. Something about her visa being messed up or something. She said she'd stay in touch."

Mom sat down beside me and put her arm around me. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I know you really liked her."

"She came all this way to see me, and she couldn't even stay."

"Can you call her?" Dad asked.

I shook my head. "She's not even on the plane yet. And she said something about really crummy phone service where she lives. She said she'd write to me as soon as she could. Which might not be for weeks."

"Sounds like someone needs some chocolate ice cream." Mom got up and scooped me a big bowl, which I was absolutely not allowed to have before bedtime unless someone died or something. She even put a little whipped cream on it, to make it extra special.

"Wow. Thanks." It was nice to have some sympathy at a time like this. "Do I still have to go to school tomorrow?"

"You have finals coming up," Mom said. "I think you need to go to school, don't you?"

"I guess so."

"I know it hurts right now," Dad said. "But it won't last forever. Someday, you'll meet the right girl. The one you'll spend the rest of your life with."

"Sure, Dad." I didn't tell him that I had already promised to marry Sylvie, ten years from now. I was never going to "get over" her. I didn't see why I had to.

I finished my ice cream and went to bed. I thought it would take me a long time to fall asleep, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

The next morning it was all over the news.

Dr. Omen had been arrested for possession of illegal explosives. He claimed he was training dolphins to plant underwater charges for the Army, but since there weren't any dolphins, no one believed him. The Army denied all knowledge of him and his claims.

No mention was ever made of Sylvie, which made me feel relieved. At last she could live her life in peace and not be hunted from one end of the world to the other.

I got a letter from her about a week later. It was postmarked from Australia. I remember thinking she must have been a really fast swimmer to make it all the way to Australia. I hid it in my jacket until I got to my room, and then I opened it.

Marshall,

Thank you so much for helping me escape. I need to be free, and if that doctor had kept me locked up, I never would have seen open ocean again. I'm in Sydney right now, but eventually I hope to make my way to Scotland. I've heard rumors there's one of my kind in Loch Ness, and I'm hoping it's true. It's a terrible thing to be alone.

Remember your promise. I'll see you in ten years, by the big rock that looks like a cat.

Love,

Sylvie

I slept with that letter under my pillow until the next one arrived three weeks later. She'd made it to Loch Ness; unfortunately, Nessie was not at home when she arrived. She was making inquiries, but she was running into a bit of trouble with the locals. I thought they spoke English here, she wrote. No one here seems to understand a word I say.

On the day after the last day of school, the island ferries started running during the week. Simon and I hopped aboard the first one of the day. Dash refused to come with us, Dramamine or no Dramamine. I think he still felt a bit guilty about helping to get Sylvie captured in the first place.

There was a net of bright orange safety fencing around the open sides of the dock. Guess they didn't want to take any chances on anyone else falling in. I sat down on a big rock at the edge of the water and looked out at the lake. It didn't look that big on the surface. How many people knew that a hundred feet down, there was a tunnel to a river that led out to the ocean?

Maybe just us.

"You think she's ever coming back?" Simon asked me.

"I hope so," I said.

"And they all lived happily ever after," I finished.

Holly wasn't letting me off so easily. "Daddy! What happened when she went to the beach, ten years later?"

"Um . . ."

"Daddy."

"I wasn't there. But I had a really good excuse."

Sylvie made it to the cat-shaped rock at sunset on the day she had promised to meet me. She found my two best friends there instead.

"Where is Marshall?" she asked.

"Yeah," Dash began, "that's kind of a funny story . . ."

"He tried really hard to be here," said Simon. "But where he is now . . . you know what? He sent us a message to give to you. I'll let him speak for himself."

It had taken me two weeks to save up enough computer time to record my message to Sylvie, and another week to make sure it was sent off properly. I had e-mailed a hard copy of my message as well, just in case the video didn't work right or got erased or something.

Simon had brought along his laptop to show her. He opened the message and pressed Play.

"Hello, Sylvie. I know you're disappointed that I couldn't be there with you. I really tried, but my CO couldn't give me the time off. See . . . I'm in Iraq. I enlisted after 9/11, and I've been here for almost eight months. I should be home for Christmas, though. Simon has an address where you can write to me; we'll make plans, as soon as I'm a civilian again. I can't wait to see you. Thanks for understanding. I love you, Sylvie."

That was it. There was so much more I wanted to say to her, but I didn't want to keep her there longer than necessary.

"He's a soldier," she said.

"Do you want the e-mail address or the regular mail? E-mail is faster, but he can't check it that often, so maybe the regular mail is-"

"Why?"

"Cause that's how he is," said Dash. "He's gotta save the whole world. You'll get your turn soon."

"All right." She hauled a waterproof backpack up onto the shore. "Can you give me a ride back to Eerie? And I need a place to stay. And probably a job too. I want to be there when he comes home. We've waited long enough."

"Sure." Dash held the back door for her. "You're family. And Eerie is your home, too. Let's go home, Mermaid."

She giggled. "I like that. Mermaid. Like Ariel."

"You know Ariel?" Simon asked.

"I've seen movies. Ariel gave up her life in the sea for the man she loved. I can do the same."

They drove off, on their way home.

"Happily ever after." I looked down. Holly was asleep, bless her little heart. I straightened her Elsa blanket and tucked her favorite stuffed Flounder in beside her.

"Good night, mer-baby. I hope you find your handsome prince someday. Even if he's just an ordinary kid with balance issues."

Fairy tales do come true. Even in Eerie.