I am not panicking, I am not panicking, I am not panicking. I lied to myself as I sat on the hospital bed, I had thought Edward understood and would protect me, clearly, I was mistaken because he insisted that I had hit my head and had gotten me carted off to the hospital! Even an idiot could see the significant danger being in such a place put me in, blood tests aside he hospital had plenty of water, and liquids that were mostly water that could no doubt expose me, and with no idea as to where the bathrooms were I was in a very precarious position.

Of course, if worst came to worst I would be forced to sing a siren song to escape and confuse people enough that they would forget just enough to not be credible, but I was untrained, I could seriously damage a humans mind without meaning to, and more importantly, I could not direct my song to enchant specific people, that ability would only come with maturity. Anna said a mermaid had to be at least 50 before trying to master that ability, to do so before was dangerous.

Though as a precaution Anna taught me a few enchantment songs or siren songs, it was a last resort, I would never risk anyone's mind if I could help it. I fidgeted again, Tyler had passed out upon seeing the fire and had been taken to a separate area as the doctors were mumbling about one thing or another, I wasn't really paying attention, my mind was too occupied. Just then a familiar hand touched my shoulder, I looked up to see Anna standing next to me with a confident smile.

I sighed, Anna, even with all her years of experience with the world, was always absolutely certain everything would work out fine, I had no idea how she of all people became an optimist. "I've screwed up," i said. "You did not," she replied simply, I groaned as I planted my face in my hands, we were talking in tones too low for any human to overhear without them getting close enough for us to sense their presence, "Yes, I did! Edward knows, he could expose me putting all of us in danger,

I saw the snow, I knew the risk! I should have tried harder to have Charlie let me stay home. I have ruined everything." I groaned. "He might not tell." Anna countered. I scoffed, "He is human, and he hasn't had the time to develop a strong attachment to me, what if he decides that he likes fame more than he likes me?" I asked desperately, in this state, I could not even consider the fact that I had agreed to give him a chance.

I assumed, and rightly so, that chance would be given after a lot of planning, strategizing, and backup-planning. "Then we will pack up and head for Bermuda, it would be easy enough to fake an accident for you, one that makes it impossible to recover a body, and stay away for a decade or two, eventually it will be thought of as a hoax, like any other sightings," Anna assured.

I looked up and bit my lip, still worried, but before I could even continue with my worries Anna spoke again. "Look Isa, this just speeds our planning up a bit, you were planning to tell him soon, and I heard you ask him not to tell anybody, we continue with the plan, if he keeps it from everyone, including his family, then we know he can be trusted, if he tells then we hightail it to Bermuda.

If anything this gives us time to plan for any eventuality. Worst comes to worst we will vanish and you'll be considered a runaway, to the world at large you will just be a statistic, I know it's not the few years you wanted with your father, but you knew you would have to leave him anyway, in a few years he, along with everyone else would have begun to notice that you weren't aging, changing your hairstyle, makeup, and clothes will only work for so long." She stated.

I nodded. Just then the room door opened, I stiffened as Charlie and a blonde doctor walked in. he was very handsome, and from all that I had heard around school, this must've been Dr. Cullen. More to calm myself down than any interest in the scenario, I amused myself by imagining Sweet Esme having to beat away nurses with a stick. It worked and a calm smile made its way to my face at the idea.

"I heard the chief's daughter was in," he said smoothly. I nodded, not knowing what to say. Anna went to lean against the wall, eyeing the doctor warily. "I heard you took quite a spill." He stated. I nodded. "Yeah, well, it would have been worse if Edward hadn't pulled me out of the way. He was-" I trailed off as I suddenly realized what had actually happened. I was so worried about my secret. That I completely forgot about the way Edward saved me. The inhuman way he saved me.

One glance at Anna told me she had just realized the same thing. Shaking my head slightly as if I were a bit disoriented I continued. "- He was standing right next to me, wasn't he, Anna?" I asked. Looking in her direction. Charlie's eyes snapped to hers, just realizing she was here, Anna gave a slight nod, not saying anything before beginning to fiddle with the sleeves on her arm.

Charlie blinked and looked at Dr. Cullen. "Edward, your boy?" he asked curiously. Before Dr. Cullen could answer, Anna chose that time to speak up, likely to distract the chief from thinking too hard on the subject. "You're doctor Cullen? My name is Anna, Your wife designed my house, she has impeccable taste." She complimented. Dr. Cullen smiled and thanked Anna. The distraction was enough for Charlie to momentarily forget about Edward's daring rescue.

He then went in search of Tyler. Muttering something about cutting up a license. Dr. Cullen then asked if I would consent to have a few blood tests, as the ones on record were a little more than two years out of date. I firmly refused and stated that under no circumstances were they to draw blood from me. Something in my hard expression must have told him not to ask, and thankfully he listened.

~Scene~

After all the excitement of the day I desperately needed a swim, thankfully Charlie didn't put up a fuss when I asked to sleep over Anna's. Once inside the pool room I happily dived into the water. I instantly relaxed, I felt all the tension of the day just melting away as I swam through the water. The pool was a comforting 18ft deep, 64ft wide, and 75ft long, it fell just slightly smaller than most public pools, and much larger than any private pool I had ever seen. The room that it was in had originally been several rooms. I on Anna's behalf had ordered the separating walls torn down and the pool installed. I was sure the construction workers were shocked by the request, but we would let them make what assumptions they wanted.

A feature I liked about the pool was that it was self cleaning. I opened my eyes under the water and smiled. I could almost pretend I was back in phoenix, swimming with Anna in the ocean. Anna waved from the other side of the pool. I smiled in amusement as I swam towards her.

Of course I could cross the distance in less than 30 seconds, but I liked to take my time, briefly, I noted that the water was cold. But I didn't mind, although we could tell the difference between hot and cold mermaids didn't mind the cold at all.

In fact, had I swam into the arctic, I probably wouldn't have noticed until I saw an iceberg. I figured this out when we had flown out to Chicago last year to visit Phil's family. It was during the winter and I had gone out for an early morning walk without a sweater, and although I knew it was cold, I couldn't tell how cold.

When I came back, Phil was watching TV, upon seeing me come in without a sweater his eyes bugged out of his head and he asked me how long I had been out. Thinking nothing of it I told him I had been outside for a little over half an hour. He then asked me if I was cold, and when I truthfully answered no, he gave me the most suspicious look and informed me that it was currently 10F.

I blushed with embarrassment and mumbled something about not being bothered by the cold before hightailing it to the room where I was staying. That night I had called Anna and berated her for not telling me about this. She had apologized and said it had slipped her mind. Phoenix had never gotten so cold that a lack of sweater or coat would raise suspicions. And Anna had never been to Chicago, she had no idea that it got that cold.

When I reached Anna she signed that she was going to show me a new power, one that I would be getting soon, I had learned that mermaids gained powers as they matured, they gained five in the first four years and the rest over time, by the age of 150 a mermaid would have all her powers.

I signed back that I had understood. That was another thing, Anna had taught me ASL so we could effectively communicate without having to put our heads above water. Anna smirked and with a wave of her hand, she vanished. I Jerked back in shock.

Oh, I would get her for that!

~Scene~

Half an hour later I was still scowling in mock annoyance at Anna. "So, you're saying that in five months I'll be able to turn invisible?" I asked. We were currently sitting on the edge of the pool, gently swinging our tails through the water,

I had always admired her beautiful purple tail, of course I loved my orange one but still, her tail was beautiful, and she had long ago colored her hair to match her tail, it was while she was in bermuda, the other mermaids had collected a ton of purple sea shells to grind into pigment, and instead of dying just her tips as the others had done to match their tail colors she had dyed her entire head, the others had made this special salve that made the dye permanent,

I had thought of getting an orange streak in my hair, but at the end of the day i decided against it and often just wore orange jewelry when i felt like representing more of my fishy side

Anna nodded, "Yes, but it's a bit more complicated than that, you'll need a few training sessions, as mermaids you know by nature we are instinctive creatures, so when this power develops you'll find yourself wanting to use it to conceal yourself, particularly in stressful situations,

it's like when you got your heating abilities except instead of anger, stress is your trigger, during that time i'd suggest you keep some clay with you since sculpting calms you down. " she said, I nodded seriously, I had some play dough i could carry around, though i mainly used it to practice designs when i came up with new ones so i wouldn't waste time with my sculpting clay.

Changing the subject abruptly as I didn't want to waste time worrying about gaining a new power that was months away I turned towards Anna and scooted myself to the very edge of the pool letting myself drop into the water, i exhaled as my body fully submerged for a moment before I came up and spoke. "Now what about Edward, he can't be human." I said, Anna nodded in agreement. "I'm not sure what he could be, obviously we know that there are various magical beings in the world, Sirens, witches, fae and the like, but I don't believe I have ever heard of a being like Edward Cullen, he is fast, obviously very strong, pale, and has golden eyes," she mused.

I furrowed my brow in concentration, before I blinked as I realized something. "He's also hard, and cold. I never Realized it until now, but he's definitely colder than the humans." I said. Anna hummed thoughtfully as she got back into the water herself. "Well, i'll do a bit of research and call Clara, she and her mate are going to be on land for a few months this year to gather current information to teach the younger mermaids for whenever they decide to leave bermuda

And search for either their mate or a lover, if Clara doesn't know then we'll google it and hope something pops up." She said, left unspoken was our mutual agreement to keep Edward and his family from realizing we knew they weren't human, or at least not full human