MAX

"Honey?" Kenny asked, as Max slammed the car door and sunk into her seat. "Hey, what happened?"

I can't cry, she thought, I actually can't. My mom and…it'll happen to all of them unless I get them to the ocean. How do I ever explain this?

"Max?"

"She's dead."

"What?"

"It's my fault."

"Max?"

"She…I can't…we need to get them to the ocean."

"Talk to me. Look at me."

Max choked it out. "She just…it's going to happen to all the women in our family. They need the ocean to change like I did and if not…"

"Then we get them there."

"They….how…no one will believe it until…they're going to die."

"Stop it. You're smarter than that."

"I need to stay away…being near me makes it happen quicker. It's what happened to my mom. I can't…they'll skin them, kill them and I can't…"

"Make a list. All the women in your family. We'll…Max?" he asked, seeing her shaking hands. "Look at me."

She turned her head. "I can't do this."

Stunning, he thought, no stop being turned on by her. But she is…what she looks like with or without her tail. "You'll go with them. Take them home, show them…keep them safe."

"In the ocean…"

Her home now, he thought, I'm going to lose her to the ocean. "Can you…voodoo?"

I'm so tired, Max thought, everything hurts…I killed my mom. They're all going to die.

"Honey?"

"We need a plane," she said. "The closest beach. I have to meet them there. Being around me until then will spark the change like it did with my mom."

"If you stay away?"

She shook her head. "It'll still happen…it took me a few days to change on the atoll after the bite. My legs merged, my tail fin, scales, this hair…gills…whatever happened to me inside. My…voodoo. But they need to be in the ocean or…My sister, her two daughters, my two cousins, their three daughters…okay. We can…"

"Max?" he pushed as she coughed and shuddered in the car. "Max!"

She coughed up blood, gagging in her dried out body. Swim, I need to swim…

"Drink," Kenny said, handing her the water, desperate to do anything to help her. "You're going in the ocean. I need you to be okay."

"I'm fine," Max gasped, her voice brittle, talking, hurting her throat. "I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me."

Max yelped as he dumped the water over her head, cooling her down briefly, as she glared at him. "I need salt water…swim…I…home."

He reached out, squeezing her hand, his heart shattering as he looked at her, seeing the mermaid and not the woman he married then. "I know. I'll take you back."

She hissed through her teeth at him, the mermaid overwhelming her rational thoughts in her aching body. Screeching as he pushed her back in the seat as she tried to lunge at him in her weakened state, he pinned her against it. Screeching again, she struggled against his grip.

"Max!" Kenny yelped as she tried to bite him. "Come on, Honey, get it together. Look at me! I know you're in there. I love you, I'm going to take you home. We're going to save your family and the others. Max!"

She let out a scream, shattering the rental windows and making him let go to cover his ears. Screaming again, she shoved the door open, unwilling to be contained anymore.

"Max!" Kenny gasped, ignoring his bleeding nose and ringing ears, as he looked at his wife clawing at her legs making inhuman noises. She's in pain, he thought, trapped…Max. She was going to bite me, it would have killed me.

She spun on her heel, running at him, feeling every bit the animal she was.

"Damn it!" Kenny said, dodging the suddenly feral mermaid and shoving her down. Pinning her to the ground, he pulled her arms around her back like he would do with a perp. "You are freakishly strong, Honey."

Screaming again, he held her down with his knee and covered his ears until she stopped. Binding her hands, he flipped her on her back, seeing how dark and cold her eyes were before slapping the tape on her mouth before binding her legs.

"I love you," he said as his bound captive struggled. "I know you are in there, Max. Come back to me so we can fix this. Not for me, the women in your family. I can't make them come with me, you can…but not like this. God, you don't want them to end up like this. I'll get you home, you never have to…damn it. Come on."

She threw herself against him as he put her in the trunk.

"I'm sorry, Honey," he said, slamming the lid. "I'll fix this for you. I'll save you."

KENNY

Please work, he thought, popping the trunk and looking at his bound wife. She hates me, he thought, that's what in her eyes, pure hate. This wild creature…please let this work.

"Come on," he said, lifting her up in arms. "I love you, Fishy."

She screamed again through the tape, slamming herself against him as he sliced the tape from her arms and legs before ripping it off her mouth. Shoving her off the bridge into the salt marsh before she could fight him more, he held his breath as his mermaid wife sank below the surface. It's not the ocean, god, don't make it worse for her. I need to save her.

MAX

Max twisted below the water, her body screaming in pain and her lungs threatened to burst. Swimming toward the surface, she gasped as her gills opened and her legs felt like were being pulled from her body. Sinking lower into the salty water, she pulled her clothes off as her legs stretched and merged. Ignoring the pain, she let out a sigh of contentment as her fins grew and scales covered her fully formed tail. Opening her eyes, she looked around the marsh, happy to be in her true form again and unwilling to surface.

Giggling, she swam deeper, as her changes finished and she was free from her human trappings.

KENNY

"Come on, Max," he said, seeing the still water. Did I kill her? Did she drown? She'll kill me if she's a mermaid in there and if she's not…I revive her, she'll kill me. "Damn it."

Kicking his shoes off and shedding his shirt, he eyes on the marsh. "Max!"

MAX
She swam in slow circles, feeling a bit trapped in the marsh but happy to be herself again. Frowning, I hear him…he's calling for her. Me. Old me…he can't love me.

Kenny, she thought, her human thoughts and feelings coming rushing back. Oh, god, I…no…I…swimming back toward where he threw her in the marsh, she surfaced and saw him getting ready to jump.

"Max?" he asked, freezing at the sight of her. Making out her tail under the surface. "Hey."

She nodded, overwhelmed with contentment at being a mermaid again. "Don't come any closer."

Look at her, Kenny thought, she's naked…that tail, fin…her hair…she's a fantasy. Mermaid…and she would have bit me. Make her focus, she's herself right now, even with a tail. "Will this work for your family?"

Max nodded. "Until we can get them to the ocean."

"You're staying put," Kenny said. "I mean it, Honey. You scared the shit out of me back there."

I want to stay, she thought, I want to be a mermaid…I never want to walk on land again. There are tunnels, this marsh connects to and we can…I sense them. All the way to the sea once they're here. I'll never have to…Kenny. "I'm sorry."

I'm going to miss her, he thought, I'll never get over her. Look at her…she's all I ever wanted. "Forgiven. Can you…voodoo?"

I'm whole, she thought, free…I can do anything. "Yes."

"Are you feeling better?"

Max nodded. "Much."

"You look amazing."

Max smiled. I'm irresistible to humans… "Do you want to swim with me?"

"More than you know, Honey. I'll stay up here."

"You don't want to be with me?"

Her voice, he thought, it's so…what is she doing? Watching her float on her back, showing him her long tail, naked body, all her fins and scales…not Max, not really…this mermaid will…the mermaid who jumped into my boat, saved us… "Max? You okay?"

"I'm wonderful now."

He watched as she did a flip, her tail breaking the surface, before she just floated in front of him. My mermaid, he thought, how is Max…look at her. "Are you still you?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you really needed to swim and you're all mermaid-y now and it's overwhelming you."

She slicked her long hair back. "Oh, really?"

"You jumped in my boat and saved us. Fought your way through this. You're all…dreamy and sexy mermaid now and not, well…you know saving Moluskas from the others?"

"You think I'm sexy?"

"Max, come on."

She giggled and slapped her tail on the water, soaking him. "You're no fun."

"Your family. The ones who wanted to skin you alive? The other Moluskas? Max, get it together."

She splashed him again. "Come swim with me."

"I love you," he said. "Legs or tail, mermaid or human, but you told me never to get into the water with you, Fishy."

Fishy, Max thought, this man loves me. He's always loved me…Staring up at him. "Kenny?"

Hearing the change in her voice. "Max?"

"Do we have towels? I need to get out."

"Forget that. You're staying put. You need to voodoo your family here, make sure they're okay…then we decide what to do. You should stay wet as long as you can, we don't know…Max, you were…"

She winced. "I know. I'm so sorry, I couldn't…I hurt you."

"Forgiven."

"There are tunnels, they connect this marsh to others, to the ocean."

"What?"

She smiled at him. "I feel it, I feel the others…oh, I can't explain it. You're staring."

"I can't help it."

"I'll get them to come…I know how…you need to go. You can't be here for this."

"I'm not leaving you."

"I know. Do you think you can duct tape all of us?"

"Around the bend then. No arguments."

She nodded, focusing her mind on her family. I'm sorry, she thought, but they'll be home too…where we belong. "I'll see you soon."

MAX

"It'll heal you," Max said, looking at her family in various stages of transition. "It's our home."

"Maxie…"

She smiled at her sister, showing her what she was. "It's a surprise, I know."

Caitlyn sank to her knees as she lost feeling in her legs and fell to the sandy shore. "No…it…"

"It hurts, I know," Max said, as her nieces fell and twisted on the ground. "We're home now."

Caitlyn looked at her and crawled into the water next to her. "Oh!"

Max looked around as the rest of them joined her, feeling their new found pods connection grow as they started their changes. My family, she thought, as her sister's tail finished and she stared at Max in shock as she grew younger underneath her new red curls. My sister, Max thought, watching her cousins and nieces at the end of their changes before they all submerged in the shallow marsh.

"How?" Caitlyn asked, as her daughters swam around in delight. "You died!"

Max looked around at them before filling them in on her bite, their history and nature. "This marsh connects to the ocean by tunnels. It's a long swim."

"You expect me to stay like this?"

"We can walk on land…it varies for how long," Max said. "I went about a week before I lost my mind and Kenny threw me in here."

"Kenny knows?"

"Kenny loves me…tail or no tail."

"Humans can't love us."

Mermaids, Max thought, I could just swim off with them…never surface again. "Your husband?"

She swam slowly as the new pod moved into deeper water. "I'm not his wife anymore. We're where we are supposed to be. This was kept from us, Maxie, we were punished and imprisoned in human bodies."

Max smiled at that. "Not anymore. We're free."

"You're going back to him."

Max filled them in and nodded. "I need to find the others on land, warn them…stop the cursed from killing them. You need to steer clear of others, they can't leave without our blood or scales. I'll come to you when I find them."

"Come now. We're family."

Max looked toward the tunnels, the long way to our home…where I'll spend the rest of my very long life as a mermaid…nothing about me is human anymore. Except that. Smiling, she swam with her pod toward their freedom.

KENNY

He stood on the shore at sunrise, looking at the flat marsh. She's gone, he thought, she swam away with them. Of course she did, she's a mermaid and she turned into a violent mess on land.

Looking at the ripples, he froze, seeing her familiar shape break the surface, treading in front of him in faint light. "Max?"

"They're safe."

"You came back."

I didn't want to. I want to stay like this. "I need to find the others. They're near places like this…so if they…you know. I know where. I feel them everywhere now that I'm…well like this.

"You need to stay in the water."

"I am," Max said. "For now. We're going to Canada. I'll swim it…meet you there. Three days."

"Three days, Max."