Edward spirited Bella upstairs. He smiled as he relayed what he could hear of Esme's efforts to give Naia a meal, laughing at the faces she made as she gobbled or spat out Esme's experimental offerings. Bella thought of Charlie's freezer stocked with fish, and wondered if she had found a use for it after all.

'So, what do you think, Bella? What is she?' Edward took Bella's hand and started tracing her fingers, rubbing the muscles of her palm with his thumb. She began to relax into that place of blissful excitement Edward's touch always brought her to.

'Mmm. I like the mermaid theory. I'd like there to be mermaids. Can you make me a mermaid, Edward? Bring me to live in your secret garden 'neath the waves? '

Edward looked conflicted, torn between disapproval and laughter. He grinned.

'We need to go diving. I should book something... I'd like to see your hair all waving round you, underwater. And your breasts... floating... in their seaweed bikini.' His fingers wandered, stroking up her arm, sliding down the curve of her breast and up again. He'd been joking, but the idea clearly held appeal for him.

'I'd give up my tail for you, Edward. I'd give it all away, to get you to kiss me.' She gasped as he rolled on top of her, stole her breath. His lips were cold and gentle and insistent.

'I know, my love, I know,' he whispered against her ear. He pressed his forehead against hers as he ground his erection between her thighs, crushing her clit with its familiar chill, its hardness.

'I would too. You know I would too.'

He reached down, unsnapping her jeans and pulling them off, running his fingers under her panties and breathing in her own sea smell. He groaned, full of the desire to have her coming already, twisting her hands in his hair and calling his name.

Downstairs Naia cocked her head, listened thoughtfully, and her eyes shone with excitement.

Edward and Bella emerged some time later, attached, eyes soft. They sat on the sofa and Jasper flung himself dramatically on top of them, swooning into Edward's lap, with a Scarlett style,

'Oh, the romance!'

He wiggled happily, a cheesy grin on his face, while Edward cheerfully tried to push him onto the floor. Bella laughed, kicked Jasper smartly and rested her lips on Edward's neck, unrepentant.

'Jake went home for a bit, he said he'd come back and pick you up later, when Billy got in,' Alice said. 'Why don't we go outside?'

They walked towards the river, its dull colour reflecting the overcast day. Edward picked Bella up and leapt the wide span of it effortlessly. For Bella, it felt like flight. Emmet held out his hand to Naia, but she looked at him blankly, then down at the water. She knelt on the bank and trailed her fingers into the river, and then stood, poised, looking down. In a second, she flicked her arms out and leapt, seeming to be suspended in the air momentarily, and then she dived, disappearing into the water without a splash. A ring widened in the place where she had entered the water, and began to boil and bubble furiously. The family stood there, Bella and Edward on the far bank, the other two couples on the near one, goggling at the roiling water.

A body exploded out of it, leaping in the air – shiny and muscular, a dolphin flashed up in the air, flipped, and landed back on the surface again, sending a wave of water splashing onto the bank where Jasper and Alice, Emmett and Rosalie stood. It stood straight on its tail in the water, mouth open and head nodding in what looked like a laugh.

Only Rosalie sidestepped the water. The other three allowed themselves to be splashed as they stood in shock. After a moment, Emmett's loud amused laugh rang out, joined by Alice's bell like peal, sounding genuine delight at being taken by surprise for once. Jasper's laugh joined theirs, affected by the feelings flowing from the creature in the river. The animal disappeared again, and in a few seconds, Naia was climbing the bank, naked again, coming to stand in front of Bella.

'Dolphin!' she announced happily.

And they all laughed again.

Alice found the blue silk dress some way downstream, snagged on a branch. She returned to the group, tisking.

'Naia, I think you need a shower, and new clothes.'

Emmett nodded. 'Yeah, Fish Girl, you're soaked.'

'I'm not the only one, Bare-Boy,' she laughed back up at him, flipping forward over the grass, cartwheeling, gymnast style. Emmett shook his head.

'Bear Boy? How does she ...?' Edward shrugged.

'I think she picks things up. I can see her pictures. Flashes of images, feelings, from other people. I don't think it's the same as I do, but there's something there.'

'And what's with the talking all of a sudden?' Rosalie asked. Again, Edward shrugged.

'I think she's a quick study. I suppose her human body is just ... equipped.'

'Tell me about it,' said Emmett, 'naked gymnastics never looked so appealing.' He didn't duck away from Rosalie's slap, just snaked an arm round her and cuddled her to him. 'I know I deserved that, baby. Maybe we can get you doing some naked backflips for me?' Rosalie did something subtle but complicated that spun Emmett up in the air, landing him on his back with a thud. When the others looked back, she had already straddled him on the ground, so they left the couple to it and went back inside.

Alice and Esme washed and dressed Naia, leaving Bella and Edward to talk to Carlisle. He confirmed that he'd suspected something like that, but said that Billy Black was the man who would be able to really explain.

'All I've got to offer is conjecture,' he said. I have no idea what might have made her leave the sea in the first place? Maybe it was just survival instinct after the storm washed her up?'

'I wonder why we've never seen it before,' Edward mused. 'Is it a response to danger, like the wolves responded to us? But what possible enemy could Naia fight on the dolphins' behalf, in human form? It doesn't make sense.'

Yeah,' Bella sighed, 'mermaids made more sense.'

Jake, Bella, Edward and Jasper brought Naia to see Billy. Edward had requested permission to come to La Push and Jake had shrugged and said he'd check. He came back a while later looking somewhat tousled, but said that it was fine. Bella wondered how hard he'd had to convince the others it was alright. But she figured, if Jake was welcome in Edward's house, it should work both ways.

Billy looked puzzled when they trooped into his house, which suddenly looked a lot smaller when they crammed into the little sitting room. He nodded carefully at Edward and Jasper but didn't acknowledge their presence much beyond that, and they in turn remained polite and his manner deferential throughout the visit. Since they had begun fighting together, the young wolves and the vampires had fallen into an easy rivalry that was coming close to friendship, but Billy had me difficulty accepting the concept.

'So who's this?' Billy asked Naia, as soon as they all sat down, and Jake had fetched drinks.

'Dolphin!' she proclaimed proudly.

'Yes, she's a dolphin,' Bella nodded. 'We found her unconscious on the beach this morning.'

'She's not a dolphin,' Billy said, confusion stamped on his face. Jake shrugged.

'I'm a wolf.'

They all looked at him, huge in the scruffy but homely surroundings of his house, and then back to Naia, sitting sweet and petite between Bella and Edward. Billy studied her as Jake started to tell him the story of how they found her, and Bella finished it by describing her dive into the river and subsequent transformation.

Billy listened intently, his black eyes fixed on Naia.

'It's not the same as the wolves,' he said, when they had finished. I know about the wolves because they concern my family, and the lore has been handed down. I do know the stories, from other tribes, about the Orca whale who carries people back to the sea in the form of a human male, seduces them. Or the Boto in South America, who tempts young girls at the river bank and impregnates them. There is an Australian story about the souls of dolphins becoming people, and other dolphins transforming to join them. I have heard tales of the Sea People coming ashore before, but I never imagined it was true.'

Jake looked at him sceptically, an eyebrow raised.

'I know, I know,' Billy smiled. 'Hypocritical, maybe. But the shape shifting, it's their mythology, not ours, I suppose? She's a were-human, not a were-dolphin, if you want to put it that way. '

He turned to Naia. 'Do you know why you came here, Naia? Is there a reason for it?'

She looked at him levelly and deliberately shrugged her shoulders. Human body language was hard to learn, as her body was so different now. And her mobile face was difficult to work with. All the muscles, the motion. The nuanced expressions. Breathing was easier though.

'Breathing,' she offered, 'it's easy now. I don't have to think about it. In the sea, we breathe on purpose.' As if being reminded, Edward heaved a loud breath, and Billy looked at him somewhat sharply.

'But coming ashore, Naia, do you remember why you came? Were you sent?' She shook her head.

'I don't know. I don't remember.'

Edward nodded.

'It's true. There don't seem to be any memories right there. Just waking up to Jake and Bella. It feels like she'd been stressed though. But that could just be the confusion of waking on the beach. And having Jake squeeze the water out of her.'

'Maybe she'll remember more if she goes back,' Billy offered, 'I wonder if her pod is still around somewhere?'

Bella looked at Naia.

'Do you want to go back to the sea, Naia? Will we help you find your family?

Naia's face took on the smoothness it did when she had no answer to give.

'I don't know.'

Jasper looked at her. Looking at Edward, he wondered if she was hiding something. Because a whole world of unease has just settled over her.

Edward frowned. He listened to Naia again, as Billy asked her further questions about her familiarity with the area, but she seemed to be answering honestly. At least there was nothing there he could pick up on. Abruptly, she turned and locked eyes with him, saying nothing but holding his gaze. And he suddenly felt the ghost of a blush in his cheeks and backed hurriedly out of her mind. Jasper raised his eyebrows at Edward, but he minutely shook his head in response.

The conversation turned to the idea of borrowing a boat, of taking Naia back out to look for her family. And each time Jasper noted with interest the cloud that settled around her, something that began to feel very like fear.

Naia didn't want to go back into the sea.