Not much changed except for daily swims out to Mako with Emma and Rikki. They would test how long they could hold their breath while I tried to keep to myself the differences between our two forms.

One day when the girl's were over but I was in my room working on getting homework finished. Rikki came and knocked on my door.

I opened it and gestured to my egg chair by the windows.

"Thanks." She sat on my bed, her legs crossed, "I just can't take any more of it, all they do is whinge, whinge, whinge."

I chuckled before setting my pen aside and offering some chips to her.

It was quiet except for the crunching sounds from Rikki snacking.

"Anything for you yet?"

I glanced at her only to see her wiggling her fingers at me.

"Powers?"

I'd read the first journal that Babya had given me, and the best I could understand was that I was in the adolescence stage of Sildroher. I wouldn't be able to achieve too much until I learned the ancient songs. When I did I would have to be careful which songs I sang.

I shook my head and raised an eyebrow at Rikki, "You've seemed to take all this rather well."

"It's the most awesome thing to happen to any of us and all they do is complain about not being able to do the stupidest things."

I nodded. I'd been invited to the pool party at school as well but I'd turned down the girl that was handing the invites out. The easy cop out of having to focus on schoolwork was easy for an exchange student like me. We were in different grades anyways, other than the girls I hadn't really jived with anyone else yet.

I looked at the blonde, "Can I tell you a secret?"

Rikki got up, checked the hall before closing the bedroom door. She looked back at me with an expectant look, "This wasn't strange to you from the start."

I chuckled and sent some finger guns her way.

"Can't fool you Rikki."

I went to the closet and pulled my locked journal from my suitcase.

I looked at the blonde, I had a good sense about her. She was all hard edges but I could tell she was a solid personality. I unlocked the journal with a key I kept around my neck along with my heirloom necklace, before handing it to Rikki.

"I wouldn't worry about not getting an ability yet. I think you'll get it when you least suspect."

Turning pages and Rikki hummed in interest as she read some of the pages that had English and not the old language written on them.

"Sildh..." Rikki tried to sound out the word.

"Sildroher. My Babya would tell me about how all children from her line that learned the ancient ways could one day return to the sea on a full moon night."

Wide blue eyes gazed up at me, "You haven't told..."

I shook my head.

"Emma is already suspicious of me."

"Why me?" Rikki dropped the journal in her lap, gaze searching out mine.

"You love it like you were born to it." I smiled remembering how Rikki took to the water. "If Emma found out she'd never forgive me thinking its my fault."

Rikki turned the pages of the journal before turning to show me an image that looked like the moon pool.

I walked over and sat on the bed. I grabbed a chip. Then gestured toward the journal, "Babya would say that there were pools dotting this world where natural born mer would soak in the rays of the moon."

"No wonder you took it well."

"I'm used to the strange." A shiver went down my spine as I felt a surge of emotion running through my connection with my soulmate. I rubbed my arms, a habit I picked up when I felt her soulmark move.

"You too?" Rikki tugged at the bottom of her long sleeves, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

I let out a laugh before rolling my sleeves to show the shadow tendrils that curled around my forearm.

"He's angry today...and sad."

Rikki whispered, "I thought I was the only one. I looked it up when I was little, all the books say only the soulmates that have met can feel each other's emotions." She rolled up her sleeves, a smirk on her lips as she looked at the twin blades on either arm twirling across both arms, "Mine seems to be having fun today."

After that day Rikki and I became thick as thieves.

Both of us bonded over having dangerous soulmates.

We were happy we were not alone.

I would often go for a swim after my volunteering at the after-school program to teach kids how to use computers. I had gotten a waterproof fanny pack that I'd wear with my cellphone in a waterproof plastic bag.

After a near miss at a pool party, when Cleo's not-boyfriend Lewis (they were very obviously soulmates, even though they weren't confirmed) discovered the girl's secrets, we made a promise to keep in contact whenever fishy things happened.

One such emergency came when Cleo, overwhelmed with a sense of justice, got over her fear of the water. She went on a search for her father's fishing boat which was fishing in illegal areas.

Emma, Rikki and I went on rescue mode when we heard that due to a previous swim they'd had there was a hunt for a shark, making it very dangerous waters for us all.

We reached Cleo just as she had ceased struggling caught in the nets of the fishing boat and it was starting to reel her in.

We swam up to her quickly. Emma freezing the line. As I tried to tear the net apart, I let out a gasp as my nails lengthened into dangerously sharp points. I quickly got over it as I used them to cut through the net until we got our friend free.

Things continued to get more complicated when the girls discovered that the full moon caused the girls to react differently.

I was in Mako that night having felt the pull of the moon, and a song in my heart that felt like it was nearly bursting to be freed.

There was a sense of urgency as I sang the old moon song my Babya had taught me. I hadn't sung it since the first time I met my soulmate. My parents back then had been set on distracting me when my Babya had left. Then school began and like a typical child my mind was filled with other things. However, I never forgot my soulmate and when I hit puberty I began to feel his emotions with the curl of shadows along my arms.

So when I sung that night I sung with my heart upon the song. The melody sounded haunting in the clear moon night.

I felt as the water bubbled around me and then it felt like was tugged down into the pool by some unknown force.

As the bubbles cleared a chilling cold surrounded me and crimson floated dotted the water, fear rose in my heart.

Through the dark water I saw a silhouette sinking deep in the water, my instincts drawing me to him. I swam quickly pulling him into my embrace, his cheeks too cold and his head injured. He was older than the last time I saw him but younger than I. I sped through the water with him breaking the surface. I brought him onto the snow covered ground to the side of icy lake I'd burst from.

"Please wake up." I dragged myself up onto the land taking in deep breaths of the chilling air. I proceeded to try to force oxygen back into his lungs and did compressions on his center where his lungs lay. "Please I can't lose you like this..."

Coughing filled the night.

"Thank the Making."

Wide fearful eyes turned toward me, before they settled on my sea blue eyes.

I leaned forward. He flinched away.

"I'm glad you didn't die."

I leaned back looking down to see my body already turning transparent again.

"Wait!" His voice was hoarse.

(The language translated in my mind as soon as I heard it.)

"Until next time soulmate." I spoke back in the old language. Then I was back in the moon pool, the water no longer frigid, but a shiver still ran down my spine. There had been bodies in the water, thankfully I was able to get my soulmate to safety. I looked up at the moon and pondered on why I was seeing him out of order. I thought I'd see the 17 year old version of him but I saw a preteen.

The girls, well more accurately Lewis had endangered the girls secret. (Rikki had told me she'd convinced Cleo and Emma not to let Lewis know about me.) The problem seemed to go away for a while.

Later the girls met an old lady Ms Chatham. Cleo would tell us about her odd comments.

When her boat got impounded Emma took her in.

After dinner one evening she looked over at us telling of the adventures she had with her husband aboard the 'Lorelei', their boat.

She liked speaking in hints toward the girls' secret but when she set her eyes on me, they widened.

"There is something different about you."

Unlike the others who were afraid to ask, I sat beside her.

"Did you ever know a woman by the name of Katya Murphy?"

Her eyes gazed in the distance, a smile upon her lips that seemed whimsical, "Her name sounds familiar like an ancient song sung on full moon nights."

I nodded, "I'm her Darya."

She leaned forward and whispered, "Have you returned to the sea too?"

I gave her a smile which she returned.

She turned back to the other girls, "Friendship is the key. Your burden is too great, you must have friends beside you to help." She glanced my way again, "When you're different its best not be alone."

The next day I got a call from Emma, she was scared about Ms Chatham who'd left the house. I left volunteering early that day and ran to the marina where Emma and Lewis waited with a boat.

"Why did you call her?" Lewis looked at me in curiosity.

Before Emma could reply, I spoke up.

"Ms Chatham was kind to me. I'd like to help."

Emma glanced at me with a nod before turning to Lewis, "Hurry."

We caught up with Ms Chatham's boat only to see the annoying teen Zane's dingy already alongside it.

He came out as soon as we arrived, "It wasn't my fault."

Ms Chatham had a heart episode.

Emma and Lewis were quick to get her in their boat.

I climbed into Zane's, "I can't weigh down your boat. I have a bad feeling about the floatability of hers. I better stay here to make sure the jerk gets out safely."

They weren't far away when a small explosion sounded at the base of the boat and a yell from Zane came from within. I went to the Chatham boat door to find it rammed shut. Taking a deep breath I pulled and pulled, my eyes narrowed as I felt my muscles ripple and as I yanked the door open again I yanked it off its hinges.

I waded through the ankle deep water. Thankful for my differences at that moment. My kind changed when they wanted to change.

I pulled Zane up over my shoulder and quickly made it off the sinking boat jumping onto his.

Coughing sounded beside me as I maneuvered his boat away from the sinking ship.

"How did you do that?"

"Adrenaline I guess. You know mother's can lift cars if their babies are in danger."

Zane's eyes narrowed and teeth ground but it was lost with how much he looked like a wet growling puppy.

"Are you calling me..."

"Hush everything is going to be ok."

He sat up, wincing as he did so.

"We should get you checked up on once we get to the harbor."

The girls would have many near misses in the coming days.

One such one came too close, but in another way. They almost killed someone, well Emma did. Rikki and Emma had work in tandem to revive the girl Emma had frozen.

Rikki sat on my bed, the aftermath causing her to shiver.

I brought her up some hot cocoa. Homemade whipped cream with cinnamon on top with a drizzle of dark chocolate syrup. She sipped the hot chocolate gaze staring out into the distance.

"What if...I couldn't...what if I didn't." The shivering started up again.

Rikki ran hot but that day she was cold to the touch as if in shock. I bundled her up in a light blanket and sat beside her offering as much comfort as I could with presence.

I tried to think of something but nothing came to mind except... "I..."

I stopped, I didn't want to make this about myself.

Rikki had gone through a traumatic event.

"Come on, tell me I'd like something to distract me."

I took a deep breath, first I needed to give context.

"'I'm able to transport myself to my soulmate's side on full moons."

"Whoa," it was quiet but I could still see Rikki starting to emote a little bit.

"This last full moon...he almost died in my arms. He'd been injured and he wasn't breathing. I thought, 'what if' then too." I took a deep breath, "These gifts we have come with so much responsibility it can be overwhelming. It's easy to make light of the situation but..."

"It still comes back to haunt you."

I nodded. Rikki showed a rare moment of vulnerability as she rested her head on my shoulder and I rested mine on hers.