Days, then weeks, and then months slipped away from that unusual Saturday. But that did not mean that Leira became any less paranoid and insecure about her life in Atlantica. In fact, time had made her even more so.

The girl knew she could never talk to anyone about her experiences, especially her mother. But Leira did know that she had to find out what it seemed like everybody was keeping from her. The girl poured through books of Atlantican history to try and figure out what that hole had been, but to no avail. She searched through her house to try and find any evidence of a secret being kept. All of those efforts were fruitless.

The only good thing that happened during those months was the fact that she and Nautica made up from their previous arguments. Sure, there still was a bit of tension among the girls on the subject of humans, but at least Leira had a friend to get her through the days.

However, one day while she was left at home by her mother, who was out grocery shopping, Leira remembered that on that Saturday, her parents had been looking at something, but then had hurriedly put it back in a box and behind the couch. They must have been keeping something hidden if they put it back there, the girl reasoned. She looked at the clock to see how much time she would have before her mom came home. Usually it took her about fifteen minutes to go shopping, which meant-Leira had only about four minutes to get that box and put it in her room.

The girl rushed over to the couch and, when she spotted it, lifted the heavy container into her arms and then painfully floated up to her room, opened the door, and put it behind her clam bed. After staring at her accomplishment for a few seconds, she heard her mother open the door to the house, and Leira went down to greet her and help unload groceries.

Even more weeks passed since that episode, and Leira's mental health deteriorated. The girl began to notice that when anybody asked about her personal life, she became very angry and argumentative. Leira also realized that it seemed like she never wanted to do anything anymore. She couldn't even bring herself to go racing with Nautica, in fear that she would find the hole again. Finally, Leira understood that she wanted to talk to somebody about her experiences, but the girl wasn't sure she could even trust anyone with all of her doubts and fears. She couldn't even look at the box she had stolen from behind the couch, afraid of what she might find in there. So her life's new purpose came at a standstill.

As yet increased time flew by, Leira knew she had to talk with someone. Oh, she knew there would be consequences asking about humans and whether her parents were keeping anything from her, but she had to it anyway.

Only the girl didn't realize how dire the consequences would actually be.

It was a late Friday night, and her father had just come home from work. She was talking to him about her boring hours at school, and in return he was nodding tiredly. After a few moments of this, her father announced that he was going to bed. He kissed his wife and daughter and then, green tail swishing and his blonde hair swaying in the current, he shut the limestone door to her parents' room. Leira was now alone with her mother.

There was silence for a while, before Leira decided to speak up. "Mother, I want to talk to you about something."

Her mother immediately put the book down that she was reading at the kitchen counter. "What about, princess?"

"Well, you know how on that Saturday, you asked me if anything was wrong, because I was home so early…"

"Oh, yes. I remember that," her mother replied.

"Um… something was wrong," Leira sheepishly answered.

The woman stared at her daughter in concern. "What was?"

"There was just some things that happened," the girl nervously replied.

"Like what?"

"I was on my way to the palace to pick up Nautica when I swam into King Triton, you see," she began.

Leira watched as her mother looked at her with a somewhat suspicious gaze. "What did he say to you?" she asked icily.

"Nothing important. The whole reason I met him was because I was admiring this sculpture and then he remarked that he liked it too. He asked me why I was there, and I told him it was because of Nautie. But after that…" the girl trailed off.

"What happened?" her mother nervously asked.

"He asked me to call him Triton, like I was his family or something," Leira timidly said.

"Or something," the woman muttered. Leira looked at her mom, confused by the comment. She wasn't for long however, as her mother immediately regained her composure. "Did anything else happen, sweetheart?" she inquired politely.

"Yes. So then, Nautica found me, and we went to the racing grounds. While we were racing, I stopped because I saw this hole in the ground. When Nautica and I went through it, we were in this cave, which was covered with black sand and smelled horribly," Leira continued.

Her mother appeared stunned for a minute and then barely heard her mother whisper something. It sounded like 'her grotto', but Leira had no idea what a 'grotto' was, so she did not think about the remark much.

She decided to continue with her story. "So then…" Leira thought better of going on. What if her mother got angry when she mentioned the statue of the humans?

"What?" the woman inquired.

"Do you promise you will not get upset if I tell you what I found there?" the girl whispered.

Leira's mother stared at her daughter and wondered what she possibly could have found in this 'cave' that prompted her to ask her own mom not to get upset. In her mind, she knew something enormous, but she was a mother- she was supposed to support her child through everything, right?

"You can always tell me anything, Leira," her mother stated.

The girl was thrilled and instantly resumed her story. "Well, I found this statue in there. It was of two humans- a woman and a man. And when I saw it, I thought… what if humans are real? This statue could prove it. Think about it, Mother. Hardly anybody has ever drawn or sculpted humans. I think I only saw a picture of a human in a book once, and I'm not even sure about that. Mostly, you just hear stories or rumors about them, and the reason for this that almost everyone has given me is because of the fact that they don't exist- so no one knows, really, how to draw them. And since humans are not real, it is a waste of time to draw them, so then, only a slight number of people try to. But if there is such an intricate sculpture of humans, as I saw in the cave, then maybe that merperson saw a human, and carved it to remember the experience. Wouldn't that be amazing?"

The woman let out a deep sigh. She knew this would happen. The moment Leira asked her not to be upset she should have known it. Almost at once, she was transported back to a day long ago, when her daughter had only been about six years old. That conversation they had had that evening resulted in a slap from the mention of humans. Who knew how this could end.

She decided however, that she must face this situation as rationally as she could. The mother looked at Leira. "Yes of course," she enthusiastically said, all the while wishing that her daughter would be satisfied with her answer and let her go back to bed to think on things.

But the girl wasn't satisfied. Somehow, Leira knew that her mother was upset with her, but wasn't willing to show it. And at that minute, seeing her suppress her feelings, the girl could no longer control her feelings. She had, had to know why her mother did not like the subject of humans. If humans were just stories, people wouldn't be so fidgety around the topic. Leira had to know.

"Just tell me the truth," Leira tiredly said to her parent.

Her mother stared at her, eyes wide. "What?"

"Stop asking questions and trying to avoid me, Mom. Just tell me the truth about everything. Atlantica. Humans. Me," Leira began. Then she stopped, gazing at the woman. "You."

"I don't know what you are implying," her mother simply said.

Leira sighed. "It's obvious you're keeping secrets, Mother! Just tell me the truth!" the girl said, exasperated. I'm fourteen years old, for goodness's sake! I deserve to know!"

Her mom tried not to shout her words. "There are just some things you don't need to know, Leira! You can't know everything!"

Anger boiled inside the girl. "If I want to know everything I can! It's my right!"

The temperature in the room escalated as the woman yelled, "Who ever said it was your right? WHO EVER SAID IT WAS YOUR RIGHT?"

"Me! ME! I did! JUST TELL ME THE TRUTH ABOUT EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW! IS THAT SO HARD TO DO?" Leira screamed at the top of her voice.

Her mother tried to restrain herself from whacking her daughter upside the head, while at the same time she tried to hold tears back because of the memories that had suddenly flowed into her mind. As she tried to recuperate, the woman stared at Leira and wondered why she just couldn't leave some subjects alone. At the moment, there was only one thing the woman could think to do. She stared at the girl and murmured, "Please, Leira. Go to your room. Right now."

Leira muttered a word that sounded like "fine" under her breath and then headed to her room. She slammed the door closed, then sat on her bed and cried.

Hours later, the girl woke up in her room to darkened waters, which meant it was night. Not feeling the least bit sleepy, Leira tried to think of what to do. She debated going down and trying to talk with her mother about the situation. It was obvious that she was upset with the topic at hand, and even though Leira was mad at her, she didn't want to provoke her mom. Then, she abruptly recalled the box.

It was still behind her bed, unopened. Though in the past she had been afraid to open it, afraid of what her punishment would be, Leira didn't care. She was already in plenty of trouble that looking at one little box really couldn't harm her.

Pulling the heavy object across the floor and setting herself near it, the girl opened the box to find it filled with pictures and other mementos.

Leira pulled them out, one by one. At first, it was just boring pictures of her parents in their younger days, when they had been in high school, as well as clips of report cards and diplomas, receipts and cards.

Next came the pictures and such of herself as a baby and young girl. Her first swim outside of Atlantica by herself, her first day of school, her conch recital, and many more events had all been chronicled by her parents and put inside this box.

Following, Leira saw very recent photographs of herself, hanging out with her family and friends, along with school and sports functions. Nothing revealing, she thought. No secrets here. Maybe I'm just being extremely paranoid over all this.

The girl, downhearted at the prospect that she could be wrong, was just about done and ready to put everything back in the box when she noticed that there was still a photo in the box that she had overlooked. Attached to the front of the photo, there was a note written on yellowing paper. Carefully, Leira picked it up. She decided to read the letter first.

On closer inspection, Leira noticed just how detailed and perfect the cursive in the note was. Quickly looking over it, she observed that it was addressed to her mother. The girl read the note.

Dear Gabbie,

I'm sorry it's taken such a long time to write back to you. I have just been so busy with the duties of the palace, I haven't had any time to.

Everything is going well here. I thought you might have wanted to see a photo of the family. The girls are growing up so fast! Little Lee is already two years old, and Melody is now a young woman- fourteen years! Can you believe it?

Hope I can visit Atlantica soon. I love you. Be sure to say hi to Urchin for me.

Your friend,

Ariel

Leira shook her head in shock. The name Ariel sounded so familiar at the minute, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it or whose name it was- much less why this mermaid would have written her mom. It was also plain to see that this woman was not from Atlantica, and as far as Leira knew, her mother had never had any friends outside the city.

The biggest surprise though, was the fact of seeing her nickname in the letter. Sure, it was entirely plausible that this Ariel had also had a girl named Lee, but Leira couldn't get over the fact that this note seemed to mention her.

Overwhelmed with curiosity, she pulled the paper clip off that connected the letter to the photo. And there was waiting the biggest shock of all.

When she first saw it, Leira tried to make sure that it wasn't a drawing. Soon however, she realized it wasn't one. It was a perfect specimen of a photograph. This fact brought a very mixed array of feelings- relief, happiness, sadness, and anger. She thought the feelings would never end. But the girl understood that there was no denying it wasn't real.

The photo was of a family- a woman, a man, and two girls about fourteen and two years old. Except for they weren't merpeople. They were humans.

The woman was holding a baby while the man was gazing at her lovingly, which Leira assumed meant that he was her wife. The fourteen-year-old girl was sitting on the floor, smiling at the camera, her dark hair in a ponytail. All in all, it was a very nice photo of a family.

Leira studied the faces of the humans. It was noticeable that the older girl was the man and woman's daughter- she looked like a perfect blend of her parents. The mother's face was beautiful, albeit seeming fragile and pale, with the man's face sharply contrasting with hers- his face was tan and strong. The girl squinted to see if she could look at the baby's face. Her eyes widened as she came to understand whose face that was.

It was hers.

Leira immediately dropped the photo in recognition of her infant self. She picked it up again and studied the newborn's face, barely poking out of the blanket wrapped around her. The face was turned slightly towards the camera, the mouth of the child stuck in a sleepy frown. But the eyebrows, face shape, and squinted eyes were definitely hers.

After sitting for what seemed like years on the floor trying to absorb all of this, Leira realized that she had to ask her- what should she even call her anymore? Guardian? Stranger? Kidnapper?- about the photo. She would know what to do. And maybe, if she saw it, she would tell her daughter the truth of everything.

Slowly, Leira opened the door and swam out towards the living room. She vaguely realized that the current was stronger than normal, but that did not matter over the pressing issue of the photograph. Eyeing around, the girl tried to find her mother. Finally, she spotted her mother on the next landing, gripping the kitchen counter with all of her might.

Over the howl of the water, Leira yelled at her mother to look at the photo in her hand, not noticing all the household items floating around her. However, no matter how hard she shouted, her mother kept gesturing for her to go back to her room. She didn't budge. She had come this far. The girl would not go to her room.

Again and again, Leira saw her mother open her mouth and gesture towards her room. The current was now pushing so hard against her the girl could not ignore it. She held the photograph again and held it up to her mother, who just mouthed words she could not hear.

Leira caught onto the handle of her door and tried desperately to hang on as the current raced against her. Minutes passed, and the water was still strong as ever. The girl realized that she was steadily loosing her grip on the door handle.

Leira suddenly felt herself, against her will, floating away. All she could hear was the water and the soft sounds of screaming. The currents pulled her back and forth, and whipped her from side to side, before she flew through space and landed on a cold, grainy material.

For some reason, the girl felt a cool substance all around her, whizzing past her body. She also felt her tail hurt- it felt like it was being split in two. She tried to suck in some water, but found no relief. There was nothing but the substance.

And that's when everything slipped into a black nothingness.

Finally, your holiday gift! This is by far the longest chapter I have written! There was just so much that needed to be said, as you can see.

The Melody and Eric chapter will be up tomorrow. i just have to write a few more paragraphs and edit it, and it will be up!

As always, I hope this story was enjoyable!