"Thanks again for letting me stay here, Rita." Marcus told her gratefully for the umpteenth time that day.

"Marcus, I told you, it is my pleasure to have you here. Especially after all you have done for us." Rita told him. They were in her underground chamber and Marcus was assisting the older mermaid with some sort of preparation for the day's lesson. Marcus was up to his arms, literally mind you, in fluorescent yellow seaweed that insisted on attempting to strangle him. Rita had told him it was one of the few plants in the ocean that mermaids had trouble with. Marcus had very quickly figure out why when one of them tried to wrap itself around his throat. "Although I am sorry that it was not under better circumstances. Have your parents said anything to you?"

"No, and they won't." Of that, Marcus was confident. His parents would not have taken his blatant refusal and subsequent disrespect lightly. He had checked his bank account and discovered that a limit had been placed on it in the precise amount he used each week for groceries. Jokes on them though, He thought wickedly, I have another bank account you don't even know about. If your plan is to bankrupt me into submission you will have to wait a while. I have several million dollars to play with. And an island.

"Well, if you ask me they are being beyond childish." Rita scowled and pried a leaf of seaweed from the wall. "Having your child pulled from school simply to appease some other wealthy family?"

"It's just how they work." Marcus sighed. "But I'm not leaving Ondina. Not for the world."

Rita smiled uncertainly at him and sighed. "Marcus, sit down. I think that you and I should talk."

"Never in the history of the world has that statement ever followed with anything good." Marcus remarked, warily sitting down on the couch. He leaned back and crossed his arms as Rita sat down on a chair opposite him. "And I get the feeling that the streak won't be broken here."

"You understand that Ondina is a mermaid, correct?" Rita asked delicately.

Marcus feigned surprise and rolled his eyes. "Really? Huh, I wonder what gave it away. Was it the tail? I bet it was the tail."

"I can see that you have no intention of making this easy." Rita looked at him with some degree of annoyance.

Marcus shook his head immediately. "Absolute zero." He agreed happily.

"Yes, well," Rita seemed to gather her thoughts before speaking again. "What I meant by my question was that Ondina is a part of the sea. She belongs with the pod."

"Yeah, what's your point?" Marcus frowned.

"My point is that next year you will have finished your education at the high school." Rita told him. "What was your plan after that? Did you think that you and Ondina were going to go off to college somewhere?"

"Considering that she hasn't been to high school, I was pretty sure that idea was out." Marcus said fairly.

"Then what was your plan?" Rita asked. "Stay here? I certainly do not mind the added company, quite the opposite in fact, but Ondina would be put in a very difficult place. The pod is… not keen on human/mermaid relationships."

"So what would you want me to do?" Marcus asked warily. "Break up with her? Because I won't do that. Not after everything I've been through."

"I would never suggest that." Rita said immediately. "You and Ondina are just as good for one another as any pairing I have ever seen. You have been through so much in such a short time and you are still strong. No, I had in mind something different. Something I think you should speak with Ondina about. I have already spoken to her on the matter. She has agreed to abide by whatever decision you make."

"Is that why she rushed out of here today?" Marcus wondered. Ondina had given him a quick kiss on the lips and then told him in hurried tones that she had somewhere she needed to be. When he had inquired about her destination she had told him to mind his own business. "She did seem sort of…. Worked up."

"Yes." Rita said. She leaned forward in her chair and looked Marcus directly in the eyes. "Marcus, you have proven time and time again that you can be trusted. If we harbored any doubts your own memories dispelled them for us."

"Oh, well…" He shrugged away the praise. "You guys took me in. You know, after poisoning me apparently."

Rita winced but she chuckled good-naturedly. "It was with good intentions." She assured him. "You were never in any danger."

"You know, poison generally implies danger." Marcus commented, but he smiled nonetheless. "But what's the big deal?"

"We, that is to say the others and I, we have been discussing something since your parents disowned you." Rita said delicately. "Something that you ultimately need to decide. Marcus, we want you to go back into the Moon Pool on the night of the next full moon."

Marcus felt a shock run up his spine and for a full minute he could not think. His mind was blank as it struggled to process Rita's words. He had heard what had happened the last time he was a merman, and he was in no hurry to cause the others the same trouble. "Why?" He managed to ask finally. The single word took a tremendous amount of willpower to force out, but it implied everything that he would have possibly wanted to ask.

"Because I honestly believe that you belong with people who care about you." Rita told him simply. "Your parents… Do not take this the wrong way but I sincerely do not believe that they care about you the way we do. We might not be a true pod, but the others and I consider you one of our own. We want you to have the ability to be with your family even after your schooling ends."

"What about Chris and David?" Marcus found that the words were coming easier now. He knew that both of them were at least as smitten by their girls as he was with Ondina. If he was being offered this alone he wanted to know why.

"We asked them as well." Rita told him. "They both turned us down. It seems that as much as they love Sirena and Mimi, they want to be able to live their lives as well."

"But why me?" Marcus tried again. "Last time things didn't end so well…"

"Last time you were changed by the Moon and the Moon Pool." Rita told him confidently. "I've been thinking on that recently. You know, the memories of how you were turned came to me. I have been going over them in my mind over and over, and the more I think about it the more I believe that the Moon had just as much to do with you changing as the Moon Pool. That's why your tail turned silver. Because you pushed away the Moon Pool's influence over you and the moon's magic was able to run free."

"So, what?" Marcus asked. "Is there some other way to get changed into a merman?"

"Yes." Rita nodded. "The way Evie was changed seems to give the Moon Pool alone control over changing you. We haven't had any trouble with her powers moving out of control."

Marcus was quiet as he considered Rita's proposal. He stared down at the floor and then his gaze drifted unconsciously over to the pool of water that led to the ocean. He had gone into that pool more times than he could count with Ondina by his side. He had often thought about how amazing it would be to be able to move through the sea with the same ease that she had. He had also thought about the same issue that Rita had brought up to him. He did not want to lose Ondina, and yet he had always known in his heart that one day she would return to the pod. He wanted her to return. Not because he did not love her anymore, or thought he would grow out of love with her, but because it would have been what was best for her. But now, faced with an opportunity to be with her forever, Marcus began to allow himself to hope for a future. One he could share with the mermaid that had stolen his heart.

"Let me talk to her." He said finally. "This isn't my decision to make. It's hers. She'll have to be the one to put up with me for the rest of her life. If she doesn't want me to get a tail, I don't want one."

Hello, hello my readers. And with that we are one step closer to the close of this story. One chapter left. I have already begun writing it as well. As always, thank you so much for your continued reviews. They mean the world to me. You guys and girls are the best. -Hallowed