“No, that’s only if I want to become human. Actually, I’m not really supposed to be up here. But I wanted to come see you. I can’t stay long.”
“Oh. Your hair has grown.”
“Yeah.” She fingered the ends of her dark brown hair, which was just past her shoulders. “Mermaid hair grows faster than human hair. I’ve already cut it twice. Seidon likes it short.”
I laughed. “It’s good to see you’re still you.”
“Just with a tail.”
“What were you thinking going after Linnaeus? Were you trying to get yourself killed?”
“No! Of course not. That night, it all happened so fast I can’t remember what I was thinking. I guess, after I saw my blood…I figured I was going to die. And if I had to die, I was taking the bastard with me.” Her face turned grave. “I wasn’t going to let him have Seidon.”
I inhaled. “You love him.”
She smiled and nodded. “Since the second I saw him.”
“Really?”
“Oh, come on, Liv, is it so hard to believe?”
“It’s just a little sudden.”
“I didn’t know it then. But yeah. He’s amazing. And these last several rounds have been incredible.”
“Rounds? Rounds of what?”
“We don’t have days or weeks because we don’t see the sun. We have rounds and cycles.”
“Wow.” I sighed and shook my head, staring at Sam’s tail. How was this real? “I still can’t believe this has happened to you.”
“What do you mean?” she said. “You talk like I became deformed or something. I’m happy, Liv.”
“What about your family? What about your life?”
“I’ve already talked to my family. I’m going to go see them soon. And I have a new life now.”
I frowned and looked down.
Samantha sighed. “This isn’t how I wanted it to turn out,” she said. “I thought you’d be excited for me.”
“I am! It’s fantastic! I just—it’s just hard, you know?”
“I know. It was the only way. I’d be dead right now if not for them. I miss you and my family and all our friends back home so much, and getting used to this tail and the songs and trying to communicate…”
“Have you been able to talk to your mom at all?”
“Yes, of course. She came out to see me just after it happened.”
“Really? Why didn’t she come see me too?”
“She couldn’t. It had to be completely secret. I’m sorry.”
“And you’re happy?”
“Yeah. I am. I have a place in Seidon’s house. They’re really nice to me. I like it there.”
I swallowed and heaved a breath. “Well. If you’re happy, then there’s nothing else we have to worry about. And we’ll still see each other. I asked Walter if I could join them on their tasks. Whenever the merpeople need help, I’m there.”
Her face lit up. She hugged me again. My tee shirt was all wet now, but I didn’t care.
I pulled away. “Tell me what it’s like.”
So she did. For the next few minutes, she described the city Zydrunas. White lights from the bioluminescence of certain kinds of fish lit up the city during the day. The walls were made of coral and sometimes glass. Tall spires of glass and coral towers rose from the floor of the ocean to the black darkness of the outer seas beyond. The city stretched on for miles—it was the biggest city in the whole reach.
“That’s what we call our countries. Reaches,” said Sam. “Because it’s more than just land in their territories. It includes depth of water too.”
There were no roads, only passages and pathways linking dwellings and markets and businesses together, and networks of underwater caves wending to various places on the shore. There were parties and dinners and sporting events and even the merworld version of a shopping mall.
“I get to go shopping with Princess Daxia tomorrow. She’s really sweet and has really good taste in jewelry.”
I laughed. “It sounds like it’s a lot like here.”
“It is, in a way. I miss using my speaking voice. There are some places with air pockets that let us use our speaking voices, but most of the time it’s the songs and telepathy.”
“Well, you’ll just have to come up for lots of visits.”
“Definitely.”
Suddenly, a shrill voice interrupted us from on top of the bluff.
“Look, Mommy! A mermaid!”
My blood froze as I whipped my head over my shoulder.
“Oh, silly, that’s just a girl. She’s just looking at the fishies too. Come on,” the child’s mother said as she helped the little girl hike down the rocky path down the bluff. I looked back to where Samantha had been sitting, but she was gone. I leaned over the rocks where the water fell deep and saw her.
She looked up at me from beneath the waving currents and smiled. I nodded and mouthed “bye.” She waved. Then I watched as my best friend the mermaid twisted and swam away beneath the increasing tide.
The end of summer vacation drew near. Aunt Shannon returned, looking tan and jet-lagged, with bulging suitcases of souvenirs.
“I got your friend Samantha a necklace in Paris,” she said, bringing out a silver chain with an Eiffel Tower pendant. “You wouldn’t mind giving it to her when you get home, would you?”
I shook my head, putting on a blank face. I’d told Aunt Shannon Samantha had to go home weeks ago.
“And I got this for you in Venice!” she said enthusiastically, pulling out a small wooden figurine. “I saw it and thought of you because...what’s so funny?”
I couldn’t stop laughing. It was a figure of a mermaid on a rock.
“Nothing. It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
It was soon time to go home. I needed to start thinking about school, finding a job, and all the other things I had put on hold during my adventurous summer. I wasn’t sure what was next. Marine biology? Well, yeah. I’d collected all kinds of information during the summer for my scholarship project, but with my new knowledge of what really lived in the oceans, I found I could never come up with a solid theory for NOA.
