Gage, Sammy and I sat around the once damaged kitchen table. My hands held Gage's hands as I explained everything that had just happened to him. He stares at the table shaking his head.

"How could I have let her taken me like that?" He slams his fist on the table. His eyes glossed over. I shook my head begging for him not to cry. I never wanted to see him cry, he had become so important to me, and maybe I didn't know how I felt about him, but I knew he mattered.

"I'm just glad we got you back," I tried to be comforting, but it wasn't one of my strong qualities. I searched the kitchen for anything to change the mood. Sammy had picked everything up, and my heart broke. I could imagine her walking around the room cleaning everything up as tears soaked her cheek. I needed to treat her to something special, she deserved it after all the stress I had put her through.

"The only problem I have with this whole thing is...why, why would Asada do this?" Gage never looked away from the edge of the table. He stares at the intricate design as if it will give him the answer to ending world hunger. I wanted to take his pain away, maybe some mermaids had that power and I would be able to learn how to take care of him better.

"Because she wants me gone, out of town," I shrug my shoulders. Sammy shakes her head silently also staring at the intricate designs on the table. I search my brain for an answer to his question. Why would Asada want me gone? She had said I was a danger to the mermaids and I needed to disappear.

"Why though? What did you do?" Gage's eyes shot up to me, searching me like I now held the answer to solving world hunger.

"Something about me being a threat to the mermaids,"

"She must know something we don't then," Sammy looks at me, her eyes questioning and judging me. Maybe there was something wrong with me, maybe I was different than the other mermaids. No matter what though, I knew I wasn't as evil as the other mermaids. I glance down at my feet, wiggling my toes as I curse my blood pumping through my veins.

"Guys, why do you think I changed in the first place?" I couldn't think of anyone in my family that was hiding a secret as big as mine, but maybe that was just it. It was a secret and I wasn't supposed to know what it was, but why do mermaids have to be a secret? There have to be others out there besides Asada. Maybe we could come together, rise up and take over. Maybe we don't have to be the secrets of the sea.

"Have you thought about asking mom and dad?" Sammy question but she knew the answer. Of course, I wasn't going to ask them. They were brilliant wonderful people, but they overreacted and I didn't feel this was something I could quite trust them with.

"No, but maybe it was grandma Marie, she loved the ocean, was obsessed with it really, and she lived on a boat in the middle of the waves." I shrug my shoulders. I took in every last detail possible of my feet, my body craving to keep them forever. If only I could figure out a way to shower without touching any water.

"So what do we do now?" Gage finally pushes himself away from the table, he jumps up from his seat slowly trudging over to the kitchen to get some water. Grabbing a glass for Sammy and me, he brings them over placing them on the table. I quickly grab the cup, my body craving a taste of the pure nectar.

Sammy lays her head down on the table staring at the glass of water in front of her. Mumbling a thank you, she twirls her finger in the liquid. Gage returns to his seat with his own glass of water.

"Who knew something that gave us life, would eventually end ours as well," I wanted to smack her. I appreciate her support, but how did water end her life.

"Sammy, what do you mean?" I tried to calm myself down, the thoughts rushing through my head.

"Water, we have to have it to survive, but lately it might be what kills us," She watches the liquid swirl on its own after she removes her finger. I shake my head placing my hand back on Gage's.

"Nothing has changed, water was still as deadly before as it is now," She pops her head of the counter looking at me, her eyes dancing over me as if I was a monster. I wanted to shrivel up under her glares. "The real threat is Asada and that will be okay too,"

"What makes you think that will be okay? What makes you think this will all just go away?" Sammy was nearly shouting, she pushed herself out of her chair, holding her hands spread through the air. I was going to make this okay for her, I was going to make this okay for Gage. Asada was going to win, she was going to get her way.

I didn't know how to answer her, and I didn't know if I should. I knew she would demand that she comes with me, and I wouldn't stop her. Sammy was a free spirit and if she wanted to follow she could, but I highly recommend she just move on with her life. She searches my face, and my lips purse lightly. The words tugging at the end of my skin. I needed to just say it, but it hurt too bad.

"Sammy..." I pause for a moment, her eyes growing wide as she waits, "Asada wants me gone, out of the state, I'm going to leave."