Chapter 1: The Aquarium

Summer 2019 (one year earlier...)

People were staring.

A slow blush of heat crept downward from Ari's face to stain the flesh below her collarbone. She flicked her tail and swam in a graceful figure eight. Her veil of crimson hair swirled around her, hiding her face, as she made her way behind the tall rocks at the far end of the oversized aquarium.

She probably should be used to the attention by now. Normally, she didn't mind. She actually enjoyed the feeling of being on display. She loved seeing the looks of admiration on the people's faces – especially the little girls, the way their eyes lit up the moment they caught sight of her.

It was nice to feel like something other than a freak for once in her life.

Ari had begged and pleaded with her parents to let her have this job. Her father insisted that she and Lucy spend their summers working in one of the Callahan-owned businesses that lined the Seabreeze Point boardwalk. Lucy chose the ice cream parlor a few doors down from here – unofficial hang-out of the entire Seabreeze Point teenage population. Ari would sooner die than work there herself. She'd announced her own decision to her parents after dinner one evening this past May, speaking to them by text message through her cellphone, even though they were all sitting around together in the same room.

Ari: I think I'm ready to work in the aquarium this summer.

"No," her father had answered aloud, crossing his arms across his chest. "Absolutely not."

Ari: But I'm 17! You've had girls my age working there before!

"You can work at the ticket counter if you like, Ari, but not in the tank. No way."

He'd waited patiently while she tapped an angry reply into her phone.

Ari: Yeah, that wouldn't be weird at all... People will be like "two adults, two children," and I'll just whip out my phone and respond by text: "that will be 17 dollars please." Totally normal.

"Tom." Ari's mother had laid a soft hand on her father's arm. "It might not be the worst idea..."

Ari had seen the look that passed between them. She could tell her father was wavering, and she knew how to press her advantage. She'd softened her expression and looked up at him with wide, imploring eyes as she sent off another message.

Ari: Please, Daddy?

He'd hesitated, drumming his fingertips against the kitchen table.

Ari: I'm a strong swimmer. I know how to use the scuba gear. And it's all underwater. There's no speaking whatsoever!

"Ari," her father had sighed. "You know what the doctor said."

Ari: Daddy, it's the one job in the universe that I would actually be good at!

It was Lucy who finally settled the argument though. "Don't be such a hypocrite, Dad." Lucy had flounced down in the kitchen chair at Ari's side and gave her arm a sisterly squeeze – a non-verbal signal between them, whenever Ari needed Lucy to speak on her behalf. "Ari gave you the whole idea to have mermaid-impersonators in the first place. Now it's one of your biggest revenue streams. People come all the way from New York and Philly to see the live mermaid show at the Seabreeze Point aquarium!"

Her parents had relented in the end. Ari had started working here a few weeks ago, and everything was going swimmingly so far.

She tittered to herself at the pun, pressing her hand against her mouth, and a stream of bubbles escaped from her nose. Her lungs were starting to burn now. She needed another puff of air. A scuba tank rested in the sand, hidden from public view by the rocks back here. Ari slipped the regulator into her mouth and sucked in a few deep breaths.

They should probably switch this tank out soon, she thought to herself as she breathed. She'd have to text her boss after her shift that they needed a new one. This tank was an accident waiting to happen. The aquarium manager had swiped it from Callahan's Dive Shop down by Pier 18, after one of the scuba instructors deemed it too unsafe to rent out to paying customers. A rust spot had developed on the side, and it had spread all the way to the valve that connected the air hose. The O-ring was starting to corrode, too, Ari could tell. Every so often, an ominous bubble would escape from beneath the seal. One of these days the whole valve was going to blow. One hard knock would probably jar it loose and cause a catastrophic leak.

That was all she needed, Ari thought. Her parents would never let her keep working here if they thought there was a safety issue. She was already hanging on to this job by a thin, thin thread. Her parents had agreed to let her do it on a trial basis, but her psychiatrist had been opposed. Ari had eavesdropped on their hushed consultation at the end of her last appointment.

". . . Strongly inadvisable. . . . Unhealthy fixation. . . . Possible obsession. . . ."

It was probably true. She did spend far too much of her life going down the same deluded train of thought.

With one last deep breath, Ari slipped the regulator out of her mouth and let it sink to the sandy bottom. She swished her rubber tail to propel herself back toward the ten-foot-high display window. A few tropical fish swam lazily by the glass, but they dispersed as she came forward. Most of the crowd had moved along during her absence, but Ari saw a new family enter the viewing chamber on the other side. Two parents and a little girl – probably around four or five years old.

The girl's mouth dropped open, and she tugged excitedly at her mother's arm. Ari swam to the window and made a heart with her hands against the glass. A warm glow of pride filled her chest at the look of wonder she saw on the child's face.

Ari waved, and then executed a series of rapid pirouettes, her hair obscuring her vision as it twirled about her face in a flash of crimson red.

The little girl had her face pressed against the window now, transfixed. The parents looked mesmerized as well, but not by Ari. They weren't even really watching. Ari recognized that glassy-eyed look that had come over both their faces. The music had started up. Ari's own ears registered the distorted echo of SirenSong, emanating from the overhead speakers at the far end of the chamber. It didn't hold the same power over her, though. Not here in the tank. The technology wasn't designed to work underwater.

The little girl seemed immune to its power as well, at least for the moment. That was a pattern Ari had noticed since she began working here. For some reason, children didn't seem to respond quite as strongly – especially the young ones who were born in the era after SirenSong had already drowned out all other music.

The mother was trying to tug the little girl along now, but the child resisted. She wanted to watch Ari swim around some more. Ari could tell from the look on her face that the child thought she was real. A real mermaid. Not some awkward teenager, splashing around in a ridiculous mermaid get-up.

The problem was, Ari wasn't so sure the little girl was wrong.

That was why her father hadn't wanted her to take this job in the first place. That was why her doctor had warned against it. They knew about the thoughts that she couldn't seem to shut out, no matter how hard she tried.

A real mermaid. Half-human, half-fish. Granted legs and cast up on the sandy shore when she herself was four years old, in exchange for her voice. The storybooks all differed on how long the spell would last. A few days... a week... a year... Ari had been living on dry land for 14 years now. None of the stories told it like that—not even the original. But maybe Hans Christian Andersen had messed up some of the details.

Or maybe it was all a load of crap.

Ari's lungs were starting to constrict now. She could usually hold her breath for a full three minutes, but she was nearly out of time. Real mermaids didn't need scuba tanks, now did they?

Maybe she was just delusional, like all the psychiatrists thought. Her life sure didn't feel like any fairytale. No, there was one key ingredient to the story, decidedly absent.

Fairytales generally required a handsome prince.

Ari let the last remaining air escape from her mouth in a huff of exasperation. She needed to keep her mind from going down this track. If her parents found out that she was even entertaining thoughts like this again, they would take this job away from her. They'd probably force her to work in the ice cream parlor with Lucy. Stand around like a pathetic loser, silently scooping hot fudge sundaes, while every cute guy from her high school loitered on the other side of the counter, ignoring her and flirting with her sister.

No, Ari thought. She'd sooner die than work there. She had to hold onto this job. She had to show her parents that she could handle it. It was honestly a matter of life or death.

At that very moment, though, it was also a matter of life or death to get more oxygen into her lungs. Ari turned and headed back for the scuba tank behind the rocks, when a sudden flash of movement caught the corner of her eye. Another visitor had emerged from the gallery and stepped into the viewing chamber. Not a family this time.

One guy, alone, just about Ari's age. He rushed headlong into the room, head swiveling in surprise, and Ari halted her progress toward the oxygen supply. Her lungs were screaming now, but she ignored them. With a burst of curiosity she couldn't quite explain, Ari turned and drifted back in his direction.

And that was the moment when her eyes first locked with his.