Stepping onto the boneyard, Mera caught sight of the ocean for the first time since she left it. Hearing the waves crash against the beach sent chills down her spine, but seeing it froze her where she stood. Kiara, whose arm was linked with Mera's when she stopped, turned back.

"You good?" She asked. Mera couldn't tear her eyes from the open expanse of the ocean, heart starting to pound, her breathing speeding up. "Mera, it's alright. You can stay here right here on the beach. You don't have to go in the water."

That was good. She didn't want to go in the ocean. At least, she told herself that she didn't want to. The roar of the ocean echoed in Mera's heart. She heard the call of her sisters singing in her ears. Mera's eyes fluttered shut as she listened to the familiar sound. It drew her forward toward the water, pulling at her stomach, her throat.

When her eyes snapped open, Kiara thought she saw the reflection of a face in Mera's eyes. She took a step backward, letting go of Mera's arm. Mera sucked in deep breaths, putting a hand on her chest.

"What the hell was that?" Kiara asked. Mera leaned forward, hoping to get some air into her lungs.

"My sisters," Mera gasped, flicking her eyes up to meet Kiara's. "They're calling me back."

"What does that mean?"

"If I go in there-" Mera looked up at the ocean, past the boys who had jumped full force into the party. "I don't think I'll be coming out."

Kiara swallowed before stepping back up to Mera and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Then let's make sure you never go in the ocean, yeah?"

Mera nodded her head.

"Yeah."

"Come on. Let's get you some beer. Get your mind off it all." Kiara offered her hand. With an attempt at a smile, Mera took it and Kiara led her over to the rest of the party. Still, Mera could hear her sister's whispering in the back of her mind, egging her toward the water.

It was strange at first, Mera decided. Very few times in her lives had Mera ever felt awkward, but now was definitely one of those times. All of the people she knew already knew everyone else, quickly making small talk, laughing about inside jokes, throwing sand at each other. Mera took small sips of her beer, still unused to the flavor. There had to be something she could do to get her mind off of the ocean call without getting in the way of her friends.

But before she could try, Kiara and JJ grabbed her by the hands, dragging toward a large group of people.

"Come dance!" Kiara said.

"Let loose, princess," JJ echoed.

"I've never danced to this kind of music before." Mera was hesitant to follow, digging her heels into the sand.

"Just move to the beat," Kiara told her, putting a hand on Mera's elbow.

"We'll show you how."

"And if anyone gets too close, just push them away."

Mera was about to protest when they dragged her right into the thick of it. Her heart pounded in an uncomfortable away. Her chest ached, her lungs barely taking in any breath. Kiara stood in front of her, hands already in the air. JJ was behind Mera, one hand on her back to keep her steady.

After a few moments, the music started to drown out the ocean call until she could no longer hear it. A smile broke out on Mera's face, a weight lifting off her shoulders. She found herself able to mimic Kiara's movements, swaying her hips in a similar way, moving her hands to the beat.

It wasn't music Mera was familiar with. There were drums, but they were much louder than she was used to and maybe something that sounded almost like a lute, but not really. She could barely understand the lyrics, but it didn't really matter. Even with the bodies pressing in around her, Mera found herself laughing along with JJ and Kiara as they moved in sync.

Kiara took Mera's hands, moving her around, spinning her in circles. It was almost familiar to the partnered dancing she did once upon a time. JJ, feeling left out, ducked between their arms and started to wriggle around like a worm, sending a fit of laughter through Mera.

"You're ridiculous!" Kiara laughed at JJ, pressing against his shoulder with her hand.

Sweat beaded on the back of Mera's neck, her legs starting to ache from the constant jumping around. But she didn't care. She kept dancing. Eventually, JJ and Kiara went to go grab another drink and Mera followed them, not wanting to be alone.

"I haven't danced like that in a long time," Mera said, letting out a laugh as she plopped herself into the sand. John B handed her a beer, taking kegger duty for the time being.

"You danced?" JJ asked, sitting beside her. "I thought all old time-y people thought dancing was of the devil."

"Darling, I was a pirate. I stole things from people for a living. You really think my parents had any issues with dancing?"

"Right, right." Mera didn't notice the way the tips of JJ's ears turned red when she called him 'darling'.

"How did you dance back then?" Pope asked, sitting on a fallen tree. Mera looked back at him.

"Do you want me to show you?"

"Yes please," JJ murmured, taking a drink from his beer. Kiara jabbed him in the shoulder with her fingers, to which JJ threw a handful of sand into her beer cup. Mera stood as the two of them bickered between each other, offering a hand to Pope. When he looked at her skeptically, she raised an eyebrow.

"Humor me, Pope," Mera said. "Let me teach you something for once."

Under the prospect of learning, Pope decided that maybe dancing with the strange fish-girl wasn't so bad an idea after all. He took her hand and she pulled him to his feet.

"This was one of my favorites," Mera said.

She started with the footwork, showing Pope where to go and what to do, declining to tell him that she would be the one leading. When he started to get the hang of it, JJ whistled.

"Looking good there, Heyward," he said, with a grin. Pope let go of Mera's hand to strangle JJ, but she pulled him back, repeating the steps again. Once she was confident that he knew it, she turned to the others.

"Clap to this beat, please," she said.

Mera clapped her hands a few times in the general direction of her friends. They picked it up shortly and Mera and Pope started the dance. It was slow, at first, to get him used to it, but she started to go faster and faster until Pope tripped over his feet. Mera let out a laugh, catching him before he hit the ground.

"That was amazing!" She said, straightening him. "I have never seen someone pick it up so quickly!"

"My turn!" Kiara pushed herself out of the sand. Pope took her place with a grin. JJ bumped his shoulder.

"I'll teach you a new one," Mera said, tapping her finger against her chin. "Ah, yes!"

They spent the next few minutes learning the new dance before Mera gave the boys a beat to clap. Pope added a few downbeats to go with it, laughing as Kiara struggled to get her arms and feet to work in sync.

"To the water!" A voice shouted from the large group of kids. Kiara, Pope and John B followed the instructions and took off toward the ocean. When Kiara slipped out of Mera's hand, she felt like her breath was taken away from her. Mera watched all of the pogues in the ocean, laughing, splashing each other, pulling at each other's legs from underneath the waves. She suddenly felt very alone.

"They're safe out there, right?" Mera startled at the sound of JJ's voice beside her. "None of your people-eating friends will come for them?"

After collecting herself, Mera crossed her arms and shook her head.

"No. They don't come this close to the shore. Too high a risk."

"What were you doing so close?" JJ asked her. Mera ran her tongue over her teeth and chuckled, looking at her feet as she buried her toes in the sand. There was no way she was going to tell him that she had come to watch him surf that day. It hadn't been the first time she saw him, the day she saved him. She knew the boy with the blond hair wouldn't be able to resist the waves that day, so she had come to watch him. It was a good thing she had.

"I like to play it dangerous," she said, plucking her cup off of the ground and taking a drink. "Never mattered much to me whether anyone saw me or if I got caught in a net."

A lie. She had been caught in a net once and it was the most terrifying experience. The feeling of the rope against her skin still haunted her.

"I see."

"Aren't you going to go in?" Mera asked, taking another quick drink to drown out the steadily growing ocean call in her head.

"Nah," JJ said, sitting back down. "I just washed my hair. Don't want to get it all salty."

Mera smiled as she lowered herself to the ground beside him. A slower song came from the speaker where the others had been dancing. Mera narrowed her eyes at the sound. It was very different from what she was used to.

"How do you dance to a song this slow?" She asked JJ. "There is no beat for jumping, no way to move your arms or hips."

"You usually dance with someone for slow songs," JJ told her.

"Like a partner dance?" Mera's eyes lit up. Partner dances had always been her favorite. Moving in sync with another person, that connection, was unlike anything else Mera had ever felt.

"Yeah, I guess so," JJ said with a shrug of his shoulders. Mera scrambled to her feet.

"Will you teach me?"

JJ looked up at her, saw her beaming down at him, and couldn't say no.

"There really isn't much to it, princess," he said, standing slowly. Mera's smile fell and her breath hitched when he stepped right up to her. She swallowed a lump in her throat and watched JJ do the same.

"I just...you put your hands here-" He lifted her arms and draped them over his shoulders. "And I...I put my hands here."

Mera felt her stomach flip when he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her in close until their chests were almost touching. The ocean roared in response.

"What now?" She asked, her voice just louder than a whisper.

"You sway, like this." Mera smiled, chewing on the inside of her cheek, as JJ started to move back and forth. After a few moments, she followed suit. She felt her cheeks grow hot when his thumb grazed her bare skin. Her stomach flipped a thousand more times and she wasn't sure why.

"This is a very easy partner dance," Mera said, trying to break away the tension she felt.

"There's not much to it."

That connection that Mera had been thinking about when she thought of partner dances was so different from what was happening now. That connection was like a string bringing two people together, tying their lives into one, for a moment relying on someone else. This was different. This was intimate. This was close. Too close.

The song ended and Mera stepped away, dropping her hands and shoving them into her back pockets. She cleared her throat and JJ coughed, looking away from her out toward the ocean. He rubbed his palms against the side of his pants.

For the next few moments, which felt like an eternity, neither of them said anything. That is, until John B ran out of the ocean with Kiara on his back, both of them cackling with laughter. John B fell to the ground, Kiara tumbling off of him. Mera glanced up at JJ briefly, only to meet his eyes before looking back at her friends.

"It's freezing in there!" Kiara shuddered to prove her point, shoving her hands into the cool sand. "Should we head back?"

Pope came stumbling out of the water, rubbing his arms with his dripping wet hands.

"I just remembered that there are man eating fish out there," Pope said, walking as if the ground was made of glass.

"Pope," Kiara hissed, smacking his shin with the back of her hand while nodding her head toward Mera, who found it in herself to give a little laugh.

"Mera, I'm sorry-"

"It's nothing to worry about," Mera said with a wave of her hand.

"Let's get out of here," John B said, pulling his shirt back on over his head. "I'm frozen solid."

Mera wasn't aware they were being accompanied by another girl on their way back home. She had seen her at the party, danced beside her a few times even. She wasn't sure that she had seen the girl talk to John B even once, yet she was his escort home.

There was only one time Mera had ever been inside a brothel. She had pretended to be one of the girls, hoping to preen information about a slave ship from one of the clients. The girls were sweet, willing to lie for her, to protect her. But the life they lived was one of servitude and Mera had been more than pleased to leave two weeks after she arrived.

Now, she wondered if that was how this girl felt. The longer she looked, the more she realized that that wasn't the case. While the girls at the brothel had to pretend to want to be there, this girl was shameless in her desire for John B. Mera almost found herself smiling. At least women were free to love to whatever extent they wanted without shame. She just hoped that it meant there were few women being murdered and attacked on the streets.

When John B stopped the van, Kiara, Pope, and JJ hopped out as quickly as they could. Mera followed out, not really wanting to watch her fake cousin in such an intimate place. Walking over to her friends, Mera felt a laugh build up in her throat.

"We're going to have to put you in a different bed, princess," JJ said, not hiding his smile.

"I can't believe you let me sleep in that bed...ever," she said, quiet giggles coming from her mouth.

"I don't think there's a single surface in that house you can sleep on with those two around," Kiara said, waving her finger between JJ and the house where John B was. A burst of laughter came from Mera as Pope gagged.

"That's disgusting to think about, Kie," Pope said, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm blaming you for putting that thought in my head."

Mera kept laughing as he pressed his forehead against a tree, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles as if to scrub the image away. JJ stood there, silent but not embarrassed.

"We're probably going to have to sleep out here," Kiara said, laughter still making her words shake. "Here, the hammocks are comfortable."

Kiara crawled into one of the hammocks, JJ hopping in after her. Pope and Mera climbed into the other, shifting around each other and passing sorry's until they were comfortable.

"I'm not tired," Pope said.

"No, me neither." Kiara sat up. "Mera, tell us something about your life."

"Which life?"

"Either one."

Mera thought about her life under the surface, how cold she had felt, how cold she had been. She thought of the way her teeth sunk into the necks of hundreds of men, the way she tore the flesh off of people's bones. She tried to smile, but the thought made her sick. They didn't want to hear about that. No. They would run from her if they knew just how horrible she had been.

"What do you want to know?"

JJ pulled something out of his pocket, flicking it open, a little flame appeared. Mera startled, sitting straighter.

"Is that...fire?" she asked, scowling at the little thing. JJ nodded.

"It's a lighter."

"You carry fire in your pocket?"

JJ stuck something between his teeth, a bit of rolled up paper, his grin lopsided. He brought the flame to the paper, letting the edge burn. Breathing in and then out again, a puff of smoke curled out of JJ's nose and mouth. Mera's eyes widened with glee.

"Is that like a...a pipe? But small?" She asked.

"And disposable," JJ said, handing the piece of paper to Kiara, who took a long breath in. "You wanna try?"

Mera looked at Pope, who shook his head.

"I always keep the signal clear," he said, tapping two fingers against his temple.

"I am unfamiliar with what a signal is," Mera said, taking the piece of paper as Kiara offered it. If it was just like a pipe, then Mera knew how to use it. Putting the paper between her lips, she let herself get used to the strange texture, shutting her eyes. She breathed in deeply, feeling the smoke fill her. She let the breath out, puffing the smoke into the warm night air.

Handing the paper pipe back to JJ, Mera felt her nerves begin to relax.

"I have a question for you," JJ said, propping himself up on his elbow. Mera looked at him with a small smile and narrowed eyes. "Are you a virgin?"

"JJ!" Kiara protested, tapping her toes against JJ's cheek, who swatted her feet away,

"Kiara, it's fine," Mera said with a laugh. "No, JJ, I'm not."

"Really?" Pope asked from beside her. Mera shrugged.

"I was a pirate with a duty to fulfil," Mera told him. "And men are very willing to tell a girl anything when she has him in such a compromising position."

JJ and Pope laughed, but Kiara just stared.

"You said you were 16 when you became a mermaid," Kiara said. Mera nodded, smiling. "You were sleeping with men for information when you were 16?"

Mera shrugged her shoulders, unbothered.

"I had been doing it for three years before that."

JJ and Pope stopped laughing.

"That's fucked," JJ said.

"Your parents made you do that?" Pope asked. Mera was starting to feel like she shouldn't have brought it up. Her smile fell and she suddenly felt the weight of their stares.

"They didn't make me do anything I didn't want to," Mera told them. "I did what I had to."

Mera had never been ashamed of it before. Those in her crew clapped her on the back, told her what an amazing job she was doing. Her mother and father gave her rewards for it. Maybe it made Mera a little sick on the inside, but saving slaves and stealing cargo made it all worth it. It was her life for theirs, right?

But now, with all three pairs of eyes on her, Mera wondered if it was something to feel shame about, to be embarrassed by. She sniffed and looked down at her hands with a small shake of her head. The mood turned sour instantly and Mera couldn't help but feel that it was her fault.

"I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head with a little laugh. "I shouldn't...I shouldn't have said anything."

No one spoke and Mera just felt worse and worse until JJ reached his hand out, the paper pipe in his hand. Mera looked up at him and he gave her a twinge of a smile before looking at the thing in his hand. Mera scoffed, feeling a ghost of a smile on her own lips. She took the pipe and put it between her lips, breathing in and out, in and out, in and out, before passing it back to JJ.

"We've all got dirt," JJ said, his fingers grazing over hers as he took it back. "Don't feel bad about yours."

It didn't take long for the sour mood to turn back to something light and airy. Mera clamped her mouth shut for as long as she could, not trying to say anything else to make them uncomfortable.

The sun was starting to peak over the horizon when Mera realized that she was still awake. Pope was asleep beside her, soft snores coming from his mouth. Kie's eyes were shut, her breathing steady, but Mera wasn't sure if she was awake or not. It seemed like JJ hadn't blinked in over an hour, his eyes fixed on the sky above. Mera listened to the water beat against the shore, the wooden dock creaking with the movement of the current. For a moment, she could close her eyes and imagine she was back on her ship, sleeping in her hammock with her bunkmate beside her. The water would kiss the sides of the boat, pounding against it when the waves came. Mera would sleep through it.

The only difference between then and now was back then, Mera couldn't escape the ocean call wherever she was. Even on land, she heard them calling to her, begging for her to join them. Now, she could only hear it when she was close to the water, as last night had taught her. But she knew a good way to drown it out; music, dance, alcohol, smoke, JJ.

When Mera's eyes shot open, trying to take back her own thoughts, she realized that the sun was higher in the sky and that she was the only one in the hammocks. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up. JJ and John B were out front, fiddling with some kind of mechanical thing. Pope was sitting on the steps, drinking water through a straw. Kie was nowhere in sight.

Throwing her legs over the side of the hammock, Mera smacked her lips and stretched her arms.

"Welcome to the land of the living, Sleeping Beauty," John B said with a smile, standing. "Sleep well, cos?"

Mera grunted, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"I'll take that as a no."

"There's some breakfast on the table," Pope told Mera as she walked inside.

"Thank you, Pope."

"He gets a nice, pleasant 'thank you, Pope' and I don't even get a wave?" JJ whined to John B. "Women."

"Maybe if you stopped asking her about sex and tried to have a normal human conversation with her, she'd be more likely to say 'hi' when she wakes up," Pope suggested, slurping his water loudly. JJ blew a raspberry at him. Mera smiled as she picked a plate off of the table. Peanut butter toast. Mera felt her heart warm.

Walking back outside, she sat beside Pope, munching on her toast.

"Hi, JJ," she said.

"Hey, princess," he replied with a smile, turning back to the mechanical object he and John B were working on.

"What is this thing?" Mera asked Pope, setting her plate on her knees.

"It's a motorcycle," Pope told her, leaning back on his elbows. "JJ's dad told him that if he could fix it up, he could keep it."

"Is it like a car?" It was obviously a stupid question by the way John B and JJ snickered to each other. Mera scowled.

"It's like a horse, I guess. Except it's got two wheels and an engine."

"And instead of carrots, you feed it oil," John B added, smearing something black across his forehead.

"Ah." Mera was slowly starting to understand. At least, she thought she was.

"Oh, cos." John B turned around toward Mera, wiping a metal tool in a rag. "Ward called me this morning. He thinks he might have a job for you."

Mera's eyes lit up and she grinned.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It doesn't sound like fun, but it's money," he told her. Mera nodded her head excitedly.

"I'll do it, whatever it is."

"See, he's got this pod of old stuff left behind in people's houses when he buys them. He likes to keep some of the stuff to sell off later. Says he needs someone to clean everything off, make sure it looks shiny and new," John B said. "You up for it?"

Mera stood, still grinning.

"Of course!"

"I'll let him know then," John B said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and stepping inside the house. Mera couldn't keep her smile from her face.

"You know what that means, right, Mera?" Pope said.

"I'll be making money to repay you guys for all you've done for me," Mera said, glancing between Pope and JJ, who was wiping his hands on his shorts. Mera hadn't realized until just then, but JJ had discarded his shirt, leaving his top bare. She felt her cheeks grow hot and she turned back quickly to Pope.

"It means you have to hang around Rafe Cameron's house," Pope told her slowly. Mera shrugged, blowing air through her lips.

"Rafe Cameron doesn't scare me," she said, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Just be careful with him. He has a habit of making the Pogues' lives a living hell," Pope told her.

"And he has a thing for hot girls," JJ added. Mera tilted her head toward him.
"You think I'm hot?" she asked. She wasn't entirely familiar with the term, but from the context she was sure she understood well enough what it meant. It made her smile to see JJ splutter and try to cover for himself.

"Like I said," Mera said, looking back at Pope. "Rafe has nothing on me. I can handle myself."

Pope looked at his feet.

"Be careful with him," Pope said once more. "That boy's unhinged."

Mera didn't have anything to say in response. Maybe he was, but Mera had spent 16 years with people who were supposed to be 'unhinged', immoral, the scum of the cities. Sure, the Cameron's were filthy rich and part of her despised them for it, but she also remembered Denmark Tanny. He was rich beyond belief all because of that shipwreck, yet he was a kind soul, a gentle heart.

Mera knew better than to hate someone for what she saw on the outside. She just wished that she could prove to the Pogues that maybe Rafe wasn't so bad. She remembered how Rose spoke to Rafe, the way his father seemed to look right over him. Mera wondered what could be beneath the boy's hard exterior.

"Cos, good news!" John B said, walking out of the house. "Ward wants to meet today if you're willing."

Mera guessed she was about to find out.