popped up next to me and I realized that they had all been following me.
Naida’s face appeared alongside me, “Marina, now do you see? This is where you belong.
This is your birthright. ”
I looked up at the moon again, and then across the horizon where I saw other lights. I had surfaced near the harbor, and I could see a warm yellow glow coming from all the houses along the shoreline. I recognized Ethan’s apartment building with a shock. My human heart skipped a beat, and the ocean forces that were taking me over weakened a tiny bit. I thought about Ethan’s face and voice and started to reclaim my ability to think. I started to remember my human life and I clung to the memory with all my might.
I had to get back, had to change back somehow before I was totally lost in the dream of the ocean. I felt like I was trying to shake off a powerful addiction. Voices in my mind whispered that I should stay, that I was finally where I belonged. I had to make it back before my mind was completely befuddled by the power of the moon and the tide. I thought of my father, of Evie and Abby. I remembered Cruz and Megan, my home and my life on land.
“Naida, ” I said with desperate intensity, “I must go back. It’s wonderful here... but I can never be happy without the people I love.”
“Marina, think carefully,” she said as she circled me, “If you go, you must give up your gift. ” I nodded. Ethan, I thought, Ethan. He was the only thing that kept me clinging to sanity.
“I want to go back. I have to go back,” I said with absolute conviction.
She looked at me with narrowed eyes and motioned for me to follow her back underwater.
We swam towards the chamber where I had transformed. The thought occurred to me that this spot held some sort of power, some significance to them. I hurried after her. When we reached the chamber she reclaimed the high perch she had sat upon before.
The rest of the mermaids filed in, uncharacteristically quiet.
Naida scrutinized me, “Our kind has been hunted and abused by the humans. They show no gratitude for our many kindnesses to them. They slaughter our precious pets. They lure our sisters away from home, never to be seen again… Why must you return to them? ” I thought about how to explain it to her, “I’m as much human as I am mermaid. I need my human family, and I can’t live without them. ”
“We must confer, ” she said and closed her eyes in concentration. I looked around in amazement to see all the others had done the same. I thought about Megan’s insight about mermaid telepathy. Maybe this spot was where they could read each other’s minds.
Naida snapped her head up and opened her eyes. She was the messenger, the mouthpiece for their communal brain.
“We have decided to grant your request on one condition. Is this your final choice? ” she asked.
“Yes! ” I nodded frantically, “I want to go back home, ” I said seriously. “On land, ” I added, just in case.
“The decision that you make is what ended Adria, ” she warned, her voice harsh.
I swallowed hard, “I know. ”
“You have to forsake the gift that your mother has left behind for you. We cannot stop you, but we will grant you fifty moons to make a final choice, ” she said.
“I don’t understand, what gift? ”
“The gift of eternal life. ”
I was shocked, trying to wrap my mind around the concept. My mother had given up immortality to be with my father and take a chance on motherhood. I wondered if she understood what that meant. As she lay dying did she have any regrets about her choice? It was as sad as anything I could imagine.
So I could choose to live forever. Now I understood how my mother had known Stella, and what Lorelei meant about the moon and tides. They were things that went on and on, they were eternal; but what were they compared to love?
Naida swam around me as I made my choice, “If you give up the gift, you must suffer the change back right now. ”
I could tell she thought I’d be afraid of the pain.
I steeled myself, and looked her squarely in the eyes. I was brought up as a human, knowing that someday I would die.