“Ross!” she says, her voice way too high-pitched, like a nervous dolphin. She’s got a fake smile stuck on her face. Drop must have told her what happened. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think I’m doing here?” I feel like a tiger shark, ready to rip into her. “Or did you not think I’d find out about Drop?”

“Who?” The fake smile doesn’t budge, like maybe if she denies everything, I’ll just let it go.

“Drop!” I yell in mer. “Bob!”

Her face falls just as her passenger door pops open. I hadn’t noticed anybody with her. A feminine-presenting person with milky-white skin and the most precise braid in their blonde hair climbs out. Not a single strand flies out in the ocean breeze. But what’s most notable is their eyes. They’re bluer than blue, and their different hues roll together like the actual Blue itself. I feel it in my heart when our eyes lock. This is Coraline, Kavya’s mom. The one who used to be mer.

“Kavya?” Coraline asks. “Is this them?”

Kavya nods. “This is Ross.”

Coraline’s eyes widen with recognition. “What’s your real name?”

“Crest.” The sound whooshes from my throat, a wave curling over itself. It’s powerful, it’s peaceful, it’s me. And it’s the first time I’ve said it in almost a month.

“Hello, Crest.” She says it in English, having lost the ability to mimic sound, no longer blessed with the magic of the Blue to command any language. Even still, she says my name with awe, almost whimsically, like she can’t believe we’re here together.

I can’t believe it either. I’m meeting the only mer in generations to choose to stay on land. To choose to be human. To never get magic, to never go to Pacifica ever again, to never see her Blue Moon mates for the rest of her life, to never hear a pod of dolphins click and whistle or play from inside the pod itself. Nothing on land has ever sounded so joyous as what I’ve heard underwater. And being on land has never felt as right as being in the ocean, even when Sean and I are together. I can’t imagine making that choice. I can’t imagine living on land for only one month and knowing the right thing to do was to stay.

“Why did you do it?” I ask.