“We don’t shower,” I explain. “My fin would appear and my body would fall out from under me. I’d smash my head open on the side of the bathtub. There was a whole Safety for the Beginning Journeyfin class before I left. But I have an extra-large tub at the bungalow that my fin can still fit in.” And that is the absolute only place I can let the transformation happen, not just because that’s the only spot people wouldn’t see me but because when my legs come back, I’m naked. The change is so forceful that it rips any bottoms you’re wearing right off, and turns out bodysuits get destroyed too. I can see bits of fabric floating around the water, my new outfit destroyed in less than a day.

Oh, flick, I’m going to need to figure out how to get out of this pool, dry off, and cover up before Sean can actually tell people he’s seen me naked.

“This is real,” Sean says. “You’re real. Merpeople are real.”

Okay, now it’s time for the begging. And if that doesn’t work, threatening. Crap, maybe I should have let him keep believing that I might eat him. “But please, please don’t tell a soul. If any other humans find out about me, I’ll be captured and tanked for the rest of my life, prodded by scientists at best. Cut up and canned at worst.”

There’s no hesitation before Sean says, “I’d never let anyone do that to you.” As soon as he says it, he blushes. “I could have just said, ‘I promise I won’t tell,’ but instead I have to come across all obsessive and stalker-ish. What am I, some sort of possessive vampire?” Then his eyes snap open. “Oh god, wait. If merpeople are real, are vampires real too?”

He looks so alarmed right now that I don’t want to tip him over the edge by confirming that vampires are very much real. Instead I just try to swim past it and change the subject. “Thank you. For not telling.”

Sean nods. “Of course. I’m glad the fanatical bloodsucker vibe didn’t come through.” His face relaxes, dimples resting in his round cheeks. “So, um . . . what do we do now? How can I help you while you’re here so you don’t feel like a fish out of water?” His wide-eyed freak-out look is back. “Oh god, I didn’t mean that like it sounds. I’m not trying to call you a fish. That sounds offensive.”

“What’s so bad about being a fish? I know millions of them. It’s an honor to be their neighbor in the Blue.”

“Right, sorry.” Sean chews his cheek, probably worrying he’ll slip up again.