Kavya sprints around us and continues to her car. “Sean, you don’t have to explain anything. My mom’s one of them too. Well, was one of them. She used to be mer.”

     Ross     

“What the actual fuck?” Sean shouts, which are my thoughts exactly. What are the odds that the Blue would wash me up onshore to meet a guy whose best friend is the daughter of a mer turned human? This can’t be coincidence.

“How in the hell was I supposed to tell you?” Kavya asks. “It’s not like I could have just rolled up and been like, ‘Oh, hey, by the way, my mom used to be mer—which you’d probably call a mermaid—and chose to stay on land.’ Would you have even been friends with me if I’d said that?”

She has a point there.

“I would have thought you’d lost it,” Sean says.

Oh, somebody has definitely lost it all right. “No offense, but your mom’s shark shit snapped for choosing to stay up here,” I blurt. Even though we’re out of the action of Hollywood Boulevard, my heart still pounds like it’s trying to beat out of my chest. “How could she stand it? You’ve always got to be on the tip of your fin here. Do massive trucks regularly careen off the road and nearly crush you to death? And then instead of checking to see if I’m okay, you”—I flick my fin at Kavya in the most accusatory way I can muster—“whip out your phone and decide that’s the best time to get footage of me, scales and all. Hasn’t your mom taught you anything, or did she completely leave out what could happen to mer if they’re caught?”

Kavya takes a step back like I actually hit her. “I don’t think you understand. I’m telling you I know what’s at stake here. Me recording you wasn’t so that I could run off to TMZ or whatever. I’m going to post on all the socials.”

Sean sucks in a breath and says “Kavya, don’t” at the same time I growl “I flicking knew it.”

“Hear me out!” Kavya shouts. “I’m going to post it everywhere, but say how I saw this superhero squad try to respond to that accident.” She looks at us like we should be super excited, and I’m beginning to wonder if maybe she hit her head in all the chaos of the crash.

“Superhero squad?” I ask.