“Rub what in your face?” Gemma shook her head. “Mom, I visit you every week. I just come to see you and talk with you because I miss you and love you. We usually come on Saturdays, but there’s been a lot going on at home.”

“So I have to stay here?” Nathalie straightened up and dropped her bag and shoe on the floor. “For how long?”

“I don’t know. But this is where you live.”

“But they don’t let me do anything!” Nathalie whined.

“Everywhere you live has rules,” Gemma tried to explain to her. “You’ll never be allowed to do whatever you want. Nobody can.”

“Well, that stinks.” She looked around the room in disgust and kicked a teddy bear that Gemma had gotten her for Mother’s Day.

“Listen, Mom, can I talk to you?” Gemma asked.

“I guess.” Nathalie sighed and went over to the bed so she could flop down on it. “If I can’t leave, we might as well talk.”

“Thanks.” Gemma sat down next to her. “I need your advice.”

“About what?” Nathalie looked up at her, intrigued that someone was coming to her for help.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on right now, and it’s all so crazy.” She chewed her lip, then looked at Nathalie. “Do you believe in monsters?”

“You mean like real monsters?” Her eyes widened, and she leaned in closer to Gemma. “Yeah. Of course I do. Why? Did you see one? What was it like?”

“I don’t know, actually.” Gemma shook her head. “It seemed sorta awesome, but I know it’s not right.”

“Well, what does the monster look like?” Nathalie asked. She pulled her legs underneath her so she could sit cross-legged, facing Gemma.

“I guess it’s like a mermaid.”

“A mermaid?” Nathalie gasped and her eyes widened even farther. “Oh, my gosh, Gemma, that’s so awesome!”

“I know, but…” She rolled her shoulders. “They want me to join them, to be a mermaid like them—”

“Oh, Gemma, you have to!” Nathalie cut her off before she could finish her thought. “You have to be a mermaid! That would be the most amazing thing in the whole world! You could swim on and on forever! Nobody would ever tell you what to do.”

“But…” She swallowed hard and stared down at her sunglasses in her hands. “But I think they’re doing something bad. They hurt people.”

“The mermaids hurt people?” Nathalie asked. “How? Why would they do that?”

“I don’t know. But I know they are. I think they might be evil.”

“Oh, no.” Nathalie chewed her thumbnail, considering her daughter’s story very seriously.

“So I think if I went with them, I would have to hurt people.” Gemma looked up, trying to hold back her tears.

“Then don’t go with them. You don’t want to hurt people. Do you?”