“No,” she admitted. “I really don’t. But … there’s this boy.”

“A boy?” Nathalie smiled widely and grabbed Gemma’s arm. “Is he cute? Have you kissed him? Does he look like Justin?”

“He’s really cute.” Gemma couldn’t help smiling with her mother staring so excitedly at her. “And we kissed.” Nathalie squealed in delight at that. “And I think we really, really like each other.”

“That’s wonderful!” Nathalie clapped her hands together.

“Yeah, but if I go with the mermaids, I’d have to leave him behind. I wouldn’t be able to see you anymore, either. I’d have to go away forever.”

“Oh.” She furrowed her brow. “Well. What happens if you stay? If you don’t go away with the mermaids?”

“I don’t know for sure. But I think…” Gemma took a deep breath. She didn’t want to tell her mother that she’d die because she had no idea how Nathalie would handle that information. “Something bad would happen to me.”

“So…” Nathalie’s face twisted in confusion as she tried to understand, and she chewed on a long strand of her hair. “If you go with the mermaids, you can swim around forever, but you wouldn’t be able to see me anymore, and you might have to do bad things.”

“Right.”

“But if you don’t go with them, something bad happens to you?” Nathalie asked, and Gemma nodded. “If you stay, will you still be able to visit me and see that boy you like?”

“I don’t know.” Gemma shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, then, I think you know what you need to do.”

“I do?”

“Yeah.” Nathalie nodded. “You have to go with them.”

“But I’ll have to hurt people,” Gemma reminded her.

“It doesn’t matter.” Nathalie shrugged. “You won’t get hurt. Either way, you don’t get to see me or your boyfriend anymore. So the choice really breaks down to being a mermaid or getting hurt. And you can’t get hurt.”

“I don’t know.” Gemma looked away from her. “I don’t think I could hurt people.”

“Gemma, listen to me. I’m your mother.” Nathalie took her hand and squeezed it emphatically. “I can’t take care of you anymore. I wish I could, but I know I can’t. So you have to take care of yourself.”

Gemma took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. But I probably won’t be able to come around anymore.”

“Because you’ll be off being a mermaid?” Nathalie asked.

“Yep.” Gemma nodded and blinked back tears. She hugged her mother then, knowing this would probably be the last time she ever saw her. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too.” Nathalie hugged her back, but only for a second, because she couldn’t sit still for very long.