It was late afternoon, almost evening when I finally returned to the villa. Once I had helped my parents and Aunt Carmen put the groceries away, I gathered everyone by the pool and told them about the encounter outside the Supermercado Palco. “Well, we had to expect that they would start passing our pictures around the general public with a fake story once they couldn’t get any of our known associates to give us up,” Uncle Jack said with a sigh of resignation.

“Hmmm…” Dad murmured with a thoughtful expression before finally asking, “Do you think that you were followed?”

I quickly shook my head. “No, I didn’t smell any traces that anyone but me got too close to the car while I was inside the store and they didn’t follow me through the parking lot. I watched for a tail and drove all over the city before taking an unmonitored route here. I may not be as experienced at this stuff as the rest of you, but I’m certain nobody followed me.”

“They didn’t seem overly interested, or suspicious of you, did they?” Mom inquired.

“Honestly, the encounter was kinda weird in that regard,” I admitted with a shrug. “I don’t think that the guy was too bright, and the woman was in charge. He seemed more concerned with the fact that he had to come up with a story on the spot than with whether I might be suspicious. He seemed bored more than anything and just accepted it when I said I didn’t know the people in the photos. The woman is where the weirdness comes in though.”

“Weirdness?” Kara asked from the pool where she leaned on the side with her tail draped around Maddie in the shallow end.

I considered how to phrase my reply for a moment before confessing, “I think that I felt the spark of magic in her. It was faint, but it felt like the dormant magic inside of us when we’re not actively using it. Now, here’s where things get weird; I could swear that she sensed my magic too, or maybe the primal growth energy we produce. Is that possible, Kieshala? She just gaped at me the whole time and had this sort of half-awed and half-terrified look on her face.”

“It is possible, anything is possible where magic is involved, though I do not know how likely it is. The magic in this world is nearly gone, people who normally would have shown magical talent, like you, Kara, and Jenny do not seem to even realize magic exists because its presence has grown so faint. Someone with a high degree of talent might be able to sense the magic from us, but they would have had to be trained in using magic, or at least sensing it,” the sunset-hued Naethari conceded with a frown.

Mom wore a similar frown “Well, it’s a good thing that you got so many supplies today, Naiya. It’s probably a good idea for you to avoid going to Havana for a few days, given this new information. If she’s working for Carmichael and knows what he’s looking for, she might just put two and two together after your encounter. She might not think ‘mermaid’, but it is likely that she’ll believe that you’re something supernatural, and if Carmichael believes that she can sense magic, he will make the connection and use her to hunt you girls down.”

A sigh of relief slipped out from between my lips. Staying at the villa and keeping a low profile for a bit suited me just fine. Truthfully, I was getting exhausted going all around Havana and having to cover my tracks all of the time. I needed to spend some time relaxing with my mate and my family and take a break from all this undercover stuff. I also wanted to be here for my sister and Natalie when they woke up for the first time as Naethari.

“Yeah, staying out of the city for a while sounds good,” I agreed as I slipped out of my clothes and into the pool, changing back to my base form to snuggle against my mate.

We had a relatively quiet evening after that decision was made, unless you count Dad and Aunt Carmen setting up some of the weapons I had bought in preparation for a possible assault. With my close call earlier, and Maddie and Nat still finishing their transitions into Naethari, they thought it best to be prepared with some proverbial (and literal) landmines for when the other shoe eventually dropped. Hopefully, Carmichael would step on one if he discovered where we were and made a move.

It was almost two in the morning and I was just starting to doze off, snuggled close to Kara as we Naethari had formed a cuddle pile half-covering Maddie and Natalie, when I felt movement beneath me. My eyes shot open as I realized that the movement had come from my sister and she moved again, squirming beneath the mass of Naethari spread out and covering her and Natalie. My eyes shot toward her face as she let out a soft moan, causing a stream of bubbles to slip from between her lips.

~ Maddie?! ~ I thought toward her, half in a panic as I tried not to wake the others and my heart thumped in my chest with worry and hope.

“N-Naiya?” her voice, hoarse from disuse and slightly distorted beneath the water, replied uncertainly as electric blue eyes with flecks of gold fluttered open. “H-how? I was sure I was going to die there.”

I shifted position to wrap my arms tightly around her in a hug and cried a deluge of happy tears as the words spilled from my mind in a torrent of guilt and worry since I was sobbing and sniffling against her too intensely to speak properly. ~ I’m so sorry, Mads! It was all my fault! If I had been paying attention, instead of being distracted and complaining about the heat, you wouldn’t have had to protect me! I… I had to use my venom and my blood to turn you; I wasn’t going to let you die! ~

Apparently, she had understood me, and her eyes narrowed and her face scrunched up in a very familiar expression of anger on her new features. “No!” she hissed, a stream of bubbles from her mouth seeming to punctuate that simple statement. “You are not going to blame yourself for this, Naiya. We got ambushed because I got sloppy, end of story. Of course, I protected you, you lovable dolt! You’re my sister, and I wasn’t about to let you die either!”

She took a deep breath to calm herself and wrapped her arms around me tightly, whispering softly in my ear as she rubbed my back. “Thanks for saving me, Sis, and stop beating yourself up about it. It’s not like I wasn’t planning to become a Naethari soon anyway and you did what you had to do.”

“I… know… it’s just…”

Maddie cut off my sniffling protest. “Stop blaming yourself! It was a shitty situation, but you somehow got us out of it and we’re both still alive. That’s all that matters. How did you get us out, by the way? Things are a bit fuzzy after you jumped their leader.”

I explained to her in graphic detail just what I had done to the team that had attacked us, the trap I had set for the sniper that shot her, and everything else until the point when our parents, Aunt Carmen, and Uncle Jack had retrieved us from the motel. “So, then Mom got you hooked up with the medical stuff, and one of us Naethari has been staying by your side since,” I finished, no longer crying, but trying to keep my voice down to not wake the others.

My sister smiled and squeezed me tightly in her arms. “You handled yourself like a pro, Sis, I’m proud of you. I was hoping to do the whole transition thing with Nat, but at least I’m alive.”

“She’s right there beside you, Mads,” I told her, returning her smile with one of my own as I gently turned her head toward the still-changing amethyst-haired Naethari with hot pink fins. “She really wanted to do this with you. She should probably wake up in a few hours, or lunchtime at the latest.

“That’s Nat?! Holy shit, she’s changed!” Maddie whisper-yelled.

“Duh, Mads, or I’d still be Jon. That’s her ideal Naethari body, and her hair and fins are her favorite colors, just like the rest of us. Speaking of which, I knew that you liked that electric blue more than you were letting on, and the gold fins make a nice contrast on your tail,” I teased, glad to be able to talk to my sister like this again.

Maddie snatched up a handful of her now long, electric blue hair and just stared at it for a moment. “Wait… so how much have I changed?”

“Not much in the face or general build, except for the tail, the fangs, and the ears of course,” I assured her, displaying my own fangs by opening my jaws wide and tucking wisps of magenta hair behind my long, swept-back, elfin ear in demonstration. “Most of your changes are a lot more subtle, but you were always pretty comfortable in your own skin. Your freckles are, like, bright gold now though, just like your fins.”

“Okay… I really need to see a mirror now,” she quietly murmured as she continued to stare at her hair.

I shook my head as I stifled a yawn. “In the morning, Mads. We should both get some rest, your body has been through a lot and tomorrow we’ll have to teach you and Nat how to use those new tails properly. We still have people after us, and the sooner that you can both keep up with the rest of us in the water, the better. We’ll get you both up-to-date on everything that happened while you were out too.”

My sister sighed but conceded. “Okay, Naiya. Good night, Sis, I love you, and… thanks for saving me.”

“I love you too, Mads, and I’m glad that you’re back with us,” I replied and I hugged her once more.

It was a little after nine o’clock in the morning when I was awakened by Jenny squealing excitedly, “They’re awake!”

My eyes snapped open, and I quickly joined my fellow Naethari in swarming our two new clan members with hugs. A minor stampede of footsteps rushed toward the pool from the direction of the living room and Kieshala’s mind voice sternly suggested, ~ Let us not crowd them, girls, ~ as if she hadn’t been in on the hugging too.

Still, we all backed off to give them some space, and to allow the pair of newly Naethari girlfriends to get a good look at one another. They did have to endure another round of hugs from Mom, Dad, Uncle Jack, and Aunt Carmen though, once Dad and Aunt Carmen had picked the pair up out of the water and sat them on the edge of the pool. Mom and Dad looked like they never wanted to let go of Maddie again once they had her in their arms, and I couldn’t blame them. Her near brush with death had had us all understandably worried and scared for her.

Once they were finally freed, the pair stared at one another for several minutes before Natalie opened her arms to hug Maddie, only to fall face-first into her lap. “Remember that you will have problems controlling your tails at first,” Kieshala cautioned, just a little bit late.

“Yesh, I can shee tha’,” Natalie grumbled before Dad helped to get her face out of its precarious position in Maddie’s lap and set her upright again.

“What’s the plan for that, Kieshala,” Kara asked the older Naethari.

“We should all eat first, Maddie and Natalie will need their energy today,” Kieshala replied after a moment of thought. “Then we can start them on tail and fin exercises for a while before we get them into the water to try swimming. We can alternate those, and… meditation, to get them searching for the weave of magic within them so they can start training their aetral as well. Once they are ready to train their aetral I should be able to help guide Natalie, but Maddie will need her sister’s help.”

I was looking at Kieshala in confusion as my sister asked, “So, you have some idea what our aetral are then?”

“Yes, the weave of magic in both of you is familiar to me. Natalie is a Tidebreaker; they can manipulate and direct water with their minds. Maddie is a Shifter, so I believe that Naiya will be able to help her learn better than I can,” she replied with a smile.

Maddie turned to me and grinned. “Cool! You can show me how to get legs again, well, at least for a little while.”

“Well, if you work very hard at learning to use your tail first, I’ll think about it,” I teased.

With that, we all got to work. Mom and Aunt Carmen went to the kitchen to start making enough breakfast for all of us, while Uncle Jack and Dad went back to what they had been doing before Jenny’s excited screaming summoned them, and Kieshala started teaching the two new Naethari the basics of how to move their tails and fins. Kara, Jenny, and I went to gather some fish and shellfish from the lagoon to add to the meal.

Okay, yes, it might sound like we were getting a bit of payback for them feeding us all that fish and stuff while we were Pierce’s captives but watching them try to choke it down the first time would just be a bonus. They were Naethari now, so they would need to get used to eating raw seafood. There wouldn’t be any pizza places or fast food joints under the sea, especially if we managed to leave Earth and go to Totha.

Once we had returned from our brief hunt, I carried in a plastic tote filled with the fruits of our labor while Jenny and Kara slither-crawled back to the pool. We would need to teach them that too, so they could get around the house and be somewhat mobile on land. After I dropped the tote off by the poolside, I went to retrieve a large crate from the garage, glad of my strength as I pulled it along into the poolroom and to the poolside.

The human food portion of breakfast wasn’t quite finished yet and I arrived back just in time to see Maddie and Nat looking dubiously at the fish that my mate and her sister were holding out to them while grinning evilly. “This is revenge, isn’t it?” Nat said with a grimace. “Come on, girls; remember who snuck you in chocolate, pizza, Chinese food, and other treats.”

“You will need to get used to eating it sooner or later,” Kara replied reasonably, but the smile was still there.

“Fine, give it here,” Nat said with a shudder as she snatched the fish in question from my mate. Then she opened her mouth as wide as only a Naethari can and took a big bite. Her expression morphed from disgust to a considering look, and then to resignation as she shrugged. “It’s not bad.”

“Nope, no way. If it has to be sooner or later, I prefer later,” Maddie said as she crossed her arms, wrinkled her nose, and stubbornly shook her head at Jenny’s offered fish. “I like my food to be cooked.”

I wasn’t surprised at her answer since I knew that my sister could be picky about food. We both hated the survival camping trips while growing up when Mom and Dad made us all live off whatever we could manage to hunt and gather in the wilderness. Despite the often-dubious menu, I had fond memories of those trips too though, because my birth mother would always make us a nice treat when we got home, and it was time when the five of us were together as a family without Mom and Dad having to leave on some mission. We had those moments at home too, of course, but those survival trips had always stood out in my mind.

The upshot is that I knew that when Maddie got like this, she would need to be bribed, just like my mother used to do. “Mads, if you eat the fishy, you can have the present that I got for you while you were out,” I said with a grin as I tapped the long crate that I had dragged in

Maddie looked distastefully from the fish to the crate and gave me a suspicious look. “What kind of present?”

“I made an arms deal, Mads!” I told her excitedly. “I was a total badass and got us all sorts of weapons to use on the assholes after us! I saw this on his list of goodies, and I couldn’t resist! It’s a Barrett M107A1 anti-materiel rifle with a suppressor, a scope, and a monopod. It’s got plenty of ammo too. Just think of what you could do to our enemies with this, and you don’t even need to stand up to use it. It’s like your sniper rifle, only more badass! Soooo… are you hungry, Mads?”

Maddie ate the fish.