Megan woke from a strange dream. As she blinked sleep from her eyes she tried to get a sense of where she was at. This wasn’t her home in Luna Lake. Where…?

       Soft snoring brought a smile to her lips as she remembered.

       She was in the Mermaid House for her family in the new community. She was in the top floor pool, sleeping next to her sister.

       It was only their second night home together but it seemed clear already that Melody planned to sleep each night with Megan.

       She smiled fondly at the child, her angelic face split in a small smile as she dreamed happy dreams. For a moment, Megan wondered what they were, and if she was still a mermaid in them, or not.

       A deeply frightening thought overtook Megan.

       What about Roland?

       Would Roland seek to turn her sister into a mermaid too? Megan shuddered. She would rather die than see Roland get his claws into Melody, even if Melody wanted too.

       This isn’t the life for her. Megan knew. There wasn’t much to look forward too. Just a life on cold fish, deep lakes, and dodging nets and fishing lines.

       Salty tears fell to Melody’s cheeks as Megan kissed them gently one at a time.

       “Don’t ever give up being human.” She whispered softly. “I’ll protect you.” She promised.

       A soft chime echoed through the house. Megan looked up in surprise, wondering who could be visiting her parents here. A soft sound next to her made her turn her head to stare at a small screen revealed behind part of the wall. The monitor flickered to life and she could see the underwater tunnel and Cindy just outside her door.

       Oops!

       Megan carefully let Melody sleep on the edge of the pool and hurried to the waterfall. Jumping over the edge she plummeted to the base and arced cleanly up from the dive.

       A few flicks of her tail and she punched the “Open” button on the door panel which blinked. A second later there came a deep grumbling noise as the heavy door started to swing outward.

       “Hey girl!” Cindy said, smiling as she swam back into the house. “How goes it?”

       “It goes.” Megan said. “Melody wants me to stay here with them.”

       “I kinda figured. Mom and Dad want the same thing.” Cindy nodded. “What do you think?”

       “It’s a nice place.” Megan conceded. “I don’t know what your place looks like, but this one has a set of fish pools up to the top floor and a cool water jump all the way down.”

       “Nice!” Cindy said, spotting the falls and the poolside.

       “Mine’s not too dissimilar, although it does have more nautical things scattered around. Maybe they ran out of Jurassic Park stuff.”

       Megan laughed.

       “That was my first thought too!” She said. “I kept expecting to see the velociraptors stalking along the pool!”

       “We should probably be on the lookout for a mosasaur.” Cindy said with mock seriousness.

       Both mermaids dissolved into giggles. When they could better control themselves, Cindy asked the question again.

       “It is a nice place.” Megan said, “But…”

       “It doesn’t feel like home.” Cindy finished for her. “I get that. I was thinking the same last night as well. It feels a bit like a gilded cage.”

       “Yeah. I don’t want to be trapped here, I’d rather be where no one really knows where I am.” Megan agreed.

       “As cages go though, this one does come with a lot of perks.” Cindy said, going along the walls and pointing out a small room where it was obviously meant for sleeping. Megan stared at the huge clamshell bed that included actual blankets of a strange, shimmering material that looked none the worse for wear despite being underwater.

       “These bedrooms are pretty nice.” Cindy said.

       “Check out the bubble curtain doorway!”

       She flipped a switch, and a ring of bubbles started and soon formed a solid string of air going up to the top. A passing fish going towards the bedroom turned tail immediately and raced away from the bubbler.

       “Cool!” Megan said, unwillingly impressed.

       “Yeah. it’s got all the modern amenities of a TV, remote, and a monitoring station through the first level of the house.” Cindy said. “I found I could talk to my parents from any point on the first floor, but I couldn’t activate the webcam in their room unless they flipped a physical switch so we could talk. A privacy thing, which is something I’m glad they thought of.” She said, seriously.

       Megan went on point.

       “Why? What happened?”

       Cindy shook her head.

       “Mom’s phone got hacked, apparently, and someone started sending her death threats last night. Security came over and quickly isolated the source of the signal. Apparently though, it’s in Russia somewhere and they aren’t hopeful that the man will be prosecuted for his threats. Then this morning mom was talking about a crowd of protestors just outside the gates screaming about ending the demons inside.”

       She shook her head.

       “I’m pretty sure that they are actually talking about Sylvie and Taryn, but still.”

       “They could be talking about us by association.” Megan agreed.

       She thought about it for a bit, and then gave Cindy a grin.

       “How close to the mermaid housing is the gate?”

       “Pretty far.” Cindy said. “We would have to magic our voices super loud to be heard, and frankly it would probably affect the entire base as well.” She said seriously. “If you are thinking the same thing I am.”

       “Probably.” Megan nodded. “Well, I guess we just have to trust that the…wait, what’s going on up there?”

       A loud thumping had attracted her attention, and she swam out of the bedroom through the bubble curtain to see her father going towards the door.

       “Wonder if it is security.” Cindy asked curiously.

       A little old man in a suit that looked to have been made in the late fifties entered the room as if he belonged there. He greeted the other man with a strong handshake and a vague comment, but his eyes were wandering. He soon noticed Megan and Cindy, who were gazing at him curiously.

       “Hold on, isn’t that the doctor Taryn was talking about?” Cindy asked, staring at the visitor.

       “Who? Oh! You mean…um…drat! What was his name? Merrick, right?”

       “That’s it! Doctor Merrick!” Cindy agreed.

       Dr. Merrick headed for the stairs with her father following him. They encountered Melody, who was wearing her nightshirt, and Megan's mother, who looked anxious but also resolute.

       Dr. Merrick said something to them, but Megan couldn't hear it. Whatever it was, it worked, because he came down the stairs with the rest of the family trailing behind him.

       He walked to the edge of the pool and waited until Megan and Cindy emerged from the water and looked at him.

       "Ah! Yes. You must be Megan and Cindy." The old man smiled.

       The girls glanced at each other and smiled back.

       "And you must be Dr. Merrick." Cindy said.

       "You look exactly like Taryn and Sylvie told us." Megan added.

       "Ah! Delightful!!" Merrick exclaimed. "That makes things easier, doesn't it? We can skip the introductions and get right to business!"

       He sat down by the pool without taking off his shoes and pulled out a notebook, apparently oblivious to the fact that his legs were in the water and his pants were getting wet.

       Megan tried not to laugh at the sight. Cindy was grinning openly.

       "I wanted to ask you how you feel, being mermaids I mean." Merrick explained, switching his gaze between them.

       "We could talk about that all day!" Cindy laughed.

       "That's fine by me." Dr. Merrick said. "I'm so curious about everything!"

       The girls laughed and spent the next few hours discussing how their bodies were attuned to the rhythm of the water, letting them feel each curl and eddies caused by movement such as fish or the natural current. How their sensitive eyes could now see perfectly well in the darkest depths of the lake thanks to their clear nictating lenses that slipped over each eye when they were underwater. Though, Megan conceded, if they had deeper water where the sun could not reach, they probably would be like people in a coal mine without a flashlight.

       Dr. Merrick stayed very busy for a long while, scribbling note after note in his legal pad, which he carefully kept dry. He kept up a steady supply of “Hmm.” ‘s and “Interesting” ‘s as he worked.

       After a couple of hours Megan’s mother got up and let in Cindy’s parents who had come over to find out what had happened to their daughter.

       “Nothing harmful, I assure you!” Dr. Merrick smiled absently as he put up his notepad. “But perhaps I am taxing their time unnecessarily. I will come back tomorrow maybe, or the day after.”

       He looked at Megan and Cindy.

       “I just wanted to tell you…what in the world?”

       A loud pounding had started on the door. Megan’s mother went up quickly to answer it and fell back as a pair of armored security guards advanced into the house, their eyes sweeping the area for danger.

       Megan heard one of them say, “Ma’am, are you all right?”

       “Yes, Yes, I am. But what are you doing entering my house?” Her mother said indignantly.

       “We received a report that an unidentified man was seen scaling the fence near here. We aren’t sure what their intentions are. Please remain in the basement level of the house and wait for the all clear.” The man said firmly, closing the door behind him and locking it. He then backed up still facing the door until he reached one of the hallways where he took cover and waited, holding his rifle pointed at the door. His partner went to the back of the house and checked that all the windows were locked and took up their post on the far side, talking quietly to Dr. Merrick as he came up to find out more of what was happening. Megan strained to listen.

       “...the report came from Sector five.”

       “How close is that to here?” Dr. Merrick said impatiently.

       “About a quarter mile.” The woman said, pointing. “Surveillance indicates that he is part of the protest group outside. They staged another attempt in Sector 2 as a distraction to the guards. We aren’t sure what their goals are. We have a security team sweeping up in that direction and guards have been sent to all Changed…er…occupied homes in the area.”

       She withered under Merrick’s arched eyebrow.

       “Sorry sir.” She muttered.

       “A small matter.” Dr. Merrick relented. “But we shouldn’t make our homeowners feel unwelcome!” He admonished.

       Suddenly the radio crackled, but what it said Megan could not hear. It seemed to have a profound impact on the others, for they jerked slightly in one direction, and they tightened their grip on their weapons.

       “What’s going on?” Melody whined, looking nervously up at the glass where the agents were standing, ready to fire.

       “A break in.” Megan told her, swimming up to hold her hand. “Don’t worry. I will protect you.” She added comfortingly.

       Her father snorted, eyeing Megan.

       “How? You can’t exactly get out of the water to throw a punch, and you don’t have any firearms that would work down there on you.” He pointed out in what he no doubt thought was a reasonable tone.

       Megan—barely—suppressed the urge to smack him upside the head or prove him wrong.

       “You might be surprised at all the things we can do.” Cindy said dryly, making everyone’s attention go to her. “Let’s hope that we don’t have to show you today.” She added.

       Distantly there came the brief sound of gunfire, then silence.

       “What is going on up there?” Megan asked, beginning to eye the waterfall.

       “I’ll find out.” Cindy said. “Stay here with Melody.” She said seriously.

       Megan glared at her, wanting to go herself, but her sister’s shaking grip melted the scowl and she nodded ruefully.

       A few minutes later Cindy was up on the second floor talking to Merrick and the guard. What she learned seemed to disquiet her and she hopped down without issue.

       “They ended up shooting the man.” Cindy reported. “He pointed something at the responding agents and they shot him. According to Merrick, it seemed to be a modified pellet rifle.”

       “A pellet rifle?!” Megan frowned. “What good would that have done him? Those weren’t lethal, last time I checked.”

       “Well, they can be, if fired somewhere sensitive like a throat or in an eye. But yeah, it’s a stupid weapon to bring to a gunfight.” Cindy agreed.

       “Yes.” Merrick agreed, hearing the last part of the conversation as he stepped down the stairs. “It was. They are checking to see if others managed to breach the wall as well. Not likely though, as there are plenty of monitoring devices in place.” He smiled.

       “Well, I will have to get back to the lab. I’ve got a report to give to Taryn and Sylvie when I next see them. Goodbye girls.”

       He went back upstairs.

       The pair of mermaids glanced at one another and then back up to the first floor where they could see the good doctor nodding to the security specialists as he strode to the door. One of the soldiers opened the front door and cautiously looked outside. A moment later he gestured and the pair went outside. A few minutes later the soldier came back and barred the entrance. He retook up his post near the hallway and started monitoring his wrist. Megan assumed he had some sort of device that let him hook up to the cameras on the outside of the house.

       “Well, what do you think of that?” Cindy asked with a sigh.

       “I think.” Megan replied slowly and cautiously, aware that everyone was listening intently on her words, “That there are enemies in the desert and in Red Leaf. We are going to have to be careful.”

       She looked down at the small hand in hers. Abruptly a surge of anger filled Megan’s heart. How dare they. How dare they! Didn’t they understand that the changed were just a bunch of kids with family? That her little sister might get hurt in the crossfire if they came after them?

       Melody’s nervous expression made Megan madder than anything she had ever felt before. It wasn’t right that her sister should be afraid, not for being close to her! But more than that, Megan knew that she had to wipe the fear away, to take that expression and make it happy again. Somehow, that became the most important thing in Megan’s mind.

       So without thinking about it, she gathered her sister up in her arms. Ignoring her adorable squeak of surprise, Megan sat on the edge of the pool and sang.

       In moonlit depths where lilies gleam, My voice rings soft through silent dream, While waters chill my heart grown cold, I whisper peace within your dream.

       Though winds may howl and mists draw near, I hold you close to calm your fear, When shadows dance along the rime, I banish each doubt from here.

       Upon the silver tides we bide, My lullaby will turn the tide, The darkness breaks by lantern’s glow, And hope will safely stem the tide.

       Upon the silver tides we bide, My lullaby will turn the tide, The darkness breaks by lantern’s glow, And hope will safely stem the tide.

       From glowing ember I remember, The warmth that staves away December, Though stars slip by in silent rift, I vow you shall always remember.

       When sorrow lies like broken stone, I gather shards and make you whole, The echoes fade but not my tone, I bind your spirit from the bone.

       Within these beams of gentle light, Our spirits rise beyond the flight, Though midnight shadows loudly call, We banish gloom with dawn’s soft flight.

       Soft hush falls o’er the forest deep, My melody will rock your sleep, When silence creeps to steal your soul, My vigil stands; your dreams I keep.

       I heed the distant sorrowed call, Through raging storms I brave the brawl, No gale shall drown the song I weave, For love replies to every call.

       My heart with yours in tandem beat, A steadfast drum, in joy complete, Though fate may rend our path apart, Forever still our hearts shall beat.

       Should tides surge wild upon the shore, And thunder roar with vengeful roar, I lift your gaze beyond the dawn, Our courage shines in evermore.

       Now, sister, rest and find your peace, My arms embrace your soul’s release, When darkness steals your fragile calm, My love endures and shall not cease.