The public beach was roped off, completely closed. Police were meandering the area, and an older woman sat on the fence edging the sand dunes and cried silently as she looked out into the sea. It looked as calm as ever, as beautiful and tranquil as it could possibly be. Mira was ready to spit fire.

It didn’t hit her until she saw the older woman. That was when she realized that two innocent lives were taken by that creature. Those were hopes and dreams, futures and memories that would never exist again. People who could have been friends, could have been herself even. She was mourning inside, for people she never knew but suddenly wished she did. There was a small lump in as she watched the small baby-waves greet the shore. It took her longer to move on than she would have liked.

But she moved, because this was becoming too important to lag. With sure steps Mira headed to her small, hidden beach, walked with intention behind every step. As soon as she reached it, sliding down the dunes that hid the water, she kicked off her shoes and dumped her bag. The sheer rocks that towered over the southern side of the little inlet seemed imposing today more than usual; she left her belongs beneath them to be watched. And then, Mira stepped towards the water.

She had run home to change, but now that she stood with her toes in the sand she knew she didn’t have the guts to actually get in the water. What could she do? Go yell at an unknown creature, capture it? Kill it? Mira knew, even through the ache in her heart, that she didn’t have that in her.

“Dammit!” The scream ripped from her, angry and sad and desperate. “You're such a jackass, you know that? What did they ever do to you?!” She knew she was being stupid, hollering at the ocean, but somehow it was better than admiring of beautiful colors of the orange and pink sunset and the way they reflected off the water. She wanted to swim away all of her stress and lose herself beneath the waves, but for now, she couldn’t. “Such a jackass…” She murmured again, but her words lacked power. She needed a plan, a real plan.

“Mira.”

A breath in, a breath out. How was it that Leo’s voice saying her name went right to the center of her being? Those two little syllables calmed her in a way they never had before.

“Leo…” Mira murmured quietly as she turned and walked back up the beach to where he now sat, his long tail stretched out in a small tide pool. She wasn't even surprised at his sudden appearance; she was expecting it. She couldn’t help but smile at his position though, sitting on the edge of the stone and using the tide pool as a foot—tail— bath.

“Don’t go in that water.” He was speaking before she even reached him. “Don’t go anywhere near it. Don’t touch it. I know what lurks in those waves and it would take you without so much as a second thought.” His voice was as dark as his eyes, the usually sensuality of it nearly missing in the severity of his tone. “I tried to save them, I tried. It fought me, played with me like a toy.”

He was staring at her, staring straight through her and into her soul as though his warning would take root there. Her breath was , and for once it wasn’t because of his voice but because of what he had to say. She didn’t want to think about it, about any of it, but he wasn’t giving her much of a choice.

“Listen to me, Mira,” he said it yet again, seeing her unwillingness to face this. “You do not go near that water. You escaped once because it didn’t expect me. You won’t escape again.”

She deflated into the sand and stone, falling to her knees beside the tide pool. “Thank you,” she finally worked out, throat thick. “For trying to help them.”

Leo’s eyes were mourning just as hers were. They sat together for a few minutes, a unanimous moment of silence between them for the two people lost. Mira closed her eyes and let the sounds and sounds alone calm her, those of the beating sea, of Leo’s breath, of her own. And when she open them again, she was ready.

“Leo, I have to ask,” she said, looking over to him as he swished his tail in the shallow water, “why are you still here? You aren’t safe here either, are you?”

Leo looked at her, his now-dry hair falling down into his face as he turned, then sat up. He twisted his torso, carefully bringing his left arm in front of his body.

“I’m not sure I can leave anymore. It’s taken notice of us, and won’t take kindly to us being in “it's” waters. The shallows are safe for now, but…” The disgust was palpable as he spoke, but Mira was far more distracted by his arm.

“Why didn’t you show me sooner?” She raged and grabbed him, quickly untying the pathetic attempt and bandaging. The it was soaked red across his upper arm, some watery blood now dried to his arm. She pulled away the cloth gently, Leo watching her progress.

“It didn’t like me trying to get away with the first woman. I was close, only a few meters from the surface before it realized what was happening. This was my warning. The second victim, I couldn’t get anywhere near; I’d have been injured beyond repair.” She opened the final layer of fabric to find the gash, long but thankfully shallow. It was still oozing a small bit of blood. There wasn’t much she could do but she grabbed her bag and dug around. She poured the rest of the fresh water in her bottle over it, and wrapped her small hand towel around it to protect it, discarding the rags that Leo had found from God knows where.

“We need to talk about what ‘it’ is.” She was already getting irritated by it, tiptoeing around the thing when she really wanted to go punch it in the face. “And you are not going back in that water. It clearly knows you, and I wouldn't bet on it being kind if you get in its way again.” Mira sat back on her heels, admiring her handiwork. “You’ll come back with me.”

Leo was silent, whether in contemplation or surprised she couldn’t tell.

“It is,” she continued, pushing herself to speak, “highly likely that it’s in part my fault those people were killed.” She could feel herself speaking quieter, as though giving the words volume would make them more true. “I survived, and they didn’t. I—” She stopped, needing to take a different path. “And besides, what are you going to do, stick forever to the shallows? If you aren’t going to leave then you can’t stay in the water here. You know that. Safe or not, someone is going to spot you eventually.”

Finally Mira dared to look at his face. Rather the harsh, cold expression she was expecting, rather than a fight, he was looking at her with a hint of warmth; when he spoke again, the lulling quality of his voice returned despite the simplicity.

“Thank you.”