The pair stared at each other in disbelief. The woman's beautiful face was contorted in a look of utter confusion. Niylah, however, was finally able to take in the woman's features. Her face was round, her nose slightly wider than her own, her lips were plump and a soft shade of pink. Her eyes were narrow, but still round. These eyes were the same as before, a beautiful teal that she'd never seen before. Her dark hair floated out around her body. Her complexion was pallid, but she didn't look sick. Niylah's eyes traced along the woman's body, taking her in. And then, she saw it. Where her hips should've met her legs, her legs were instead replaced by a tail. The tail was long, the scales a stunning blue-green, at the end, a fin angled in a V-shape. This wasn't possible.

Despite feeling fine physically, Niylah began to panic. She pushed her limbs out against the water, propelling herself to the surface. This time, she was able to break through the water without being pulled down again. A dark head of hair breached the surface beside her. It was the woman.

“What the hell is going on?” Niylah demanded. “What are you?”

The woman blinked, looking at Niylah.

“Great,” Niylah said, exasperated. “You probably don't even understand me. I'm going crazy. I'm in bed, dreaming, and for some reason I became lucid.”

She began to rationalize her situation. That seemed far more logical than what it might be. She was not talking to a mermaid. That would be insane.

Niylah looked around and realized she was a decent distance away from the shore. Letting out an irritated sigh, she began swimming towards the beach. However, she didn't get very far when the woman – the mermaid – swam ahead of her and stopped her in her tracks.

“What do you want? You already tried to drown me.”

She didn't know if this creature could understand her, but she didn't care. She wanted to go home. Why couldn't she just wake up already?

“You are not dreaming,” the woman spoke. Her voice was soft and smooth, like honey. It wasn't a voice she was expecting to hear. Her words were placed carefully and Niylah could tell from her accent that English wasn't her first language. She was surprised that she even knew any English.

Niylah stopped swimming. Instead, she began treading the water beneath her to keep her afloat. “What are you?” She repeated.

A look of confusion crossed her face again.

“You are unsure?” The woman asked.

“If I was sure, why would I ask?”

This seemed to make sense to her. “Your people call us mermaids. I heard siren sometimes. We have no names like that for ourselves.”

“How am I not dreaming? Mermaids don't exist!” Niylah tried hard to think logically. And then, she remembered. She was in Siren's Bay. The Ne Hwas. These stories had to originate from somewhere, right?

Realizing she was sounding ridiculous, she shook her head. “That's not possible.”

The woman – the mermaid – arched a brow and swam around her, circling her. “Not possible and yet, here I am. I should be questioning you.”

“Me?” Had she heard correctly?

The mermaid nodded. “You should be dead.”

The pit of her stomach sunk as if it were a boulder. That sounded dangerous. “W-Why should I be dead?”

Niylah struggled to keep herself afloat but she was growing tired. These past few days seemed exhausting.

“Come. Somewhere easier for you.” Noticing that she was tiring, the mermaid grabbed her by her hand and, without warning, took off towards the shore.

Niylah had been pulled through the water until they reached a set of rocks jutting out of the water. She situated herself onto one of them, ringing her clothes out once she was comfortable. The woman hung onto a rock nearby. Her body rolled back and forth with the waves. The sun was beginning to peek over the mountains, bathing the ocean in beautiful pinks and yellows.

“Above water, I am Joy,” she said.

“Joy,” Niylah echoed as if to imprint the name into her memory. “What did you mean that I should be dead?”

“I mean what I said. You were supposed to drown. I was trying to drown you, again.”

Niylah nearly choked on her saliva. A cold chill ran down her spine and she shivered. She hugged her elbows, trying to conserve her warmth. “Again?”

Joy nodded matter-of-factly. “To be sure.”

“To be sure of what?” Niylah prompted. These vague responses were frustrating.

“I sang my song to lure you out and drown you. First time was an accident. Second time you survive. You breathe like us but you went unconscious. Third was to be sure. You saw. You breathe underwater like me, like us. So,” Joy's brow arched, “why are you trying to kill our people?”

Our people? Surely, she didn't think Niylah was one of them. There was no possible way she could be a mermaid. Then, she remembered the first night she had spent in Siren's Bay. The song! Niylah had fallen asleep and a comforting song had enveloped her. That following morning she had woken up on the beach with no recollection of what had happened. Was that actually because of Joy?

“I don't know what you're talking about but I didn't try to kill anyone!” Niylah couldn't imagine herself trying to harm anyone.

“You did!” Joy insisted, her brows furrowing in annoyance. “You take our fish. You starve us.”

Then, it clicked. It was like a light bulb lit up inside her head. “You rely on fish as your food source, don't you?” She remembered her father having a conversation with that strange man. He had mentioned that the fishing was bad this season. Niylah frowned.

“Yes. Our food,” Joy said.

“We need that fish to survive too. We need to catch the fish to sell and make money. If we don't, we starve.” Niylah knew that fishing was Tom's way of making a living. Maybe that's how he got into the mess with that threatening man.

Joy's features softened. “Even out of water we need fish too.” She seemed to be thinking aloud rather than speaking to Niylah. “How did you end up on land?”

This question caught Niylah off guard. “I was born on land. I'm not what you think I am. I know my parents and they're not mermaids.”

Joy appeared confused. Niylah could tell that she was trying to figure something out. “We do not stray too far from water otherwise we die. Halflings can survive but are rare. It is forbidden to interact with humans. Are you sure your parents are your parents?”

“I–” Niylah couldn't finish that. She had known her parents her entire life. There was no possible way her parents, the two people she loved greatly, were not her parents...right?