Chapter 1
‘There’s a high percentage your baby will not survive birth. If you’d like, we can remove the fetus—’
‘No, that’s fine. If there’s a chance it will live, then I’ll believe the odds are in her favor.’
‘But there’s no reason to—’
‘I said leave it alone. If you knew she was going to live, would killing it be as easy for you?’
‘We do it all the time, ma’am.’
A chill runs down my spine as I recall the encounter with the doctor. I had nothing more to say to him, but what was I going to tell my husband? He didn’t want her in the first place; he even tried talking me into getting rid of it. She wasn’t planned.
I touch the expanded area of my stomach, feeling my little girl move around inside. We’ve yet to find a name for her. I’ve yet to find a name for her. Kaerius acts like he just doesn’t care. I wonder if it’s because she was a girl.
Actually, it’s probably because she’ll be born a human.
‘She still has to form the rest of the way, dear. She might become a mermaid. Give it time.’
‘There’s barely any time left for that to happen. And who’s to say that if she’s born a human, she’ll be spared?’
I rub the stretched skin, a pit of despair swallowing my chest. Everyone tells me that it’s just one life, that it is insignificant. People die every day. That this child inside of me isn’t that, but just a cell, something to do away with. Things they’ve never said to me before.
But if this child, this girl, is just something worth giving up, then why would there still be a chance she would live? Who’s to say, that if she makes it through this, she won’t change the world for the better?
Overpopulation within cities is sometimes an issue, and this is basis for some arguments against this thinking. What’s another life? Who cares if one more light goes out? There are millions of others waiting to shine.
Well, for starters, I do.
Merpeople swim around me, the hood draped over my head blocking my peripherals. I pull it closer to my face, in hopes that no one will recognize me. I came out here on my own, after all. Strange things have been happening in my body, things I can’t really explain or understand, and I thought it was happening because of her, this child. I’ve given birth before, so this was a strange thing for me. I’m glad I went to the doctor, even if he did want to kill my unborn child.
Ducking my head, I swim out into the middle of the swimways, several merpeople getting off work and heading home, not paying attention to their surroundings. It’s probably the best and worst time for me to be out here. Distracted people won’t notice one hooded figure straying away from the rest, but all it takes is one person to notice, and if that happens, everyone else will know, even my husband. I can’t let him, especially, know that I had any inkling something was wrong with my pregnancy. If I did, he’d push the option of getting rid of it all-the-more.
I make a beeline for an alleyway, keeping my breathing under control. If anyone sees me glowing, I’ll be shot on sight, no matter who I am to them. I almost hope that the little girl I’m carrying doesn’t turn out to be a part of the one-hundred or even a One-Hundred. Under the water, the merpeople call the gifted, the One-Hundreds, Nasan, and they hate them with every fiber of their being. Why? Because we are a species the normal people can’t control. We’re freaks of nature who harness energy for our own selfish desires. If we are discovered, we are killed—no questions asked.
Deep, throaty voices echo from up ahead and my heart rate kicks up a notch. I may be getting older, but I’ve been keeping shape. However, with a baby on the way, I don’t believe I can do as much damage as they can do to me.
I exhale nervously.
My tail pumps gently through the water, helping glide around the bend and up higher to avoid whatever’s going on around it. In my head, I beg them not to notice me as I do them. There are two of them, both tall and lanky. One looks like a teenager while the other seems to be in his early twenties. Both of them have acne covering their faces, scales littering their skin like a mutated rash. My heart nearly stops cold in my chest as I take in their looks. I know what those scales mean.
They use their powers for evil.
I pick up my pace, hastily trying to rush over them as they mess with something on the wall. I’m almost to the end of the alleyway. Once I’m through, I’ll be close to home—
‘Hey, you!’
I grit my teeth and keep moving forward, pulling the hood close to my face. Of all people, I can’t let them see me. Who knows what they’ll try to do? They might take my powers and revert me to how I was born: human. Then where will I be?
A burst of periwinkle infused with black splotches explodes on the wall beside me. Their aim is terrible.
’I said, hey you!’
Another blast of color breaks off a chunk of the wall on the other side and I spin around to let my own glow radiate around my fingers. My hood falls back and my long, dark hair spills out from it, my other hand protecting the child I hold. I narrow my eyes.
‘You don’t want to mess with me.’
The older boy grins, the periwinkle glow shifting around his figure.
‘You’d make a pretty good meal,’ he says, eyes flitting down to my bulging stomach. He licks his lips, teeth like a shark poking out. ‘Especially since there’s desert.’
His bottom half is that of a shark, as is the other boy’s. It’s rare to see them in larger cities. They shouldn’t have been able to make it through the border without coming across one of our Flatfins.
Perhaps they did.
My glow grows brighter. ‘Leave the city or I’ll fry you to a crisp.’
The younger one smiles, crossing his arms as the older one smiles. ‘Do you know why we’re here?’
I exhale heavily. ‘Honestly, I don’t care. Just let me go and I’ll be sure not to—’
‘We were sent here by our employer to find some... business.’ The older one shifts slightly in the water, the gills at his ribs having trouble filtering oxygen while he’s stationary in the water. ‘And looking at you, you seem to be in a predicament outside this little dance we’re doing. Prithee, tell, fair maiden.’
I grimace at the poetic words said in detuned darkness. ‘Leave this city. If I were to disappear—’
‘Ah,’ the older one says, swimming closer to me. The ball of light hovering just before my palm brightens. ‘You child... she’s going to die. That is your problem, isn’t it?’
‘I don’t know what you mean—’
‘Lying won’t help your case, madam,’ he says, tucking his hands in a belt around his waist. It’s filled with knives and empty bottles. ‘I’ve been given a superpower to sense things like death, and your child has it written all over her, even if she hasn’t taken her first breath. It’s quite amazing actually. Don’t you wonder what will happen because of her?’
He’s close enough to touch.
I reach forward and wrap my hand around his neck, the lack of organs for breathing air startling me. I squeeze hard and he chuckles, his neck popping.
‘So you were human before this,’ he smiles, placing a hand on my stomach. I jump, everything inside me growing hot as I freeze. ‘We aren’t here to hurt you or your child. Instead, we’d like to cut a deal with you, seeing that most mothers would give anything to have their child live. Unless you’re one of those who like to cut it out and give them to us, those who feed on unborn children.’
His smile is sick as my stomach churns inside.
‘They’re just cells, right?’
Light escapes from my palm, singeing the shark as I push away, my eyes stinging. If I was above, tears would be threatening to leave me. He cries out, holding his throat as tiny amounts of blood sneak through his fingers. He laughs, spurts escaping in reaction to it.
‘I hope she’s like you,’ he says through strain. ‘Impulsive in the right way. Good.’
The shark’s eyes meet mine, his hand glowing that periwinkle as his throat heals.
‘If she lives.’
I grind my teeth. I could turn and dart away, but if he suddenly improves in his aim, I’m out of luck. Not to mention the shark species is so much faster than mine, and those teeth...
’If you don’t take this opportunity for another answer, she will die. Death is too close to her to survive its encounter.’
My heart quivers. ‘And what if she does live? What’s the penalty?’
The shark-boy chuckles, his beady eyes catching on mine. ‘That’s for her to decide.’
’Her?’ I echo.
His smile broadens. ‘Morgiana.’
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