—Every mermaid had two songs they sang from birth – one to entice men, the other to make them forget. – mermaid, Ellara Merme
—“Did you think I’d just accept whatever scraps you offered to me?” – merman, Thatcher Gray
—“They were acting like I was some sort of savior, but really I was just the jerk they could blackmail.” – mermaid, Ellara Merme
—“No need to hide, mermaid. I don’t bite… well, I do. But you’ll like it, I swear.” – merman, Thatcher Gray
—“Most humans didn’t know mermaids existed, but mermaids definitely knew the dangers of men.” – mermaid, Ellara Merme

EXCERPT 1
Every mermaid had two songs they sang from birth– one to entice men, the other to make them forget. It’s how we kept our society off the human radar. We could wipe our entire interactions from the minds of men. 

Well, the average mermaid could. 

My voice had never worked. 

If I tried to use either the voice of sexual manipulation or the forgetting song, I coughed and sputtered and choked. Still, the other Fert girls were highly skilled… Henderson had outsmarted them on his boat. When the maids tried to wipe his memories, he outfoxed them. So we were living happily ever after. At least for now.

Could it really be so easy? 

A secret society wouldn’t stay secret for long if they left many loose ends.

EXCERPT 2
The words he offered bounced around in my head. We can go somewhere else. 

Disappear.

We could start a new life. 

On land? 

By the sea? 

A mermaid and her human. What sort of pair could we make? He couldn’t breathe underwater and I couldn’t live on the shore. It was the conundrum that had caused his own father to go mad. The man had fallen in love with a mermaid and he drowned trying to keep their love afloat. 

Lost at sea in a terrible storm. 

Body never found. 

An inevitable end to a lopsided romance.

Most humans didn’t know mermaids existed. 

And mermaids definitely understood the dangers of man.

EXCERPT 3
The porthole opened. Right on time. 

The swirl of mermaids brought the old, exhausted girls off the rock wall and new, rested Merme quickly took up empty slots in the line. Silently, the two women agreed and grabbed my arms. 

“Come on,” Luce said. 

“I can’t.” The words floated out of me. 

But they didn’t care.

The line moved forward. More girls came home. More returned to work. 

My fin stayed limp in their hands. 

“I wasn’t made for this,” I murmured.  

The toll on my body had me destroyed. Working as a Barre? 

Monotony, forever. The repetitious motion over-and-over. 

An eternity of this? 

Hell no.

It was nauseatingly simple, but every inch of my being hurt too badly to be mind-numbingly bored.  

“I don’t belong here.” My voice eked out the sound. A whisper in the crowded room. It caught the scar-girl’s attention. The one who’d bet on me, or technically bet against me, the first day I’d arrived. Her fins were grubby and worn from a long day on the line. She abruptly stopped. Her one good eye, that vicious lens, turned on my skin. Stared me up and down, hanging between Chassie and Luce’s strongholds. The vehemence behind her gaze turned me ice cold. 

“You’re no better than the rest of us, Water Nymph. Get to work.” 

EXCERPT 4
He reached for the fish in my palm, but instead of nipping it up with his teeth, he swept my skin with his lips. He licked the dinner into his own mouth and tucked it back into his cheek. Swallowing in one quick motion. Then smoothly, without raising his head, before I could pull back, he dragged his tongue against my palm to grab any salt and pepper remains. 

My stomach lurched. 

The tickle lit a small fire on my skin. 

I watched him move. So surprised, I didn’t flinch or pull away. 

Mmmm.

He licked my hand a second time, teasing my skin with his mouth. I should have yanked back, but didn’t. Let him have his way with my hand. Entranced. Soft and slow he dragged. Before my prisoner’s lips left my skin, he sucked my finger, nipping his teeth on the tip. Desire thudded in my chest. I was so shocked, I hadn’t budged. 

“That hit the spot,” he said. Low and smooth. “A wonderful dinner. Thank you, mermaid… for every bite.”

EXCERPT 5
“Who should go? Among us, there is a mermaid brave enough, wise enough, and strong enough to do this task? To journey alone. To finish what must be done. To save our kingdom from Poseidon’s spy work. Ellara Merme.” 

Petra thrust me forward and lifted the hand she still held in a victorious pose. 

All of Merme erupted in whoops and cries. 

I plastered a foolish smile upon my cheeks. 

All this adoration was for me? What a joke. 

I was a hoax standing here, paraded out to the town, in my new silver hair. They were acting like I was some sort of savior, but in reality I was just a jerk they could blackmail into completing the task. So desperate to become a Fert, I’d risk my life. 

“Smile,” Petra hissed. 

“I am smiling.” 

“Bigger.” 

A hollow grin pushed up the corners of my lips. I tried to hide the terror behind my eyes. Petra swooped me forward ’til I was side-by-side with Quinn. The leader held up my other arm. I tried not to faint. 

“Ellara Merme is our courageous warrior, our mighty Merme.” Quinn said. “She brought the terrible merman’s presence to the attention of the Pause. Ellara brought him down in the fight during the storm. She has killed a Portrayan Kingfisher Crab, manipulated human women into becoming her friends, and she has bedded hundreds of men.”

How about one. The day after my transition was over. 

I wanted to vomit in my own mouth. 

At best, these claims were a wild twisting of the truth. At worst, the city of Merme had just been pacified with lies. And promises that couldn’t come true. Somewhere in the crowd, I imagined Blonde craning her neck, rolling her eyes. Quinn was making me out to be some sort of super woman. It couldn’t have been farther from the truth. But the women of Merme didn’t care. They just wanted to be safe. 

“Ellara Merme was blessed by Abigailya, the sea witch. In fact, the sorceress bestowed on her the magical third eye.” 

Which I still didn’t know how to use. 

“She defeated a clever water nymph. All by herself.” 

I couldn’t stand it anymore. My eyes searched for Blonde. I started to shake my head, no. Petra’s fingernails dug into my palm. 

“Play along,” the rainbow-woman hissed. I tightened my smile. 

“Ellara Merme is the perfect woman for this mission. A vital soldier. A master mermaid. A linchpin in the success of Neptune’s war. And we will win.” A less experienced orator might have shouted that from the rafters and beaches, but Quinn knew better than that. “We will win,” she whispered, it came out like a shiver. An ear-worm in the brain of every young mermaid. “We will win.” She repeated. Then, finally, she brought the mighty point home. “We. Will. Win!”