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My eyes widen. What’s going on here? “How can you love someone you just met?” The air suddenly feels close and I start to hyperventilate. I fan my face, trying to take in deeper breaths.
“We’ve met before,” he says, shaking his head. Should I remember him? I’ve never been on land before. How could he know who I am? I try to ask another question, but he silences me with his finger, which is probably best as I’m not in any shape to talk yet. “Let’s walk and then we’ll talk.”
I follow him for the second time today without much resistance. “Tell me your name,” I say once I can.
“My name is Neptune,” he says.
It’s a popular merman name, but I feel like I should know this man. That was my father’s name, and it’s not a human name as far as I’m aware. “Neptune,” I repeat.
“Did your mum ever talk about your dad?” he asks, and my stomach flips over.
“He left us,” I say.
“Did she tell you why?”
All the answers my mother ever gave me were more like digs at my father. She never gave me a real reason. I twist my hair into a knot around my fingers, hoping it will offer comfort. Is my dad a land dweller? “No.”
“Do you ever feel there could be more than what’s under the sea?” He coughs. “Of course you do or you wouldn’t be here.”
“You know what I am?” I ask.
“Can’t you tell?” He looks around like I’m missing something big.
I look at the guys by the pool and the women with their legs dipped in the water. Children are running around and having fun, and I smile. The woman who showed me upstairs lifts her dress above her head and jumps into the pool. A flash of blue shimmers across the waves. “Mermaid,” I say.
“We’re all part of the rebellion, and we’re all mer.”
I look back at Neptune. “Dad?”
“Yes.” He hugs me tight, and I can hear the sob in the back of his throat. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“That makes two of us. Does Mum know where you are?”
“It was her choice to stay behind.”
Why would Mum choose to work in the factory instead of exploring this possibility? It might not be under the sea, but these people look free.
