Millie had water in her mouth.

It was a technique her mom had taught her. Pull the water in, find the air bubbles, and push it out.

It was supposed to help Millie stay under the water longer, and it was supposed to comfort her, but all she felt was irritation as she looked up through the clear ocean water.  The moon was out, cutting a bright path through the water, illuminating only a small part of the ocean, making it hard to get her bearings.

When Millie let her eyes wander, she couldn't see anything else. The shape of her sisters' legs a few feet away, a fish darting by — but it was all vague and blurry.

Unlike the rest of her sisters, Millie had never been good at this part of the exercise. She could stay under the water much longer than any of her other sisters, but that didn't really matter when she couldn't get "in touch" with the water itself, whatever the hell that meant.

She was supposed to be able to open herself up and just let it come, but something was stopping her. Just inside her head and wrapped around the outside of her heart — ice, Angel had said before, tapping on the front of Millie's chest. You're cold inside.

Millie didn't think being cold inside should stop her from being able to do the basic things her sisters were able to do, but she wasn't like them. Since she was a kid, Millie had been terrified with the water, unlike her sisters that basked in it, and therefore, was unable to become "one with the water" as Angel said in that I'm Looking Down On You voice she'd mastered when she went to NYU.

This was all so pointless. Maybe, if Millie thought this exercise was actually helping her, she wouldn't mind it so much. But she knew, just like her sisters knew, that this was just a placebo. Something to give the illusion they were doing something instead of standing idly by, waiting.

Pushing herself up, Millie surged through the surface of the water, spitting out the salty ocean from her mouth and slapping her hands against the slow waves.

The stopwatch clicked off. "Eight minutes, twenty seven seconds."

Angel didn't look the slightest bit impressed.

"What?" Millie panted, dragging in as much air as she could. "I beat your record."

"And you stopped short of yours by five minutes." Angel shook her head, slick strands of blonde hair whipping through the air. "This isn't going to work if you don't at least try."

"I am trying! I didn't breathe for eight minutes, okay? Cut me some slack. Being without oxygen really messes with your head."

Angel rolled her eyes and dove under the water. The conversation was obviously over, and Millie had pretty much nothing to show for the night, other than salt crusted hair and burning eyes.

Just lovely.

Millie watched her sister for a moment, making sharp arcs through the water with her arms and legs. She was just like the rest of the Clearwaters — beautiful and lovely, but with a deadly twist in her name that sent shivers down everyones spine.

Too many thoughts like this, and Millie would end up contemplating her families' very existence and if that happened, it would be the fifth time tonight. Not wanting to go down that road again, she threw herself forward, cutting the same path through the water as her sister had.

She was fluid, almost like the water itself, and reached the beach five seconds after Angel had stumbled onto it, despite the one minute head start Angel had gotten.

"Angel —" Millie started, pulling a piece of seaweed off her ankle and tossing it back into the ocean.

"I'm not interested in any of your excuses," Angel said, throwing the stop watch on top of her beach bag. "We're getting closer and closer to the end, Millie, and you're messing around. You have to put more effort into this. It's your life."

"How can I connect to something that wants to kill me?" Millie snapped.

"It doesn't want to kill you. God, don't be dense. It's not the water. It's the curse."

Exasperated, Millie threw her hands in the air. "Same difference."

"You act like I'm the only one who's connected with the water." Angel turned, putting her hands on her slim hips. "Leni and Luce already did, and they're two years younger. What does that tell you?"

Millie shrugged, grimacing. "That they're advanced?"

"That you are slow."

"Oh, come on! That's not fair. I'm the fastest swimmer, and I can hold my breath for almost fourteen minutes."

"None of that matters," Angel said icily, "if the ocean doesn't accept you and you die."

Millie crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't have anything to say — she didn't want to agree with Angel, but her older sister was right. Things were going downhill fast, and Angel was the only one with enough guts to admit it.

"I don't want to lose you." Angel put her hand on Millie's cheek. "You're the most annoying sister I've got."

Millie rolled her eyes, but could feel the tears pricking behind her eyelids. "Right. You have five sisters. I'm sure I'm not the most annoying."

Angel smiled. "Today, you are. Yesterday it was Clea. We'll see about tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow, it won't be me."

"I sure hope not." Angel patted Millie once before pulling her hand away. Her sister turned and grabbed her beach bag off the sand, hoisting it onto her tanned shoulder.  "Come on. It's getting late, and we should be getting home."

Millie watched her sister walk across the sand, her tanned skin glistening in the moonlight.

"Angel," she called out, and her sister stopped walking. "It won't happen. You should know that. As long as I don't find someone, it won't happen."

Angel spun around, and even from the distance, Millie could see the fierce shine to her sister's blue eyes.

"You think Mom didn't say that?" Angel laughed. "You heard what Drew told us — Mom was the bearer of the mark from the start, and she said every single day that it'd never happen. She'd never fall in love. She wouldn't fall into the curse. But do you think it's that easy? The curse wouldn't be around if it wasn't meant to come true."

"If it's meant to come true, then why the hell am I fighting it so hard? Why do you think doing these stupid exercises are going to save me?" Millie knew that was a low blow.

Of course they all knew the truth. Even if Millie accepted the water, accepted her families legacy, it would still come for her. It would still take her.

"This isn't just for you, Millie!" Angel snarled, her hands in fists at her sides. "This is for us. This is for all of us. How can we possibly not try and do something that could save you, when the time comes? I don't care how stupid these exercises are. We're going to keep doing them, until you fucking die."

Millie stepped backward, her face on fire. Angel's chest was heaving and she was splotchy with redness, and maybe she had a slightly apologetic look in her eyes, but she didn't say she was sorry. She turned, her feet digging into the sand, and started back the way they had come without saying anything else. 

And it hurt. Millie could argue and cuss and scream herself dry all night, saying this whole thing was pointless, but it hurt so much. She knew she was going to die, her sisters knew she was going to die and... Well, at this point, it was just a matter of time.

Dying came naturally to the Clearwaters, and it was something they had always known about.

We're strong, honey, because of our last name, her mom had told her once, but we're also breakable. 

It hadn't made sense then, when her mom was still alive and kicking. She'd only been six when the curse had grabbed hold of her parents and had refused to let go.

No amount of underwater breathing, no amount of training, had been able to save her parents.

There was only one thing Millie could hold onto. The curse couldn't get her until she fell in love, and there was a fat chance of that ever happening. The few boys she'd ever bothered to let touch her had definitely not been the type Millie could ever love.

She was careful. Safe.

Millie didn't want to risk her life for someone who she wasn't even aware of now.

If there was anything more important to Millie than herself, it was her sisters. Angel, Clea, Daphne, Luce and Leni all meant the world to her and she was so tired of disappointing them. She was so tired of the sad, apprehensive looks they traded when they thought she wasn't looking. She was tired of the way no one could keep from touching the scar on her hip, the way that everyone in her family smiled in this shaky way, like they were waiting for Millie to disappear.

And maybe she would.

Kicking at the sand, Millie thought of her failed connection and the scar on her hip and the sound of her mom's body hitting the water. She was the marked Clearwater — the one with a curse stuck to her like glue, and she was the one that had to survive this curse.

Even if her life wasn't worth saving for her, it was worth it for her sisters, and for her uncle. For them... she'd try.

"Millie!" Angel called out, turning and putting her hand to her mouth. "Come on!"

Millie jerked her head and ran toward her sister, silently pleading with whatever deity was out in the universe that she'd be able to have a million more fights and a million more make ups with her sisters. 

She only glanced back at the cursed water once.