Hadley woke to the sound of muffled screams echoing through the empty halls of her spacious home. Her small body trembled with fear and uncertainty as she crawled towards the edge of a bed much too large for a child of only seven years. "Momma?" She called, her voice meek and scared. "Momma where are you?"

          Her little hands curled into the blankets as she shrank back into the depths of the bed. Her princess bed, she called it because of the canopy of pink silk she'd picked out all by herself. They, her mother and Lincoln, had warned her this might happen and they had told her what to do if it did. Why hadn't she paid more attention? What was it they had told her? The wall, a secret door, a passageway that lead somewhere safe...

          The door to the room crashed open and the silence that followed dragged on infinitely. She sank further into the bed, drawing the blankets up to her chin. She stared into the darkness, her pulse racing and her heart pounding. Just when Hadley had convinced herself it must've been the wind she heard footsteps. They were slow and methodical with no indication that the invader was in any sort of a hurry. It was impossible to see anything through the darkness and the sheer curtains draped elegantly around the large four poster bed.

          "Are you awake, pet?" a man's voice called out. For some reason the voice made her tremble.

          Without thinking, Hadley shoved the covers aside and scrambled to the far end of the bed - away from the direction the voice had floated from.

          "Come on now, pet, I can hear you breathing..." the stranger sang out with a chuckle. Hadley slipped off the edge of the bed, huddled against it. It was only a matter of seconds before the chill of the tile had seeped through Hadley's thin cotton nightgown causing her to shiver uncontrollably as she clung to the blankets she'd dragged off the bed with her. Hadley heard metal scraping metal as the curtain was pulled back, and ducked down as a soft glow illuminated the bed she'd been fast asleep in what felt like minutes before. "Oh my, don't be afraid, princess, I'm not going to hurt you."

          But Hadley was afraid. 

          Quietly as she could, she dropped to her stomach and slipped beneath the bed. She pressed herself as close to the wall as she could and closed her eyes. Maybe if she wished it hard enough the man would disappear.

          "This is no time for games, my darling," he continued. "Come out now and I promise we can play all the games you like later. Doesn't that sound fun?"

          It didn't sound fun, it didn't sound fun at all. Hadley choked back a whimper, dragging her knees upwards and burying her face against them.

          "Well... alright then, have it your way," he sighed. "Perhaps I'll come back another time, it is rather late after all."

          He was leaving. 

          Hadley waited until his footsteps had faded away and breathed a sigh of relief before peeking out. She'd barely gotten her shoulders clear when she felt hands grabbing at her and roughly pulling her out from beneath the bed.

          "How nice of you to come out and play, it's cheating if only you know what game we're playing," the stranger hissed. He lifted her straight off the floor with little to no effort, and ignored each time she tried to kick him. "It's been such a long time, pet, you probably don't remember me do you. Your mother was a cruel woman hiding you from me all this time. Clever, but cruel. No matter, she's paid the price for her deception."

          "I want my momma!" Hadley cried. "I want her now!"

          "Oh no. I'm afraid that's not possible. Your precious mother Is dead."

          Hadley felt as though her heart were suddenly being squeezed in her chest. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't feel anything but a numbness that washed over her like a wave.

          Her mother was... dead?

          She screamed, a high pitch, deafening sound that caused the floor to ceiling windows to shatter and mirror over her vanity to crack. The man holding her dropped her in order to use his hands to cover his ears, which after just a few seconds had this trails of crimson leaking out. She hit the floor, but the scream continued unabated. Moments later he hit the floor with a heavy thud and lay there unmoving.

          The scream tapered off, leaving Hadley disoriented as she tried to regain her footing. Glass dug into the palms of her hands, causing tears to spring to her eyes. She didn't let it slow her down and was halfway to the door when a young boy seemed to materialize out of the darkness.

          "Destan..." she practically cried with relief, her hands grasping for him. He was quick to respond, drawing her close as she stumbled into him. He wasn't much older than the girl sobbing into his chest, but circumstances had stolen whatever childhood he might have had, forcing him to be grown beyond his years.

          "Princess..." he said breathlessly, as though he'd been running. "I'm so sorry I couldn't get here faster," he apologized quietly, stroking her hair gently in a feeble attempt to offer some comfort. She tried to stand, but her knees refused to support her. He caught her and let her settle her weight against him. Without requesting permission scoped the young girl into his arms.

          "I promise I won't let anyone hurt you ever again."

         "I know..."

          Hadley woke, disconcerted and confused. The room felt wrong somehow. Hadn't they been upstairs? Pushing herself upright she took stock of the room around her. The living room. It looked as though her father had tried to straighten up the mess the Shades had made, including putting a large tarp over the space where the back door had once hung. 

          She slumped back against the couch and sighed. The dream... it had felt so real, more like a memory than something her subconscious had simply fabricated. She could almost feel the sting in her palms where the shattered glass had bitten into her skin. She closed her eyes again, half hoping to call the dream back, to see where it went and what it all meant. If it was real then who was that man? What had happened that night?

          Hadley might have succeeded in drifting off again, but her mind was drawn to the sound of voices arguing. The dream, which had been so vivid, became just an afterthought in light of the conversation between Destan and her father.

          "I did what I had to do, Lincoln," Destan growled.

          They sounded like they were in the kitchen.

          "You were under strict orders of no contact, you knew that!"

          Her father sounded rather angry, but Hadley wasn't sure why. She'd only just met Destan, but somehow her father had known who he was and now there were orders he was supposed to be following.

          "Would you rather I let her get killed - or worse?"

          "Everything was going perfectly fine until you showed up," Lincoln shouted back.

          "You're lying to yourself if you think that's the case," Destan replied incredulously. "She was attacked by a Shade the other night before I just showed up."

          Lincoln was quiet for a moment. "She never..."

          "Why would she? She has no idea about anything, you made sure of that. She thinks it's a dream or a hallucination. I've been telling you since the last time this happened that her not knowing did more harm than good."

          "I just wanted to keep my daughter safe!"

          "She's not your daughter, Lincoln."

          Hadley felt her breath catch in her throat. 

          What?

          She rose to her feet, her movements mechanical as she made her way towards the kitchen. She saw them sitting at the table, caught up in some sort of glaring contest. It would have looked quite comical had it not been for the severity of what Destan had just shouted. Once there she couldn't stop herself. The question just tumbled out, damning in every sense of the word. "What?"

          "You're awake," Destan exclaimed, his voice sounding strained. "How are you feeling?"

          "What did you just say?" She asked again, ignoring his question and looking pointedly at her father. Or was he?

          "You weren't supposed to... it wasn't supposed to happen this way..." Lincoln stammered, he looked utterly crestfallen. "It's not what you think."

          "Is it true?" Hadley looked from her father to Destan and back to her father again. "Are you not..." she took a deep breath, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words.

          "It's time, Lincoln. She needs to know the truth..." Destan pressed.

          "It's true..." Lincoln managed, "but, Hadley, wait! Let me explain!"

          Hadley didn't wait. Her feet were moving of their own accord and by the time she stopped, she was standing outside the house gasping for air. Her mind was whirling, her heart racing and she wasn't sure whether she wanted to scream or laugh or do both at the same time. With trembling fingers, she grabbed her bike from its resting place against the porch railing and dragged it down the stairs.

          She needed to go someplace quiet, someplace where she could collect her thoughts and sort out this whole mess. So, she went to the only place she could think of - the aquarium.

          Hadley had never been to the aquarium this late before. The parking lot was empty and the silence was unnerving. She didn't bother locking her bike to the rack and left it outside the back entrance instead. If someone wanted to steal it, more power to them.

          Once she was inside she felt a little better. She made her way through the dark halls in the direction of her second favorite exhibit - Dolphin Cove.

          Reaching the above ground stadium she leaned against the thick Plexiglas wall and peered down into the calm water. The aquarium hosted a rehabilitation program for dolphins that got injured in the wild - typically due to man-made problems such as nets or propellers on boats. There were two dolphins in residence at the moment -- Rio and Kaia. Rio's mother had been attacked and killed by a shark, and her baby, Rio, had been badly injured and found washed up on the beach. They hadn't thought he'd survive the night, but he had. Since he had lived his entire life in captivity, and was unable to be re-released into the wild, he became a permanent resident. Kaia was a more recent arrival, suffering a nasty gash to her dorsal fin.

          Within seconds Rio surfaced, no doubt curious about the late night visitor. He moved easily through the water, watching her with soulful eyes. There was an awareness and intelligence present that was undeniable. "Hey Rio," she called out softly. "Long time no see, huh? Where is Kaia?"

          As if on cue the second dolphin broke the surface, her rubbery gray skin resembling liquid silver in the moonlight. Hello, she seemed to say as she circled the pool and then came to stop where Hadley was standing.

          "How are you doing tonight, Kaia?" she asked.

          Better. Alive.

          The words echoed through her mind, soft as a whisper in a crowded room and caused Hadley to frown. It was almost as though Kaia had answered her. That wasn't possible, but she was certain she had heard the words. She glanced around, expecting to see someone sitting in the stands near by. They were empty. Hadley looked towards the pool where Kaia was watching her from just below the surface.

          "Did you just...?"

          Yes. Yes. Yes.

          As if to drive the point home the whispered words were accompanied by a nod from the animal.

          "But how?"

           Confused. Scared. Sad. Why?

          "Me? Oh... I just... things are really strange right now, even stranger than I thought," she replied though she wasn't entirely sure why she was trying to explain any of this to a dolphin. A part of her was convinced she had hit her head and was simply hallucinating. "Why can I understand you?"

          Mind open. Truth.

          "Open? What truth?" Kaia squealed and dove beneath the surface. "Wait!"

          "You're wasting your time," Destan's voice drifted up from behind her.

          Hadley felt her cheeks grow hot. How long had he been standing there watching her? How had he even known where to find her? How had he gotten there so fast? It was rather infuriating how he always turned up unannounced.

          "Speak for yourself," she replied before glancing towards him. "How did you find me?"

          "That's all you're curious about? Never mind the fact that you were talking to a dolphin. You were talking to her right, not just to yourself?"

          "You don't seem surprised," Hadley replied dryly, not in the mood for his attempt at humor. "So tell me, oh great one, why can I suddenly talk to dolphins? Why did we turn to water when you...did what you did back there?"

          "It's just part of what you are... what we are," Destan explained as he joined her down at the railing.

          "What is that exactly?"

          "Are you sure you're ready?"

          "Really, Destan? I've been attacked by shadow things, I've chatted with a fish," Not a fish. Not a fish. The protest rose up, full of indignation."Ugh, sorry, a sea mammal, I've turned into liquid, and I found out that my father might not be my father. Nothing else can really surprise me at this point." 

          Well, she didn't think anything could.

          "Alright. You aren't normal," he stated, letting out a soft whistle that drew Rio towards the side of the pool. Destan reached out and the dolphin lifted itself out of the water to meet his fingers.

          "Oh, gee, is that all? Who is?"

          "No, I mean... you aren't human," Destan looked down at her, and she once again found herself drawn to the ethereal glow of his eyes. "You're a Syreni."

          "Come again?"

         "A mermaid," he clarified.

          For a long moment Hadley just stared at him and then, unable to hold it back, Hadley burst out laughing. The sound was mirthless, hollow. "I guess I was wrong about being surprised. You're joking, right?"

          Destan shook his head. "I know it's hard to believe-"

         "No, winning the lottery is hard to believe, Destan, this is impossible. Are you insane? Did you recently escape from a mental hospital? Mermaids, Destan? Mermaids aren't real."

        "Mermaids aren't... do you hear yourself right now? You just spilled your guts to a dolphin and you're calling me insane? Even after all that you've seen, after what you've done, you still find it that hard to believe?" Destan declared. He sounded really annoyed by her stubborn denial, but Hadley didn't care. She wasn't exactly feeling all that great either.

          "Whether you believe it right now or not doesn't change the fact that your life is in danger. The Shades that ransacked your house weren't acting of their own accord. They were sent there."

          "Sent? Sent by who?"

          "An organization of very dangerous people called Order of Leviathan," Destan replied. "Look, I promise I will explain everything but first we need to get somewhere safe. You don't remember now, but there was a time when you trusted me with your life." He held his hand out towards her, a look of desperation on his face. "Please, Hadley."

          I promise I won't let anyone hurt you ever again...

          The dream. Once again, she found herself wondering if it hadn't been something more. She wanted to ask him, but she wasn't sure she was ready. "Okay," Hadley sighed at last before taking hold of his hand. Even in that simple action she felt somehow safer, more at ease, and it frustrated her to no end that she could not justify the reason why.