The hacker was good but not good enough, and I traced it back to their IP address.

The laptop had access to their onboard computers, and I intruded, messing with their UAV a little. It was in the water and stalled, not responding to commands.

I hesitated momentarily before messing with their navigation system. Not allowing myself to chicken out, I closed the connection between that laptop and their onboard computer and wrote a line of code that fried the laptop.

The navigation system would reset in forty-eight hours, and I made sure I left no trace of myself, but the hacker would know someone got to them.

"I think I'm in love with you," Callum said as I finished my little trick and used my cloud server to download a couple of goodies from my father's companies.

Dad called this package of programs the best anti-everything money could buy, and it was hard to hack. Next time an intruder made it past the new firewalls, I would know and have direct access to them.

"What did she do?" Eva asked suspiciously, and Callum smirked.

"I think the crew of the Crucible are about to have a dreadful day," Callum said with a grin. He held out his hand for a high five, and I knew I had just made a friend for life.

"Dreadful day?" Cap asked with a frown, and Callum glanced at me.

"Their boat auto navigates to keep in position for the small UAV. The UAV's dead in the water, and the boat is slowly drifting off course, which would make it impossible to get the submersible safely on board. It will all reset in forty-eight hours, which buys us time to finish our surveys. I also corrupted all the data they stole from our computers," I admitted, and they looked at me as if I had grown another head.

"You're a hacker?" Eva asked, and I shrugged.

"Was. It amused my father to test his new techs with a real hacker, and they usually couldn't quite... hack it. He has very high standards, and corporate espionage is a real thing. I did some dumb things and got in big trouble, the kind that could ruin your life, but I got lucky, and I learned my lesson. These days, I dabble only occasionally since I dislike orange jumpsuits." It wasn't something I could hide after what I had just done.

Eva smirked, but I could see Cap slowly digesting this information. I could also tell that he was now wary of me. He was probably wondering if I could conceal this, what else could I be hiding?

My decision might not have been wise, but I acted on instinct. I liked these people and hated people like the salvage company that hired the Crucible. They had no ethics and no sense of honor, and they were nothing but pirates. Yes, I had time to pull up some information and send it to my phone.

"That was a dangerous thing to do." Cap stared me down, yet laughter seemed to lurk in his eyes, yet it might be wishful thinking.

"But, brilliant," Eva gushed. "Never get pissed off at any of us, please," she teased, and I laughed.

"I once canceled stepmother two's entire line of credit on a day she flew to Milan to do some shopping. I disconnected her phone and canceled her hotel reservation. It was not pretty," I laughed, and they did too; even Cap almost smiled.

"What happened?" Eva asked, and I sobered.

"Boarding school in England," I admitted.

"Ouch," Eva said, and I laughed.

"Luckily, the marriage lasted only two years, and my dad missed me." I made it off as nothing, but it hadn't been "nothing" to me at the time. I thought my father had abandoned me, and I had no one. It was where I met Lilly, and we became friends.

"Harsh," Callum said, and I shrugged.

"Let's say it wasn't the first prank, but the most elaborate, and my dad didn't expect such behavior from me."

"Wait, if he can afford to give her shopping trips to Milan, he must be loaded," Callum figured out way too quickly.

"Yes, he is. I am not, so don't get any ideas," I warned. My unease and sudden tension must have shown. Callum paused halfway through typing my name into the search engine, but I knew he would do it anyway, and it was my fault.

I was so tired of pretending and keeping up a front while distancing myself from people. I could feel their opinions of me shifting.

Money always created a divide. It shifted me from just Britney to someone people felt the need to treat with kid gloves, just in case.

It also meant I would have to prove myself over and over again. Rich kids didn't earn things; they just got handed to you on a silver plate, and I hate preconceptions.

"Come on, people, we've got a job to do," Cap reminded. Reluctantly, we all moved back up to the deck. I wanted time to myself, away from the speculating eyes, but I got my gear ready instead.

I noticed Cap taking over from Shaun. It wasn't until we hit the water that I realized he had paired Norman with Eva. Suddenly, I wasn't just the newbie; I also needed a babysitter. I should have kept my mouth shut and my nature under control.

At least diving released some of the tension. We didn't have as much time to explore, but we were getting things done, and I couldn't imagine the Crucible's crew faring quite as well. It was odd that I was protective of this group of people as if they were "my" people, and I didn't like how things would change once they figured out my father wasn't merely "loaded." The only thing worse would be if they figured out I wasn't even human.

No matter what I did, I would always be the outsider because I had secrets no one could know. As much as I loved being a mermaid, it wasn't easy. I always had my guard up and could never fully trust people. It was even more challenging when I was a child and a teenager. In this day and age of technology, I always had to control myself, my thoughts, and my mind fully; some days, it exhausted me.

Having a secret that could end up with you as a lab experiment was the loneliest place on earth—a burden I had to carry every day. I always had to remember that I wasn't like them, and even though I looked utterly human, my physiology allowed some perks that would mark me as different if I forgot what I was for even a moment.