By M. M. Wyler

I dive into the water.

Bubbles explode around me, floating to the surface as water passes through my gills, replenishing the air in my lungs. The slight oceanic pressure is comforting, and I relax. It feels like home.

But Axel warned me not to go all sentimental again. We’ve only got an hour before the data is too corroded to save, so I quickly repeat the mission in my mind.

Step one: find the lost ROV camera at the bottom of Challenger Deep.

Step two: bring it to the ship so the lab can assess its condition.

Step three: don’t get distracted.

Step four: show them that I belong.

I kick, streamlining my thin frame through the murky depths. Fish scatter around me. My eyes adjust easily to the pressing darkness, and I long to stop to take in their beauty. But I don’t have time to get distracted.

Impressing the world and becoming a scientist one day is my only chance at discovering who I truly am. Those I work for on land make it clear I’m not one of them.

“Don’t disappoint me, Tarry,” Axel, the lead scientist, had said before I left.

I won’t.

 Light flashes through the dark water, and I spot an angler fish. I’ve reached the ocean floor.

I sink onto the sandy bottom, taking just a moment for appreciation. Tube worms litter the ground, moving with hadal zone currents. Tiny lights dart to and fro, the sure signs of life in the abyss.

My heart sinks as I remind myself that I’m not here to sightsee. Instead, I scan the area for a few minutes but still find no sign of the ROV. I glance at my diving watch. Forty-five minutes. My anxiety mounts. What if I fail? What if Axel grows more disappointed in me? I can’t bear it when he calls me a creature, and I’m determined not to deserve the title.

Wait… there! A little bit of yellow, clouded by debris.

I sigh and swim over, clawing the hardened sand aside with my webbed hands and slowly easing the remote camera from where it’s been stuck. I’m relieved to find it’s still working. Axel will be so pleased!

I turn to swim upward, but a large crack in the side of the little valley I’ve entered catches my eye.

Hmm.

I swim over to examine it, aware that I should probably return now. But I’ve made decent time so far, and no one would know of my little excursion. In fact, maybe I’d find something new, impressing them all despite the delay! With the camera still working, I could even take pictures!

I imagine Axel’s pleased face as I plunge into the hole.

I swim down, down, down. Darkness grows thicker than I’ve ever known in previous missions, and I clutch the ROV close.

The current abruptly drags me deeper.

I flail helplessly.

The ground hits me suddenly with an oof, knocking me to my knees. I still hold the camera protectively against my chest, though my arms tremble with adrenaline.

“Hello, child?”

My head snaps up. Water presses in on me as I stare at the strange woman.

Purple hair cascades down her shoulders, matching mine. A scaly dress runs from dainty sleeves on her shoulders down to a fitted waist that poofs out around her ankles. And behind her, a huge, submerged city shines with an ethereal glow, spires resembling shells shooting from the tops of countless towers.

The woman reaches out a webbed hand and helps me up. “My name is Dalia. Where did you come from?”

I shy away, taking a deep draught of water through my gills. “Wh-Where is this? I—”

“Don’t get distracted!” Axel’s reminders echo in my head.

I shouldn’t be here. I can’t afford to explore this place. And yet… something about it calls to me, filling my heart with hope. Dalia looks like me. I clutch the camera close, twirling my purple braid with my left hand.

“I n-need to get back,” I say, no matter how I wish I didn’t have to.

The woman just stares.

“What?” I wilt under her gaze. Even the strange fish woman sees me as odd? “Did I do something wrong?”

“Child, you have never seen this before, have you?”

I slowly shake my head.

Dalia takes me by the arm. “Come. You must see your people.”

I feel the blood drain from my face. This must be a dream.

She leads me through the waters to magnificent gates, spires like the swirl of a shell but crafted from hardened sand. People like the fish woman mill in and out.

“This is… beautiful,” I whisper.

“Of course it is. Everyone finds their home beautiful.” Dalia turns to me, worry written on her face. “Have you lived with humans this whole time? Surely you know who we are. Who you are.”

I shake my head, wishing I did.

“Perhaps you have heard legends about mermaids?” she asks.

My eyes widen, and the weight of what she confirms weakens my legs, heart racing. This is why I have always been a natural swimmer! The reason for every inhuman ability of mine is wrapped up in the breathtaking world before me—the kind I’ve longed to discover.

But I’m supposed to be a developing scientist!

Still…

“Would you like to meet your world?” she asks.

“But, my mission, I should bring the ROV back!” I protest weakly.

She sighs. “I cannot keep you here, but do the depths of the ocean not call you? Does this not feel like home to you?”

I stare up at the magnificent place, enticed more and more each moment.

I look back down at the ROV, heavy in my hands.

Axel will be disappointed, but he isn’t here to stop me. I don’t belong to him amongst my people.

I lift the thousand-dollar camera, inhale, and discard it behind my shoulder.

“A look won’t hurt.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. M. Wyler is an aspiring young author who can’t get enough time with people—both in fiction and real life. She loves all art forms, and it’s common to find her huddled up with a book, painting or sketching the next big idea, or singing like there’s no tomorrow. Fantasy stories have always been her passion and she seeks to show the incredible truth and power found in myth.

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