When Calistya returned to the school, nobody was there to greet her, nevermind punish her. As much as she’d tried to implicate herself, it seemed that nobody was paying much attention. Left to her own devices, she didn’t know whether to feel neglected or relieved. At least she didn’t have to talk to anyone, not to authority figures, nor those so-called ‘friends’ who ignored her wishes when she begged them to tell the teachers it was her fault.

Being left alone was a blessing, to be sure, but it was lonely without Khrys. Calistya had to wonder what she was up to, given her new situation and all. Was she in trouble? Was she regretting ever having met up with her wayward friend? Did she hate Calistya now? Cali hoped not, but she imagined she’d feel pretty rotten if the seashell-tops were turned.

She knew it’d be impossible to do so today, but she made up her mind to seek Khystal out at her earliest change. If nothing else, she had to apologize to her friend for her role in this entire dreadful affair. Had to remind her that she’d done nothing wrong, even as everyone else had sought to accuse her.

Feeling emotion well up inside again, Calistya entered her room and threw herself on the bed. It accepted her tossed frame with indifference, the soft materials springing beneath her and almost returning her to an upright position. She reached down and removed her inner-flippers, the ones most everyone left on any day they were planning to swim at all. It wasn’t much of a day if the merfolk didn’t take a swim, though sometimes people did get tied up with one thing or the other, neglecting both the art and the exercise of it.

With her feet unburdened, she thought about that boy again. She wanted to say ‘merboy’, but he hadn’t been quite the same. Not exactly. He seemed like a natural merboy, something she knew couldn’t exist. Could it? He hadn’t been surgically enhanced, nor had his contours appeared ‘worn’ in any way. Nothing like her oxy-tanks and artificial flipper extensions. Not even like the permanent enhancements adult merfolk would sometimes opt for. None of that fit what she’d seen. It was like an illusion. Like the boy were really part-fish. Impossible.

There had to be a more simple explanation. Perhaps he came from a rich family, one that could afford cutting-edge technology she’d not yet seen. That notion that he was a transient sprang to mind again. Perhaps he was using exotics from some other region. Part of a submersible crew, perhaps. The child of explorers.

But then, it didn’t make much sense that he’d sink into the depths of a chasm. It would seem more reasonable that he’d swim away towards the open sea, away from civilization. A submersible machine couldn’t be kept in some small space like that, could it?

It hardly seemed a space fit for man nor beast, never mind some elaborate machines. And at any rate, she’d never seen so much as a single submersible in her life. She was only peripherally aware of them through her historical studies. Studies which outlines the times of humans, their ancestors, and their mighty machines and their deadly wars, and how they’d eventually wiped out most all the life on the surface, and forced the rest of humanity to become creatures of the sea.

So the boy wasn’t the son of a submersible crewman. And he wasn’t from any city she was aware of, nor did he look anything like the people she knew. What, then? What was this boy all about, this purebred merboy with so many mysTerrious qualities?

* * *

On her way home, Calistya spotted her favorite sentinel at the entryway, a statuesque mermaid named Marla. The girls often stopped and chatted, when they weren’t up to something, and the sentries were generally friendly folk. More of a volunteer mission than anything to do with the city guards, they kept watch for danger, but more often than that served as guides to the lost, and hosts to the city proper when strangers approached.

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“Best be gettin’ a move on hon,” Marla said, it’s almost dusk now. Don’t want to be caught outside the city after dark.”

If she only knew, Calistya thought with a dark inward grin.

“I will,” she replied, “slow day today?”

“Not many ins and outs. Just you merkids. Older ones, just all work and no play these days. Shame really. What better way to spend your time, right? She swept an arm toward the vastness beyond her checkpoint.

Marla was a full mermaid, completely enhanced, right down to the single fin/no legs beauty. Calistya though it was the most beautiful image imaginable. It just seemed right. And the boy—that much moreso for his natural appeal.

It occurred to Cali that she was glad Marla hadn’t been on duty when they were dragged back into the city by the city guards. That would’ve been too much embarrassment to stomach, on her frequent goings to and fro. She hadn’t even noticed who’d been on duty when she was brought in, but she’d have known if it were Marla or not. And surely Marla would’ve had something to say. She clearly couldn’t have heard about it.

“Anything unusual today?” Calistya asked casually, trying not to sound too eager.

“Unusual? Nope. Nothing unusual going on these days. Pretty boring, if I’m being honest about it. Still, can’t beat the scenery,”—she looked out with a sigh—”Every now and then, something really unusual passes through—keeps things interesting.”

The mermaid winked at Calistya, hinting was time to end the chat. Cali took the hint and headed for school. Just like so often, she felt a wave of gratitude for it being so nicely situated, so close to the gate. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

* * *

Calistya spent her study time with Ms. Terri the next day grilling her on mermaids of the open sea. It wasn’t a topic that was verboten, exactly, but nor was it thoroughly covered in their textbooks. Although Ms. Terri was in charge of literature, strictly speaking, that field of study did tend to encompass all others, and so she wasn’t averse to the questions. However, she didn’t have much more information to offer than did Calistya herself. So they started through the available literature to see if there was anything to be found.

There was plenty, rafts of it really, when it came to fictional accounts, but not much in the way of real-life documentation. No biographies or historical texts, nothing that went beyond the ordinary city life of their city and the numerous others that ringed the coastlines.

They’d almost given up hope when Ms. Terri came upon something intriguing. The tome, Merpeople’s of The Deep, sounded like fiction at first-glance, but its forward claimed it chronicled a real counterpart culture to the technoquatic societies of the continental shelves.

In rejecting an attachment to the coastline, and as such a rejection to past history, these merpeople travelled far from the cities in order to forge a life for themselves in the deep. While they were rarely heard from again, tales of great biological and technological achievements have made their way back to the ordinary realms from time to time.

As a subspecies of ourselves, they possess the same physical attributes, though we have heard tell of groups who abandoned our reliance on breathing gear and swim-enhancements in favor of more natural remedies. Whether that makes for a superior swimmer or fisherman is unclear, though it doesn’t seem to matter overmuch as they’re very much reliant on pack hunting and other cooperative techniques.

By the third page, the books scholarly tone had her stuck in a thick brainfog. But Ms. Terri seemed intrigued by it all, particularly the biological descriptions. Cali was dying to tell her about the merboy, and her theories about his origins, but she felt it might damage her chances of getting back out there and seeing him again.

The thought of confessing made her stomach churn. She was too jealous of the connection with that boy—not ready to trade it for punishment. Even the justified kind.

It’s true, I *was* out in the forbidden zone again, she told herself. But how could I have met him otherwise?

No, she wasn’t going to sabotage that. She kept her mouth carefully shut, and let the conversation fade. As far as Ms. Terri was concerned, she’d already answered. Besides, Calistya had her own ‘extended research project’ to work on, and Ms. Terri could have nothing to do with it.

Her secret was safe. For now. But if the merboy was hiding in The Deep, she’d need to go deeper still to get her answers—no matter the risk.