Penni twists around to see six huge black-and-white figures quickly closing in on them. They start swimming around the mermaids in a circle, creating a small whirlpool. It’s getting harder for Penni and Daia to swim forward. A song begins pour out of Daia, a silky sound that Penni hasn’t ever heard before.

“What are you doing? The guys don’t want to listen to you sing!” Penni shouts.

The two mermaids are being unwillingly pushed up toward the surface by the current. One orca lunges at them, but Penni knows what to do. She shoots lava from her fingertips that immediately hardens into the black glass, but this time it gets misdirected by the whirlpool and the orca easily dodges it. Penni begins to panic- that’s her only trick. She’s not supposed to take Defensive Incantation class at school until she turns thirteen. Suddenly, the orca’s sharp teeth snag Daia’s tail, causing her to cry out in pain.

Penni feels something itching to get out of her throat. Without thinking, her arms shoot toward the orca. A word she’s never said before bubbles up from her chest. “Monikne!” she shouts, and a huge, heavy stream of lava blasts out from her fingers. There’s so much of it that it takes longer to turn into the black glass, and its force pushes Penni out of the whirlpool. Daia manages to dart out of the way, but pure lava touches the tip of the orca’s tail which causes it to writhe in pain. A moment of weakness. Perfect. It’s all Penni needs to swoop in and start shooting the orcas down below, ceasing the whirlpool and allowing Daia to break free. Despite looking like she’s going to faint, Daia continues to sing. Penni realizes why when a large, bright green eel spirit slithers toward the injured orca pod. The eel spirit wraps around the attacker orca’s tail and sinks its teeth into it, sending a visible shock of electricity through the beast. The eel bites two more of the orcas while Penni continues to shoot her lava glass, which eventually sends the pod away whimpering. Daia coos one final note to the eel, and it slithers off serenely.

The moment she stops shooting at the orcas, Penni rushes over to Daia. “Are you okay?” she asks in dismay.

“I’m fine,” Daia whispers, “but we need to cover the wound. Sharks will smell it.” She has her hands pressed on the gash from the orca. Blood seeps through her fingers.

Penni rips a piece of her nightgown and ties it tight around Daia’s injury, stopping most of the blood. This is bad- there’s no way Daia will be able to swim without Penni’s help, and Penni’s not a great swimmer. Still, she puts Daia’s arm around her shoulder. “Just tell me where to go.”

“This way,” Daia points ahead of them. “We have to go fast.”

“I’ll try.” Penni’s dying to know how Daia called that eel spirit, but they’re swimming too fast to carry on a conversation. Daia doesn’t seem to be in any condition to talk, anyway.

Ambient noise of the ocean surrounds the mermaids while they swim their tails off. After a while, Daia regains the strength to swim by herself. More sunlight begins to penetrate the water- they must be swimming at a slight incline. Strange plants and vibrant coral reefs start popping up around them, increasing in number as they swim along. Small, colorful fish weave throughout the reefs. The reefs greatly fascinate Penni, which means that Daia has to pull her along by the hand again. A distant, haunting song floats toward them, sounding stretched and distorted. Daia slows down a little and cranes her neck forward, like she desperately wants to hear what it has to say. A faint pop echoes through the water and the song ceases.

“Figures,” Daia spits out. “We must be getting close.” She’s right. A glowing mass appears in the distance. They swim through the lush, vibrant landscape until they reach it: Okipo City.

Penni and Daia have no trouble at all slipping in. Tall, sturdy buildings made of stone encase the sides of the city, cramped so close that only creatures mermaid-sized or smaller can fit through. Once they make it through, Penni has to stop swimming for a moment and take it all in. The city is filled with curvy buildings all stacked next to and on top of each other, with plants growing in abundance wherever they can. All the buildings are layered with an infinite variety of glowing signs that display pictures of fish, mermaids, strange objects, and symbols of a foreign language. The bright, colorful signs are a huge change from the soft yellow candlelight that Penni is used to seeing. Above, below, and all around Penni and Daia are mermaids flitting throughout the city, all going about their own business. Penni swims up to a blue sign that’s sporting pink letters and touches it. It feels hard, like stone. The blue light ripples under her fingers. Daia snatches her hand away.

“What are you doing?” she hisses.

Penni doesn’t hear her. Pops, clicks, and chirps mix with the ambient bubbling water to create a symphony of sound. It’s like if the noises of the rainforest were distorted, multiplied, and thrown underwater. She floats in one spot, completely captivated by her surroundings.

Daia gently puts her hand on Penni’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I’m… the lights… mermaids… yeah…” Penni says, too dazed to form a complete sentence. She is pulled out of her trance when Daia begins shaking her shoulders.

“Come on, don’t you want to go to the Kotalek? I think I know how to get there, but you have to stop acting so weird first!” Daia flashes nervous smiles at concerned passerby. “Come on, other mer are looking! Do you need to see a doctor?” she says through gritted teeth.

Penni blinks a few times and comes back to reality. “No, no. I’m good. Let’s find this Kotalek place.”

As they swim through the bustling mermaid city, Penni starts to realize how out-of-place her nightgown is here. None of the other mermaids are wearing clothes. Not that they really need to, anyway. Their chests are all flat, smooth, and featureless- even Penni’s and Daia’s. Instead of clothes, the mermaids wear jewelry on their heads, wrists, and tails. Some of it is plain metal, some holds beautiful gems, and some of the jewelry is actually glowing. Most of them have chunky green belts around their waists that look like they’re made of leaves. Daia is wearing a chunky belt, too, but hers is made of brown metal.

“Hey,” Daia says tentatively, “don’t do that again.”

“Do what?”

“Touch the bioluminescence! People will think you’re trying to steal it, and then we’ll really be in trouble.” Daia explains in an irritated tone. “How do you not know this? Where are you from?”

“I told you before, I’m from far away. And I’d like to get back there, if you don’t mind. Everything here is weird and confusing.” Even as Penni says that, she can’t help but wonder what it would be like to live in this eclectic city.

A husky merman with light green skin and a blotchy red tail calls out to Penni. “Hey, you look like you got somewhere you need to go!” He’s tucked inside a small stone booth that’s attached to the side of a building. Plants crawl up the sides of the booth and flare out at the top. Red light fills the water around them, cast by the sign hung above his little booth. Next to the words on the sign, there’s a picture of a weird-looking fish carrying something on its back.

Penni whips around. “Me? Yeah, actually, I do. Can you help?” she asks the merman.

“Penni!” Daia hisses, “Don’t talk to him! He can’t help you.”

Ignoring Daia, Penni swims up to the merman. She looks at a small orange sign displayed on the wall behind him as she puts her hands on the stone counter of the booth. “Can you help me or not?”

The merman grins. “Yeah, for fifty black pearls I can get you set up on one of our cushiest whaleships.” He squints his eyes and grimaces at Daia for a second. “I can only get you one ticket, though. Just for you, kid. You look foreign. Where’re you tryin’ta go? Adiko City? Pektip? Taneka Peak?” He leans forward keenly.

“Oh… no, I don’t think you can help me. Thanks anyway.” Penni turns away, discouraged. “I guess this isn’t the Kotalek.”

Daia takes Penni by the arm and begins to pull her away. “No, it’s not.” She shoots the merman a smoldering glare as they swim off. “Scum,” she seethes. She turns to Penni. “So… do you have family here? Are they going to take you home?”

“No. I don’t know anyone here except for you and Mikma,” Penni responds.

Daia is taken aback. “Well then why do you need to go to the Kotalek? What are you doing here? When you leave, are you just going to be swimming through the open ocean by yourself again?” She fires off questions that leave Penni overwhelmed.

“I don’t know, okay?” she snaps. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do. All I know is that there’s someone there who can help me.”

Daia sighs and looks around, trying to get her bearings. “Oookay. It’s just been so long since I’ve been here… it’s hard to remember where things are…” she trails off.

“Why don’t we just ask someone where it is? We’re surrounded by other people.” Penni states as if Daia’s not aware of this.

“Um,” Daia says uneasily, “the mer here probably won’t want to help us.”

“Why?”

“Penni, come on. Have you been living above water or something? I’m a balaena… we’re not that popular in Euphosian cities.”

“Then why’d you wanna come here at all?”

“I don’t know… I like the city, and last time I came, not everyone was like this…” Daia looks off to the side. “I guess my dad wasn’t exaggerating.”

Penni mulls over Daia’s words. She has yet to see another mermaid here with pale blue skin and a smooth, dark blue tail like Daia’s. All the other mermaids are made up of warm, vibrant colors and have scaly tails with a variety of different flukes. Some even have extra fins on their tails or arms. They remind Penni of the little tropical fish she saw swimming around the reefs outside the city. Daia doesn’t look like them and, to a lesser extent, neither does Penni. She hasn’t seen another mermaid with umber hair and brown skin like hers at all. Her tail, a shimmering mixture of orange and pink with its two small fins, fits in, but her top half stands out. Her nightgown definitely isn’t doing her any favors. And now that she thinks about it, Penni and Daia have been catching some funny looks from other mermaids.

“Whatever, we don’t need them. We can get there, I bet you know more than you think.” Penni’s webbed fingers cup her chin as she thinks of what to do. “Would it help if I took my nightgown off?” She pinches the nightgown and holds it away from her body.

“That thing you’re wearing? Yes, please, take it off!” Daia’s gills sigh with relief. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but it has been drawing attention to us.” She pulls them into a large crevice between buildings. “You can take it off here where no one will see. Maybe no one’ll recognize us when we come out and everyone will stop staring. I’ll hang out over there.” She floats near the entrance.

After Penni slips out of the nightgown, she is unsure of what to do with it. She ties it around her waist, imitating the belts of all the other mermaids. She swims out of the cave, spinning around in front of Daia.

“Ta-da! Whaddaya think?”

“Wow, that sure is… interesting!” Daia’s expression softens into a smile at Penni’s naivety. “Now let’s go find the Kotalek.”

They swim away from the crevice and begin making their way through the city.

      “So… how does it work here? What do you do all day? Do you go to school?”

      Daia side-eyes Penni in annoyance. “You’re lucky you’re so obviously clueless.” Her gaze shifts forward. “No, I don’t go to school. My parents can’t afford to send me. My family harvests the skillina mussels that grow behind our house.” Her hands ball up into fists. “When we collect enough, my dad goes to the city to sell them. He used to let me and my brother come with him, but that was a long time ago. That orca pod settled too close to our house, and things in the city have changed… he hasn’t let us go in years.” She pauses. “Now I see why.”

      “Why didn’t you just go anyway? You know how to swim.”

      “Everyone knows how to swim, Penni,” Daia says with a little bite to her tone, “but I’m not strong enough to swim through open water by myself. Obviously.”

      Penni rolls her eyes. “I mean, I’ve never seen anyone do what you did back there. You’re tougher than you think.”

“Penni, come on. You know we wouldn’t have escaped from those orcas without you!”

“Yeah, I guess I’ve got it going on.” Penni smirks and flexes her arms, showing off her tree-climbing muscles.

Daia laughs brightly. “I take it back! All you did was give me the confidence to get out of that depressing house!” There’s a beat of silence. “But, seriously, we did get pretty lucky on the way here.”

“That was lucky?” Penni says quietly.

The two young mermaids continue to weave throughout the brightly lit buildings, making small talk and relishing in the city’s lush chaos.