The next morning, I hit the beach early. I didn't bother taking anything besides a towel, a water bottle, and my keys. I knew I wouldn't be back until much later, so there was no need for a good beach book or my phone. Instead, I ditched my stuff under the scratchy beach-grass bush and dived straight into the water. 

The early morning painted the water shades of pastel, less vibrant than in the afternoon dip I'd taken yesterday, but no less colorful nor any less wondrous. I couldn't help but marvel at all that I could see as I returned to where I'd wandered the day before. There, Lumi, Evie, and Talu were waiting for me.

"You came back!" Lumi cried, her amber eyes widening as she saw me. She looked back to Evie accusingly. "You said she wouldn't!"

Evie shrugged as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Talu, on the other hand, grinned. "Welcome back to the Undersea!"

"The Undersea?"

"It's what we call our world, the one that exists along the normal ocean," he said by way of explanation. "Your land we call the World Above."

I nodded and committed the terms to memory. "I can't believe you guys were waiting for me."

"You're the most interesting thing that's happened all year," Talu declared. 

"And I missed you," Lumi added. 

Evie raised an eyebrow. "You've only known her for one day!"

"And I missed her."

Evie sighed and rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to me. "We should take you to see Madame Dominique. She'll know what your deal is."

Talu wrinkled his nose. "Do we have to?"
"Don't be like that," Lumi chided. "She's not that bad."

Talu looked as if he wanted to protest that, but he didn't. 

"Who's Madame Dominique?" I remembered them saying the name before.

"Oh, she's my auntie!" Lumi beamed. "She's a super-awesome sea witch, she knows a lot about magic!"

"A sea-witch?" I couldn't help but feel uneasy, as the term called to mind the villain in mermaid cartoons. 

"Oh, yes, I'm training to be one, ever since I was a guppy." Lumi shook her fists in excitement. "Aunt Dominique is my teacher."

"Madame Dominique is very knowledgeable." The way Talu said the words sounded like they pained him. "She'd know why you're able to become a mermaid, and if you're a tide-dweller for sure."

"But there's a catch?" 

"She's very. . . eccentric." He avoided looking at Lumi.

"He means she's a little grumpy." Lumi dismissed him with the casual wave of her hand. "She's really not that bad once you get to know her!"

"Will I get in trouble if I meet her?" I asked. 

"No, why would you?" Lumi tilted her head, confused. 

But now I was also confused. "Didn't you say yesterday that I should get going, and that I'd be trouble if other mermaids knew about me?"

"Oh, you're definitely trouble," Evie said. "But it's better to have Madame Dominique check you out so we know what we're dealing with."

I really didn't like how she was talking about me, like I was a disease or parasite or something. 

"She really will help," Talu conceded. "And I'm sure you'd like some answers."

I hesitated. "I would." 

"Then it's settled." Evie sprang to life, and circled me like a shark. "Follow us to Madame Dominique's."

With that, she then took off.

"We'd better catch up." Talu looked to me again and offered a hand. "Ready?"

"Not like I have much of a choice." 

He chuckled with a sort of bitterness that only reaffirmed my bad feelings about the whole thing. 

I followed Evie, Lumi, and Talu further into the water. We passed through a shimmering iridescent force-field of some kind not far from where I found them. Before we passed through, it looked like a pass of open ocean, the deep blue—but once we passed through, it was like I'd entered another world entirely. There was sandy ground all of a sudden, and a sparse little village of underwater cottages in vivid hues.

Cottage is the wrong word. Or at least, they didn't resemble the cottages that I knew in Wilmington. Closer to the nicer houses in the historic district with the pillars, the architecture of the homes in the Undersea were closer to ancient Greek and Egyptian temples, but smaller, and a little less grandiose, I suppose. 

"Welcome to the real Undersea!" Lumi called back. 

"There's an enchantment of some kind that the witches cast to keep our home a secret," Talu explained, answering the questions evident on my face before I could put them to voice. "I don't really know all the details—but the Undersea kind of exists on top of the normal ocean. It's all magic stuff."

I nodded, unsure of what to say to that. Besides, there was so much to take in! Now that we'd passed the barrier, I could hear music. All kinds of it, melding together with voices and instruments in the loveliest, most haunting melodies I'd ever heard. I wasn't really an orchestra or band or chorus kid, so I couldn't really describe it. But for all that I loved Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter, what I heard in the Undersea was at another level. 

There were other mermaids about, mainly women and girls with colorful tails and pastel hair, who paid us no mind as we passed by. They were working over cobalt-blue flames that somehow worked underwater, with bottles that looked like jewels. Some had sparks trailing from their fingers. Others cradled pearls with a glow that simmered just under the smooth surface. 

"They're sea-witches," Talu explained, his voice dropped down to almost a whisper. "They tend to live just outside the major cities, so they can protect the barrier, and so the rest of us are safe from their experiments."

"Experiments?"

"They figure out spells, alchemy, the secrets of magic." Talu's expression darkened. "Important work—but they're very closed-off about it."

I nodded, that made sense to me. I tried not to gawk, to make it too obvious that I was new. After all, I wasn't turning heads yet. A hurricane was building in my stomach as we followed Lumi and Evie to one of the magnificent cottages. 

What would Madame Dominique be like? And what would she do to me?

"You don't think she'll turn me into a flounder or something, do you?" I whispered to Talu.

"Madame Dominique?" He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head in thought. "Maybe—"

I pulled my hand out of his. "I'm out of here, then—"

"I'm sorry, it's possible, but not likely." He looked truly apologetic. "Bad joke. Kind of."

"You're not helping."

"Are you two coming?" 

We turned our heads to see Lumi peeking her head out of the doorway to Madame Dominique's cottage.

Talu looked to me. "It's your call."

I looked to the cottage, then back to the blue all around, from whence I'd came. It was tempting, to just turn tail and flee. I could pretend none of this ever happened, go back to my epic plans for a summer romance and forget all about the mermaids and the Undersea and any of the dangers that lurked below. 

But this was also the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me. I couldn't let it slip out of my fingertips just because I was nervous.

"As long as she doesn't turn me into a flounder," I muttered, as I followed Talu inside.