Another Piece Of Paradise Chapter 1 free porn video

Another Piece of Paradise By JJ This is a work of fiction (unfortunately). It may also contain themes and opinions that some may find objectionable. If you underage, then stop now. I'm writing in the universe of Patricia's "Changes in Paradise," If you have not read her magnum opus, and are interested in mermaids, then you should go right over to the Mermaid Stories group on Yahoo and read them post haste. This story assumes that you have some understanding of her fantastic vision of mers. I'd like to thank her for expending so much time, energy, and thought on her story; it's what inspired me to start writing. I'd also like to thank her for her permission to write in her domain, and her outstanding suggestions and ideas for the story. I'd like to thank Len and Patrick for their input and work proofreading my grammar and spelling. Several of Patricia's characters make cameos here, but I've tried to keep that to a minimum as I focus on "my" pod. Chapter 1 "Flight 1138 to Suva, now boarding at gate 23," said the voice, first in English, then in Mandarin, as the sea of humanity made its way through the gleaming Hong Kong airport. Within that mass of humanity, a large American made his way through the crowd of mostly Asian travelers. At six feet, seven inches, Josh Abramson fairly towered above his fellow travelers. Josh was on his way to a week of sun, sand, and relaxation. Relaxation from his job leading a training software development team in the autocratic state of Singapore. Relaxation from the security cameras, speech laws, and a draconian judicial system. This wasn't as nice as going home to Pennsylvania coal country and seeing his parents and brothers, but it would have to do until he could get some more time off. He picked up the pace as he headed towards his gate. As he thought about the tropical paradise he was headed to, the childhood fantasy he kept to himself crossed his mind: Fiji might even be a good place to see a mer- his thought was interrupted by his crashing into a middle-aged western woman with short brown hair and brown eyes as she struggled with her luggage. "Sorry," he muttered apologetically as he helped the woman with her carry-on. The stranger finished taking her things and hurried off without a word. Josh sighed, gathered his things and after making sure everything was there; he stopped at a vendor for a drink. Sarah Mendelson walked briskly off towards her flight to Suva after she'd been nearly run down by the big man. She looked back at him as he stopped to buy a bottle of water. I have to run off to a vacation spot to stroke some client's ego, where I'll be the only one not relaxing, and I get run down in the airport. Sarah was VP of sales for East Asia for a major semiconductor manufacturing equipment firm. She'd spent 20 plus years building her company's presence in the byzantine labyrinth of patronage, nationalist trade regulation, ethnic tension, family loyalties and public/private cronyism that make up doing business in this part of the world, and even as an American, she had not only survived, but thrived through her quick wit and ability to be forceful while not breaching protocol in the myriad countries she did business in. Such a demanding life had left no time for family though, and at 47 she had resigned herself to the fact that she would neither have a husband nor children, much to the chagrin of her now-dead parents. She hadn't even talked to her younger brother in 5 years. No reason really, she was just too busy. She pushed the thought out of her head as she boarded the plane and headed for her seat in business class. She immediately sat down and pulled out her client info to get ready for the meeting. She hadn't endured being harassed and hit on by Asian businessmen who should know better, while building her company's clientele to let an economic recession bring it all down, even if she did have to fly off to badger a Korean tycoon on his vacation. "Come on Miki, we're going to miss the flight," Manami Iwamura said as her 21 year old sister browsed the snack offerings at the kiosk. Manami was the practical one, and at 25, she had had a bit more experience than her still-in-school younger sister. Miki was the dreamer, the lighthearted girl who wanted to enjoy all that life had to offer. She had convinced Manami to take a vacation from her corporate job while Miki had a break from school. Manami had only agreed to go along after their parents asked to look after her sister while Miki had fun. "Oh, sorry," Miki said as she started from her reverie and turned away from the wide selection of snacks and drinks. She quickly selected something and paid for it, and the two sisters hurried off towards the terminal. Each about five feet tall, with the long dark hair and almond shaped eyes common among their countrymen, both girls even wore an identical pendant of the Wheel of Karma around their necks, a gift from their grandparents. They were sometimes mistaken for twins, even though Manami was four years older. They hurried towards the gate, and Manami noticed a blonde-haired girl buying snacks. She was a rare sight in East Asia, despite the increase in international travel. The girl smiled at her as their eyes met, and Manami politely smiled back and continued on her way, "Who was that?" Miki asked. "I don't know, I was just being polite," Manami responded, and continued onto the gate where they found their seats toward the rear of coach. Jenna Swanton smiled at the Japanese woman as she went by. Jenna's honey blonde hair, tall, coltish good looks, ice blue eyes and girl next door charm had always garnered her attention, but never so much as these past 6 months teaching English in Pusan, South Korea. One man had even asked her to marry him in the middle of the street. She'd signed on right after graduating from Ole Miss in Oxford with a degree in English. She'd thought it would be a great experience, having grown up in a small town in Mississippi without much more than TV and the Internet to tell her about the world. She also wanted to get out in the wider world while she was young, before graduate school and a possible family took all her time. She still smiled at her supervisor's concern that her classes would produce dozens of Koreans speaking English with her honey-thick southern accent. She was doing a good job, though, and her students seemed happy. Even though there were all sorts of opportunities for cultural enrichment in this part of the world, she was really a beach girl at heart, and Pusan just didn't have the warm sand and surf that she remembered from the Gulf Coast during her childhood. So it was off to Fiji for some sun and fun. She wished that she had a companion going with her, but her friend Karen hadn't been able to afford it. Maybe I'll meet someone flying solo... she thought optimistically. She paid for her snacks and headed to the plane, taking her seat by the window in coach, later she was joined by a nice Indonesian couple on their way to Fiji for a getaway. As Josh settled into his bulkhead seat, he was gratified that the middle seat was unoccupied. It would lessen the sardine-in-a-can feeling the big man got when on an airliner. He took out a book and began to read, waiting for the plane to take off so that he could use his music player. He looked around the interior of the Airbus A350: All this, built by the cheapest Frenchmen they could find. He pushed the thought aside as the plane began rolling down the runway, 158 people headed for paradise on one of the thousands of flights that take place every day around the world. Three hours into the flight, the meals had been served, and the passengers were watching the in-flight movie or entertaining themselves in other ways. Sarah was finished with her meeting prep, but was still working over the in-flight wireless internet that was newly installed on commercial airliners, refusing for a moment to have any downtime in her relentless pursuit of sales. Jenna had met someone alright, although not the "someone" she was hoping for. She was stuck listening politely to an Indonesian woman talk to her about how much Jenna would love her youngest son. "You'll make such beautiful children with him," she gushed as she showed Jenna pictures and talked about how much she'd love being a Muslim and just staying home with the other women in the large extended family. Jenna just smiled politely and tried to think of an excuse to go to the bathroom again, and seeing that both lavatories were occupied, realized that she was stuck with this woman. She smiled politely and deflected another question about contact information for her parents so the two fathers could arrange things and silently prayed that this woman would eventually run out of energy. Her husband was already snoring away, blissfully unaware of his wife's actions. Manami and Miki were seated next to a nice older Chinese woman, her husband just across the aisle. The older lady didn't say much, so the Japanese sisters talked amongst themselves until they decided to take a nap. Josh had taken out his media player, removed his glasses (he preferred them to contacts for the dry air of the cabin), and was now dozing off to the dulcet tones of Mozart. Josh was jolted awake by the sudden lurching of the plane. He thought it was just a bad case of turbulence, but he'd never heard the metal of the plane screech like this before, or the oxygen masks drop, or the lights flicker. He heard people screaming, the engines of the plane screaming with effort trying to stay aloft, everything screaming everywhere... and then a huge roar, the plane tilted down for a long time, then leveled off again, huge arcs of flame shooting down the aisle and above his head, they singed him before he got into the crash position. The plane impacted the sea and skipped, and started falling apart, he saw a piece of debris go into the head of the woman across the aisle who hadn't put her head down yet, and the bulkhead in front of him tore away. His row of seats tore loose and cart wheeled, hitting the water and beginning to sink. Josh unhooked his seat belt as soon as he realized what was going on. He surfaced on an angry sea, a hellish scene of rolling waves, debris, rain, lightning and fire. He dodged floating debris before it could smash into him, but he knew he couldn't last long. In later years, he would wonder at the providence of what happened next. Just as he thought he wouldn't be able to keep himself above water, an orange bundle about four feet long floated by. Grabbing it, he found a ripcord. Figuring he had nothing to lose, he pulled it. A CO2 canister fired, inflating the raft, which smacked him in the face, nearly pushing him away as it began to inflate. It was a large, heavy duty survival raft with an integrated canopy and a zippered door flap to protect the occupants. Nursing a hurt nose, he was about to get in the raft, when he heard a cry barely audible over the roar of the storm. A small woman was holding onto a piece of debris and an older woman at the same time. He had no idea how she was doing it, and it didn't look like she would be able to hold on long. He paddled the raft with his hands as quickly as he could. It seemed agonizingly slow, but he first pulled the unconscious woman onto the raft, and then reached for the Japanese girl. As he did so, the debris rolled over and the edge of the aluminum framing clobbered the woman on the right side of her head. Josh had to grab her quickly, and haul both the now unconscious, bleeding girl and then himself into the raft. His strength and adrenaline were beginning to wane. He did know that he needed to close the flap on the tent of the survival raft, or it would flood and capsize. He reached for and found the zipper, and taking one last look out of the doorway saw no one else to be saved, and was starting to zipper the flap closed. "Hey!" he heard from the side of the door. He had missed someone along the side of the raft. She was a young woman, covered in oil and bleeding. She held a white knuckle grip along the side of the raft and her blue eyes were as wide as saucers. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her around to the front of the raft and through the door opening. Satisfied that there was really no one else, he finally closed off the raft from the storm outside. His heart pounding, he finally started to come to his senses, he felt incredibly tired, and not being in the best of shape, he had overexerted himself, and was fading fast. His vision was blurry, his glasses long gone, everything hurt, and he thought he could hear the blonde girl yelling something to him, but he was insensate, and he quickly lost consciousness as the raft heaved and pitched in the huge swells. Josh bolted upright with a gasp, he immediately felt pain everywhere. He realized that he was on the raft. The survival raft that he'd managed to crawl into in the chaos following the plane hitting the water. The storm was over, the sun was low in the sky, and they floated in a debris field, pieces of the plane, luggage, and even a few bodies were floating around their raft. The raft at least served to keep the harsh tropical sun off of the occupants. He didn't know how he'd lived, but he'd pulled a few people into the raft with him. There was a pretty blonde girl looking at him, she was holding her arm, with an older brown-haired woman unconscious next to the Asian girl, who was also unresponsive, and looked ashen, though her head wound had been bandaged. "Hey," he said to her, really having no idea what to say in this situation. "Hey," Jenna returned quietly, a look of fear in her eyes. Josh could see that she was scared. Aside from having been in a plane crash hours before, she was on a raft, with nothing to defend herself, and there was a very large man looking at her. "You were yelling, I couldn't wake you up," she said quietly. "Sorry," Josh replied. He paused, looking over the young woman. "That arm looks bad," he stated as he nodded towards her bloody left arm. He proceeded to tear strips of cloth from his shirt sleeves and went to tie them around her upper arm as a bandage. He stopped when she drew back. "I won't hurt you; just let me put a bandage on that wound." she looked at him hard, and then let him tie a bandage around her arm. "Just keep the pressure on it, and you'll be fine." "Thanks," she said. "I'm Jenna," she said, being put a little more at ease by his kindness... "Josh," was the man's reply. He checked the pulses of the two unconscious women. "They're still alive at least. Good job on the bandages," Josh complimented on the work Jenna had done bandaging the most severe of Sarah and Manami's wounds with cloth from her own clothing. "Have you seen anything that looks like water or food? Or anyone else who's alive?" "There's a bag over there, I haven't looked in it yet," replied Jenna. Josh opened the bag, and found some freeze-dried food bars, a signal mirror, a couple of survival blankets, a flare gun with three flares, and most importantly, a water purifier. "It says you fill it through the red opening into this bag, and it filters the water without pumping, and you drink it out of the green opening in this bag," he reported, reading the included instructions. "It only makes half a liter every five hours, and the filter only lasts for ten liters." "That's it?" Jenna asked in a panicky voice. "There's no replacement filters or something?" "No," came his somber reply. "This is it." "I'll fill it then," Jenna sighed, collecting herself. Josh handed her the bag and she filled the purifier's red portal with seawater, and then hung it up with its strap on the inside of the raft's canopy to begin filtering the water that hopefully would keep them alive until rescue came. Even with the water, their situation was dire. They didn't have much food, they couldn't tell what internal injuries the other women might have, or even if they'd regain consciousness, they didn't know their location, or even have a radio to call for help if they did. "With any luck, the emergency beacon went off as the plane went down, and there's a search on the way," Josh said as he tried to console Jenna. "Yeah, I know," Jenna said as she teared up in despair at their situation. "You really think that?" she asked him. "I have no choice but to think that. The alternative is..." His voice trailed off, in order to avoid stating the obvious. When the water ran out, their skin would degrade, their tongues would swell and crack, they'd become delusional, and be wracked with pain before finally losing consciousness and dying. It was a slow way to die, and not something to look forward to. They drifted for a few hours; the seas were calm at least. Josh and Jenna alternated from staring at each other to looking out for other survivors. "She was with someone," Jenna said sullenly while motioning towards Manami. "They looked like sisters. I wonder if she made it..," she trailed off. "I just hope they both wake up. If they have concussions, being unconscious is dangerous," Josh replied. "How'd y'all get them into the raft? I mean, I swam over, grabbed onto the side and you pulled me in and closed the flap, but they were already here," Jenna asked. "On adrenaline. I'm really impressed with her," he said as he pointed at Manami. "She was holding onto a floating piece of the plane and the other woman, and got knocked out as I pulled them into the raft. I have no idea how she held on. Finding this thing was pure luck, anyway. I didn't even know they put these heavy survival rafts on airplanes," Josh admitted. "Were you with anyone on the plane?" he asked. "Not really. There was a married couple in the same row as me, but... they didn't make it," Jenna almost sobbed at that. The lady that was trying to arrange a marriage between Jenna and her son wasn't a bad sort, she didn't deserve to die. "Ugh," Sarah said as she stirred. She put her hand to her head as it pounded from whatever had hit it as the plane crashed. She didn't know where she was. She'd been hit when the plane went down, and now her head was still foggy. "Hi," said Jenna. "How are you feeling?" "Wh-who are you?" Sarah asked. She tried to sit up quickly, but in doing so became so queasy she almost vomited. "Easy, ma'am," said Josh, "You've got a huge bump on your head, and I think a concussion, so try not to move, okay?" "Who are you? What happened?" she demanded. Sarah's head was spinning, and she knew she wasn't on the plane anymore, but not much else. She saw two people staring at her, and a lot of orange. "I'm Jenna, this is, Josh, right?" Jenna said. "Yeah, Josh Abramson. The plane went down, the other girl next to you held onto you and helped get you into this raft," he replied. "I'm Sarah. Where are we?" asked Sarah, still confused, but starting to come around more and more, if only the raft would stop spinning. "Somewhere in the South Pacific, between Hong Kong and Fiji," Jenna answered. "I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Sarah said, holding her head. "Could I get some water, I know we need to ration it but-" "We're running it through the filter now, but it looks like there's enough to give you a drink," replied Jenna as she took the filter bag down from the makeshift hanger she'd placed it on. Sarah took a few sips of the warm water and handed it back to Jenna so that it could complete the filter cycle. Josh opened the zipper on the raft door to let the morning light in, and to air out the raft. He wished he hadn't. There were dead bodies, luggage, bits of aircraft, and a few things he couldn't identify floating all around the raft. The heavier mechanical parts like the engines had already sunk. The sun was already starting to shine brightly, and the day would be a scorcher out on the tropical water. He and Jenna surveyed the area looking for any signs of life. Jenna suddenly pointed and said "There," They could see a man slowly paddling towards their raft. "Hello!" Jenna called to him. The man stopped and looked up, and a smile broke out on his face. He looked like a small Vietnamese man, maybe in his 40's. He waved back and quickly started swimming towards the raft. Josh helped him into the raft, and he quickly started nodding his head, smiling, and talking excitedly in a language only he understood. "C?m ?n b?n r?t nhi?u! T?i c? th? c? m?t s? n??c? B?n l? ng??i ??u ti?n t?i ?? nh?n th?y!" he said. "Do you speak English?" Josh asked. The man simply looked confused in response and started speaking again. Josh put his hand to his chest when he stopped and said "I'm Josh." The man looked a little confused, then put his hand to his own chest and said, "Pham Na." Josh nodded his head, pointed to Jenna and said, "Jenna," then pointed towards Sarah and said, "Sarah." "I don't suppose either of you know whatever he's speaking?" Josh asked. "Nope, though it could be Vietnamese, but I can't even ask for the bathroom in that language yet," replied the businesswoman. Their new friend then pointed to Manami. "C? g? sai v?i c? ?y?" and made a questioning look towards Josh. "Oh, we don't know yet, she's still asleep," Josh said too loudly, making the common mistake of thinking that volume would impart understanding. He also made a gesture of using his hands as a pillow as if he were asleep. Pham seemed to get the idea, and with a slightly annoyed look settled down on the raft, and took off his shirt for it to dry off. They continued like this for the rest of the day. They would take turns taking sips from the water filter, each of them watching the others, not really trusting each other, but at least there hadn't been any disagreements over the water supply between the four conscious survivors. The problem started when Jenna went to give water to the unconscious Manami as they split two of the protein bars for their dinner. Pham Na suddenly got very excited, trying to pull Jenna away from the unconscious Japanese woman and take the water away. "Hey," Josh interjected. "She gets water," he repeated, his eyes narrowing, with his large hand on Pham Na's wrist, pulling his arm away from Jenna. The smaller man spoke quickly, at one point making a throat-slashing motion, which the American survivors took to mean that he thought Manami was all but dead, and that they shouldn't give her water. Pham Na backed off that time, but his expression and body language told them that he was not happy over Josh stopping him. "Hey, Sarah," Jenna said after Pham Na had calmed down and she had given water to Manami, who was beginning to stir occasionally, "I don't think you should sleep tonight. With a concussion, you might stop breathing if you sleep." "Thanks, but I think it's been long enough that I'll be okay. Keep an eye on her though," Sarah said, indicating the small Japanese woman, who despite the small moans and groans she was making, was not coming any closer to waking up. By the time the sun was approaching the western horizon, the five survivors weren't feeling any better about their situation. Sarah and Jenna tried to lie down over towards Manami and away from the men, while Pham Na and Josh propped themselves up against the canopy of the raft on the opposite side. As the night began to close in on them, Jenna turned to Sarah, looking for reassurance from the confident older woman. "You think they'll find us?" she asked. Sarah rolled over, and despite her earlier protestations that she was fine; Jenna could hear the strain in her voice. "I don't know. It depends on where we are and who responds. If we're closer to Australia or Fiji, maybe. If we went down farther north, there may not be anyone able to get here or detect the crash," Sarah said. "Josh said the plane had a beacon," Jenna replied in high-pitched voice. Her face showed that she was worried, and if Sarah could have seen it in the darkness, she would have seen the look of a very frightened, very worried young woman. "It may very well have had one, it may have even worked, but whether anyone finds us is another matter. It's a big ocean. Try to get some sleep, getting all upset won't help," Sarah said, putting on her "management voice" as best she could. Taking the hint, Jenna rolled over, closed her eyes and tried to focus on the peaceful sounds of the calm water lapping at the sides of their octagonal raft. She didn't know how long it took, exactly, but sleep did come at last. Sarah was awoken by two things the next morning, the first was the sun as it streaked into the raft's open doorway, and the second was the fact that a Japanese woman was nudging her shoulder with a desperate look on her face. "Wha--?" Sarah mumbled as she rose and the pounding in her head started anew. She could swear it was getting worse, but she forced herself up when she saw who was shaking her awake. "Hey," she said weakly, "Good to see you up, we were getting worried," she paused as the young woman stared at her apprehensively, "Do you speak English?" Sarah asked, with a sympathetic tone. Her Japanese companion simply nodded. "Did you see my sister?" the girl whispered. "We were on the plane together, and got separated as it crashed. I found you, and grabbing his arm was the last thing I remember," Manami said as she pointed at Josh. "No, sweetie, I haven't seen her," Sarah said quietly, in order to avoid both waking the survivors that were sleeping and to avoid aggravating the headache she had. "What's your name? I'm Sarah," she said. "Manami," replied the young woman, a look of trepidation in her eyes. "You must be hungry, there are some energy bars in that box over there, and there is some water, though take it easy on that," offered Sarah as her companion picked through the survival kit... "Josh, that guy, told me that you held onto me after the plane went down. Thank you," the older woman said, watching as Manami devoured an energy bar and took a gulp of water. The young woman hadn't eaten in almost 40 hours, and felt ravenous. "You're welcome," Manami replied through a mouthful of food. By this time the sun was strong enough to really start heating the raft, the other inhabitants of their raft began waking up. Josh and Jenna greeted Manami, who responded only tepidly to Josh, while Pham Na just stared at her, clearly mistrusting these four people who he couldn't communicate with. "Has anyone seen my sister? She looks like me, maybe a little younger," Manami asked again, starting to become more and more upset as she desperately looked out over the water, which was strewn with debris and even a few bodies. "No, I'm sorry, but we haven't," answered Jenna. "I saw you in the airport; she was the girl with you?" "Yes, her name is Miki," Manami replied, as if saying her sister's name could help find her. "I tried to hold onto her, but our seats broke and we got separated." The comment hung there a moment; everyone just uncomfortably sat looking at each other. Eventually Jenna put her hand on Manami's shoulder, "If we found a raft, so could she," The blonde tried to reassure her. Manami gave her an uncertain look, but seemed to calm down. Throughout the day, the survivors tried to keep themselves busy. They each inventoried the supplies at least five times. Partially out of boredom, and partially because of her outgoing nature, Jenna decided to strike up a conversation, at least amongst those survivors who could understand her. "So, where all y'all from?" she said with a forced cheerfulness. "Pennsylvania, though I live in Singapore for my job," Josh replied. "You?" "A little place called Pass Christian, Mississippi. I went to school at Ole Miss in Oxford." "What are you doing out here?" Josh asked. "I teach English in Korea. Fun job, but I wanted to take a vacation somewhere warmer," Jenna replied. Attention then turned to Sarah, next around the circumference of the raft. She almost visibly drew into herself. "Come on Sarah, it'll help pass the time," Jenna encouraged her. "Fine," The older woman finally relented. "I'm head of sales for a company that sells machines that make semiconductor chips. I live in Taipei. I'm not married," she concluded, her tone of voice made it clear that she was just going through the motions to get Jenna to get off her back. "Okay, how about you Manami?" Jenna kept going, trying to keep up the morale of the denizens of their little raft. Manami was silent; she turned away from the others and curled up in a fetal position against the outer edge of the raft. "Manami, are you okay?" Jenna asked, gently placing her hand on the smaller woman's shoulder. No answer was forthcoming but soft sobbing. Jenna finally relented and moved away from her. Conversation quickly stopped, and the survivors eventually got tired of staring at each other, and as the heat of the day dragged on, Josh decided to see if they could catch fish to bolster their food stocks. Making a serviceable fishing line from cloth scraps and using a safety pin from the survival kit as an improvised hook, they tried to see if there were any small fish taking refuge under their raft or the other pieces of flotsam. Surveying the area around the raft, they noticed the bodies still floating in the area. "Oh G-d," Jenna said, tears welling up, survivors' guilt beginning to overwhelm her. "There's nothing you could've done," Josh tried to comfort her. He hesitated, and then gently put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She jerked her head around towards him, then looked at his face and saw that he was trying to help. He took his hand off of her shoulder as she composed herself. Turning back to the task at hand, Josh dropped the hook over the side. They waited for a few minutes to see if there was any interest. "Look," Josh quietly indicated to one particular body floating face down near the raft. It was a small woman, with long dark hair. "You don't think... her sister?" Jenna asked. Before they could answer that, a huge dark shape more than ten feet long went right underneath the raft and bumped the corpse, a dorsal fin then turned away to circle again. They saw other shapes out in the water. They had been found, but not by rescuers. The deep sea's cleanup crew had arrived. Sharks of multiple species: bulls, hammerheads, tigers, and oceanic white tips had come to feed on the 100 plus bodies the crash had scattered across this patch of ocean. Their eyes going wide, they looked at each other. "We're gonna need a bigger boat," said Josh worriedly. Jenna just nodded her head. "Catch something?" Sarah's voice came from the side of the raft across from the door. "Um, not yet, though we definitely see something," came the reply from Jenna. Seeing that the shark was still circling, Josh decided to try to look at the body and see if it was Manami's sister. He took a handful of hair, raised the face above the water line, and looked at a distorted, cut up, swollen face of a Japanese woman who bore a striking resemblance to his raft mate. He further confirmed it by raising her head up higher and seeing a small pendant that matched Manami's. She had a horrible wound in her chest; she'd never really had a chance. His heart sank, he was going to have to tell her, it wouldn't be right not to. He turned speak to Jenna and was instead met by all four fellow raft mates looking on in horror. He'd been so tense and focused that he hadn't noticed Sarah, Manami, and Pham Na taking an interest in what he was doing. He gently set Miki's head back into the water so that her sister wouldn't have to look upon the decomposing visage. "No!" Manami sobbed and lunged for her sister. Josh and Jenna let her go past. She pulled her sister's head out of the water again and in a grisly embrace, held her sister's head to her chest as the rest of Miki's body hung in the water, and cried pitifully. That lasted a whole minute, until the bull shark circled back around, and seeing the activity around what it thought was its meal, bit into Miki's leg and pulled. Other sharks that had come to the area saw this activity and decided to get in on the meal. Manami nearly lunged out of the raft, determined to keep the shark from taking her sister's body. Josh, grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back in, and Jenna tried to console her. "Manami, I'm so sorry," Jenna said sorrowfully, crying sympathetically as she held the smaller woman. Sarah was crying and helped to console Manami as well. Pham Na and Josh really didn't know what to do, Pham Na wasn't stupid, and could see that the young woman was in pain, so he retreated to the back of the raft. Josh just sat, watching the sharks carry out their work scavenging Miki's corpse. The raft was silent on the calm sea, the only sounds were of the sharks grabbing flesh and rolling to tear off chunks. The slapping sound of their fins on the water and the horrible ripping sounds were all that could be heard once Manami's crying softened as the sharks dismembered the corpse. The sea turned red around the raft, and the smell of blood wafted up and assaulted the noses of the survivors. Sarah hazarded a look, and all that she could make out was the horrible twisting motions of the sharks, and an unrecognizable mass that was once a vibrant, happy-go-lucky young woman. The days had passed since the dismemberment of Miki's body. The survivors, despite their rationing, were going through their water quickly, and the water filter was becoming less and less effective, leaving more and more salt in the water. Soon it wouldn't be safe to drink, and that would be the end. Over the past few days, everyone had started getting squirrelly, Manami seemed almost catatonic, Jenna was despondent, Sarah, despite trying to play the cool and collected manager, was just barely holding together, and Pham Na had taken to glancing suspiciously at Josh, as if sizing him up for something. Josh was getting ready for a fight. As far as he was concerned it was just a matter of time. He didn't trust Pham Na, and hadn't since the first episode when he tried to deny Manami water. "Are we sure there isn't land around?" Sarah said, breaking a long silence. "Yes," said Josh tersely. "You don't think we'd look?" "Fine," Sarah said. "I'm just trying to DO something; we can't just lie around and die!" It looked like Sarah was starting to snap. That didn't help anything. "I'm just, just, I don't want to die!" Jenna couldn't hold it in anymore. "Why the hell haven't they found us? Why are they leaving us here?" She cried. "Stop it! Shut the hell up!" Sarah yelled back. "Being hysterical won't make them find us, and you'll upset Manami." "Is she alright? She's not awake yet," Josh said. The women turned towards Manami, and sure enough, the small Japanese woman was unconscious, breathing shallowly. "Let's give her some water," said Sarah, grabbing the filter bag. "H?y cho t?i ??! C? ?y s? ch?t v? ch?ng ta c?n n??c!" Pham Na said, as he grabbed the water filter. Sarah pulled it back towards her, but he punched her in the left temple. She fell back, knocked out. Josh swung into action and tried to grab him, but Pham Na was quicker and jumped off the raft, with the filter in his hands. Pham Na started swimming away, though there was nowhere to go. Josh prepared to jump in after him, but Jenna grabbed him by the neck of his shirt. "Josh wait!" she said. Sure enough, a dorsal fin was stalking Pham Na in the water. He seemed unaware of the danger, until the shark tore his leg off. He screamed in pain, blood pouring from the wound. Josh and Jenna tried paddling the raft with their hands to get over to Pham Na, but before they could, the shark returned and bit again, taking a huge piece of his right rib cage, silencing his cries with a hideous gargling sound. Josh and Jenna kept paddling, hoping to recover the water filter, but they only found pieces of plastic. What meager drinkable water they'd had was gone. Jenna sat back down and started crying. Josh moved over to Sarah and tried to wake her. Her temple was bruised, and she was out cold. He was afraid to move her, thinking that he could make whatever her injury was worse. So now there were two unconscious women, no water, no land in sight, and Jenna was having a breakdown, not that he was exactly calm. "Fuck!" he yelled, punching the edge of the raft. He sat back down, holding his head in his hands. He didn't have any ideas, without help, they were done. It was just that simple. Manami and Sarah never did regain consciousness, but that was merciful. Josh and Jenna had to endure the full effects of extreme dehydration. Over the next couple of days, their lips cracked, their mouths were horribly dry. Josh thought about drinking his own urine in desperation, but neither of them could produce any. Their rationing had slowed down their production, and now it had stopped. "Why can't I pee?" Jenna finally asked. "I think our kidneys have shut down," Josh replied. They both watched the sun set at the door of the raft, each having the feeling that they wouldn't see the dawn. "I'm sorry Jenna, I couldn't save anyone." "You don't have to be sorry for anything," she reassured him. "This isn't anyone's fault. You did what you could, we all did," she put her hand on his shoulder and forced a small smile onto her face. The last two conscious survivors shared a last moment, reassuring each other that even lost in the middle of the vast ocean, they would not die alone. Josh thought about everything that he hadn't done, and after he thought of his family, he drifted to the old fantasy, ever since he saw that movie as a child, the image of a mermaid, a creature that only existed in fantasy. In his desperate, nearly delirious state, he thought that a mermaid would be able to save them. But there was no such thing; there were no mermaids, no hope, and no escape save death. That was his last thought as he slipped away, to whatever afterlife greeted him. Not so far away from the little raft, four shapes in diamond formation cruised at 20 knots though the deep, blue ocean. They undulated through the water in long, vertical strokes, their wide flukes powering them easily through the water. If an observer were to approach, the four shapes would resolve into three feminine and one masculine humanoid shapes above the waist. The "impossible" shapes of merfolk. Trevor, Rose, Kate, and Ann were on the return leg to Mermaid Island when they detected the crash and the debris in the distance. They decided to check it out and see what could be done. The pod found a single survival raft that appeared to have people in it, and they paused underneath to discuss a game plan for their contact with the occupants. "I'll go up first and check it out," Trevor said. "I'll see if they're dead, if they're alive, then we can figure out how to help them." "What if they're not unconscious?" asked Kate. "I don't know, that's why I'll be going up slowly to check. Maybe we can tow the raft without them seeing us or something," replied Trevor. Trevor started to move up to the surface at the front of the raft, slowly inching his head over the edge of the door. He saw a big man and a pretty blonde girl lying down, eyes closed. They were close enough that he could reach them, so he checked their pulses and found them slow, but steady. He could see an older woman and a younger Asian girl with obvious head injuries whose breathing was pretty shallow. They were too far away to reach easily. He ducked back down to his mates. "They're all out cold, and look pretty dehydrated. We need to help them now." Rose immediately spoke up. "The atoll we found yesterday with a spring isn't too far from here, we can tow the raft there and get them some fresh water and food, and try to revive them." "That might not work," Trevor warned, "They are pretty far gone, and we might have to-" "We can deal with that when we get there," Rose interrupted, "But we will do whatever it takes to save them, right?" She said forcefully, giving Trevor and her sister-wives a look that conveyed the message that this wasn't up for debate. "Sure, sis," Kate replied quietly, as her identical blonde twin Ann floated next to her, "whatever it takes." Upon pulling the raft to the atoll, the mers gently moved the four humans out of their raft and pulled the raft up the beach near the scrub on the largest island at the western edge of the atoll. The mers stopped to triage their charges. "They're too far gone, and too beat up. I think you girls need to do your thing," Trevor decided. Rose nodded in agreement. "These two are the worst off," said Rose, gesturing to Manami and Sarah. "You two should take one each, and I'll feed the other two," The dark- haired mermaid moved to the first of her charges, a tall, pretty blonde girl. Rose gently laid Jenna across her lap, brushed back both her own and Jenna's hair, and brought her mouth to her left breast. Her milk started flowing, and Jenna instinctively swallowed. "Is it a good idea to feed them Rose?" Kate asked, once the older woman started feeding from her chest. "Aren't you-" "I'm sure it'll be fine," Rose stopped her. "We can't just leave them to die," she said as she shrugged. "Oh, this one's pretty, and I love her necklace!" Ann said as she fed Manami, admiring her jewelry and the Japanese woman's delicate features, full lips, large eyes, and petite build. "The Wheel of Karma, nice!" said Kate. "Oh man, this feels really good..." she trailed off, as the hormones released by feeding overtook the three mermaids. Rose smiled at her sisters as she finished with Jenna, and Trevor moved her to a comfortable place in the sand. He turned and saw Rose struggling with the only man they'd found. "Give me a hand would you? He's a big dude," she grunted, trying to get Josh into position. "Oh, sorry," Trevor said, he'd been admiring Jenna's wholesome beauty for a moment. "Would you two like to be alone?" Rose said, cocking an eyebrow as Trevor maneuvered Josh into position. "You can't have four mermaids, she'll be with him." "I don't think I could handle any more mermaids," he replied jokingly. "Three is just fine." "Just checking, dear," Rose replied, as she focused on feeding Josh. Josh didn't know what was going on. He hadn't really regained consciousness until just then. Flashes and what seemed like dreams of moving at incredible speed on the water had come and gone, but he'd quickly slipped away again. Josh felt himself being dragged over the beach, and a soft voice said, "Give me a hand would you? He's a big dude," Then oblivion again. Now though, he felt a warm, sweet fluid trickling into his mouth, and he came closer to full wakefulness. There was something else in his mouth, something rubbery. He opened his eyes. I did something right, he thought, because I must be in heaven. There was this gorgeous woman breastfeeding him. Her dark hair and violet eyes were breathtaking, and she looked like Elizabeth Taylor from one of the old movies his mother liked. She smiled at him and her jewel- like eyes flashed brilliantly. Josh was immediately smitten, this woman was a vision men would walk over hot coals to be with, and finally, as she stroked his hair, she spoke: "Hi, I'm Rose, my pod and I found you floating in the ocean and brought you all to land. Just relax; you'll be fine, but you're going to go to sleep while our milk finishes healing you, and then we'll explain everything." Pod? He thought, What do you mean pod? I'm alive? How? Wait... but before he could say anything, he started feeling tired, as if his limbs were made of lead and his eyelids were being pulled down like window shades, but as he drifted off, a powerful sensation began running through his body. What the hell is going on? was his last thought as he slipped into darkness again. "What are we going to do when they wake up?" Trevor asked as Rose and her sisters finished feeding the four survivors. "I mean, we just started them on the way to joining us." "They'll be fine, physically, better than fine, and everyone who has found out about mers has come to terms with it and has been able to deal with the change, including us. Once we explain everything, I'm sure it'll be okay," Rose replied. "But, what if they don't want to be mers?" asked Ann. "We wanted this, but we also isolated ourselves from the world. They may not want to do that." "I think they'll be happy to be alive," offered Kate. "Even with our tiaras, Ann and I needed two feedings and being in the Moonpool to trigger our change." "But the data Pat was getting from the Chesapeake suggests that they might not have a choice," Rose said. "Even swimming through the Moon Pool was enough to start Mac and Joy on their journey towards joining us." "Well, we'll talk to them when they wake up, I'll go get some food," said Trevor said as he plunged into the water, his three wives looking worriedly after him, then back at their four sleeping charges, each hoping that they wouldn't completely lose their cool upon awaking and seeing their rescuers. Several things occurred to Sarah as she came around. The first was that she was on dry land, instead of the floating raft. Secondly, her head wasn't throbbing from the injury she'd sustained in the crash anymore. Thirdly, there wasn't a Vietnamese man punching her in the face over a water filter. She considered all of these things as positive developments, so as soon as she gathered her faculties, she sat up, brushing her short brown hair from her eyes, looked around and saw the three other survivors from the plane lying on either side of her. She saw some smoke from a campfire over a dune and headed in that direction, hoping the people who had rescued them were friendly. As she crested the dune she saw four shapes around the fire looking vaguely human. Shielding her eyes she stood up and walked forward towards the four figures, and saw that their silhouettes didn't look quite right below the waist, "Hello?" she said, as she approached, hoping these people were friendly. "Oh hi!" said a blonde girl brightly as she approached. Then the sun went down far enough that that her four rescuers were no longer back lit, and she saw their true forms: Long, sinuous tails of red and black or green and gold extended for several feet below and behind them. "Would you like some dinner?" offered the lone merman in a nonchalant voice, as he extended a fish roasted on a stick towards Sarah. Sarah stood stock still; she couldn't believe what she was seeing! Real mermaids and a merman! There was no way these people were wearing costumes, their tails were bent at angles that were impossible for anyone with leg bones, and a dark haired mermaid was ambling up to her with her torso bent at a 90 degree angle up from her tail, as she supported her weight on 2 pelvic fins, 2 at her mid-tail, and her flukes. "I'm Rose, and these are my pod mates Trevor, Kate, and Ann. Please sit down, have some fish, and we can talk when the others wake up." The 47-year old executive still wasn't moving, her chest was tightening up, she was short of breath, and she suddenly felt weak in the knees. She eventually sat down, bowled over by the sight of the wonders in front of her. "Wha--, who are you?" "We're mers," offered the merman. "One pod of them anyway. When we found you, we towed your raft to this atoll because we knew it had water and plenty of food. So why don't you have some food, and we can talk?" "Okay, yeah, sure," Sarah agreed, still not quite believing what she was seeing. "What exactly happened? I mean, we found you on a raft, but we didn't see if it was a plane or a boat sinking," Rose inquired. "It was a plane, we were flying between Hong Kong and Fiji, and I guess a really bad storm or, something hit us, and I don't know why we didn't just fly around it, but the next thing I know I'm floating on a raft in the ocean. I'm really the wrong person to ask about this, I was out cold for... wait a minute, how do you know about planes, or, speak English-" Sarah was interrupted by Kate's laughter, and Rose was chuckling too. "We used to be normal humans like you," Rose said through her laughter. She stifled her giggling and continued, "We used to be normal humans like you, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name..." "I'm Sarah, Sarah Mendelson," The older woman quickly replied. "Hi Sarah, nice to meet you! Anyway, we were changed on an island aways from here; there are actually quite a few of us. It all started with John and Pat... oh, hello there!" She interrupted herself, as she could see the blonde girl, she didn't know her name yet, and the man she was with cresting the dune. "Hi," Josh responded to the voice that had greeted him. Being on the opposite side of the fire, he couldn't see much of the four people talking to Sarah. "Good to see you awake Sarah. You okay?" "Yep, I'm feeling better, actually, why don't you come meet the people who saved us? You too Jenna," she said. "How's your head Sarah? You got hit pretty hard by-" Jenna stopped short when she saw their rescuers, as had Josh. "Yes, we're real, and yeah, we're mers," Trevor confirmed, curling his tail up sideways and twisting his flukes, demonstrating that he didn't have knees or regular ankles. Besides, his tail was far too long for those flukes to line up with normal ankles. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air for a short moment as Josh and Jenna processed the reality of their situation. "THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!" Jenna exploded in glee and hurried over to where Kate and Ann lay. She slid onto her knees next to them, and then stopped herself as she reached for Ann's tail. "Can I touch it? Please!" she asked. "Sure, uh..." Ann replied, a little taken aback, like everyone else, at Jenna's outburst. "Sorry, I'm Jenna. This is amazing, so beautiful!" Jenna babbled as she ran her hand along the unnaturally smooth surface of Ann's tail, watching the firelight play along her Irish green scales and golden fringes. Jenna started peppering the twins with questions about mer life, while Rose turned to Josh. He was still standing, staring at her. "Hi, I'm Rose. What's your name?" she asked. He just stood there, dumbstruck by the fact that he was staring at creatures that he'd fantasized about since that night when he'd seen a movie on late night TV. It had featured a mermaid who had legs when dry, and a tail when wet. He'd seen that mermaid fill a bathtub and transform. As he'd watched her beautiful tail unfurl, he was drawn to her in a way he still didn't understand. This mermaid looked dry, but still had her tail, and he realized that this was the woman who had fed him, who had brought him back to life. Afraid that if he moved, this dream would end, and the mermaid would disappear, he stood still, barely breathing. Rose shared a look with Sarah, unsure as to what to do. "Josh!" Sarah said sharply, standing up and snapping her fingers in his face, getting between him and Rose. "Snap out of it." "Noth-nothing," he sputtered. "I'm sorry. My name is Josh Abramson. You're, Rose, I remember." "Yes, and this is my mate, Trevor," she motioned to the merman behind her, who exchanged nods with Josh. "Come on and sit down, and we'll talk." "So you're all mates with Trevor! So do you get jealous?" Jenna asked Ann on the other side of the fire. "No, not really, we aren't just bonded with Trevor, but with each other too, so we never really have a problem of having to wait in line or anything," Ann replied. "Oh, really?" Jenna blushed at the implications. Josh sat down next to Rose. She sat with her tail straight out so that he could look at it. He stared at her red tail with black fringes; it was the most beautiful thing he'd yet seen. He moved his gaze up her curvy body to her face, the firelight playing off of her shiny black hair, his heart pounding, he wanted to touch her, but he refrained because of what the merman she'd introduced as her mate might think. Rose was simply trying to figure out this man. She could tell that his heart was pounding with her mer senses. The initial shock had worn off the other two quickly, but Josh was in this strange, almost trance-like state externally, with a heart rate that was through the roof. Taking a chance, she moved her hips and wrapped her tail around his waist, setting her flukes right in his lap. He started, but settled down. "Go ahead, touch it, its alright," she said gently, with a slight smile. Josh slowly reached out and ran his fingertips along the ribs that supported Rose's flukes, up to the root of her flukes where her ankles had been. He did not flinch, his heart rate slowed, and his breathing became more regular. Being able to touch her meant that she was real. She wasn't going to disappear into the fog of his subconscious like all of the other mermaids he'd dreamt and thought of over the years. She felt him relax, and saw a smile creep across his face. So, we've got a real sirenophile, interesting. Rose thought to herself. For Josh, the experience of being this close to Rose was amazing. Touching her tail, listening to her beautiful voice, and her smell; well, she smelled delightfully... oceanic. A salty aroma tinged with something strangely like musk. It was just wonderful, and somehow fit with how a mermaid should smell. He felt himself getting aroused, and so did Rose. "Sorry," he whispered, incredibly embarrassed. "It's okay," she whispered back. "I'm going to go check on Manami, you two can keep getting to know our friends," Sarah said awkwardly as she got up, heading towards the only remaining survivor still asleep. "Okay. So, do you breathe underwater?" Jenna asked, quickly dismissing Sarah's departure. "Yeah, let me show you," said Ann. she turned away from her questioner and pulled her hair forward, showing Jenna the gills that went all the way down her back. "They connect directly to our lungs, so when we're underwater, they exchange carbon dioxide from our lungs and oxygen from the sea water. One of the reasons our hair is so long is because our gills are sensitive to sunburn." "Awesome!" Jenna gushed. She ran her hand down one of Ann's gills, she stopped at the dorsal ridge about midway down her back. "What's this?" "Oh, that ridge is one of the places our mer senses collect information," Rose said, still entangled with Josh. "We can sense temperature, electrical activity, all sorts of things through special sensors and organs that grew within us as we changed into mers. We even think that our bonding is some sort of attenuation to each other's signals." "Really? So you don't feel love so much as an enforced attachment?" Josh asked. "It's the other way around. All of that bonding comes across as a deep, abiding, unconditional love that we can feel being transferred back to us from our pod mates. You have to really experience it to understand, but it's the greatest feeling you'll ever have," Rose replied. Meanwhile, Sarah approached the prone body of the petite Japanese woman. "Manami," Sarah said as she gently shook the younger woman's shoulder. Manami's physical wounds appeared to have healed. Sarah was amazed at the healing that had taken place among the four of them, and was determined to ask how the mers had accomplished it, but she also knew the emotional scars Manami harbored would take much longer to heal. Manmi slowly began to stir, mumbling as she started to come around. "Miki?" she said sleepily as her eyes fluttered open. She saw a silhouette of a woman standing over her, and maybe, just maybe, the sight of her sister's body being torn apart by sharks had been a horrible nightmare. "No dear," replied the woman. "I'm afraid not. I'm Sarah, remember?" "Oh," Manami started to hyperventilate. It hadn't been a dream, it was all real! Her sister was dead; she'd watched as her body had been torn to shreds. She felt the sand under her and realized that they weren't on the raft anymore. She sat up and swiveled her head around quickly. "Where are we? What happened?" she demanded. "We're on an island; we've been rescued. They're... different, but they did get us here and healed us somehow," Sarah placed her hands on Manami's shoulders, forcing her to make eye contact. "Now I need you promise me something: I need you to promise that you'll stay calm when you see the people who saved us." "Why?" Manami asked confusedly. "What's wrong with them?" "Oh, nothing's wrong, but they, well, you need to see this for yourself," Sarah reassured her. "Okay..." Manami stood up and followed Sarah over the small dune towards the firelight. She didn't really have any other options. "Wow, so you can paralyze people with that?" she heard Jenna exclaim. "Yeah, it's pretty handy. I've never had to use it on a person though, just for fishing," Trevor replied as he showed off the stinger that each mer had at the base of their flukes. He retracted it as Manami came into view. "Hello," Ann said, smiling and moving away from Kate and Jenna towards the young woman she'd fed. "It's good to see you awake." Manami's eyes went wide as saucers as she realized what she was looking at. "Ningyo," the Japanese word for mermaid was all she said. "Yes, exactly, ningyo," Rose said, still wrapped up with Josh, but all attention was on Manami, humans and mers waiting for some other reaction. Manami found herself fixating on their tails, specifically their fins and scales. As she looked at them, she relived that horrible scene of a few days before, of watching other creatures that also had fins and scales and what they did to her sister's body, how merciless they'd been. The mers sensed her heart rate jump, and could see her shrinking back. She gave a horrible, mournful cry and ran back to the raft up the beach, the only place she'd been safe from the sharks on the ocean. "Oh no," Jenna said. "Let's go talk to her Sarah. We'll be right back everyone," she and Sarah moved off towards the raft, leaving Josh with the mers. "I don't think I'll be much help. Sarah and Jenna were the only ones she really talked to on the raft," said Josh. "What exactly happened? She practically had a panic attack. I know we're a big shock when you first see us, but people usually don't run screaming," Rose asked. "How many people have seen you?" Josh asked. "Good point," Rose said, with a grin. "Nevertheless, something did happen to Manami, I can tell." "You're right. Her sister, didn't survive the crash we were in," The three mermaids gasped. "Secondly, we actually found her sister's body floating near our raft as we tried to fish. Her sister," Josh started choking up, "her sister wore the same necklace she does. The sharks found us soon after we found the body, and we all watched them, watched them tear her body apart. I couldn't stop them, we had to hold her back from-" Josh stopped a moment to collect himself. "We had to keep her from jumping off the raft after the body," he paused; the three mermaids were wiping tears from their eyes. "I should also tell you, there was a fifth person on the raft." "What happened? I didn't see anyone else when I checked on you, and we didn't detect anyone else alive in the water," Trevor demanded. Josh sighed, gathering himself. "His name, I think, he didn't speak English, was Pham Na. We found him swimming in the water the morning after we crashed. He didn't want to give Manami water when she was still unconscious. I got the feeling that he didn't like me much. When the water filter that we had started becoming less effective, this all happened after Manami's sister Miki was eaten, Sarah went to give Manami some water, even though Manami was in shock. Well, Pham Na didn't approve and started fighting Sarah for the filter. Before I could do anything, he punched Sarah, jumped off the raft, and swam away," Josh sighed again. "A huge shark tore him apart; Jenna and I tried to paddle the raft over to him. We tried... I tried to save him. I couldn't save anyone. I was completely useless. We'd have all died if you hadn't shown up," Josh choked out. Meanwhile, Sarah and Jenna found Manami at the back of the raft, knees pulled up to her chest, sobbing uncontrollably. "Manami? Can you tell us what's wrong?" Jenna said sympathetically as she sat down next to Manami and put her hand on her knee. "Jenna. I don't know, I just, I saw them, and, I know what they are, but, I, I just..." the petite woman shuddered and started sobbing uncontrollably again. Sarah and Jenna moved out of the raft to talk quietly among themselves. "What are we going to do Sarah?" Jenna asked the older woman, searching for answers. "I don't know. She might have been in shock, but, it didn't look like she was in shock at the mers. She saw them, then had some reaction, then completely lost it. The only time I've seen anything like that was..." she drifted off, lost in her own thought as she worked it through in her head. "What, Sarah?" Jenna insisted. "I had a friend, in China when I was working there. He, he committed suicide, and his body was found by his son. I helped out the family, and for years afterward, every time his son heard music, it sounded, in his head, like sirens, like the sirens of the ambulances coming for his father. He was reliving the trauma from finding his father's body every time he heard music-" "What does that have to do with her sister?' Jenna interrupted. "Think about it, when Manami saw the mermaids, it caused her to relive seeing Miki dying, or more likely, being eaten by the sharks," Sarah snapped. "I'm sorry, I'm not a psychiatrist, but this sure looks like what happened with my friend's son." "So what do we do?" asked the younger woman. "We-" Sarah stopped short, as she saw Manami slowly coming out of the tent after hearing their conversation, they apparently hadn't been quiet enough. "I, they, they really are mermaids?" the petite woman asked. "Yes, they are," Jenna responded, her excitement apparent in her voice. "They're very nice people, they saved our lives." Manami looked to Sarah for confirmation. "Yes," Sarah replied. "It looks like they did. I don't know how though, I didn't wake up until I first met them, and we are all totally healed from head injuries, dehydration, and other injuries from the crash, in less than a day? I want to know how that happened." "I just want to know if I can be a mermaid too," Jenna declared. "So that's it, you're signing up for the full package after meeting them for what, half an hour?" Sarah wasn't completely shocked, she'd seen how Jenna had reacted, but she was the consummate corporate manager, was trying to maintain control of the situation and get Jenna to use her head about their circumstances. "Yes, I am. They're beautiful, they're happy, they love each other, and they're mermaids!" Jenna exclaimed. "They also said that they're mated to each other and a merman, and it looks like the only option for a merman is a guy you barely know," Sarah retorted, trying to talk some sense into Jenna. "But we can figure that out later," she turned to Manami: "If we stay with you, do you think you can handle being around them?" "I don't know. Maybe if I don't look at them?" Manami said shyly. "We'll be right with you; you don't have to be afraid," Jenna reassured Manami as she put her arm around her. Manami smiled as Sarah put her arm around her other shoulder. Together, the three women walked back towards the fire, where the mers and Josh were waiting for them. "Is everything okay?" Josh asked. The mers were keeping silent out of deference for Manami's situation. "We're working on it Josh, I'll explain more some other time, but for now, I'd like to ask our friends some questions, if that's alright?" Sarah replied as she and Manami took a seat on one side of the fire, and Jenna sat with Kate and Ann. "Okay, ask away," said Rose. "First, how did you heal us, exactly? I don't have any injuries, and I don't think anyone else does either, and that's just not pos