Title: Price of a Tail
Word Count: 727
Rating: G
Summary: Emma contemplates telling her parents.


Rikki had been right when she’d called their secret the worst kept one in the world. Rikki had also been joking. Mostly. That was right before Emma revealed their secret to Ash, bringing one more person into the fold. One more of a long list, many of whom weren’t trustworthy.

There were exceptions, people it never occurred to her to doubt. Lewis had proven his trust endlessly over the last year. She didn’t worry about him. Ash was a gamble, but she had good feelings about him. Mrs. C had been a mermaid and Max had spent fifty years keeping that secret, so they were fine.

Then there were Charlotte and Zane: Charlotte who had nothing to lose now that she no longer had fins and Zane whose only interest was in his own betterment. How long until he found a way to exploit his knowledge? How long until she grew so jealous of what she’d lost that she sought to destroy Emma, Cleo, and Rikki’s privacy? How long until they realized what they could do if they teamed up?

Mr. Bennett, Dr. Denman, and Dr. Denman’s research assistants. They believed that the girls had lost their powers, were no longer mermaids. Would they continue to believe that? Would they accept that the girls had been the only three mermaids in the world? Or would they continue to study Mako island in hopes of finding new mermaids?

Emma folded her arms over the stone lip of the moon pool and brought her chin to rest on them with a long sigh. So many people, and each time, each one put the girls more at risk. Who else would find out? Who else would they have to tell?

She had to tell her parents and Elliott, her little brother. After a lifetime of living in the same town, the Gilbert family was going to be uprooting and traveling the world. A secret that Emma struggled to keep from them at home--they still questioned why she had quit the swimming team so suddenly when swimming had been her lifelong passion--would be impossible to keep on the road.

All it would take was a single spilled glass of water during an airplane trip or a sudden downpour in a place where she couldn’t retreat indoors. She wouldn’t have Cleo and Rikki there to help provide cover. She wouldn’t have Lewis to spin an explanation. She wouldn’t have Ash who now understood why she was so often evasive and who supported her anyway.

None of the other parents or siblings knew; the risk had been deemed too great. She would have to tell hers. Only, the secret wasn’t just hers. She knew her parents would take her side, but would they take Cleo’s and Rikki’s too? Would they keep silent about Mako Island? Once she told them, she wouldn’t be able to take it back, and that scared her more than anything. With as many people as already knew, what was a few more? And yet. The fight with Dr. Denman had proven that all it took for the wrong person to find out was a stray word or unguarded transformation. How many other mermaid hunters were out there waiting for their chance, their proof?

Emma’s tail gave an involuntary flick, splashing the water. The moon pool was her sanctuary. The thought of being away from it for years was bad enough. Even as a mermaid, she couldn’t swim across the world and visit it on a whim. Would her parents understand her need to return to it? Would they accept her taking off for the days or weeks it might take to swim? The dangers of the ocean were numerous, and Emma knew her mother would fear all of them and more. Would her parents try to protect her and prevent her from ever returning?

She wanted to travel with them. The opportunity to see the world was too wonderful to pass up. But the last time people had found out, she’d had to give up her powers. While the sacrifice had only turned out to be temporary, the next time might not be. The more people who knew, the more likely there’d be a next time. She wanted to tell her parents, but could she justify having the worst kept secret in the world become even more badly kept?