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I inhaled and exhaled a few times, knowing I wouldn’t get the chance to do so again for a long time.

Alice, be with me,I begged.I need you now more than ever.

“See you on the other side.” I took one last breath before jumping into the water.

It was cool against my skin, red lights at the bottom lighting up and making the water look like blood.

I watched through the windows as Hadrian ran down the stairs and punched in the command for the lid to fall into place. As it did, I suddenly felt myself being pulled down to the bottom, near the bright lights. The lid somehow had the ability to make me sink—more of Hadrian’s strange technology.

Already I felt the need for another breath. The air in my lungs threatened to spill out at any moment.

The tank vibrated as the heavy lid sealed into place.

Hadrian stepped away from the panel, and the digits that popped up on the screen took the air right out of me, causing trailing bubbles to dance in the red light.

24:00:00.

One whole day.

Alice, I need you.

The thought came as my lungs filled with water, and my mind sputtered.

Alice…

Chapter 28

Arya

I walked into Transformation determined and focused. I had only been at The Dome for a few days, and rather than concentrating on catching up on the material, which I drastically needed to do, I’d let myself get distracted by the two hot guys fighting over me to avoid facing my feelings about Mom.

Well, I got it out of my system, and now I was ready to put my attention where it should be, on school.

I entered the locker room, resolved to ignore any and all looks from the other mers. They didn’t like me, and that was fine because I didn’t need them to like me in order to learn to be a mermaid. Worrying about what they thought was a complete waste of time, and I had more important things to do.

I opened my locker and pulled out my swim top, just as three people passed behind me in animated conversation. I glanced at them out of curiosity, then instantly rolled my eyes and went back to what I was doing when I realized the girls were Cora, Adina, and Letti.

“Come on, Cora, that’s not fair,” Adina was whining too loudly for me to ignore as I got changed. “I didn’t meanit, and I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry isn’t good enough,” Cora snarked back. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re done. Don’t talk to me.”

I heard two pairs of footsteps stomp out of the locker room, followed by what I could swear sounded like sniffles. Was there trouble in mer-bitch paradise?

Tugging my top down past my hips, I stole a glance down the row of lockers. Adina was slumped over on a bench, softly crying with her head in her hands.

What was all that about?

I didn’t know much about Adina, as far as the mer-bitch trio went. Cora was the queen bee, and Letti was her mouthy second-in-command. But Adina had always been kind of quiet, following Cora around like she was her shadow. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of fight could make Cora cast her away like that.

Adina sniffled loudly again, and before I could let my growing sympathy get the better of me, I closed my locker and strode out of the room. I didn’t need to get wrapped up in whatever they had going on. I had my own problems to deal with, and right now, mastering transformation was at the top of my list.

I spotted Celeste and made a beeline for her. She had told me that she’d work with me one-on-one today, and I was grateful for the chance to improve.

“Hi, Celeste,” I said as I approached.

It felt super weird calling a teacher by her first name. But everyone did. Same with Caesar. I guessed it was because they wanted us to feel like equals. It made me respect them, but the very act itself felt disrespectful to them. It was confusing.

“Hello, Arya,” the stunning redhead greeted. “Now that you’ve had some time to get used to your sea legs, so to speak, I would like you to practice controlling the shift. See how quickly you can change back to human after leaving the water,then try to keep your legs from changing when you get back in.”