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Autumn waited to make sure that no one else was coming, and she slipped deeper into the forest. She weaved herself through the woods, following the coastline from a distance. If she closed her eyes, she could hear the water beating against the beach. If she closed her eyes, she could see Soulara, naked in all her glory, droplets of water cascading over her skin, her breasts and peaked nipples, the sun at her back—

“Fuck.”

Clenching her jaw hard, Autumn took a sharp turn and headed straight for her little oasis. She needed to think. She needed to figure out exactly what she was going to do next—if there even was anything for her to do. Marshall had pretty much told her without telling her that she couldn’t say anything. General Chalmers ignored her.

Would she cry? Or scream? Or would she rage and run out into the ocean and pretend she could swim and drown?

Wouldn’t that be ironic?

Drowning.

She’d never had enough water to even consider it.

She’d never seen enough water until she came here.

Energy filtered through Autumn’s body, piling in her chest and then her limbs. She couldn’t wrangle it enough to make it useful. She couldn’t even force herself to sit down. Autumn bit her lip and spun in a circle. Flinging her hands to the sides, she spun again. It was the best way to release her energy right now. She had never done this before in her life.

Why was this so important?

Autumn covered her face with her hands, letting everything roll and move through her. She had kissed an alien, and while that wasn’t a foreign concept—they’d met aliens before—she’d never thought anyone as stunning as Soulara might be interested in her.

And that’s really why this was important, wasn’t it?

Soulara.

Soulara, this strange creature from under the waters, someone who seemed to know exactly who she was, someone who had confidence in spades. But her magic? Was Soulara manipulating her? Was Soulara making her think and dream and feel things that she normally wouldn’t?

Autumn swallowed that lump in her throat.

She didn’t want to believe it. If there was anything she could believe, it wasn’t that. Soulara wouldn’t want her for the same reasons no one else wanted her. And she wouldn’t fall in love with an alien. She wouldn’t fall for someone who was impossible.

Autumn put her hands out to her sides, stretching her fingers out before curling them back in. Her eyes locked on the small clearing Soulara had come from before. She shook her head. She wouldn’t walk that way. It would be stupid to think that Soulara would ever want to talk to or see her again, especially with the way they had left things.

But her feet moved.

One step after the other, Autumn’s boots crunched in the sand, twigs breaking under the weight of her body. But she couldn’t stop herself. She was being pulled as if by a string, straight toward the water’s edge.

Straight toward the mermaid that couldn’t exist.

Right to where she knew she wasn’t welcome.

Autumn stopped on the beach. She squinted against the sun reflecting off the water as it rose higher into the sky. No one from Earth would believe them if they talked about this world. They’d never be able to imagine a world with this much water.

Blowing out a breath, Autumn shaded her eyes as she looked out again, something splashing loudly in the distance. This world and its people, its living creatures, were nothing like her own. She was a grunt, and she would never be anything else.

She needed to fall in line. She needed to do exactly what Marshall had subtly told her.

She had to give this up.

She had to forget Soulara existed.

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Autumn turned away from the one place she had ever felt safe, despite its obvious danger.

9

Soulara rolled her neck in a circle, trying to rid herself of the strain she had caused. She had been leaning against her workbench, head bent over, ever since she had been granted leave from her father after breakfast.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head all the way back, arms resting against her workbench. Peering up at the perfectly smoothed ceiling, Soulara imagined what the sky looked like up on land. Warmth against her cheeks, the sun’s rays filling the pores on her face and moving straight into her soul.