24- By your side

Yryhna transformed into a mermaid to talk to her sister, but that had only made things worse. That night, Mia woke up about a thousand times. She tossed and turned in bed a lot, until she finally surrendered to sleep. It was still dark outside, and judging by the silence in the house, everyone else was still asleep.
She harbored a feeling inside her chest that she couldn't free herself from. As if something was happening, or about to happen. It reminded her of what she felt before going to sleep on Christmas Eve, although mixed with nausea and some fear.
To calm down, she decided to go swimming. In reality, Mía had spent years going swimming at night as a self-medication. It was her way of dealing with her anxiety and other unpleasant feelings. She had tried to leave him when she s
She left her bikini bottoms on the shore and dove into the cold water, swimming under the stars.
She tried to explain her feelings. Perhaps they were a vestige of guilt for having fed a few days ago.
Rossy had tried to talk to her more about it, but it was no consolation. She knew that what she had done was wrong, and no amount of conversation was going to change that.
However, she was going to have to learn to live with it. She had no reverse gear and,
Whether she liked it or not, it was part of her new nature. It was part of her way of staying alive, and she had agreed to do it to protect Alex and Seila.
All the water in the ocean couldn't wash the blood off her hands, but she could.
calm her down a little. She swam away from the shore and then floated on her back, letting her fish tail wave in the water for balance, and she looked up at the stars shining overhead.
She tried to distinguish the constellations that Álex had shown her. The only ones she recognized were Orion and Cassiopeia. The sun was beginning to rise, and soon the sky would be too bright for her to see them anymore.
When the sky turned a bright pink color, she Mia decided to return to the shore. She gave the impression that Sawyer got up very early, and she could alert Antoinette if she noticed that Mia was gone. She didn't want to get in trouble with the mermaids for going swimming without telling Antoinette.
She swam languidly back toward shore, enjoying the water. As much as she hated everything that came with being a mermaid, there was something truly magical and amazing about being able to swim like that.
Mia had to remind herself that she should be grateful for that. She could have given up everything else, but she would always have the ocean.
She stayed near the surface, dipping in and out of the water like a dolphin. Once, as she was leaving, she thought she heard someone shouting her name.
She stopped swimming and stayed floating in the water, so that she had her head and shoulders above the waves. And then she saw a silhouette waving her arms on the beach and running towards the ocean.
Alex? Mia said in an exhale.
Once she recovered from the shock, she dove into the water and swam as fast as she could. She had to reach him before she screamed again or he would wake up the sirens, if she hadn't already. She couldn't understand how he had gotten there, nor what she was doing, but she didn't care. All she could think about was how much she missed him, and how she couldn't wait to be in her arms again.
Álex had run to the water and Mía caught up with him when the water reached her waist.
They didn't even speak when she reached him. She pushed herself out of the water and threw him
her arms around her neck. She was cold, and when his arms wrapped around her and around her back, she felt them warm against her skin.
He hugged her tightly and kissed her more intensely than ever. Her kiss had that insistence full of alarm, as if he couldn't kiss her enough, and Mia loved that. He put his hands on her neck and pulled him closer to her.
He was lifting her out of the water as they kissed her, and her fish tail was pressed against her legs and his belly. Mia clung to him desperately, refusing to let go.
In the end they had to stop to breathe, but they didn't even speak when she reached him. She pushed herself out of the water and threw him
her arms around her neck. She was cold, and when his arms wrapped around her and around her back, she felt warm against her skin.
He hugged her tightly and kissed her more intensely than ever. The kiss had that alarm-filled insistence, as if he couldn't kiss her enough, and Mia loved that. He put his hands on her neck and pulled him closer to her.
He was lifting her out of the water as they kissed, and her fish tail was pressed against her legs and his belly. Mia clung to him desperately, refusing to let go.
In the end they had to stop to breathe, but Álex continued holding her close to him. He supported the
forehead against hers, eyes closed, while he inhaled her scent.
"I've missed you," he murmured, and he kissed her on the mouth again, more gently this time.
“And I love you too,” she said, wanting to cry. She had been sure that she would never see him again, and now she feared that she would not be able to let him leave her.
"Negani," Rossy growled, and began to push Negani out of the room. leave it in
peace. Needs to rest.
-He called me a psychopath! -Negani insisted, but Rossy forced her to leave the bedroom-.
She can't talk to me in that tone without getting into trouble!
-Negani, you are a psychopath. -Rossy closed the door behind her, but Mia
she heard talking outside the room. And Mia is one of us now. You'll have to
Get used to getting along with her, period.
"But she shouldn't kiss Antonieta's boyfriends," Negani insisted. Her voices
They grew fainter as they moved further away.
"You shouldn't do it either, but you do," she accused.
-But I've already gotten myself in trouble for that! -Negani protested.
"And I'm sure it will happen to Mia too," said Rossy. But I hope
May it not be right now.
Seila, Yryhnna and Daniel were exhausted, the afternoon they spent trying to conjure spirits did not help them find
Mia, but Yryhnna had been left with a horrible burn that
She kept complaining at work the next day.
"I hope your sister appreciates what I did for her," Yryhnna grumbled.
She was sitting at the counter, her head resting against the cold.
plywood. Her outstretched arms were beet red, in
contrast with the light color of the Formica, and she had barely moved since
She will arrive in the morning.
While Yryhnna did nothing, Seila looked through the books they had
left in the returns box the night before and she would put them back in the
system.
"I'm sure it is," said Seila. As soon as we find her I will tell her about
your heroic battle against the sun. Mia will be totally impressed and
eternally grateful.
-If it didn't hurt me so much to raise my arms right now, she would kick you out of here.
"A stroke of a pen," Yryhnna told him.
Instead of answering that, Seila picked up the stack of books she had just
re-enter it into the system and she headed to the shelves to put them away. If I had
There were many, I would have used the cart, but there weren't that many, and overall, the majority
They were children's books, which were lighter.
-Do you and Ignacio have plans for tonight? -Yryhnna asked, raising her voice.
for Seila to hear as she walked away from her.
-Hmm, I don't know.
She crouched in front of the shelves of the children's library. They were lower, so that the
Little ones will reach them more easily. The books had been left a little
messy, since they had left in a hurry the night before, and neither Yryhnna nor
Seila had placed them.
Seila began to arrange them in the corresponding place, and place the books that she
They had fallen or had been misplaced.
-What do you mean you don't know?! -Yryhnna shouted at him.
"Well, that's it," she replied sharply.
Seila's enthusiasm was fading. Nothing they had done, nor the
No phone calls, no searches, nothing had brought them closer to Mia. And not
Not only did they not know where she was, but they weren't even completely sure.
what she was about.
Yes, Ignacio had the feeling that Mía was a mermaid, and Seila was inclined to
believe there was something to that, but she didn't even know what it meant. In their lives and reincarnations
free, Seila continued to find out everything she could about the mermaids and about the
mythology in general, but she hadn't found anything particularly useful.
In reality, most of the information she read was contradictory. A
Lots of texts seemed to assume that the mermaids were already dead,
since she had been killed by a ship sailing past without stopping to hear the
song of the sea
None of it made sense, and none of it brought her closer to Mia. In the end, everything that was
It seemed like a useless job to him. The harsh reality was that she was not helping
her sister, and she had no idea how to do it.
-So what? Yryhnna asked. Are you going to give up just like that?
-Of course not. -Seila abruptly shoved a book on the shelf-. No
I will never give up.

-So what's the plan? -Yryhnna asked.
-What does it matter to you? -Seila said sharply.
Her legs hurt from the way she had been crouching, so she
She stood up and turned to face the counter. The shelves of the
her children's bookcase reached only up to her waist, and she looked at Yryhnna over her
they. This she blinked behind her thick rimmed glasses.
"You are my friend," said Yryhnna, who seemed surprised by the tone of
Seila-. And she is your sister. I want to help.
-And your plan to help is to criticize what we do throughout our lives and reincarnations?
-Seila asked. Why that
It's the only thing I see you do.
-But what's wrong with you? Yryhnna sat up straight. I know that these situations are not
I'm especially good at them, but at least I'm trying to help. I do everything
that I can.
-And me too, Yryhnna! -Seila screamed. The few users that were in the
The library turned to look at her, but she didn't care. I try and
I try again, but it doesn't matter! Nothing I do is worth anything!
"I'm sorry you can't find her," Yryhnna said. IM so sorry. But not me
it's my fault.
-I already know it! -Seila started shouting again, and then she lowered her voice. I'm fed up
from all of this. "She," she let out a deep sigh to contain her tears. Only me
I want to know that it's okay. I want him to come home.
She had already lost the desire to argue, and she slumped against the bookshelf that
was behind her. She fought back tears, and she wiped away the few that came to her.
They escaped.
-I feel like this is the moment I'm supposed to approach and
"Hold you," Yryhnna said from where she was sitting. But the truth is that I am not
very hugging. And that's not counting yesterday's burns.
-Alright. -Seila whimpered and forced a smile. I think just
She needed to vent.
There were a couple of users who still looked at her with suspicion, so
Seila smiled apologetically at them.
"Forgive my outburst, friends," she told them, and she stood up. It will not happen again.
You can continue browsing books.
She bent down to pick up the books that she had left on the floor, and that were still
she had to place. It was true that she wanted to do her job, but as soon as she was
She, hiding behind the shelves, couldn't take it anymore.
It was likely that Mia would never return, and if she did, Seila didn't know if she would.
Mine would still be her sister. Regardless of what happened in
Next, the sister whom Seila had known and loved had left to
always. And she Seila couldn't do anything to make her come back.
She covered her mouth with one hand to not make a sound as her tears flowed.
across her cheeks, and she put her other hand on the shelf for balance. She
She was shaking all over her body as she cried, but she managed to stay almost
silent.
-Hello? -said a voice behind her.
She looked to the side and hid her face as best she could from whoever it was.
she was behind her.
"Um, Yryhnna's at the counter," Seila said, swallowing back tears. Yeah
you need help finding a book, ask her.
"Seila, I don't need help finding any books," he said. She looked towards
back and saw Daniel.
-Daniel. -She turned, her back to him, and hurried to wipe her face with
the greatest possible dissimulation. You had to come here, right now. -I didn't want
she saw her all covered in snot and sobbing.

27- I swim to the surface

-Are you OK? -she asked him.
-Yes I'm fine. Everything's fine. -She whimpered and stood up when she realized
that she didn't care what she looked like, and she turned her face to see him face to face. That
can I do for you?
-You were crying? "She," she asked him with a warm voice, showing concern.
She looked down, because she didn't want to look at him, but she felt him inspecting her. He
He moved closer to her, until he was only a few inches away, but
Seila just hugged the books and looked at her feet.
-I'm working, Daniel, so if you don't need anything from me, I think I should
"Go back to my work," she said.
"I know you're working, and I wouldn't bother you if it weren't important," he said.
Daniel-. Can you take about five minutes to go somewhere and talk
with me?
On her list of priorities, being with Daniel was second only to finding someone.
Mine. What Seila really wanted was to go with him to some dark place and
silent to surrender to the warmth of her voice and the strength of her arms. That he
hug her and kiss her until she couldn't feel anything but him, until she was
she would have forgotten the pain she had inside her, all the pain she felt for having
lost her sister and disappointed her family.
That's exactly why she rejected him with a gesture. She wanted to use Daniel as a way of
escape, and that was not fair, neither for him nor for her. She had to solve the mess
what her life had become, instead of hiding, although the latter
It will sound much more pleasant.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Seila said.
She wanted to raise her head to glance at her expression, but she preferred to raise her head.
her gaze from his battered sneakers to his pecs. That day she was wearing
a T-shirt that highlighted the dark black lines of her tattoo, which suited her
going down from under the sleeve to her elbow.
Since he helped her on Sunday at the Syrens Island house, Seila felt the strange
desire to run my fingers over the dark lines of that tattoo. The previous night,
She had even dreamed about it.
She and Daniel lay in a bed, perhaps the largest she had ever seen.
Almost or It filled the entire room, which was pure, bare white.
She could hear the ocean outside, and she could smell it on the breeze. The doors and windows that
The rooms facing the beach were completely open, and the translucent curtains were
They swelled with the wind.