"A long time ago there were thousands of mermaids. We were all over the world, but other countries found out about us and began hunting us. This was the downfall of our kind. They would look for our secrets, our gems, our tears, as they allowed them to gain a tiny bit of our powers..."

"That must be what happened to Gage?" I turn to lean into Gage as I point at him. "He was angry yesterday, breaking all my tears. He said they were filled with liquid, and it filled his wounds. He ran for the ocean because it burned, that's when the transformation took place,"

"Wait, you induced the transformation yourself?" Asada seemed confused as she looks over Gage. Hudson and Asada exchanged some looks before leaning closer to Gage. "You have a fin now, everytime you enter the water? You've become a mermaid just by mixing your blood with the tears from Olyvya?" Asada pointed between the two of us as she throws her questions at us. We both nod in unison.

"This is new," Hudson whispers. Asada and he shoot each other knowing looks before leaning back against the bench.

"We are going to need some of your tears Olyvya," Asada mentions.

"I have some right here," Sammy quickly pulls a tiny plastic bag out of her purse handing it over to Asada. Asada seemed confused, Hudson laughs to himself and Gage and I shoot her looks.

"You carry around a bag of Olyvya's tears?" Gage questions, his tone quite judgemental.

"No, I... well yeah I guess, but mostly because they were crystals and I wanted to see if they were worth anything. Funds have been getting low." Sammy tried to defend herself but the situation was so outlandish I wasn't even sure there was a winning answer.

"Perfect!" Hudson leans forward snatching the bag from Asada, his fingers fumbling with the tiny gems. "Maybe other mermaid tears do the same thing..."

"Or maybe they do other things, we need to test this," Asada mumbles, her hand laying on the table once again.

"We really need to get back to the history of mermaids though, the real reason we are here," Asada seemed annoyed as Hudson continues to glance over the gems. Everybody hardly touching their food as we speak.

"Hudson, don't you agree?" Asada questions. Hudson nods his head quickly placing the gems in his pocket.

"Yeah yeah, go ahead and bore everyone," He winks at us before nudging Asada. Asada rolls her eyes before continuing on with the history.

"I come from the goddess Atargatis, she was an amazing creature. Long ago she was in charge of the sea, but as the creatures started to die off due to humans destroying everything the gods granted her the gift of fertility. She blessed all the other creatures before dying. Mermaids were never blessed. So for years, I have been watching over the sea trying to reverse our death toll. Everything I do doesn't seem to work. Mermaids are still dying, we've gone from thousands to a mere fifty mermaids left around today. Now, 52 if you include Sammy and Gage. Our numbers are dwindling, we can't find our true loves to reproduce. There's nothing left for us here if we can't continue to live. We will all die out and that will be the end of the mermaids as we know them," Asada tries to keep her voice low so no one will overhear our conversations. I found myself leaning forward into every word she said. Her stories captivating me as she speaks.

"Your mother is a goddess?" Sammy's jaw dropped as she tries to process what Asada had said. Asada nods before continuing on.

"Our numbers have never been this low, so as we struggle to keeps those we have alive, we need to figure out how we can continue to grow these numbers. Last night was a jump forward for us,"

"At Sammy and Gage's expense though, this wasn't something they signed up for," I wanted to jump across the table and punch her. There was no reason Gage and Sammy needed to become mermaids without any choice.

"The transformation wouldn't have worked if they didn't want to become mermaids. I can't force the transformation. Gage mixed his blood with that of a mermaid, even if he didn't know what he was doing there was something deep inside him that made him want to change. Same with Sammy," Both of my friends glance at me and at this moment I wish I could read their minds as well.

"The desire to save you would be my guess," Asada continues on. Sammy shoots her a shocked look.

"How did you know?" Sammy questions.

"It was a simple guess, calm down, I can't read minds like you do," Asada was snarky, her response overly aggressive towards my friend.

Sammy tucks herself back into the corner of the booth. Her arms folded across her chest as she stares at the ground.

"Can I continue on now?" Asada mumbles, her voice growing more annoyed by the second.

"Yes," The three of us drone on at the same time.

"Thank you," Asada looks towards Hudson. But he never looked away from Sammy. "Mermaids can be created in two ways, that we know of,"

"Well, now it might be three," Hudson interrupts his sister. Asada nearly smacks him as she glares in his direction.

"Okay fine, there could be three, but we only know for sure of two. Being born a mermaid, but you will never know this until your twenty-first birthday. Or becoming a mermaid, but I have to do this." Asada looks over to Hudson as if she was asking him for advice.

"Mermaids are only born mermaids depending on the strength of their mermaid genetics. Olyvya, I've since done research on you and your mother was born of mermaid parents but never transformed so her memory of the life has been erased argo why you were never trained growing up. Odds were not in your favor of becoming a full mermaid," Hudson explains. His eyes intensely meeting mine.

"My mother?" I question, my heart sinking. Were my grandparent's mermaids?