Katie jerked her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut while grinding her teeth as she felt the tip prick the crook of her elbow. Needles never used to bother her too much, but now they made her squeamish and bombarded her with a slew of bad memories.

She inhaled sharply through her nose and then counted off the seconds until Lewis pulled the needle free of her flesh. She glanced back as he removed the taut rubber band from her forearm and pressed a cotton wad against her elbow. She moved to take his place keeping pressure on it while he capped off the two vials of crimson fluid that he’d drawn from her. She shuddered and pulled her tail closer to her body. The mattress beneath her creaked softly as she moved.

Lewis’ hand was warm as he laid it across her forearm and patted her elbow a few times. “I’m sorry, Kiddo, but I have to take a look.”

“I know,” Katie responded through clenched teeth. “It’s fine, I just…have a hard time now.” She clenched her fingers into a fist, pulling a portion of the sheet below her into a padded ball in the center of her palm as she glanced away again. He wanted the blood sample to check her bloodwork and various levels. She knew, she understood the importance of it, and hoped it would reveal a reason as to why she had been so sick lately, but that didn’t make the actual extraction any easier.

She watched him from the corner of her eye as he grimaced and then packed the samples away in a freezer bag. They’d go with him to work today. Lewis’s lips parted as though he wanted to say something, but instead he just stood back up and left the room. Then she heard the front door open and close again. He was off back to the park and hopefully would have some answers for them soon.

Katie sighed and flopped back down on the mattress. She hadn’t had any coughing fits yet today, but pain still pulsed behind her eyes and threatened to erupt into a full-blown migraine. She twisted to bury her head in her pillow and began to wonder if it was worth the energy to drag herself down the hall for some medication or if she should just wait it out.

She was tired of feeling sick and like someone had sucked all the life and energy out of her. She couldn’t ever remember feeling this poorly.

While all she really wanted was to melt away into the sheets and try to ignore the world, she knew that she should head down the hall before the pain became crippling.

With a groan, she flipped back over and dragged herself off the mattress.

Her attention was drawn to the ground after several soft clattering noises followed her. Scattered across the floor around the mattress were several more scales that had shaken loose. Katie reached over and picked one up. Usually the scales were sharp and rigid, but when she applied a little pressure, the one between her fingers bent easily and then snapped.

Wincing, Katie glanced back over the bed and saw a bunch more scattering the sheets. A close examination of her tail showed that it was not just a loose scale or two in places. She was missing significantly sized patches of scales, leaving the pale, veiny skin beneath exposed.

It was an ugly sight and Katie hung her head. She wasn’t sure what was going wrong with her. She only hoped that things would turn around soon, and moreso that Luna didn’t catch whatever she had. She didn’t think her sister could handle it, given how much weaker she was. Her immune system had to be fragile after so much time spent in the Lemuria labs. The chemicals and lack of sunlight alone would have reduced its potency, but Luna was also kept on the brink of starvation most of the time. Katie couldn’t prove it, but she suspected there were likely several consequences of that lifestyle.

She hated avoiding Luna, but her mother’s point was valid and the threat very real. She couldn’t risk Luna getting sick too.

Katie flopped back onto her front and began dragging herself down the hallway. She felt a little dizzy, but this was easier than trying to haul herself into the wheelchair and remain upright.

She paused at the end of the hall for a break, her breath rasping from her heaving chest. Her condition was massively sapping her strength.

When she glanced up, she could see Luna and her mom sitting at the dinning room table. Luna’s tail hung sideways over the chair with her tailfin flopped on the ground. Her hair had been pulled back off her face in a low ponytail Katie suspected was her mother’s doing, and her head was bent in concentration as she looked at something in front of her.

Sophie was twisted in the chair beside her to look over her shoulder. She had clearly been in the shower earlier before Katie had gotten up, because her usually wavy hair was puffed up into thick spring coils now that it had been allowed to dry without being brushed.

Luna’s brows dipped in concentration and her lips moved as she spoke very slowly. “A brrowwn doog – Sophie what is a dog?” Luna paused and looked up at Sophie.

Katie watched her mother smile and shake her head. “It’s just an animal, hon. Keep going.”

Not wanting to interrupt the reading lesson, Katie settled down a little on the floor and propped her chin on a fist. “A brown dog took tuhe-”

“The,” Sophie gently corrected. “Remember when you see T and H together, it makes more of a hissing sound.”

Luna nodded her head. “A brown dog took the ball in..to the yyard. What is a yard?”

“Usually a space in front or behind a house,” Sophie explained.

“Like where all the stones and plants are?” Luna inquired as she pointed in the general direction of the front door.

“Yes,” Sophie confirmed. “You’re doing really well, Luna. Do you want to keep going?”

Katie smiled at Luna’s eager nod. She had been very excited about the notion of learning how to read and write. Katie suspected it was just something to do to keep herself out of her head, and was likely filling a lot of time for her now while waiting on Riley to return. Especially since Katie herself was out of action for the most part.

“Okay, you read these next two, okay? I’m just going to go check on Katie,” Sophie said as she pushed her chair away from the table and stood up. “Oh, or not,” she stated as her gaze shifted to the hall. “You okay?”

Katie nodded. “Yeah, just have a headache. I was coming to get some medication. I just didn’t want to interrupt.”

Sophie nodded. “You could have said something,” she replied. “I’ll get you something.”

“Thanks.” Katie dragged herself further into the open dinning area. Luna had glanced away from the pages on the table in front of her and smiled down at her. “Hey, you’re learning fast. I knew you would. You picked up sign language faster than I could teach. I was a little rusty with it, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to teach you; thought I’d have more time to remember it.”

Luna’s smile widened into a cheeky grin. “I suppose you made an adequate teacher,” she replied before poking her tongue out between her teeth.

Katie rolled her eyes. “You thought I was pretty grand at the time.”

Luna nodded and her smile softened to a fondness. “Still do,” she said. “Are you okay?” The concern that glistened in her gaze made Katie frown. She didn’t want to worry Luna; she had enough to stress over at the moment.

“I’ll be fine,” she lied. She wasn’t so sure; it felt like every day she felt worse, and any spurts of energy were few and far between the past week.

She dragged herself further into the room, but was careful to keep her distance. Though they had to exist in the same space still, Katie wanted to limit Luna’s exposure.

Sophie came back into the dinning room from the kitchen only to pull up short. “Katie…” she trailed off with eyes that widened with horror and Katie frowned.

She followed Sophie’s gaze to behind her and finally noticed the bloody skid marks she’d left behind on the wood flooring. Frowning, she twisted onto the back of her tail to examine her front. Some of the delicate skin exposed by her scale loss had split in multiple places and was oozing scarlet fluid down her amethyst scales, darkening it to an inky shade. “Oh,” she murmured.

Now that she could see it, she was vaguely aware of the stinging burn of each of the cuts. She hadn’t imagined that the flesh beneath was quite so fragile, but she supposed the armored scales made sense now.

Sophie crouched down next to her and brushed over some of her scales. Her fingertips were coated in red when she pulled them away. “Oh Katie…” she sighed. “I knew you were losing a few scales, but this…”

“I’m sorry,” Katie muttered. She’d clearly tracked blood over the hallway. “I’ll clean it up. You should wash your hands; I don’t know if I can infect you too, but blood is probably a great way to pick it up.”

“This isn’t your fault. We do need to get you cleaned up and this sorted. I get that it’s easier than the wheelchair to get around, but you can’t keep dragging yourself around if it’s going to cut you up like this. Not until your scales grow back.”

The ‘if they grow back’ might not have been said, but it still rang in Katie’s head. She wished she knew what was happening, but her health continued to decline and seemed to be stumping everyone around her. She was starting to think that perhaps she was simply starting to fall apart. The scientists had said that she was the first host the transformation successfully took in. Now she wasn’t so sure it was all that successful. There may have simply been a delay before she began to break down, and she might just be out of time.

She sighed, but kept the concerns to herself. There was no reason to worry the others with them.

“I think I have an idea. Wait here a minute, okay?” her mother instructed. As she rose, she placed her other hand on Katie’s head, then stepped past her and disappeared down the hall.

Katie remained silent – though she could feel Luna’s gaze drilling into her – and listened as the bathroom tap began to run. It turned back off shortly after, and then Katie could hear her mother rummaging around in some cupboards.

She returned a few minutes later with a nightgown draped over one arm, a wet washcloth, and the first aid kit. She knelt back down by Katie’s side and set everything but the cloth down, then began to tenderly scrub away the blood coating Katie’s scales, and then the cuts themselves.

Katie winced and tried not to flinch as the motions stung, but she knew better than to protest despite her desire to do it herself. Her mother shouldn’t have to, but Katie knew her well enough to know that any arguing would be pointless and merely bog down the process.

With that in mind, she glanced away and remained still as the cuts were washed and then cleaned with peroxide – which fizzled and stung when poured into the sores – and then adhesive bandages were smoothed over them. “There,” Sophie said with a satisfied nod. “That should keep any dirt from getting lodged in there. Now let’s see if we can stop any more of your skin from splitting. It’s so delicate under the scales.”

“I know. I imagine that’s why I have them,” Katie muttered.

She watched as Sophie shook out the nightgown. It looked older, with some worn stitching in a few places. It was white, with little blue flowers on it. Katie made a noise of protest as she watched Sophie take a pair of scissors to it. Her mother didn’t seem overly fazed, however, and merely continued cutting. She split the gown completely open up the back, and then cut two strips on either side halfway up the gown.

“What are you doing?” Katie asked as Sophie spread the ruined garment out on the floor.

“Roll over,” her mom requested while patting the nightgown. Katie frowned, but did as instructed and flopped over onto the fabric. Sophie gave her a gentle shove so that just her tail was stretched on it.

Katie twisted to watch as Sophie used the two strips she cut halfway up to tie it the gown over the back of her tail. She cut two more strips to knot near the bottom of her tail.

“It’s not perfect, but it will do for now,” Sophie decided as she sat back on her heels. “At least it will prevent you from chaffing and scraping along the floor.”

Katie wiggled a little. It would also help her slide more easily as well – even if it did feel a little strange – and she offered her mother a soft smile and nodded. “Thank you.”

Sophie nodded and then handed Katie a glass of water and a bottle of migraine pills. “You should try to get a little more rest.” She pressed her hand against Katie’s forehead. “At least your temperature is staying relatively normal.”

“I actually thought I might like to get in the water for a bit,” Katie admitted. “I don’t feel so great, but at least I can still rest down on the sand. I’m hoping it might help.”

Her mother nodded. “Alright, that’s probably not a bad idea,” she agreed. She reached out and gently took a lock of Katie’s hair and rolled it between her fingers. “Did you want to re-dye this?” she asked.

Katie frowned for a moment, her eyebrows dipping down. At first, she thought her mother was suggesting she go dark brown again, before she remembered what she had actually meant. She used to keep a purple streak in her hair. She smiled and nodded. “You know, I think I might actually.”

“Re-dye it?” Luna echoed. Katie glanced up to where she was still perched in her chair, looking at them with her head tilted.

“Color it,” Sophie clarified. “We have a special ink that you can use to change the color of your hair. Katie, your bottle is up in the bathroom cupboard; there was still plenty left after last time, so I just never threw it away. Actually, we could do yours too if you want, Luna.”

“Me?” Luna looked a little startled and she pulled her ponytail over her shoulder to fiddle with the long locks. “I do not think I want to change my hair.”

“Yeah, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Katie pressed.

Her mother chuckled. “I think it would be fun. I have some leftover wash-out bottles of dye that I never got rid of after a birthday party event we ran a couple of months ago. It’s not permanent, so it should be fine for Luna to play with. With how much swimming she does, it’ll be gone in a week or so anyways.”

Katie shrugged. She twisted the lid off the medication bottle and downed two with the help of the water.

“I think it would be a fun way to spend the afternoon. You two haven’t gotten to be around each other much, but honestly I don’t think we can effectively keep you apart. If it’s contagious, we probably won’t be able to stop Luna from catching it, and we don’t know if there’s an incubation period; she may already have it. As long as we’re careful and all wash our hands, I don’t think there’s much more we can do and I don’t want to keep you cooped up in your room all the time, Katie; it’s not healthy either,” Sophie explained. Her tone had grown soft, like she knew and was having the same internal struggle. She could keep them apart and have it wind up futile, or make the best of a tough situation.

Katie sighed but nodded. She still wasn’t sure if it even was contagious. She missed Luna and she knew that the younger Mer still didn’t do well alone. “You’re right,” she agreed finally. “What do you think, Luna? Want to play with some colors?”

Luna chewed her lip, but then nodded. “Okay. If it comes out, I would like to try.”

***

Katie shifted her weight, feeling the soft fleece of the nightgown beneath her as she did. It was rather ingenious, if a little makeshift, and Katie appreciated the gesture. She was relatively confident it would be more comfortable for crawling around and no more of her exposed skin had split since putting it on, so hopefully that was a good sign. She just had to be careful of when she rolled onto her back, as there was exposed flesh along the backside of her tail as well.

Sophie had done Katie’s hair first, bleaching it first and then applying the dye. Katie had chosen to do a streak on either side of her head – more in the middle over her ears – rather than the single strip at the front, and she was pleased with how it looked.

Now she sat back and watched as her mother took a noisy blow dryer to Luna’s thick wave of follicles. The younger girl was covering her ears and giggling at the blasts of hot air. Sophie wore an equally wide smile. “Stay still,” she scolded Luna gently.

Luna’s nose had wrinkled when Sophie brought out the bleach earlier and had nearly changed her mind until she was assured that she wouldn’t need it with the washout dye and that it was only because Katie was going for permanent coloring that it was required for her. Once that matter was settled, she had eagerly pawed through the bottles of colors that Sophie had on hand.

“There,” Sophie declared as she turned the blow dryer off and set it aside. She handed Luna a little hand mirror. “Do you like it?”

Luna took the mirror eagerly to inspect it and her smile only grew. “It is pretty,” she decided happily.

Katie hummed her agreement. Sophie had streaked Luna’s hair with blue and green dye halfway down her hair so that it all blended into a cascading waterfall. They were sprawled out on towels on the living room floor and Sophie’s hands were stained with the various colors.

She had refused their offer to do hers as well, stating that there was little that went with the red and she preferred just to leave it be.

“I think it looks great,” Katie responded. She had needed to take more medication as she had begun to feel nauseous, and three fully drained water bottles were scattered on the towels from her inability to quench her thirst or settle her cough, but Luna’s smile made it worth the tedious task to remain up and active like this for so long.

She felt a little more like herself as well. The hair dye didn’t make much difference, but it had been one of the first choices Katie had made for herself when she was younger. Sophie had fully supported her, and she had continued to touch it up every time the color began to fade. She hadn’t realized just how much she had missed having the little bit of color in her hair. Despite the tail and her illness, it almost made her feel a little more normal.

And she was glad that the vivid shades could make Luna so happy too. The preteen continued to play with the ends of her hair until Sophie gently swatted her hands away. “You have to let it dry a little more or you’re going to color your fingers too. Don’t rub it out.”

Luna dropped her hands after that, but she continued to smile, and Katie knew she was more just happy they were all getting to interact again. She knew Luna got lonely very easily and this week had probably not been easy on her.

“Thank you,” Katie said as she met her mother’s gaze. She put emphasis on the words, because they carried a lot of weight.

Sophie shifted to pull them both into a sideways hug, and Katie sighed with content as she was squeezed close. “Any time,” she agreed.