Chapter 16 - LILA IS GETTING SICK
For two days, they stayed inside the mansion.
No visitors.
No staff except security.
Lila required saltwater every few hours.
Each transformation lasted longer.
Twenty minutes.
Then thirty.
Then nearly an hour.
Afterward, she returned to human form and slept deeply.
Emma recorded everything.
Daniel measured salinity.
Margaret tracked symptoms.
Fear had transformed them into amateur researchers.
Evelyn remained away at Emma's request but answered every call.
On the third morning, Lila refused to transform back.
Emma lifted her from the saltwater bath.
The silver tail remained.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Thirty.
Daniel stared at the clock.
“Why isn't it changing?”
Emma wrapped Lila in towels.
“She seems fine.”
“That isn't the point.”
Margaret called Evelyn.
She arrived forty minutes later.
Emma nearly demanded she leave.
Then she saw her mother's face.
“What?”
Evelyn examined Lila.
“She crossed the first threshold.”
Daniel's jaw clenched.
“English.”
“Her body has stopped treating the aquatic form as temporary.”
Emma's eyes filled.
“Will her legs come back?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel slammed his fist against the counter.
Lila startled.
He immediately stepped back.
“I'm sorry, sweetheart.”
Evelyn touched the baby's tail.
“She isn't in pain.”
“That doesn't make this okay.”
“No.”
Margaret asked, “What does?”
Evelyn looked at them.
“The ocean.”
Emma stiffened.
“No.”
“You asked me to tell the truth.”
“Then tell it.”
“Freshwater triggered the trait. Saltwater stabilized it. But natural seawater contains minerals and biological compounds we cannot reproduce.”
Daniel crossed his arms.
“So the one thing you warned us against is now the cure.”
“Not cure.”
“What then?”
“Completion.”
Nobody liked that word.
Evelyn explained that Lila's body needed a full adaptation cycle.
If denied too long, her respiratory system could become unstable.
“If we take her to the ocean, does she become permanently aquatic?” Emma asked.
“Possibly for several hours.”
“Days?”
“Possibly.”
“Forever?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“I've never seen a child with two strong lines.”
Emma's voice broke.
“So you're guessing with my daughter.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was brutal.
Margaret looked at the sleeping baby.
“What happens if we do nothing?”
Evelyn answered quietly.
“She gets weaker.”
That afternoon Lila developed a fever.
Daniel nearly called an ambulance twice.
Each time, Evelyn stopped him.
By evening, the baby was lethargic.
Emma sat beside her, devastated.
“This is my fault.”
Daniel crouched beside her.
“No.”
“I passed this to her.”
“So did I.”
“You didn't know.”
“Neither did you fully.”
Emma looked at him.
“I knew enough.”
Daniel touched her hand.
“We can spend the rest of our lives assigning blame after she's safe.”
Margaret overheard and felt proud of her son.
Evelyn packed supplies.
“We leave before dawn.”
“Where?” Daniel asked.
“The coordinates you received.”
Emma looked up.
“You sent them?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Evelyn frowned.
“I assumed you knew.”
The room went cold.
Daniel pulled up the message.
Evelyn studied the coordinates.
Her face changed.
“What?”
“That beach isn't random.”
“You know it?”
“Yes.”
Emma stepped closer.
“It was on the map in your box.”
The location circled in red.
Where Emma first changed.
Emma felt a chill.
“I told you I've never been there.”
Evelyn looked at her daughter.
“Yes, you have.”
Emma stared.
“When?”
“You were three.”
A memory flashed.
Cold water.
A woman's scream.
Strong arms pulling her upward.
Emma nearly fell.
“My first change?”
Evelyn nodded.
Emma whispered, “Why don't I remember?”
“Because your father made sure you didn't.”
Daniel looked at her sharply.
“How?”
“Sedatives. Therapy. Repetition.”
Emma backed away.
“My father erased my memory?”
“He believed forgetting would protect you.”
A knock sounded at the front door.
Security announced no one was there.
Daniel found an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Three-year-old Emma stood on the very beach from the coordinates.
Her tiny legs were covered in silver scales.
Behind her stood Martin Ward.
On the back:
May you like
HE KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING.
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