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"By the light ... of the blueberry moon," he was singing softly. "We sang this song ... in Lena's room ..."

Lena dropped the mirror, moaning.

Melusina was shaking her head, her long hair floating around her agitated figure. "No ... oh, no ... Brian..."

She suddenly swept forward to catch the falling mirror, looking into it hungrily. "Who is this child?"

"That's Cole. My little brother."

"The child of Brian and Allison?"

Lena nodded.

Melusina looked hard into the mirror, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "He's beautiful."

"Yes."

"What is he saying?" Melusina held the mirror closer. When she heard his words, she looked curiously at Lena. "How does he know that song?"

"I remembered it a while ago. I started singing it to him at bedtime." Lena could not bring herself to look at Cole's little face again as he lay alone in bed. She was tempted to put her hands over her ears to block out the sound of his voice. What had her parents told him? Did he think she was coming back? Or did he think she was ... dead?

When the images faded from the mirror's surface, Melusina put her hand down, still holding the mirror. Mother and daughter faced each other. They floated in silence for a long moment, neither one speaking, all of their shared and separate memories floating around them.

Kai! thought Lena. Oh, no. And Pem! And—

"You told me that your father didn't marry again for a long time," said Melusina.

"Yes."

"When?"

"I was nine years old."

"I see." Melusina spun in a circle, as if unable to contain her emotions. "I had been lost for five years?"

"Yes."

"And he married Allison."

"Yes."

"I knew her."

"Yes. I saw a photo of the three of you taken in some restaurant. I forgot about it until just now."

Melusina continued to spin, agitated. "We were friends. I never thought ... I never would have guessed—"

Lena waited for her mother to control herself. But Melusina seemed to be spiraling deeper and deeper into her memories of the past, with fresh pain at every turn. Finally she sank down on a bed of seaweed, still holding the comb and the mirror. As if seeking to soothe herself, she began to comb her hair.

Lena moved toward the mouth of the sleeping cave, looking out at the village. Where was everyone? Her mother needed help.

I'll call Nix, she thought. Then she pictured him working, patrolling the verge ... and he seemed too far away to call back.

Lena retreated into the cave. She knew she should put her arms around her mother, or say something to try to comfort her, or call for help. But she could not move. As long as she didn't move, nothing had to change.

So she floated motionless, breathing the seawater, looking at her stunned mermaid mother, hearing her agonized thoughts.

The image of her father's face came into her mind. She closed her eyes to shut it out, but that only made it stronger. Then the sound of Cole's voice drifted into her mind again, and she could not shut it out. If she stayed here, Cole would grow up living with the loss of his sister every day. Could she do that to him? He was six, old enough to remember her. And Dad ... he would have lost not only a wife, but his daughter.

"Mama!" she cried out, like a child waking from a dream.

Melusina jerked out of her inward reverie. "Yes, dear one."

"I—" Lena covered her eyes with her hand, much like her father when faced with something too difficult.

"What is it, my heart?"

Lena wept, her tears mixing with the ocean. "I have to go back!"

Melusina did not answer. She shook her head, denying Lena's words. She tried to speak, and failed. She finally pulled Lena close, stroking her hair. "The mirror has saddened you."

Lena nodded.

"It has saddened me as well. I have the memories back. My heart aches. So much sadness I left behind on land. A loving husband and a child who needed me. I felt this pain when I saw you on the shore, and remembered." She held Lena tighter. "But hush. We will lose some of the pain in the memory circle. We will ask the villagers