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by Dorothy Carle (Author)
In her seventeen years, they have moved so often she gives up on ever making friends. Not only does she feel lost and alone, but her parents always argue about her. The constant fighting makes her believe the family will be happier if she were never born. As these thoughts bounce around in her mind, she is falling into deep, dark despair. The only thing that helps her cope is to retreat into her imagination.
Her mother and father inform her and her sisters that they are moving. She thinks this will be a new start, which causes her heart to sing. Everyone else is anxious about the move. For her, this is a promise of new beginnings. With their things packed, they head to the docks to board the ship that will take them to their new home.
She spends as much time as possible on deck, loving the sway of the ship and the spray of the sea on her face. Her parents and sisters spend most of the time in their rooms due to being seasick.
One morning, she is on deck watching the dolphins, mesmerized by the beauty of their dance. Suddenly, there is something in the water with the dolphins. She rubs her eyes, thinking this cannot be real. She stares harder. Swimming with the dolphins is a man. She looks around, wondering where he has come from. There is no land or other ships in sight. Just as she is about to yell at the men on deck that there is a man overboard, he jumps over a dolphin, and she sees that he is not a man at all. The thing looks human, but instead of legs, it has a long green-and-purple fishtail with iridescent scales.
