But promises are hard to keep, and there was nowhere for me to escape to. I was a child, and perhaps I still am. Years dragged on with Sedna pushing me to study. I did my best for both of us.

Riding my bike to and from school with the wind running through my hair, I daydreamed about the future with sweet, sparkling adolescent fantasy. Some days I would be a writer for a fashion magazine, striding around New York in high heels. Or maybe I'd be a manager of a luxury hotel with hot tubs and silk sheets in every suite.

"But where are we going to go?" Sedna asked me one evening as I sat on the bathroom floor, scribbling out an English essay - a riveting read arguing that in Animal Farm, George Orwell used pigs to illustrate the dangers of authoritarianism.

I twirled my pen and sighed. "I haven't decided."

Sedna dipped her head under the water, then scraped her bowl for the last bit of the shrimp stir fry I'd made for dinner. It smelled like garlic and thyme. "You're good enough to be a real chef. If you worked at a seaside restaurant, you could visit me."

"Visit you? Sedna, if you hadn't noticed, we live in the desert."

"I know." Sedna took her last bite. "But what if I moved into the ocean?"

"People don't live in the ocean."

My twin giggled as she shook her head.

"What?" I demanded.

"We both know I haven't been 'people' for a long time. There's a reason I live in the bathtub, and Mom won't take me to the doctor. I think..." She trailed off as her eyes sparkled with a dream. "I think it has to do with our dad. He could be a mer-"

"Grow up, Sedna!" I snapped, cutting her off. I shut my laptop and gathered our dinner bowls. The silverware clinked as I stood up. "Our dad abandoned us, and you're just as human as I am."

The truth was, Darling Baby, I didn't want to believe your aunt Sedna. I was terrified that if my twin was right, I'd lose her forever. But when I glanced over my shoulder on the way out, I noticed Sedna's scales for the first time. They were patches of silver moonlight poking out from her legs.

Hot tears dripped down my face. The floor groaned beneath me as I ran to the kitchen. Mom - the source of all my problems - stood by the stove, serving herself the rest of my stir fry. I stomped past her and dropped my dirty dishes in the sink with a bang.

"Don't hurt my things, Moray," Mom said, giving me a side-eye.

"And maybe you should make your own dinner sometimes," I shot back.

"I will," Mom said, taking a bite. "The moment you start making your own money, pay your own rent, and buy your own groceries."

"You're unbelievable."

Mom took another bite. "What's got you so worked up? Cramps?"

I paused to glare at the woman who gave birth to me. Despite the gray showing through her roots and drooping face, she looked sober.

"No," I spat. "Tell me about my dad."

Mom flinched. After a pause, she turned to walk away, saying, "I need a drink."

I leaped forward and grabbed Mom's wrist. She tried to pull away, but I dug my heels into the ground and tightened my grip. "Where's my dad? Tell me."

"Let go, Moray!" Mom demanded, placing her dinner on the cluttered kitchen counter as she turned to face me.

"Answer me."

Mom raised her free hand to slap me, but I grabbed it. We became statues, staring at each other in silence. Adrenaline, hot and alive, coursed through me. It was the first time I'd fought back, and at the moment, I realized we were almost the same size. I felt Mom's racing pulse in my grip.

"What now, Moray?" Mom's voice was cold. Deflecting, she asked, "Are you gonna beat me up? The same way my dad beat me?"

I let go. "I'm not like you." I wanted it to be true.

Mom rubbed her wrist. On the way out from the kitchen, she said, "I knew you didn't have it in you."

I'm ashamed of what I did next. Even now, I'm cringing as I write this memory. Shrieking, I grabbed a dirty plate from the sink. I don't remember if I was aiming for Mom's head when I threw it, but it smashed against the wall with a bang and shattered to the floor.

Mom jumped then gave a humorless laugh. "Or maybe you are like me."

"I won't be like you." It was a promise to myself, my sister, and now to you, Dear Child.

I stomped back to the bathroom, grabbing a Road Atlas. Sitting on the floor, I flipped through the pages and found the route from our hometown to the California shore. Eight hours of road time.

"I'm learning to drive," I told Sedna. "Then I'm taking you to the ocean."

"Oh!" Sedna squeaked, beaming at me. "Really? Why the change of heart?"

I shrugged, not wanting to admit that I believed her.

On my sixteenth birthday, I demanded Mom gift me the money to learn how to drive. But she laughed, saying, "If you think you're a grown woman, get the money yourself." So I asked Ronda for help. Like a real-world Fairy God Mother, she pulled through. Not only did she drive me to the MVD and pay for both the instruction permit and eye exam, but she also let me use her car to practice driving.

"Remember, sweetheart, magic should help magic," she told me from the passenger seat.

Not knowing how to respond to her, I nodded.

Ronda was a perfect teacher. She didn't yell when I slammed on the breaks or swerved. She responded with simple corrections. And six months later, I received my full license.

When I showed Sedna, she leaned out of the tub and wrapped her arms around me. Water seeped into my clothing and dripped from her hair. "Thank you! Congratulations! I'm so proud of you!"

But my joy didn't last long. When I pushed open the bathroom door to bring Sedna Shepherd's Pie for dinner, I found her slumped over the tub. She convulsed with long, wet coughs. They seemed to rumble my bones.

Putting down the dinner, I knelt next to my twin and rubbed her back like so many times before. "You're okay. Breath." 

Sedna gagged. With a full-body tremor, she hacked up blood along with a fleshy mass. They spewed onto the floor with a ploop. A rotten smell hit me as I noticed two ropes of muscle amongst the blood seeping across the tile.

Years later, I would realize they were her vocal cords.

"I don't know what to do." My trembling voice sounded distant, and my body was numb. "Sedna, what do I do?"

Chest heaving, Sedna looked at me. Blood, contrasting her ivory skin, dripped down her chin. She opened her mouth to talk, but the only sound she made was a melodic, orca-like whistle. Gasping, she grabbed her throat.

I shot out of the bathroom, screaming for Mom. When I found her on the couch, I demanded, "Tell me what's happening to Sedna. You know. You have to know."

Mom laughed her drunken laugh. "Why should I tell you?"

"She's dying!" I pointed to the bathroom. "And we both know I can't take her to a hospital! So tell me what to do!"

"You need to control that temper of yours, Mor-"

"She's dying!"

Mom rolled her head back against the worn couch. "She's not dying. She's becoming the same creature your father was." A dizzy smile like she remembered a fairytale settled on her withering face. "He was something else, your daddy was. He grew legs for me each full moon when magic was at its strongest. "

I swallowed the ache of finally hearing something about my father.  "Where is he?"

Mom shook her head. "I don't wanna." 

I grabbed Mom's hand and pulled her to Sedna's bathroom. She stumbled but didn't put up a fight. "Look at your daughter! " I demanded,  pushing open the door. 

Mom shrieked.  My twin was still slumped over the tub, shoulders rising and falling with each wheezing breath.  Blood still dripped from her mouth. 

Mom stumbled back into the hall. "My poor baby... you weren't... it.. it wasn't supposed to get this bad."  

Sedna chirped. 

"Tell me about our father," I demanded, tightening my grip. 

Mom shook her head. "I... I found him tangled in a fishing net. Half his face was gone. Looked like a boat propeller did it. I miss him so much," she stammered. Trembling, she broke a sob. "I was only eighteen, and his family wanted nothing to do with a human, so I ran."

Silence.

I released my grip.

Mom looked at me. "I think it's time you took Sedna to them."

I nodded. "Where are they?"

"Pacific Ocean," Mom said. "Off the Washington shore."