Rather than answering, I stated, "You're werewolves."

"Yeah, what about it?" Gael barked.

"Magic helps magic," I answered with Ronda's words. "My sister's a mermaid. Help me get her to the ocean."

Sniffing the air again, the older woman stepped forward. "It's faint, but you smell like magic yourself. But even if you were fully human, I'd still help." 

"Why?" I asked. 

The woman sighed. "We are pack; it's what we do." 

"And who doesn't like kindness?" Gael asked, jumping back to his feet. With predatory speed, he dashed past me for Sedna's car door. "So let's release this mer back to the ocean!" 

I shouted, "Wait - " 

Gael flung the door open and jumped. "She has legs. This freaky mermaid has legs. Why?" 

Sedna chattered as if saying, "Rude." 

"Puppy!" Lin shouted, closing the distance between them in seconds. "Mind your manners!" 

Gael stepped back. His face fell like a guilty dog being scolded. 

"I'm Lin, the female alpha of the Rialso pack," the older werewolf said, lowering herself to make her eyes level with Sedna's. She looked between Sedna and me. "And the puppy is my great-nephew, Gael. Can we help carry your tub to the ocean?" 

Sedna smiled with a nod. She looked back at me as if assuring me it was safe to trust the strangers. 

There were no other options. "Yeah, okay." 

"Then let's go," Lin said with a grin. "I'm glad we found you; it's about a ten-minute walk to the beach from here. It would be quite the challenge alone." 

"Let's do this!" Gael shouted, springing back to a state of joy. 

The three of us lifted Sedna's tub. Taking breaks every few minutes, we lumbered along a winding road through the forest. My heart raced, and sweat dripped down my body under the strain. Each time we stopped, Lin prodded me to tell her more of my story. 

"So you're both half mermaids?" Gael asked. "That must be why you smell strange." 

My cheeks burned. "Rude." 

"Good strange," Geal defended. "A new and good, salty kind of strange." 

I said, "Right." 

Lin laughed. "The two of you certainly get along." 

"Hey," I started, "Don't laugh-"

The ocean poked through the forest. My jaw gaped. 

Salty mist filled the breeze as crashing waves captured me. As if being controlled by something primal and ancient, I dropped Sedna's tub. Throwing off my shoes, I bolted for the open water. Cold sand and shell shards bit my feet.

Sedna leaped out of her tub with a chirp, causing both werewolves to yelp, and ran past me. I laughed as the surf swallowed us. The salt didn't sting my eyes. My vision was clear. Waves pulled our hair and tossed the ocean floor, kicking up clouds of sleet and lose kelp. Seafoam crowned the sunrays reaching through the glassy surface.

With orchestral chirps and whistles, Sedna twirled in the water. She flipped and danced. Her scales shimmered as she jumped in and out of the water, heading further away from shore. Kicking my legs in uneven stokes, I tried to follow, but the distance grew. Clouds of bubbles dispersed each time she plummeted back in. Fish - a collage of silvers and deep reds and oranges - darted from the swaying seagrass and kelp in her wake.

With a long whistle, my twin convulsed. Again, she shot through the surface. Bits of her pastel swimsuit swirled with the wall of bubbles as she crashed back in. It cleared to reveal a mermaid. Her muscular tail ended in fins, and pink gills fluttered over her ribs.

I gasped. My lungs burned as water filled them. Choking, I realized I was still underwater.

Sedna wrapped her arms around me and swam for the surface. I remember flicking in and out of consciousness as Sedna pulled me towards the shore. Sedna's frantic screeching seemed to pound against my skull as an orchestra of other mer voices joined in. 

I don't know what the mers were saying, but I instinctively knew they were curious. 

Cold sand pressed against my back, and pressure dug into my abdomen. Something warm pressed against my lips, and I jolted up to spew and cough up water. 

"That was over five minutes," Gael's voice was frantic. "You held your breath for over five minutes. How are you still breathing?"

Gasping and shivering, I looked between Gael - who knelt next to me, panting - and Lin. Their eyes were wide and their faces pale. The lingering pressure in my lungs told me Gael had used Mouth-to-Mouth Resuscitation on me. I should have been embarrassed and grateful, but I was too preoccupied with my sister. 

"Sedna! She's still out there!" I shot to my feet then lost balance as the world spun. Gael grabbed my arm and supported me. 

My precious twin lay in the surf on her stomach with her tail arched over her head. Her giant eyes seemed to reach Lin as she whistled.

"Your sister is safe," the old werewolf assured Sedna. "My pack will take care of her, I promise. You're free."

My twin nodded, then turned her gaze to me. She whistled, and somehow I knew she was saying, "I love you. Thank you. Goodbye."

"You can't go." My words were hollow. Her leaving was the reason for us being here. 

As Sedna chirped again, the chorus of aquatic voices from before swelled. In the distance, mers arched out of the water like dolphins. Their chatter was curious and eager. They called for Sedna to come home. They knew she belonged with them. 

It was magic. 

I wiggled out of Gael's grip and ran to my twin. Kneeling in front of her in the sand with the waves licking my legs, I said, "Come visit every once in a while." 

Sedna whistled. It was a promise, one that she still keeps.

With a flick of her powerful tail, my sister turned and headed home to the wild ocean.

That night and the week that followed are still a blur. My world was changing fast, and I didn't know how to process it. "You're a daughter of the ocean. In the same way werewolves belong to the wild, a part you belongs to the ocean. You can't go back to the desert," Lin explained before telling me I was welcome to stay with the pack. "But be aware that tonight is a full moon, and magic will be at its strongest. You won't want to leave the beach." 

Lin was right. At some point, I wandered back to the Chevrolet for a change of clothes and a blanket but was pulled back into staring out at the ocean and listening to mers chatter in a daze. 

When Gael brought me a sandwich for dinner, he said, "Stay here, and you'll see something cool."

When the full moon poked through the clouds, Gael's wolf emerged from the forest. I should have been afraid, but I wasn't. As wolves howled in the forest, Gael sat next to me. I dug my fingers into his coarse fur, and he licked my arms and hands. Perhaps like magic, it was right that Gael was there. 

I woke up the next morning to Lin and Gael standing next to me in human form. 

"Hey," Gael said with a grin made all the cheesier by the golden sunrise behind him, "It's time to meet the pack."