Read Asimov's Science Fiction: March 2014 for Free Online Page A

overhear you say you're going to see him?" she whispered.
    Den nodded.
    "Okay." Then, to the phone. "I'm going to tag along with Den and his girlfriend."
    She looked at him. "I guess you came with Melissa?"
    Again he nodded, feeling a little stunned.
    "Okay, yeah, so get ready for three of us. That's three pairs of legs. All pairs. Your boy here's a bit of a swindler and he swindled me some new walking gear. I've got to show it off." She took a breath and handed the phone back.
    Den ended the call. "You're coming?"
    "If you can wait for me to scrub up. I'm running the bath."
    "Sure, I can wait. What made you... why did you change your mind?"
    Jenni squinted, still smiling. "I didn't really change my mind. You're still an interfering, insensitive know-it-all, but you're my brother and I guess your heart's in the right place."
    "I hope. That's all I was—"
    She held her hand up. "Don't keep talking." She looked down at her leg. "The thing is, it's much easier to get around now. Lose something, gain another."
    "Gain a brother."
    "Eww, really corny. Now get out of here and let me take a bath. We can leave right after."
    She stepped forward and drew him into a hug. Her arms felt spindly and fragile, and her body was thin against him, but she still clung on like a bear. He hugged her back, surprised to find himself choking up a little. He felt like that little kid again, back at the very first time he'd seen her and she'd been that angry, agitated teenager, but she'd still been able to give him a hug back then. Years had gone by and this was all he'd really wanted, he realized. He just wanted his big sister to give him another hug.
    "Okay," she said, pulling back. "Get out of here and let me get scrubbed. I'll be out in fifteen."
    He stepped away and headed for the door.
    "And stop grinning, will you," she said. "You're not properly forgiven yet. You're just my brother."
    Den couldn't stop grinning, but he said, "That's enough."
    Jenni laughed and went into the bathroom, and Den headed out to see if Melissa felt like a drive to Wyoming.
----

ALL THE PRETTY LITTLE MERMAIDS
    Cat Rambo | 7286 words

    Cat Rambo lives, writes, and teaches by the shores of an eagle-haunted lake in the Pacific Northwest. Her two hundred plus fiction publications include stories in
Asimov's, Clarkesworld,
and
Tor.com.
Cat's short story, "Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain," from her third collection
Near + Far
(Hydra House Books), was a 2012 Nebula nominee and her editorship of
Fantasy Magazine
earned her a 2012 World Fantasy Award nomination. For more about the author, as well as links to her fiction and information about her popular online writing classes, see
http://www.kittywumpus.net.
In Cat's brutal new story, a woman whose world is coming undone finds little solace among...

    "Mermaids," Petra said. She spit the word out, then chased its taste away with a sip of water. "Aren't people tired of mermaids yet?"
    Leonid smiled condescendingly at her. "That's the joy of designing toys." He dabbed his face with a cloth napkin before continuing. "Children find things fresh, even things that staled for adults long ago."
    The restaurant's bustle and clink was muted, decorous. Upscale, like Leonid's business suit. She said, "The world doesn't need another virtual game. Particularly a mermaid one."
    He held up a finger. She hated when he did that.
    "There's the twist, you see. Not virtual. These are real."
    She leaned forward to spear another bite of orange-drenched tofu. How to depict flavors in a piece? If you opted for organic elements, you were surrendering to the idea that your artwork would decay, disappear one day. "Won't they be terribly expensive?"
    "Of course. But I'm aiming at the 1 percent, who can afford fancy, frivolous things. They become status symbols for their children. That's the niche I'm aiming for."
    Always some new business scheme with Leonid. Luckily he had the brains to back it up. Still, it was that restlessness, that