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converted. To her disappointment, I didn’t.
    My lack of answers made me wonder why I hadn’t asked before. Did she expect me to convert? Had her longing been so horrible that she had no other choice but to subtly beg me to put her out of her misery? Though I’d let on I contemplated losing my fin, watching Mom slip further and further into a depression missing Tatchi , and her incessant talks of rescuing her put a halt to that idea. I couldn’t now. Not yet.
    I stepped into the slime at the waterline and stopped, sickened by the smell, when my parent’s heads popped up one after the other.
    “Don’t,” Dad said from the muck. “You shouldn’t go underwater.”
    “It’s filthy,” Mom said behind him.
    They came to the water’s edge and sat on the bank, morphing out of their tails, covered in strings of algae.
    “We need to find something cleaner for the night.” Dad motioned to the RV. “Go get the phone. Quick!”
    I ran back and grabbed the phone, but scales had already formed on my legs. We didn’t have time to find, let alone drive to someplace else tonight.
    I grabbed a bunch of bottled waters and took them with me as I bolted the rest of the way to shore before the sunset. My parents sat together in the muck, finned up once again. I gave them both a few bottles each.
    “Thanks.” Mom took a few sips and then splashed the rest over her arms and body. Dad did the same.
    I joined them reluctantly, sinking three inches into the mud. Fire burned across my scales as I finned out after the initial plunge.
    “Sorry,” I finally said after no one spoke for several long minutes. “I didn’t know.”
    “It’s alright.” Mom smiled weakly. “The lake looked good from the road. Next time, we need to arrive earlier so we can investigate and have a backup plan if it’s not suitable.” She pointed to my phone. “Where are we headed tomorrow?”
    Still tired from the craziness of the night before, I opened up the map and waited for it to load. This had been our backup plan. If the drunken fishermen at the last lake hadn’t been throwing explosives in the water to fish, we wouldn’t have needed to rest during the daylight and had plenty of time to find a better location.
    Through hazy eyes, I watched the circling ball inform me we were too far off the network for cell service. I turned off the phone. The fact the bog was missing a name should have tipped me off it was a dump. Aerial satellite shots were so deceiving.
    “I’ll stay awake. If someone comes, we’ll have to go under the water,” Dad said.
    Mom shuddered in response, but I doubted anyone would visit this horrible place anytime soon. “No, Jack. I’ll stay up. You need your rest to drive tomorrow.”
    “I’ll drive tomorrow,” I mumbled as I leaned against the dry ground, unable to keep my eyes open.
    “I’m driving,” Dad said, “and we’ll take turns.”
    With no more strength to fight, I finally gave in. After an hour of tossing and turning, Dad slammed his fist in the water, splattering Mom and me with mud. “I can’t stand this. I’m looking for the inlet.”
    Mom watched as he slithered away in the stagnate current.
    “We should have bought a kiddie pool for times like these,” I joked.
    “That’s actually a good idea—well, we’d need more than one.” Mom laughed as she put her arm around me and squeezed. “Here, take a small sip of essence. That’ll help.”
    I hesitated, staring at the precious vial she’d promised to give Ash when the time was right. I shook my head.
    “It’s okay,” she said quickly. “I’ve got more packed away for emergencies.”
    The sparkling blue liquid came alive in the moonlight, singing a faint song of our people, when the guilt hit me. What if I drank the potion and when Ash needed it in the future we’d run out? Though uncomfortable, sitting in a dirty bog wasn’t something I’d call an emergency.
    “It’s okay, Mom. I feel fine.” I gave her the precious commodity back