It had been two weeks since Neverland became an amusement park, and by all accounts, it was a huge success. The visitors raved about the fantastical atmosphere and the inventive activities. The money was rolling in and more elements and organisms were being added every day. The inhabitants of Neverland had found new meaning and excitement in their lives. In short, everyone was thrilled that Neverland was open to the public.
Everyone except Cora.
She glared at the other mermaids getting ready for their stupid show and prepared herself for another day of hiding out in the cove behind the waterfalls. Thankfully, Peter had engineered an underwater laptop that kept her busy most of the time. It wasn't as if she interacted much with people anyway, but all of the alone time was becoming rather tedious. Maybe she'd try and play some games with the dolphins today.
She could, of course, hang around their dwelling. It was interesting enough with its glassy spires and jeweled walls. There were numerous rooms and areas for playing and learning, like a small palace with no roof. She could spend her time weaving intricate nets or reprogramming the mechanical fish to do choreographed dances, but Cora didn't like to be reminded of the fact that she lived there. Right now they were all in the common room, which was an area where the mermaids spent a lot of their time. Besides being the only place with mirrors, it was also the only room where they could actually talk to each other. It was encased in a large glass dome so that only the bottom half of the room was submerged in water. This was especially helpful when they got tired of signing to each other, or when they didn't want to go to the surface for air.
"Hey Meredith!" Nerissa called out sharply, cutting into Cora's thoughts. "You got in front of me during the second set of jumps yesterday. Make sure you stay out of my way."
The red-tailed mermaid bobbed her head up and down in compliance. "Of course, Nerissa. It won't happen again."
Cora rolled her eyes. She had a feeling Meredith would cut off her own arm if Nerissa asked her to. Cora could never understand the power Nerissa had over the rest of the mermaids. It was as though she were their queen. Cora studied Nerissa as she braided her long blonde hair into several elaborate strands. She was extremely beautiful, with her large blue eyes and porcelain skin, but Cora didn't think that was reason enough for the other girls to worship her.
Cora glanced at the line of mermaids before her. Piper was covering her arms with some neon glitter that clashed horribly with her bright green tail. Catalina was making kissing faces in the mirror. Her dark blue tail blended in with the water so well that she looked like she was just a floating torso. Meredith was watching Nerissa closely and trying to braid her hair in the same way, but was failing spectacularly. And Isla, the youngest, was staring dreamily at the wall and gliding her gold tail back and forth across the surface of the water. Perhaps they follow Nerissa because they're all lost, Cora thought. They were all lonely, out of their element, confused, insecure. Nerissa was lost too, she was just much better at hiding it.
"You can stare all you want, but you'll never be me," Nerissa said smugly, slapping her pink tail against the water so that it splashed in Cora's face.
Cora blinked the water out of her eyes and scowled at Nerissa. "I consider that a massive blessing. I don't know how I'd survive with all that empty space in my brain."
The other girls gasped and Nerissa flushed with anger.
"If I wasn't worried about ruining my hair, I'd strangle you."
Cora snorted. "Once again, I'm saved by your vanity."
Nerissa charged forward, but Piper and Catalina held her back.
"She's not worth it," Piper said. "Save your energy for your fans."
Nerissa took a deep breath and shook off the other mermaids. "You're right, Piper. I have an adoring public, and she has no one."
Cora shrugged and turned away. She wasn't going to be offended by what she already knew was the truth.
"Come on, girls, it's time to go." Nerissa led the way as they prepared to swim out of the gate at the bottom of the room. But before she dove underwater, she looked back at Cora. "Have fun being a loser."
"Have fun being a joke," Cora shot back.
Nerissa screeched and grabbed a hairbrush, hurling it at Cora's head. Cora flipped her tail up and smacked the hairbrush back at Nerissa, hitting her in the shoulder. Nerissa seethed for a few moments, then signed something at Cora that was too foul to say aloud and disappeared beneath the water. The other mermaids gave Cora nasty looks and followed Nerissa out.
Cora sighed, glad that they were finally gone. She could already feel the space becoming less toxic. But before she could begin gathering the things she needed for the day, the water stirred and Isla emerged into the room again. The young mermaid gave Cora a shy smile.
"I left my necklace," she explained, reaching past Cora for a small silver locket. She started to leave, but then turned back and gave Cora an almost apologetic look. "You should be in the show with us."
Cora's eyebrows shot up. "Uh, no thank you. I'd rather not flail around in front of hundreds of strangers. Plus, I don't think I'm very welcome."
Isla bit her lip. "But Slightly thinks it would be more dynamic if all the mermaids performed."
Cora groaned. She had a lot of things she wanted to say to Slightly, who had decided to commercialize Neverland without even considering how it would affect everyone.
"Well, you can tell Slightly that if he wants more mermaids, he can put on a tail and some sea shells and dance around himself. I'm sure he'd love the attention."
Isla giggled. "He'd look ridiculous!"
Cora gave Isla a small smile. The auburn-haired girl could only be 14 or 15 years old, and even then she was small for her age. Isla was still definitely loyal to Nerissa, but she was the only mermaid who had ever attempted to be nice to her.
"Come on, Cora, it'd be fun!" Isla continued. "The kids love us, and we always talk to the fans afterwards. Plus, there are always a few teenage boys there, and they are so cute!"
Cora quirked an eyebrow. "They'll run away screaming when they find out your tail isn't a costume."
Isla frowned. "What do you mean?"
Cora sighed. "Everybody thinks we're just normal humans who put on fancy tails and swim around. That's what they have at other attractions. I read about it on the Internet."
Isla laughed. "That's crazy! There's no way humans could do the things we do."
"Exactly," Cora said bitterly. "Pretty soon they're going to find out that we're real mermaids."
"That'd be great!" Isla exclaimed. "Then we'd be famous!"
"Yeah, famous for being freaks. Then we'll end up in a circus, or in a museum, or in a research lab. I'd actually prefer that last one."
Isla made a face. "You're really depressing, Cora. Maybe this is why Nerissa doesn't like you." Isla dove down into the water and swam out of the room, her gold tail shimmering until the gate closed.
"I'm not depressing, I'm realistic," Cora murmured to herself. "And it's not just Nerissa who doesn't like me, it's the whole world."
Cora laughed out loud at her overdramatic statements, but then she immediately sobered. She tried not to imagine that the whole world was against her, but when she considered her history and her likely future, it was difficult to think otherwise. The other mermaids seemed to be handling it alright, but she couldn't pretend she was living a fantasy.
She shivered at the memories that haunted her every waking moment. She never knew her parents. She had been in orphanages since her birth. Her childhood hadn't been idyllic, but she had dreams. She was going to travel the world. She wanted to see and experience everything. She would pour over atlases and encyclopedias, planning out which countries and landmarks she would see first.
Then that woman had come. She had said her name was Matilda Carnivera, but the others had called her the Crocodile. Cora had just turned nine years old and she had been so excited. She thought she was going to be adopted. She thought she was going to have her chance to escape from the confines of all the orphanages. But the woman had taken her straight to a frightening, sterile facility. Then there were the days and weeks and months of surgeries, pills, medicines, experiments, and nightmares. Days where she struggled to breathe and nights where she felt like her bones were on fire. She would wake up in a haze and feel her body changing, only to lose consciousness again minutes later.
After almost a year, Cora awoke to find herself at the bottom of the lagoon in Neverland. She could see and breathe underwater, she could swim incredibly fast, she could sense something swimming in the water a kilometer away, and in the place of her legs was a shiny purple tail. She had been thrilled for about two hours. She had tested out her abilities and seen some of the most beautiful fish she'd ever imagined. But once she had explored all the exotic sea life and the underwater structures and the entirety of the lagoon, she began to understand the limits of her new world. She was trapped in a massive fish tank.
Cora had met the other kids in Neverland, but they had always been busy creating things and didn't seem interested in befriending her at all. Then other mermaids were brought in, and Cora had thought she might have some camaraderie, but none of them saw the dark side of their situation like she did. They seemed completely content to be mermaids and do the same things day after day. So there was a division. It was constantly her against them, and so far she hadn't had much luck persuading any of them that being half fish wasn't a dream come true.
And now Neverland was open to the public, and the mermaids had put themselves on display. Cora was terrified about what would happen when people found out what they really were. She pushed herself up from the gel pad she was sitting on and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. Her sad grey eyes stared back at her, revealing how lonely she really was. Her curly black hair cascaded down her shoulders and often got tangled in the straps of her sea shells. Cora hated the matching shells that covered her chest, they were so archaic and cliche. But they were functional for living underwater, and it'd be so embarrassing to ask Peter or one of the other boys to develop a more comfortable bra. Cora looked down at her stomach, at the area below her belly button where her skin transitioned into her dark purple tail. The pattern of the luminous scales was always changing, and the effect could be quite hypnotic, but Cora found the more she stared at it, the more bitter she became.
Cora sighed and glanced at herself in the mirror again. Some might consider her beautiful, but she was afraid that when people looked at her, they would just see what she saw. A science experiment.