Sarah nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, I'm sorry to say it was all a mistake. Our company caters to very wealthy clients. Most of the time it's all very straightforward with none of this kidnapping stuff but sometimes our clients like to pretend it's all some kind of scheme. The people we transform have always signed consent forms for this to happen to them. It adds to the excitement, they say.

In your case, our tracker had been following a woman who looked a lot like you. You may remember some commotion in your hallway just before this all went down?"

Thinking back, Sarah did remember some kind of disturbance and nodded.

"That was how we lost track of her. When he saw you he assumed he had the right one and injected you, then brought you here, started the procedure, and here you are. Again, I'm very sorry" Ellen added sincerely.

"Now, when I discovered the mistake I was very upset and went straight to our CEO. I know it must have felt like only moments when I stopped questioning you but it was really several hours. We had a long discussion and it was decided that since I was already keeping one mermaid and was therefore equipped to handle you I would be your keeper"

Sarah, who had been lazily swimming around the tank while Ellen talked perked up at the mention of another mermaid.

"Yes", Ellen replied, "Another mermaid. She's my sister."

This alarmed Sarah even more, which Ellen noticed and continued,

"When this company started it wasn't so ethical. They still catered to the rich but they would take anybody a client had his eye on. My sister was about 18 at the time and very attractive. She worked as a dancer in Vegas. One night while dancing an obnoxious, old, extremely rich man took a liking to her. He tried to get her to his room but she refused. Finally he left but not before vowing to make her his before the night ended. As she was leaving for the night, she was abducted and brought here where she went through the same procedure you did. Only her awakening wasn't quite so pleasant. He didn't shrink her. Not at first. At first, he kept her in a large fish tank, like the ones you see in aquariums. He would dive in and have his way with her whenever he felt like it. When she fought he threatened to leave out in the open air to suffocate. This threat worked for a few months but eventually even the threat of death didn't matter to her. When he jumped in for his normal activities, she grabbed him and took him under a rock where she waited until she thought he was dead. When she released him he floated to the top, where his bodyguards saw him and were able to revive him."

Ellen sniffled a bit, holding back tears then continued,

"After that, he left her alone for a few weeks. She was hopeful that he did end up dying, but to her dismay, one day

he came over to her tank, banged on it very loudly, and told her he was going to fix her so she couldn't fight back ever again. Then five large men in scuba gear jumped in, held her down, and sedated her. She doesn't remember what happened next but when she woke up she was in what she thought was her old tank until the old bastard reached in and yanked her out. He... I'm sorry, this is emotional for me" Ellen said between sobs.

"He held her by her tail and screamed at her about all the things he was going to do to her. He left her out for a few minutes at a time, watching her gasp for air, only pouring enough water on her to keep her alive. When he was done with that, he took her to his bathtub. I won't go into detail about what he did there but I think you know."

For the first time, and with the drugs wearing off Sarah was feeling very vulnerable at her size.

"She lived with him for another year until I managed to track her down and save her. By that point she was broken almost beyond repair. She was like an animal. Terrified of humans. I took her home and did the best I could but at best I was only able to get her to not be afraid of me. I was afraid all she was had been destroyed by that little old shit. That's when I got a job for the company. I blackmailed the owners to hire me and help me find a way to restore my sister's sanity. That was four years ago. In that time I've managed to turn this company in the right direction. Away from evil."

Sarah had so many questions she wanted to ask but was unable. Ellen saw this and said, "I'll be right back". She got up and left the room for a few minutes. When she returned she was holding a bucket. She lifted the lid of the tank and poured some more water into the tank. Something else fell into the tank with her and at first Sarah couldn't recognize it until it swam down to her at the bottom. It was a very beautiful mermaid, a couple feet (to her perspective) smaller than her. She "stood" (as much a mermaid can stand) to face her new guest, who held out her hand. Sarah shook the hand and a voice came into her mind, "Hi, I'm Rachel. Ellen's sister."

Startled to hear the voice in her head, she tried to respond by thinking, "Hi Rachel". At this Rachel smiled and transmitted, "Sorry, all I got was jumbled sounds. Don't worry, you'll learn eventually. It took me a while too." Ellen watched from outside the tank as her sister made a new friend. Happy for her sister she went to her room to get things ready for her new guest.

“I know this is all a lot for you take in but once you get used to this it's really not so bad" Rachel communicated to Sarah while swimming circles around her.

"But before we do anything, I need to teach you how to talk", she said stopping in front of her and rising so they were face to face. At this close Sarah could see Rachel was pretty small compared even to her. Close to three feet on her scale. She made a note to ask why when she could.

"We'll start easy. I want you to think or a word over and over. Focus on only that word while imagining it coming out of your head and into mine. Make the word something you're familiar with so it will be easier for you."

Sarah closed her eyes and tried to come up with a word. When she got one she repeated it in her mind, doing what Rachel said.

"Camp, Camp, Camp, Camp," She projected at Rachel, who stood there listening intently for the word. Finally, after a few moments she said,

"Camp? Is that your word?"

Upon hearing this Sarah got excited and without thinking thought, "Yes!"

"Hey, I heard you say yes just now. You're doing great. Now try counting from one to ten"

Sarah did as she was instructed and when she was done Rachel said, "Very good! You garbled nine a bit but it was recognizable. You seem to be adapting to this pretty well. Why don't you try asking me a question to see if you can form full sentences. Just remember, project the words"

Sarah thought for a moment about what to ask her then decided to keep it simple for now.

"How old are you?"

Rachel seemed to be listening closely, like someone was talking very softly to her. "How old am I? Is that what you said?"

Sarah nodded enthusiastically and Rachel replied, "Well, I'm technically 25 but I stopped aging when I was changed, at 18. It's one of the benefits of being like this. We never grow old and as long as nothing catastrophic happens, I don't think we die either. Of course, they've only been doing this for 30 years or so so there's no real way of knowing"

"Really?" Sarah responded, "What other benefits are there to this?" she asked while pointing to tail.

"Hey, I actually heard all of that!" Rachel said, "You picked this up quick. But anyway, there are some other nice benefits. Think of it, we never have to work again, no more bills, no more responsibilities. We can just have as much fun as we want all day, every day! This is paradise!" Rachel held out her arms and twirled while she said this.

"Yeah, as long as we stay in our tanks and as long as none of the giants out there feed and take care of us. I'm sorry, life in captivity isn't my idea of paradise" Sarah said, causing Rachel to stop twirling and come back down, the happiness gone from her face, replaced by a mix of anger and fear. In her head Sarah could hear her yelling, "Ellen would never do that! She loves me and wouldn't dream of harming me! Why would you even say that! You're mean!" Suddenly the calm, helpful woman in front of her was replaced by a scared, insecure girl. Rachel swam off to the other end of the tank, away from Sarah. Taken aback by this, but feeling bad for making her upset, Sarah

swam over to her, held her in her arms, and patted her head, telling her, "I'm sorry, I know she wouldn't. I didn't mean anything by it, I'm just upset by all this. It's a lot to have to deal with all at once. I'm sure we'll be great friends" While she held the smaller sobbing woman, Sarah was grateful that she had experience dealing with mentally unstable people from her days as a counselor for at risk youths, something told her those skills would be needed.

"Really?" Rachel looked up, maybe with tears in her eyes but underwater it was hard to tell. "Really", Sarah said, looking down at her with a smile on her face.

And like that, the Rachel Sarah had met at first was back.