The Train to Farewell

At eighteen, a mermaid named Nerissa used her heart's blood to save Terry from a shipwreck, binding them in a three-year tribulation contract. On the day of their ninth wedding attempt, Terry backs out again, promising to marry her once he returns from a trip with Amara, his fragile adoptive sister. Nerissa agrees quietly. Terry does not know she is the last mermaid alive, and that if he does not choose her completely, she will dissolve beneath the next full moon, only six days away.

Terry insists she join the desert journey meant for Amara. There the heat cracks her skin, and when Amara claims to feel faint, Terry tears away Nerissa's protective wrap and throws her bottle of seawater into the sand. When Amara needs a rare blood transfusion, Terry calls Nerissa and orders her to the airport at once. Her body failing, she whispers her assent.