With both her hands full , Lola kicked open the screen door . Pa yelled at her from the kitchen to hurry up . Lola dumped two large garbage bags into the big trash cans outside and scurried back into the house to fix Pa 's breakfast . She knew exactly how to cook his eggs , how crispy he liked his bacon , and how much sugar he wanted in his coffee . Every day , she sought to perfect that ensemble , and everyday Pa complained a little louder . Pa grumbled about work as he finished up breakfast . " Damn swamp people , think they 're better than me cause they talk better . Shoulda moved to Polk . Job don 't even pay that much these days . " Lola excused herself from the table and started to wash . The running water rushed over her rough hands like a waterfall tumbling down over the earth . She enjoyed the sensation . The water was cool on her skin , a refreshing feeling as humid air was already seeping into the house . She kept the water on full force , drowning out some of Pa 's ranting . If she concentrated hard enough , she could pretend she was outside playing in a real waterfall . Lola had never been to one in person , but she knew what they looked like from pictures . Before she could finish up , Pa interrupted her . " Girl , come fetch my shoes . I gotta be gettin ' to work . " Lola turned off the water and ran to get Pa 's shoes . They were where they always were , at the foot of Pa 's bed . A part of her wanted to know why Pa couldn 't get it for himself , but she knew what he would say . He told it to Mama so many times . Because he deserves it for working so hard . She resented the " girl " bit a little . Now that she was twenty , she expected at some point Pa would stop thinking of her as a child . Lola didn 't say anything about it . If Pa didn 't change his mind on his own , nothing would . When that ordeal was done , Pa went off to work and Lola was left to clean up the house . It had been easier when Mama was still around to split the work . She scrubbed the old wooden floorboards on her hands and knees , the roughness of it scratching against her legs as she worked . At the thirteenth board from her bedroom door , the one perfectly center just below her window , she stopped and pulled the board slightly up to check on her treasures . Lola didn 't linger there long , always worried Pa might come back early one day and find them . He took away all her other treasures . She went about cleaning the rest of the house in a hurried daze , each step faster than the next . The walls of the house leaned inward , their watchful scorn suffocating her . Lola kept her eyes on her hands . After she finished the housework , she got in her boat to check the traps she set out along the swamp . The still , dark water of the swamp used to unnerve her when she was little . Now , it brought her comfort to watch her wooden boat send out slow ripples across the concealing surface . Alligators played hide and seek with her amongst the fallen trees and debris that floated along . Water snakes swam on pasta her , creating a new pattern on the water that crossed with her boat 's tiny waves . Pa always told her the swamp was dangerous , but the animals never bothered her . The swamp carried a low humming to it . If she let her mind wander , the noise faded altogether into an almost eerie silence . Today , the sky rumbled in tune with the humming as the clouds grayed above her . A storm was coming . She loved going through the swamp during the rain , but it was risky . Lola needed to turn back after checking the next trap . Before she reached the trap , she saw something splashing around in the water . Something was caught . She approached the trap slowly . What she found horrified her . A young woman appeared to be stuck in the netting . She was mostly submerged and covered in dirt and plants . Lola paddled faster to get to her . She got out her knife from her boot . " Hold on , Miss . I gotcha . " Lola grabbed hold of the net and cut through it . The young woman swam out of it . Up close , Lola noticed things she couldn 't see from afar . The woman 's skin was a pale green , and her hair a darker shade of the same color . Her fingers were webbed with long , dagger - like claws protruding from them . Strangest of all , shining with beautiful , emerald scales - - a tail . Its thickness and length were greater than any snake she had ever seen , and the end flowed out in an array of rich , bright colors like the fighting fish her brother used to have . The ends of the tail were frayed and punctured . A few scars lined the upper part of the tail , deep and patterned . Up top , aside from the strange coloration of her hair and skin , she looked like an ordinary woman . She had straight , thick hair and her eyes were a shade of green , though the shade was too deep and rich to be on a human . She wore nothing above . Lola blushed at the woman 's exposed chest . The sight embarrassed her , but she couldn 't stop her eyes from lingering on the woman 's shapely breasts . She averted her eyes from that area and stared up at the woman 's face . The woman had a fierce look on her face . " You 're . . . a mermaid . . . " Lola said . The woman sank underneath the water . Lola leaned over the side of the boat . " Wait , don 't go ! Let 's be friends ! " " My name 's Amicalola , Lola for short . " Lola extended her hand out to the woman in the water . " What 's yer name , Miss ? " The mermaid looked around and rested against a bald cypress tree . " Cypress ? Is that what they call you ? " Lola rowed her boat over a little closer to her . " It 's a pretty tree to be named after . I 'm named after a waterfall , the biggest one in the state . Though I 've never seen it myself . . . " Lola 's mouth hung open for a while before she spoke . " You can talk ! I thought you might be mute . " " You said you wanted to be friends . Don 't you have human friends ? " The mermaid circled the boat . " I don 't know nobody really , so I 've never had any friends . " Lola looked away . The only people she had really known were her family . Pa didn 't let her go into town and no one else ever visited them . Cypress sank underneath the water completely . Lola could barely see her through the dark water . Cypress swam underneath the boat . Lola was about to move to the other side when a hand rose out of the water and grabbed onto the edge of her boat . A second hand came up shortly after . Lola sat in shock as a young woman pulled herself into the boat . The woman had light brown skin and straight black hair . She wore a hat made of grass and a dress that matched . A shawl made of Spanish moss covered her shoulders . Her eyes were the same unnatural emerald . " You . . . you turned human ! How did ya do that ? " Lola couldn 't believe it . " I can do this if I wish . It 's very useful sometimes . " Cypress took her oar and started to paddle . " I know somewhere nice and pretty . Let 's go there . " Lola remembered herself . " Wait , actually I need to be gettin ' home . It 's gonna rain soon and Pa will be real mad if I 'm not home to fix his dinner . " Lola didn 't understand what she meant , but she didn 't care . Even if Pa did get mad at her , she may never see Cypress again . She decided to let Cypress take her wherever she wanted to go . There would be plenty of days with Pa . He would forget in time . Cypress took her into a part of the swamp she didn 't recognize . The water was so dark to see anything in , even darker than the waters she usually traveled , and there were more alligators here than she was comfortable with being around . Cypress wasn 't worried . She waved to many of them . As Lola watched Cypress , she started to relax again . They left the trees behind as they went into a prairie . Lola didn 't think that any swamp prairie extended this close to her home . A wooden path greeted them just ahead . Cypress got out of the boat and tied it to the railing of the path . She ran a few feet down the path and turned around , waiting for Lola to follow her . Thunder boomed overhead as Lola left the boat . " Are you sure this is a good idea ? The rain 'll be comin ' down any minute now . " " You 're not scared of a little water , are you ? " Cypress laughed as she skipped down the thin , winding path . Lola took a deep breath . She ran to Cypress . They walked along the path for hours . There seemed to be no end to it . The rain never fell , the sky looking as though it was taking everything in itself to hold the water from breaking free . As red began to line the horizon , Lola grew anxious . She stopped along the path and looked back . " Is it time ? " Cypress asked . " I 'm sorry . I have to go home . Pa 'll be real mad if dinner 's not done . " Lola didn 't want to go home . For a moment , she considered staying out with Cypress and never going back . Lola knew Cypress couldn 't house her , and more than that , she only saw herself as a burden to anyone who kept her around . " Could I . . . see you again ? " " You dumb girl . I told you to always stay on the path . " Pa grabbed her by the wrist . He stared at her for a moment . " You look too happy to have been lost out in the swamp . You ain 't sneaking off with some boy , are you ? " " Ya better not . I 'll be takin ' my shotgun to his tail . Now you get to cookin ' quick . I worked too many hours keepin ' a roof over yer head to not have dinner ready for me when I get home . It ain 't hard . " Without another word , Lola went to the kitchen . Pa complained about work through dinner , then settled into listening to the ball game on the radio in his room . Lola retired to her own room , sitting in the windowsill . Her room didn 't have electricity like some of the other rooms in the house . She kept a lantern hanging from the window . Outside , the rain poured down and the wind was strong enough to shake the house . She slipped into bed a while after that , counting the splashes of rain hitting against her window as she tried to forget tomorrow would come . She wondered if Cypress would keep her promise . Knowing her usual luck , Lola didn 't hold on to that hope . In the morning , Pa yelled at her for her cooking again . He left late . That too , she was blamed for . When Pa was gone , Lola skipped the housework and went out to her boat . As she got in it , a familiar voice spoke to her . " Hello , Amicalola . " Cypress walked out from behind a swamp tupelo . " When did . . . " Lola shook off her surprise . " Ya wanna go somewhere ? I don 't really like bein ' home . " " All of the world is beautiful , if you look with the right eyes . " Cypress had a calm kindness about her that made Lola feel safe . Cypress moved a little closer to her in the boat . " Have you always lived here ? " " Yeah , but Mama and Pa were from somewhere else . Pa got a job here when my brother was a baby , and they moved here from Rockmart . But Mama wasn 't from there either . She was born in Savannah . " Lola recalled one of Pa 's complaints from dinner the previous night . " Pa 's always goin ' on about how the people who live down here talk funny . Too fancy and old . Says it 's worse than listening to yankees . " " I was wondering . Your accent sounds more like a tourist 's . But you were raised here . Why isn 't your accent closer to the other humans who live here ? " Cypress asked . Lola asked many times to go into town with Pa and Mama , but they never let her go . The only people she ever saw were her family and strangers who got lost in the swamp , both rare occasions . " Pa doesn 't let me go anywhere . I just stay home and go out to check the traps . " " Didn 't you go to school ? " Cypress tilted her head . " I thought all humans did that these days . " " Ah , Mama had me at home . They never told people outside our family , so I didn 't have to go like my brother did . Pa says school 's a waste of time and money , a bunch of government propaganda . " Lola sighed . " Course my brother wasn 't allowed to bring friends over neither . " " That . . . doesn 't seem right . Why couldn 't your brother bring over friends ? " Cypress gave Lola a look of concern . " Nobody was supposed to know about me . And Pa said the state would take us and lock him up because his way of discipline doesn 't line up with theirs . Pa says they can lock you up for hittin ' your wife . " Pa used to hit Mama all the time , and her and her brother , whenever they didn 't do right . Most of the time , Pa hit Mama when she was around , especially after her brother died . " That seems reasonable to me . Why would anyone be intentionally hurt their spouse ? " Cypress said . " Pa did that all the time with Mama , and me and my brother . Though my brother would run real fast when he saw Pa coming so a lot of times it was just me . " Her brother learned to run so fast he was on the track team in high school , but Pa threw out his trophies and medals after her brother died . " Course , both of them are gone now , so it 's just me . This morning he hit me for not waking him up soon enough . " " Ah , Pa 's always like that . He was even meaner back before everyone left , but he was nice when other family came over . I miss those days . Nobody visits now . " Lola thought back to the last Christmas she spent with everyone . At time likes that , she forgot everything else . " Where did everyone go ? " Cypress moved a little closer to Lola again . " My uncle and his family moved on up north to Tennessee . My aunt 's side went to Savannah . Granny and granddaddy died ' bout a year apart when I was little . Mama 's side of the family never really came ' round here . They didn 't like Pa . " She paused for a moment . " And my brother , he died about three years ago . " " What happened ? " Cypress asked in a soft voice . " He was going up to Atlanta to some music festival and he got in a car accident . Him and his buddies had been drinkin ' on the way there . He rolled the car over the median on the interstate . " Pa was furious that her brother went out somewhere so far away . He didn 't cry at her brother 's funeral . He only destroyed things in her brother 's room . " Then it was just me and Mama . Mama went last year . " " Nah , Pa says she fell . " Lola said . " Down in the old well . Pa says she was being spiteful and trynna throw away her weddin ' ring when she slipped over the edge . She 's still down there now . " " Pa says she died right away . " Lola repeated what Pa told her . " That doesn 't matter . What about her funeral ? ! " Cypress was growing more furious with every revelation . " Pa didn 't wanna pay for it . Said there was no point in payin ' all that money for somethin ' only two people are gonna come to . " After that , Lola was alone . She cried all that week . " Wait . . . but why would it only be two ? Your mother 's side of the family is alive and well , are they not ? " A horrible thought occurred to Cypress . " Do they know she 's gone ? " " Pa told me he called them about it and that they didn 't want to come to her funeral if he was there . " She said Cypress what Pa told her that night at dinner after her mother died . " Don 't you want a funeral for her ? " Cypress took hold of Lola 's hand . " Well , I think it would be nice . . . but it 's too late for that now . I can 't give her a funeral a year later . " Lola pictured the old well in her mind . It was always a dark and cold place . When she was little , she was afraid of being in there . Now , it terrified her even more . " Sometimes , I think about going down there to be with Mama . " " I do . I never said goodbye . I know she 's gone , but it feels like she won 't really be gone until I say it . " Lola stopped paddling . She put her head in her hands . " I can 't go down there . I 'm scared . She must be so mad at me . . . " " I know , but what if she 's so mad her spirit 's stuck down here ? " Lola said with tears in her eyes . " Even if that were the case , she wouldn 't be mad at you . " Cypress reassured her . It didn 't help . Lola broke down and cried . " Pa 's always mad at me . Mama probably is too . " " No , I don 't think so . " Cypress hugged her . " You don 't need to blame yourself , Lola . " Lola cried as much as she did the day her mother died . Cypress stayed there beside her , holding her and whispering sweet words to ease the pain . When Lola stopped crying , she looked up and found herself at that swamp prairie again . " But this is . . . how did we get here ? " Lola looked around in confusion . " I thought you might want to see it again . Let 's run . " Cypress tied the boat to the railing of the wooden path and helped Lola out of the boat . They ran down the winding path . Overhead , the sky was gray and rumbling . A warm wind danced around them . An ibis watched them run , sitting in solitude searching for its next meal . Two otters swam underneath the pathway and followed them for a while before parting ways . When Lola got tired of running , she stopped to catch her breathe . Cypress laughed , breathing just as hard as Lola was . They played around more , wandering aimlessly down that path until the gray sky turned to red . Lola stopped and looked out at the setting sun . " Cypress , it 's time . " " I 'll take you home . " Cypress said in a quiet voice . When Lola looked back towards the direction of her boat , she was in her backyard again . Pa was yelling from the door . Lola went in to cook dinner . After dinner , Pa retired to his room as usual and listened to the radio . Lola cleaned up around the house before going to her room . She cleaned more than she normally would so Pa wouldn 't notice she hadn 't been cleaning during the day . Around ten , it started to rain again . Listening to the rain , Lola cleaned a little faster . At midnight , she went to her room and sat in the windowsill . She didn 't light her lantern , not wanting Pa to know she was still awake . The darkness was calming . Lola found herself crying quietly , her mind empty . An hour later , Lola dragged herself to bed . Sleep escaped her . Late into night , Lola heard a hard noise hit against her window . Three more followed . She lit her lantern and went to go see what it was . Outside her window , Cypress was standing there . Lola was so shocked by her presence that she fell backwards and nearly dropped her lantern . She blew out the light and listened for any noise in the house . When she didn 't hear anything , she lit it again and went back to the window . Cypress was still standing there in the rain . Lola opened her window . " What are you doing here ? " Lola asked quietly . " Pa 'll be mad if he catches ya here . " Lola whispered . " Then let 's not let him catch me . Come on . Let 's go out tonight . " Cypress held her hands and led Lola over to the window . " But . . . it 's raining . . . " Cypress took off her hat and put it on Lola . She placed her Spanish moss shawl around Lola 's shoulders . " There . " " You promise . . . just an hour . . . " Lola blushed at wearing Cypress 's things . The hat fit nicely on her and the shawl was warmer than she expected . " One hour . I swear . " Cypress pressed her forehead against Lola 's , staring right at her with those impossible green eyes . Lola 's heart skipped a beat . Her fear of Pa slipped away from her . Taking Cypress 's hand , she climbed out the window and ran away into the rain . Cypress ran with her to somewhere else she had never been before . Underneath the light cover of cypress trees , they danced in the rain . It faded into a soft drizzle until it stopped completely . When the storm passed over , lightning bugs lit up the trees like stars . Lola caught a few , showing them to Cypress . They crawled for a while on her hands before taking flight again . When she was young and her brother was around , they would sneak out at night and catch the little bugs and put them in mason jars with holes poked in the top . Mama would always find them later and let the bugs back outside in the morning . The next night , they started again . Lola missed those days when she was young . The three of them were always happy when Pa wasn 't around . Cypress stopped her after the last one she caught left . She took Lola 's hand and danced with her again under the light of the fake stars in rhythm with the music of the wind blowing through the trees . When the dance was over , she pressed her forehead against Lola 's and took her hat and shawl back . The hour was over . Lola sighed and turned around , finding herself in front of her bedroom window . In the morning , she fixed Pa 's breakfast and listened to his ranting . After he left , Lola abandoned her chores and went out to look for Cypress . Before she could get in her boat , Cypress tapped her on the shoulder from behind . Cypress laughed and held her hand . " Let 's stay here today . " She said . Lola nodded and sat with her by the edge of the water . Cypress leaned against her . " Why don 't you leave this place ? " " I cain 't . I got nowhere to go . ' Sides , Pa keeps me fed and clothed . I don 't wanna be ungrateful . And I ain 't never had no real job . Who 'd want me ? " Lola said back . Her words weren 't her own . She memorized them from all the times Pa lectured her . " I 'm sure someone would take a nice girl like you . " Cypress placed her hand on Lola 's . " Isn 't there anywhere you want to go ? " " I don 't know much about what 's out there , but I guess . . . " Lola smiled . " I kinda always wanted to see that waterfall , the one I 'm named after . Mama loved that place . I think it might be nice to see the places Mama used to live too . " " You should go . " Cypress laced her fingers with Lola 's . They stayed down by the water and talked until the sunset . When the time came , they said their goodbyes . She hurried inside . As she was about to open the back door , Pa opened it and pulled her in . " Who were you talkin ' to ? I heard you talkin ' out there . You have been whoring around , haven 't you ? Who 's this boy ? " Pa held tightly to her wrist and cornered her against the kitchen wall . " Liar ! " Pa slapped her hard across the face . " I 'm takin ' a day off tomorrow . Let 's see these trees you 're talkin ' to then . Now git to fixin ' dinner . " Lola silently cried as she cooked . Neither said a word during dinner . After dinner , she cleaned the dishes and went to her room . She cried again at her window until Pa went to sleep . When she couldn 't hear Pa 's radio anymore , she turned on her lantern and pulled back the thirteenth board on the floor . Lola pulled out each treasure . The postcards she used to get from her maternal grandparents when her mother was still alive , the book about the seven wonders of Georgia from them with a note inside saying " to our special wonder , Amicalola " , and the most precious treasure of all , her mother 's wedding ring . She always knew Pa was lying about what happened to her mother that day . Around March last year , her father started complaining about needing more money and items around the house went missing . Mama knew he was pawning or selling them off . The ring originally belonged to Lola 's great - grandmother and her mother didn 't want something so important to her to be sold in a shady building for a little bit of cash . Worried her husband would try to steal it off her , she told Lola to hide it somewhere safe while Mama pretended she couldn 't find it . Pa was angry about the ring because that was money he could have , and everything of everyone 's belonged to him . Four months after her mother told her to hide the ring , Mama fell in the well . If she stayed , one day , Lola knew she would be down in the well with Mama too . Lola slipped the last postcard from her grandparents and her mother 's wedding ring into her pocket and opened the window . With her lantern in hand , she ran . She didn 't know where to go , but with her heart , she called out to Cypress hoping , praying that somehow she would hear her . Out of breath , Lola stopped . She collapsed down on the ground , her whole body shaking . " What 's wrong , Amicalola ? " Cypress knelt before her . Lola raised her head and cried . Though it was dark and her lantern fading , Cypress could still make out the bruise on Lola 's cheek . Her face filled with rage . " He did this to you , didn 't he ? " " No , you can 't do that . I 'll run away . . . " Lola clung to Cypress . " Can I stay with you tonight ? I don 't know where to go . . . " The lantern light died . Lightning bugs replaced the glow and then some , illuminating the way . Cypress walked Lola through the swamp out to that winding path in the prairie . Lola didn 't know how they got there , and she didn 't care one bit . That night , they reached the end of the path where another boat waited . This boat was bigger than Lola 's and had a cabin . Cypress led her onboard and inside the small cabin . She then lit a lantern and hung it from the ceiling . The cabin had a single , small bed with a blanket made of Spanish moss . Across from the bed was a board that stuck out of the wall intended to be a table and two small stools stuck in place by strange , thick roots wrapped around the legs . Cypress sat down on the bed and pulled Lola closer . Overwhelmed , Lola collapsed down into the moss . She cried again . " Cypress , I lied to you before . " She said . " What do you mean ? " Cypress lay down beside her . " I know Mama didn 't throw away the ring . That ring was her most precious thing . I 've had it all this time . " Lola couldn 't see Cypress anymore through her tears . " I couldn 't get myself to say the truth . Pa . . . Pa killed Mama . . . He killed her . . . " Lola collapsed inward on herself , drawing her knees close . Cypress held her and kissed her forehead . Lola took the ring out of her pocket . " Mama 's ring . . . She told me to keep it safe from Pa . I want to give it back to her . It 's not his to take . My great - granny gave Mama this ring when she told them she was getting married and Pa wouldn 't buy her one . It 's Mama 's ring . " In the morning , Cypress started the boat and they headed back towards the well . Lola was terrified of Pa seeing her , but she felt safe with Cypress near . When they were close to the well , Lola told Cypress to stop . Since Mama died , Lola hadn 't set foot anywhere near the well . Her stomach turned with each step she took . The old building that covered it was as menacing as ever . She stopped in front of it , unable to move forward . Cypress held her hand . " Do you not want to go in ? " " I want to . . . I want to give her the ring . " Lola pushed herself to move forward . She lit the lantern they brought with them and opened the door . The space inside was cramped , barely big enough for two people to be inside . Just ahead of her , she saw the well . The door shut behind them , leaving the only light source being the lantern . Lola froze again and started to cry , thinking about Mama being at the bottom of the well . " She 's down in that cold , dark place . " She gripped tightly onto Cypress 's hand . " I don 't want to see . She 's gotta be mad at me for leaving her down there where it 's so cold . " " I 'll go see her . Let me take the ring down . " Cypress offered . " You sure ? " Lola lifted the lantern . She couldn 't see anything from where she was , but she knew the well went down very deep . " I don 't know what it 's like down there . " " I 'll be alright . " Cypress said . Lola took the ring from her pocket and handed it to Cypress . The two of them walked over to the well . Lola held onto the rope for the bucket inside the well and pulled it up to a point where Cypress could get in . She was worried Cypress 's weight might break the bucket , but it stayed strong . Lola handed the lantern over to Cypress and lowered her down . While the light disappeared down that long hole , Lola started to panic . She wanted to look down at Cypress , but she was too afraid to face Mama yet . " You can stop . I 'm near the bottom . " Cypress yelled . Cypress found that the water at the bottom didn 't go very deep . She was greeted by the skeleton of a woman dressed in plain clothing . The colors had distorted into a dark , splotchy mess , but Cypress could still make out the vague impression of a floral pattern . Half of the skeleton was submerged and the skull was titled forward . The skull was heavily damaged . Having seen many battles and murders , and the bodies left behind from them , Cypress recognized the wound as being from a gunshot at close range . She traced the point of entrance of the bullet as being through the left eye . Anger and sadness overcame her . " Is she down there ? " Lola yelled down to her . " I see her . " Cypress replied . She knew Lola must be close to being ready to come down there . Cypress dressed up Mama in her own hat and shawl . She took her hand and placed the wedding ring on it . " Cypress . . . I . . . I think I 'm ready . . . " Lola pulled Cypress back up the well . " We 'll go see her together . " Cypress held onto the rope while Lola put her feet in the bucket with her . It was a tight fit . Lola held on tightly to part of the rope while Cypress lowered them down with the other part . The lantern dangled from Lola 's wrist . Lola closed her eyes until Cypress stopped them . Tears slid down her face before she opened her eyes . The skeleton was lit up by the warm glow of the lantern . Though all her defining features were now gone , Lola knew the skeleton belonged to her mother . She cried harder . " Mama , I 'm sorry it took me so long to come down here . I was scared . . . I know you 're gone now . If you 're still here , please go on now . You don 't need to stay down in this cold place no more . I love you . " Lola took a swamp lily out of her pocket . She picked it before they left that morning . She placed the lily in the brim of the hat . " Goodbye , Mama . " Lola heard a whisper and then the lantern blew out . The door of the building slammed open . " Girl , you in here ? You better come out . The longer you hide , the worse it 's gonna be . " Pa yelled a while longer and then left . When the door closed again , the lantern lit itself . Cypress and Lola stared at each other in confusion . " We better leave now . " Cypress said . Cypress pulled them back up the well . Lola stared at Mama the whole time . She noticed something off . Cypress went down there to give the ring back to Mama , but she didn 't see the ring . ' Maybe it fell in the water . . . ' When they were out of the well , they snuck back to where the boat was . Pa was nowhere to be seen . They rested in front of the boat for a while . " Thank you , for takin ' me to see Mama . " Lola smiled . Her eyes were puffy from crying , but she felt happy . " I 'm sure her spirit is at peace now . " Cypress held her hand . " You were very brave . Lola , will you stay here for a moment ? There 's something I want to show you . I found it recently . " " It 's a surprise . " Cypress walked into the water and changed into her mermaid form . She swam underneath the water . While she waited on Cypress to return , Lola looked at the postcard in her pocket . It was of the falls she was named after . Her grandparents went there on a road trip around the state and had just got back home . They wrote that they wanted to take her there someday . Lola put the postcard back in her pocket . She felt something else there . Lola pulled it out . Lola didn 't know how it got there . She knew she gave it to Cypress before going down into the well and she saw it on Mama 's hand before the lantern went out . Lola looked the ring over and tried it on . It was a perfect fit . A cold metal pressed against her shoulder . " Girl , I told you , you piss me off one more time and I 'll put you down there with yer mama . " Pa hit her in the face with the barrel of his shotgun . He grabbed Lola by the wrist and pulled her away from the water . " You had it all along . You knew I was lookin ' for it . She put you up to that , didn 't she ? " " No , I just found it yesterday . " Lola cried out . Pa threw her against the boat . " This is that boy 's boat , innit ? You plannin ' on runnin ' off together . Like hell Ima allow that ! Give me the ring , girl , and we can go back home . Come on now , give it . " " No ! " Lola screamed . " No ? No ? ! That ring is my property ! Give it to me now ! " He pressed the barrel of the gun against her chest . Out of the murky black water , arms reached out and grabbed hold of Pa 's ankles . He fell forward , the gun dropping out of his hand . The hands with their long claws dug deep into his skin and dragged him into the water . Pa clawed his hands into the ground in resistance . " Girl , help me ! " Lola stayed at the boat , watching him be pulled under . From nearby , logs moved closer and submerged themselves . Pa disappeared under the water . The surface of the water was broken by splashes and whips of tails until nothing moved . When there was not a single ripple upon the surface , Cypress rose out of the water in her human form . " Come , Amicalola . Let 's go . " She offered her hand to Lola . " Here , my surprise . It 's a tourist map of the state . Look , here we are . Up here is Amicalola Falls . " Cypress pointed to a place in the far north . Lola recognized the shape of the state and some of the locations marked . The book her grandparents sent her had a less detailed version of the same thing . This map had towns and roads on it . She saw all the places her father used to complain about and those her mother missed . The city her grandparents wrote from was there too . " Thank you . Do you think we can make it there ? " Lola held the map close to her heart . " We 'll find a way . " Cypress said . She walked to the side of the boat and waved goodbye to all her friends in the swamp . Lola looked at the ring on her finger . Her mother must have given it back to keep , much like her great - grandmother gave her mother the ring long ago . She wondered why .