Real Mermaids 2 - Don't Hold Their Breath (12 page)

“I think we're about three quarters of the way around,” Dad said.

I was wet and cold and beyond frustrated by the time we reached the stand of trees at the far end of the pond. “What if we don't find her? What if something happened?”

Just then, a light flashed from across the water. “Is that Luke?” My heart skipped a beat. “Maybe he saw something. Luke!”

“Ja—” I heard his yell across the water about a hundred feet away. The light from his flashlight waved in random zigzags for a few seconds accompanied by another yell and splashing. Then the light went out.

“Oh no!
Luke!
” I grabbed Dad's arm. A big red panic button in my head set me off in a fit of guppyish, gulping cries. “What's happening to him?”

“I'm coming, buddy!” Dad called out to Luke. He slapped his flashlight helmet on my head. “Wait here.”

“But you won't be able to see!” I said between fits of panic. “How are you going to find him?”

“Just stay put and whatever you do,
don't
go in the water or you're grounded until you're sixteen.” Dad crashed through the trees like a bear on a blueberry mission.

“Be careful!” I wiped the streaking tears from my eyes, worrying it would be the last time I'd see him, Mom,
or
Luke. The last thing I spotted in the flickering lamplight was Dad's hockey stick slashing branches as he disappeared into the trees.

Now Mom was still nowhere to be found, something was up with Luke, and Dad had left me standing alone on the banks of a dark, creepy looking pond. I couldn't help thinking that my current situation had all the makings of a really scary slasher movie.

I hadn't been that scared since Finalin and Medora trapped me and Mom in the creek back in Talisman Lake. But this felt far worse. What if Mom hadn't survived this time? What if Luke was in danger too?

I took a few long, deep breaths to keep from completely freaking out and glanced across the water, trying to find the spot where I'd last seen Luke's flashlight, but I couldn't see anything. A few minutes later, I heard Dad's voice echo through the culvert.

“Luke!” Dad called.

“Dad!” I yelled out, desperate for him to answer. Why was he yelling for Luke? Wasn't he where we left him?

“Dad!” I called again.

All I could make out from his answer was a hollow sounding “gonna go see…” and “stay there.”

“Wait! I'll go with you!” I called out but he didn't answer. “Dad!”

But it was no use; he was gone. I was really crying by then, blurring everything around me. And just to make things worse, the clouds moved over the moon and my headlamp kept flickering.

Mom?
I tried ringing out her name one more time out of desperation.

I heard the crack of a branch behind me and spun around.

“Who's there?” I yelled. I saw a flash of luminescent eyes in the light of my headlamp. Then the eyes turned into the profile of a raccoon that scampered off through the bulrushes. I scanned the pond again and took a few deep breaths to try and get my heart rate back to normal.

Ma…wmm.

A noise took me by surprise. I turned back to the place where the raccoon had popped out. I saw a leg by a nearby tree. Then an arm. Then the bright paleness of a face shone in the lamplight.

I blinked, not understanding what I was seeing at first. Could this be real? Could it really be her?

Then I saw her. All of her. I opened my mouth to speak, but my voice came out as a whisper.

“Serena?”

Serena slid back behind the tree. I slipped off my backpack and took out a blanket from the waterproof bag.

“Serena, it's me, Jade.” I held out the blanket and walked toward her carefully, trying not to spook her. “You remember?”

I hadn't seen Serena since her parents, Finalin and Medora, had blackmailed me into freeing her from Talisman Lake along with Mom a few weeks before. She was taller than I'd imagined and younger—about my age. A horrible thought occurred to me. Was it Serena's arm I'd seen in the tidal pool with Cori? Had I risked everything to free her instead of Mom?

Serena looked past the tree trunk and held her hand up against the light of my headlamp. I twisted my helmet to the side so the light didn't flash right into her face.

Sorry,
I tried to find my mermaid voice. Even though I was probably saying it all wrong, since my Mermish was still definitely rusty, it seemed to have an effect because Serena took a small step toward me.
Here, take this blanket.

I wrapped the blanket around Serena's shivering shoulders. She grasped the fabric and hugged it around herself.

How—
I started to ask, but as I spoke, Serena took my hand and led me through the trees, stiff-legged like a newborn fawn. At first, I thought she was leading me to the culvert, but we headed into the dark stand of trees. After a few minutes, we stopped by a fallen tree trunk

No, come with me.
I pulled on her hand, trying to direct her toward the culvert. We'd have to hurry, otherwise the tide would be too high and we'd be stuck there until morning.

Ma…wmm.
Serena crouched down beside the tree trunk.

Only it wasn't a tree trunk. It was a person. With arms and legs and hair, huddled on the ground. Could it be? After all this time and so many dead ends, had I finally found her?

“Ohmigod! Mom?” I lunged toward her and pulled at the branches and leaves covering her body. My head registered a jumble of different thoughts at once. How long had she been there? Was she okay? Was she even alive? “Dad!
Dad!
She's here!”

“Jade?” Mom's voice was barely a whisper.

“Mom!” She
was
alive! I wanted to scream and dance around, but there was no time to waste. Where was Dad? We had to get her to safety.

“I can't believe I finally found you! Dad!” I tried again.

My hands shook as I fumbled in my backpack for another blanket. My words came out in a long babble as I tried to cover her as best I could. “Are you hurt? What have you been eating—are you thirsty? Do you want some water?”

I pulled a water bottle from my backpack and Mom and Serena both drank thirstily.

“Serena changed quicker…been waiting for two…three days?” Mom shivered violently and tried to stand. “Couldn't get out…the fence.”

“I know, I know.” I put her arm around my neck and helped her stand. Serena did the same. “It's a construction site. There's a way out, but we have to hurry.”

We half-carried, half-dragged Mom through the trees toward the general direction of the culvert. I could see glimpses of the chain-link fence a few dozen feet to my right, so I knew if I could just keep that in view, I'd hit water and then the culvert soon enough.

“Ooof!” I tripped and stumbled when my foot sank into a mushy area of grass.

Mom gasped beside me. “Slower?”

“No.” I got to my feet. Serena readjusted the blanket over her shoulders and tightened her grip around Mom from the other side. “The water is getting higher. We won't be able to get through the tunnel if we don't hurry.”

I'd finally found her. She was alive! She had legs! Nothing was going to keep me from getting her to safety. I swung my head back and forth, trying to shine the headlight's beam to see where we were heading. Finally, the light caught a flash of metal a few yards away.

“Over there.” I pointed. The water rose to my waist as we waded toward the glinting culvert. I grasped Mom and held my free hand out in front of me. Finally, my fingers met the cool metal.

“Through here!” I went first, scrambling through the low culvert backward so I could pull Mom along as I went. The tunnel was two thirds full, thanks to the rising tide, so I kept my chin up, out of the water, and hoped my flashlight helmet didn't fall off. If only I could make it to the other side and back to the beach, Mom could finally come home. Hopefully, Luke and Dad would be on the other end of the culvert and not a couple angry sentries. “Are you guys okay?” I whispered to Mom and Serena, trying to keep our group moving.

“Yes,” Mom answered but her voice was labored and hoarse.

I didn't dare call out to see if Dad was on the other side of the culvert. What if the mers heard me? Hopefully, he was making good use of his slap shot over the sentries' heads if they were causing problems.

Something brushed up against my leg.

“Ah!” I called out.

“What is it?” Mom asked.

“Something's down there!”

“Alzear,” Mom whispered.

Reese's Uncle Alzear?

“What's he doing?” I kicked my legs through the water to stop him. But all of a sudden, I felt a force pulling me along the tunnel.

“He's helping us,” Mom said.

After a few seconds, we emerged from the culvert on the beach side. I scrambled out of the stream, tugging Mom and Serena behind me.

Dad was there, brandishing his hockey stick. “Where is he? Where did that guy go?” He slapped at the water, wild-eyed and crazy-haired.

“Dad!” I called. “Dad! I've got her.”

That's when he noticed Mom and dropped his stick.

“Michaela?”

“Yes! And she's got legs!” I exclaimed, relieved that we wouldn't have to put the Merlin 3000 to the test, given its technical difficulties.

Mom lifted her head. “Dalrymple?”

I chuckled. Hearing Mom call Dad by his first name never got old. “Dalrymple” just went to show that Gran either had a ridiculous sense of humor or was under the influence of some serious pain medication when he was born.

Dad stumbled toward us, his hand to his mouth. I could see by the dim moonlight that he was soaked, his shirt was untucked, and his glasses sat precariously on his nose.

“Yes, Micci, yes.” He took Mom from me and picked her up in his arms. She looked so small and fragile now that I could see her properly. He brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her gently.

“Dal.” Mom leaned her head against his chest. Dad's face creased into a sob. He tried to hold back, but soon his whole body sagged in relief.

Serena crawled from the river behind us and stood uncertainly.

“Um, Dad? There's someone else.” I turned my headlamp in Serena's direction. She blinked away the glare.

Dad looked up and his face registered confusion.

“Luke?” Dad wiped his eyes in the upper sleeve of his shirt. “No. Who's this?”

“You remember our friends Medora and Finalin back in Talisman Lake?” I asked. Dad still looked confused. “This is their daughter, Serena.”

“Oh?” A look of understanding crossed his face. “Oh, I see.”

“Wait.” I looked around, trying to find Luke. “Where
is
Luke?”

Dad squeezed his eyes shut and blinked. “He wasn't here when I got through the culvert. Maybe he went for help?” Dad looked down into Mom's face, but she was barely conscious. “Let's get your mom back to the car, so she can be comfortable and we can look for him.”

“No, wait.” Mom lifted her head. She seemed to be trying to listen. I heard the rings too but had trouble understanding. “Alzear says there was a mistake. They thought Luke was a poacher.”

“A what?” I asked, my heart in my throat. Whatever it was, it didn't sound good.

“A human mer hunter. The other sentry pulled Luke underwater and he changed. Alzear tried to reason with him, but he's taken Luke to the Council.”

I collapsed onto the beach, not believing what I was hearing.

Luke was now a mer.

•••

The drive home was quiet. We finally convinced Serena to get in the car, but she spent the whole car ride with her face and hands plastered against the passenger side window like she was on the Behemoth roller coaster at Magic Mountain.

Mom fell asleep almost immediately, wrapped up in one of the dry blankets from the trunk, where we'd also found one of my spring jackets for Serena. My XL windbreaker hung loosely around Serena's narrow shoulders even though she was about two inches taller than I was.

“What's going to happen to Luke?” I asked.

“We'll get the Merlin 3000 to Eddie's house on the coast. Hopefully, he'll show up there.” He pulled out his cell to call Eddie.

“But the Merlin 3000 doesn't even work!” I yelled.

“Jade,” Dad said quietly, “Eddie will try to get it back online while we wait. I'm sorry but that's the best we can do for now.”

I stared out the window as the rain streamed down the glass. What had I done? I'd been so focused on getting to Mom that I'd sacrificed Luke in the process. Life suddenly started to feel like a cruel, warped joke.

Dad had the heat cranked to keep everyone warm, but we smelled like a moldy bog and were full of sand and mud, which didn't help. Despite the rain, I rolled down my window to try and get some fresh air just as we crossed the drawbridge over the canal. Serena leaped across the back seat, crawling over me to see out my window to Talisman Lake.

Maw-rmm!

“What the—?” I asked. “Get off me!”

Dad ended his call. “Whoa there, Serena. Jade, did you show her how to get her seat belt on?”

“You're kidding me, right?” I asked, trying to untangle myself from her arms, the blanket, and her long matted hair.

“She hears them.” Mom turned back toward us from the front seat.
Serena, honey, sit back.
Mom placed her hand gently on Serena's shoulder. She jumped back at first, but then turned to Mom and seemed to calm down enough to sit back down on the seat.

Maw-rmm.

Yes, it's her,
Mom rang quietly.
But
remember
what
we
talked
about. Your mother and father wanted you to be free of Talisman Lake. They didn't want you to be imprisoned like they were.

Serena leaned against her rain-splattered window and cried quietly. I adjusted the extra blanket over her, trying to cover up her shaking legs but secretly wished I'd left her back in Talisman Lake when I'd had the chance. After a few minutes of driving through town, we finally reached our dark, quiet street. Eddie and the Martins were already waiting by our driveway.

Trey came running up to my partially open window as Dad put the car in park. “Why didn't you guys tell us where you were going? We could have helped you!”

I opened the door and slinked out. “I'm sorry. We didn't—”

“Didn't what?” I'd never seen Trey like this. His usual happy-joking self was gone, replaced with a flash of anger behind his eyes.

“I'm sorry, Trey. I…” But what could I say? I'd lost his brother.

“Trey? Help us out here?” Eddie whispered from the open garage as he started hitching the trailer to his truck.

Dad already had Mom partway up the walk. I let out a shaky breath and went over to Serena's side to help her out of the car and into the house.

“Home.” Mom was sitting on the sofa in the living room with her eyes closed when I finally got Serena inside.

“Yeah, Mom. You're finally home.” I crawled onto couch and hugged her tightly as Serena stood at the door, staring at the hall light.

I thought back to how I'd rescued Mom from Dundee and bargained with Finalin and Medora to get her across the locks. How Reese had led me to the culvert only to be turned away by the sentries. The rally and how hard we'd worked to finally get through the culvert. My whole body shook with relief as I hugged her, now skin and bones from the hell she'd been through over the past year.

But Mom was home, finally home.

I just hoped I hadn't risked too much to get her there.

•••

It was 3:00 a.m. by the time everyone got to bed. I finally convinced Serena to take a bath, then to take another one after her unfortunate accident. It was like having a toddler in the house, showing her how to use the toilet and get ready for bed. Yes, it was all brand new to her, but after arm-wrestling her into a pair of my old pajamas and trying fifteen different sleeping options before she wedged herself under my bed, she was definitely getting on my last nerve.

So when my cell phone rang at half-past stupid o'clock, I swore whoever it was, they were going down. It didn't help that Serena was freaking out like a trapped mackerel underneath my bed.

Eeeeiiii!

“Serena! Shussh.” I stumbled out of bed, realizing it could be news about Luke. I was suddenly wide-awake. I dumped the stuff from my backpack onto my bed and sorted through Dad's and Luke's cell phones before finding mine.