Seaweed (11 page)

“They don’t believe him yet, but if we don’t deal with Shava, they will. It’s not just your Crazy Jim we have to worry about. We have troubles of our own.”

“What do you mean?”

Tor hesitated. “I can’t really get into it right now. Just that there’s tension in the merfolk world. We have to help keep peace.”

We were interrupted by a gentle musical clicking, much like what I had witnessed coming from Tor before.

“What’s that?”

“Uncle Dex.”

That was when I noticed that he was no longer in the room with us. “What’s he doing?”

“He’s talking with our folk.”

I doubled back to the maps on the floor, maps of the ocean, and realized now what Tor and Dex were doing. Plotting defensive strategy.

“Are you leaving?” I said, my throat catching.

“Not yet.”

Not yet.

I glanced at my watch and noted the time. I’d been gone from the fruit stand too long. Becca was going to have a conniption. “I’ve got to go, but you’ll still be here tonight?”

Tor stood with me. “Yes, I wouldn’t leave without letting you know.” He took my hand. “I’ll walk you back.”

That was good, because I could use help climbing that rock wall to get out of here. And I wanted as much time with Tor now as possible.

“Where’d you run off to?” Becca said as I jogged back. She was sneaking berries from a bowl she’d stashed under the counter.

“I just wanted to say hi to Tor.”

“That was a long hello,” she said with a conspirator’s smile.

I shrugged and grinned back at her, hoping she wouldn’t catch how fake it felt. “Well, you know?”

“Good thing it hasn’t been busy.”

“Yeah, sorry. I’ll try to control myself next time.”

Mentally, I was far away from the fruit stand, hardly aware of the tourists walking the boardwalk. I rang in customers by habit.

“Dori? What’s with you today?” Becca said. “You are out in la-la land.”

“Uh, sorry, just daydreaming.”

I was wracking my brain for a way to keep the
not yet
from happening.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Mom came into the kitchen with a stack of envelopes the next morning while I ate breakfast.

“Mail call,” she said, then handed me a letter.

I was surprised at first because I never got any mail. I mean, who would write to me when there was email?

My hands shook when I saw who it was from. The Maritimes Swimming Association. The verdict was inside. Was I guilty or innocent? I ripped it open.

Dear Ms Seward,

The results of your tests have been forwarded to us. We are please to advise you that you have been cleared of any possible drug enhancement use, and are officially re-instated to the Provincial Swim Team.

Sincerely,

John Brewster

President.

I showed the letter to Mom.

“This is terrific, Dori.” She gave me a big hug. “Of course, I knew you were innocent, but it’s so great to get your named cleared. You must be so relieved.”

I shrugged. “I’m not going back.”

“Dori, I know it was embarrassing but you can’t let this little incident stop you from pursuing your dreams. You know, get back on the horse, and all that.”

How could it be my dream anymore when I was hampered by a possible mermaid transformation?

Unless I wasn’t. Maybe I shouldn’t make any rash decisions.

“I’ll think about it,” I said, stuffing the letter in my back pocket. “Anyway, I gotta run. I’m going sailing this morning. Dad said it was okay.”

“I’m not crazy about you going out alone, Dori.”

“It’s a beautiful day. I just need time to clear my head. I won’t be long. I’ve got my cell phone with me if I have any problems, which I won’t.”

It turned out I wasn’t the only one with plans to go out on this perfect summer day. Colby and Tiffany were at the docks, too. I could hear her giggle and felt them staring.

I stared right back at them.

“Seaweed!” Colby called out. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

I ignored him. Not his business.

“He probably dumped her, Colby,” Tiffany said just loud enough for me to hear. “No one wants to date a cheater.”

That was it. I stomped over to them, relishing Tiffany’s shocked expression and flipped out the letter from my back pocket.

“I didn’t cheat,” I said, waving it in their faces. Colby plucked it from my hand, his eyes narrowing as they scanned left to right. I considered telling him that he probably didn’t have to worry about competing next to me anymore, because I’d likely be quitting swim team, but decided to keep that info to myself a little longer. Let him sweat it out a bit.

I didn’t wait for a response, because, quite frankly, I didn’t care what they thought. I snatched my letter back and turned on my heels without another word.

I did my pre-sail check, started the motor, and putted out of the marina. I liked to sail when I was stressed and with everything going on with Tor, I felt stressed. Running into Colby and Tiffany didn’t help.

I headed out farther than I usually go, the sails rippling in the wind. I breathed in deeply, letting the sun caress my face. The farther I got from shore the more I relaxed. I let myself become one with the boat, skimming the waves.

Sometimes the sails mask the view, like a blind spot. You had to be careful that they didn’t shield the sight of oncoming marine traffic.

Usually, I was extremely cautious, fully aware of my surroundings. I guess I could blame stress, or the fact I hadn’t been sleeping that well, but mostly, I just had to take the blame. I wasn’t being careful enough.

I’d let my eyes close for just a second. Just a second, I swore. I was jerked off balance by a big thunk and a sickening crunch. I ducked in time to miss getting my head chopped off by the main sail boom as it whipped over my head.

Water rushed into my small craft, swallowing it. I flapped my arms, waves gushing over my head and up my nose. In my peripheral I caught sight of another larger vessel.

My heart beat in panic as I realized I’d been hit. Our family boat was destroyed and it was my fault!

And I hadn’t put on a life jacket. I never did. I was an expert swimmer.

I recognized the weather beaten fishing boat. It belonged to Crazy Jim. I cried out for help because the shore was too far away, even for me to make it.

My cries for help were masked by the wind and jumping waves. I felt something tangle in my feet.

Crazy Jim’s fishing net.

It dragged me under. I struggled with the ropes, panic loud in my chest like the beating of a native drum.

I was pulled deeper and deeper, the light of the sun shining through the water fading.

My lungs burned.

I kicked my feet like mad, trying to break loose from the net. I’d been sucked under the surface for too long. Longer than I’d ever held my breath before.

I managed to get my feet free, but it was too late. I was too far down to get to the surface on time.

This was it? This was how I die?

It all happened so fast. I waited for my life to flash before my eyes with a saint of some sort beckoning me to traverse down a tunnel of light.

Then, oddly, the burning in my chest subsided. A strange waving sensation tickled my ears. I touched them.

My pimples were soft and feathery, exuding bubbles.

Gills!

My legs felt tingly, and even though I was half expecting it, it still stunned me. I looked like Tor.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Ack!!!!!

A freaking tail! I no longer had legs. My mind still wanted to work two appendages; do the splits, anything, but it was like having only one leg. One very strong muscular leg.

I felt myself hyperventilating through the gills behind my ears, blinding myself with bubbles. My chest didn’t expand but I could tell my heart still worked. The beating pounded loudly in my head until I thought it would just pop off.

I closed my eyes and imagined myself in my bed.
This is a dream, Dori.
Take a deep breath and calm down.

I faked myself out like that for a while, warm and floating, wanting to believe I would wake up any minute with my legs intact, knowing that I was immersed in water and what Tor had told me about myself was true.

I was a mermaid.

This was what I’d wanted, right?
So, stop freaking out.
I opened my eyes. I’d been underwater for over ten minutes. I hadn’t drowned. I wasn’t dead and I wasn’t dying. I could do this.

White debris on the ocean floor caught my eye. A lump formed in my throat as I watched the last pieces of my sailboat settle in the silt. I had no idea how I was going to explain the accident to my family.

When I took in my surroundings, I realized I could see better than usual. Instead of my vision being gray and cloudy like it normally was when I swam without goggles, the undersea world around me was oddly vivid, like an artist’s rendering in HD. The blue/green of the water shimmered like a jewel. Around me the cod and flounder were almost neon, and the ocean floor moved like a fluid carpet.

I was still processing that I was breathing under water—with gills.

And, yes, I had my own spectacular tail. I instinctively knew how to work it. Now that I’d stopped freaking out completely, I tested it with a couple underwater loopdy-loops.

I wasn’t sure what it looked like to all my new underwater buddies, but I didn’t blame them one bit for skittering away as fast as they could. I flapped my arms, spinning in circles, my long hair floating glamorously around my head, a wispy flag of white-blond in surrender. I gave in to my exhaustion and floated like a piece of dead driftwood, letting the current take me where it willed.

I dazed out in some kind of burned out I-can’t-freaking-believe-this-actually-happened coma state when I heard the song of the northern right whale. That was when I noticed how fine-tuned my hearing was—I felt like a human radio receiver.

I righted myself into a vertical position, startled by the nearness of the whale as she moseyed on by. Her impressive stocky body, with her squar-ish head and bumpy skin, was so close I could reach out and touch her. Her dark eyes took me in with amusement but I wasn’t (very) afraid. She’d seen my kind before. I knew she fed on zooplankton, but I would’ve been a fool not to respect her, and so I kept my distance.

I watched the northern right until it was out of sight. I found my heart rate had finally slowed and I focused on my gills until my breaths calmed. I twirled around ballerina style, momentarily losing myself, totally into the freedom I was now enjoying underwater. I found myself dancing in new-found giddy joy with my recent mermaid-ness. Laughing underwater produced a wave of happy bubbles, which made me want to laugh even more.

Then I finally snapped out of my world of awe.

I needed to find Tor and tell him that he was right. I was a
mermaid
. The strangest thing was, I
knew
how to find him. Instinct was awesome!

I shut off my mind to logic and just swam, allowing myself to rise to just below the surface. It took a while, but eventually I neared the cove. For the first time since I’d gotten my gills, I surfaced, sticking my face above the water. I didn’t know what I’d expected, but I sucked in air and my lungs kicked in like normal.

I had to know; could I still breathe underwater, then? I dipped my head under and held my breath. Within seconds my gills activated.

Once I stopped playing, lungs/gills/lungs/gills, I refocused on the task at hand. Find Tor. I saw the tall dark jagged rocks near shore with an almost invisible vertical crevice in the middle. The tide was low and I was thankful there was still enough water in the bay to get me to the cave entrance.

Also, because the tide was low, the rock Tor had used to hoist himself out of the water was out of reach. There were several more flat, human-sized rocks at various levels, and I had a feeling that it wasn’t accidental. Tor and his uncle had worked hard to make this cave work. We just had to keep its existence from discovery.

I hopped on the rock, and for the first time got a full out-of-water view of my new body. I had to admit that my tail was a beautiful, deep seaweed green, with glistening pinks, blues and purples swirling throughout.

I still wore my long tank top, but I could see the tattoo-like markings that now covered both of my shoulders and part way down my biceps. I wasn’t sure how I’d explain those to my parents.

I gasped with the first jolt of pain. Oh, yeah, the painful tail-to-leg part. Ow—another jolt, stronger this time; I cried out for Tor.