Seaweed (14 page)

Now that she mentioned it, I realized I was. It’d been a really long day, what with losing the family sailboat, almost drowning and turning into a mermaid, and swimming off to unknown depths with my boyfriend to meet his family who didn’t like me and his old girlfriend who was still so seriously in love with him—yes, I was exhausted.

Why don’t you and Shava have a little rest while the rest of us have a family meeting?
she said.

I wasn’t crazy about being left alone with Shava, but it provided a good opportunity for us to have a little girl-to-girl talk, so I nodded, okay.

I won’t be long
, Tor added. He seemed to say that to both of us, which just got my blood boiling again.

Tor and his family disappeared deeper into the caves. I folded my arms and stared at Shava.
Look, I know you two had a thing going, but Tor assures me it’s over. He and I are together now.

Instead of protesting, Shava burst into tears. Yes, it turns out you could cry underwater. I would’ve much preferred protest.

I just love him so much. I’ve known Tor all my life. We grew up together.

This story sounded oddly familiar, only it was Colby’s voice, talking about me. It was weird thinking about Colby while I was who-knew-where under the sea, in a cave think-talking with a sobbing mermaid.

My life had gotten really strange. I focused back on Shava, who was still babbling on.

Then, like all merchildren, when we hit puberty, we were offered the option of going on land. For most of us, the idea of going ashore is very frightening, especially because we’re told how painful it is, but Tor has always wanted to do it. He’s very brave.

She looked at me with wide mournful eyes and hiccupped and I fought the urge to go hug and comfort her.

Didn’t you have the same choice? Why didn’t you go?

That comment just triggered more tears.

Shava?

I’m not brave like that. I begged him not to. Kon didn’t want him to, either. No one did, but he did it anyway.

It was hard to stay angry with her. I changed the course of the conversation.
Where is everyone else?

They’ve gone ahead. We’re just waiting for Uncle Dex.

He’s your uncle, too?

Through marriage. The queen is my aunt, my mother’s sister.

Okay.
Why are you here? Why aren’t you with your parents?

Again she laid her soulful wide eyes on me.
My mother passed away.
My father,
her voice lowered to a whisper
, he was from the other clan.

Is that bad?

She nodded.
Oh, and I’m so sorry for grabbing your ankle. I only did it because I knew it would bring Tor into the bay.

She was the one who grabbed my ankle? Not a scuba diver playing a joke. I was too surprised and kind of ticked off to say anything right away.

Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll go to sleep.

I didn’t know what I’d expected, for her to go off to some cave bedroom or something, but instead she just closed her eyes. Like a fish in an aquarium, she just hovered in one spot and slept.

It was perturbing.

Hello
.

I whipped around, looking for the owner of this new child-like voice. I scanned the cave, but outside of Shava hanging like an oversized piñata, I saw no one.

Down here.

I squinted, but all I could see were short stalks of waving seaweed attached to the cave floor.

Then something rose out of it. I jumped back like I’d spotted a mouse.

Only it was a—sea horse? Atlantic sea horses weren’t common and I’d never actually seen one before, but though this creature had a horse shaped head, a skeletal body that floated vertically, and a monkey-like tail wrapped around a thwack of seaweed, it was the size of a man’s shoe—too big to be a sea horse.

I’m not a sea
horse
. I resemble a sea
dragon
. Obviously, you don’t know your sea creatures very well.

Did it really talk to me?

Yes, and my name is Barnaculoese.

I pinched my eyes together. I was just tired, that was all, beyond exhausted.

Are you always so rude, Dori?

It knew my name!

W-what are you?

I’m a sea-nymph.

But sea-nymphs aren’t real.

Neither are mermaids.

Touché.

The creature disentangled himself from the seaweed and swam slowly toward me, his body remaining vertical. That was when I saw that many of the seaweed type strands were actually attached to his body, a perfect camouflage, much like the sea dragon. Only sea dragons weren’t native to these waters.

He was fascinating in the way reptiles and rodents were to me. Better from a distance, preferably in a cage. I shifted backward slightly.

Okay, Barney,
I ventured.
Nice to meet you.

Likewise. And the name’s Barnaculoese.

Right. Fancy name for a fancy fish.
So, what’d you do around here,
Barnaculoese
? Do the king and queen know about you?

Of course. I’m their special aide.

As in personal assistant? Their secretary?

His seaweed appendages danced delicately around his body.
Something like that.

And what is your assignment now?

You are.

I felt a burning flash of anger. I wasn’t a prisoner here. And honestly, between Sleeping Shava and Barney the think-talking sea-nymph, I was a little freaked out.

I floated to the entrance.

Dori, you mustn’t go out there
, Barnaculoese said.

Try and stop me, you little sea horse-monkey. Besides, I could out swim you, you slow-poke-vertical-swimmer, any day.

Apparently Barney disagreed. He flattened out into a horizontal line and zipped passed me like an eel on speed.

I thrust myself out of his way. Did sea-nymphs bite or sting? I really didn’t want to find out.

But I also didn’t want to be bullied by a pet. Even if it did belong to a king.

Excuse me, Barnaculoese.
I feigned self-importance.
But I need to step outside for some, uh, air.

I swam gingerly toward the mouth of the cave, watching Barney out of the corner of my eye. If he felt the need to shadow me, fine. As long as he kept his slimy little weedy attachments to himself.

I paused briefly when I spotted the guards. If they saw me staring they didn’t show any sign. They were big and bulky, almost bigger than Dex. They flanked either side of the cave, staring straight ahead, alert, only their tail fins moving gently to keep them vertical.

I dared to swim out in front, relieved to see Barney had halted behind them.

Hey
, I thought-spoke.
How’s it going?

No response. I wondered if I failed to address them properly. I tried again.
Hi, there. I’m Dori. What are your names?

Nothing. Were they ignoring me? How rude. Or maybe they were like the queen’s guards in England, the guys with the big black Q-tips for hats. I swam around and waved my hands.

They didn’t budge.

I put my thumbs in my ears and wiggled my fingers.
Na-na-na-na-na-na.

It was like I was invisible. I laughed.

Then a thunderous sound.
Get back in the cave, Dori Seward of Eastcove. You’re too far out
.

Oh. They did speak. Kind of scary, really. I swam back inside like a chastised child.

Barney chuckled.

Oh, shut up.

Shava still hung there, sleeping. I was too attached to my human ways to follow suit. I found a crevice in the wall, a makeshift stone bunk bed and lay down.

I closed my eyes willing myself to relax and trying to push the humiliation I felt with the guard encounter out of my mind, but I couldn’t sleep. Barney hovered vertically near my head.

Look, Barnaculoese, I need a bit of space. Can’t you watch me from over there?
I gestured to the other side of the cave.
I’m obviously not going anywhere.

Barney dipped his head in a mini bow.
As you wish.

As you wish? Now he was my genie? I snarfed. I
wished
. No such luck for me.

I took in a big gill breath and tried to settle into the rock “bed.” A little sleep would feel really good.

I had to bring her.

My eyes sprung open. That was Tor’s voice.

Don’t you know she’s exactly what they’re looking for?
Kon? I didn’t know why I could hear them all of sudden. It was like I’d tuned into Tor’s radio wave.

She’s one of us. She deserved to see our world.
Tor.

She’s not one of us. And you’ve brought danger to our clan by bringing her here.
Kon.

Father?
Tor.

Nothing. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t pick up Tor’s signal again. One thing was for sure. They were arguing about me.

My chest tightened. I felt claustrophobic. I’d been underwater too long. My lungs weren’t use to this and I had an overwhelming need to surface.

I tried to calm myself, focusing on my gills the way Tor had instructed me before, but it didn’t work this time. All I could hear was the echo of Kon’s voice, “She’s not one of us. You’ve brought danger to our clan by bringing her here.”

My heart raced. I feared I would black out. Could a mermaid drown?

Tor?
I cried out.
Help?

Dori?
I was shocked at how fast he came to me.

Tor? My lungs. I need to surface.

He took my hand and we swam out of the cave and headed up.

CHAPTER TWENTY

It was nighttime. I wasn’t sure why this surprised me, since it had been a
long
day. When my head burst through the surface, I drew in a deep breath. It was weird because it wasn’t like my body lacked oxygen, but it just felt so good, like a back massage.

Plus, now I could talk with my mouth.

“Tor, that was so intense.”

He smiled, but in the moonlight, I saw his eyes. They were heavy.

“What’s the matter? What were you and Kon talking about?”

“You could hear us?”

I nodded.

“I guess I was thinking about you too much. You shouldn’t have heard that.”

“But I did. Why am I a danger?”

Tor let out a long breath. “Can we talk about this tomorrow? We’re both tired.”

“But
will
we talk about this tomorrow?”

“I promise.”

I was so tired I’d probably forget half of what we’d talked about if we did keep going. “Okay. So what now?” We were bobbing on the surface and I wondered if I was just supposed to close my eyes like Shava had.

“Come here.” Tor opened his arms and I swam into them, turning to settle my back into his chest as he wrapped his arms around me. “I’ll hold you. Go to sleep now.”

I melted into his warmth and strength, wishing for every night in my future to end this way. My eyes drooped shut and I drifted off. Time stopped until the sun rose, waking us both with its brightness.

“Good morning, Sunshine.” I couldn’t tell at first if Tor spoke to me or the actual sun, but the way his eyes sparkled when he looked at me made me believe the former.

“Good morning,” I said. I scooped a little seawater for mouthwash. Then I turned in for a kiss. Tor didn’t hesitate and kissed me back with warm soft wake-up kisses.

“Hungry?” he said when he pulled away.

“I’m famished.” What I wanted more than anything was Mom’s fried kipper breakfast with potato pancakes.

Tor pointed to jumping salmon. Okay, raw salmon would do in a pinch. Tor took off and I followed him. The guy could swim really fast when he had a mind to. Then he caught a fish mid air. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.