The Mermaid's Curse (California Mermaids Book 1) (6 page)

Chapter Nineteen: Oceania

“She gave up her immortality,” I whisper. “But why? She couldn’t have Lucas anyway, not when he was married to a land woman.”

“That’s true enough,” Mother says, “but the mere idea of never seeing him again broke her heart. She had to know what became of the one she loved. That’s why she gave up her immortality. And, in case you haven’t guessed, the mer-baby she was carrying was none other than me.”

I stare at my mother for a moment, dumbfounded. I must admit that I’d had an inkling of where the story was headed, but I also feel a sense of betrayal at the fact that she’d kept our human bloodline a secret from me for all this time.

“So you’re half-human? And since I’m a quarter human, you think that’s why my special talent didn’t show up until I played and sang with Xavier?”

Mother nods.

“Did you ever meet your father?”

Mother shoots Father a pained look. “No,” she says softly. Father places his hand on her arm, his eyes gentle and full of pity.

“I couldn’t meet him,” she continues. “Lucas was so devastated by life without my mother that he hurled himself into the ocean one day, before I was even a year old. He was only seventeen, and he just couldn’t live the life that he’d been forced into. My mother told me that she found his body floating among the waves one day, when she was watching for him at sunrise. She buried him at the bottom of the ocean, and mourned him secretly, only telling me the story when I was older.”

A single tear trickles down her cheek, glowing brilliant aqua, and Father wipes it away. My eyes fill with tears of their own at the tragic story.

Confused thoughts swim through my head like brightly-colored fish scrambling to avoid a shark. “So Grandmer Genevieve’s immortality was taken, but you’re immortal. And so am I.” I hesitate for a moment, swallowing hard. “That is true, right?”

“Yes,” Mother says. “The immortality was revoked from my mother, but not from me, or any of my descendants. Apparently, the witch Morwenna told my mother that her indiscretion should not cost future generations the gift of immortality, since it was her sin alone, not ours.”

Interesting. I’ve always avoided Morwenna, mostly because I find her terrifying—but at least she’s fair.

Mother continues, “However, Morwenna did put one curse on your grandmer that affects future generations—you included.”

A shiver runs up my spine, starting with my tail. “A curse?”

“Yes,” Mother says in a hoarse voice, not quite meeting my eyes. “Once a mermaid of Genevieve’s lineage reaches age eighteen, she may travel to the surface freely, as all mermaids do. But then, she has only twelve full moons to decide whether she wants to live in the ocean or on land. And once she decides, she can never go back. If she tries to cross to the other side after committing to her choice, she will disintegrate instantly.”

My breath catches in my throat. I’ve only just met Xavier, and already I can’t imagine life without him. But to never talk to my parents or Ula again? Unthinkable.

Mother reaches out, squeezing my hand. “I wish that love always had a happy ending, but sometimes it just doesn’t. That’s why, when you brought the human here, I felt that it was time for you to learn the truth. I can tell that, even though you’ve only just met Xavier, you care about him deeply. That’s the only way you would kiss him. But you must know that a relationship with a human is doomed for failure—that is, unless you are willing to leave us forever.”

I yank my hand away from my mother’s, dropping my head into the crook of my arms. I wish I’d never ventured above the surface. If I’d never met Xavier, my life would be easy. I wouldn’t have to choose—I would just continue to live the way I always had, completely ignorant of my special talent and my sad heritage.

Suddenly, I’m furious. If my parents had told me sooner, I never would’ve gone to the surface to begin with. I snap my head up, glaring at them. “Why did you keep this a secret from me for so long? Ula knows, doesn’t she?”

“Of course,” Mother says. She seems unaffected by my violent reaction; she probably expected it. “She learned the truth at age eighteen as well, at which time she was permitted to venture to the surface and make her choice. It’s a rite of passage that every mermaid descendant of Genevieve must experience.”

I look down at my tail, speechless. I’ve just learned so much that my mind is churning like a whirlpool.

Father finally speaks. “Do you understand now, Oceania, why we don’t want you spending time with that land boy? Attachments to humans will only complicate your decision, and everyone knows that a mermaid’s true place is in the ocean.”

“Of course I understand,” I say in a flat voice. Everything that I’d questioned during my younger years has suddenly sprung into focus: my parents’ prejudice toward land people, their refusal to visit the surface themselves, and their general overprotectiveness. “I just can’t believe that you didn’t tell me the truth sooner.”

Father draws his thick eyebrows together. “Don’t question us, Oceania. We wanted to protect you from the harsh reality as long as we could. Can you blame us for that?”

“No,” I reply quietly. I can see that this is not an argument I’ll ever win. At that moment, I know that I will have to keep my relationship with Xavier a secret from my parents for the next twelve full moons, until I decide what to do. If I stop talking about him, they will forget all about this.

Meanwhile, I can see him every night, when they’re asleep. This will actually work better than fighting about it; if I argue, my father will probably forbid me to go to the surface altogether and watch me 24 hours a day.

So, I drop that subject and ask the other question that has been burning in my mind. “All right. So I understand my lineage, and why you kept it a secret until now. But is there a way to break the curse?”

Chapter Twenty: Xavier

All morning on the fishing boat, Mr. Roth and Mr. Simonsen pepper me with questions about my academic performance at Berkeley last semester, and how I’ve been spending my summer.

“Oh, I’ve been helping Father out with the banks a bit,” I answer. “And I just finished composing a sonata for the piano and harp—”

“A nice pastime, naturally,” Father interrupts. “But only a pastime, right son?”

His flat, dark eyes auger holes into me, and I nod, not wanting to argue with him.

“And what better pastime to have, really?” Mr. Simonsen says, gazing out over the water. “Well, besides fishing, of course. My Victoria is quite the proficient young musician. Voice like an angel, that one has.”

“His” Victoria just happens to be the girl I’ve been half-heartedly courting for the past few months, not by choice on my part, although she’s a nice girl and she certainly seems fond enough of me. But our lukewarm romance has been completely orchestrated by our fathers.

“This year will mark her last year of finishing school,” Mr. Simonsen continues, his thick, walrus-like mustache wiggling from side to side. “She’s excelling in all subjects, especially voice and painting.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Quite a talented girl, your Victoria,” I say politely, thankful that Mr. Simonsen can’t read minds. I’ve accompanied Victoria’s singing on the piano, and her voice most resembles a high-pitched caterwaul. I’ve seen her paintings, too; she claims to be a realist, but her paintings are as impressionistic as Claude Monet’s, only with none of the technique and raw talent.

A moment later, I scold myself for having such mean-spirited thoughts. I suppose Victoria’s paintings aren’t that atrocious for an amateur, and of course her singing will come up short when compared to Oceania’s otherworldly gift of song.

“
Our
Victoria,” Mr. Simonsen corrects me with a laugh, his big belly bouncing up and down like Saint Nicholas.

“Lovely girl, just lovely,” Father agrees. “Say, Henry, we’re hosting a party at our house next Saturday. Why don’t you bring your family along? You too, Edward.”

“Of course, we’ll be there,” the other two men chorus.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Mr. Roth says.

“And I’ll be sure to bring Victoria, in her best finery,” Mr. Simonsen adds, winking at me.

I fake a smile as my stomach twists itself into knots. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Luckily, all talk of Victoria ceases as Father reels in a splendid Pacific salmon, and the other two men marvel over his catch. The remainder of the boat ride is full of financial and political discussions, and I completely block out the idle banter, instead listening to the natural orchestra of the waves and daydreaming of Oceania.

I set down my fishing pole, still cast in the water, and hum the tune of the
Sonata of the Mermaid
under my breath. I close my eyes, imagining Oceania popping out of the water at Point Joe.

I’m just beginning to doze off into a contented sleep when a rough tap on the shoulder jolts me awake.

“You have a fish on the line,” Father says, gesturing to my fishing pole, which is on the verge of being tugged into the water.

“Thank you.” I reel in a large, scrappy salmon, similar to my father’s, and as soon as we’ve unhooked it, he stretches it out next to his. Of course, his is a few inches longer. 

“Decent fish, Xavier, but you still have a long way to go to catch up to me.”

Mr. Simonsen and Mr. Roth laugh, and Father winks. But I know the truth. He’s really not joking.

At that moment,
The Arabella
feels claustrophobic, and so does the life my father is pushing me into. All he wants from me is to work with him—as his minion—and marry Victoria, and give up my dream of becoming a composer. He doesn’t seem to care about what I want at all.

Suddenly, I just want to run away from this place, from these commitments that I’ve never agreed to, and straight into Oceania’s arms.

Chapter Twenty-One: Oceania

I can tell by the long, uncomfortable glance my parents exchange that they’re about to tell me even more horrible news. I’ve had it with this day. Why was I so excited to turn eighteen, anyway? Right now, I’d do nearly anything to go back in time.

“Or is there no way to break the curse?” I ask breathlessly. I twirl my hair around my fingers, my heart pounding.

Mother shakes her head. “There is a way,” she says, looking down at her hands. “But I’ve always thought it sounded nearly impossible to achieve, like a cruel joke from the sea witch Morwenna. I think she made it so difficult in order to appease King Triteus.”

“It was impossible for you, anyway,” Father tells Mother with a smile.

I frown at my parents. Why is Father picking this moment to be in a good mood? And what is he talking about?

“So how is the curse broken?” I persist, pinching at Mother’s arm like a bothersome crab.

She shakes off my hand and turns to me, her eyes suddenly incandescent. She licks her lips and clears her throat. “The curse can only be broken by a kiss between a part-mermaid and a part-merman. The union of the two will fuse the worlds of land and ocean forevermore. The couple, their surviving ancestors, and their descendants will be able to travel freely between the surface and the sea for all their days.”

I gasp. “That would be perfect. Someone needs to find a part-merman.”

“That’s the hard part,” Mother says. “We’re the only part-mers in the entire village of Mar, and in the whole Pacific Ocean, as far as I know. Perhaps there are part-mermen in other oceans, but the voyage would be quite arduous. And I suppose there could be a part-merman living on land, but think of how many people there are in the world. It would be like finding a sea jewel in a typhoon—worse, even.”

“But there is a way out,” I say, suddenly feeling more optimistic. “So what happens when the part-mermaid and the part-merman kiss? Is there a magical glow, or does the witch Morwenna appear to them, or what? How do they know that they are the ones breaking the curse?”

“Your grandmer said that, if the kiss occurs on land, the couple will suddenly be surrounded in a shimmering mist of sea spray, just like the one in which she and Lucas proclaimed their love. And if the kiss occurs underwater, the couple will be encircled by a halo of gold and silver.”

“That sounds beautiful.”

“Oh, I’m sure it will be—if it ever comes true. But Morwenna certainly made the stipulations difficult. Neither Ula nor I were able to break the curse.” She grins at Father and adds, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

My parents kiss, and I quickly avert my gaze. “Well, I must be going. I think I’ll go for a short swim.”

My parents un-fuse their lips just long enough for Father to wag his index finger at me. “Don’t go above the surface, now. I hope that you won’t be so eager to see your human again, knowing the implications of such a relationship.”

“Yes, Father.” With a swift flick of my tail, I glide through the house and out the front doors, preparing for a solitary swim around the ocean floor.

My father is absolutely right; after hearing about the curse, I should want to avoid Xavier completely. He won’t help me to break the curse, and a relationship with him will only lead to heartache and estrangement from the world I’ve known for eighteen years.

But yet, I just can’t stop myself. I have to see him again, and I can barely wait until tonight.