Mermaid Academy

by Cameron Drake

  I saw movement up ahead and slid into invisibility. A large shadow. It was probably just a school of fish, but it was better to be safe.

  Beazil had been none too happy at being left behind on my infrequent adventures of late. I was worried that he was getting even lazier and fatter. But he was much harder to hide than a small, red-headed Mer with magic!

  The intimidating spires of my stepmother’s mansion came into view. This had been home for most of my life. But all I felt was a sense of urgency and a bit of dread, as if I would be put back to work scrubbing the floors and sent to bed without dinner.

  Those days are over, Tri. You escaped. Now, you just have to survive the Academy and live long enough to save the ocean. And find your father, while you’re at it!

  I swam through the gate, ignoring the sentinels. They couldn’t see me, so there was no cause for concern. I knew that above the fence, there were other, magical gauntlets that even my magic couldn’t protect me from. So this was the safest route.

  But I wasn’t going to the main house.

  I saw other dark shadows and hurried, skirting close to the fence toward the servants’ quarters. It looked so small and unkempt, I nearly gasped as I rounded the corner.

  Living in the Royal Palace had spoiled me after all, I realized. I’d have to make sure I didn’t get too used to being coddled and surrounded by wealth. I’m here to save the Seas, not become a Royal plaything or self-aggrandizing hanger-on, I reminded myself with indignation.

  But I wasn’t going to turn away all the incredible food, either.

  I scratched at Lila’s window until she woke, coming to stare out at me with a look of joy that quickly turned to alarm.

  “Get in here! The new sentinels are—”

  I swam through her open window and turned just in time to see a swordfish swim past. But it was no ordinary swordfish. This one was oversized, with a cruel intelligence shining from its eyes. And its sword . . . it had spikes.

  I shivered, imagining the damage that wickedly sharp-looking appendage could do. Each spike was as long as a small knife. The kind you might keep hidden under your clothes or strapped to your forearm. So if you got stuck, you were stuck. If you tried to pull free, you would be sliced over and over again by each bony protrusion.

  “Triton! What in the sea is that?”

  She stared at me, her eyes wide.

  “Hybrids. I heard the head guard talking about them. No one else has them yet, not even the Queen. Your stepmother has gotten . . . paranoid since Thalia’s arrest.”

  “Well, she’s out now. Anyway, tell me about you! I’m sorry it took me so long to visit. Oh, and I brought snacks!”

  I opened my inconspicuous net bag, scattering oysters onto her small bed. At least five cooked lobsters fell out as well. I ignored the rumbling of my stomach at the sight. I could go back and get lobster anytime I wanted. Lila looked thin. She was stuck here without me, surviving on the gruel they served servants. And without my foraging, she wasn’t getting her hands on oysters to round things out.

  My stepmother wasn’t exactly generous with food or wages.

  “Thank you! You are so good to me.”

  “No, I’m not. I should have come much sooner,” I said, taking her hands. I squeezed them and stopped, turning them over. Lila tugged them away from me sharply. “What in Triton?”

  Her hands were rough. They were like mine used to be from cleaning and scrubbing. Lila was a seamstress. More than that. An artist with needle and thread. There was magic in her fingers and the tiny calluses she had developed on certain fingers from the pressure of the needle.

  But other than that, her hands had always been smooth.

  “No need for fancy clothes now,” she muttered. I gaped at her, shocked. Lila was famous for her abilities. And my stepmother was treating her like a common house maid? “But never mind that. Tell me about you.”

  I sat on the bed beside her. I would get her out of here somehow. When I was Spark, I’d have money. I could set her up with her own shop near the Palace. The Royals and nobles would flock to be dressed by her. But I wasn’t Spark yet.

  The truth was, I wasn’t even sure I would survive the first year of training at the Academy, never mind actually performing my duties on land.

  Not that I was going to tell Lila any of that. She had her own problems to worry about.

  “There’s nothing to tell. The training is hard but they feed us well. Beazil is getting fatter,” I added with a wry smile.

  “Nothing to tell! What about the handsome Prince?” She gave me a mischievous look. “Your stepmother had a tantrum that lasted for days when she heard.”

  “Heard what?”

  “That you are together!”

  I sighed. Of course, she had. But it wasn’t true. Not really.

  “We’re not together, though.”

  “What? Why not? He adores you. It was so obvious in the Trials!”

  “It’s complicated. We’re really just friends.”

  Lila crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow. I almost laughed.

  “Okay. He wants to be together. But he knows why we can’t.”

  “Well? Why in the seas can’t you be with that gorgeous Mer?”

  “One, I’m not Royal.” I held up my hands, ticking off the reasons Dane and I couldn’t be together. “Two, I am the Spark. Well, we both are, but I am the one who will actually be going on land. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. If I were Princess . . .”

  I shuddered.

  “Imagine how dull it would be.”

  “Imagine the clothes!” Lila squealed. “And little Mer babies! And getting to crawl into bed with that gorgeous Mer every night!”

  I bit my lip.

  “Yes, well, he is wonderful. But I can’t have it both ways. He understands. Besides, the Queen’s advisors want him to marry the Princess from the North Seas.”

  “What does he want?”

  “I think he wants to be ordinary.” I sighed. “All I ever wanted was to be special, but now . . . well, I get why he wants that.”

  “Ordinary?”

  “Remember the little house I told you about? Where I was born?”

  She nodded.

  “Imagine that. My father was a Messenger, not rich but successful enough. And they had each other. A home of their own. They had love. That’s all I would want once I fulfilled my purpose, minus all the political intrigue.”

  “But he wasn’t ordinary. And from what I’ve heard, neither was your mother.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She stared at me with wide eyes.

  “Just something your stepmother was screaming about during one of her fits. How her magic kept your father enslaved, even after her death. That he never gave his heart to another. That she was glad he was gone.”

  I grabbed Lila’s hands.

  “Gone? She said gone? Not dead?”

  Lila nodded.

  “Yes. Why?”

  I stared at her, wondering if telling her the truth would put her in danger. But who would ever assume a seamstress would know about Royal intrigue?

  “Because there is a chance he is still alive. There are plots . . .” I shook my head. “There are things I cannot tell you for your own safety. But if you could keep an ear out . . . if she knew what happened to him, that could help me find him and bring him back.”

  “I understand. And I will listen.”

  “Not for long. As soon as I can, I’m getting you out of here.”

  “Don’t you worry about me! Worry about getting past those sentinels!”

  I pressed a kiss to her cheek and let her study my uniform for a few minutes before I slipped out the window, turning myself invisible in the process.

  “Tri?”

  “I’m here. Eat something and get some sleep. I’ll be back when I can. I love you, Lila.”

  “I love you too,” she whispered. I gently closed the window and waited for her to turn the latch. As soon as I heard the soft click, I sped off,
heading toward the gate and into the darkness of the night waters.

  The moon was bright, lighting my way as I swam toward my parents’ house. I noticed that it looked even more sunken as I approached. In a few years, it might disappear entirely.

  I wondered . . . if my magic could restore it? Or even better . . . could I make a transformation spell on something outside myself? Could I hide the dwelling from plain sight?

  We had learned how to disguise our clothes when not doing a complete transformation. That only mattered when making a drastic change in size or shape. I kept my clothes as is, for example, when growing legs and lungs.

  I dipped low, skimming my fingertips over the overgrown seaweed garden. Here and there, rare, bright breeds of flowering coral and seaweed had survived, taking over and growing rambunctiously. Some were good to eat. Some were dangerous.

  But I didn’t fear them. I knew them all. I’d learned over the years what use there was for each one, be it magical, for food, or merely ornamental.

  Other than my pendant, this garden was the only connection I had with my mother.

  And perhaps . . . my magic was a reflection of hers as well. My father had only the magic of speed, from what I understood. But my mother . . .

  I stared at the structure as it leaned visibly to the right. I closed my eyes and held out my hands, imagining my magic weaving through the walls, strengthening them . . . straightening them.

  I felt the rumble before I heard it. Something large was moving. Adjusting. It was working!

  I opened my eyes and blinked.

  The house was definitely sitting up straight now. It even looked . . . I squinted, swimming closer and putting my hand on the wall.

  Somehow, it looked newer, too.

  I turned back toward the garden, eager to see what I could do there.

  Without closing my eyes, I swam over the garden, letting the magic flow from my hands and down over the plants. I saw them growing, spreading, blooming. I saw the low seashell borders that surrounded and separated the plants straightening and mending.

  When I had passed over the garden, I turned and my jaw fell open.

  The house had been repaired, but the garden had been . . . rejuvenated. It pulsed with magic and color. Some of the plants were even giving off light of their own.

  Not just that, but Lumi was there, darting through the garden and making happy singsong sounds. I hadn’t even realized I’d summoned him.

  “Lumi! I have missed you!”

  He buzzed around my head in a circle, brushing my cheek, which I assumed was his version of a kiss.

  “Look at this, Lumi! Is it all real? Or will it disappear when you return to me?”

  Lumi made a funny little sound that sounded a lot like ‘Uh-uh.’

  I couldn’t be sure, but it felt like he was trying to tell me that it wouldn’t.

  “Let’s see what is here.”

  I swam closer, peering at a pink coral with glowing yellow flowers. It moved toward me slightly, and I gasped, sensing that it was ‘looking’ at me, or something very similar. It was . . . alive. Not merely existing. It was . . . sentient. Awake. Aware.

  But not safe. Not out here in the open. My stomach clenched at the thought of someone else finding my mother’s creation. It was almost as if . . . it had missed her magic.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I murmured, gliding over the garden to greet the transformed plants. I turned back and smiled ruefully. I wanted to spend hours here. I wanted to explore and learn what exactly I had done. But I had to protect this place. I closed my eyes and whispered, “Now . . . hide.”

  I blinked and the garden was gone. Not merely returned to its former scraggly state. It was nearly wiped clean. I could see sand and rocks beneath me. I swam closer and the magic rippled slightly. I dipped my finger through the illusion, and I could see through it for a moment before the hole closed up. But unless someone came down and quite literally poked around, the illusion would hold.

  Lumi swam up and hovered above my shoulder, surveying the garden with me.

  “Well, that looks better, doesn’t it, Lumi?”

  Lumi made a sound that was clearly affirmative.

  I swam into the house, fixing broken furniture and mending cracks in the walls. Finding a torn dress that had been hers . . . I closed my eyes and imagined Lila working her magic on it. When I opened them again, the dress looked new.

  Material magic was supposed to be rare. As rare as healing magic. But somehow, I had called forth exactly what was needed. Lumi dashed around, enjoying his freedom, which we both knew had to end soon.

  “I have to call you back now, Lumi,” I said softly. “Come outside. Just in case the house falls down around us,” I added, crinkling my nose in worry. I was messing around with powers I knew nothing about. I had no idea what might happen.

  Outside, I spun slowly in a circle. The garden was still hidden and the house was still restored. I quickly put a spell on the house to make it look ramshackle again. Well, not slanting to the side, but I added a lot of barnacles and seaweed to the roof.

  Then I turned to my amazing little friend.

  “Ready?”

  Lumi spun in a circle to tell me ‘Yes.’ I closed my eyes and held out my palms. I tried to just pull in my little friend and nothing more.

  When I opened my eyes, Lumi was gone.

  I hurried back towards the Palace, my mother’s dress tucked in my bag. The house had disappeared under a wave of my hand. I would have to return to make sure the magic stuck. But for now, the magic I had done was hidden. Safe.

  And Lumi was tucked away inside me.

  The only trace of my activities was the dark green sea silk gown folded in my net bag. I swam swiftly, my earlier exhilaration suddenly gone. I was numb. Deflated.

  A hangover from doing such intense magic, I supposed.

  The wonderful feeling of being close to my mother and father, no matter how brief, was gone too.

  I was alone. It was near dawn. And there were very few friendly faces waiting for me back at the Academy.

  A bolt of pure loneliness shot through me. It was near the end of the first term. Mers would be leaving to spend time with their families after final exams. All except me.

  And the Prince, of course. But he had his own set of problems. As much as I was crushing on him, I couldn’t imagine being married to anyone yet, not even Dane. Especially not what that would mean.

  Being a Princess . . . that was so not me.

  But watching him marry someone else would hurt. Just imagining it hurt. More than I could say.

  Never mind that I wasn’t totally sure I was going to pass my exams.

  Meanwhile, my father might still be trapped or being forced to commit treason against the Royal family. To work against our Kingdom. He might be suffering horribly, for years, and here I was, whining about my lack of friends.

  Suck it up, Tri, I told myself. You have important things to do.

  “Like staying alive,” I muttered under my breath as I slipped through the gate to the Palace. I swam toward a side entrance that wasn’t far from the Royal quarters. I swam inside and froze. Something was wrong. I stared down at myself in horror.

  My invisibility was gone.

  And there was . . . some sort of alarm.

  I frantically swam further into the castle, trying to conceal myself with magic. But it wouldn’t work. I heard someone coming and swam faster.

  Right into Juno.

  He smiled, pure evil dripping from his face.

  “What are you doing out of bed, Spark?”

  I glared at him.

  “I couldn’t sleep. What are you doing out of bed?”

  Juno patted an emblem on his shoulder. My eyes flew to his.

  “Active duty?”

  “Special assignment, for the General.” My stomach dropped as he leaned in and whispered, “Trying to catch the traitors who have been meeting outside the castle.”

  He gave me a happy look that was
almost friendly. But I knew it wasn’t. He was just thrilled he’d caught me in his net. He grabbed my arm and started swimming out of the Royal wing. Away from Annaruth and Dane. Away from anyone who could help me.

  I struggled against him, but he was far too strong. Ridiculously strong. His hand felt like it was made of stone or steel. He was dragging me along like I weighed less than a jellyfish.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Taking you to the General, of course.” He gave me a knowing smirk and I knew he was enjoying my predicament. “For questioning.”

  “Questioning?” I asked indignantly, giving him a haughty look. But inside, I was quivering in actual terror.

  “The General is very thorough. He doesn’t care how long it takes or what he has to do to get you to talk.” Juno snickered. I felt a chill go through me at the high-pitched sound. I’d never heard him laugh before.

  He sounded more than a little bit insane.

  I was quiet as he dragged me further into the military wing. The Palace was asleep. Not even the servants were awake. There was no one to call out to for help. No one came over this way except those who served the General.

  There was no way out.

  I was numb as Juno banged on a pair of heavy wooden doors.

  “It’s Juno,” he said, giving me a look that set my scales on edge. “I come bearing gifts.”

  I heard the General bellow out, “Open,” and the doors swung open. That was a handy trick. I will ask Annaruth to spell my doors to do the same, I thought stupidly. If you ever see her again, a more realistic voice reasoned.

  The General sat in a chair before a roaring fire. When he saw me, he leaned forward with an evil glint in his eye.

  “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

  Chapter 23

  I ground my teeth, telling myself not to scream. Not to give him the satisfaction.

  Not this time.

  Not again.

  It turned out, the General was not just adept at battle. He had magic. Pain magic. It was somewhat rare, but not so rare that he hadn’t found someone with the same skills in our class at the Academy.