To Molly’s surprise, her heart tugged towards them, begging her to open one. She wasn’t really a book person, but there was something about the mysterious, dusty volumes that seemed forbidden and exciting.
Molly was so absorbed in the books and their romantic smell that she’d barely noticed Margot, who was grunting and turning a heavy lever in the wooden floorboards. Molly gasped. The floorboards were opening, a gigantic circular hole revealing itself in the ground. Below them was the sea itself, whirling and splashing and roaring like a beast come to life.
‘Is that . . . ?’ Melissa whispered, awestruck, her buttercup-yellow tail materialising seamlessly.
Molly’s legs prickled. Her joints began to ache and twist, and with the sensations came a sense of dread. As her shiny white tail completed its transformation, she could barely look at it. Why did it have to be so boring?
‘Does Mum know about this?’ Molly asked, staring into the watery maelstrom below. Her white top appeared magically. Seafoam sprayed her from head to tail, and she shivered.
‘Why do you think she bought an abandoned lighthouse in the first place?’ Margot said.
‘I just thought she was a bit weird.’
‘Well, that too. But Mum doesn’t know I know, so keep schtum, yeah?’
‘Yeah!’ Molly said, at the exact same time Melissa said, ‘How can you possibly expect us to keep yet another one of your secrets, Margot?’
‘All right, on three,’ Margot announced. ‘One . . . two . . .’
‘Wait! What are we doing on three?’ Molly asked.
‘The macarena,’ replied Margot.
Melissa rolled her eyes. ‘We’re jumping, I assume.’
‘Forgot about your inbuilt lie detector,’ Margot muttered.
Molly’s heart skipped. Her first swim as a mermaid . . .
‘OK, for real this time. One . . . two . . .’
But Margot never got to three. Instead, she shoved both Molly and Melissa over the side with her superhuman strength, cackling gleefully as she did so.
The bottom dropped out of Molly’s stomach and she plunged into the water. The world went quiet.
Usually, whenever Molly went in the sea, she loathed every second. The salt stung her eyes, cracked her lips, turned her stomach. The bitter cold numbed her skin and ached in her bones. The swelling undercurrent filled her with panic until she was certain she’d be dragged below the surface, get tangled in a clump of seaweed, and be ravished to death by a school of cod seeking revenge for the many family members they’d lost to the Seabrook fish ’n’ chip shop.
Of course, that was before she had a tail.
Molly quickly discovered that when you’re a mermaid, it’s different. Very different. The salt felt fresh and invigorating. The cold was no longer cold; in fact, the temperature perfectly matched her own, so it didn’t feel like she was submerged in water at all. The currents thrummed with energy and life. And she could breathe. The feeling in her lungs was so crisp and cool it was like standing on a mountaintop and taking in huge gulps of pure air.
Her other senses were heightened too. She could hear Melissa arguing viciously about Margot pushing them in early. She could see far into the depths of the sea, picking out eels and dragonets and clusters of coral.
And fish. So many fish.
(Not quite as many as a traditional Seabrook birthday party, but still.)
‘Right, this way!’ Margot said, then started swimming in a sharp downward direction.
Molly raised an eyebrow at Melissa, who said, ‘She’s telling the truth, for once.’
They swam behind Margot until they reached what looked like an underwater cliff. The wall of rock had a small diamond-shaped opening, which Margot squeezed through until she disappeared into whatever was on the other side. Melissa and Molly followed.
They continued into another body of water, but it was warmer now. Then, to Molly’s surprise, they began propelling themselves directly upwards until they broke through the surface.
‘Welcome to Coley Cavern!’ Margot announced proudly.
Molly gasped. They were in some kind of huge cave with the sea filling its middle. The water glimmered beneath a string of lanterns hanging from the cavern’s ceiling. The rocks glistened with sea spray, and waves lapped gently against the rugged walls.
And perhaps most notably of all, Coley Cavern was full of merfolk.
Molly rubbed her eyes, but this was no dream. Elegant mermaids perched effortlessly on the slippery rocks, their rainbow array of tails shining in the twinkling lights, while mermen – with pointy little horns on the sides of their heads – splashed in pools with their merchildren, teaching them a complex-looking game with a pearl-like ball. It was strange to Molly that these kids had grown up knowing who – or what – they were.
Clutching a giant spear, an ancient merman with a beard as long as his tail snoozed on the shore, the tide lapping at his ankles. Or, you know, the place where his ankles should’ve been, if he wasn’t an ancient merman clutching a giant spear.
‘Old Alan,’ Margot said triumphantly.
‘This seems fine,’ Molly replied. ‘Absolutely normal. Boring, if anything.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Clamdunk
The echoing of the cavern rang in Molly’s ears. She was so overwhelmed by the sight of the merfolk in front of her that she almost forgot why they were here: to watch Margot play Clamdunk. Whatever that was.
The oval of water inside the cove had been cordoned off with ropes of seashells, and two huge clam-like goals had been set up at either end. Looking increasingly ill, Margot waved goodbye to her sisters and swam away to a small cave tucked away at the north end of the cavern. Haphazardly pinned above the entrance was a driftwood sign reading ‘HOME TEAM’.
Melissa and Molly swam around trying to find a good spot to watch the game from, and found an ideal perch on the half-moon crescent of jutting rocks overlooking the sea-pitch.
As they sat down and tried to catch their breath, Molly found that it was a strange sensation being above water once again. It wasn’t quite as easy to breathe as it was while submerged, and a twinging in her chest told her she was craving another dive in. Maybe this was what Margot had meant about her ‘natural state’.
Although Molly had no real problem talking to strangers – a perk of spending half her life dressed as a haddock and cramming flyers into touristy hands – she found herself being quite content to sit and watch the other mermaids go about their lives. She smiled as she watched two teenage mermaids gossiping behind a rock, like she and Ada did in the locker nook.
The thought sent another pang of guilt lancing through her chest. She forced Ada from her mind.
What was this mysterious mermaid sport going to be like? And how did Margot become good enough to play for a proper team, even though she grew up on dry land?
Molly really, really hoped Margot played well. She was always such a grumpy mare when she lost at anything. Once her team had gone out of a rounders tournament in the first round, and she’d put a For Sale sign outside the lighthouse. Apparently she couldn’t possibly stay in Little Marmouth after such a crushing defeat.
Right at that moment, two dozen players in opposing green and burgundy jerseys swam on to the pitch faster than Molly even believed it to be possible.
The crowd cheered them as they swam around, each holding what looked like a fishing net. The ball looked like a giant pearl, and they threw it to each other’s nets while advancing up the sea-pitch towards the clam-shaped goal. From what Molly could tell, the sport was halfway between water polo and lacrosse.
Molly’s stomach gave a funny lurch as she watched Margot begin the warm up with her teammates. She kept trying to catch a ball in a net, and missed every time.
She always felt the churning shame in her own belly whenever one of her sisters did something embarrassing. Second-hand humiliation between Seabrooks was strong, and she could feel Margot’s mortification as richly as if it were her own.
>
Soon enough, the game started. Margot was one of the first to gain possession of the ball, but her attempt at a pass was quickly intercepted by the opposition, and her teammate gestured furiously at her. Molly cringed as the Tweedtown Trevallies landed the pearl in the back of the Marlins’ goal, and the keeper – an angry-looking mermaid with cropped pink hair – kicked the stick of her net in frustration.
It all seemed simple enough to grasp, until the first snatch.
At first, Molly couldn’t tell what was happening. All she saw was a burgundy blur as a burly Trevally launched herself at an opponent swimming a few metres in front of her. She reached out and grabbed something that had been nesting in the crook of the Marlin’s tail – another tiny pearl. The second it was removed, the Marlin froze, unable to move, and a loud horn blared.
A rapturous cheer erupted through the cavern as the player was removed from the pitch by two referees with striped tails.
Molly turned to her sister, who was watching intently. ‘Melissa. I have questions.’
‘Right! Yes. Sorry. Want a quick primer on the rules?’
Molly nodded gratefully.
‘Twelve players per team: one keeper, nine chalkers, and two hawkers. The chalkers focus on scoring goals, while the hawkers scoot around stealing Pearlilles – the tiny tail pearls – from their opponents. Once a Pearlille is gone, it’s gone for the whole game, and the player has to leave the pitch.’
Molly watched as another Marlin was frozen and escorted away. ‘The game only ends once every chalker on a team has lost their Pearlille. So it’s ten points for every Clamdunk – that’s what it’s called when you score a goal – and minus ten points for every player who loses their Pearlille. Winner is the team with the highest score once the game is over, which is usually always the team with their Pearlilles still intact. There have been some upsets, though. In last year’s semi-final, the Narwhals lost by 940 points to 980, even though their opponents had all lost their Pearlilles. The hawker was so exhausted she didn’t realise her team were behind, and she stole the last Pearlille without realising it’d lose them the match.’ Melissa shook her head in dismay. ‘What an idiot.’
In the time Melissa had been talking, no fewer than four Marlin chalkers had lost their Pearlilles. The game was now spectacularly one-sided, and the Trevallies were winning 140 – 0. Margot was still on the pitch, but only just. Molly watched as the opposition repeatedly lunged at her sister, narrowly missing her Pearlille.
Then something quite amazing happened. A Marlin chalker tossed the ball to Margot, who made a spectacular crashing dive in order to catch it. She arced out of the water with gushing speed, and almost threw her arm out of its socket to scoop the ball out of the air and into her net.
The crowd cheered. This success seemed to spur Margot on and, fixing a look of determination on her face, she set off up the pitch.
Weaving through Trevallies, seaweed clumps and massive rock clusters, Margot moved at ultra speed. She evaded capture no fewer than five times, then hurled the ball into the back of the goal.
Molly and Melissa screamed, fist pumping and whooping as though Margot had just won an Olympic gold medal.
But instead of celebrating, Margot darted back to the middle of the pitch ready to go again. Once play resumed, she intercepted a pass between Trevallies, and did the exact same frantic dash up towards the goal.
Molly couldn’t make sense of how fast her sister was moving. It was like she was a speedboat, and everyone else on the pitch was a goldfish.
She scored again. The crowd went wild.
‘How is she so good at this?’ Molly asked Melissa reverently.
‘The merpower,’ Melissa whispered. ‘Her strength helps her propel through the water at lightning speed – and makes her throws so powerful the keeper has no chance of stopping them. Some of the others have athletic merpowers too, but none of them are as strong as Margot.’
The same thing kept happening, with Margot moving far too quickly for anyone else to catch her. She put ball after ball in the back of the net, even as the rest of her teammates lost their Pearlilles. Even when she was the only chalker left on the pitch for the Marlins, she swam rings around her opponents, until the scoreboard was level at 140 – 140.
One Trevally was so angry that she snapped her net in half, before being brandished with what looked like the Clamdunk version of a penalty card – a shell painted daffodil-yellow. Margot barely noticed.
Again and again she scored, until she was easily a hundred points clear. Her teammates watched in astonishment as their humiliating defeat turned into a stunning victory.
Eventually, a hawker managed to grip the very end of Margot’s tail and remove her Pearlille, ending the game even though it meant they lost. They were obviously sick of being humiliated, and there was no chance of catching up with the Marlins now.
‘We won!’ Melissa yelled.
Margot finally let herself smile, and looked around at the adoring crowd as though only just noticing they were there. Her teammates swarmed around her, lifting her up on to their shoulders and chanting some kind of victory song, which echoed so dramatically around the cavern that Molly was sure their mum would hear it up in the lighthouse.
Watching Margot celebrate, Molly’s heart swelled with pride. That was the thing about sisters: sure, you inherited their shame and embarrassment, but when they did something truly amazing . . . their happiness was your very own.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Back to Reality
Once the high of the Clamdunk victory had finally worn off – Margot stayed up chattering excitedly in Melissa and Molly’s room until the sun came up – the reality of the school day ahead sunk in. Not only did Molly have to deal with the aftermath of her ugly fight with Ada, but she had to do it on about forty minutes of sleep.
Oh, and she’d forgotten to do her maths homework. Somehow she didn’t think ‘a walrus ate my quadratic equations’ was going to fly with Ms Stavros.
It was English first, which Molly didn’t share with Ada, so she had some time to brainstorm ideas on how to make up with her best friend while pretending to be listening to Mrs Wilson drone on about the Romantic poets.
How romantic could they be if they didn’t write about sausages or tubas?
Molly chuckled to herself at the joke, and promptly wrote it down to tell Ada once they were friends again.
Now that the heat of the moment was long gone, Molly couldn’t understand what she’d been so upset about yesterday. It had all been blown way out of proportion and she would be more than happy to apologise, as long as Ada agreed to talk to her.
Wow, did I just have a mature thought? Molly was deeply shocked at herself. The only mature thought she’d previously had in her life was about which Cheddar to buy from the shop.
Maybe Margot was right. She did feel more calm and centred after her jaunt to Coley Cavern. Could it be that spending time as a mermaid really was crucial to her happiness?
Molly shuddered. Hopefully not. She wanted to be normal, thank you very much, not spend her time watching fantastic creatures romping around an underwater cavern chucking pearls at each other.
The second the bell rang for morning break, Molly practically sprinted out of the classroom to find Ada. Well, not sprinted, exactly. If Molly tried to sprint, she was sure her legs would crumple like a Coke can from the shock of it all.
However, when she got to Ada’s locker, she was dismayed to find her best friend standing there with Felicity Davison. Felicity Davison with her stupid long legs and stupid blond hair and stupid . . . face.
Maybe the rage hadn’t disappeared entirely.
As Molly rummaged in her own locker, she kept trying to meet Ada’s eye, but Ada was pointedly ignoring her. Ada’s tie was significantly shorter than yesterday. Plus Molly couldn’t help but notice that both Felicity and Ada had rolled up their skirts so far that there was more roll than skirt. It looked like they had slipped tires around their waists. Molly couldn’
t remember ever seeing this look on Ariana Grande, but maybe it would catch on soon enough.
Felicity was half texting, half babbling at Ada. ‘You’re just, like, way cooler than the girls in my year. I don’t normally get on with other girls, but you’re fun. I can see why Pete likes you.’
‘He does?’ Ada grinned, checking her lipgloss in a pop-up mirror that definitely hadn’t been in her locker last week.
‘Duh. Shall we go watch them play?’
And then they were off, and Molly had lost her chance to make amends.
Slamming her locker shut with a clang, Molly sighed. Would Ada even want to be friends with her again? Now that she was in with the popular group, she had no need for a dweeby best friend who smelled like battered haddock.
In geography, when she’d usually sit next to Ada, Molly decided to postpone the drama and instead opted for the seat next to Eddie of the Ears.
‘Hey.’ She smiled at him, but he barely looked up. He was jotting something furiously in his exercise book.
‘Haven’t seen you at the chip shop recently,’ she said, unpacking her books. ‘We’re overflowing with uneaten bits.’
Eddie grinned, but again didn’t look up. ‘Yeah. I’ve been –’
‘Just when you’re all ready!’ Mr Li barked, before opening up his presentation on river formations.
Because Eddie of the Ears wasn’t allowed to wear his beanie hat in school, his crown of flaming-red hair was flying out of control. It was practically a supernova, Molly thought, if supernovas smelled like Lynx body spray. He kept running his hand through it self-consciously as he took notes, tugging at the ends as though urging them to cover his lobes.
And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid Page 6