“I think your father might notice all the naval ships leaving.”
“So, we tell him why. It’s been long enough. Don’t you think he deserves to know the truth?” I cried, feeling exasperated.
My mother’s jaw tightened. “No, I don’t. You don’t understand. The merpeople and the land dwellers don’t mix. Why do you think we hide from them? History has told us that once a merperson is found, the land dwellers capture them and give them to scientists to examine. If that happened to me...or to you or Anthony, what do you think they’ll do? It would be worse than being at the mercy of the sea witch. They’d cut us up to study our anatomy or keep us captive for our entire lives. Do you want that?”
“No, but I’m only talking about telling father and your best friends. I’m not suggesting we broadcast it on the evening news. Father won’t give us away, neither will the Harrington-Blythes.”
“Do you want to bet your life on it?” she looked at me in such a way that I knew she was being serious.
“No, but...”
She cut me off. “Everyone will see the naval ships going out. They’ll wonder what is going on. We already have almost all the journalists in the kingdom camping on our doorsteps because of this wedding fiasco. Do you really want to give them something else to write about?”
Oh, the wedding. I’d forgotten about that. I thought of Hayden and Astrid downstairs. As the pair of them came to mind, a plan began to form. Whatever had happened down there today, I figured they owed me. I might have made a giant mess of the day, but because of that, Hayden wasn’t tied to me for the rest of his life. Surely, that must count for something…?
“Hayden has a boat,” I said out loud, suddenly feeling excited. “He is also an excellent sailor, thanks to his father, and I know Astrid is a great swimmer.”
“Hayden has a boat barely bigger than a dingy that seats four people and being a great swimmer counts for nothing when the sea witch gets to you. You saw what she does. If she can sink a ship as grand as the Erica Rose, what chance does Hayden’s dingy stand? None at all!”
“Maybe not, but it’s all we have. I refuse to stand by and let Ari get hurt just because you don’t want the truth to come out. I’m going back out into the ocean tonight.”
She opened her mouth as if to say something and then closed it again, obviously deciding against it. I didn’t want to blackmail her into letting us go by threatening to tell my father her secret. Thankfully, she just nodded her head.
“If you must go, I know I will not be able to stop you. I’ve done everything in my power to keep you from the ocean, and you’ve found a way around me every time. I hate that you are doing this, but beyond keeping you locked in your room for eternity, I see no way around it. I knew this day would come eventually, and I’m tired of fighting it.”
She did look tired, exhausted even. I waited for her to say more, but instead, she pulled out a long necklace from around her neck. “Please take this.”
A huge red ruby glistened in the light. It hung from a gold chain. I’d seen her wear it every day of her life. She leaned toward me and placed it over my head.
“Why are you giving me this?” I asked, picking up the ruby and examining it.
“It has a protection spell on it. It has faded a lot over the years, but I’d rather you have the little protection it does possess.”
I could see the tears in her eyes already beginning to form. This was her greatest fear. The day she hoped would never come. I knew that going out to sea would hurt her, but I couldn’t leave Ari, not after everything he’d done for me. My heart went out to my mother then. She was letting me go despite doing everything in her power to keep me safe all these years. I was eighteen now, an adult, and I guess she knew deep down that she couldn’t stop me. I leaned forward and hugged her tightly. A part of me never wanted to let her go. She must have felt the same way because we stayed like that for nearly five minutes.
“I’ll speak to your father and sort out the wedding fiasco,” she said, finally pulling away from me. She wiped her tears and pulled a lipstick from her pocket reapplied it using a pocket mirror as a guide.
“What will you say?” I asked, wondering how I was going to get away with this.
She gave me a brief smile. “I’m the queen. I’ll think of something. I should come down with you, though. We’ve gotten rid of the media, but I know Hayden’s parents will want answers.”
Hayden’s parents. I wondered if they hated me for what I’d done or if they were secretly happy. After all, they didn’t particularly want their son to marry me. They were blackmailed into it.
I followed my mother down the stairs. She walked so slowly, so deliberately as she always did, appearing regal at all times. It was killing me not to run past her, to get to the sea quickly, but I’d never make it out of the palace without her help, so I had to follow in her footsteps and walk at the pace she set.
At the bottom of the stairs, she ordered one of the guards to get Hayden’s boat ready to sail. He nodded his head curtly and left through one of the doors.
Everyone’s eyes turned to us as we opened the main hall doors.
“I’d like a word with Hayden and Astrid if you don’t mind,” she said to the assembled group of people.
Hayden stood, and Astrid looked toward us in surprise.
My mother beckoned my friends toward us. “Come on, quickly. I have a job I’d like you to help me with.”
Now, it was my father’s turn to look surprised. “What’s going on, Delilah?”
My mother smiled, but she kept waving her hands impatiently. “It’s not important; I’ll tell you later. I’d just like these two to help me with something if they don’t mind.”
Both Astrid and Hayden crossed the great hall with confused expressions on their faces. As soon as they had walked through the door, my mother closed it behind us.
“What’s going on?” asked Hayden. He was still in his wedding suit. His usually messy hair was combed straight, and he wore a white rose in his lapel. He looked so handsome.
“No time to explain. Come with me quickly, you too, Astrid.”
I took off down the corridor that would lead to the back of the palace. It was a longer route than simply dashing through the main hall, but with everyone still in there, this way would have to do.
On the promenade, close to where I’d been pulled out of the boat, Hayden’s boat was waiting. A couple of guards stood next to it.
“Jump in,” I shouted to the others, but one of the guards stopped me.
“We’ve only just rescued you. I can’t let you go back out to sea without consulting the king or queen.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but the other guard spoke first. “This is the queen’s orders. Let them go.”
I jumped down into the small sailboat, quickly followed by Hayden and Astrid. Hayden pulled on a rope which cast us off the side of the promenade.
Once we were far enough away from the guards, I pointed out to the horizon. “Go that way,” I ordered Hayden.
He fiddled about with the ropes, changing the position of the sails, and pretty soon, we were heading out into the deep water. I couldn’t see the sea witch, but I didn’t need to. I already knew she’d come for me. She had done so twice already and not caught me. I just wanted to be as far away from the coast as possible when it happened. There were still many people there, not to mention the media and I didn’t want any of them to see what we were up to.
Hayden was a pro at sailing, having done it his whole life. His boat was little more than a dinghy, but I knew he could sail greater craft. One day, he would make a great captain of a ship just like his father.
“Are you going to tell us what’s happening?” asked Hayden, looking confused as well he should be.
“Do you believe in magical creatures?” I asked, deciding that the truth was easier than trying to come up with something.
Hayden stopped what he was doing and turned to look at me. “Magical creatures? Have you bange
d your head?”
“Stop it, Hayden,” admonished Astrid. “Yes, I do. There is magic in some of the other kingdoms. I’ve heard about it. Just because we don’t have it here in Trifork, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
“Magic, yeah,” scoffed Hayden, “but magical creatures? What are we talking about here? Monsters, ghosts? Griffins? What?”
I took a deep breath and let my hand trail in the cool water. “I’ve told you both about the stranger I met, the one who saved me from drowning after the Erica Rose went down. Astrid, you’ve met him.”
“Ari?” asked Astrid.
Hayden gave us both a strange look. “Who is Ari? Is that the guy you were dancing with on the night of your ball? The weirdo with the long hair? I wondered who he was.”
“I told you who he was on the night of the ball,” I said, only half lying. “I told you that I’d been rescued from the Erica Rose. It was Ari that saved me.”
Astrid nodded. “He was the one who came to collect me from my aunt’s house. He was very charming and quite the looker. He was quite strange. He refused to talk to me and only told me the plan by writing it down on paper. I didn’t see anything magical about him, though.”
“You wouldn’t if he was on land. It’s only under the sea where you can see his magic. He’s a merman.”
Astrid laughed, and Hayden coughed.
“He’s a mermaid? Are you serious?”
I prodded him in the stomach to shut him up. “Yes, I’m serious, and no, he’s not a mermaid. He’s a guy.”
“A guy with a fishtail,” barked Hayden.
I ignored the tone in his voice and told them both the full story about how I met Ari, right through to what my mother told me in her bedroom not twenty minutes earlier.
I could tell that Hayden didn’t believe me, but Astrid had a look of excitement on her face. “You mean to tell me that we are out here on a rescue mission? Oh, I wish I’d have known, I’d have brought my sword!”
I shook my head and smiled. Astrid was one of those girls who was always up for anything. She had no fear. Not many women would take the place of the royal princess at the wedding, and fewer still would get excited at the prospect of battling a sea witch.
The boat began to rock slightly, and my fingers in the water turned colder. Sitting up, I looked over the side. All around us the water was the color of night. The sea witch had found me.
17
Body parts
“Ok, I believe you,” said Hayden, pulling me back to the center of the boat as it listed precariously. He pulled on a couple of ropes, and the sails came fluttering down. “What’s the plan?”
“The plan is to rescue Ari.”
“How?” he grumbled, gripping the side of the boat. Beneath us, the water churned like boiling oil except it was cold, much colder than the rest of the ocean. We needed to stay above the water level. If the witch managed to pull us under, then it would be over for us.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. I’d not really thought further than coming out here. But the problem was, we were on top of the water and Ari, as far as I knew, was below it. Without his help, none of us could breathe underwater, and to top it all off, I still couldn’t swim. “I’m sorry.”
Hayden rolled his eyes at me and slashed at the water with his hands. I wasn’t sure what he was aiming to do, but it was having no effect other than to splash us all. Why hadn’t I thought to bring a gun? I had no idea where I’d get a gun, but to come out here with no plan and no weapons was stupid.
The boat began to float quickly. It was as if it was being pulled by an invisible force. The sails were down. The only thing pulling us was the sea witch. It picked up speed, and I noticed it was going around in a wide circle.
“It’s a whirlpool,” Astrid screamed, her eyes wide with fear as she looked out over the side. I followed her gaze and saw the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen. It was as if someone had pulled a plug out of the ocean floor. The water was spiraling downwards right into the inky blackness, and we were on course to fall into it. As we circled closer and closer to the vortex, the small boat creaked under the pressure. We were spinning quickly like waltzers at a fairground, and the clouds above us were just a blur as we fell right into the hole.
Once we had circled almost to the seabed, the movement stopped. The boat hit the sandy seabed with a thump, and for a brief second, we were still. Far above us, I could see the sky. And then it happened—the sea came crashing in around us. I was washed right out of the boat, and no amount of trying to swim would help. I rolled in all directions, being buffeted by the onslaught of water so dark, I couldn’t even see my fingertips.
I wasn’t even scared. I was annoyed. Annoyed that I was once again drowning because of stupidity and recklessness. Almost as soon as it started, it stopped. The water cleared, and I fell through it to the seabed. Beneath me, soft sand cushioned my fall. I got to my feet quickly and much more easily than I expected, considering the force of the water above me. Sun filtered through a wide hole above me, allowing me to see. Hayden was lying on the ground, untangling himself from a bed of seaweed. Just behind him, I saw Astrid looking about her wide-eyed. When she caught me looking at her, she put her thumbs up to show me she was ok.
A loud voice boomed out behind us causing me to turn quickly.
The sea witch stood in all her glory, towering above us. Her skin, purple with shades of green that reminded me of my dress for the ball. But unlike my dress, the green was algae or some other kind of plant growing right on her. Parts of it were healthy and pink, but they looked so strange plastered on in strips. The rest of her skin was cracked and old, but that was not what had me sucking in my breath; it was her legs. She had six of them, just like Ollie’s tentacles. That, combined with her two arms, gave her the appearance of an aged octopus.
“I wondered if you would come,” she cackled in a high-pitched voice. It didn’t suit her at all. It was almost as though she’d borrowed it from someone else. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you. Fortunes told that you would be beautiful, but I must say they were rather understated. You are stunning.”
I opened my mouth to speak; but before I had the chance, Astrid ran right past me and jabbed her finger in the old woman’s belly. “Where is he, you rancid old crone?”
The witch glanced down at Astrid, who was half her size, at most.
“What beautiful blonde hair you have,” she drawled. “I always wanted to be a blonde.” With a wave of her hand, Astrid’s hair began to turn black, then purple and green, and then fell out in clumps until it was a matted patchy mess on top of her head. The beautiful long blonde locks she was so proud of appeared on the old witch’s head by way of magic.
“There, that’s a nice swap, don’t you think?” She waved her hand again, and Astrid was pushed back into the water against a wall.
It was then I realized we were in a cave. We were still underwater, but we were speaking and breathing as normal. The whole effect was disconcerting because I could feel the water, but it had no effect on us.
Hayden ran past me toward the old woman, but he too was sent flying into the walls.
They were both unconscious. My backup was gone. It was just me and the witch, and she had the advantage. She was double my size and knew magic. I didn’t even have a weapon.
I wasn’t about to back down without a fight, though. I’d come here to get Ari, and I wasn’t going to leave without him.
“Where is he?” I demanded, putting my hands on my hips, although keeping the distance between us. I wasn’t sure how powerful she was, but I wasn’t going to make it easy on her.
“Run away!” I heard him shout. I looked quickly from side to side, trying to see him. “It’s a trap. She used me for bait. She only wants you.”
I looked around again. Where was he? The dark cave, illuminated with an ethereal green glow, had no hiding places. A few hardy sea plants grew down here, but there was no other sign of life. And then I saw it. A sight so horrific it
made my stomach lurch. Right at the back of the cave a line of men were shackled to the wall. More correctly, they once had been men. Parts of their bodies were missing, strips of skin pulled from them. None of them were alive. I recognized them as the crew of the Erica Rose.
“They were pretty useless, being men,” she said upon seeing what had grabbed my attention. “I took some bits of skin from them, but there was little else I could use. Their voices were way too manly for my pretty face.”
I hoped she was joking. I’d never seen an uglier-looking woman in my whole life.
“I took their voices anyway. I had to, to shut them up. The sound of them begging for their lives was just too much.”
She turned back to me. I had to take a deep breath so as not to lose my lunch.
“I never thought this day would come,” she gloated, taking a step toward me. The way she walked on her six legs looked strange and awkward. Inadvertently, I took a step back. There was no use pretending I wasn’t petrified.
“Where are you?” I asked. If I could hear him, it meant he was close; and if he was nearby, it meant I had a chance of helping him escape.
“I’m here. The witch has used a spell on me. I’m invisible.”
“Where?” I asked again. I didn’t want to look around too much in case the witch realized we were communicating.
“I’ve waited for so long to finally meet you and take what’s mine,” she said, completely oblivious to the in-head conversation I was having with Ari.
She pushed herself up from the ground and swam toward me, displacing the sand beneath her as she did. She was much more graceful at swimming than she was at walking.
“I’m to your right. Can you see the shackles on the wall? That’s where I am.”
I cast my eyes to the side quickly. The shackles were just a couple of feet away from Hayden, who was just beginning to stir. If only I could communicate with him too.
“Hayden, can you hear me?”
The witch got closer and closer. I backed up until I hit a wall. The only way I could see to get out of here was a hole in the ceiling that led to the open ocean. With the witch’s strange magic surrounding us, I wasn’t even sure I would be able to swim. Even though I could feel the water around me, my movements were normal. Walking backward was easy with no resistance. It was almost as though the water was a hallucination. I certainly didn’t feel wet.
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