by Hannah Reed
~
It’s over, that was quick, April thought. Admittedly she hadn’t really been concentrating on what her Dad was saying as she knew his speech off by heart. Her Mum had forced her to memorise the speech, in case people questioned her about it later. April was also versed in pre-approved satisfactory answers to any questions people might have about the treaty. April resented the parrotfish fashion learning at the time but now she felt begrudgingly grateful.
April continued clapping with everyone on the stage as the footmen below started to manoeuvre the crowd and tables into a circle. At the back of the room, an orchestra was starting up. April recognised the music from her dance rehearsals. She groaned internally, it was now time to dance. Her parents had been part of the music selection process and from the sound of the orchestra the music was worse than she remembered. The dancing tonight was reminiscent of the style of dancing typical of courtship back in the days when their two worlds lived in peace. But, instead of matching potential suitors together, this dance signified the end of mer and legged separation. April had pointed out Ethan’s dance partners to him earlier after his Dad handed him a pre-filled dance card. Ethan was not very good with names or faces.
April sneaked another look at her dance partners. If peace had come a hundred years earlier, one of these legged brothers would likely have been her future husband. She was sure one of the gossip magazines would claim she was dating one of them. They might even say she was stringing Ethan along at the same time. The tabloids would have a field day if they discovered the truth about her and Ethan. She imagined they would be furious learning that they had been leading them along and tricking them for all these years. April wondered how they would represent her, a fool, a fellow conspirator or a woeful casualty.
President Darius’ three sons were all somewhat of a mystery to April, she couldn’t put her finger on it but there was something off about them. Then again, she was probably a bit off herself that evening. They probably understood more than anyone else the stress that her parents placed on her. But, still April thought they were a bit weird. Even the way they clapped felt regimented as if they were trying to clap in time. Between her shoes and their robotic movements, she didn’t hold much hope for dancing with any of them.
The applause was finally over and her Dad and President Darius were inviting the guests to gather for the ritual dances. April followed suit like a fish swimming in formation. There was a lack of females in Darius’ family so other members of his Bureau were stepping into place. The head of finance, Georgiana, took the honour of dancing with her Dad. Her Mum was with President Darius himself and April got the pleasure of first dancing with Frederick, Darius’ eldest son. The younger two seemed to disappear for the first dance. Lucky them, April thought.
The music swelled and April felt the steps rush to her feet. Her Mum’s insistence that she learn the dances by heart meant April could relinquish herself to muscle memory. Dancing on land was not natural for mer who were used to whirling under the sea. She caught Ethan’s eye across the dance floor. He was spinning a pretty redhead under his arm. Ethan winked and made a face behind Frederick’s back. April almost chuckled but, could feel her Mum’s stern stare admonishing her to do nothing of the sort. Really it was not her fault though, Frederick was not the dancing sort. Fortunately, their regimented, slow pace was a perfect speed for the precarious heels.
“Nice watch.”
“Oh, thank you, I mean, it’s not mine, it’s a friend’s.”
“I thought as much,” Frederick replied smugly.
“I tripped in these shoes, and my neck got scratched,” April responded. The conversation starters her tutor had drilled her in were not paying off well. They were dancing so close to one another she tried to avert her gaze from his eyes as she continued.
“I tried to heal it, but for some reason, it wouldn’t work. My necklace was irritating the cut, so my friend, Ethan, swapped with me.”
Too much detail thought April. But with Frederick’s curtness, one of them needed to do the talking.
“Ah. That would be the fabric,” Frederick replied staring down at her.
“Pardon? The fabric, what has the fabric done?”
“Some of our fabrics are poisonous to mer.”
April could swear she heard a satisfied smirk in his voice.
“Oh…goodness, we’ll have to get them to discontinue the line or change the fabric dye.”
“I suppose we shall. It was an honest mistake though,” Frederick replied in a monotone voice as he dipped April with a flourish. The music stopped and Frederick pulled April to standing with a jolt.
“A pleasure dancing with you April,” Frederick said as he fixed her with a steely gaze. A flicker of a smile crossed his lips. He bowed low and then walked off before April could utter a word in response. She checked herself. She felt as if she had been pounded by a wave and had suddenly popped back up to the surface.
CHAPTER 7
April walked over to where Queen Freya was standing with a group of legged officials. Keeping her head held high and a smile planted firmly on her face she tried to push down the worry building inside her. She recognised the Prime Minister of England and the French President talking to her Mum. April approached and they bobbed a bow to her as she stood patiently next to her Mum waiting for their conversation to tail off.
“Mum,” April whispered.
“Yes, April,” Queen Freya turned to her daughter. The Queen of Meridia was striking. Her long golden hair was elegantly twisted up into a low bun and was dotted with jewels. Her dress was a rich emerald, the colour of her tail. It was fitted but allowed for dancing. Practicality was one of Freya’s specialities.
“I’m feeling really light-headed.”
Freya motioned to one of the staff to bring a chair over discreetly.
“Take a seat.”
“Thank you,” April said as she sat down. The waiter passed April a glass of cool water.
“Do you feel better?” Freya asked.
“Yes,” April said slowly. “Mum, something weird just happened. Frederick, the President’s son, I think he said my dress is poisoned.”
Her Mum looked at her with a withering glare.
“That is absurd April.”
“But...”
“No buts. Now if you have nothing sensible to say you can go and introduce yourself to the British royal family.”
“Mum, please.”
“April.”
Wanting to storm off as she did after most conversations with her Mum, April instead focused on her glass. Suddenly, a black flicker shot over her fingers. She splayed her hand and watched another black tendril dart its way across her knuckles and seep back into her.
“Mum,” April said alarmed. She looked up to find her Mum stony-faced above her.
“April, control your powers,” Freya said in an even voice. It was pitched so low that only April could hear it.
“But, I didn’t do it.”
“You understand the importance of today don’t you?” Freya said her lips forming a hard line.
“Yes, I…”
“Good,” Freya cut her off. She looked back down apprehensively at April’s fingers but the black light seemed to have disappeared.
“Now, go outside and get some fresh air,” Freya said, her facial expression relaxing slightly. “I’m sure you’ll feel better soon.”
“Okay.”
April got up slowly and thanked the usher who efficiently came to remove the chair. Her Mum nodded at her, before moving towards a different group of leggeds to continue mingling. April stood for a moment rooted to the spot. She checked her fingers again looking for a hint of the lingering darkness. She folded her hands in the frills of her dress. There were no pearl shamans to be seen and her Dad was occupied in the centre of the room, so she did what she was told and moved outside onto the balcony for some fresh air.
~
“Would you like a drink?”
Ethan turned
around and saw the redhead he danced with earlier. She was holding two flutes of champagne and several people were openly admiring her around the room.
“Uh, no thank you,” Ethan said gesturing with the full glass of wine he was already holding.
“No worries.”
The woman placed the extra glass down on the poseur table and leant in towards him.
“You’re the Mer Prime Minister’s son, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am and you are…” Ethan hesitated. They were partnered together for the first dance but he couldn’t remember her name.
“Darcy Gray,” she said offering her hand with a smile. “We danced together earlier.”
“I remember.”
“You’re an excellent dancer.”
“Thank you.”
“Maybe we can dance again after the treaty is signed,” Darcy said.
“Yes, maybe.” Ethan looked past Darcy trying to find a polite escape. He spotted April outside on the balcony.
“Sorry, you must excuse me. I need to pay my dues to the mer crown.” Ethan bobbed a small bow and strode towards the balcony. He always felt uncomfortable when women flirted with him. Especially someone like Darcy who was used to getting what she wanted. He breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he passed through the door to the balcony. Ethan made straight for April.
“Thank goodness I’ve found you,” Ethan said. “This stunning legged woman was trying to make a move on me.”
“How terrible for you?” April laughed.
“It really was. She was beautiful and confident and sexy and I just felt like a clam.”
“Well you do look a bit clammy,” April said with a straight face.
Ethan frowned at her and continued his standard speech about the awkwardness of women flirting with him.
April was half listening to Ethan as she continued to marvel at the sky. The moon was high in the sky tonight and cast a soft pearlescent glow over the water. The sea, to April, seemed to be reaching up toward her as the stars twinkled on its surface. It gently lapped against the cliffs coastline sounding like peaceful sighs. The balcony was huge. It stretched out like a plate-shaped branch extending from the tree. The designer for the balcony seemed to have dismissed the idea of combining land and sea and had instead gone for a deep black marble. April imagined that in broad daylight, the floor would look as if it was going to swallow you and send you down into a dark abyss. But, in the dark April felt as if she was standing on the night sky amongst the stars.
“Ethan?” April asked disrupting his dialogue. “Do your pearls ever… misbehave?”
“Misbehave? I don’t think so,” Ethan said laughing. “Why?”
“Well, this energy just flickered across my fingers,” April said and her vision clouded over. “And it was like this dark light was coming out of me.” She shook her head and brought herself back into the present.
“Could it be your Tempus powers?” Ethan said, glancing over at April.
“Yeah,” April said. She looked out across the dark night sky. “It might be, it’s just it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” she said quietly.
“It’s probably part of your powers maturing or the stress of the treaty getting to you. You need to talk to someone.”
April dropped her head.
Ethan and April lapsed into silence together. As they stared out across the sea a cool breeze swept over them. April shivered and Ethan reflexively put his arm around her shoulders.
“Ethan.” April pretended to push him away. “We can’t show the world such a public display of affection. We’ll be engaged in the magazines tomorrow.”
Ethan laughed, “Well we need to keep the tabloids in business with more facts to work with.”
“I wonder how they’re going to describe tonight.”
“Yeah, how many epic romances can they find that are more important than the trivial, basically insignificant event, that is the World Peace Treaty,” Ethan said turning around to lean against the glass.
April screwed up her face and pretended to think seriously, “Ten.”
“Twelve,” he countered with an eye roll. Ethan adopted a faux high-pitched accent. “I saw them under the stars and the sexual tension was rife. Then next thing I knew he was on one knee and April was crying.”
As they dissolved into laughter a gong sounded indicating there were only five minutes left until the treaty would be signed.
“Right, me lady, that be our cue.” Ethan extended his arm to April to escort her into the Grand Hall.
“Ethan, your arm, you’re bleeding.” April grabbed his arm and turned it back and forth. She rolled up his sleeve.
“Steady on April, now you’re trying to undress me,” Ethan chuckled
“No, seriously, look. You’re bleeding.” Ethan inspected his arm for himself.
April was right; there was blood but no bleeding. He looked back up at April confusedly and he spotted a tiny smudge of blood at the nape of her neck. He leaned forward and swept her hairpiece aside.
“April! Your neck! The cut has deepened. It’s you, you’re bleeding.”
April looked at him in shock her arm reaching to feel her neck. As she touched her skin it seared in pain. It was so cold out here she hadn’t noticed how hot her skin was. Frederick was right. The dress was poisoning her. Whilst April was inspecting her hand that came away glistening in blood from her neck, Ethan had already spurred himself into action.
“Right, you stay here, I shall run and get some towels to clean up the bleeding and a plaster to cover the bits your hairpiece doesn’t hide. I’ll be as fast as I can.” Ethan started retreating. “Just stay there.”
April focused her Curo power on the wound. It wasn’t difficult to close but with the fabric constantly irritating her it was impossible to heal it fully until she was out of the dress. April looked through the glass doors to see that almost everyone had gathered on the stage by now. She shifted anxiously, not wanting to be late. She tried to wipe the blood from her neck.
“Urghh,” she groaned in frustration. Now she had two bloody hands and nowhere to wipe them. She was just contemplating summoning up some water with her Factus powers to clean her hands when she saw Ethan kind of trotting towards the doors. Not running, but certainly not walking. If this was his attempt to not attract attention then he was failing April thought as she rolled her eyes.
Then in an instant, everything was different. Ethan wasn’t trotting; he was being thrown into the air. It was no longer music and chatter April could hear but screams and crashing and the smashing of glass. All this she absorbed in an instance as she was lifted into the air and thrown back, and down into the sea.
CHAPTER 8
Warm sea streamed through Setha’s bedroom window as the tides changed and brought the shallows towards her. She rolled over and stretched out leisurely. She knew it was one o’clock but she couldn’t care less. Her Grandmother was at a painting class all morning and wouldn’t be back until she had had afternoon tea with her friends. Grandmother Jocelyn was a mera of habit. Sometimes her strict schedule irked Setha but in times like these, she was appreciative of her Grandmother’s reliability.
Leaning over, Setha stretched to grab her pearl earrings from the nightstand. As she popped them in her ears the sea lifted her body up as the Factus energy pulsed through her. She checked her Iris and was surprised to see no messages from April about her evening. Maybe April was sleeping in too she thought. She quickly responded to her Mum.
“Next weekend’s great, see you then.” Her body was heavy with sleep and she yawned wide as she swam down to the kitchen in search of breakfast. Her Grandmother’s mansion in Hanaria was really too big for one person. Setha was surprised that her Grandmother enjoyed living on her own in such a large house.
The upper level spiralled down into a large foyer that was weekly themed with different corals and shells. Setha found herself matching her wardrobe to the different themes when she first moved in and now made a concerted ef
fort to dress as contrastingly as possible. She did not need her wardrobe to reflect a 70-year-old mera’s taste in coral. She could smell something good coming from the kitchen. She swam to the kitchen and saw a freshly baked tray of crab cakes, perfect for breakfast Setha thought. Her Grandmother routinely baked things and left them on the side for people to take as they fancy. Setha grabbed a few, rifled through the post until she found her weekly subscription to Tailspin, poured herself a glass of the orange juice purée April had given her from her last visit to the leggeds and moved into the lounge. The silence that emanated from the mansion when she was alone was creepy, so she switched on the TV for company and began to eat her crab cakes.
There was nothing of interest on TV so Setha decided to watch her favourite film. It was a remake of the Shakespearean classic Much Ado About Nothing set underwater. Beatrice had long been Setha’s favourite fictional character. She often tried to maintain the same levels of aloofness.
“Nobody marks you,” Setha dramatically intoned with the actress on screen. She popped another crab cake in her mouth as Beatrice continued to tear into Benedict. Checking her Iris again she huffed in frustration at the lack of information from April.
“Hey! How was last night??” she typed and sent off.
Ten minutes later there was still no reply. Queen Freya rarely allowed April to sleep in; she deemed it a waste of one’s precious life. Setha started to worry. They had messaged each other every day without fail for the past four years.