And then the breeze ceased, and the sliver dipped below the horizon.
The princess could hardly believe what had just happened. She felt more alive than she had in some time.
Light always finds a way, she repeated over and over in her head. She’d heard her father say this many times throughout her life, and now her new friend had repeated it. It was truth! As she watched the sunrise behind a patch of clouds making their way across the sky, she felt tired again, as if she hadn’t slept in the many months she’d been a prisoner there. She eased herself into her hard bed and drifted away, thinking of her conversation with the light in the night sky.
Chapter 8
Orders
In the palace of the murdered mermaid king, the shark general, who had proclaimed himself the shark king, wrapped himself in his golden royal attire, which revealed his arms and many scars.
His third-in-command stood before him to deliver a status report. “Sir, we have rounded up all rebels and properly disposed of them. There should be no more singing protests in the square—we made good examples of those creatures.”
The shark king gazed down at the shorter soldier. “Good job, soldier. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, and continue to make sure all residents understand the new laws.”
“Yes, sir!” barked the third-in-command.
It had been many months since the shark general had betrayed his closest friend, killed him, imprisoned his daughter and wife, and taken over the kingdom to become the new king. Now, standing here in the palace he’d claimed for his own, he thought back to what had happened after he’d killed the king—when he’d returned to the kingdom without the mermaid king or the princess and had explained to the queen that her husband had been defeated attempting to save their daughter, who had also lost her life, from the mobile kingdom that had captured her. He’d explained that he’d battled alongside the king but had escaped, covered with nearly fatal wounds, which he’d secretly inflicted himself, when he realized it was hopeless.
He remembered the queen’s despair at his words, how quickly she’d spiraled into depression, and how this had allowed the general to bring his soldiers into the city over the next few weeks without her noticing. The kingdom had grown darker and darker, and finally the general had launched his full takeover of the city. The queen had remained confined to her room until she emerged, furious, to confront the general about what one of her servants had just secretly reported to her—that the general was taking over the city, stripping homes of color and forcing the citizens to wear crystals that killed them if they sang; that large numbers of creatures who resisted the nonsinging rules were disappearing; and worst of all, that the shark general had said the changes had been ordered by the queen herself, rendered hopeless by the death of her husband and daughter.
The general had denied nothing. He spoke of the new kingdom, persisting in his claim that he’d had nothing to do with her husband’s and daughter’s deaths but was simply taking the king’s place, renovating the kingdom to suit his style. He invited the queen to rule by his side. When she refused, he threw her into the dungeon, officially claimed the role of king, and passed the title of general to his second-in-command.
“Sir, another matter needs to be discussed.” The third-in-command’s voice brought the shark king back from his memories.
“What?” the new king barked.
“The new light in the sky at night. There’s a lot of chatter around here as to what it is. Do you think the princess has something to do with it? Should we be concerned?”
The shark king visualized the light sliver in his mind and remembered when he’d first seen it, traveling home from his only visit to the princess. He wouldn’t dare tell the soldier how he’d truly felt the moment that sliver of light appeared in the sky—how for the first time since beginning his reign of destruction, he’d felt fear. Refocusing his attention on the soldier, he said, “I am not worried about this light. I just saw the princess, and she is defeated and broken—this is not her work. We will issue an announcement that the light is something we’re tinkering with, so no one tries to rebel any more than they already have. Then, we will wait and see what, if anything, this light in the sky will do.”
The soldier nodded once.
“Send our new general to the prison to check on the princess,” the shark king continued, “and have him set up camp near the prison for a few days to see if anything out of the ordinary occurs. When I receive his report back, we will reconvene to discuss whether anything needs to be done.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” The soldier exited the room in a hurry.
The shark king, now alone in the room, stared at the book-filled walls. He’d been spending more and more time in the library and had converted it into a meeting room where his top soldiers could present reports to him. It was the only room he’d kept the same in the castle, though he’d destroyed much of the rest of the interior, and he made sure his soldiers and his council knew it was off limits, his own sanctuary—just as it had been when he was a boy. He remembered sitting in this room when he was young, reading, imagining a different life, one where he was happy. When they were children, the mermaid king had always been singing throughout the hallways, while he had locked himself in the library to read a good book and try to drown out all the noise. Unlike the mermaid king, the shark had never been happy—could not remember a moment in which he’d felt happiness. So far, ruling this kingdom made him feel the closest to happy he’d been, but he still felt a huge heaviness on his heart and had no idea how to remove it.
He thought again of the sliver of white light in the sky. Had he ever heard or read anything about such a thing? He could not recall ever hearing of it before. Of course, everyone knew of the sun and the stars, but this thing seemed completely new. Whenever his eyes looked upon the sliver in the night sky, he felt a sense of fate—a sort of dire connection—in his heart that he could never reveal to anyone. He hoped it wouldn’t interrupt his plans to rule, that the crystals would continue to work in his favor and give him everything he ever wanted.
He couldn’t worry about his apprehension of the new light. Now, he needed to make sure the princess was checked on again and the public service announcement was issued to ease the people’s fear. Then he could wait for answers about this new mystery in the evening sky.
Chapter 9
The Gray-Eyed General
The third-in-command soldier entered the chamber of the gray-eyed shark, the new general of the shark king’s army.
The gray-eyed shark’s study was dark and simple, lit by two low candles and a white crystal in the corner of the room. He had no need for many possessions, so his room was almost completely empty besides the bed he slept on and the chair he read in. Aside from the few books lying around, there was little evidence he was staying in the suite.
When the third-in-command arrived, the gray-eyed shark had just stepped back inside from his patio, where he spent many of his evenings staring out above the kingdom. He was unused to the attention he received now that he was in charge of the army, especially after feeling invisible most of his life. He wasn’t sure he liked it. In the dark, he’d felt like he fit in, but now he stood out more than he would have ever expected. He’d accepted the promotion to the role of general with no hesitation. He’d do anything for the shark king, even if meant being uncomfortable. The shark king had rescued him when he was an orphaned teenager, after he’d been beaten, robbed, and left for dead by members of a mobile kingdom, and then he’d cared for him, raised him, and trained him as a warrior, so the gray-eyed shark owed the shark king his life. But now, because he was still accustomed to isolation, instead of diving into the community, the new general had begun delegating more and more of the public work to the third-in-command.
The soldier who now stood before him.
“Sir,” the soldier said, “the king has requested that you take a trip out to the princess to make sure she is not the one behind the light in the night sky. He w
ould also like you to camp out for a week or so, watch for anything suspicious, and then report back.”
The gray-eyed shark adjusted his new royal clothing, which didn’t quite fit his strong, solid body. “Would he like to meet with me before I go?” he asked.
“He did not say, but it seemed he does not,” said the soldier. “Would you like me to go ask him, sir?”
“No. I’ll go and return with my report in a week and a half.”
“Okay, sir—I will let the king know,” the third-in-command replied. “Remember your stone, my friend—it is your only defense if she sings.”
The soldier left the room.
As he prepared to leave, the gray-eyed general laughed to himself at the third-in-command’s final comment.
Defense against what? he thought. What—will she kill me by singing? I watched her father die, and he was more powerful than she is.
He had heard rumors of healing properties and magic in her voice, but he hadn’t witnessed such things, so he didn’t believe it. Neither did the sliver of light that had appeared in the sky bother the gray-eyed shark, but he was curious to see if it was indeed the princess’s magic.
Despite his beliefs that she was no more powerful than anyone else, he found himself thinking of the princess often. Something about her had struck a chord in him, and he often volunteered to take the princess her monthly supplies, using the task as an excuse to be near her. He remembered how he’d felt when they dragged her limp body out of the city after they had murdered her father. As he’d watched her slip in and out of consciousness, he’d felt something—but he couldn’t figure out what it was.
Even the shark king didn’t know this, but the gray-eyed shark had seen the princess for the first time long ago, when he was a teenager, long before she became a prisoner under his watch. One evening, after his training with the shark general, the gray-eyed shark teen, frustrated that he lived alone beyond the kingdom’s limits while the shark general lived within it, had decided to secretly follow the shark general back to the outskirts of the then-colorful kingdom, just to see what it was like. As he approached the kingdom, he noticed that the colors and the sound of singing and laughter increased the closer he got to the city. Suddenly, the gray-eyed teen, still hiding in the shadows, saw someone or something hurrying toward the shark general. At first the teen couldn’t make out what it was, but he quickly realized it was a beautiful mermaid, around the same age as himself, with vibrant purple hair. He moved closer for a better view, and he heard the mermaid calling the shark general Uncle and him calling her princess—it was the daughter of the mermaid king, whom the shark general had conditioned the gray-eyed teen to hate. The mermaid hugged the shark general, the gray-eyed teen’s savior, and he cringed at the sight of it. Then he watched them both swim toward the singing and the light together.
After that, filled with curiosity he couldn’t ignore, the young shark teen had begun to follow the shark general regularly and watch him from afar. One afternoon, while following him, the gray-eyed teen became distracted, lost sight of the shark general, and found himself in a different area. As he started to panic, fearing he would run into old enemies, or anyone at all, he suddenly heard singing. He hid. Moments later, the mermaid princess came swimming by, singing a tune. He watched her glide by gracefully and listened to her soft voice. She swam leisurely, as though she had nowhere especially to be, and he assumed she would just pass by, but then she stopped and began exploring the area. His mind raced. Did she know he was there? What would he do if she found him? He watched her from the shadows as she reached for a flower on the ground and picked it up—then suddenly he realized she’d seen him. His heart dropped, and he held his breath as she stared past the flower, directly at him. She opened her mouth as if to speak, and he darted off. Fearful she’d tell someone she’d seen him, he never ventured near the kingdom again after that.
He hadn’t seen the princess again until they’d found her spying on the town meeting.
Suddenly, he found himself envisioning her light-colored eyes, and he snapped himself out of the thought. He had a job to do, a king to serve, and he had to travel quickly. He finished gathering his needed supplies and hurried off toward the prison.
Chapter 10
A Lost History
The mermaid queen sat alone in the palace dungeon, which had become her home when she refused to rule the kingdom next to the new shark king.
Because the shark king feared that if any other prisoners were near the queen, she would lead them to mutiny, he moved them to other places and ordered the guards not to engage directly with her. When they entered her cell with her food rations, she had to turn her back to the entrance and drop to the ground with her hands behind her head. At first, the mermaid queen resisted, but after numerous scuffles, she finally became compliant with this rule, realizing it was not the time to fight.
Before now, she’d never paid attention to the dungeon of their castle, and now she wondered if her late husband had known of the terrible conditions their captives had lived in all those years. They had left the law enforcement and anything related to war to the shark general, as he was much better suited for it.
As she sat alone in the dungeon, the queen continued to replay her last moments with her husband in her head, watching him swim away, never to return. She had known something had happened, and her fears had been confirmed when the shark general came stumbling back into the kingdom without her family.
She still didn’t know whether the shark general was responsible for their deaths or if his seemingly newfound thirst for power had simply grown with her husband gone.
* * *
In the months that had passed, she’d learned very little. She wondered how many of her people were still fighting the darkness, but she could hear nothing beyond her cell and learned nothing new from the guards who fed her. The shark king visited her, attempting to explain his love for her and how the new way of life could be just as good as the previous, but she would say little, making sure he understood she would never stand by his side in darkness.
She could never truly tell him how it hurt her deep down inside to deny him.
Despite his darkness, which she could never support, she loved the shark king. When she looked at him, she didn’t see the cold new king that everyone else saw; she only saw the young shark who had adored her since the moment they’d met many, many years ago.
The queen had always known that the shark had liked her from the moment they’d locked eyes in childhood. At that time, the young shark had been excelling in combat school and rising through the ranks alongside the young mermaid prince, who was learning to use his wizard power correctly and to be a proper king. The young mermaid queen had grown up actively participating in her community. She liked to help plant gardens and had joined outreach groups trying to bridge the gap between the mobile kingdoms and the community. As she’d grown up beside the mermaid prince and the young shark, she’d been smitten with them both but found herself drawn to the shark boy that the prince’s mother had adopted and raised as her own. The queen had noticed he was always reading—when he wasn’t working hard to rise through the ranks in combat school—and that he was very quiet but also direct and charming when she spoke to him one on one. She knew that the shark felt he could be himself with her—that she saw into the void inside him but didn’t run the other way. They would stay up late watching the stars, sometimes talking, sometimes just lying quietly.
The queen knew the young shark had fallen in love with her.
One day, when the shark was in the city, the silver-haired mermaid prince, clearly unaware of the special time spent between the shark general and the queen, had asked the young queen to go on a date with him. She accepted the invitation. Only when the shark returned from the city did the queen learn that he had planned a beautiful evening for them both and wanted to ask her to be his. But it was too late—she liked the mermaid prince and had been delighted when he’d asked her to go on a date. And t
he shark general would never have another chance after that, because the queen fell deeply in love with the mermaid prince and eventually became his queen. Although the shark never showed it, the queen knew deep down that she had shattered his heart into a million pieces.
And now, the shark had played a role in her husband’s death and was asking for her hand. What could she possibly do?
As she stared blankly at the torn-apart walls surrounding her in her cell, she hoped for a solution. She could not give up hope. She had to remain strong.
Chapter 11
Awake and Confused
The gray-eyed shark found himself approaching the prison much sooner than he’d expected. He’d barely stopped to rest—he assumed the shark king would want to know his report on the princess as soon as possible, so the sooner he could get there, the better.
As he neared the hidden enclosure, the sun dipped beneath the horizon, changing the sky from a brief canvas of colors to almost black. As the light faded, the gray-eyed shark wondered if anyone had stumbled across the enclosure, which he realized stuck out like a sore thumb with its walls that reached to the sky. He quietly and quickly swept through the enclosure’s surroundings, searching for any signs of life or disturbance, but because it was harder to see without the sun, he decided to set up his camp. He would continue to survey the area when the daylight returned.
But first, he thought it would be the ideal time to spy on the princess, since the new light had not yet appeared in the night sky.
We’ll see if she summons this light in the sky, he thought as he approached the enclosure. We’ll see just how powerful she is.
The Magical Mermaid and the Moon Page 4