The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen

by Delia Sherman

  “What’re you chumps looking at?” she asked the room at large. “Do I have a smudge on my cheek?” She rubbed at the deepest scar. “Whaddya know? It doesn’t come off.”

  “Woolworth,” the Diplomat said warningly. “Do you think this is the most useful attitude to take?”

  Woolworth glared at her fiercely. “It’s Bowery attitude. Get used to it.” Then she honored the Diplomat with a graceful and perfectly executed bow, stomped to the back of the room, and sat down. The air quivered with everybody’s desire to turn and stare at her, but nobody moved a muscle.

  “One more announcement,” the Diplomat said. “Today, I have the honor of presenting two gold stars. Neef, Airboy, if you would care to step forward?”

  Airboy looked ready to crawl under the desk. I gave him a poke and herded him to the front of the room. His neck and ears were a painful, deep red. I had a feeling mine weren’t much better. We stood there, glowing like beacons, while the Diplomat made an endless speech about City Harmony and Diplomatic Initiative and Grace Under Pressure that made me squirm. What saved me was the sight of Woolworth slouching in the back row, tapping a pencil noisily on the desk and sneering furiously.

  And then the Diplomat handed us each a gold star.

  I’d never really noticed that gold stars were beautiful. Maybe it was because this one was new. Maybe it was because this one was mine. It shone with a glory of pure and golden light around a tiny, intense, five-pointed center. It was magic—not the kind of magic that does anything, just the kind of magic that is wonderful and mysterious and, well, magical.

  I looked up at the Diplomat. “This is a greater honor than I can ever deserve.”

  “Your modesty does you credit, Neef. But you do deserve it, or I wouldn’t give it to you. Be careful, though. One quest’s diplomatic initiative can be another quest’s diplomatic incident. Do you understand me?”

  I did. And suddenly, I understood Rule 0, too. “I do, Diplomat.”

  “Airboy, Neef, these gold stars mean that you need not attend Diplomacy anymore. But I hope that you will continue your lessons, at least until Winter Solstice.”

  “Certainly, Diplomat,” I said. And I meant it, too. There was a lot I wanted to learn, especially about crisis management.

  And that was that.

  Our table picked up a bunch of new lunchers that day. Some Tech-heads, eager to geek out about the Mermaid’s mirror. Fortran was in his element. Mukuti made nice to a couple of renegade East Siders, while Espresso talked Folk lore and poetry with a mixed group of West Siders, Spanish Harlemites, and Villagers. Woolworth sat glowering at the end of the table, bracketed by Danskin and Stonewall, who were sparkling at everyone, planting the seeds, I realized, of future alliances.

  I opened Satchel and pulled out my lunch: white cheese, black bread, an apple. Across the table Airboy grinned and offered me a piece of fish.

  RULE 0: STUDENTS MAY BREAK ANY RULE IN THE BOOK IF,

  AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATION OF ALL THE ALTERNATIVES

  AND POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES, THEY DECIDE THAT THEY

  REALLY, REALLY HAVE TO.

  Neef’s Guide to Supernatural Beings

  Arranged in alphabetical order, with country of origin, where known. All the Folk in this list are traditional, except the ones marked “Literary Characters” or “New York Between,” who don’t appear in any of the old lists but exist anyway. Astris says it’s important to remember that there are non-traditional Folk all over the world, not just in New York Between, but the New York ones are the only ones I’ve met.

  Apopa (Inuit): A kind of dwarf. They’re supposed to be truly hideous and misshapen and deformed, but I’ve never seen one, so who knows? Maybe it’s just bad press related to their habit of playing nasty tricks on people.

  Banshee (Ireland): A spirit who flies around wailing when someone important is going to die. Think nails across a blackboard. Now turn up the volume. Now think of the saddest sound you ever heard. That’s what a banshee’s wail sounds like.

  Black Dog/Gabriel Hound (England): Bad dogs. Very, very bad dogs. They lead you astray, they attack you with their foot-long teeth, they foretell your death. They tend to show up at intersections and on bridges, and they have glowing red eyes.

  Brownie/Kobold(Europe): Household spirits. They’re all about cleaning and helping around the house. They’ll do anything: laundry, mending, scrubbing the stove. They’ll even wash windows. They’re all pretty small (about knee-high) and skinny. There are differences, though. The Brownies (from England) are brown (duh) and shaggy-haired and have webbed hands. You can make them go away by giving them new clothes and saying “Thank you.” Kobolds (from Germany) are gray and bald and much crabbier than brownies. They take their milk with dirt, and think everybody else should, too.

  Centaur(Greece): Half man, half horse, with the man part at the front. Chiron, the Green Lady’s Councilor, is a Literary Character. Back in the Old Country, he was a healer and an astronomer and a teacher of heroes. He tried to teach me astronomy once, but we decided it would be better to wait until I was bigger, and maybe knew some math.

  Demon(Everywhere): A kind of general term for bad guys of all sizes, shapes, and places of origin. A demon can have anywhere between no and twelve heads, and as many arms as will fit on its body. It’s usually a good idea to keep as far away from them as possible.

  Djinn/Afrit(Middle East): Djinns are wind spirits. Afrits are fire spirits. Both are big, powerful, mean, and smart. When you make a bargain with a djinn or an afrit, be sure you get it in writing and read all the fine print before you sign.

  Dryad(Greece): A guardian spirit of trees, groves, and woods. Dryads look like wispy girls, and basically, they’re only interested in trees. And dancing.

  Duende(Spain): Duendes are related to brownies, but not as single-minded about cleaning. They do guardian-spiriting, too, and make excellent fairy godparents and artists’ agents. Their feet are turned around the wrong way, and they like hats with really wide brims, which make them look kind of like walking mushrooms.

  Dwarf(Europe): Dwarfs are short, stocky Folk with long beards and axes. Mostly, they mind their own business, which is digging, building, magic technology, and gold. They can be nice or they can be nasty, depending on their mood. Duergs (Germany and Scandinavia) are pretty much always in a nasty mood.

  Elf/Fate/Fay (singular) Alfar/Elle-folk/Sidhe/Peris/Daoine Sidhe (plural) (Europe): Different names for the mortal-shaped, tall, gorgeous Folk that show up most often in fairy tales. They tend to be as proud as they are beautiful, and kind of self-centered. They like music and the arts, treasure and beautiful things. And breaking mortal hearts.

  Fairy(Europe): This is a general term that can refer to any kind of Folk. But most self-identified fairies are tiny, winged, mischievous, and have very short attention spans.

  Faun(Greece): Half boy, half goat, with the goat half on the bottom. Fauns are nature spirits, basically, although there are a few who live in Lincoln Center, playing their pipes in the orchestra or dancing in the chorus.

  Fox Maidens(Japan and China): Sometimes they’re girls and sometimes they’re foxes. They like mortal men, even going so far as to marry and live Outside for years and years. Sometimes this even works out. In Japan, they’re called kitsune.

  Gnomes(Germany): Short, stocky, technophile, underground Folk, kind of like bald dwarfs. They make excellent Magic Technicians and Building Superintendents.

  Goblin(Europe): Any small, ugly, beardless, mischievous spirit with a taste for practical jokes, frequently nasty. Hobgoblins come from England. Puck is a hobgoblin. He’s also a Literary Character.

  Gremlins(England): Little devils who get into machinery of all kinds and gum up the works. They started out specializing in British airplanes, but soon spread to cars, trucks, telephones, and computer networks all over the world.

  Iolanthe(Literary Character): A peri, one of fairy-kind, and the heroine of Iolanthe, an operetta by the mortals Gilbert and Sullivan. In Central
Park, she’s a dancing teacher.

  Jenny Greenteeth(England): A bogeywoman who hangs out in ponds covered with duckweed and slime, waiting for unsuspecting children to come too close so she can pull them into the pond and eat them. In New York Between, Jenny hangs out in Riverside Park and rides with the Wild Hunt. She’s tight with Peg Powler. They have a lot in common.

  Kappa(Japan): Demon with webbed fingers, a head like an open bowl, and a gold star in manners. It likes drowning mortals. If you meet a kappa, remember to bow so its strength will pour out of its head when it bows back. Works every time.

  Kazna Peri(Russia): On the steppes of Russia, it cooked gold over its magic fire in the spring. In New York Between, it brews really strong coffee.

  Kelpie(Scotland): A nasty, hungry, mortal-drowning, shape-shifting water spirit. If you see a pretty black horse near any body of water, with flaming eyes and weeds in its mane, stay away from it. If it’s not a kelpie, it’s probably a pooka or a water horse, and none of them are really safe to ride. Unless it’s your fairy godfather, of course.

  Kirin(Japan): A kind of dragon/deer/lion hybrid. Kirin are gentle and pure-hearted and only appear in places ruled by kind and just rulers.

  Kouros(Greece): “Kouros” is Greek for “young man.” There are many, many ancient statues of young men in the Metropolitan Museum, and each of them is called “Kouros.” They have long, stony curls and mysterious little smiles, and they’ll never tell you what the joke is.

  Moss Women(Germany): Tiny nature nymphs. They’re all about moss: making it, decorating trees with it, taking care of it. They wear moss. Their hair looks like moss. They can also grant small wishes and reorient mortals lost in the woods, but don’t step on any moss, or you’ll be sorry.

  Naiad/Nixie/Undine(Europe): Different kinds of freshwater nymphs. Naiads (Greece) and undines (Germany) have legs. Nixies (Germany and Switzerland) have fish tails. Like mermaids, nixies enjoy drowning mortals for fun. Naiads and undines are more likely to fall in love with them.

  Nymph(Everywhere): Essentially, any female nature spirit is a nymph, no matter what she was called in the Old Country. Moss women are forest nymphs; nixies are water nymphs. The marsh goblin’s nymph could have been a helead (nymph of the marshes). Or she could have been visiting.

  Ogres(France and Italy): Big, ugly Folk with a taste for mortal flesh and really bad manners. There aren’t many in New York Between, luckily, but you never know when one might show up.

  Rusalka(Russia): A water nymph of the “come and be drowned” variety. Unlike nixies, she leaves the water to look for victims, carrying a magic comb to keep her hair from drying out, which would kill her. The rusalkas in Central Park mostly live in Harlem Meer with the vodyanoi.

  Selkie(British Isles): A mortal on the land; a seal in the sea. They are strong, gentle, and patient and make excellent fairy godparents.

  Shinseën(China): Nature spirits, oddly enough. There might be a few lurking up in Inwood or somewhere, but most of them seem to be down in Chinatown, selling spices and vegetables. New York is like that.

  Tanuki(Japan): Badger/man shapeshifter. They like rice wine, good food, and simple practical jokes, and are usually almost as wide as they are tall.

  Troll(Scandinavia): Big, ugly, hairy, and short-tempered. Trolls like treasure and solitude and biting people’s heads off. They turn to stone in the sun.

  Viz-Leany(Hungary): A kind of water maiden. Descended from a goddess, back in the Old Country.

  Vodyanoi(Russia): Nasty, mean, dangerous water spirits who hate mortals (except to eat . . . raw). They can shift shape—old men with scales and/or green beards, big fish, frogs. Green is a theme. Also horns and big teeth.

  Wild Hunt(Northern Europe): In the Old Country, a host of evil spirits who hunt souls on windy, stormy nights. In New York Between, a loose alliance of nasty, carnivorous Folk who are always petitioning the Green Lady to up their quota of fresh meat.

  Will-o’-the-wisps/feux follet/ignis fatuus:Different names for nature spirits who exist to mislead travelers. They look like little lights, twinkling off in the trees (or down a side street). If you follow them, thinking you’ve found somebody with a flashlight or a restaurant or an off-duty taxi, you’ll get a lot more lost than you were to begin with, probably in a really bad section of town.

  Acknowledgments

  As always, I have many people to thank.

  The Fabulous Genrettes—Laurie J. Marks, Rosemary Kirstein, and Didi Stewart—for helping me make it all make sense.

  Ellen Klages, for Friday pages and inexhaustible patience with my early-draft experiments.

  Sarah Smith, Elizabeth Bear, Eve Sweetser, Kelly Link, Gavin Grant, Holly Black, Chiara Azzaretti, Shweta Narayan, Nathaniel Smith, Veronica Schanoes, and Liran Bromberg for reading assorted drafts and being honest and helpful about what they found there.

  Josepha Sherman and Jerome Chanes, for checking over my folklore and my Yiddish so I shouldn’t make a fool of myself. If I have, it’s entirely my fault.

  Davey Snyder and Chip Hitchcock, for compiling the glossary and noting the inconsistencies.

  Eleanor and Leigh Hoagland, for once more opening their Maine home for a much-needed writing retreat, with fireflies.

  Christopher Schelling and Sharyn November, for being such a wonderful and supportive agent and editor team.

  Jon Keller, Frederick Schjang, and Dr. George Russell, for helping me keep my back supple and my mind clear.

  Ellen Kushner, who has read this book almost as many times as I have and still laughs at the jokes. If it weren’t for her, this train never would have gotten into the station at all, let alone on time.

  AuthorBio

  Delia Sherman was born in Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in New York City, where she now lives. She is the author of numerous short stories, including three set in a magical New York: “Grand Central Park” (The Green Man), “CATNYP” (The Faery Reel), and “Cotillion” (Fire-birds ). In addition, she has published three adult fantasy novels, has been nominated for the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards, and has won the Mythopoeic Award. She is one of the founders of the Interstitial Arts Foundation. She is currently working on a third novel about Neef.

  Her Web site at www.deliasherman.com has lots more information about New York Between and the Fairy Folk. Also cool pictures.