Fathom

by L. L. Standage

  “Won’t Linnaeus recognize you?” I asked.

  “Never met him,” Walter replied. “And even if I had, he’s the type of man who won’t take any notice of the help.”

  I sighed. This plan was getting more complicated by the second.

  “When we’re ready,” Eamon continued, “we’ll drop a weighted rope into the tank—you’ll have to mind your head, Olivia—then we can pull you up and away from danger. It’s an easier escape and no one has to swim through broken glass.”

  “What if the rope does land on my head?”

  Calder shook his head. “It won’t. Whatever you’ve seen in the movies, not even a bullet can penetrate more than a few feet through water.”

  “That’s right,” said Eamon. “A rope won’t be a problem. Just grab a deep breath and swim to the bottom until the rope lands in the water.”

  “We’ll watch from overhead,” said Uther. “And don’t worry, I have excellent aim.”

  “Sounds good to me,” said Eamon. “And breaking the glass after she’s lifted would create a nice diversion. We don’t want anyone trying to come after her once the costume is off.”

  “Good point,” said Walter. He looked at Cordelia. “Can we do it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Gut,” Uther said as he stood up. “I’ll head down to the hotel and check things out, maybe build the pulley system if I can.”

  “You can drop me off over to the aquatic supply company while you’re at it,” said Walter.

  “Excellent.” Eamon slapped his knees. “I’ll go with Uther. Natasha, you can take Cordelia and Seidon shopping.”

  “Shopping?” I said in confusion.

  “For formal attire,” Natasha replied. “They’re attending the party, aren’t they?”

  “But what about Marinus?”

  Natasha gave a scowl of disgust at the name. “Trust me, after I’m finished with them, no one will have the faintest inkling who they really are. King Llyr himself won’t recognize them.”

  I sat back, almost smiling at the thought of Linnaeus getting his real mermaids at the party after all. I stood to take my costume things to my motel room. As I took our purchases out of the bag and examined each one, the realization of what I was about to do and my persistent anxiety over Samantha turned my stomach over. I folded my arms across my abdomen. Someone knocked on the door. I went to open it. Calder stood there.

  “You all right?”

  I nodded, even though I wasn’t actually all right.

  “Are you guys always coming up with crazy plans like this?” I asked, gesturing to the costume items on the table. He came into the room.

  “Sometimes. But they always work. Usually.”

  “Usually?”

  “The crazier the better. And your idea with the costume was the craziest part, remember?”

  “Right,” I said with a mirthless laugh. Now what? I looked around my motel room, grateful he was here, but feeling awkward at being left alone with him. Shake it off, you dummy! You’ve been alone with him before.

  “Hungry?” he asked. I nodded.

  Ten minutes later, we sat in the motel’s lobby, eating bagels and cream cheese.

  “How long have you and Samantha been friends?” he asked.

  “Honestly? I can’t remember,” I replied. “My first memory of her was the day she kicked a boy in the shins on the playground. He’d called me chicken legs. I think we were six.”

  “Friends ever since,” he said. “I wish I had someone like that.”

  “You have Eamon and the others.”

  “You don’t know what life is usually like for us. I only see Eamon around twice a year.”

  “Don’t you have any other friends?”

  “Eh, a few back home.” He shrugged. “I see ‘em at the pub every now and again. They aren’t much for conversation.”

  “It must be hard when you can’t tell them what you do when you’re away.”

  “Right.”

  “So, if you only hang out with Eamon a few times a year, what do you do the rest of the time?”

  “I look after me mum and work in a pharmacy.”

  “Really? You’re a pharmacist?” I grinned, picturing a silly image of the great adventurer Calder Brydon in a lab coat, handing out antibiotics.

  “Only a technician.”

  “That’s so funny.”

  “Why is that funny?”

  “I don’t know, I guess I just never thought of you as the nine-to-five type.”

  He shrugged. “I have to support meself somehow. Uther’s money won’t do it all the time.”

  “Does he really pay for everything? The house we stayed in, the motel? His equipment?”

  “Actually, the house was foreclosed. He didn’t pay for it.”

  My jaw dropped. “We were squatters?”

  Calder smiled. Oh, I liked his smile. This was nice. He was nice. And a pharmacist. In Scotland. A very expensive plane ride away from Arizona. Soon he’d have to go back to that life, and I’d have to go back to mine. All of a sudden, I knew just how sails felt without wind to fill them.

  “What’s the matter? You’re not bothered by that, are you?”

  “By squatting?” I laughed a little. “No, it’s fine. It’s nothing.” I sighed as the distraction of Calder’s presence disappeared. My exhaustion, my worry over Samantha, and the insane plan we’d cooked up returned, weighing on me.

  “Did you sleep at all last night?” he asked.

  “Not really.”

  “Why don’t you go up and get some rest?”

  “No, I’m fine,” I said, even though I could use a few hours of unconsciousness.

  “Go on up. I’ll keep an eye on things outside.”

  I yawned, as though Calder’s suggestion itself had been a sleeping pill. “Okay.” I stood and headed toward the door to the stairs.

  “Olivia?”

  I stopped and looked back at him.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said. I gave him a little smile.

  “Thanks.” I continued upstairs to my motel room, exhausted but frazzled.

  I lay on my bed and stared at the pile of luggage in the corner. On the top sat Samantha’s camera bag and cell phone. I got up, wandered over, and picked up the cell phone. There was a new text from her mom.

  Haven’t heard from you in a while. How’s it going?

  A fresh pang seized my chest. I typed back: Great! Having so much fun. I’ll call you later.

  Guilt wrapped itself around my heart and squeezed. I hoped beyond anything that the text I had just sent would actually happen. I put the phone down, opened the camera bag, and pulled out her camera. Clicking through the pictures she had taken, I smiled wistfully, swallowing back new tears as each image flashed on the camera’s digital screen.

  Many of the ocean. Some of me. Several of Seidon. A couple pictures of Eamon, Uther, Walter, and Natasha. More of Seidon—some of him alone, some with her. Even some of Calder and me. I paused on the final one. It was of Calder and me playing cards. Sam must have caught it just before they sneaked out. In the picture, I smiled at my cards, oblivious to the look on Calder’s face as he gazed at me.

  “I need a little more glue on this side,” I said to Natasha. She squeezed the tube of adhesive where I indicated, then held the fabric to my skin. After a few seconds, I pulled on the fabric to test it. My skin pulled with it.

  I’d never been in a more awkward position. I sat on the bathroom counter, the silvery green mermaid tail binding me from hip to toe. Underneath the tail, I wore some boy-short bikini bottoms. I would have rather worn something to cover me better—like a wetsuit or a muumuu or something. But for now, bikini bottoms were my only option. On top, I wore Cordelia’s sark. Water ran down my skin from my wet hair.

  Natasha had fastened on my gills. To finish off the illusion, she also painted the pink part of my nails with purple-tinted nail polish. I doubted anyone would look that closely, but it was better to be over prepared.


  I gazed at my gills through Natasha’s hand mirror—a weird sensation, seeing the fishy flaps of skin behind my ears. They looked amazing. Freakish, but amazing.

  “You ready?” asked Natasha.

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Okay. You look great. Let me go get one of the guys to carry you down. I’ll be right back.” She walked out of the bathroom. I sighed and looked at my reflection in the mirror again. In spite of myself, I had to agree…I did look good. So good, it was frightening. With my wet hair, it looked like I had just been pulled from the ocean. The way the scaly shimmer in the fabric played, it erased the seams Samantha had sewn, and while it didn’t blend with my skin, the way Natasha had glued it made it look pretty natural. As far as the untrained eye was concerned, I was a full-fledged, blue-blooded mermaid. I only hoped Marinus wouldn’t be near enough to see I was a fake.

  “She’s ready,” Natasha said from outside.

  “Good, it’s nearly time.”

  “Someone come and carry her for me.”

  Another set of footsteps joined hers and soon, Calder stood in the doorway of the bathroom. I watched as his jaw dropped and his eyes roved over me. I folded my arms across my bare stomach.

  “Give her a blanket or something, can’t you?” he said to Natasha. He pulled a towel off the rung and wrapped it around my shoulders.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  He scooped me up as though I weighed nothing. I gasped as the bonded fabric pulled my skin.

  He paused. “Did I hurt you?”

  I shook my head and put one arm around his shoulders. My core flooded with warmth. A pleasant quiver began at the base of my chest and spread out.

  “Mind your head,” he said as he carried me out of the bathroom. I ducked closer and could smell him. As he carried me to the other motel room where everyone else waited, I tried to calm my increasing heart rate, but of course it didn’t listen.

  “Well, Cordelia?” Natasha asked, for neither merperson had seen me since I had put on the tail. She forced me to lift the towel so Cordelia could see me. The mermaid captain, ready for the party and looking as glamorous as an Oscar nominee on the red carpet, looked me over. Her shining red lips pursed as though she was trying hard not to be impressed by human handiwork.

  “Good enough. No time to do anything else anyway.”

  “You look perfect,” Seidon said benevolently. He looked quite dashing in his tuxedo. I smiled, still uncomfortable about my glued-on clothing, and clutched the towel tighter around me with the hand not wrapped around Calder’s neck.

  “Take this.” Eamon handed me a plastic bag with a wet rag in it. “Use it to moisten your skin before we get there.”

  I took the bag.

  “And this.” He held out the earpiece I had used when Calder and I went to Oceana. “I thought of it just a second ago. It’s waterproof. We’ll be able to let you know what’s going on.”

  “Thank you.” I put the earpiece in my ear, glad for his foresight.

  “We’re also going to cover you with a blanket when we transport you from the car to the tank.”

  “Okay.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Calder asked, the concern shining from his eyes. From behind him, Uther took a salt packet from some leftover takeout and threw it over his shoulder. It didn’t reassure me, but I nodded.

  “Right then. Let’s go, lads,” said Eamon.

  “And lasses,” chimed Natasha.

  “And lasses.”

  Uther went before us, making sure no other motel guests were around. Eamon covered my tail with the blanket and led the way down to the parking lot, where the beige sedan was parked. “We’re going to put you in the trunk, Olivia, in case they’re there when we arrive,” he said. “When we open the trunk, I want you to pretend to be asleep.”

  “Okay.” Why did I keep saying okay when it was totally not okay? I swallowed at a hard lump in my throat. Uther popped the trunk, then went to get into the car with the others.

  “Are you all right?” Calder asked me. I nodded. “We’ll drive carefully.”

  “Um…good.”

  “I’ll open up the center console in the back seat. So you can see us while we drive.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Uther and Eamon will be with us when we get there, just in case anything goes wrong. And I’ll be with you until you go into the tank.”

  “Thanks.” A few seconds passed. Calder was still stood there, holding me, his eyes locked on mine. I wanted to wrap my other arm around his neck and lean in closer.

  “Calder? You wanna put her down now?” Natasha asked from the nearby minivan, where she had settled Cordelia and Seidon. Eamon and Uther waited in the car. Calder looked away and lowered me into the trunk. His hand lingered on my shoulder before he stood back and closed the hood.

  The center console leading to the back seat opened a minute later. Calder reached his hand through. I grasped it. The engine started, along with the adrenaline mechanisms in my body.

  One dark but smooth ride later, we slowed down.

  “We’re here. Remember, pretend you’re asleep,” said Calder as he let go of my hand. I didn’t know if I could do it. I shook so much, I would probably look less like I was asleep and more like I was having a seizure. I worked to slow my breathing while running the wet rag over my arms, shoulders, chest, back, and stomach, then hid both it and the plastic bag under the towel I had worn.

  The doors to the car all opened and closed, then I couldn’t hear anything. I closed my eyes and forced my body to relax in case one of Linnaeus’s men opened the trunk first.

  The trunk popped and I jumped.

  “It’s okay,” I heard Calder whisper so only I could hear. He covered me in a blanket. I felt the tension in my muscles release as he slid his arms beneath me and lifted me up. My head hung back over his arm and I could feel my wet tresses dangling in the still air beneath the blanket.

  “Show it to us,” said a voice I didn’t recognize. I forced myself to relax as the blanket lifted off my face. My mouth hung open, my breath shallow. I smelled cigarette smoke.

  “What’s the matter with her?” I heard a familiar English accent.

  “Sedated,” said Calder. The blanket fell back over my face. “For the journey. She’ll wake up when she gets back in the water.”

  “She’s not going to freak out on us, is she?” the first man asked.

  “No, she knows what’s about to happen,” said Eamon. “It is her punishment for allowing the vessel to fall out of her hands.”

  “Blimey…then she really was lying. Marinus was wrong,” said the Brit. I calmed further hearing he was convinced, and Marinus didn’t seem to be there.

  “Well, hand her over,” the first man said.

  “A few conditions beforehand,” came Uther’s voice. “First, give us the girl.”

  “She’ll be delivered as soon as the mermaid is in the tank.”

  “Fine. Second, this is the only mermaid in existence.”

  I heard a laugh. “No, it isn’t.”

  “If Linnaeus says otherwise,” said Eamon, “then he’ll lose this one just like he did the last one.”

  I swallowed and waited.

  “Done. Give it to me.”

  “Just a minute,” said the first man. I heard footsteps approach and Calder swung me away. I flinched. “Check her fingernails, Hamish.”

  “Fine. Show him, Eamon.”

  Someone picked up my hand. I was instantly grateful we’d painted my nails.

  “And the gills,” said the English guy, Hamish. “She didn’t have them last time.”

  The blanket lifted off my face again. Calder tipped my head and I allowed it to loll to the side. I felt an exhale of breath against my neck and I gave an involuntary gasp through my nose.

  “Is this some kind of joke?” said Hamish.

  “What?”

  “It’s fake. Those gills are fake!”

  Calder pulled me away as a scuffle ensued. I o
pened my eyes. Eamon grappled with the English guy while Uther wrestled the other. I covered my mouth and gasped again as the English guy clocked Eamon in the jaw. Eamon threw his attacker off of him as Uther pulled something from his belt and thrust it at him. The guy fell, twitching. Uther then launched an uppercut to the other guy’s diaphragm, then another to his chin. He fell, out cold.

  I watched in astonishment. Uther put his taser back in his belt.

  “Eamon, are you okay?” I asked, seeing him rub his jaw.

  “Fine. We’ll pack these two up and take them away,” he replied. “Calder, take her in, make any excuse. Meet us back here in ten minutes.”

  Calder nodded. I felt my neck where the man had examined my gills and noticed some of the latex peeling. I’d have to keep it hidden. My faith in this mission started to wane. As Calder took me through a side door, I caught a glimpse of Uther dumping one of the men into the trunk of the car.

  “Cover yourself up with the blanket again, just in case someone walks by,” said Calder as he snuck through the halls of the hotel. I did, then leaned into the crook of his shoulder, shutting my eyes and trying to dig up some spare courage. Calder gave me a squeeze. Beneath the blanket, I reached my hidden hand to cover his.

  “Where’s Hamish and Oscar?” someone asked. Calder stopped.

  “Needed a smoke,” Calder replied. “They told me to bring her in. Go get the girl. Hurry, the fish is getting dry. Your employer won’t be happy if she dies.”

  “You go,” said another voice. “I’ll stay and keep watch. Tank’s this way.”

  Calder started walking again. By the change in his footsteps, I could tell he’d walked into a carpeted room.

  He faltered for a moment.

  “What are you waiting for? Dump her in.”

  He continued again, walking up some steps. Steps? I didn’t dare take a peek. The blanket fell away. I had to concentrate to keep from reacting. He moved me to his shoulder. I stayed limp, hanging like a sack of potatoes over his back. I felt the fabric bonded to my skin stretch, its tug on my flesh painful and threatening to pull away. Calder walked up another stepladder, metal by the sound of it. He moved me back to where I lay in his arms. I cracked my eyes open. He propped me on one leg and used his free hand to clear my hair away from my face. I looked up at him. His fingers lingered on my jaw. He looked angry at something. I gave a tiny nod of encouragement and took a deep, quiet breath. He lowered me into the tank.