Never Girls #13

by Kiki Thorpe

  Both the girls and the fairies had put wax in their ears so they wouldn’t hear the mermaids’ dangerous music. But even Silvermist, who knew more about mermaid myths and magic than the other fairies, hadn’t been sure it would work.

  They flew on. Just as they reached the crescent beach, the rain started. It lashed down almost sideways, with a force that nearly knocked the fairies out of the air. In seconds, Rosetta’s dress was soaked. She knew that soon her wings would be, too, and then she wouldn’t be able to fly.

  She ducked beneath Kate’s arm, trying to stay out of the rain. Together they flew forward blindly.

  Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the rain stopped.

  Rosetta blinked in surprise. Had the storm passed? No. When she turned, she saw the storm raging behind her.

  But the air here was still and calm. Stars twinkled above. Then Rosetta understood—they were in the eye of the storm. They had reached the lagoon.

  Scores of mermaids filled the water. They were swaying slightly. Their faces looked silvery in the moonlight. Rosetta could see their mouths moving. But thanks to the beeswax, she couldn’t hear a sound.

  Suddenly, she was overcome with fierce curiosity. What did such powerful music really sound like? Would it be so bad to hear the song, just for a second?

  Rosetta reached for the wax in one ear—and felt her hand being slapped away. She turned and saw Tink scowling. She couldn’t hear what Tink was saying. But she could read her lips well enough.

  You’ll turn into a bat!

  Rosetta trembled. How close she’d just come! They needed to find Gabby and get back to Pixie Hollow as soon as they could!

  Mia was pointing and gesturing urgently. Looking past the mermaids, Rosetta saw Gabby. She was on the far edge of the lagoon, sitting on a jagged rock. She looked so small sitting out there. Her body swayed along to the music Rosetta couldn’t hear.

  “Gabby! Gabby!” Rosetta yelled. She could see the other girls and fairies calling, too. But Gabby didn’t seem to hear them. When at last she turned her face toward them, her gaze looked cloudy and far away.

  All of a sudden, Gabby rose to her feet. She was leaning forward, toward the water.

  “What is she doing?” Rosetta gasped. It looked as if Gabby was about to jump!

  The girls and fairies raced toward her, yelling her name. But they were too late. A second later, Gabby tumbled from the rock.

  Before she fell, Gabby had felt as if she were dreaming. The music washed over her like waves. The song was a story. The words were strange and the sounds unfamiliar, yet Gabby felt as if she understood perfectly. The mermaids were singing about their beautiful kingdom in the sea.

  The song filled Gabby with longing. It seemed almost as if the mermaids were singing just to her, calling her to them. In the song, she became a mermaid, too, with a beautiful silvery tail of her own.

  Oh, how she wanted to join them!

  Yet a part of Gabby’s mind knew she couldn’t leave her rock. If she went into the water, she wouldn’t be able to get out. She clung to her spot even as the music beckoned her to the sea. As long as she didn’t move, she would be safe.

  Then, from far away, she heard another sound. Someone was shouting.

  At first, Gabby hardly noticed, she was so caught up in the music. But the shouting went on and on, like the annoying buzz of a fly. Gabby heard her name. Someone was calling to her.

  Gabby fought her way up through the music. Far away, on the beach where she’d once built sand castles, she saw Mia, Kate, and Lainey. The tiny glows next to them told Gabby that fairies were there, too, though she couldn’t see which ones. The girls were waving their arms and shouting something. Gabby couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it seemed important.

  She stood up, trying to see better. As she did, her foot slipped. She fell from her rock and plunged into the lagoon.

  The shock of the cold water woke Gabby from her trance. She had to swim! She flailed her arms, trying to fight her way out of the water.

  Suddenly, she felt strong arms around her. Someone was pulling her toward the surface.

  It was Yooni! She dragged Gabby up onto the rock.

  “Thank you,” Gabby tried to say. But she could only cough. Water streamed from her nose and mouth.

  When she finally stopped coughing, Gabby knew something was wrong. The lagoon had gone silent. All the mermaids had stopped singing and turned to look at them.

  Gabby saw six silver ripples in the water—Yooni’s sisters. They were swimming fast toward the rock where she and Yooni sat. The mermaids surfaced next to the rock. They looked angry.

  “Yoooou don’t belong here!” one said to Gabby.

  Another splashed Gabby with her tail. “Go away, girl! Leave our sister alone.”

  The sisters grabbed Yooni and began to pull her away. “Wait!” Yooni cried, reaching for Gabby’s hand.

  But just as their fingers touched, Mia, Kate, Lainey, and the fairies got there. They pulled Gabby away from the mermaids.

  “We won’t let them hurt you,” Mia said.

  “Hurt me?” Gabby said. “She helped me!”

  She broke free from Mia and peered down into the lagoon. Yooni was underwater, surrounded by her sisters. The sisters were talking and frowning.

  “What’s going on?” Rosetta said loudly. “I can’t hear anything.”

  “It’s all right to take out the wax,” Silvermist said. “The mermaids have stopped singing, for now.” Gabby saw the other girls and the fairies remove something from their ears.

  “That’s better,” Rosetta said. “But I still don’t know what’s going on.”

  At that moment, Yooni and her sisters surfaced. They looked annoyed, but not as angry as they had moments before.

  “I’m sorry,” Yooni said to Gabby. “I should not have brought yoooou here. I didn’t know our music was dangerous to yoooou.”

  “Yoooou should not be in the lagoooon at night,” another mermaid sister told the girls and the fairies. “Our music is powerful. We cannot be responsible for what happens to those whoooo hear it.”

  “We know that,” Tink said.

  “We would never have let Gabby come here if we’d known,” Mia said. She gave Gabby a very stern look.

  “I’m sorry I came without telling you,” Gabby said. “But you were wrong, too. You’re wrong about mermaids. Tink, there are some nice ones.”

  Tink tugged her bangs, looking embarrassed. “I didn’t say they were all bad.”

  “And yoooou are wrong about people,” Yooni told her sisters. “They’re not all stoooopid and cruuuuel. Gabby is nice. She’s just like me.”

  “Except without a tail,” Gabby added.

  The oldest mermaid sister looked as if she was about to say something rude. Then she shrugged and changed her mind. “I don’t know why yoooou want to be friends with a girl,” she said to Yooni. “But we won’t stop yoooou.”

  “Yay!” Gabby said, throwing her arms around Yooni. Yooni hugged her back.

  “But no more sneaking away,” Mia said. “Next time you want to meet, just tell us.”

  “Okay,” Gabby agreed.

  “You must leave the lagoooon right away,” the oldest mermaid sister told the girls and fairies. “We will finish our songs now. Yoooou do not want to be here to hear the rest.”

  “See you soon?” Gabby asked Yooni.

  Yooni smiled. “Sooooooooon,” she sang back.

  The girls and fairies rose into the air. It was a moment Gabby knew she would never forget, the feeling of so many mermaid eyes on her. Their faces were cold, their expressions blank. Still, Gabby knew she’d been right to believe they weren’t all as they seemed. No two mermaids were the same—they weren’t all unfriendly or snobby or vain. Some of them could be her friend. One of them already was.

  As they flew over the lagoon, Gabby looked down one last time. In the moonlight, she could see the mermaids’ faces turned up, watching them leave.

  Gabby wa
ved.

  This time, one mermaid waved back.

  Read this sneak peek of The Fire Falls, the second book in a new series.

  by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen illustrated by Gurihiru

  Merida made a show of holding her nose while taking a bite of food. At first her father’s face broke into a huge grin. Then the grin disappeared and Fergus straightened up in his seat. The triplets simultaneously uncrossed their arms and picked up their forks.

  That’s how Merida knew Queen Elinor had walked into the room.

  She quickly swallowed her bite of haggis and turned to smile at her mother. “Hello, Mum! Are you hungry?”

  Elinor looked up from the list she had been reading and smiled at Merida. “No, thank you, Merida. I’ve already had two helpings.”

  The triplets pretended to gag at the thought that anyone would want two helpings of sheep’s stomach. When Fergus joined in, Elinor caught him and playfully nudged his shoulder.

  Merida smiled. Her parents were more than husband and wife—they were also best friends. They’re so lucky, she thought. Ever since Cat had gone back to Cardonagh, Merida had been missing having a friend to laugh with.

  Elinor sat next to Merida, “Sometimes we all must do things we don’t like doing,” she said.

  Merida sighed and picked up her fork again. Then, to her surprise, Mum pulled the plate away.

  “Sometimes we must do things we don’t like to do,” Elinor said. “Today, eating haggis is not one of them. I need your help with the final preparations for the Spring Festival. You and I will be the hostesses.”

  “Mum!” Merida groaned. “Didn’t we just have a big banquet for Cat and Lord Braden?” she argued. “Why do we have to have another celebration?” Merida preferred exploring the Highlands with her horse, Angus, to being surrounded by hundreds of near-strangers.

  “Merida,” Elinor said, reaching for her daughter’s hand. “The Spring Festival is important. It is a way to celebrate the coming year and plan for a prosperous future. As the princess, you have a responsibility to our people, to do things that will inspire them to succeed.”

  Merida muttered, “Sometimes I wish everyone would just disappear.”

  “Merida!” Elinor’s voice was hard and sharp. “You know better than that, lass. The fairies are always about during the festival. They like nothing more than to make mischief for humans. You must be more careful with your words.” She sighed, and then her voice softened. “If a fairy were to grant a wish like the one you just made, there would be serious consequences.”

  Merida lowered her eyes, embarrassed. “I know, Mum. I wasn’t thinking.”

  Out on the games field, Merida and Elinor were greeted with a flurry of activity. People prepared the areas for the two great bonfires that would be lit at night. Others set up tables for feasting and for trading. Many craftsmen had arrived to sell their wares during the celebration.

  Merida jumped onto the dais, earning her a raised eyebrow from Elinor.

  “Do princesses vault onto things?” Elinor whispered.

  Before Merida could answer, Fergus said, “This one does!”

  That made Merida smile, and she noticed that Mum was smiling, too.

  “I suppose our princess does vault,” Elinor agreed. She gazed at the horizon. “Are they here yet, Fergus?”

  “Any minute now,” Fergus answered.

  “Who are we waiting for?” Merida asked. She wished it were Cat. But if Cat had been coming all the way from Cardonagh, she would have mentioned it in one of her letters.

  “Men from Clan Macintosh are due to arrive,” Elinor said, peering into the distance. “And I see them now!”

  “Ach,” Merida grumbled. A visit from Clan Macintosh meant that Lord Macintosh’s son would soon be there. At the Highland Games, Young Macintosh threw a fit every time he didn’t get his way. Spoiled and self-centered, he was worse than the triplets—and they were just wee lads!

  Within moments, riders wearing the red tartans of Clan Macintosh appeared. Lord Macintosh and his son had intricate designs painted on their bodies with a blue dye called woad so that their soldiers could see them easily in a field of battle. They dismounted and greeted the king and queen warmly.

  “Macintosh, you old tumshie!” Fergus bellowed. He clapped Lord Macintosh on the shoulder. “We were afraid the fairies had gotten to you!”

  “It is always a pleasure, Queen Elinor,” Lord Macintosh said, kissing her hand. “May I present my son, Young Macintosh?”

  “We remember this strapping lad!” Fergus said. “You’ve grown since the Highland Games!”

  Young Macintosh preened like a peacock, tossing his long hair like a stallion tossed its mane.

  “King Fergus and Queen Elinor,” Lord Macintosh said. His voice was suddenly formal. “My son and heir is here for a very special reason. His birthday falls on the last night of the Spring Festival.”

  “Tomorrow?” Fergus asked. “Well, congratulations, lad!”

  “In honor of his birthday,” Lord Macintosh continued, “my son would like permission to participate in an ancient ritual to prove his worth and loyalty. He wants to climb to the top of the Crone’s Tooth and drink from the Fire Falls, as the brave kings of ancient times have done.”

  Fergus and Elinor beamed. Murmurs of approval rippled through the crowd. Merida’s jaw fell open. She’d already climbed to the top of the Crone’s Tooth and drunk from the Fire Falls! Before the Highland Games! Why was it such a big deal now?

  “Furthermore,” Lord Macintosh added, “Young Macintosh will complete another quest. He will find the rare Lady Flower, the traditional gift that the ancient lords brought to their queen, to show their loyalty.”

  “The Lady Flower is rumored to grow on the rocks behind the Fire Falls. With your permission,” Young Macintosh said, bowing, “I will bring you that flower to prove my loyalty, and the continued loyalty of Clan Macintosh to the Kingdom of DunBroch.” His tone was formal, like he was trying to be a grown-up instead of the spoiled, tantrum-throwing boy Merida remembered.

  “Of course, of course!” Fergus shouted, gleeful at the prospect of a grand adventure. Even Elinor looked flattered by Young Macintosh’s plan.

  A few steps away, Merida felt jealousy sweeping through her. That great, conceited galoot would be going on an adventure while she was stuck playing hostess. What good is it to be princess if you miss out on all the fun?

  Excerpt copyright © 2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.