Everblue

by Brenda Pandos

“It’s not that bad.” Purple and aqua painted vines wrapped around her shoulders and down her arms. They were so realistic they seemed to move with the water, and pulled at me with some hypnotic ability.

  “Fin, get real. Fin?”

  I snapped out of the trance and looked at her eyes framed in green lashes. Out of nowhere, she broke down into raspy sobs.

  “It’s only been one day and look what they’ve done to me. Imagine what I’ll come home looking like tomorrow. Or the festival. For the love of the kraken!”

  Unsure what to do, I awkwardly patted her on the back.

  “We only have to endure a few days until Dad gets back, and when he does, we’ll return to the mainland and wash this crap off with something stronger than soap.”

  Tatiana pulled her face up, mid snivel. “Fin, Dad isn’t coming back anytime soon.”

  My eyes met her crestfallen expression. “What do you mean?”

  “He whispered to Mom when they said goodbye he might be gone for several months. Months!”

  “What?” Why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t he take me?

  I moved away and pounded my fist on a nearby barnacle-laden rock. Why was I the last to know?

  “Sorry. Mom didn’t want me to tell you. She hoped the mission would end early.”

  Suddenly, I felt as if lead weights were attached to my flukes like the mobsters at the bottom of Tahoe. Dad’s absence meant we’d be stuck here. For once, I finally understood what Tatiana was complaining about. I’d joined the ranks of merwomen trapped in Natatoria’s big fish tank under the earth’s crust.

  “Come our eighteenth birthday, I’ll get us out of here.”

  “You can’t be a chaperon unless you’re promised.”

  “It could work. I’d be the male figure, and Mom the chaperon.”

  “That’s not until May.” Tatch rolled her eyes. “No, what we need to do is disappear and go to Fiji. We could stay on that desolate island we vacationed on last summer.”

  I shook my head. If we ran away, I’d forfeit all chances of acquiring Tahoe in the future. We’ll have to stick it out and hope the King would let us go back as a family in May.

  “Holy crawfish!”

  She dashed for the kelp bed as I turned to spot Azor, swimming in our direction.

  “Please, get rid of him,” she whispered in my head.

  “Finley,” Azor called as he approached.

  I tried to act casual. “What’s happening?”

  Azor looked beyond me and scanned the surrounding landscape. “I’m looking for your sister. Have you seen her?”

  “For the love of plankton, get him to swim away from here!”

  I cleared my throat to cover my laugh. “Did you check the house?”

  “I was just there. Magdalene said she hadn’t come home from the palace yet.”

  “Oh, well, maybe she’s still there . . . you know how she loves to get all dolled up.” I shot Tatch a sly wink.

  “Finley! Stop it! I’m going to kill you!” Tatch screamed in my mind.

  “Hmmm,” he placed his index finger on his lips. “That she does. Maybe she didn’t receive my message to meet afterwards at her house. If you see her, tell her I was looking for her, would you?”

  “Will do.”

  He swam past me, headed towards the palace.

  I watched him disappear over the sand dune. “Azor wants you.”

  “Shut-up!” She punched me in the arm, but the water prevented her fist from actually doing harm. “Oh my starfish, you are so dead. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Oh, let’s,” I said with a laugh, until her tail flipped back and hit my bloated gut, this time causing me pain.

  9

  ASH

  I stood shaking with the cell phone in my hand.

  “Are you still there?” Callahan asked.

  “Yes.” My voice squeaked as a flame of heat rushed to my cheeks.

  “I’m sorry—are you expecting a call? Should I call back?”

  “No. It’s fine. I can talk.” I swallowed as my hands grew clammy. “How did you get my number anyway?”

  “I tried to catch you after practice, but you’d left. So, I asked Georgia for your number.”

  Georgia? Georgia! Oh, no. Images of her ambushing me with a million questions before morning practice already started to haunt me.

  “I had to leave early.”

  “Oh.” He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

  Blood hammered in my ears while I waited for him to speak. Was this really happening? Callahan O’Reily, the hottest guy in school, could not be calling me. This had to be another horrible prank.

  “I—” He hesitated. Then another painful silence. I wanted to say something, anything to rescue the conversation.

  Speak, Ash. “If this is a bad time for you—” Stupid, of course it’s a good time for him or he wouldn’t have called. Please just tell me why you called already.

  “Uh, no, it’s good. So, Senior Ball.”

  He said it. He called to talk about the dance. Was Holly right?

  “Senior Ball,” I echoed like a dummy as my nerves rattled like loose change.

  “Are you going with anyone?”

  My heart hammered harder. “Um—hadn’t planned on going.”

  “Really? But you’re nominated for the court.”

  I chuckled nervously. “Funny you’d mention that. I don’t know how that happened.”

  “You . . . don’t want to be in the court?” His voice sounded confused, like he had no clue why I’d be upset about that. I’m sure in his mind, all girls wanted to be nominated.

  “I—I’m honored,” I lied. How could I explain to him that I was mortified someone pulled this prank on me?

  “You should be. It’s not just a popularity contest.”

  Yeah, right. I couldn’t help it. A snort slipped out.

  His sigh sobered me up. “Well, then blame me.”

  “Why would I blame you?”

  “I nominated you.”

  “You . . . what? Why?”

  “The ballot said to nominate someone who they believed represented the ideal student. Someone who’s kind to everyone, of high character, and scholarly. I immediately thought of you.”

  My mouth opened but only air whooshed out. No snippy comeback, nothing.

  “See? And even in the admission, you’re humble. I rest my case.”

  I clenched my jaw. “Not fair.”

  “How’s that not fair?”

  “I was late to class that morning. I couldn’t remove myself from the ballot,” I stammered.

  “Exactly.” I heard the grin in his voice and my knees weakened.

  “Ashlyn, time for dinner.” My mother’s voice floated upstairs—a little more urgent than normal, like this was the second request.

  “Dinner,” I mumbled.

  “Do you need to go?”

  No. “Yes.” If it weren’t for the fact at any second my pesky sister would be barging through my door, I’d ignore my mom and keep this magical conversation going forever.

  “Can I ask you one last thing before you go?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” I bored holes into the back of the bedroom door with my eyes, wishing my lock actually worked. Dinner didn’t need to center around the first phone call I’d ever received from a boy. Callahan, unfortunately, needed to get on with it.

  “I know it’s late, but would you go to the dance with me?”

  The world slowed down as his words fluttered into my ears and the door flew open at the same time. Lucy huffed and perched her hands dramatically on her hips.

  “She’s on the phone!” she barked down the hall.

  I blinked at my sister and clenched the phone, my hand shaking. The little brat. I made a “knock-it-off” motion by slicing my finger across my throat and fervently pointed for her to leave.

  “Ash?” I heard Callahan ask, slightly pained.

  “Ashlynnnn,” Lucy whined at the same time. “Come on. I’m starving.”


  Unable to get Lucy out of my room so I could talk some sense into Callahan, who obviously suffered over his break-up with Brooke, I caved. “Yes. Yes, I’d love to. I have to go, though. Sorry, bye.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “About time!” She stormed out of my room.

  I stayed an extra minute, blinking at the contraption that just bridged me into the world I’d only talked about with Tatchi. Was this happening? Did Callahan actually invite me to the dance? As his date? In the mortal words of my best friend, “Holy crawfish!”

  I saved his number in my phone and floated down the stairs to dinner. Elbow to elbow, everyone else swarmed the kitchen counter like ants and loaded up their plates with noodles slathered in tomato sauce, giant meatballs, and salad. I waited in a daze until they finished. Once we settled in our seats at the table, Dad took a moment to say grace before he pronounced we “dig in.”

  “You seem to be in a good mood,” Mom said to me, after passing the basket of garlic bread to Dad.

  “Um-hm,” I mumbled with a mouth full of noodles. Though my stomach still played the cha-cha from Callahan’s phone call, I did have an appetite. I pinched my fingers together like a crab to signal I wanted a piece of bread too.

  “I’m glad to see all my beautiful ladies around the table with me,” Dad said, passing the basket towards me.

  From a choice between a slice and a heal, I snagged the slice before handing it to Lucy. She stuck out her tongue.

  “There’s more in the oven,” Mom remarked to Lucy after giving me a disappointed look.

  “Did you say beautiful?” Gran lifted her glass of red wine into the air, and everyone followed. “I’ll drink to that.”

  “Salud!” we all said in unison.

  “So, Ashlyn,” Mom said while cutting her noodles with a knife. “You came into the store and asked about Jack’s today? Did you find out why they weren’t opened?”

  “No.” I set down my glass of milk and swallowed my bite. “No sign or anything. They were just closed.”

  “Hmmm. That’s weird. They usually let me know if something’s up. I hope they’re open tomorrow. We’ve got customers interested in the Tessie tour.”

  I scoffed. “I’m not surprised. This was bound to happen. Jack’s kinda unpredictable.”

  Mom stopped mid-bite and stared at me. “What do you mean by that?”

  I squinted back while visions of the past floated by—his booming voice, the crash of broken glass, Tatchi’s anguished cry. “You know. He’s a—” I glanced at my sister’s huge inquiring eyes and tried to think of a way to disguise what I wanted to say. “A-L-C-O-H-O-L-I-C.”

  Dad looked upward and mouthed the letters.

  “All colic?” Lucy wrinkled up her nose. “Ewww.”

  “You don’t mean—?” Mom stopped when I opened my eyes really huge to say “shut-up.” She squinted. “Ashlyn, that’s quite an accusation—”

  I dropped my fork. “Don’t you remember what happened? When he got upset—when I asked if Tatchi could spend the night? You told me he was one.”

  “I did?” She looked to Dad, who finally caught onto the conversation. She shrugged. “When? Just recently?”

  “No. It was a couple of summers ago. Her dad broke the glass hutch with his fist! You seriously don’t remember? I told you and you said that was probably what was wrong.”

  Mom looked at the table and pressed her lips in a line. “I must have been mistaken. Jack appears a little gruff, but we’ve been friends for years now. He’s an upstanding businessman and a gentleman. I highly doubt he’s got that kind of a problem.”

  “Does colic mean he’s got a lot of gas or something?” Lucy asked.

  “Garlic cleans you out. That’s what it does,” Gran said with a bang of her knife against the table, obviously not wearing her hearing aid again.

  Everyone chuckled but Mom.

  “No one is colic and I couldn’t agree with you more about garlic, Mom. But I think we need to change the subject. We’ll talk about this later, Ashlyn.” She gave me a stern warning look to drop it. “Anything exciting happen at school today?”

  Lucy answered, assuming it was her turn, starting on her regular banter. I pursed my lips and pushed the meatball around my plate—slightly nauseated.

  The summer I’d met Tatchi, back when we were only ten, I’d invited her to spend the night. In excitement, we ran to her house to ask her parent’s permission. To be polite, per my mother’s instructions, I waited on the porch for the answer. But instead of the “yes” we’d expected, her father burst into a rage and punched his hand into a nearby cabinet, shattering the glass door and a shelf full of china. My feet hit the pavement as I burst into tears. When I told Mom what happened (after she calmed me down, of course), she simply responded, “Poor thing. Her father must have a drinking problem.” At the time, the statement made absolutely no sense.

  But after I got older I figured it all out. The fact Mom claimed she didn’t remember the incident angered me. She could say now he was upstanding, but she wasn’t there. She didn’t see how mad he got.

  “Can I be excused?” I blurted.

  Mom scanned my plate and then locked eyes with me. “You’ve barely eaten and your sister is sharing. Once we’re finished, you can be excused.”

  “But she’s always talking. She never stops talking!” I stood up and suddenly wanted to throw something. I needed air. “I don’t feel very good.”

  With fast strides, I headed for the door.

  “Ash—”

  I slammed it behind me before she could finish. She had a lot of nerve.

  Marching away from the house, I tugged at my flimsy cardigan sweater and squished across the slushy ground, wishing I had something more on my feet than my slip-on Keds. Outside of the swath of light from the porch, I stood and stared at the lake. The smell of snow lingered in the air as dark clouds salt-and-peppered the evening sky. The creek serenaded me in the distance, but all I wanted to do was scream. Behind me, the door opened and shut, and someone traipsed down the lawn. I braced myself for my mother’s voice.

  “What’s wrong, Pumpkin?”

  Dad.

  The lump in my throat dissolved. “I’m having a crazy day and sick of Lucy,” I muttered.

  “Crazy day, huh?” He stood close to me, left arm stretched out. “Does this have anything to do with what happened with your mom at the store earlier?”

  Dad still wore his work attire—black jeans, steel toe boots, and navy T-shirt with Lake Tahoe Fire silk-screened on the back. When tucking myself under his arm, I noticed the firehouse smell lingering on his clothes—mixture of old leather and cigar smoke.

  “I’m not mad at Mom. I just don’t like when she expects me to do stuff without asking me first.” I drew circles in the mud with a toe of my shoe.

  “Have you told her this?”

  “I shouldn’t have to.”

  He hummed. “I still think you should tell her.”

  I shrugged and picked at my fingernail. “She’ll just yell at me.”

  “You won’t know unless you try.”

  I grunted.

  “Is there something else bothering you?”

  “Besides my best friend being MIA, the star pitcher on our baseball team asking me to be his date to Senior Ball, or the race on Saturday against the fastest girl in the league—yeah, I’m having a day.”

  “A date for Senior Ball. Now that sounds serious.” Dad smoothed his black mustache and nodded his head. “Would I like this boy?”

  I bit my lip to keep from smiling. “Yeah. I think so. He’s nice.”

  “So, I imagine you’ll need a dress.”

  “Yeah, probably.”

  “And I’ll need a gun.”

  “Dad!” I tried to move away from him.

  He chuckled, holding me tight. “Just kidding. I don’t see the problem. My daughter’s bloomed into a beautiful young lady and this respectable gentleman, as you’ve confirmed, has noticed.”

  I hi
d my blushing cheeks next to his chest. “Dad.”

  “Of course, there’s going to be an interview, polygraph, and I’ll need his social security number.”

  “Oh geez. I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “Okay, an introduction will do—”

  I let out a large sigh.

  “—But as far as Tatiana goes, no one’s been reported missing, so I bet her family probably left on an emergency and will be back soon. And you’ll do fine on Saturday. Keep your head down and pretend a shark’s behind you. I’m looking forward to watching the race.”

  I peered up into his face. The porch light shone around his head, creating a halo effect. “Just don’t be the loudest on the bleachers this time, okay?”

  “I’ve got my air horn all ready.”

  I tried to twist out of his grasp again but he gave me a playful noogie on my head.

  “Dad.”

  He laughed and let me go. “No, seriously. I’ll do the dishes tonight. Take all the time you need.” He smiled and then went back inside.

  The chilly breeze moved my hair and tickled my cheek. After working through my frustrations from Mom, my queasy stomach fluttered with butterflies. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the outcome of today’s events. But here I was, going to Senior Ball with Callahan. Only then did I jump up and down in elation.

  10

  FIN

  “Wow.” I surfaced to find a newly installed air bubble inside our mer-house. “When did this happen?”

  “Today.” Tatiana ran her hand through the light from a sun-mirror and phased out of her fin, then leapt up onto the stone floor. “Mom? Mom! I can’t stay here anymore. Look at what they did to me!”

  She disappeared around the corner which gave me the perfect opportunity to phase and throw on my shorts. Apparently Mom hadn’t had time to put up a privacy curtain.

  “Mother of pearl!” Mom yelled from the back room.

  I cringed. Not the reaction I hoped for. Sobs from Tatch followed. I ducked into my room and stopped in my tracks.

  In the corner, a lava lamp illuminated a new hammock, complete with a downy comforter and feather pillow encased in a green striped sheet. A poster of my favorite band, The Classic Crime hung on the wall and a few of my favorite books lined the shelves. My childhood Star Wars action figures sat on a stack of T-shirts.