In the town square, Arav helped his father mend their roof. He stood up, and I watched him trip and almost tumble off. Poor, clumsy Arav. Dad stood in the town square with Mom talking to Marlow. Probably trading sticky buns for mangoes. Then my heart thudded. Marlow pointed up toward the lighthouse and I swore I read my name on his lips. For the thousandth time I thought of the blank slip I’d submitted. Feeling guilty for watching, I moved the telescope away from Mayor Marlow and over to the docks.
Ben and Carlson had just arrived to help Cunningham. Ben had changed his shorts, and I noticed him limp. Further along the shore, Mrs. Davidson sheared one of her lambs with her daughter Jamie. The lamb had its mouth open wide and I could imagine the sounds of her complaining. I scanned past the field into the rockier regions of the island near the ocean. My breath caught in my throat and I paused. A girl I’d never seen before lay in the rocks near the water.
She had her head angled so I couldn’t make out her face. Her hair lay dark, matted and tangled. Look up. I commanded. Often while watching the goings on I’d make mental requests of my fellow islanders: Walk faster or scratch your nose. As far as I could tell, they went unheard. But today the girl obeyed my command and looked up. Her eyes were dark, piercing and filled with anger. And I swore she looked right at me.
There was something odd about her. I rubbed my eyes. Maybe it was a trick of the light? I adjusted the focus and zoomed in closer. Half of her body was female, she wore a torn t-shirt with unreadable lettering. But the lower half of her body caused my breath to catch. Fins. Scales. Fish. Mermaid. A mermaid? But weren’t those creatures gone centuries ago? The Mermaid Curse. I wracked my brain trying to remember what we’d learned in Assembly, wishing I’d paid more attention. Meanwhile, she continued to stare. I drew back from the telescope, heart pounding.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Six lambs grazed in the field above me. I stood among the rocks in the same spot I’d seen the girl. From down here the lighthouse seemed far away, its glinting windows as small as thumbnails. I scanned the area and spotted what might have been the mark of her tail in the sand, but nothing definitive. I began to doubt myself.
We’d learned about mermaids during Assembly. Mermaids were created as protectors of Water during an ancient period of war. The Ancient One corrupted them and forced them to do his evil work until they disappeared. Humans were created as temporary protectors of Earth. Instead they came to rule the planet. And pollute it according to Mayor Marlow. As for us, the Lemurians, we were masters of Ether, the origin and key to all the forms. Were. But not anymore. None of us could change forms, at least not yet. Mayor Marlow hoped the scroll would provide answers.
Turning back, I scrambled the way I’d come. Excitement at seeing the mermaid girl almost caused me to forget my troubles. The air was the perfect temperature, and the ocean lay flat, an endless expanse of rippling blue.
Not expecting to find the girl this far from the shore, my footsteps fell into a slow, deliberate rhythm. Just as I turned left toward the path that led back home, a flash of color caught my eye. Pushing aside a sturdy clump of banana leaves I peered over the cliff edge.
Below me lay several of the colored balls I’d seen on the ship last night. That alone surprised me, but what they were tangled in surprised me more. A boat. It lay caught between two boulders on Sliver Beach. From where I stood it was a long climb down a series of steep rocks. I’d had near accidents on these rocks. All of us kids had. What looked like a foothold could crumble under your weight. And a fall could be deadly.
Quickening my pace I ran along the path that led toward the ocean. There wasn’t much of a shore on this part of the island. Just a rocky inlet good for watching the sunset or crab fishing. But the tide was low. I took off my shoes and socks and rolled up my pant legs. Walking so as not to cut my feet on the sharp rocks, I made my way along the shoreline, using my hands to steady myself. Eventually I made it to the hidden cove.
The colored balls dangled from a pink string caught on the prow of the boat. The boat wasn’t in as good shape as I’d thought. It had been there for a while. It was twenty feet long give or take. Probably a fishing boat that had become unmoored elsewhere and drifted. But right now the boat didn't interest me. It was the beautiful, translucent balls that caught my attention.
I unwound the balls from the boat and held them. There were four. Two yellow, one blue and one pink. They squeaked against my hand when I touched them. Holding them in my hand gave me an internal thrill.
“Stunning, aren’t they?”
I spun around, eyes roving over the swell. What I mistook for hair turned out to be dead seaweed. Climbing the rocks to my right I balanced from foot to foot and clung to a large rock, scanning the water.
“Nope, over here.” Again I spun around and this time she showed herself, smirking.
“You're very lovely,” she commented looking from the balls in my hand to my face, as if we met here and spoke regularly. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.
“Nothing’s wrong,” I lied.
“You smell unhappy,” she continued with an arch of her left eyebrow, then disappeared beneath the waves.
“Wait!” For a moment I considered diving in after her, but something held me back. This mermaid girl didn’t seem threatening. But nor did she seem friendly.
But she reappeared again, floating on her back. I saw that she wore a tattered and slimy t-shirt. Now gray in color, the shirt had been black once. It had a graphic on the front with the word Hawaii written. Faded blue cartoon palm trees and a once colorful rainbow arched over the words.
“I made a mistake,” I said.
“Oh?” she swam closer eyes big. “What sort of mistake?” she gave me a peculiar closed mouth smile. It was the first time I’d seen her smile, and the effect was disconcerting.
“We had our Binding. I left my paper blank instead of choosing a name. I don't think that was smart. Now I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Mm-mm,” she made a sympathetic sound. “Choose or die.”
“What do you mean?”
“Who do you wish you could have put if you could have chosen anyone?”
“No one, except…well no one,” I said. “That’s my problem. Everyone had their pluses and minuses…but mainly minuses.”
She drew seawater into her mouth and spurted it above her like a whale.
“Well, if I hadn’t chosen I’d still be rotting in a dungeon. But instead, I’m free.” She spun around in the water so rapidly it made me dizzy. “Life is choice. No choices. No life. Got it?”
I felt a surge of anger run through me. Her point was valid, but I didn’t like being lectured by a stranger.
“Who would hold you in a dungeon?” I asked.
“He would,” she whispered. “The Ancient One.”
I drew back. We weren’t allowed to speak of him.
“How did you escape him?” I asked.
“Your song. I heard it a long time ago and followed it here.”
“What do you mean followed it here? When?” If she was talking about the song, the last time I’d sung it was the day Daniel disappeared.
“That doesn’t matter, I escaped. I’m free. Don’t you want to be free?”
“Yes,” I said, still thinking about the song.
“So there’s no one. No boy who you love?”
Remembering the boy on the ship that looked like Daniel, I blushed.
“I’ve never loved anyone,” the mermaid said with a far off look in her eye. “What does love taste like I wonder?”
I laughed, until I saw she was serious. “On the ship, I saw someone,” I admitted. “But…that’s ridiculous. I don’t even know his name. And he was with a girl.”
“Oh you mean the big ship that passed the other night? Yes, what a wonderful party. I followed for a while enjoying the music. One of them almost saw me. So…why don’t you leave, then?”
“Leave? Yo
u mean the island?”
“Umm, yes,” she rolled her eyes.
The thought had never occurred to me. She pointed toward the boat. “Look, you even have a boat.”
“It’s broken.”
“So fix it!”
“But where would I go? That’s a small boat. I wouldn’t make it far in the Big Ocean. I know that much.”
“Pfff. Such a pessimist. Where’s your vision? Well, I’ll tell you, I’ve been swimming around watching this island for quite a while now. I know all the rhythms of these waters. There’s another giant ship that will pass in ten days. At night again. And then it might be a long while before you have another chance…”
“Chance for what?”
“To join their party!”
“You think they'd take me with them?”
“Of course,” she assured me. “It’s the law of the seas. They’d have to rescue you.”
“The law of the seas,” I repeated. It sounded like something I’d heard before.
“So, now I’ve helped you, you can help me.” She batted her eyes at me and gave her odd smile.
I was taken aback. It’s true, she’d given me a possible idea, crazy as it seemed. But I didn’t see how she’d helped me.
“I don’t even know your name,” I said, stalling.
“Don’t have one,” she said.
“How’s that possible?”
“Well, how is it that you have a name?” she responded.
“My parents named me…”
“Well, I don’t have parents and I don’t have a name. And I don’t like your selfish attitude or dumb questions.” And she flipped over and disappeared into the water.
“Wait, I’m sorry!” But the water lay still and silent even after several minutes of watching and waiting. I returned to the boat. Now I viewed it with a new perspective. Perhaps it could be fixed? But the thought of leaving my island home terrified and thrilled me in equal measure. Did I have the courage to do something that bold?
CHAPTER NINE
“Balloons!” Mom cried when I ran into the kitchen. She turned to Dad and laughed. For a moment I almost mentioned the mermaid, but something stopped me.
“Balloons,” I said. “Why haven’t I ever seen one?”
“Oh, Kassandra’s never ordered any from the Outlands. You know her, always practical. But my they are pretty aren’t they?”
I released them and they hovered for a second before descending to the floor.
“Watch,” Mom winked. She picked up one of the balloons and used her fingernail to untie it. She inhaled a lungful of air. When she spoke she sounded tiny. Like a mouse.
“Hello, Marei,” she said.
Dad’s eyes crinkled up and he barked with laughter. “Take them to the wharf. I heard Cunningham found a tank. After the last storm. Helium.”
“What’s that?”
“Take those balloons and he’ll show you! They’ll fly, like magic.”
“Ben’s Dad is the last person I want to see,” I said. “Especially if Ben’s there.” I told them about Maxie and Ben’s arrow but Mom and Dad weren’t sympathetic.
“Seagulls are wild animals, you can’t be sure he did it on purpose,” Dad said.
“I do know. I saw how he acted,” I repeated.
But the balloons had transformed my day. I wanted to share my joy with Chloe and Ethan. Plus, maybe Cunningham could get the balloons to fly?
On my way to the dock, I paused at smooth luck rock. It had been cleaned. Poor Maxie’s body was gone. Ethan must have come. For a moment, I felt upset. I’d wanted to bury her myself. But a thrill of affection for him coursed through me as I continued walking.
Soon, I arrived at Chloe’s house. She sat bent over a large bucket, washing clothes. “Come down to the docks!” I said. It took little persuading to draw her away from laundry.
“Hey! Whatcha got there?” Cunningham called as we walked toward the docks. Ben and Carlson stopped scrubbing their boat and glared at me. Ben still had his stupid bow strung over his shoulder. I wanted to grab it and break it in half. And I would, given the chance. I came and showed the balloons to Cunningham who nodded as if he’d seen such things before.
Ben’s eyes narrowed. Before I could react, he came and grabbed my balloons like a three-year-old. “Oooh pretty,” he said to Carlson.
“They’re mine!” I shouted. But he ignored me, holding them out-of-reach.
“I’ll show you something,” Cunningham said with a wink. “Grab that and roll it over, Carlson.” A rusty, silver canister sat at the far end of the dock.
“It’s heavy!” Carlson said as he rolled the tank.
“I found them!” I said. But only Chloe showed sympathy. I tried to grab them back from Ben again but I was afraid I’d break one. Soon Carlson had rolled the canister over and we clustered around it.
“Well lookie this,” Cunningham said whistling. “Seems like she still has a bit of gas in her,” he spoke to himself running his hand along the canister’s metal surface.
He put his mouth to the valve and turned it. “Hello everybody.” When he spoke his voice was high like my Mom’s had been. He sounded like a tiny man. Everyone laughed except for me. I’d already seen this trick.
Carlson and Ben grinned. Two other island teens, beautiful Katrina and her friend Eliza, came to see what was happening. Cunningham let the balloon deflate with a depressing thwap. Now there were only two balloons. I wanted them back. I was sorry I’d come.
“What is it?” Carlson asked. “How’d you do that?”
“Helium. Well, air and helium. But still a bit of helium left. Must have fallen off the ship. Or they dumped it.”
“What’s helium for?” Ben asked.
“Balloons,” Cunningham said making his “O” long, mouth taking the same shape as the sound.
Katrina chewed on a tiny frond of her beautiful hair with a bemused smile. Cunningham put up one finger and took the balloon he’d untied. “And watch. If there’s enough left, I’ll show you.”
“What are you doing?” I cried as he deflated another balloon.
“You’ll see,” he winked at me again. I hated being winked at. It made me want to poke him in the eye. I grabbed one of the yellow balloons away from him and held it to my chest. Cunningham chuckled. “Just watch,” he said. Then he put the deflated balloon over the tank’s nozzle and turned the dial again. The tank made a hissing sound. “C’mon,” he said. “Just a little more.”
Soon the three balloons were full and even larger and shinier than when I found them. He tied them in tight knots to hold the air in. Now they seemed weightless. With a mischievous grin he let go. Like magic, instead of falling into the water, they rose straight up into the air.
I felt my heart rise with them. They were gorgeous. Sun shone through the pink balloon as a gust of air pushed them down and I gasped, expecting them to plunge into the ocean. But like a living thing she swooped up into the air again and led her brother and sister balloons toward the bright sky. I shielded my eyes from the sun. Rays of sunshine shone through the balls giving them a golden glimmer. The balloon family hovered, caught between two currents of air, and headed even higher.
“Amazing!” I said to Chloe laughing. “They’re magic.”
“It’s like they’re alive,” she agreed.
I wondered how far the pink balloon and her family would travel. Probably across the ocean. Over the giant waves. And then? Where? To find the couple who had released them.
I stood feet planted on the dock, but mentally I floated up in the sky flying with the balloons. I hovered over the ocean and looked at our tiny island from above. Ready to drift far away. To set down in a new land. I was imagining what places she might see when the arrow ripped through her pink body and then her yellow sister.
The balls exploded into multiple pieces with a pop and the whole group plunged into the calm ocean with a distant splat.
“I knew I could do it!” Ben shouted, pumping his fist in the air.
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“Nice shot, boy,” Cunningham said patting him on the back while Carlson stood, mouth gaping.
“Impressive,” he said.
Tears in my eyes, I turned to Ben, snatched the bow out of his hand and threw it as hard as I could into the ocean.
“You idiot! Saltwater! You’ll ruin it!” he shouted diving off the deck into the water. I took the one, forlorn yellow balloon that remained and ran.
CHAPTER TEN
Behind the rows of houses lay a long, broken strip of asphalt where military aircraft landed once. Ridges of volcanic rock rose on either side. To the right lay the back of our main storeroom and Chloe’s home.
This desolate strip was one of the few points on the island where I couldn't view the ocean. It was the place I disliked most on Alabaster Island. Suddenly, Chloe walked beside me. She'd followed me. Grabbing my hand, we ambled together, arms swinging. Soon we reached the end of the runway. An abandoned building lay wrecked by sun and wind.
“Where are you headed?” she asked.
I shrugged, not sure if I should tell her my plan to check out the boat again. “Nowhere.”
“They’re fools,” she said.
“Mom said the balloons would deflate, anyway. What does it matter? They weren’t magic.” I eased myself down against the abandoned building and wiped sweat from my forehead. Chloe sat beside me.
“Well, I owe you an apology,” she said.
“Nah.”
“I do. I was the one acting strange. It’s hard for everyone waiting for The Binding.”
“I wanted to be honest with you,” I said.
Chloe picked a purple flower that grew between the cracked surface and sniffed. She handed it to me, but I wasn’t interested. I stared through the balloon at the ground beneath. Everything looked dull and sickly through its yellow body. It no longer made me feel cheerful.
“Ethan told me he put in for me,” Chloe said.
“Well, of course he did.”
“I don’t think it’s bad luck to tell.”
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