Brellitine Grever and The Sea of Gelled (The Brell Trilogy Book 1)

by Ruhi Jain

  She didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry.” was all she could manage.

  Callum nodded. “I know you are. But it still doesn’t make a difference. My parents rule the kingdom on her methods, but the people of Gelled don’t know that. They don’t understand that the Zeldae is controlling everything in this kingdom. The worst part is that when I talk to them, I don’t feel like I’m talking to my parents anymore but some strangers. Even if the people get to know about this, they won’t revolt as they are already too scared of her.”

  He jerked his chin towards Meaken, not even giving Brell a chance to react. “You should go. She will give you the directions. Best of luck and remember, don’t talk to anyone a lot, ok? And whatever happens, don’t ever have the drink of the merpeople; Badii.”

  “Why not?”

  “Badii is like human alcohol. It’s intoxicating, very sweet and very, very alluring. But it’s bad for you because it will remove the charm I put on you to silence your heart. The moment you have it, your heartbeat will be heard pretty much by everyone near to you.”

  Brell shivered. “That can’t be a good thing.”

  “Of course it isn’t.” Callum said. “Plus, you shouldn’t be getting drunk anyway.”

  Just then, Meaken came up to them. She seemed to have recovered. “Brell, it’s time to go.” She said, her almond-like black eyes sweeping over her. “Good luck dancing with the enemy.” She formed a floating sliver map with her tail.

  “We’re here.” She pointed to a small black dot at the bottom.

  Then she traced her finger around the map, and pointed to a picture of the castle. “Meethe” she said. “The castle, your destination. You’ll stay at Bucklebow Inn for tonight and begin your journey tomorrow.” She folded the map till it was the size of her palm and thrust it towards Brell.

  “I could just ask for directions.” She took the map, examining it carefully. She had never been great with following maps.

  “Brell,” Callum sighed. “You have to keep a low profile. Everybody knows the way to Castle Meethe. Children are raised with one single rule: never go there. So asking for the way will be too suspicious.”

  “Lily gave me these,” Brell showed her the crystal bracelet given to her. “I guess you know what they do.”

  Meaken’s mouth opened and closed once, twice, as if she was wondering what to say. Then she looked at Callum, “I thought this was just a myth.”

  “It isn’t” Callum said. “I was surprised myself. It’s not every day you see something like that.”

  “Brell,” he said turning towards her. “Keep this hidden. This and the map Meaken gave you. Did Lily give you some money?”

  “Yup.” She pulled out the pouch Lily had given her and handed it to Callum.

  “It’s enough to get you to Meethe,” he said, peering inside.

  “Oh, and one more thing.” Meaken said, kind of sheepishly. “You might have to change some of your, um, sparkly things. Like the clip of pearls, and your shirt. You already know 3/4th of the servants in Meethe are there because of their inability to pay the annual tax or because they were the eldest in their family. The other 1/4th are people so desperate to make money that they go to Zeldae. To look convincing, you will have to look like a girl from a poor family.”

  “Fine.” Brell said reluctantly. She felt around her hair for the pearl clip, unbuckled it and handed it to Meaken. She undid her braids too. Her hair tumbled down in a wavy cascade.

  “Wait.” Meaken flipped her tail forward and sparkles flew towards Brell’s shirt. But instead of making it shiny, the moment they touched her shirt, they turned black. Her full shirt turned black. Just plain, dull black.

  “Don’t change my tail. I like it the way it is.”

  Meaken frowned. “It’s a bit bright, but I guess it will do. Just…” With another quick flip, and a shower of sparkles, she turned Brell’s tail into a dull purple colour, though the splashes of different purple hues were still visible

  “Now its fine.” Meaken announced, and stepped back to admire her work. “The Meander will take you to Alcove Avenue again.”

  Brell didn’t want to look at herself. Securing the bracelet to her wrist, she realised all the people of the group were staring at her.

  “Thank you.” She whispered, overwhelmed with emotion.

  Suddenly, each and every single merperson in that cave bowed down. It wasn’t a polite little bending of the back; they curved in such a manner that their heads went quite past their knees. She whipped around, wondering who they were bowing to. But there was nobody behind her. Turning back, she found them straightened again. Their eyes twinkled with an emotion she couldn’t describe at all. It was close to an amalgam of awe, respect and hope. What had just happened? Had she imagined the bow?

  She managed a smile, and taking a deep gulp of water, she swam out to the awaiting dangers.

  *

  She stayed the night at Bucklebow Inn. As she lay down on the rock-hard bed, she reflected on all she had been through. The image of Timmy, wide eyed and shivering with a black figure grasping his throat kept popping into her head. After spending an endless hour tossing and turning, she finally got up and withdrew from her pocket the silver map that Meaken had given her. Alcove Avenue was written at the bottom right hand corner, and a winding path led to the left of the map, and then to the top right hand corner where ‘Meethe’ was written. Along the way was ‘Bucklebow Inn’, ‘Silverfin Plaza’, ‘Turtle Race’, ‘My Tail-a-Do’, and ‘Bubbly Blues’.

  Brell gingerly brushed the spot that was Alcove Avenue. Suddenly, the map lifted itself off her lap and placed itself in front of her face. Taken aback by the sudden movements, she jumped backwards on the bed. Cautiously regaining her balance, she observed the map warily. All the locations had disappeared, leaving behind a smooth clear, silver parchment that floated lazily in the water. Then slowly, black lines appeared on the map creating Meaken’s face. The face moved, its lips opened up and the hair swayed.

  “Fret not, Brell” Meaken said “I have sent this message with the map because we did not have much time to talk. I should not have wasted time by telling you about my misfortunes. I forgot to tell you a few key points. First of all, the route I have chosen for you is a fairly long one, but it is the safest one I could find. Rich mermaids live along the path so there will be some security from troublemakers. It will have some dangers, though. Do not go into the Bubbly Blues. They serve Badii, and you know how detrimental it is for you. But you will have to go around it. There is a fortune teller who resides behind Bubbly Blues. She is one of us. When you enter, she will pretend not to know you. Recite these words. “Arfein ed duo, give me what I need”

  “Why?”

  “When the fortune teller —” The picture stopped talking and its eyes opened wide. Meaken’s face dissolved.

  Just then a knocking sound came on the door. “Miss Morris?”

  Still staring at the map, Brell whispered “Yes?” Speaking louder she said, “Come in”, and hid the map below the pillow.

  A merman in a blue and white shirt entered. “The venue of dinner has been shifted to the lounge room instead. Dinner closes at 10 pm.”

  “What time is it now?”

  “It is 9 pm.”

  “ Alright. Thank you.” She said, wanting to be alone.

  “Ma’am” he bowed, and placed a white slip on the front table. Then he departed, leaving her alone in the room with the talking map.

  “Meaken?’ she brought the paper back in front of her face. She rubbed her palm over the paper, but nothing happened. The map to Meethe had once again been restored.

  She flipped back into bed, sighing. “Arfein ed duo, give me what I need.” She kept repeating the first three words so that she would not forget them.

  The white slip of paper the merman had left was a feedback form and she ticked ‘Good’ for everything, and swam down for a quick dinner- the only vegetarian option was fried dulse- before falling into bed.

&nb
sp; *

  Something woke her up. She didn’t quite know what it was but suddenly, she found herself awake. The small clock on the wall read 2:00 am. Pulling her blanket over herself, she tried to go back to sleep but it was of no use. Sighing, she got up and studied the map to Meethe, familiarising herself with the route. After a while, she tried to sleep again, but spent a half hour staring at the ceiling. Looking around her, she felt mildly claustrophobic. She knew what she had to do; she had to get outside. Grabbing the blue pebble, she swum out, her fingers unconsciously moving over her to mimic the action of pulling on an overcoat. What had happened to her father’s overcoat after she became a mermaid? With a wave of sickness, she realised that she had lost the only item that she had of her father’s.

  The lobby was dark and desolate. A merman sat at the reception desk. “May I help you, ma’am?”

  She looked at him for a moment, not quite sure what to say. “I’m just stepping outside for a bit.”

  The look he gave her was a strange one. Nevertheless, he picked up a black pebble and opened the main door for her. “Use this to open the main door.” He handed it to her.

  She had never seen the sea in darkness — then again, she hadn’t been here that long. The colour, the vibrancy, the life during the day had been wiped clean by the darkness of the water. It must have been a full moon in the sky because white shafts of light filtered through the water, landing on top of the boulders and increasing the loneliness of the sea. Not a single merperson could be seen. She was the only one.

  Fish were frozen at one spot, some moving very sluggishly while some lay hidden between the corals. It was eerie because their eyes were open but they weren’t moving. The only thing that had movement was the seaweed and plants in the sea.

  A small sound filtered through the water, reaching her ear. She whipped her head around, but there was no one. Then she heard it again. Curious, she followed the voice that led her way past the inn, down a path with boulders that had a run-down look and around an almost invisible curve. It was strange how the small noise managed to reach her when she was so far away. And then she saw it.

  A big cave nestled between a never ending growth of plants, tucked into a dark corner. Inside the cave, she saw probably the most remarkable thing she had seen so far. Nautilus shells floated mid-water, in all shapes and sizes. Some were smooth, some were rough. She noticed around each one was a hazy mist of colour- light pink, dark green, iridescent blue, eccentric purple, and sheer black. The moan she heard were coming from a small nautilus shell with a pink haze.

  “… never want to see her vile face again.” The sound appeared again, a feminine sound, laced with anger. Brell hesitated. What was happening here? Were the shells actually… speaking?

  She inched closer and caught a name imprinted in black on the shell with two dates. Stephanie Stroke, 2 February 1967-8 October 1985. Oh. She was in a cemetery.

  “What’s this? A visitor.” the voice screeched, a high pitched noise that raised goose bumps on her cold arms. “Wake up! We have a visitor!”

  A large, glossy, nautilus shell with a purple haze moved towards her. “Look here my lad, we got a visitor.”

  Brell wasn’t quite sure what was happening to her. She was fairly certain that she would soon wake up from this dream.

  A rich, deep, masculine voice rang through the water, coming from a large shell with the deep blue haze. “I’m Richard. What brings you here, my fair lady?”

  “Are you… talking to me?” Brell whispered. She didn’t need to, because they were talking in full volume. The area had a chilling, sinister feel to it. Something didn’t feel right… she could sense a lot of hatred around her.

  “You’re the one alive here, aren’t you?” the purple haze said with a sneer.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m Pauline. Richard here is my husband. We were both killed by The Great Queen Zeldae.” The purple haze moved as she spoke, spitting out the last three words with acid.

  She was in a cemetery. She was talking to the spirits. She was talking to dead people! Suddenly, a terrible howl pierced the water and she jumped back. The black haze raced towards her, making a beeline for her tail. The blue haze jumped in its way and for a while, all she saw was two nautilus shells dancing with each other.

  “John can’t stand alive folks. Plus, he hates the shell his family picked out for him. He’s always bitter.” Pauline said. “Do you have relatives here?”

  She wondered what Pauline meant. After a few moments it struck her. “Oh… um… no. I was just swimming by.”

  “Some of us are lucky to have a natural death. Others… well, not so much.” Richard was back, his shell bobbing in the water as if he were shaking his head.

  “Don’t go to her!” someone screamed. Brell jumped back, alarmed.

  “Don’t!” someone else yelled.

  “It’s too morbid!” a high-pitched voice shrieked.

  Smaller shells danced around her, circling her, all of them with a light green haze. She realised how the colour of the haze was similar to the person’s nature, kind of like an aura.

  “She is too evil, too bad… she is the reason our sea is polluted with the sands of cruelty.” The one with the high pitched voice came closer to her. “I’m Stephanie.”

  “I read.” Brell said, pointing to her shell.

  She heard gasps from all around her.

  “That’s really rude.” A kid’s voice piped up. “I’m —”

  “No one cares who you are!”

  “Well, I do!”

  “I’m sorry — ” Brell began but Pauline cut her off.

  “It’s alright. The twins were just twelve when they died.”

  Brell fell faint. “Do you always talk about how each other died?”

  “Why not? All I heard about when I was alive was how this one and that one was born, what they did on first day of winter break and whatnot. Well, how a person dies is part of that story too. You don’t need to be all hush-hush, especially when the person who caused your death hasn’t been brought to justice.”

  All the shells banged against each other, creating loud, echoing thuds that seemed to reverberate inside her bones. A thick black smoke crept out of the two small nautilus shells, forming a screen of black fog. The fog parted, shifted and formed figures she couldn’t recognize. Slowly, they began to make sense to her.

  It was a small room in a boulder; so small that not more than a dozen people would be able to fit. A chubby middle aged mermaid sat on the floor, in the centre of the room. Her face, with its sunken eyes, had a gaunt look to it, as if she were passing through excruciating pain. Huddled against her were two small merchildren, clutching her clothes and burying their face in her arms.

  “Why do we have to leave you?” one of them whimpered, his face red from crying.

  “Mom, please don’t let them take me.” The other one cried.

  The mermaid wrapped her trembling arms around her two children and kissed them both on the forehead. “I won’t let them take you. No matter what. Don’t make any sound at all, okay bunnies?”

  Brell recognized that voice. Pauline. Oh my. It was Pauline and her twins….who were twelve when they… She remembered what Meaken had said about Zeldae taking the eldest merchild of every family when they turned twelve.

  Pauline opened the cover of a bamboo box, scooped up her children and put them in. “Shhh… It will all be okay.” She murmured to them, gently closing the cover. “Only come out when I ask you too.” She dragged a heavy mattress from the corner of the small room and draped it across the bamboo box, trying to cover it the best she could. Brell could still see the little eyes of the merchildren as they peeped through the cracks in between two bamboo poles. And she could sense their fear. Pauline then sat on the mattress covered bamboo box, picked up a piece of cloth and began stitching. And then they waited.

  A creak later, the door of the tiny room opened and two bulky mermen swam in.

  “We’re looking for Jo
and Jeb Jackson.”

  “They are not here.” Pauline said coldly.

  “And where would they be?”

  “You must have got the wrong house.” She said firmly, but Brell could detect a quiver in her voice.

  One of the guards raised his eyebrow. Suddenly, a low sneeze was heard. The guard grinned, shoved Pauline away from the box and ripped the cover open. The two little howling merchildren were dragged out.

  “Mom!” one screamed, his arms flailing.

  “Shut up you little pest!” One guard knocked him on the head and the little boy slumped backwards, unconscious.

  With a wild gasp Pauline lunged towards the guard, scissors in hand. In an impossibly quick movement, the other guard pushed her away, but not before she had sliced a deep gash into the area around the right eye of the guard. The guard howled, pushing her away again with such strength that she banged against the wall of the room. There she lay helplessly while they took away her two children, her eyes full of pain but unable to move.

  The fog slowly dispersed, going back into the two little nautilus shells. Jo and Jeb.

  Brell just stood there, frozen, unable to recover from the shock of the violence she had just seen. Finally, she managed to move a few muscles. “She is a devil.”

  A unanimous murmur ran through all the nautilus shells. Pauline’s voice floated through the water slowly, “But there is a way to end her evils.”

  “How?” Brell muttered.

  Pauline’s nautilus shell came close to her. So close that Brell could feel ripples of water hitting her when the shell moved even a little. Pauline’s voice was low, but excited. “Restore neutrality by mixing the positive and negative.”

  “Huh?”

  “Restore neutrality by mixing the positive and negative.” Pauline whispered, circling her.

  “I don’t quite understand.”

  “You will. Ah, you will. Soon.” Pauline receded away.

  “Wait! Where are you going?” she felt demented, talking to a voice that came from a shell.

  “Back to my plot. Do you have any regrets?”