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

by Ruhi Jain

  “So, what are you doing here?”

  “I came to meet you.” He tousled his brown hair with his fingers. It was fascinating to watch, for some unfathomable reason. “I figured that if I have an hour of free time, which I rarely do, then why not spend time with someone I care about rather than lounging around waiting for the dinner to start.”

  A thought crossed Brell’s mind and she scowled, “Prince Callum sent you, didn’t he?”

  “No! Of course not!” He looked offended. “I think I’m allowed to meet you on my own free will.”

  She didn’t say anything for a moment. “I’m sorry,” she finally muttered. He continued to stare out into the distance, hurt. “Lukas, look at me. I’m sorry.”

  He stuck his hands into the pockets of the big leather jacket he was wearing and said grudgingly. “It’s fine. How’s your brother?”

  Brell froze, her hands clenched into tight fists. How did he know about Timmy? What had she told him before? Then she remembered her previous conversation with him and relaxed.

  “He’s okay.”

  She shrugged her shoulders to relieve the tension. “I can’t believe you actually remembered, Lukas.”

  “I remember a lot,” he murmured so softly she wasn’t even sure that he had said it or if she had imagined it. A little more clearly, he said, “Want to go to Rosa’s Cuppa for a pie?”

  She hesitated. “I have no money left.”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay.” He grabbed her hand and they started to swim towards the shop.

  Brell chuckled and Lukas looked at her quizzically. “I already went there ten minutes ago,” she confessed.

  “Oh.” He looked slightly disappointed, then frowned. “With whom?”

  “No one! Can’t I enjoy a cup of piater alone?” she teased, swinging her arm that held his hand purposely.

  “Of course you can.” He blinked. “But, um, that place is known for couples to …”

  Someone yanked Brell by the arm, and she stumbled backwards.

  “Susan!” Aanya pulled her away. “Where have you been? We have been looking for you. It’s almost time to go back- the head count is about to start!”

  “What? It’s almost seven-thirty already?” She didn’t realise the way time had flown by. “Wait.” She twisted around to tell him that she was going, but she found that he was gone.

  “Okay, I’m coming.” She turned back and swam away with Aanya, a small smile on her face.

  *

  Brell slipped on the fresh green shirt Figgie had ordered them to wear and tied her brown hair up in a bun, securing it with a net like all the mermaids around her.

  Figgie stood at the end of the kitchen and all the mermaids looked up at her.

  “Tonight when you serve the royals, what are the rules you must follow?”

  “No eye contact, no physical contact, no spilling, no talking, no interference.” They all chanted.

  “Don’t forget that. April will be in charge of all of you tonight. She’ll be assigning serving dishes and will make sure you behave.”

  A thin girl stepped out of the group. She was extraordinarily pale, had blonde hair which was pulled back into a bun like everyone else’s and wore a white shirt. Brell remembered that Figgie was with April when they had tried to open the door to Timmy’s room to check if it was locked. She didn’t think her soft voice could command.

  Figgie paced in front of them, just like when they were undergoing training. Two green shirt girls named Shelly and Meghna were going to serve along with her. There were also three white shirts: April, Darcy and Yun.

  Shelly was, Brell had learned earlier, Amanda’s elder sister. There were some similar features between them, but the similarities ended there. Shelly was not at all the Emo styled person like Amanda. She did have a black ring at the corner of her lower lip, though.

  “Remove all colourful bands from your hair, any bracelets or accessories. I want all of you to look the same.” Brell discreetly slipped her bracelet into her apron pocket, not wanting to part with it. Who knew when she might need it?

  “April, check everyone.” Figgie swam towards the cooks.

  “Does this count as an accessory?” Shelly lightly tugged at the black ring on her lip.

  April shrugged. “I guess so. I’ll have to ask Miss Nigella.”

  Brell let her inspect her, and then went to the kitchen, which was a huge, partitioned off room with seven long rows of steel tables burdened with pots and pans with an enormous basin filled till the brim with utensils. Two small figures were cleaning the dirty utensils, both dark green shirts. She remembered the kind of work she had to do when she was a dark green shirt. At least now the work was a bit more rewarding. Professional chefs were stationed at equal intervals at the tables, furiously chopping, cutting, sautéing and cooking.

  April called out to the mermaids in her soft voice and assigned them the dishes they would be serving. Brell held a platter of jellyfrish and was handed a flat metal disk with a handle to serve with. Slipping in between Yun and Shelly, she balanced the platter on her left hand and nervously tucked a stray hair into her bun with her right hand. The platter was filled with the colourful blobs which made her stomach rumble loudly. The reminiscent taste of caramel, honey, and lemon made her mouth water, but she swallowed and straightened up. No, she must not think about it… concentrate.

  April added last minute warnings and summarised Figgie’s speech for them.

  “You are not serving friends, they are royals. A slight slip from your side will result in punishment, or can even cost you your life. Repeat the rules in your head. You must file into and leave the Dining Hall in a straight line. The light green shirts will be serving the messengers, Darcy will be serving the royals from Wroc and Yun will be serving the royals from Gelled. I will serve The Great Queen Zeldae.”

  Brell had heard from Hazel that to serve the royals one had to go through a month of training. Learning to serve Zeldae would take maybe five!

  April guided them to the Dining Hall. Brell’s tail trembled and so did her hands, but she took a deep breath to steady herself and then entered the huge room.

  The first thing she saw were the bright flowers she had placed in the morning; they gave a subtle yet significant pop of colour to the room. A huge and elaborately designed glass chandelier decorated the ceiling, below which a table was suspended in the middle of the water. It had no legs, so it looked like a smooth, long and glossy piece of wood. Then her gaze shifted to the end, where Zeldae sat with her long dark hair flowing loosely all around her. She was talking to a merman who looked vaguely familiar, with neatly combed blonde hair. To his right was a mermaid in a peach gown. Next to her was a tall merman and sitting beside him was Valery, her hair pulled up in a mesmerizing waterfall braid. The merman and mermaid were her parents and the merman next to her was definitely her brother. Further down the table were three men Brell didn’t recognize, but they had to be messengers. The opposite side was occupied by King Jade, Queen Maude, Callum, Lenny, Lukas and two other messengers.

  The cold, hard voice of Zeldae made her wince.

  “Ah, wonderful. Food is here.” She didn’t sound particularly excited.

  Brell swam up next to the messengers at the edge of the table, balanced the platter on her left hand and served with her right hand. The messenger didn’t acknowledge her — he acted as if she didn’t even exist. She noticed the handles of the cutlery were miniature figures of merpeople.

  “How can we thank you for your generosity, Great Queen?” Valery’s mother asked timidly, taking a sip of the sea grape wine in front of her, served in a triton shell.

  “Veara,” Zeldae emphasized the letter ‘r’. “You already know how.” She laced her long fingers together. “We do have an agreement, don’t we Paul?”

  “Of course.” Valery’s father bowed his head briefly.

  King Jade raised his triton shell that was filled with wine. “Let us drink to that.” He smiled but the smile loo
ked fake.

  Brell served the messenger next to Lukas and then moved on to him. She didn’t realise that her hands were beginning to shake until she saw the quivering blob of jellyfrish on the flat metal disk. When she bent down to serve Lukas he whispered a word in her ear, his breath tickling her.

  “Relax.”

  Straightening up, she moved on to the opposite side of the table. Repeating the word ‘relax’ over and over again, she calmly served the other three messengers and then stood against one of the walls, waiting for April to give them the sign to move out.

  “Yes, lets.” Zeldae cut the shark meat in front of her with a knife and put it in her mouth. Without even chewing it, she swallowed the whole piece in one gulp. Brell couldn’t even see her throat move. It was as if the food had just disappeared.

  The moment Zeldae had taken her bite, the Kings and Queens of Wroc and Gelled did too. Only after taking their first bite did Valery, her brother, Callum and Lenny begin to eat. At the end the messengers began. They all ate by chewing the food normally and for a moment Brell felt as if she was looking at a group of humans.

  April lightly brushed her forehead, which was a sign for them to move out. In the kitchen, she handed Brell a plate of scrambled green stuff with small yellow flowers decorating the top. Resisting the urge to ask her what it was, Brell followed the others to the Dining Hall again and began serving.

  “… Then I chopped his head off with my sword!” King Paul was saying loudly, making a slicing motion with his hand. “And that, Great Queen Zeldae, was the end of King Ruther.”

  A small smile played across Zeldae’s cold face. “It all went just as planned.”

  Brell wondered what was so amusing about cutting someone’s head off as she served the messengers again.

  “King Ruther really didn’t deserve to be the leader of Wroc. You, Paul, are much better.” Queen Maude said, biting into the perfectly cooked salmon. Brell noticed how her beige gown was studded with sparkling rubies and then she remembered what Callum had told her about her lavish spending habits.

  “Get away from the table. Now!” Callum’s jarringly loud voice shook her.

  “Why?”

  “Just move Brell! Move!”

  A loud cracking sound above her head made turn her look up. The glass chandelier — a gigantic, suspended masterpiece which was as large as the whole table — was coming hurtling down the water towards the table, after breaking loose from the ceiling. Brell stood frozen, her hands still in the process of serving Lukas the pudding, watching with horror as the chandelier grew bigger and bigger, just like her eyes.

  The shrieks around her snapped her into attention and she forced herself to move, to get as far away from the table as possible. She knew she should move faster but somehow her muscles were not cooperating with her. Lukas’s strong arms grabbed her waist and yanked her back, slamming her against the wall with such force that her ears rang. And then suddenly, the chandelier stopped falling, mere inches from the table.

  Everyone had stumbled out of their chairs. They gaped at Zeldae. She had not moved at all. She continued sitting on her chair, one of her palms facing the chandelier and the other making a swirling motion. Her long hair now rippled in the water, imitating the waves of anger rolling out of her.

  The chandelier creaked, and then slowly moved back to the ceiling, its glass pieces tinkling when they collided. When it reached the ceiling, a thick metal cord appeared out of nowhere, wrapping itself around it and securing it to the ceiling.

  “Let’s not get disturbed by this slight interference.” Zeldae pronounced each word slowly and loudly, her dark eyes sweeping over all those present there. Brell could see the anger dancing in her eyes, like temperamental flames of fire. “Continue with dinner.” She had never looked so threatening before, so dark, so furious. She spoke through her teeth, seething with rage, and her hands clenched into tight white fists.

  Brell was so paralysed with shock that she couldn’t move. Then slowly, her tail began to tremble and her hands began to shake violently. The plate slipped from her hands, and her heart skipped a beat. Ducking down, she grabbed it just in time before it made a mess. Straightening up, she saw Lukas looking at her in a strange way.

  “B-but is it safe?” Queen Veara stuttered, one of her delicate hands wrapped tightly around King Paul’s arm.

  “Sit. Down.” Zeldae hissed each word, relaxing her hands. The chandelier groaned against the metal cord but didn’t move.

  Slowly, hesitantly, they all sat on, nervously glancing above their heads.

  “Who is responsible for this?” She asked softly but in a deadly voice.

  Then she roared. “Who?”

  Brell still couldn’t erase the picture of Zeldae holding the chandelier up with her magic. If Zeldae was so powerful, how could Brell, a simple girl, even think about saving Timmy? The confidence she had felt for a while now began to crumble.

  The door to the hall opened and Salamandar rushed in, his face puckered into a frown. Behind him Brell saw a troop of mermen armed with spears. Swimming right up to Zeldae and ignoring the others, he bowed.

  “Your Majesty, may I please escort you to a safer loca —”

  “No!” Zeldae slammed her fist against the table, and a long crack split it in half, running all the way from her fist to where the last messenger sat. A deafening roar from her lips followed the thunder of the breaking wood.

  “Get out, all of you!” Her black locks danced around her like Medusa’s snakes.

  The royals got up stiffly and quietly swam out. The messengers left next and finally, the servants did. But when they headed out each one of them was given a long look by Salamandar, as if they were being suspected. When Brell’s turn came, she felt his eyes narrow a little but he said nothing.

  The moment she reached the kitchen, she dropped the pudding plate onto the counter and went to April.

  “I need to go… I’m a bit shaken.”

  April nodded, her face paler than usual. Brell rushed out, away from the kitchen, away from the whole area and went to the storage cupboard. Slamming the door shut behind her, she curled up into a ball at the corner and openly let the shudders rip through her.

  Her Dreign felt warm.

  “Are you okay?” Callum’s concerned voice whispered.

  “How did you know the chandelier was going to fall?” She yelled in her head.

  “Calm down first. The rebel group planned this. I executed it.”

  “How do you know your parents wouldn’t have gotten hurt? Or anybody else?”

  She pressed her palms to her face.

  “I’m shaken up.” She said a minute later.

  “You wouldn’t have gotten hurt because I knew Lukas would pull you away. And my parents are merpeople, which means they have good reflexes.”

  She buried her face into her hands again. “It’s not only about getting hurt, Callum. I just saw what Zeldae can do, how strong her magic is and I’m not sure I’ll be able to save Timmy.”

  “You will, trust me.”

  “And how do I go about doing that? I haven’t even found him yet. And even if I do save him on CreDay, how will I get him out of here?”

  “You will have to go to Lily’s house and from there the portal will take you back to land.”

  “Her home is so far away!”

  “Are you going to contradict everything I’m going to say?”

  Brell heard the door open behind her. She spun around and almost collided into somebody.

  “Lukas!”

  His dark eyes were furious and his arms were shaking. “You lied to me. I trusted you!” he spat.

  She just stared at him, bewildered. “What do you mean?”

  “You’re human,” he said through his gritted teeth, his eyes blazing with fire.

  Chapter 24: Reveal

  It wasn’t a question, but a statement. A chill crept through her. She recognized the emotion in his eyes easily: betrayal. “You’re a human, in the Sea of Gelled. E
xplain yourself.”

  “What makes you think that?” She said slowly, at the same time contacting Callum.

  “Lukas knows. I’m in the storage cupboard in the servant’s quarters.”

  “What makes me think that? So many things, Susan.” He came closer to her. So close that their noses would touch if he swam a little closer. “When I was taking you to Meethe, you didn’t know what a briscuit was — you thought it was a starfish. You didn’t even know about Noralian Thorolis, the cut on your tail healed faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. The healing balm I gave you would have taken at least a week to heal.” He got in her face, anger pouring off of him. “You want other reasons? The ones that made it all so clear? At the dinner, the chandelier was falling and you didn’t even move. The platter slipped from your hands and almost fell down. Mermaids aren’t so slow and clumsy. Also, Prince Callum making sure you, a servant, reached the castle safely was more than suspicious.” He was breathing heavily now, his broad shoulders heaving. They were so close now that if she leaned forward, she would hear his heartbeat. “I trusted you! Explain yourself.”

  She reached out to touch him but he flinched. Hesitantly, she withdrew her hand. “I’m so sorry… I lied to you. I had to.” What more could she say?

  Momentarily, his eyes shifted to her bandaged knuckles. He leaned away from her, diffusing the tension in the room marginally. “Get out of Gelled.”

  “What?” She whispered, startled.

  “Get out of here Susan! Go back on land.” He gripped her shoulders tightly. “You don’t know how dangerous it is for you to be here.”

  Just then the door banged open and Callum swam in. He appraised the situation with his eyes before sighing in a resigned manner. Lukas stared at both of them with disbelieving eyes.

  “You’re in on this too, aren’t you?” he shot accusingly to Callum. “Even though you know what the humans did to me?”

  “You know me well enough to realise that if I were to bring a human into the Seas it would be for good reasons only.”

  “Zeldae released a statement saying if any human was seen they should be handed to her and —”