Nelly crosses her arms. “I don’t have to do anything.”
He straightens up, flirting forgotten. “We have jewels to offer you. In exchange for you changing the spell you put on Lana. Girls, show her what you have. Nelly, take whatever you want. But please, spare my daughter.”
The oldest steps up and opens her hand to reveal a sparkling ring. “I have a diamond engagement ring.”
The second oldest opens her hand next. “I have emerald earrings.”
The third shows us a chunky bracelet. “It’s fourteen-carat gold.”
The fourth has two hoop earrings dangling on her thumb. “They’re platinum.”
Sasha, the youngest, steps up and points to her neck. “I’m wearing a mother-of-pearl necklace. I guess you can have it.”
Hold on a minute. “That’s my necklace!” I exclaim.
Sasha shrugs. “Don’t you want to help Lana?”
I sigh. “You can have it,” I tell Nelly.
Nelly eyes the goods. “Hmm,” she says. “They’re pretty, but I already have my own jewelry.” She wiggles her fingers in front of us, and we see that they are glittering with jewels. “Do you have anything else?”
“Um …” We look at each other. We are empty-handed. We are out of stuff.
“You can have my Kadima paddles,” Jonah offers.
“What’s Kadima?” Nelly asks, intrigued.
“It’s a game,” Jonah says. “You and another person hit a ball back and forth. It’s very fun.”
Nelly’s face clouds over. “I don’t want a game,” she snarls. “Who am I going to play it with? Samuel doesn’t have hands. If you have nothing else to offer, I think we’re done here.”
A lightbulb goes off in my head. She doesn’t want Kadima paddles. She wants someone to play Kadima with.
Before I thought no one could love her because she was mean. But maybe she’s so mean because no one loves her.
I know how to save Lana.
“Would you consider reversing the spells on Lana in exchange for a date?” I blurt out.
Nelly blinks. “Excuse me?”
“A date,” I repeat. My mouth feels dry. This has to work. It just has to.
Nelly blushes and looks down at the sandy floor. “A date with whom?”
I glance at the king. His cheeks are just as red as Nelly’s. He’s just as lonely as Nelly.
He swims forward. “With me,” he says.
Their eyes meet across the room.
“Really?” she asks softly.
He nods. He takes another step toward her. “Would you like to go out sometime, Jelly Nelly? Or I can just call you Nelly.”
“Just Nelly is good,” she says. And then giggles.
Yes! This is going to work! Way to go, me! Speaking of going — we have to get a move on.
“So do we have a deal?” I ask. “A date in exchange for reversing the spells? You can go to Salties!”
“What if she hurts our dad?” the youngest mermaid cries. “She’s a witch, and he’s all we have left!”
Good point.
“Can you give us some sort of collateral?” the oldest mermaid asks, running her fingers through her short hair.
Nelly nods toward the shark. “You can keep Samuel as a pet until the date is done. He needs a babysitter, anyway. He eats the couch when he’s lonely.”
Better the couch than me.
“So,” I ask again. “Do we have a deal?”
We all hold our breath.
Nelly and the king nod. “Deal,” they say simultaneously, and then they both laugh and turn red again.
“Let’s shake on it,” the king says, putting out his hand.
“Abby,” Jonah says, tugging at my sleeve.
“One sec, Jonah,” I say, wanting to see how this ends.
Nelly takes his outstretched hand.
We wait for them to shake, but instead, they both just stand there, holding each other’s hands. And holding.
Still holding.
All righty, then.
“Abby,” Jonah says again. “I don’t feel so good. My chest feels heavy.”
I glance at my watch. The potion is going to run out in two hours! We have to go.
“Abby,” Jonah says again, and crumples into a heap on the sandy ground.
I lunge after him. But before I can reach him, the room starts to spin. I feel intense pressure on my chest. Like someone’s sitting on me. Or like I’m underwater and I can’t breathe.
Oh, no.
The potion ran out early.
“Jonah!” I try to yell — but nothing comes out. The people around me look murkier and murkier until I don’t see anything at all.
Abby, Abby. You have to get up.”
The next thing I see is light. A very bright light.
I open my eyes. Where am I? What happened?
I sit up, cough, and notice Lana kneeling beside me.
“Finally,” she says, her eyes squinting in concern. “How do you feel?”
The last thing I remember, we were underwater. And now it’s just me and Lana on the beach. I’m so confused. “How did I get here?”
“My family brought you up, and then I pulled you onto the beach.”
I’m still a bit dizzy and disoriented.
Wait a sec. I’m on the beach. Jonah’s not. Oh, no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. “Where’s my brother?”
She hesitates. “He’s, um …”
My heart stops. He drowned. He drowned, and it’s all my fault. Plus I was so mean to him today. I was awful. He was just being his totally awesome fun self, and I yelled at him. I try to breathe, but I can’t.
“… There he is,” she says.
What? He’s alive? I jump to my feet and spot him hopping his way down the beach.
“Jonah!” I shriek. “You’re alive!” I throw my arms around his neck.
“Of course I’m alive,” he says. “I was just getting myself a snack. I’m starving.” He’s munching on French fries and mustard. “Glad you’re finally awake.”
I let go of his neck even though I don’t want to. “How long was I out for?”
“A few hours.”
“What happened?”
“Either we didn’t take enough potion each, or the recipe wasn’t exactly right.”
I hug him hard. “I’m so sorry I was mean to you.”
“I’m sorry I made you do all the work,” he says. “Want a fry? The mustard isn’t as awful as you’d think.”
“Sure,” I say.
“Me too,” Lana says.
“What time is it?” I wonder.
“Almost ten A.M.”
I look at Lana in surprise. “It’s ten o’clock, and you’re still alive!”
She nods. “I am.”
“And you can talk!”
She nods again. “Nelly reversed the spell. And gave me back my voice.”
“That’s amazing!” I cheer. “We did it! We fixed the story! Everything is back the way it was!”
“Not everything,” Jonah says.
“What do you mean?” I ask, munching on another fry. Jonah’s right. The mustard isn’t that bad.
He motions to Lana. “She still has legs.”
He’s right. She does still have legs. “What happened? Nelly wouldn’t let you have your tail back? She’s making you stay on land forever? I thought we had done so well! Did your dad cancel the date or something?”
Lana shakes her head. “No, that’s not it. She offered to give me my tail back, but I told her I didn’t want it.”
Huh? “Why not?”
“I love my family, but I don’t want to leave the surface. Prince or not, it’s my home. I love to walk and dance. And I really love sunsets. And shoops — I mean, shoes. And books. And paintings. And have you tried a cheeseburger with mustard and that yellow-y American cheese? They’re amazing.”
I nod.
She goes on. “And even though I have my voice back, I have another voice now that I’m not ready to give up.”
I don’t understand what she’s talking about. “You have a second voice?”
“Yes! Thanks to you, I can write! And that’s given me a whole new voice. I want to stay on land and write stories about the world under the ocean. I want to write books about mermaids and share them with humans so they don’t think merfolk are make-believe!”
“I would love to read those,” I say. “Is your dad okay with you staying?”
She nods. “He said he was going to miss me, but he also gave me these.” She opens her hand, and I see the diamond ring, the emerald earrings, and the bracelet. “They belonged to my mother. He told me I can sell them and buy a house with a big dock so he and my sisters can always visit.”
“That’s amazing,” I say, throwing my arms around Lana in a hug. “Everything worked out.”
“Almost,” Jonah says. “We still have to get home.”
Oh, no! If it’s almost ten here, we only have two hours to get back, and we still have no idea how. “What are we going to do?” I ask.
“It’s all taken care of,” Jonah says smugly. “By me.”
“But, Jonah, we’re sitting on the beach. Not in our basement.”
“Not for long,” Jonah says, and then he points to the water.
In the distance, I see the five mermaid sisters, plus Nelly, plus the king.
“She’s finally awake!” the oldest mermaid says.
“Hi, guys!” Lana yells. She splashes out into the water and hugs them all. Aw. We got them back together.
“Carolyn made us more underwater potion,” Jonah says. “She made double, just to be safe.”
“How does that help?” I ask. “We don’t live underwater.”
“Nelly’s cauldron is underwater. It’s going to take us home.”
“But Nelly isn’t a fairy,” I say. “Is she?”
He shrugs. “She said she could do it.”
“She did? Did you have to trade her something?”
He shook his head. “She said it’s payment for reintroducing her to the king.”
“Oh!” If being a judge doesn’t work out, maybe I can be a matchmaker. “When do we go?”
“Now!”
I look back up at the palace. “Should we say good-bye?”
“I said good-bye for both of us. Carolyn said she’ll miss us. And she promised to teach Lana how to cook.”
“Don’t worry,” Lana says. “I promise not to make shark.”
“And Vivian packed up all our stuff and put them in your suitcase.”
“Whose suitcase?”
“Your suitcase! The mermaids gave it back.”
“Oh! Great! What about the stuff inside the suitcase?”
“They gave that back, too. Lana put your necklace around your neck when you were sleeping. I tried to do it myself, but that clasp is really confusing.”
I reach up and feel my necklace. “Thanks, Jonah. Thanks, Lana.”
“No problem,” Lana says.
“I gave Lana’s sisters my Kadima paddles,” Jonah says. “They seemed to really like them.”
“That was sweet of you, Jonah.” I turn to Lana.
Lana takes the cup of potion, spits in it, and then hands it to me. “I’m going to miss you two. Thank you for everything.”
I chug the still-disgusting potion, and then give Lana a tight hug. “Your stories are going to be amazing.”
“Thanks. I can’t wait to write them.”
Jonah gives her a hug, too.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, everyone!” she calls to her family. “Have fun on your date, Dad! But don’t make any trades, okay? And I’ll miss you, Abby and Jonah!”
We wave. Here we go. With one hand, I hold on to my brother, and with the other, I hold on to my suitcase. Just like when I came, but now with extra yellow clothes. I dunk right away.
Sometimes you just gotta go for it.
This time when we go underwater, the ocean is alive with activity. Mermaids and mermen everywhere. Everyone’s busy, swimming this way or that. It’s like we were dropped in the busiest aquarium in the world.
I wish we had more time to explore. Maybe we’ll come back one day?
When we arrive at Nelly’s house, everything looks different. Maybe because it’s bright outside. Or maybe because she did some spring cleaning of the skeletons and stuff.
“Thank you,” Nelly whispers to me.
I try not to stiffen as she gives me a hug.
“Because we reintroduced you to the king?” I ask.
“Yes. And because you were right. Instead of changing my own life, I wanted everyone to be as miserable as I was. I was a coward.”
We hug all the sisters, and then we are ready to go. “What do we do?” I ask, eyeing the bubbling cauldron with a little bit of fear.
“Just swim right into it,” Nelly says.
“We won’t burn?”
“You shouldn’t.”
“But I don’t understand,” I say. “I thought only fairies could get us home.”
“I am a fairy,” she says.
Huh? “We thought you were a witch,” Jonah says.
“A witch is a fairy who does bad things,” she says. “See, it depends what you use your magic for.”
Aha. That makes sense. I look toward the cauldron. “We can’t both fit in,” I say. Not together.
“I’ll go first,” Jonah says.
“I’m not letting you go alone!” I say.
“Then hold on to my foot.”
“Okay,” I say. I grab hold of his very wet sneaker with one hand and the suitcase with the other. “Ready?” I ask.
“Ready!” he says. “Hold on tight!”
He swims, swims, swims right toward the cauldron. It squeezes but doesn’t hurt. I close my eyes and trust Jonah to get us home.
The next thing I know, I’m in a very large puddle on my basement floor, still holding Jonah’s foot. We’ve slid across half the floor like we’re at a water park.
“Well done,” I hear.
“You too,” Jonah and I both say at the same time.
“That wasn’t me,” I say. My spine tingles. “That wasn’t you?”
He shakes his head.
“But, Jonah, if it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t you …” I look back at the mirror. It’s still swirling. “Maryrose? Was that you?”
She doesn’t answer. But that had to have been her! It must have been! She talked to us! She finally talked to us! And she said “well done”!
What does “well done” mean? “Was changing the tale what we were supposed to do?” I ask the mirror. “Do you have a plan for us?”
She still doesn’t answer.
“Abby, what time is it?” Jonah asks.
I look at my watch. “It’s four minutes to seven.”
“We gotta go!”
He’s right. Our parents will be waking us up any minute. I turn back to the mirror. “I have a lot of questions for you,” I say. “And next time, I would really appreciate it if you could answer them.” I leave the wet suitcase downstairs because it’s filled with water and ridiculously heavy. I cross my fingers and hope I have a chance to deal with it before my parents find it.
We dash up the stairs. When we’re on the main floor, I hear the ringing of my parents’ alarm clock. “Run! Run!” I whisper to Jonah. “Go put on your pj’s, hide your wet clothes in the back of your closet, and get into bed! Love you! I’m glad you didn’t drown!”
“Love you, too!” Jonah says as he sprints toward his bedroom. “I’m glad you didn’t drown, either!”
Our doors close just as I hear my parents’ door opening. Oh no, oh no, oh no! I rip off my clothes, look for a clean pair of pajamas, remember I don’t have any, jump under my covers, and pull them up to my neck as my doorknob starts to wiggle.
About half a second later, my door creeps open. “Morning, honey,” my mom says. “Time to get up.”
I fake a yawn. “Thanks, Mom!”
I hear a bang from Jonah’s room. Mom lo
oks quizzically in his direction. Oh, no! He’s not ready yet. I need to distract her! What do I do?
“Wait! Mom?”
She leans against the doorway. “Yes, honey?”
“I want to talk to you about something.”
“Yes?” she asks expectantly.
At first I have no idea what I want to say, but then, suddenly, I do.
I spot my jewelry box on my dresser and think about Lana. I had wanted her to accept her life as is, but she wanted to fight for her dreams. Sure, sometimes you have to get what you get and not get upset. But maybe other times, you have to follow your heart and go after what you really want. Take a risk. Be brave.
I guess part of growing up is learning when to do which.
“Mom,” I start. “I know you’re really busy. I understand. But I think I’m old enough to go to Chicago by myself. There’s a program where they let kids fly by themselves — they call them UMs. Undercover Minors? No, Unidentified Minors. No —”
“Unaccompanied Minors!” Jonah screams out from his room.
“Thanks!” I yell back. “Jonah told me that his friend Isaac takes airplanes by himself to visit his dad, and he’s only seven. Can I do that to visit Nana?”
“Oh, honey! By yourself? Are you sure you’re up for that?”
I nod. If I can navigate the deepest part of the ocean, I can definitely get around the airport. I don’t say that part to my mom.
“You wouldn’t find it scary?”
“I might,” I say. “But being a little scared is worth it to see Nana.”
Mom sighs. “I’ll tell you what — I don’t know much about this UM program, but it sounds like a possibility. I’ll look into it, okay?”
“Thanks, Mom. I can do it, I swear.”
“I have no doubt that you can,” she says softly. She inhales deeply. “You smell delicious. Like the beach.”
I laugh. I can’t help it.
She looks at me quizzically. “Do you have a suntan?”
“Er, no,” I say. “It’s just the light.”
She nods and tousles my hair. “Maybe when all this work is done, we should go to Florida for a week off.”
“Sounds good to me,” I say. She may wonder where we got our new swimsuits.
“Hey, honey, why aren’t you wearing any pajamas?”
“Oh … um …” I think back to the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes. If I tell my mom I’m actually wearing pj’s will she pretend to believe me? Probably not. “They’re too tight,” I say, suddenly inspired. “I need new ones. I’m a growing girl, you know.”
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