by Jan Bozarth
“That’s better!” I took a deep breath and exhaled with satisfaction. After all my underwater ordeals, being warm, dry, and human was a big relief. That didn’t last long, either.
I grimaced again.
“Now what?” Kano sounded puzzled, not impatient or irritated.
“What’s that smell?” I gagged. I was a girl.
Kano lifted his black seal nose and sniffed. “Rotting seaweed and decomposing dead things.”
Piles of ocean debris were scattered throughout the chamber. I was getting more tired with every new alteration to the basic Sumi Hara design, but I wouldn’t rest with the stench of compost in my nose.
This time, I didn’t ask for Kano’s advice. I flattened my nose, made my nostrils smaller, and added hairs to filter out the offensive particles. When I drew a breath, the odor was tolerable.
“I’m done!” I grinned, pleased with my progress as a shape-shifter. “Is the freshwater okay to drink?”
“It should be.” Kano scooted over to a pool near the shell wall. He sniffed, then sampled the water. “It’s good.”
When I leaned over to get a drink, I caught a glimpse of myself before the water rippled and the image was gone. I looked ridiculous, and I burst out laughing.
“What’s funny?” Kano asked.
“I look like a furry mushroom with a squashed cartoon face!” I doubled over in a fit of giggles.
“At least you’re warm and dry and you can’t smell anything,” Kano said.
“You’re all those things, too,” I pointed out, “but you’re a lot cuter.”
It was true. A seal really was the perfect form to take while resting in the chamber. I had just wanted to hold on to Sumi the girl for a little while longer.
“Cute doesn’t matter. It’s all about comfort,” Kano said.
“I know, but I think I’ll give up my Frankenstein look and just be a seal.” I struggled to keep down the giggles and lost.
Kano blinked his green eyes, twitched his whiskers, and made a throaty barking sound. I was pretty sure he was grinning.
“Great, but be a smaller one.” As Kano spoke, he reduced his size by half. “Then we can check out the upper chambers. They might be more comfortable.”
“Is there any chance we’ll find the fourth shard in here?” I asked as I transformed into a darling miniseal. I was instantly aware that the awful smell didn’t smell awful. I wasn’t cold, and I didn’t mind being dripped on.
“This is Aventurine …,” Kano said.
“Everything is possible,” I finished with him. We both laughed.
The next chamber was slightly smaller, with a large depression that covered almost the entire floor. Freshwater had collected in the bowl.
“We should swim across,” I suggested. “It would be easier than walking around.”
“That’s a good idea,” Kano said, “as long as you don’t mind swimming with some big puddle beasties.”
I took a closer look. The pool was swarming with creatures that looked like gigantic bacteria.
“I’ll walk.” I led the way around the pool, staying as close to the outer wall as possible in case any of the beasties were jumpers.
As we traveled upward, the chamber gradually became less stark and more welcoming. Smaller water pools were inhabited by tiny see-through crystal fish, blue frogs with bulging yellow eyes, and a variety of water bugs and plants. Cushy moss and lichen covered the mounds and ledges that time and water had carved into the shell walls.
Our exploration was stopped at the exit from the seventh chamber. The interior of the passage through the tapered shell tower had eroded into an impassable honeycomb.
“But what if the fourth shard is up there?” I had looked for the telltale glint in every chamber we had passed through. I was positive we hadn’t missed it.
“It’s not,” Kano said with conviction. “The shards might be difficult to reach when you find them, but they won’t be impossible to obtain. The fourth shard must not be here.”
Kano’s certainty helped but didn’t entirely ease my nerves. It seemed like forever since I had found the third shard in the sponge. I had been through so much since eating the fairy cake—failing to completely assemble the Yugen Lineage mirror was too depressing to think about.
“Are you hungry?” Kano asked.
The question took my mind off the mission. “Starved, but after being a fish, I can’t eat one.”
“I found something better.” Kano slid over to a ledge of layered rocks and smacked something with his flipper.
The enticing aroma of warm bread and butter filled my nostrils and made my mouth water. I ate the spongy stuff that grew on the ledge. I decided not to ask what it was. Better just to enjoy the meal.
Warm and dry with full stomachs, we curled up in a moss-covered corner and slept.
I awoke with a start, thinking I was home in my own bed. I only had to blink once to orient myself to the fantastic fact that I was a fairy-godmother-in-training in seal form in a monster shell in the Aventurine Sea.
The next blink alerted me to the strange sound that had disturbed my rest. I had heard something like it before, when Okasan had taken me to Central Park a few days after we arrived in New York. The chittering noise outside the alcove sounded exactly like a bunch of squabbling squirrels.
Kano opened his eyes and yawned as I peeked out of our corner. “What’s going on?” he asked.
The feet and claws of a hundred small hermit crabs were clickety-clacking on the hard floor as they scurried around a heap of shells. I watched, fascinated, as a crab crawled out of one shell and into another. After a moment, he traded the second shell for a third shell that was slightly larger. Most of the other crabs were also trying on new shells for size and comfort.
“A bunch of hermit crabs are house hunting,” I said.
It had never occurred to me that animals could be just as particular about their shells and nests as I was about my clothes. It made me smile to think that shopping was a basic instinct in all of us. And it made me feel less alone.
The thought jolted me.
Was I lonely?
It was really hard to admit, but maybe I was. And not just because I was separated from my friends in Japan or because my parents both had busy careers or because I didn’t know anyone in New York yet. This was bigger than that somehow. Maybe by always looking for attention and putting my life first, I had sort of cut myself off from people.
I shouldn’t have blown off Hisako. She’d just wanted to talk about her new crush. I felt terrible. Then I remembered that Queen Kumari had said I’d return home the morning after the night I left. I’d be a little late getting in touch with Hisako, but not too late to ask about Akiyo.
A gravelly noise in Kano’s throat distracted me.
“Are you growling or laughing?” I asked.
“Growling,” Kano said. “I don’t like what those big crabs are doing to that little crab.”
I quickly picked out the small crab Kano was watching. Every time it found a shell it liked, a bigger crab came along and took the shell away.
“We have to do something!”
Kano nodded in agreement, but added, “You can’t stop the big crabs from stealing the little crab’s shells after we’re gone.”
“I think I can.” I gave him a mischievous seal smile.
“Can’t wait to see.” Kano kept close behind me as I crept out of the niche.
The hermit crabs were too intent on bickering over shells to pay us much attention. As I started to look through a pile of seaweed for a suitable shell, one fell out of a hole in the wall and rolled up to my flippers.
“That’s how all this small stuff gets down here,” Kano explained. “It washes through the holes until it lands and stops.”
“I guess that’s why there’s less stuff in the lower chambers.” I picked up the shell. “Can I talk to hermit crabs?”
“If they want to talk to you,” Kano said.
The small crab was
huddled under a broad seaweed leaf, and I motioned for him to come over.
“No.” The crab hissed. “I’m naked.”
“I have a new shell for you that no one else will want,” I said.
“If no one else wants it, why would I?” the crab asked, but he held on to the seaweed for cover and scooted closer. He looked at my shell and hissed again. “That’s the worst shell I’ve ever seen!”
“He’s right, you know,” Kano whispered.
I smiled. Taking a hint from Okasan, I had chosen a shell that was chipped, stained with tar, and marred by barnacles.
“Just try it,” I told the crab. “Walk around. See how it feels. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to keep it.”
The crab hesitated, then let go of the leaf and slipped into the ugly shell. When it was adjusted to his liking, the crab walked around. “It’s a good fit,” he conceded.
“It’s a lot better than that,” I pointed out. “You’ve been wearing that shell for a whole minute, and no one has tried to take it away.”
The little crab stiffened. “You’re right!”
“Where I come from, the chip and the barnacles and the tar make that shell unique. That’s why it’s beautiful and very, very valuable.”
My whiskers twitched with delight at how happy the crab was as he paraded around in his new shell. I turned to give Kano a smiling look, but he seemed disturbed.
“Where would a shell get stained with tar in Aventurine?” Kano asked.
“Only one place,” the crab said. “Bristolmeir.”
9
The Junkyard
My fur stood on end. “Is Bristolmeir nearby?” I asked.
“It’s not far,” the crab said. “Turn right at the end of the canyon, and go straight until you come to the glitter walk.”
I moved as quickly as I could to get down to the lower levels of the shell and then jumped back into the seawater pool and, with renewed energy, shifted into a spiny dart. I didn’t even have to look at Kano to do it. The food and rest had totally restored my strength. Bristolmeir was just around the corner!
I was closing in on the fourth and fifth shards of the Yugen Lineage mirror. Only I wasn’t in as much of a hurry to complete my mission. Leaving Aventurine meant leaving Kano, and I would miss him.
Kano followed me out of the shell. I could tell he was just as anxious to reach Bristolmeir—he was clearly worried about it. If the tarred shell had come from the underwater city like the hermit crab said, something awful had happened there.
With our streamlined bodies and bristle defenses, we sped through the canyon without any trouble. Except for an occasional curious glance, we passed unnoticed. Even so, when the slope of the canyon wall became flush with the floor, my nerves were frayed.
“That was too easy,” I said. “I just know something nasty is waiting for us up ahead.”
“Maybe, but at least we’ll be going in the right direction,” Kano said. “The Bristolmeir compass potion is working again.”
“Awesome!” I was honestly thrilled. Having something go right eased the dread, but only slightly. I had been ambushed too many times in Aventurine.
After we turned toward Bristolmeir, the abundance of life dwindled. Within minutes, we were swimming through a dead zone. The eerie stillness was creepy.
“Is it supposed to be like this?” I didn’t try to hide the tremor in my voice.
“No,” Kano said. “I’ve never been to Bristolmeir, but I’ve spoken with many who have. Everyone says it’s a paradise of light and joy.”
“Maybe it is.” I didn’t like seeing Kano so upset.
“See for yourself,” Kano said sadly. “Look.”
The dome of Bristolmeir loomed in the distance. It was so dark, it looked like a black hole in the ocean. No light reflected off or shone through the surface, and an overwhelming sense of foreboding washed over me.
As we drew near, I could see how awful things really were. A thick carpet of black tar and ooze coated the ground. Scattered bits of debris grew into huge piles of junk. Even the water was cloudy.
I knew from Okasan’s stories that disasters strike Aventurine just like they do in the waking world. I was about to ask Kano what he thought had befallen Bristolmeir. Then I saw a glimmer of light in the muck.
“A shard!” I shouted and shot forward. But when I got nearer, I could see my mistake. The glint came from sparkling crystals embedded in the ground under the tar.
“We’ve been swimming along the glitter walk, and we didn’t even know it,” Kano said.
“Why hasn’t someone cleaned this up?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Kano’s tone shifted between sadness and anger as we continued toward the dome. “Fairies recycle everything. Nothing goes to waste, so there’s no junk or trash in Aventurine. At least, there wasn’t. Hey, what’s that?”
He paused to stare at some glass sitting on a low mound.
At first glance, I thought it was a round lightbulb. I was wrong. “It’s a snow globe!”
Kano and I both peered at the tiny crystal towers, domes, and arches depicted in the glass.
“It’s Bristolmeir,” Kano said. “Exactly like I imagined it would be.”
“Really? It’s not what I imagined at all.” When Queen Kumari had first mentioned a city at the bottom of the sea, I had pictured the ancient buildings, gardens, and mountainous countryside of Japanese mythology. My mother’s descriptions had been very vivid.
“Bristolmeir as it was, not as it is.” Kano sighed as he turned away.
I looked up and shrieked, “There’s the shard!”
“Where?” Kano asked.
“On that old sofa over there.” I was so excited, I started swimming before I finished talking.
The sofa was half-buried in a pile of broken beds, old quilts, giant rotting toadstools, and baskets. Shard number four was tangled in a fishnet and stuffed in a jar with a long, thin neck. The jar was wedged between two springs that had popped through the sofa seat. It didn’t look like the shard would be difficult to retrieve, but I had to be sure.
“Is there anything here that could hurt me?” I asked Kano.
Kano studied the jar and sofa from several angles. “I don’t see anything.”
Satisfied that nothing nearby would attack me, I tackled the problem. The mirror wouldn’t appear until the shard was free. I tried to pull on the net and pull the shard out of the jar with my teeth, but my long spiny snout didn’t fit through the neck. I had to break the jar to reach the shard.
“I need hands to …” I turned to look for a heavy tool and froze. While my back was turned, Kano had transformed into the beautiful boy Queen Patchouli had sent to guide me.
Or rather, half of him was a boy.
Below the waist, Kano had a much larger aquatic tail. He had exchanged his gray-green spiny dart scales for sparkling green and gold.
I was so startled and happy that all I could do was sputter and stare. I didn’t even start to change.
For a brief moment, Kano’s eyes sparkled with mischief. He obviously thought my reaction was hilarious. Instead of the tunic and shirt he’d had on in the cave, he wore an open vest made of polished shells and woven seaweed. His hair fanned out in the water.
When I found my voice, I was still a spiny dart, and I was furious. “Does this mean I could have been a beautiful mermaid all this time?”
Kano shook his head. “A mermaid couldn’t have survived all the dangers we encountered. But now, since you need hands, it seemed like a good idea.”
“A very good idea!” Changing into a mermaid was easy. My top half quickly became Sumi with gills, and my bottom half copied Kano’s tail. I kept the top of my dress, my scarf, and my bracelets from the fairy wardrobe.
“Do I look ridiculous?” I spotted a metal hubcap and swam closer to look for my reflection. I tilted my head back and forth, but the hubcap was too dull to reflect.
“You’re just like every mermaid or river maiden I’ve ever
met,” Kano said. “They all spend a lot of time preening and staring at their reflections.”
I made a face at him and pretended to pout.
Kano grinned back at me, but his smile fled in a flash of alarm. “Get your shard!”
I spun and gasped when I saw a black starfish sliding over the back of the sofa, leaving a trail of yellowish goo. It was bigger than the hubcap and only inches from the jar. If the starfish stayed on course, the shard would be glued to the sunken couch. I wouldn’t be able to free it, and Takara wouldn’t appear.
There was no time to waste. I was too frantic to shift into something that could smash the jar, so I yanked the silver scarf off my neck and wrapped the cloth around my hand. Then I gripped the jar and pulled. The scarf protected my hand when the jar’s neck broke off, and it saved me from being cut when I reached into the broken glass. When I had the netting and the shard, I launched myself clear with a flip of my powerful new tail.
I tore the netting away from the shard as I swam to Kano’s side. Then I called the mirror. “Takara’s truth!”
When the mirror appeared, the golden flash blazed like a star in a midnight sky. As the fourth shard snapped into place, more tarnish and grit vanished from the brass frame. I took heart from the brilliance of the talisman in the midst of so much darkness and destruction. It felt like Okasan was letting me know that everyone in the Yugen Lineage was with me.
After the mirror disappeared, I asked Kano, “Can we keep this form?”
“For now,” Kano said with a lopsided grin. “I know you like being beautiful.”
“That’s true, but …” There was more to it than that. I wasn’t sure I could explain it, but I tried. “Being a mermaid feels better than being a fish. Even this tail seems more natural.”
“Maybe because it’s a mammalian tail,” Kano said.
“That’s it!” My eyes lit up. Fish tails move from side to side. My new tail moved up and down like a dolphin’s or a whale’s. “I’m glad you understand.”