Mermaid Fins, Winds & Rolling Pins

by Erin Johnson

  "Huh. Nice work, K'ree." I leaned over and ruffled his hair, giving it a little more lift. I grinned. "Sam, you look good."

  He flushed and dipped his chin to hide his embarrassment.

  I leaned back against the wooden side of the boat and enjoyed the bouncy ride as we skimmed along the sparkling surface of the water, following the beautiful and ornate pirate ship. As we neared the island, three gaping caves came into view. Lush vines dripped across the openings and swayed in the wind.

  "The first test," Wiley breathed.

  I rolled my eyes. "Oh come on, this isn't the Goonies, it's just a club."

  Iggy, Maple, Wiley, K'ree and Sam all turned confused faces towards me.

  "Oh geez, you guys have never seen The Goonies even?" I folded my arms, which prickled with goose bumps from the night sea breeze.

  Maple tilted her head to the side. "Are they a band?"

  I shook my head. Not a bad name for one, though.

  "Anyway. You have to choose the right opening or else." Wiley grew grim.

  "Or else what?" K'ree asked.

  "Death."

  He said it so seriously, I burst into laughter. No one else joined me. "Oh. Seriously?" Maybe I didn't feel like clubbing tonight after all. The tin in my lap reminded me I didn't have any choice. "But, these guys know where to go, right?"

  "Well, yeah, Good Time Chuck's the captain." Wiley rolled his eyes.

  Four rowboats, filled with pirates, lowered over the side of the massive ship, and once all had disembarked, ours glided behind them toward the island. Magic made rowing unnecessary. I spotted the captain, presumably Good Time Chuck, standing with one leg up on the prow of the lead boat. As we neared the openings and the island loomed as a dark shadow against the bright moon above us, I buzzed with excitement. As much as I teased Wiley, this was actually really amazing.

  The boats drifted into a single-file line and eased into the central opening. I shivered as we passed through, the vines trailing over my head and shoulders. What lay in the other two options?

  We entered a long, narrow tunnel, lit by the torches the pirates held aloft—and on our boat, by Iggy. Flickering firelight bounced off the stone walls as waterfalls cascaded from the tall ceiling above. The rushing water filled the tunnel with echoing noise.

  I glanced up as we passed through a beam of moonlight, filtering in through a hole in the cave roof. I jolted and grabbed the edge of the boat as it lurched left, following the other boats around another patch of moonlight reflecting on the ice-blue water.

  "Booby traps!" Wiley yelled to be heard over the waterfalls. He gestured toward the moonbeams that filtered through the holes overhead. "We have to avoid certain moonbeams, otherwise—"

  "Let me guess—death!" I yelled back.

  He nodded. Urp. I gulped as we navigated the maze of light and darkness. We left the waterfall tunnel, and the boats bumped to a stop against a wooden pier. Wiley climbed out first and offered Maple a hand. He then helped each of us out. Maybe he had some gentleman in him, after all. I caught Maple looking at him with a softened expression.

  I handed Maple the tin of brandy balls and straightened my skirt. With Iggy's bubble under one arm, I followed the pirates over wooden gangways through the labyrinth of caves. Iron rings held flaming torches every so often, lending the cave a reddish-orange glow. Water dripped from the ceiling and joined the sea that flowed below the wooden planks under my pumps. The air grew humid and close. After a while, we jostled to a stop.

  "What's going on?" K'ree rose up on her tiptoes, her gold-trimmed fuchsia scarf wrapped around her head and draped over her shoulder.

  The pirate in front of us turned around and opened his mouth to reveal several crooked teeth—and only several. "Password tonight's 'booty.'"

  I nodded my thanks and bit my lip as we waited our turn up to the front. Of course it was. Soon we stood before two massive men with shoulders wider than I was tall.

  "Hello, gentlemen." Wiley grinned.

  The man on the right with the bald head looked like a genie, complete with bare chest, gold hoop earring, and parachute pants. "Password."

  Wiley nodded. "Booty."

  The man swept a thick arm to the side. "Proceed."

  Maple and I stopped before him as the others passed by. Maple held up the tin. "Um. Bubbles? She told us to give this to you and say that they're for her?"

  "I have no idea what you're talking about," he growled.

  "Hey!" The other bouncer moved over. "Bubbles told yas to talk to da tall bouncer wit da good bod." He gestured at himself. "Dats me, obvs."

  The first bouncer looked smug.

  "Uh, right. Of course." I nudged Maple toward him.

  "Here ya go." She handed him the tin and we linked arms and dashed past. Giggling against each other, we sped down a low tunnel. Our friends stood silhouetted against the blue light at the end of the tunnel. The deep, pulsing bass of the music echoed through the space, till my chest vibrated with each beat. Each step took us closer to the deafening music and the wildly flashing lights. I gave Maple's hand a squeeze and leaned over to speak into her ear.

  "Here we go!"

  9

  Clubbin’

  We poured out into a cavern tightly packed with dancing bodies, moving to a pulsing bass beat. Fuchsia, cobalt, and teal lights swept across the cave.

  Colored bubbles floated through the air, and a chandelier of mirrored, dancing fish cast speckled light about the room like a disco ball. Hundreds of golden candles glowed overhead from nooks in the rough stone walls. The same nooks spilled over with strings of pearls, gold coins, and other treasure.

  "Isn't this great?" Wiley shouted, though I could barely hear him over the blasting music. He threw an arm around each of our shoulders and pulled Maple and me into a tight hug at his sides. He bounced with us, forcing us to dance with the beat. I laughed in spite of myself. "Come on!"

  It didn't escape my notice that he grabbed Maple's hand and led the way. I took hold of her other one, then tucked Iggy under my arm. K'ree towed Sam along. We wove through the pulsing, dancing crowd. I bumped shoulders with crusty old pirates and slender women with fairy wings tucked into their backs. Others looked like mermaids who'd become human—they tossed their brightly colored hair with shells and starfish woven into it.

  We stopped near the middle of the dance floor. Wiley grabbed Maple's hands and turned her toward him, raising their arms overhead—though he was so tall, he barely lifted his. They swayed back and forth, pumping their arms into the air and laughing. Maple cast a confused smile my way. I grinned back at her and swayed my hips side to side with the beat. K'ree joined in, while Sam stood stock-still, wide-eyed. I shimmied over to him.

  "Sam!"

  I leaned closer, cupping a hand around his ear. "Sam, is this the first time you've danced?"

  I pulled back and he nodded, his brows drawn together and eyes round. I put a hand on his shoulder and leaned close again. People bumped and nudged us from all directions. "Don't think too hard about it. Try moving side to side, a little, with the music."

  Sam did, but only with his head.

  "Well, he'd made a great belly dancer," Iggy quipped.

  I grinned and gave Sam a double thumbs-up. We danced for a while until I had to stop and fan myself, my neck and forehead damp.

  "Drinks?" I mimed lifting cocktail glasses to my lips, and everyone nodded. "What do you guys want?"

  Maple spelled Iggy's bubble to follow me so I could free up my hands. K'ree offered to help me carry everything, and with her hands on my shoulders we congaed through the swaying crowd, Iggy bobbing along with. The bar glowed teal and sat tucked away in an alcove facing the dance floor.

  A man and a woman, both pirates from the look of their frilly shirts, leather vests, and bandannas, moved up and down the bar taking orders and mixing drinks. Behind them, several rows of shelves held bottles of glowing, swirling liquid, which cast mysterious shadows on the rough-hewn rock walls.

  The gu
y in front of us got his drinks and left. K'ree and I slid up, taking his place. The lady bartender strode up to us, wiping up a spill as she asked, "What'll you have?"

  I looked up, counting off the orders on my fingers. "Pint of ale for Wiley, mimosa for Maple, a margarita for me—salt, on the rocks."

  K'ree leaned over. "A Chu-Hi for me, and a Long Island iced tea for Sam."

  The bartender lifted a brow but moved off to pour the drinks. I leaned close to K'ree. "Sam wanted a Long Island iced tea?"

  She grinned. "He's never had anything besides beer before and asked me to choose something new for him."

  I laughed. "This is going to be a wild night."

  The bartender delivered the drinks and, as the messenger had instructed us earlier, we let her know we were guests of the queen's and to put it on the royal tab. We left her a few gold doubloons, the mermaid currency, as a tip on the bar though.

  With full hands, we step by step navigated the wild dance floor back to our friends. I rose up on my tiptoes, looking out over the bouncing heads of the crowd for Wiley's tall frame. I had an eye out for Hank, too. I hoped he'd be here tonight. In the end, I headed for the mirrored fish chandelier which we'd more or less been dancing under, and bumped up against Maple.

  "Oh thank goodness, I thought we'd lost you." I handed her the yellow mimosa.

  "What?" She leaned in.

  I shook my head. "Never mind." I held up the mug of beer. "Where's Wiley?"

  Her blond brows drew together. She looked around. "He said he was going to the bathroom, but that was a while ago."

  I shrugged. "Maybe there's a long line."

  "Huh?" Maple winced from the loud music.

  K'ree jumped in. "Where's Sam?"

  Maple bit her lip. "When Wiley and I were dancing, I kind of lost track of him."

  I looked around, but in the sweeping colored lights and darkness of the cavern, everyone kind of looked the same. My stomach tightened. Poor Sam. This was all so new to him, I hoped he'd be all right. “Let’s look for them!”

  Maple and K’ree nodded. I sipped from my margarita—nice and sour—and led the way through the crowd. I turned and pointed behind us and overhead. A balcony looked out onto the dance floor. “Let’s head that way—maybe we can spot them from above.”

  As we threaded through the crowd, a man passing the other way clipped my shoulder. I jumped to keep my drinks from spilling.

  He turned back. “Sorry, miss."

  I smiled. "Fowler!" The pirate from the Rusted Wreck the night before.

  He clapped his hand to his heart. "The three sirens!" K'ree and Maple slid up beside me, grinning. Fowler pulled us all closer, his breath and wiry beard smelling heavily of liquor. "If I were but a few decades younger…." He threw his head back and burst into hearty laughter, his whole body shaking. He adjusted the gold-trimmed black hat on his head and straightened the ruby ring on his finger, then gave us a sloppy salute. "I'll see you three lovies around."

  Off he staggered, still laughing.

  Iggy scoffed. "You all need showers now."

  I shook my head, a grin still on my face. We made it to the edge of the dance floor and skirted around the uneven side of the cavern until we stood in front of an open alcove. Hundreds of candles glowed in the rock and fireflies danced around in the open air.

  Tiers of rocks led up to a throne and an enormous open clamshell, side-by-side with a waterfall forming a curtain of glowing water behind. A handsome young man with deep honey skin and gray-green eyes sat on the throne. Wavy dark hair tumbled down to his neck, and black tattoos that looked like cursive writing in another language stretched in short lines across his cheekbones.

  A man next to him leaned over and whispered something, and the pirate's handsome face broke into laughter, revealing white teeth framed by his perfectly groomed beard and mustache.

  "Wow," K'ree breathed next to me.

  I nodded. Wow indeed.

  Maple sighed. "He reminds me of Wool."

  Iggy rolled his eyes. "Keep it in your pants, ladies."

  K'ree nodded. "Good Time Chuck's from the Fire Kingdom, also. No one knows his real name—they all just take on the name when they become pirate king."

  My eyes widened. "That's the pirate king?" Guess it made sense, seeing as he sat on a throne. Which meant the mermaid in the clamshell must be Queen Aerwyna, or Winnie the Finnie, as she was called. She played with her bubblegum-pink hair and kicked her bright blue tail back and forth. She had a heart-shaped face, big dark eyes, and even sitting, appeared to be tiny—I wondered if she even cleared five feet tall.

  "So they're…."

  "Engaged." K'ree sighed. "Lots of broken hearts around the seas, I hear. Chuck has a reputation with the ladies."

  I leaned my head to the side. With a face like that, I could believe it. Add to his natural good looks the bad-boy edge of a deeply unbuttoned shirt and a sword at the hip, and you had a recipe for trouble… the good kind.

  In a pool in front of the alcove, I spotted Bubbles and another mermaid lounging. They kicked their fins out of the water and splashed each other, glancing over their shoulders to make sure the pirates that surrounded Good Time Chuck were watching.

  "Ugh. There's Bubbles."

  Maple shrunk back. "She scares me."

  I nodded. "Me too. Think we can dash by without her noticing?"

  "Let's try." Maple grabbed my shoulder.

  The three of us stayed as close to the dance floor as possible and edged forward past the opening to the alcove. We'd nearly made it across when Maple stopped dead. I turned and found her looking crestfallen, all the color drained from her cheeks. I followed her gaze.

  Wiley lay on his side next to Bubbles and the other mermaid in the pool. Bubbles hooked a black-nailed finger under his chin, and he grinned at her. I looked to Maple. Her shock morphed to fury as her cheeks burned red and her chest puffed up.

  "Uh-oh," Iggy muttered.

  Wiley leaned his cheek against Bubbles's to whisper something in her ear, and Maple rushed forward, snatching the mug of ale from my hand.

  "Maple, wait—"

  I reached for her, but she was already striding forward toward the glowing pool.

  K'ree and I exchanged worried looks. Iggy drifted closer to my shoulder. "This is going to be so good."

  Maple stopped above Wiley, her shoulders squared. She plunked the mug down on the stone floor right in front of him, its contents sloshing over the sides and spilling into the mermaid pool. Bubbles shrieked, and Wiley looked up, eyes wide. I couldn't hear if words were exchanged, but Maple downed her mimosa in one gulp and stalked off in the direction of the bar.

  I went after her, but the DJ started a new song that sent everyone jumping, and before I could get anywhere close to Maple, she'd disappeared into the crowd, Wiley hot on her heels. I sighed. How would I find her again? Hopefully Wiley would, and hopefully she wouldn't kick him in the shins… which I might have done. Then again, they weren't a couple—as far as I knew. But still, it'd seemed like they had something going. Way to go, Wiley.

  I looked up to find Bubbles glaring at me. She crooked a finger and I reluctantly edged forward.

  "Hey—you're that baker. Yous's friend just spilled beer in our pool." She shot me a scathing glare, while her friend with the blue hair sipped a fruit-filled cocktail and appeared completely oblivious.

  "Bubbles! Did you say she's the baker?"

  I looked up. The queen twirled her pink hair around her finger.

  Bubbles nodded. The queen clapped and bounced in her clamshell seat. "Oh goody! C’mere, c’mere!" She waved K'ree, Iggy, and me closer. I gave Bubbles a wide birth as I stepped around the pool.

  We curtsied, then rose. Mermaids and pirates lounged on the stone tiers leading up to the royalty. The queen leaned forward and wiggled her fingers at us. "I'm the queen." She pointed to a glittering crown of starfish on her head. "I mean, duh. You can call me Winnie the Finnie though, all my friends do."

  Chuck, t
he pirate king, leaned over and took one of her long-nailed hands in his. He pressed it to his lips. "Such a beautiful nickname."

  Iggy gave me a flat look. "Is it?"

  I pressed a hand to my heart. "I'm Imogen, and this is Iggy."

  K'ree waved. "I'm K'ree."

  "Like, what kingdom are you guys from?" Queen Winnie leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand. Her eyes darted back and forth between K'ree and me.

  K'ree answered first. "The Fire Kingdom."

  "Uh-huh, uh-huh. Nice." Winnie turned to me.

  "I was adopted as a baby to humans, outside the kingdoms, and have only been in Bijou Mer for a couple months." My throat hurt a little from straining to speak so loudly. Had she even heard any of that?

  Winnie's eyes grew wide. "You're from the human lands?" Her jaw dropped. "Oh my gawdess." She bounced in her clamshell seat and clapped her fingertips together. "I want to hear all about it."

  I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up a finger.

  "Later." Winnie pointed a tanned arm at the mermaid beside Bubbles in the pool. "Valonzy, remember that for me." She shrugged at us. "I'm too wasted." She giggled. "I'm so glad you're partying with us. Whoo! Whoo!" She threw her arms overhead and Chuck grabbed her around the middle, showering her cheek and neck with kisses.

  I lifted my brows. My idea of mermaids as ethereal, mysterious creatures was being shattered all over the place. "Uh—did you enjoy the brandy balls?"

  Winnie sipped from a glowing blue cocktail drink and spoke around the straw. "Huh?"

  I cupped my hands to my mouth. "The brandy balls?"

  She squinted and shook her head. Guess the music had gotten too loud. We curtsied again and bowed out, though Winnie was too busy making out with her fiancé to notice.

  We headed again for the stairs to the balcony in an attempt to find all the missing members of our party… and I still held out hope that maybe Hank would be here. After a few more minutes fighting our way through the edges of the dance floor, I spotted steps hewn into the rock that led to the balcony. Finally. I moved forward, but K'ree clapped a hand on my shoulder and pointed.