Don't Feed the Mermaids (The Mermaid Files Book 1)

by Tiana LaGrone

  “Yes, the future of the House of Mermaids rests with Bal, you know that. He’s one of the eight sons. This House is the beacon for the west.”

  I know that, and I knew Ali would be mad. But war? War would not be good. Mermaids have allies here in the second ring of the underlands as well as the first.

  A navy ship or a submarine, even with all of their advancements, would find the leviathans to be a formidable opponent in should they be risen by they’re keepers. Ali has a good relationship with the keepers. He helps them in their time of need and has welcomed them with open arms into the House of Mermaids here. He has also convinced the other eight houses to welcome the keepers of the leviathan as well. Of course, sure the keepers could unleash the leviathans on underlanders, but they’d much rather live in peace with us all. But if there was a war between the two divisions of life, underlands vs. surfacers. The leviathan would certainly side with the underlands, and particularly Ali.

  “Mother, you can’t let Ali do it.”

  “What about your brother? Tell me you’re close to getting him released.”

  “Uh, well, that’s not as easy as it sounds.”

  My mother slaps her hand down on the table. “You know your brother is not a murderer. He protects people. He does not kill them.”

  “So tell me mother. Tell me why kept Balthazar’s engagement a secret from me.”

  “I didn’t want you to get into an altercation with your brother. He was dead set on it, and you know how Balthazar is when he makes up his mind.”

  “Sure.”

  “You’re not much different from him,” my mother says.

  “Oh yes, I am,” I say.

  “Ali didn’t know about either if that makes you feel any better.”

  “Oh boy,” I say. “Ali just found out about all this. No wonder he’s hotter than fish grease.”

  “I wish you would not use such sayings,” my mother says. “They’re insensitive.”

  “Sorry,” I murmur. I sit down at the table.

  My mother reaches out and caresses my cheek. “Can I get you something to eat? You went way too long without a swim.”

  “No thank you. My appetite is terrible right now.”

  “Mine too,” my mother says.

  “So what else can you tell me?”

  “Well, besides the fact that your brother did not kill that woman, there’s only one other thing I can say and that’s that you should use your power to defend him.”

  “What power?”

  “The power to go between the two lands that’s what. Your investigation skills. Your weaponry. Your street savvy. Whatever it is you have you should use to help save your brother.”

  “Including my life?”

  My mother grimaces.

  “How can you be sure he’s innocent, mother. Balthazar is clever. He won’t even tell me who the sea witch was that gave him his legs. I can’t believe you went along with him consorting with a sea witch. You know how they hate us and exploit us.”

  “I cannot control your brother. Besides, Ali and I have different ideas on how to make your brother a King. And me and Ali have different ideas on what sort of work a king should do.”

  I roll my eyes. Sometimes I feel like an orphan even though I have a mother. I feel like an absolute alien in my own freaking family.

  “If worse comes to worse perhaps you can ask Adrian to help?”

  “You mean my father?” I ask. My face feels numb.

  My mother raises an eyebrow. “I know, I know, but when it comes to land matters, Luis has some pull and he’s good at a lot of things.”

  “Of course he is. He’s a Voodoo King, practicing illegal magic.”

  “All magic seems to be illegal on the surface, but some magic is absolutely necessary,” my mother says like I’m so naive. “And some of it is actually a gift.”

  I suddenly feel like a ton of bricks have fallen upon me. I shiver with anger at mother. Things between her, me, and my father are as open and painful as a new gunshot wound, despite the fact that the shots were taken a long, long, time ago.

  “My brother wanted to work with April Villa. I suppose I can get behind that,” I say after a long sigh. “But I mean, did he have to get engaged to her?”

  My mother swims across the room to the front of a very tall mirror. “Ali. He would have never allowed it to stand, but I couldn’t tell that Balthazar in a way that would convince him otherwise. I actually support the joining of our two lands, but Ali is absolutely against it. As was my father.”

  “Your brother hopes Ali will come around. He saw this whole thing as an opportunity to make change. And like me, he believes that you cannot have change without risk. It was the same when I married Luis. Of course we know how that turned out in the end.” My mother turns away. Her hair streams behind her like ink. “Yes, that didn’t exactly pan out like I planned, but at least I got you. And at least I got my time with Luis.”

  My poor mother. She gets me every time with her suffering. Now is not the time to pour my heart out to her and ream her for the difficult position both she and Balthazar have placed me. Now is not the time to tell her how alone I feel in both lands. I’m just so sick of it.

  One would think with two lands to inhabit, loneliness would be far, far behind me. But it isn’t.

  “So I have to defy my boss save Balthazar. I’m going to lose my job.”

  “You can live here in the House, behind the glass, or even in the first ring. Jobs are living requirements are different. It’s an easier life in some ways. Still some of us want the choice to come and go between the two. A mermaid can’t move to the surface without prosecution of some kind. The system is quite rigged. If you consult a sea witch to get legs, you’re guilty because it’s against surfacer law. You can’t legally migrate to the surface if you’re a mermaid because the sea witch magic which turns a mermaid into a human is illegal. I say these things ought to change.

  “Mother, I can’t change all of these things.”

  “You’d be surprised who make changes,” my mother says.

  My head hurts. House politics make my head hurt, surface politics make my head hurt. I left the underlands because I blended in better with the humans than I did with the mermaids. “You’re so ambitious, mother,” I say.

  I used the oracle to check up on you. Who is your new friend?” my mother asks.

  “April’s Villas brother.”

  My mother grins. “Hmm hmm. Complicated. Be careful.”

  “North Villa is the least of my worries.” I think about the golem. I’m not so sure. “Chief Goldman is going to have my head.”

  “You’ll have to leave that bureau, Willow.”

  “Mother!”

  “You will. You can’t remain under that woman’s thumb. You have work to do.”

  “Pressure!”

  “I know you and Balthazar are not close, but I know you love him. I know you want to help him.”

  My shoulders fall. I won’t say that I love Balthazar. “Where’s Ali now?”

  “Talking with his Generals.”

  “Oh boy. That’s not good.”

  “Please keep Ali’s potential plans a secret from the surfacers. If the humans know that he may be planning a war, they will strike first. This will not be good for our people.”

  “At least we know that there are only so many portal rings and the underlands pull the purse strings on those. That should provide some boundary of safety.”

  “But she it only takes one to bring something deadly into this realm. The powers that be on the surface have all sorts of resources at their disposal. Including paid sea witches.”

  My put my head down on the ivory table. The palace is neither hot nor cold. The temperature inside it is perfect actually. When I was a little girl, I often dreamed of living my entire life behind the glass, in this palace, but without everyone hating me of course.

  “Maybe you’ll be making amends with the sea witches soon, mother,” I say.

  My
mother’s mouth twists. “I certainly hope not. Although, I’ll make a deal with a sea witch before I actually make amends, to get legs so that I may help your brother. But as we both know, Willow. Not all sea witches are bad.”

  “I bet Ali would love it if you got legs,” I say with a smirk. “And I’ve never met a sea witch I didn’t have to arrest.”

  “Ask yourself this question, have you made the effort?”

  Mother’s really know how to stump one with questions that cut to the bone.

  “I’m outy, mother. Gotta go figure out how to live my life.”

  “Maybe you ought to pay Ali a visit, convince him that you’ll help your get free before millions of creatures die.”

  My mother’s words make me cringe. “Do I have to! Please do I have to go see Ali.”

  “You care about humans, yes?”

  I fold my arms and pout. “Maybe a little.”

  My mother shakes her head. “Silly girl. Go to Ali.”

  I rush my mother and wrap my arms around her.

  “Your hugs are still the same as when you were a little girl,” she says. “Hungry and sure.”

  I have no idea what lies ahead. “Come with me, to Ali,” I beg my mother.

  “I will not. It’s time you stand before him on your own.”

  “I don’t know why. He’s not my pops,” I murmur.

  “But he is my husband and the King of the House to which you belong, at least as far as half of your heritage is concerned.”

  I slink off. Why does mother always insist that I do such terrible things.

  I find the nearest guard and ask him to present me to Ali. The guard I encounter nods his head and leads me to Ali’s inner sanctum, the place where the biggest decisions of this House is made.

  Mermaids are not allowed to become human according to surface law, but they are allowed to cross the portal. This makes for unusual relations between humans and mermaids. Most mermaids avoid contact with humans because Ali preaches against contact that might otherwise be easily avoided. It’s pretty much the same in every house except for a couple.

  Ali met the mayor of L.A. once. I remember the meeting. It’s ironic now that the two of them are embroiled in such a situation.

  So Ali knows that Balthazar is trapped in a human jail, being held for the murder of a human woman, and he believes that his son has been unjustly accused.

  Ali sits in a circle of mermen. These are his most trusted advisors.

  “Willow.”

  “King,” I say, bowing.

  “Please, make yourself comfortable. Tell us what of my son.” Ali is large in stature. He has long copper hair and dark skin, the color of coal.

  I sit down in an empty space on the steps within the circle next to Collin. I clear my throat. I have no idea what I ought to say, but I get diarrhea of the mouth anyway. “I need some time to find out who killed the human woman. Once I find the killer and present them to the bureau, Balthazar will be set free.”

  Ali leans forward upon his throne. “Of this you are certain?”

  I nod my head.

  “And how long will this take?”

  “I will work as quick as I am able,” I say.

  “I’m sure you understand that this matter is of utmost import. I will not wait for very long before I myself get involved. For now, I trust your to intervene on behalf of your brother. I suppose I need not warn you what will happen if you don’t.”

  “No, you need not explain.”

  Ali exhales. Several eyes are fixed upon me. Talk about being put on the motherfucking spot. I’m unsure of what to do next.

  “You are dismissed, my lady,” Collin whispers in my ear. I don’t like the smirk on Collin’s face, but I do like his face indeed. I miss him, but I will never ever tell him so.

  Collin swims beside me out of the sanctum.

  “I’m in deep shit,” I say.

  Collin follows me back to my mother’s chamber. He waits outside. I tell my mother what happened with Ali and then we exchange our goodbyes.

  Collin follows me out of the palace. He grabs my hand eventually. I turn around to face him.

  “I can always help you out, if you’d like,” he says.

  “You, hah. Wouldn’t you like to have legs?”

  Collin smirks. “I’m serious, Willow. If you need me, I have your back.”

  I think of what transpired between Collin and me just before we broke things off. “I don’t need you to have my back,” I say.

  “You say it but you don’t mean it,” Collin says.

  And I swim off.

  I’m sure Collin’s following until I turn around and find that Collin’s not there. My heart is filled with regret.

  I travel through the portal again, through the first rings of the underlands, and up to the surface. When my face breaks water, I’m almost grateful.

  Back on the other side of the glass, it almost felt like someone had died. Balthazar isn’t dead yet, but if he’s found guilty of killing the mayor’s daughter, there’s no doubt that he’ll get the death penalty, and if that happens, then I’m afraid that there will be more dead bodies behind him.

  Chapter Seven

  I see North stand up to meet me.

  “No fins?”

  “Now you know my big secret,” I say.

  “I thought some hybrids get fins.”

  “They do, but not me.”

  “So how did it go. The swim?”

  The water on my skin almost dries immediately. “Good. I saw my mother.”

  “And how did that go?”

  “She’s pretty distraught.” I decide not to elaborate. My mother maintains a good game face, but I know she’s hurting.

  “My father is in a terrible mess over my sister. So much so, he won’t even see me. He blames me for not looking after my sister. But how can I look after someone who doesn’t want to be looked after. I couldn’t force her let me into the parts of her life that she wanted me out of.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that your father blames you,” I say.

  I suppose my mother will be blaming me if something happens to Balthazar.

  “So what next?” North asks.

  “Would you mid giving me a ride home. I can help you figure out what to do with your Golem, and maybe you can help me figure how to go about figuring out who else might have killed your sister. Because I’m not allowed to formally be on this investigation, I guess I will have to figure out other avenues to get answers.”

  North leans forward and teeters back. “So you’re going to help me find out who killed my sister.”

  “Yes I am,” I say.

  “I’m sure your brother will appreciate it,” North says with a knowing smile.

  “If he says thank you, I’ll faint. That’s a promise.”

  We head back to North’s G-Wagon. Too bad the back door hangs open.

  “Oh shit, someone stole Amy.”

  North grips the sides of head. “Damnit.”

  “What the hell happened?” I ask no one in particular, spinning around like the person who stole is just standing by raising their hands saying ooh, ooh, I did it, I’m the one who took her.

  After we get over the shock of having lost Amy, we hop into the car. We basically sit in silence on the way to my apartment. “What a day,” I say, attempting to break the silence.

  “Tell me about it. Hey, do you think it’s possible that Amy got herself out of the back?” North asks after a while. “I mean even though I shot her.”

  “You mean like she reanimated?”

  “Yeah,” North says. He veers to the side of the lane a bit, but corrects the position of the car almost immediately.

  “Possibly. But I doubt it. You shot her in the heart with a silver bullet. She appeared dead to me for the moment. It would take a reconstruction for her to reanimate, and usually the only person doing such a thing is the person who made the golem in the first place.”

  “But maybe the bullet only injured her. Maybe she wasn�
��t dead enough.”

  “I suppose that’s possible, but I doubt it.” I say.

  I live in within walking distance of the beach. I had North take drive me there for my requisite swim. I could have walked home, but considering we thought we had a golem to deal with me walking home seemed a little silly. And once we discovered that Amy was gone, I felt bad leaving North alone in G-Wagon. But guy’s gotta go home eventually.

  I tell North to park in the parking garage instead of on the street. My cellphone buzzes next to me.

  I glance down. It’s a text message from Casey. Her car pulls into the parking garage right behind us. Casey drives a Golf she’s had since college. I think that Golf may be possessed with about nine spirits. It seems it dies and comes back to life over and over again. I can’t count how many times it’s petered out, only to make a triumphant come back. Unlike my car which seems to be hexed.

  “Who’s that?” North asks. “Should I shoot em’?”

  “Slow down cowboy, no. That’s my best friend Casey.”

  “She’s a siren,” North says.

  “Yup. So? Haven’t you ever met a siren before.”

  “Of course I have,” North says. “I even dated one. Good times.”

  “Overshare,” I say, rolling my eyes. Wait am I jealous? No. North is cute, but that’s it.

  “Can you wait a sec?” I ask. I notice that Casey is still in her car.

  I make my way over to her, navigating the bumpy stones lining the sides of my driveway to get to her. Casey’s window rolls down. I lean over.

  “Is that really him?” She’s pointing in North’s direction.

  “Yes, that’s North Villa.”

  “What the hell, you bitch! You didn’t tell me you’re dating him.”

  “I’m not.”

  Casey jumps out of the car, nearly knocks me on my ass over with her car door. What a groupie.

  North steps back. This makes me chuckle. He’s obviously scared of Casey. If I was him, I would be too.

  Casey’s petite. We laugh that she has a big head like those bobble head dolls. She’s always wearing tiny cut-off shorts and special made Vans with no socks along with t-shirts with cute little Japanese anime type things on the front of her ample breasts. And then of course there are her wings and her claw hands and feet.