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

by Tiana LaGrone

  “What about Balthazar? Did he kill April Villa?”

  “Oh, honey, no,” my mother says. She swims over to me.

  I jerk backward. “Please. You’ve told me such ginormous lies, I can’t even.”

  “I swear. Your brother would never kill April Villa. I watched him through the oracle. If he had done a thing like that, the oracle would have showed me.”

  “How do I know you’re not lying.”

  “What reason do I have to protect Balthazar now. He’s dead.”

  I’m flabbergasted. “So if he were alive, you would have lied for him then. Of course you would have. You already did.”

  “I lied to protect your brother from something that he couldn’t help. Same as you.”

  “He was brave. He could have left the jail anytime he wanted but then the authorities would have know that he was a sea witch, and that would have just added to all the already bad publicity. So he stayed. He stayed hoping that you’d save him. He believed in you that you would.”

  I find that hard to believe. My brother thought I was nincompoop.

  “So who killed April Villa and why?”

  “I don’t know,” my mother says. “Perhaps the same person who killed your brother.”

  “Did Ali die because the change just didn’t take or did the sea witch who performed the spell on him kill him.”

  “No I assure you that the spell did not take because of Ali’s makeup. I assure you.”

  “What enemies did Balthazar have on the surface? Did he have any?”

  “Maybe the question you ought to be asking is what enemies did you have on the surface, Willow.”

  I close my eyes. I sigh. Why didn’t I think of that before?

  Chapter Eighteen

  I storm out of the palace, out into the House commons.

  Merchants are trading things with their buyers. Trading is the only currency in the underlands. Mermaids trade all sorts of things to get legs from a sea witch. I wonder what Ali traded for his.

  I float around, basking in the dirty looks the mermaids give me because I’m a half-breed. I swim over to a rock and sit down. I chew my lip. I’m stare at my feet, trying to imagine what it would look like if I had fins. And what it I would look like with tentacles.

  Collin appears.

  “So you’re back?”

  “Of course I’m back. I mean, well, not back, back.”

  With every passing year I’ve been coming behind the glass less and less. If it wasn’t for that oracle shell, I doubt my mother would know half of what she knows about me.

  I want to ask Collin whether he knew about Balthazar being a sea witch. I mean Collin was Balthazar’s best friend, but if I ask him and he didn’t know, that might jeopardize my mother’s safety if it isn’t already at risk since it’s a big secret that Balthazar was the son of a sea witch.

  “This has been a disaster, all because of a stupid agenda that shouldn’t have been forwarded so hard in the first place,” Collin says. His fins waves back and forth. His chest is broad and strong. I remember when his chest used to be a place of comfort. Sometimes the truth can make you feel lonely.

  “What stupid agenda?” I ask.

  “Your brother wanted to move past his father’s ideas for the House. He wanted to bring mermaids to the surface.”

  “I understand now.”

  “Your brother loved you, Willow. He hated it when the two of us were dating that’s for sure. He gave me shit about it all the time, I just didn’t tell you about it because I didn’t want to spook you.”

  “Hmm,” I say.

  “Your brother wanted the same as your mother. Listen, have you ever thought of coming back here for a while? Your mother needs yours strength now more than ever.”

  “No she doesn’t.”

  “Trust me,” Collin says. He stoops down next me. “There are those within the council who talk about rebelling against her. And you know in our kingdom, there is only one way to rebel.”

  “They want to kill my mother for the throne?”

  Saying it out loud makes it real. I had a hunch that something like this would bea possibility, but I never wanted to give it any credence because unless my mother was going to leave her throne and leave the underlands, there was no other way she could escape her situation. Of course my mother would never do either of those things. My mother was a hider, but not a runner.

  I think over what the consequences would be if I dropped my brother’s case for a while. April’s too.

  If there is someone who wants to punish me, then what would this someone be willing to do to hurt me further. Come after my mother? Go after my friends. I assume they killed Eloisa for some reason. What that reason is, I do not know.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll look after Saffronia as much as I can,” Collin says.

  “How do I know you’re not in cahoots with those in the council who want to see my mother dead.”

  Collin shoots up in the water. “How dare you say that me. I love your family like my own. Why do you say such things to me?”

  “I’m sorry,” I say.

  Collin and I remain silent for a while. “In case you’re wondering and your mother didn’t tell you, the sea witch who tried to turn Ali human is the same sea witch who was Balthazar’s father.”

  “Wait you knew about that?”

  Collin shrugs. “Balthazar and I were best friends. He told me when we were kids. I never told a soul.”

  “Not even me.”

  “Some secrets have to be kept.”

  I wrestle with that. Maybe secrets are never good because once the truth comes to light the destruction is worse. I don’t know. My brain hurts. Information overload.

  “Do you know where Balthazar’s father lives? I don’t want to risk my mother’s life by having saying anymore about him.”

  “Oh, so you would risk my life?”

  “Aw, come on Collin. You know I care about your life. Sort of.”

  Collin cuts his eyes at me. It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve been playful with each other this way.

  “Fine, I’ll show you.”

  I want to know who Balthazar’s father is, in case I have to come back and kill him. It’s possible that he’s the sea witch that has been causing all the havoc. Why this sea witch would want to kill his son, I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t have anything to do with Balthazar’s death, and maybe he didn’t purposefully kill Ali. But he sure was a crappy father to me.

  “We have to go to the other side of the glass to see where Balthazar’s father lives,” Collin says. I can tell by the sour look on Collin’s face, that he isn’t too happy about it either.

  When we were teenagers, Collin and I talked a lot about him making a deal with the sea witch to become human. Then Collin got wrapped in the politics of the House of Mermaids and such talks went out the window. And then there was our big fight. I would come down and and he wouldn’t go up.

  In a hovel under the sea is where our father lives. Sometimes probably. He may have a home in the city too. Sea witches who lay low and avoid the law usually live in the city, blending in with humans, their bodies shifted into whatever form suits them.

  Collin calls out to my real father. He slides out from the hovel and smiles. “Who is this?”

  “This is Saffronia’s daughter.”

  “Come child,” he says to me. “I am Rasmus.”

  “I’m the abandoned.”

  Rasmus raises his eyebrow. “You came to see me about your fins?”

  I inhale deeply. “Yes, I guess that’s all we have to talk about.”

  Rasmus’s tentacles spread out underneath. I’ve never seen tentacles, so long before. His arms have tentacles hanging from them too, but he also has the hands of a man. His skin is dark and his eye are large and almond shaped, and black as night.

  “Something I need to tell you darling before I do.”

  “Nothing surprises me anymore. So have at it.”

  “The daddy you know,
not yours. He belong to me.”

  “You mean Luis?” I ask. All these ridiculous family secrets have come to a head.

  “Yes, I me I am your father. He is your brother from another mother.

  My throat seems to close and my chest tightens.

  So I’ve been hunting down sea witches my whole entire professional life and it turns out that I am one. Ain’t that some kind of sick joke.

  Sea witches have caused all sorts of disruptions both behind the glass and on this side of the portal. On land and in the ocean they’ve preyed on mermaids and humans to make their bread.

  Rasmus stares at me for a long time without saying anything. This is some kind of family reunion.

  “Do you know who killed my brother?”

  Rasmus grins. I find a smile to be the most inappropriate response to such a question. I’m terrified that this Rasmus is my father. Promiscuity is a mermaid’s way. My mother has been exercising that to the full brunt of her nature. Lucky me.

  Rasmus busies himself pushing around water resistant scrolls. “If I knew who killed your brother, they’d already be dead,” he says.

  I find Rasmus to be strange. I much prefer Luis as my father. I have words for Luis. He has lied to me my entire life.

  Collin is quiet. He tips his head a bit to indicate that I’m supposed to be saying something.

  “So if not fins, then how to do I access the tentacles?”

  “Oh, you want those, hmm?” Rasmus asks. “Take these with you.” He hands me three waterproof scrolls stuffed into a bag. “The instruction are there for you to undo my spells, so that you may now become your true self. Also there are additional things you need to know. Other things you learn as you go, or you can always come to see me. Also Luis knows a lot.”

  I take the scrolls. “This is the only place you stay?”

  Rasmas cackles. “No child, I am all over the place. Give me your cellular number, I’ll call you when I get to the surface and you will then have my cellular phone for good.”

  I rattle of my cell number.

  Rasmus says goodbye.

  “Oh, before I go, why did Ali not survive the change? I want to know if you killed him.”

  “No way. I was always kind to Ali for the sake of your mother. It happens this way sometimes with spell beware. It cannot be explained, the bloodlines. It is not up to me. It is not up to the mermaid.”

  “And Balthazar’s death, could it have been caused by his shifting?”

  “No, no,” Rasmus says. “Definitely not. We are engineered perfectly to shift. Your brother was simply murdered by another sea witch.”

  “I plan on finding out who murdered him. I believe these scrolls may serve me well.”

  “Indeed, child. Be careful.”

  I take the scrolls and Collin swims alongside me.

  “I didn’t know that you were part sea witch too if that’s what you’re thinking,” Collin says.

  “I didn’t say you knew,” I say. I laugh. It’s like I’m living someone else’s life. No chance of going back.

  Collin places his hand on my back. “I will swim to shore with you. You give me legs and I will help you figure out who murdered Balthazar.”

  I eye Collin. “No way. What if the transition doesn’t take with you? Especially with me being a complete noob at sea witchery. I couldn’t bear to lose anyone I love.”

  Collin’s eyes widen. “You love me?”

  I sweep a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Um, I mean, uh.”

  Collin laughs. “It’s okay. One day we’ll unplug those emotions.”

  I smile nervously. “I appreciate the chivalry my dude, but I can take care of myself.”

  Collin grabs my hand. “But what if I want to be with you?”

  I shake my head. “You don’t mean that. We haven’t been together in I don’t know how long.”

  “Don’t be so stubborn,” Collin says.

  “Fine. I’m not powerful enough to do such a thing. I don’t know the first thing about Sea Witchery.”

  “What better time to start than now?” Collin asks. “Come on, I know a special place. We can try there.”

  “I don’t know.”

  I think of all the sea witches out there I’ve pinched. There must be a ton, with moxy like Valerie just waiting to get at me.

  I guess I might be able to use the extra help.

  Collin has ahold of my hand, pulling me down into the depths of the sea. We come upon a large ship. I’ve seen my fair share of wrecked ships before. Although I’ve never seen this one. “Come on. It’s safe here. It’s my little hang out spot.” Inside are a few other mermaids. Collin sends them away. “Friends.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you had friends besides my brother. I always thought you were all about seeming powerful and strong, being a match for my brother. Staying away from the first ring of the underlands because you thought they were too raunchy.”

  “I am powerful and strong. I don’t need to “seem” anything. And that’s why you’d do well to accept my help.”

  I frown and cross my arms. I sit down on a bench next to a box of gold. To think people are scrambling on the surface for dough and here’s some sitting down here, forgotten. Its only keeper mermaids who could care less about money. I run my hand over the gold.

  “No stealing, Willow. Some of my friends use that for the prostitutes.”

  My mouth falls open. “What prostitutes?”

  “The human ones who come to the rocks and lay with us, I mean them.”

  “You need to pay a human to be with you?” I ask.

  Collin shrugs with a bit of a grin. “Well, I don’t, but some do.”

  “So you’ve had sex with a human before. You dirty dog.”

  “No more dirtier than you,” Collin says. He sits down next to me on the barnacle covered bench. “I bet you’ve had your fair share.”

  I avert my eyes. “Let’s not talk body counts right now,” I say.

  Collin leans in close, so that our noses touch. “Now I’m jealous.”

  I don’t move. His being this close is familiar to me. If I’m being honest with myself. I feel really safe with Collin. If I’m also being honest, I want him to lean forward a bit closer so that our lips touch instead of our noses. Collin rubs his nose against mine. His eyes pull me in so much. He pulls away. “So are you going to turn me or what?”

  “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

  “Let me see those scrolls Rasmus gave you. Balthazar told me he’s like the best sea witch around. He taught Balthazar everything he needed to know in a short period of time. I bet he’s written excellent instructions on those scrolls.”

  I reach into the bag and pull the scrolls out. They seem heavier in my hands as I hand them to Collin one by one. Collin sits the first two beside himself and opens one. The scroll rolls out. Unrolled, it’s about a foot long. There’s no way everything I need to know is there. I doubt the whole turning a mermaid thing would even be in so short of a summary.

  “Nothing?” I ask.

  “Not this one,” Collin says.

  He opens another. “Ah, here it is.”

  “No way,” I say, snatching the scroll from Collin’s hands.

  I scan the scroll with my eyes.

  How To Turn A Mermaid Into A Human:

  Gather five shells and string them together on twenty strands of the mermaid’s hair. Wrap the necklace around the mermaid’s neck.

  Then:

  Recite these words over a mound of sand containing the mermaid’s spit:

  Mermaid’s tail must die, and from your bottom half I pry, legs to walk the earth. What I set forth may no one break. Human life is yours to take.

  I look up at Collin. “I’ve found the spell.”

  “Okay, let’s do it then,” Collin says.

  “I don’t think it will work. I’m still me, like this. I’ve only just found out that I’m a sea witch. There’s no way I can do a spell like this.”

  �
��Doesn’t matter what you look like, Willow. It matters only what you are. Your legs are only spell. Your skin is only a shell. So come on let’s try to get me legs.”

  I hesitate. Collin leans forward. His lips brush up against mine. We kiss. He strokes my chin and moves his hand down my neck. I run my hand down his chest to his chiseled stomach. He nibbles on my ear. “I want you,” I whisper. I wish I hadn’t. I haven’t wanted to admit how much I still desire Collin after all these years.

  Collin kisses me as only he can. “I want you too, but lets wait until after you give me the legs.”

  “Okay,” I murmur. I think that even if I wasn’t half-mermaid with a high libido, I’d still want Collin’s body.

  I explain what we’ll need. We work to gather everything, including twenty strands of Collin’s hair. Unfortunately, we have to pluck the hairs out of his head because we don’t have scissors or a knife. I pluck about three, Collin plucks the other seventeen.

  “See what I do in the name of love for you woman?” he asks. His eyes shine bright.

  I smirk and cross my arms. “Whatever.”

  Collin takes his spear and uses it to poke holes in the shells, and I string his hair through them. His hair is so thick, I can’t even tell that he’s plucked the hairs. Mermaid’s hair is by nature very thick and full and grows rapidly.

  “Okay, let’s do this!” Collin yells.

  I shudder. “I don’t think so.”

  “Willow,” he says, moving to me and pressing his body against mine, “Please. I want to be with you. This is the best way.”

  I blow bubbles. “Fine. Hock a big one on the mound there.”

  Collin leans over the mound of sand we’ve made at the very bottom. It’s dark and cold. Collin feels none of it and see’s perfectly in the dark. I am the same.

  “My beautiful fins shall be no more,” Collin says.

  I snort. “You sure are confident in my abilities.’