by B. J. Smash
It was a gross affair, but I reached down and picked up the soft, dark bodies. They were around a foot long and had what looked like warts all over them. I tossed two sea cucumbers in the net, and I swam over the gray rocks and back out to sea.
The farther out I got, the deeper and murkier it became. What light there was from above came down in shimmery rays.
I always had a fear of the ocean, knowing just how small I was in comparison. I couldn’t believe, just weeks ago, I could command it to do my bidding. The storm I had brewed was incredible. And to think, I had done it! Not even Magella, Izaill, or Izadora could stop it! Ah, the rush from such a thought.
Then again, that was the old me. I wouldn’t ever brew up such a storm again. In fact, I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I’d been stripped of my powers. Few things remained in my memory that I could use to my advantage.
Swimming through the cold embrace of the water, I glimpsed what I thought was a tuna feeding on a school of mackerel. Man! If I could only just get this fish, I would be on Magella’s good side for sure.
I floated nearby, behind some rocks, watching. The tuna was shaped kind of like a bullet. His top was a grayish blue-black, and his sides were shimmering silver, and yellow specks flashed on his dorsal fins. He wasn’t a huge one, maybe eighty to a hundred pounds? Usually they were three to four hundred pounds, and were something I would have to catch from the boat’s deck. If I could only get the net around this one, Magella would love it.
I swam closer. Slow and soft were my movements. If he got freaked out, he’d be out of here, and they were fast swimmers. So I edged closer, dumping out the sea cucumbers. I’d need the net to be empty for a fish this size.
I was within fifteen feet of the tuna when I cast out the net. It flew out and encompassed not only the tuna, but a couple of mackerel. The net emitted a dull yellow light. Normally, if it was working properly, it would glow bright yellow. This told me that the net was failing. Still, I wanted that tuna.
When it had closed over the fish, it spun around and flew right back into my hands. It was working so far, and I began my swim back to the boat. The net, when working, hardly weighed anything when it was full. However, this time it was quite heavy with the weight of the great fish. It was only moments before the tuna had turned us around and headed out to sea, with me in tow.
I tried to pull back and stop him. If I was less stubborn, I would have called it quits and let the whole thing go, but “stubborn” should have been my middle name. It was a curse by nature to be this bullheaded. Still, I held fast, holding on for dear life. Besides, if I let the net go, who knew what Magella would do to me.
This thing was more powerful than I thought it would be! I don’t know how long we swam, his body swaying from side to side, but up ahead was a cavern set amongst huge boulder-sized rocks. The tuna swam for the entryway. I tried to recall a strength spell, but no memory of one would come.
I should have let go, but in the end, I’m glad I held on.
We swam inside the cavern to find one of “them” inside. I’d seen his kind before, but never this close, and they would never give me the time of day. They had probably heard about me, who I was and what I had done to the land of the elven. But they didn’t know me. No one truly did. Still, it was what I expected them to do.
He had short dirty blond hair and big blue eyes; his face was chiseled to perfection. His smile had a boyish charm, and he had a faint dimple in his cheeks. Behind him were two others: a young woman, with golden hair scattered with red tints, and another boy with short black hair and vivid blue-purple eyes. But of course, the best part of all—the most exotic thing imaginable—was that their lower halves were fish tails. They were merpeople.
The girl had shimmering gold scales with specks of brilliant orange. The myth about female mermaids going topless was just that—a myth. Well, actually, maybe some did, but this young woman did not. She wore a bikini top made solely of shells, and it covered her breasts like a bathing suit top.
The short, black-haired fellow had steel blue scales traced with silver.
Stunned, I just floated by the opening of the cavern, letting the net finally escape my grasp, and the tuna began to swim away with it.
They began to murmur to one another, as if they were trying to make a decision. Their voices sounded like low grumbling and then became higher pitched, sounding like the dolphins I sometimes saw in the waters.
I watched them. I knew they would swim away soon, as they always did. It never failed.
The female swam toward me like a bullet, and the boy with dark hair followed close behind her. I held my hands up signaling to stop, as I didn’t want to be plowed down! But at the last second they swerved and swam out the exit. The currents from their fish tails were so forceful that I flew back into the rock wall and hit my shoulder blades. The boy with the dirty blond hair and dazzling smile swam past me at a much slower pace, and then he accelerated and went for my net. His tail was probably the prettiest, with blue scales and a few green specks.
He swam on at a great speed, the water whooshing behind him; his hand latched onto the net, and he hauled it in to his body. Then he did something strange. He tapped the fish on the head, and it calmed. As expected, the net had lost all power, just like a dead battery, and appeared to be like any other net.
He brought it to me, humbly offering it to me, and I could not take my eyes from his face. Looking closer, I could see that he was really cute, rather than handsome. I couldn’t move and so I floated there, barely breathing, when he said, “Here you go.”
He sounded far away, but he was right before me, and I could have reached out to touch him if I wanted to. He spoke again. “Help you?” It sounded strange, as if he was using a phone with a bad connection.
I had never talked below the sea before. I’d screamed once when I’d seen a shark, and so I knew that I probably could talk. I gave it my best shot. I tried to clear my throat, out of habit, but there was water there, and only a gagging noise escaped. I tried again. “Hello.” A few bubbles escaped my mouth. Even though I was breathing only water, there always seemed to be a few bubbles when I exhaled. I sounded so funny to myself that I smiled. To me, my voice sounded similar to plugging my ears and talking inside a helmet.
He smiled at my attempt at conversation. “Help you? Me.” He pointed at himself.
“Oh! I see. You will help me carry this back to the boat?” I said as the fish lazily squirmed in the net.
“Yes.” He shook his head up and down a few times.
“Thank you. Yes, I would like you to help me.” I shot him a genuine smile. I wondered what I looked like underwater, with my hair flowing out to the sides and bubbles escaping my mouth.
He returned my smile and then reached out for my hand. Instinctually, I pulled it back. I always did that when someone went to touch my shoulder or arm. I didn’t even mean to; it just happened.
“Hold my hand. I’ll take you to the boat,” he said to give me reassurance, and then he looked thoughtful. “If you want.”
He spoke with a thick accent, as though English was his second language.
I held my hand out, and he slowly took it. I wasn’t ready for the temperature of his fingers. It was like holding an ice cube. He held onto the net with his other hand.
We left the entrance of the cavern and went out into the water where the light was now shimmering brightly down. The ocean floor was covered in slimy gray rocks. I couldn’t see the direction of the boat, as the tuna had dragged me quite a ways. But the mystery boy swam on, knowing full well where he was going. This stupefied me. How did he know where I was going? And yet, he had to know about Magella and her captive. It’s not like I was one of his kind. I didn’t have a fish’s tail like him; I had duck feet.
Several striped bass were nearby, and plenty of bluefish. I never saw this many fish out on my own. This would be an angler’s ideal paradise.
He swam pretty fast for a short time, but he slowed and tilted his he
ad. “What is your name?”
I snorted a bit, and water escaped my nostrils. Like he didn’t know who I was. That was laughable. Everyone knew who I was. And they all hated me.
I was sure that he was being kind, and so I answered nicely, “Zinnia.” Again it sounded like my ears were plugged and my name carried off in a bubble. Dare I give my last name? Everyone feared the Seaforths and their twisted history.
I thought it over. Sure, why not? I wasn’t one to be fake, and so I said, “Seaforth.”
I do think his eyes lit up a bit, but all he said was, “My name is Eadgar.” It sounded like “Edgar,” but I could definitely hear the “a” accentuated. “Jus’ call me Ed.” His mouth quirked into a smile, and he winked at me and laughed. He knew how to flirt, that was for certain.
He was cute. That was undeniable. And while I could use a friend, I didn’t really need one. Besides, he was probably only being polite, although I couldn’t fathom why. It did occur to me that this might be some sort of cruel prank that the merfolk thought would be funny. Cruel but funny. He probably knew full well who I was and what I had done. He would befriend the twisted Zinnia Seaforth and then toss her aside. Indeed, this could be some sort of joke.
My demeanor changed then, and I became hardened and distant.
The black bottom of the boat came into view. I pulled on his hand, implying that he needed to stop. I surely did not want Magella to see him—and to know that he had helped me. She wouldn’t like it.
He stopped and floated, letting go of my hand. “You will manage from here?”
I wanted to be firm and say something on the lines of, “I’ve always been able to manage for myself.” Instead, I held my tongue. His kind but mysterious eyes mesmerized me, and so I couldn’t bring myself to say what was on my mind.
“Yes. Thank you for your help. I must go alone. The old sea witch wouldn’t want me to get any help,” I explained.
“I understand.” He handed me the net. The tuna was still moving slowly from the tap he’d given it upon the head.
Taking it, I said one more time, “Thank you.” Those were two words I rarely ever said to anyone.
His eyes crinkled at the sides when a broad grin spread out over his face. His hair floated up in the water, and little bubbles formed on his brow.
Something glistened then, in the dim rays of the sun, and my eyes traveled down to his chest. He had quite a muscular chest, no doubt from the swimming. What brought my eyes in that direction, though, was a tattoo on his upper right arm. The tattoo was of a sun with wispy rays in the colors of aquamarine blue, with different shades of green. It was incandescent and appeared to change colors when he moved his arm. He saw me noticing but said nothing.
“I like your tattoo,” I said, but all he did was wink. Then I thought of my own tattoo, the one that was given to me by Rodinand, my bossy and cruel leader from the past. I could feel the pressure between my eyes when I furrowed my brow. That tattoo had nearly taken my life. I remembered it clearly. The ivy scrolls on my arm had started out as ink, and Rodinand had done this to fool me into thinking it was just a regular tattoo. I had thought it was cool at first, but then after a day it started to protrude and raise itself like a real vine. At that point, I knew I’d been duped. It turned out to be more or less like a chain, binding me and bending me to do his will. Every time I tried to do something of my own free will, he would cause it to tighten by mumbling a few words, and I would have to submit. It had been a shackle. And to think, the one who had removed the tattoo was my nemesis Izaill, Magella’s brother.
Eadgar, or rather Ed, must have seen my displeasure, and the smile on his face disappeared. “You okay?”
I paused but said, “I am. I’m always okay.”
“All right then. I will be on my way.” He spun to leave but paused and turned to say, “I will find you again.” Then all too easily he did a loop-dee-loop, causing the water to push me closer to the boat. As I floated toward the boat, I watched as he swam off, becoming smaller as the distance separated us. Into the deep waters he went, his shimmering tail disappearing from view.
Maybe I would like him to find me again, but that was probably not a good idea.
Keeping myself in check, I swam the last few yards to the boat and tapped the side. Surfacing, I waited for Magella to throw down the ladder. She wouldn’t throw it down if I came back empty handed. I know, as it happened once.
I coughed up salt water and panted momentarily as I got used to oxygen again. The switch always took a minute or so to get used to. And then there it was, the ever present sore throat and burn.
Clunking noises sounded from above as Magella came to the railing and peered down. She sure was a homely witch with her long gray hair, too narrow face, and crooked nose.
“What do you got?” she asked.
“A tuna,” I said, out of breath as I floated, paddling my feet back and forth.
“Tuna! Well, welcome aboard then,” she cackled as she threw the rope ladder down. It banged on the side of the boat and splashed into the water.
I climbed up as far as I could and then, grunting, I said, “It’s really heavy. Could you help me?”
Without a word, she pointed her staff and lifted the tuna and the net up to the boat. When the tuna hit the air, it started flailing about in full force, and she whacked it over the head, killing it.
“A nice one!” she said. “How did you manage that?” She scowled at me as I lifted my leg over the railing and boarded the boat. She observed the powerless net and then said, “And if the net lost its powers, how did you get it back?”
“It just happened, right as I got here,” I lied. “The net just petered out. I barely could contain the tuna.”
“Really.” She didn’t ask but rather stated the word. She looked at me full of doubt, but didn’t prod me for any more answers. “Not bad for a scrawny girl such as yourself.”
I then went into a coughing fit, spitting more water up, and I ran over to the edge of the boat. I wouldn’t dare spit on her boat.
“What ails you now?” she grumbled.
After a moment the coughing ceased and I managed to say, “The salt water. It burns my throat. It’s painful.”
She snorted. “Don’t tell your complaint to someone who has no pity.” And she stormed off, carrying the tuna with the aid of her magic staff to the other side of the deck.
I rubbed my chest and got my bearings. I felt a bit dizzy, and I forced my eyes to focus. This diving-for-fish business would be the end of me if I didn’t figure out how to escape this boat. I knew it would be.
She came back around to inform me that I was free to go. “I’ll take you closer to the dock now. I suppose I won’t make you swim.” She clanked her staff down to the deck, and the boat began to turn and make its way to shore. The waves lapped the sides, and the boat pushed out large portions of water as it sped along.
“Here is the deal. You did well today. I am still not sure how you managed to get me this tuna, but you did.” She leaned on her staff and glared into my eyes. “I am to have a few of my people over for a card game, and we will be gone out to sea for a time. I will grant you one extra day on shore for good behavior. I will arrive back here on Tuesday morning, at seven a.m. sharp. You better be on time, or you won’t want to see what happens.”
I couldn’t believe it! My good behavior had paid off! This news thrilled me so much that I humbly said, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You’ll have double the chores when you return. The deck needs a good soap cleaning, and the bottom of the boat needs to be scraped clin’ of any algae.”
That news was horrid. Still, just to get off the boat for four days was incredible. Free. Free for four whole days! My heart leapt for joy, but I would not let it show. I do not believe she wanted me to be happy; somehow this was a convenience for her, not me. Either way, I’d take it.
As the boat neared the town’s dock, I noticed two people standing back by the café, on the pavement. O
ne was my father, who I couldn’t wait to see, and yet I was ashamed of my current situation and didn’t know how he’d handle it. And the other was my sister Ivy. Suddenly, I was embarrassed and I hung my head low. I hadn’t seen her since the day she witnessed my drinking of the forgetting tea. She had looked at me with such pity. I abhorred being pitied.
This may sound shallow, but something inside me snapped. Like a switch, a defense mechanism, I resorted to becoming the haughty Zinnia. This stuck-up part of me was like a shield. And I hid behind it.
The boat slowed, and an inch before the dock, it stopped. Never hitting the dock, it swayed lightly on the waves. I never could figure out how Magella maneuvered this thing around so well. But that didn’t matter now. I quickly grabbed my robe and put it on. Everything I owned was inside these hidden pockets. I had forgotten to change my fishing clothes and probably stank to high heaven, but I exited the boat.
When I stepped on solid ground, I found that I had sea legs. I had to get my balance. I glanced once at Magella; she nodded and slammed her staff back into the deck. The boat backed up and headed back to sea, dragging the dark clouds with her.
Slowly turning, I held my head up high, jutting my chin out and putting my best look of authority on my face: a raised eyebrow and pinched lips. However, when I saw them, my façade melted a little. My father had tears in his eyes, and Ivy, who was a few inches taller than me, put a soft smile on her angelic face.