“I guess,” I muttered. If Airianna was right, and Mr. Gibbs feels the need to be Mom’s quasi-human shield, then what does that say about his confidence in me? Shouldn’t his mind be somewhat at ease knowing I’m capable of protecting my mom? Great. Because my annoyingly self-conscious brain just had to ponder the question, that obnoxious little whisper from somewhere deep in my mind started its inner monologue.
Maybe you can’t protect her—nothing more than brave outside and cowardly inside; disappointing, like a one-hit wonder.
I fluffed my hair in an effort to shake those dangerous thoughts into my brain’s basement.
“You’re quiet,” said Airianna.
“Sorry. Just thinking about tonight, that’s all.”
“Yes, it should be interesting. Here we are!”
When Airianna opened the door, we found my mom and Mrs. Waterberry laughing while emptying the contents of a smallish glass case across the room.
“Hi sweetie! Hello, Airi! Y’all have a good day?” asked Mom, moving a tray of baubles to a nearby shelf.
“Good is such an overrated word,” I said.
Plopping a box of velvet displays on the floor, Mrs. Waterberry said, “That bad?”
“Well, the once shy, nervous Fairhairs have now finally found their voices and a whole lotta jabs, which they aimed directly at the Normals and anyone standing with us.”
“Those yellow-bellied numb-nuts!” growled Mrs. Waterberry. “Sorry, Camille.”
“Oh, Eva, don’t apologize. I have serious concerns about my daughter’s generation, mer or not mer.”
“They’re certainly not displaying any cognitive functioning at present,” said Mrs. Waterberry. “We expect the Ravenflames to be asses, but for the Fairhairs to join them…absolute blind ignorance.”
“I think they’re scared,” said Airianna.
“Why do you say that, darling?” My heart almost broke seeing Airianna’s yearning eyes when my mom put a caring hand on her arm. Airianna never talked much about her parents. About the only thing I knew for sure was that her father ruled the household, leaving both Airianna and her mother powerless.
“It’s just, Fairhairs, especially the younger generations, have been restrained by the water pact for so long that they really don’t know any other way of life, other than being controlled by the Ravenflames, of course. They don’t know how to be brave. I didn’t until I met Marina. Without knowing it, she showed me I have a choice. Now, she’s a symbol for all the Fairhairs—and, really, for any rational Ravenflames—of the choice between freedom and captivity.”
With those pesky insecurities pecking away at my brain, I said, “Airi, you’re a symbol, too. You, Troy, Benji, and Bobby are all symbols of that choice because you actually made it.”
Blushing, Airianna replied, “Really? Me? A symbol?”
“No question,” said my mom, pulling her into a hug. Airianna closed her eyes and tucked in for a truly great mama hug. “I think you’re absolutely right, Airi. The Fairhairs are in a state of shock. It’s a different kind of fear. The fear they had before was so accepted, it was as common as a shadow. What you, Troy, Marina, and the Normals represent is something very bright and unyielding. They’re just not ready to face it.”
“We’re like the sun to a vampire’s night,” I said.
“I still think they’re yellow-bellied, foolish jackasses,” mumbled Mrs. Waterberry as we all laughed.
“Hey, how’d your interviews go, Mom?”
“Miserable…until I got here,” she said slyly.
“You’re going to work for Mrs. Waterberry? Mom, that’s awesome!”
“The Bay Shop really is the happiest, most magical place in all of Saxet Shores,” said Airianna.
“Well, she’s not exactly going to work for me.” Mrs. Waterberry winked at Mom. “Ya better tell her before she bursts a kidney.”
“You know how I love to bake, right?”
“Oh, yeah, baking is your happy place,” I said.
“Well, Mrs. Waterberry has offered me this space we’re clearing out to sell my baked goods! I’ll be baking for a living!” My mom was so happy. I didn’t have the heart to point out the obvious problem concerning Merpeople’s dietary restrictions. “Why don’t you look happier? Oh, God, are you embarrassed or something? I promise to bake cool cookies. Nothing blah.”
“God, no, it’s not that...it’s just…” I didn’t know where to begin.
“It’s our fish-only diet, isn’t it?” asked Mrs. Waterberry gruffly.
“Yeah, kinda. I mean, I know most merps eat candy. Maybe cookies would fall under a general dessert umbrella?” I looked hopelessly to Airianna. “I’m just worried not many people will buy them, I guess.”
“Believe me, I’ll make treats so irresistible, no merperson will be able to resist,” said Mom, pulling out a wavy piece of wood and a few cans of pink and yellow paint.
“And I happen to know that cookies, particularly those with various candies in them, are considered acceptable by most merps,” said Airianna. “Besides, between me, Troy, Treeva, Bobby, Benji, and Doctor Tenly…especially Doctor Tenly…Mrs. Valentine will be crazy busy.”
“Marina, you don’t need to waste brain matter on your mama,” said Mrs. Waterberry. “I have ideas.”
“How did Merpeople come to eat candy, but never any other kinds of human food, if you don’t mind me asking?” Mom opened the cans of paint, grabbed a brush from behind the empty case, and started trimming the sign in pale yellow.
Mrs. Waterberry rolled her eyes. “It’s so stupid, really. Why did we hog candy, but nothing else? The colors. Merpeople love colors. Reminds us of our fins, see.”
As we laughed, I felt much more at ease. Airianna was so right: Doctor Tenly’s obsession with human desserts will probably have him ordering mounds upon mounds of goodies from Mom, and with Mrs. Waterberry having some tricks up her sleeve, I knew Mom would be okay. Besides, seeing her so happy with this new job was enough for me.
“Mom, Airi and I were thinking about going to Harbor…wait, what’s the name for the summer months again?” I asked Airianna.
“Harbor Heat,” she replied.
“I love that they change the name to fit the season,” said my mom, happily painting. “You girls go on and have fun. I’ll be here painting my sign. I have a sign like a real businesswoman. Feeling so briefcase-high heels right now.”
Smiling, I said, “Except you’re more the chocolate chip-cookie dough businesswoman.”
Mom looked up at me with that sly, cat-like expression. “Even better. I get to eat my work. That sounds so cool…and just a bit nasty, actually.”
As Airianna and I turned to leave, I remembered what Mr. Gibbs said. “Oh! Mom, Mr. Gibbs wanted me to make sure you come with me to this big announcement thing tonight.”
Her hand slipped when I mentioned his name, marking a little line of yellow paint in the pink’s territory. “Did he?”
“Yeah, it’s at nine. I figured we could meet here and go together.” She was giving the sign her bulldog-mouth-face—a rare, somewhat alarming expression reserved for only the mightiest piss offs.
“He didn’t happen to say why he wanted me there, did he?”
“No, just that he thinks you should see firsthand how his kind operates, especially now,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.
She slammed her brush down on the sign. “He said that?” Okay, the bulldog-mouth had just morphed into crazy-Velociraptor-jaw.
“Uh-huh, he did,” I said with a raised eyebrow. “You two fighting or something? He did seem pretty worried about you.”
“Difference of opinion on my inner grit and general capacity to accept truth,” she said, resuming her painting.
“Could you make that one any hazier? What the heck does that m—”
“Um, see you tonight, Mrs. Valentine! Bye Mrs. Waterberry! Yeah, we should go,” Airianna whispered, grabbing my arm.
“Go have fun, you two. Marina, I’ll wait for you here and
we’ll go to the announcement together.”
“Okay, but what was that about Mr. G—”
“Come on, leaving now,” said Airianna, dragging me out of The Bay Shop and right into Harbor Heat.
The owners of Harbor Heat clearly took every opportunity to decorate. Sundials, smiling suns, and brooding faces hidden within dark storm clouds dangled from the ceiling. Every table had back-to-school centerpieces stuffed with rulers, pencils, erasers, and mini-notebooks. Cute as it looked, the place was completely empty.
“Just pick any table,” said the Ravenflame hostess, not bothering to look up from her fancy merperson magazine, Merfaze.
Airianna snatched two menus from the display and headed straight for the corner table in the back of the restaurant.
“Ah, this is perfect for our talk,” she said, sitting down, barely glancing at her menu. “I want your kind of food…um, so you’ll have to order for us.”
“Not a problem,” I said, putting my bag on the window ledge.
“What can I get for y’all?”
“Ula! Hey! Good summer?” I asked.
“Not particularly,” she said, not making eye contact with me or Airianna. “Please don’t be nice to me. My family has forbidden me from talking to any of you.”
Shaking my head, I muttered, “Great.”
“But I am sorry about what happened this morning at school,” she said, still maintaining firm eye contact with her order pad. “I didn’t participate in any of it, just so you know. I thought it was awful what they were saying.”
“That’s nice and all, but by not doing anything to stop them, you were just as bad because you let it go on.” At this, Ula quickly met my hurt, angry eyes with a look of shame. “Ophelia literally cried all day long. Bullies stay bullies so long as they’re allowed to. Did any of you stop to think that the so-called enemy hasn’t been the instigator in anything? All we’ve done is respond and defend ourselves from attacks.” I tossed my hands up. “Let’s just forget it and order. Two cheeseburgers cooked medium-well, two curly-q fry baskets, and two root beer floats.” Handing her my menu, I turned my gaze to the sea until she left. “Amazing,” I sighed once she disappeared into the kitchen.
“She’s a perfect example of what I was saying earlier about them being afraid,” said Airianna.
“So, maybe I was too harsh?”
“Oh, heaven’s rain, no! She needed it stuck to her. She needs to find her marbles.”
I laughed. “You mean balls?”
“Oh…yes, those.”
“You’re such a saint, Airi.” The fun, must-laugh feeling quickly faded when Mom’s reaction to Mr. Gibbs’s message consumed my thoughts. “Why do you think Mom acted so perturbed about Mr. Gibbs?”
Airianna raised her eyebrows. “Maybe he’s being a little too smothering with his concern, and your mom wants him to see she’s tougher than he thinks. Plus, she has the Savior, so she probably thinks his extreme worry isn’t necessary.”
My stomach twisted like the garlic twisty bread sticks Mom makes with her spicy stew. “Airi, what if I can’t protect her? I mean…what if the Fairhairs and, well, Katrina, are right about me? You, Mom, Troy, Meeks…all of you have such unwavering faith in me being able to be this Siren Savior person, but I don’t even know what it means, really. I don’t know how to be the Savior or even what I’m supposed to do. What if I can’t save you or Mom or…anyone?”
“Oh, Marina,” said Airianna, reaching over to grab my hand. “No one knows what the Siren Savior is. No one knows what you’ll have to do, so you can’t be expected to know those things.”
“But, I couldn’t save you last night when the Imperia tried to kill you. I tried, but I couldn’t free myself in time. It was Trey who saved you, not me. And if I’m the Savior, shouldn’t it have been me?”
“And it’s because of you that Trey was able to save me. Without your touch, he never would have found his transformative power when he did last year. So, you really did save me. Don’t you see? You’ve already saved us.”
“Underwater on July Fourth in Zale’s castle, I know, but—”
“Well, yes, but that’s not what I mean, silly. You saved Troy from the demon inside and taught him how to love. You saved Benji from his own prejudices, and you saved me…from myself.” She lowered her head and fiddled with her napkin. “I was so lost before you arrived. I was scared all the time. One day, I hope to repay you.”
Tears stinging my eyes, I choked out the words, “Thank you.”
“Don’t you dare!” she said, fanning her watery eyes with her hands. “I want to be able to taste my food!”
“Airi, did you really push Troy into dating me?”
“Yep. I’d never seen Troy so thoroughly captivated by anyone before. I impressed myself with my nagging abilities. I suppose I wanted to live vicariously through both of you. You know it's been my dream to find love with a Normal.”
“Here y’all go,” said Ula, vastly friendlier than earlier. “And, um, the meals are on the house.”
Airianna and I shared a surprised look. “Ula,” said Airianna, “I really don’t think the owners would allow a defector and a Normal to eat on the house.”
“Well, what they don’t know won’t drown them,” she said, prancing away. “Oh, and when you’re done, there are two chocolate mousses waiting for you…on the house.”
“She’s paying for our meals,” said Airianna, smiling.
“Well, then, we’ll just tip her extra-extra,” I said. Maybe Troy was right. Maybe there was hope to be had in this town after all…in very small quantities, mind you.
After our meal and mousse, Airianna looked nervously at her watch.
“We still have hours,” I groaned.
“Huh? Oh, yes, yes…hours,” she replied, clearly distracted.
“Where are you?”
“Oh, I’m here, trying to figure out how to say what I need to say.”
“I’m best with blurt.”
Taking a deep breath, Airianna said in one, exceedingly quick, run-on sentence, “I like Trey, he likes me, we haven’t kissed or anything because I didn’t think it would be right until I talked to you, got your approval, but Troy’s already given us his blessing—something that was important to me, but, really what could he say, since he’s in love with you, right? Um…so…are you okay with this? Oh, God, did I just lose my best friend?”
Staring at her blankly, I started laughing hysterically. “So, all of this was about you and Trey?” She nodded so fast I thought her head might pop off. “Trey is my best friend. You are my best friend. I can’t imagine in a thousand lifetimes anything better than the two of you being together.”
Airianna literally knocked nearly everything over on the table to give me a debilitating hug. “I’m so happy!”
“Can’t—breathe,” I wheezed, patting her back.
“Sorry,” she said, letting go and sitting back in her chair. “You’re really okay? I know you dated him and all.”
“Yeah, and that didn’t work out. I love him in a purely plutonic sense.”
“Thank goodness, because I seriously cannot wait to kiss him!” Her body melted against her chair. “He’ll be my first kiss, you know. Is that pathetic?”
“My first kiss was with a fire breather who moonlighted as a lightning rod during storms. That, my friend, is pathetic,” I said, gulping the last of my root beer float.
Giggling, Airianna glanced again at her watch. “Oh, I’ve got to go!”
I grabbed her hand and looked at her watch. “Airi, it’s only five-thirty! We have forever! I was thinking we could go shopping or something.”
“Oh, uh, that would be wonderful, and I wish I could, but…”
“Wait. Are you meeting up with Trey somewhere?”
“What? Oh, Trey? Yes, yes, I am.”
“Well, you two have fun, and tell him I’m cool with everything, okay?”
“Oh…right…I mean, sure.”
“What are you two almost-
lovebirds going to do for three and a half hours?” I teased.
“Um, not much. We’ve just got to go grab some things before tonight. See you there later!” She hugged me before dashing out of Harbor Heat.
Hmm. Got to go grab some things before tonight, huh? I’ll try not to let her obvious—and weak—avoidance tactics bother me, just like I’ll try not to dwell on the fact that Troy said the exact same thing to me this afternoon.
Chapter Seven
Mer-Nor Games
Once Airianna unknowingly left me dwelling on what she, Troy, and Trey were up to before tonight’s announcement, I trundled back to The Bay Shop, where I mindlessly watched Mom paint and Mrs. Waterberry set up a display for a new line of sand gnomes. I wasn’t trying to be a sullen teen—I offered to help, but Mom was straight-jacket-picky about how she wanted her sign to look, and Mrs. Waterberry said if I liked my thumbs, I should stay away from the sand gnomes. Yeah, I don’t get it either.
Announcement time. By nine o’clock, Mom was exhausted, and I just wanted to get this boring nonsense done and dusted. However, it seems I should be used to the part-fish crowd unabashedly flirting with my curiosity and stirring my stomach to the point of chunks. Upon entering the cafeteria, my disinterest instantly vanished. The room was much darker, and I quickly saw why. The light from the tanks was all but erased as every fish—small to shark—had their little fish lips pressed against the glass, eagerly watching us. Suddenly, I felt like we were the ones behind glass. If the scaly, beady-eyed audience was unnerving, then the presence of Luxton Vipor, Madame Helena, and Mr. Anderson shuffling papers at our new lunch table was enough to make me turn inside out.
Mom tapped my shoulder and pointed to Meikle and Ophelia, standing alone. Meikle, flipping her bag around her hand, glared across the room where all the Fairhairs and Ravenflames gathered. Perched on the head table, smack in the middle of the group, was Katrina, clearly the leader of them all.
“What’s an Imperia suit and Madame Hell-ena doing here?” I asked Meikle.
“Got me. Whatever it is, the fin fleet looks far too happy,” she said, not breaking her stare down.
OVERFALLS (The Merworld Water Wars, Book 2) Page 10