“Just rest. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
Then it hit me like a Slurpee brain freeze. Would everything be okay? I hadn’t thought past getting Mom to Gran’s boathouse. Now I was in No Man’s Land.
How would I get Mom from Dundee to the Port Toulouse boat lock, and who knew if the lock was even open? What would I say to Gran in the meantime? And, ugh, there was no way I could meet Cori at Mug Glug’s tomorrow, given this new development. But at least I didn’t have to fake a deadly wood tick bite to miss the last day of school.
Last day of school! The boat cruise!
I reached over into the rowboat to get my cell.
fluke1019
I couldn’t believe I was texting him.
hurricanejade: hi l…boat cruz still on?
My phone lay quiet for three agonizing minutes.
fluke1019: tmrw @ 12…u in?
The lock MUST be reopened. Maybe the maintenance foreman had finally listened to Dad and started pulling rocks out of the lake.
hurricanejade: gr8. see u @ lox if i can come. ttyl!
“Yes!” I snapped the phone shut.
Mom poked her head out of the water for a second. “Good news?”
“There’s a sailboat going through the lock tomorrow at noon. Hey, I didn’t know you could talk with your head out of the water like that.”
“For a few minutes…so the Freshies can’t hear…but Port Toulouse…so far…”
Good point. How was I going to get her to the boat lock? Especially since the only person in on our little secret was probably on a plane to Dallas by now. I checked my watch. Dad’s plane took off at about nine p.m. Oh! Maybe he got delayed.
“I’m going to try Dad.” After four rings, I left a message.
“Dad! I found Mom. We’re here at Gran’s cottage. Call me as soon as you get this message.”
Mom’s face emerged from under the water. “No?”
“He must have had to turn off his cell on the airplane.”
“Can’t stay here.” She nodded to the garage door. “Freshies…looking for me…”
I looked through the water and saw what she saw. The light from inside the boathouse peeked out from under the garage door into the inky water. The mer-dudes could just swim right under the door and find us.
I turned off the light.
“I need to get you out of the lake.”
“Need water…no use…” Mom had given up.
But I wasn’t giving up on her. Not after everything she’d been through these past couple of weeks, not to mention the last year. From now on, every problem had to have a solution because there was no way I was letting Mom down.
“I said out of the lake, not out of the water.” I let my eyes adjust to the dim light and pulled the drain plug from the rowboat. The wooden seat slipped out of the grooves easily to make room. Once the boat was half full, I plugged the hole to keep the water from draining back out and pulled Mom over the side. “There’s no way those Freshie jerks are getting anywhere near you.”
Mom lifted her hand out of the water and stroked my cheek.
“Hurricane Jade.”
I laughed. “I’m not done yet.”
I hooked the rowboat onto the pulley system to lift it out of the water. The chains strained and creaked as they lifted the boat a good four feet out of the water. Good thing Dad had his engineer hat on when he built the boat lift. Ten trips to Home Depot and that thing was strong enough to lift an elephant. And unless those Freshies took lessons from the dolphins at Sea World, there was no way they could get to her.
I poked my head over the side of the boat to see. “You okay in there?”
Mom nodded and smiled.
“What’s got you smiling?” It was so nice to see her happy again.
“The thought of the ocean…”
“So, now do you believe I can get you there?”
“If anyone can, it’s you…”
I jumped when I heard a car door slam.
“I should go see if that’s Gran. You sure you’re okay? Is it full enough?”
Mom nodded and sank back into the water in the rowboat. I ducked out the boathouse door and stepped onto the dock.
The sun had disappeared behind the trees, making it hard to see. I glanced up to Gran’s cottage, but there were no lights to indicate she was home. Not like I could enlist her in our little plan, but my options were getting very narrow.
Someone giggled. I turned and could just make out an SUV through the trees. Its running lights dimmed and blinked out. That must have been the car door from before.
Two dark figures strode down toward the Beckers’ dock.
“Wait for me!”
Chelse.
A deep voice answered. The door of their boathouse creaked open then slammed shut. When I noticed the outline of the canoe still at the dock, a plan started to form. Hopefully, Chelse and her boyfriend would be occupied for a while. I’d need a couple of things from Gran’s if this was going to work.
I raced to the cottage and rifled through the junk cupboard in Gran’s den. There, I found a mini first-aid kit and the extra fanny pack she used to carry her bingo dabbers.
I dumped out the bandages from the first-aid kit and tested my cell phone in the plastic pouch. Perfect. And waterproof. After my last cell got wrecked, I couldn’t take any chances. This phone had already taken a quick dunk back at the Beckers’ dock, but now, more than ever, it needed to stay high and dry in case Dad called back.
I popped up to my bedroom in the attic and rifled through my overnight bag. Halfway down the bottom, I found it. The Michaela tankini. It was like a sign.
I stripped off my wet clothes and pulled on the bathing suit along with a dry T-shirt and shorts, then searched my purse for anything else that might come in useful. With the fanny pack snug around my waist, I raced back downstairs and scribbled a note on the back of Gran’s Sudoku puzzle book where she was sure to find it.
Hi Gran,
Sleeping over at Cori’s. Call me if you need anything. 555-1212.
Love, Jadie
xoxoxo
Finally, I searched the bathroom closet and found the last item on my mental list. I grabbed the container and headed back to the boat shed.
Mom was gonna love this.
Bath salts? Mom’s laugh sent a spray of bubbles to the surface of the water. I sprinkled the last of the crystals into the rowboat.
“Not quite the Atlantic Ocean, but I figured you could use a bit of pampering.”
It’s perfect. She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. Thank you, Jade.
“It’s already dark; we should get going. Ready?”
You sure? Mom asked.
“Surer than sure.”
I paddled the canoe until well past midnight, towing the rowboat. The moonlight blazed a path of white light across the rippling waves. The only other light came from the occasional cottages and houses dotting the shores of Talisman Lake.
Right before I’d snatched the canoe from the Becker’s wharf, I thought I heard Chelse laugh. I hope she’d forgive me for leaving her stranded, but from the sounds of the deep male voice coming from the boathouse, I didn’t think she’d mind an excuse for missing curfew.
I hadn’t heard much from the rowboat in the past half hour, and I hoped Mom was resting or at least enjoying the ride. Meanwhile, my hands were beginning to sprout blisters the size of golf balls and something was digging into my right knee.
“How far do you think we’ve gone?” I hoped I was traveling at least at walking speed but towing a rowboat for five miles, half submerged in water, was proving to be a bit of a handicap.
Instead of Mom’s ringing voice I heard splashing from the rowboat.
“What’s the matter?” I managed to sidle up with the canoe and checked on her. But the gunwales of the boat were now level with the surface of the lake.
Sinking…
“Darn. The plug must be loose.” I untied the bailer. “Can you rest in th
e lake for a sec?”
Mom moved to the stern, forcing that side of the boat low into the lake. The salt must have given her and extra boost of strength because she slipped easily into the water.
“Can you tell if any Freshies are nearby?” I asked as I bailed.
Mom poked her head out of the water.
“Most of them hang out near the bridge. It’s Finalin and Medora we have to worry about. They could be anywhere.”
She dove again, then resurfaced.
“I just don’t get why the other Freshies just do whatever Finalin tells them to do.”
“Finalin and Medora have had a long time to get used to the fresh water and can go as far as Dundee to hunt. They use that little skill as leverage.” She disappeared underwater again.
“Hopefully they’ll stay in Dundee.”
Don’t worry, I usually hear them before I see them and I’m not hearing anything right now, she called out from below.
“Can they hear us?”
She surfaced. “We should probably keep our conversations above water to be on the safe side. But they wouldn’t be able to understand us either way. Mermish and English aren’t exactly sister languages.”
I shook my head and laughed as I dumped more water back into the lake. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this whole mermaid thing.”
Mom dove and swam over to the side of the canoe. Her face emerged from the water.
“You don’t ever have to get used to it, Jade. Not if you don’t want to.” Her eyes held mine and she stroked my hand. “No one will fault you for never wanting to be a part of this life.”
It was true. The whole mermaid thing turned my stomach; Mom nailed it. Still, I felt guilty. How could I hate something that was so much a part of me, such a part of Mom? But being a mermaid had only been a big huge pain. And it was the thing keeping Mom from being home with us, where she belonged.
I changed the subject.
“You sound much better.” I bailed the water as quickly as I could until the rowboat sat higher in the water, then made sure the plug was snug.
“The salt really helped.”
“Some probably leaked out along the way, but there should still be a little left. You should get back in before anyone notices you.”
Mom slipped back over the stern and settled in.
“Is that okay?” I asked.
Mom nodded, just below the surface.
I started paddling again, digging deep into the water to get the momentum of the canoe and rowboat going.
I wish there was something I could do to help, Mom called from within the rowboat.
“Believe me, once you get back home, you are SO baking me cookies,” I joked.
My hands ached as the paddle’s wooden shaft rubbed at my blistered palms. I tried to distract myself and thought back to when I’d gotten my first period. How I’d wished Mom was there to ask questions. So much had changed in just a few short weeks. I’d turned into a mermaid (twice), escaped from a horde of criminal mer-people, and rescued Mom from a makeshift dock prison.
Ha! If I could get through all that, a few blisters weren’t about to hold me back.
I paddled for another hour or so, when suddenly, off in the distance, a string of lights caught my eye.
“It’s the bridge!”
I heard Mom lift her head out of the water, no doubt turning to see. “You did it, Jade!”
“I know!” I couldn’t remember a time when I felt so happy. I paddled and focused on the bridge lights, imagining what it would be like when Mom was home. Finally home.
Then, as I pulled the paddle back, I felt something brush my hand.
Something damp and hairy.
I screamed.
“What? What is it?” Mom asked.
They found us.
“The Freshies!”
I brought my canoe paddle up and whacked at the hands with the blade. They grabbed at the sides of the boat between blows.
“Jade!” Mom’s pale face shone like the moon in the dim light.
“They must have followed the salt water from the leaky plug.”
Whack! Whack!
“Be careful!” Mom called out.
The canoe shifted and juddered beneath me as I struck the hands with the paddle. But there was another motion. A rocking motion. I reached out to steady myself.
“They’re trying to tip me over!” I called out to Mom, but I’m sure that by the time my words reached her ears, I was already in the water.
And sinking fast.
Chapter Sixteen
THE LAKE SWALLOWED ME whole, shutting me off from the night air. It licked its cool, watery tongue along my arms and legs and pricked my skull with its icy claws. Hands locked around my arms and legs, forcing me down.
My hair swirled wildly around my face as I flailed in the water, trying to get away. A familiar panic overwhelmed me as water shot through to my lungs, driving the air from my nose and mouth.
Breathe! Just breathe! I forced myself to inhale, disgusted by the gurgling sensation as water flooded my lungs but relieved that I didn’t gag. The panic fell away and something deep inside of me took over. It came from the horror of seeing Mom disappear underwater that day last summer, the countless nights crying myself to sleep, the look of helplessness in Dad’s eyes.
These monsters had caused it all.
Every last bit.
Get off me! I rang out the words into the dark depths of the lake and tried to kick the Freshies away. They let go of my ankles, only to grasp their hands along my legs to get hold of my wrists. I struggled to break free, but could only writhe and twist in their clutches as they wrenched my arms behind my back. You bottom-dwelling, scum-sucking jerks!
The Freshies’ foreign voices rang all around me. One wrapped its arm around my throat. I kicked at them but could already feel my legs begin to fuse. How much longer before it was too late and I became one of them?
A rush of warm water shot down from above. I turned my face upward. The moon shone behind Mom, casting a perfect silhouette, as she dumped the rowboat to its side and dove into the water toward me. She let out an ear-piercing screech. The Freshies loosened their grips in surprise.
I turned and bit down hard.
Aieeeeeaaaa!
I shrugged from their grasp and swam to Mom with the mer-dudes at what were still my feet. But as I swam, the salt water from the rowboat passed over my body.
Oh, yeah. That thing Mom said about salt water boosting the mermaid transformation?
Understatement.
My legs exploded into a tail, this time, ripping my shorts and the tankini bottom from my body. Mom and the Freshies fell back from the force of the transformation. The fabric floated away in shreds.
That was an eighty dollar bathing suit, you morons! I yelled over my shoulder as rage overtook me—not about the suit, but from being forced underwater like that. Being pulled down with hateful hands and made a mermaid. Not given the choice.
It set my whole body on fire.
My new mermaid body felt clumsy, like swimming with my legs tied together, but my vision and hearing cleared, sharpening the sights and sounds around me. I searched the water for Mom and realized she had taken my place, fighting off Finalin and Medora.
They had her!
Get away from her! I dove toward them, not quite knowing how to move my tail, grabbing the water and pushing it away to make it down to Mom.
Swim, Jade! Get out of here! Mom rang.
But I wasn’t going anywhere. I felt for the fanny pack, still attached to my waist.
Finalin turned to me and sneered. He nodded to Medora and rang out an obnoxious series of rings. I didn’t need to speak Mermish to know he was mocking me. And that ticked me off even more.
I said—get your hairy, stinking hands off my mother!
Maybe it was the way I said it, or the tone of my voice, but Finalin and Medora looked like they got the gist because they stopped and looked from me to Mom. Finalin seemed
to do the whole mental math a lot quicker than Medora because soon, his voice whirred at a speed that made my ears hurt.
Mom responded with a string of rings of her own.
While Finalin continued ranting, I reached into my fanny pack and pulled out the pepper spray I’d grabbed from my purse back at Gran’s cottage.
Look away, I yelled to Mom.
I turned my face and sprayed.
At first, there was nothing. But then, the pepper spray must have drifted into Finalin and Medora’s faces because soon, the whole underwater realm filled with a deafening ring.
I caught Mom’s hand.
Swim! I yelled.
I whipped the tail like I’d seen the dolphins do on our last trip to Sea World and amazed myself with the fact that I was actually keeping up with Mom. We swam with all our might, leaving the Freshies in our wake. My hair skimmed my shoulders as the water slipped past.
Wow.
You’re getting the hang of this, Mom rang out.
But I didn’t want to get the hang of it. I wanted to get out of there, out of the water, out of that nightmare. Can you tell if they’re following us? I kept my eyes straight ahead, not daring to look.
Whatever you did seems to be keeping them occupied. I have a feeling they’ll be back though. What was that stuff, anyway?
Pepper spray. Having an overprotective dad comes in handy sometimes. Could Finalin understand what I was saying?
I just filled in the blanks a bit. We swam to the edge of the lake and found the creek. Let’s hide in here, Mom said.
I followed her in. Won’t this be the first place they look?
Mom laughed. Those two are mean as dirt, but they’re not the sharpest narwhals in the pod.
I laughed a humongous snort bubble. I think I’ve just been introduced to my first taste of mermish humor.
We grabbed some sticks and branches and piled them at the mouth of the creek. But the water in the creek had the same thin feeling as it did weeks before. Only, after sprinting to get there and building the dam so quickly, I struggled more than ever to catch my breath.
What’s the matter? Mom asked.
I can’t stay in here. I swam to the edge of the creek and began to haul myself out.
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