by Susha Golomb
“I always wanted a big sister. Always, always, always! But not you. You’re the worst sister anyone could have.”
The whole time I was talking, Verona’s face kept getting redder and redder. Her tail was swishing harder and harder. When I finished, she said nothing but turned and swam out still swishing.
The next morning I woke early and went looking for Grandma and Grandpa Sky to get my orders for the day. I found Grandpa right away. There is a library column right next to our sleeping column. He was sitting on the floor at floor-pillow desk covered with open scrolls all of which appeared to be completely blank. Still there must have been something there, because he was concentrating so hard, he didn’t notice me until I got close enough for him to feel the water moving over his skin.
“Miriam,” he said. No smile. “Good morning. I’m busy.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I just wanted to know where you want me to be today.”
“Not here. Your friend Stanley came by earlier. I think he’s waiting for you onsea. Be back for lunch.” He waved me away.
CHAPTER 26
SKYNAPPED!
I was teaching Stanley the joys of floating on your back on a sunny day. The game was inevitably and deliciously shifting to naptime, when, from the far corner of my barely open right eye, I almost saw something, almost moving. No big deal. Not enough to get me to roll over and soak my sun-warm tummy. Stanley’s eyes, however, were positioned on his head a little differently from mine and he must have gotten a better look...enough to give him a good scare.
“Miriam! Dive!”
He set the example by disappearing under the water himself .
Too sun sleepy to follow, I compromised by moving my head ever so slightly to the side, hoping to get a better look without disturbing the rest of me.
“Come on up, Stanley. It’s just a big fairy light.”
He surfaced a little too close and a little too enthusiastically, destroying my savoir faire along with my balance.
“Hey! Sometimes it’s nice to be dry.”
“Miriam, that thing is weird. I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t think it’s a fairy light.”
“Sure it is,” I insisted. “This must be what happens to the fairy lights when they lose their power nuts. They float to the surface and swell bigger and bigger till they burst.”
“Maybe,” he said without any conviction. Whatever it was, it was bobbing in the air just above the surface only a few yards away from us. It was as least as big around as I was tall.
We swam over for a close-up look.
The big bubble seemed to be completely smooth, transparent and empty. The sun colored it up like a soap bubble giving it a friendly kind of feeling. Still, Stanley’s suspicious attitude kept me cautious. We were being careful, but on our third or fourth slow circle, Stanley accidentally gave it a nudge. The bubble bounced gently, just like a fairy light.
When it didn’t break, he shoved it again a little harder. It reacted the same way. After a few more shoves, I was convinced.
“Stanley, this is a broken fairy light. I bet if we put a power nut in, it would work again. Look, I can put my hand right through it, just like a regular fairy light.” I reached out to touch the bubble.
“ Miriam! Wait! Onsea is where you find drylanders. Anything really strange is usually something they’ve put there, and it’s usually worth staying away from. Let’s go back to Casalot and find someone who knows what it is.”
“We can’t do that. It will float away or burst and we’ll never find it again. It might be important.”
“Fine. I’ll stay with the bubble. You get your grandparents.”
“No, I’ll stay here. You’re faster and you know more people.” Finally, after a lot of back and forth discussion, we agreed that I would very gently try to put part of one finger in and out like I did with the real fairy lights. If it worked, Stanley would stay and watch the bubble while I went to find a power nut to see if we could fix it.
Under Stanley’s watchful eye, I touched the side of the bubble with my fingertip.
“Here goes nothing,” I said, slowly applying pressure. My fingertip went in easily. The bubble didn’t break or change in any way we could see.
“Success!” I cried out with a big grin, and still moving carefully, started to withdraw my hand. But, my finger didn’t come out quite as easily as it had gone in. I dropped the grin and gave a little tug. Nothing.
I pulled harder, still with no effect.
“Miriam,” Stanley said. “Don’t be so rough, you’re pushing your hand further in.”
“I’m not. It’s growing around my hand and I can’t get it out.”
“Grab my tail with your other hand,” he said. I did and he swam off at top speed, but the bubble followed along firmly attached to my hand. Stanley dove under the water but the bubble did not follow. Unfortunately, the bubble’s hold on me was a lot stronger than my hold on Stanley. It gently bounced along the surface and kept on sucking me up.
“I guess we didn’t need to worry about breaking it,” I joked nervously, just before my head followed my shoulder into the bubble.
After that, the bubble began to rise in the air taking me with it. My head and shoulders now caught and the rest of me dangling helplessly, not to mention, ridiculously. This was good. Embarrassed always beats scared. I felt too stupid to be really worried.
CHAPTER 27
JUST BUBBLING ALONG
Stanley butted the bubble as hard as he could, again and again, but this had to be out of pure frustration, because no matter how hard he hit, the bubble bounced gently away and moved a little higher.
His leaps were becoming increasingly impressive, but eventually the bubble and I were out of reach. At this point, we stopped rising and started to travel, picking up speed as the last bit of my tail was swallowed up inside. Stanley stayed with us as long as he could, but the bubble got faster and faster until it was way past dolphin speed.
“Miriam,” he called. “Don’t worry. I’m going to put out the dolphin alarm.” He dove under the water and was gone.
My god. A week ago I would have been hysterical. I can’t believe I’m getting used to this. My body’s pre-panic functions were getting to be just a little too familiar.
Why do these things keep happening to me?
“All right, Miriam,” I muttered to me, “it’s time to take control of your life.” Gently I pushed on the skin of the bubble hoping to get out the same way I got in, but it was a one-way bubble. I was good and stuck.
I took in a deep shaky breath. But by the time I let the breath out, the pre-panic was no longer ‘pre-’ and control was no longer the issue.
I threw myself against the wall...the ceiling...the floor. My tail packs a lot of pushing power, but I wasn’t going anywhere.
So, my luck wasn’t any better than Stanley’s. Big surprise. This stupid bubble is as bouncy on the inside as it is on the outside.
In spite of our speed, the air inside the bubble was still, and the colors were even prettier on the inside, almost mesmerizing. Out of breath and unable to look away from the moving colors with nothing but sea and sky beyond, I could feel the lure of another powerful nap attack...
It was twilight when I woke up.
So much for taking control of my life.
I grabbed my bag, determined to belatedly take charge of my destiny. Taking out a small stone the size of a power nut, I used one finger to push it through the bubble skin. Splash! The stone was gone but my finger was still here.
Next thing out of my bag was a plain white handkerchief. This, I wrapped around my hand and tried pushing one cotton covered finger through the bubble again. This time my finger kept going. I added more fingers and they kept going. Finally, just past my wrist, I reached the end of the handkerchief. I watched it fall away into the ocean while the bubble grew back over my hand like a giant pimple.
Ha! I am so smart. It’s just me that can’t get out. The garbage disposal works fine. A
ll I need now is a really big handkerchief.
Like a magician pulling silks out of a hat, I slowly pulled a big double sheet out of my sampo and spread it neatly across the bottom of the bubble. Wiggling over to the middle, I bounced up and down a couple of times, just in case. No dice. I was going to have to do it the slow way. Starting with the tip of one fin instead of a finger, I did the gentle pushing thing again. By the time I got to what used to be my knees, the weight of my body started to speed things up, and before I realized what was happening, I was once again, hanging by my armpits, the sheet spread out on the surface of the water like an enormous jellyfish disappearing into the distance as me and my bubble moved inexorably to who knows where.
All righty. What I need now is a bigger sheet. Much bigger. Maybe a tent. Something with a zipper to make sure I can’t get caught again. I waited patiently for the bubble to suck me back in enough to reach my sampo and get started on my successful, final attempt but somehow, I didn’t seem to be making any progress in either direction.
Confused, I looked around as if an explanation would be written out on the wall of the bubble. There was of course, nothing written. In fact there was no clue at all, but there was something.
Having been so fixated on my tail’s lack of progress, I hadn’t noticed an island in the near distance. I noticed it now, though. A big double ring of land. A coral atoll.
The thicker center reef almost looked like a small island with a big lake in the middle. It was covered with sea grasses and shrubby plants. Not even the requisite coconut tree. The outer ring was even less inviting, mostly coral rock with a few pockets of soil and grass.
I never got to demonstrate my mastery over my traveling prison. The bubble decided on an abrupt halt right over the middle of the lake, leaving my loose tail swinging so hard it hurt my waist. But it didn’t just stop moving, it also stopped existing, dumping me tail first into a strange place.
The momentum from my fall carried me to the bottom of the reef-lake. As I slowed, I was able to look around, including up and down.
I was confused. This was not like any natural coral formation I’d ever seen on the Nature Channel.
First of all, there was no coral, kind of a basic requirement for a coral reef, not to mention plants growing out of it; mollusks growing on it; and fish swimming around it. There was, in fact, nothing alive and nothing green.
I was sitting on a smooth-as-glass pale-gray bottom curving up to the surface like a gigantic swimming pool in the middle of the ocean.
“Welcome to my fishbowl,” said a familiar voice. I turned to see a smiling Zazkal swimming towards me. This time I was almost as pissed as I was scared.
“Oh, no! Not again!” I groaned.
The smile was withdrawn and Zazkal held out his hand.
“The bag!”
I crossed my arms over my chest. There was only a small twitch in the tip of my tail to betray my nervousness. Otherwise, I matched him dirty look for dirty look.
This time Zazkal had his own knife. I didn’t move while he cut the sampo from my waist.
“Big fish,” I hissed at his retreating back. “Big, stupid fish.” He stopped swimming and turned back to me managing to look both extremely annoyed and really angry.
“Big fish eat little fish,” he said. “Stay out of my way, little fish. Now go to sleep,” and I did
When I woke up, it was still daytime and Zazkal was still there.
Oooo! Bad, bad dream I muttered, groggily.
“Well,” he said. “Have you got it?” Nothing was making sense, unless I really was still asleep. Good idea.
“What do you want me for? You’ve got my bag.” I started to lower my head back to the ground to go back to sleep, but no, that was not allowed. I was the designated listener.
“It would seem,” Zazkal said formally, sounding like he was launching into a prepared speech which he probably was, “that we will be keeping company for sometime. Your bag, you see, cannot be stolen. Or at least it cannot be stolen for very long.
“Sit up,” he snapped.
I sat.
Zazkal reached over and picked up the sampo from the spot where I had been lying.
“I’ve never kept a pet before, but now it seems I will be responsible for a rather exotic little fish. When I have time, I will have to work out a way to make the wall of your fishbowl transparent. It will be pleasant to watch you swimming prettily around in your tank when I am not working.”
I finally got the point. I could feel the color draining from my face, also from my tail and my fingers as all my blood raced to the middle of my chest where it formed an oppressively heavy lump.
“You mean you’re going to keep me here forever?” I gasped out, not bothering to close my mouth.
“Close enough,” he answered. “Unless I find a way to duplicate the bag, but I don’t expect that I will need to. All in all, I’ve always lived alone, and I rather like the idea of having a pet.
“I’ll be back in the morning, and I’ll bring you some breakfast.” This time I could see him leave. A hole opened in the wall when he got close, just like it did in the rock-pile prison. Through the opening I could see the living coral.
“Don’t bother tying it on again tomorrow,” Zazkal said. “You’ll just use up the cord if I have to keep cutting it off.” Then he was gone, and the smooth wall returned.
So, the bag comes back to me when I’m sleeping. That explains a lot.
It isn’t easy swimming with a 50-pound lump in the middle of your chest. I slowly made my way to the surface and dragged myself to a sitting position on the edge of the reef to check out the rest of Zazkal’s security measures. They weren’t very good. I was suspicious. A ten-foot wall stood about six feet from the water’s edge. All I had to do was switch to legs, walk over, pile up some rocks and climb over. Hell, I could just fly out of here.
I swished my tail nervously back and forth in the water. Maybe he wants me to try to escape. But why? Why, why, why?
Light bulbs didn’t start flashing on over my head, but somebody had their hand on the dimmer switch and was slowly turning it from nothing to enlightenment. At the same time, the 50-pound lump was getting a little lighter.
What I eventually realized was that Zazkal didn’t know that I had wings. Not only that, but he didn’t know I had access to legs, either. I had put my necklace back in my wingpocket to keep it safe since I didn’t expect to need it until I went home.
There wasn’t anything scary on the other side of the wall, because Zazkal didn’t know he needed it. ...Probably.
I was still swishing my tail, and the lump finally got light enough to rise up and stick in my throat. There was nothing to keep me from peeling off the tape and flying out of here right now. Why was I still so nervous?
Because I wanted someone to tell me it was okay, that I could do this and everything would be all right. I started to cry. I didn’t want Grandma and Grandpa Sky, I wanted Grandma and Grandpa mermaid. I wanted my mommy and daddy and I wanted to go home.
CHAPTER 28
HEARTSPEAK
My whole body was awash with a powerful feeling of affection. It was if I was under a loving-attack. A welling up of emotion, but not mine. It took only a moment for me to recognize what it was.
“Grandmother, Grandfather, I hear you, I mean, I feel you, I mean... Well, okay, so I don’t know what I mean, but I know what I feel and who it comes from. Can you hear me?”
“Don’t cry, Miriam. Everything will be all right.”
Now I was hearing voices as well. There was someone here. It wasn’t Grandma and Grandpa and it sure didn’t sound like Zazkal.
“What? What? Who’s there?” I jerked my head around trying looking for the invisible whisperer.
“It’s me, Verona. I’m almost at the reef.”
“Verona? What are you doing here? How come I can hear you?”
“Aunt Flora sent me. I’m here to rescue you. You can hear me because we’re using heartspeak.”
“I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?” she said impatiently.
“Verona! It really is you! How come you can use heartspeak? We’re not even friends.”
“We’re salt sisters, Miriam. And anyway, I’m not using heartspeak, you are. You’re blasting at full power.”
“How did you know where I am? I don’t even know where I am.”
“Aunt Floradora and the dolphin alarm. I’m here with your friends, Stanley and Oliver and their pod. It’s complicated. I’ll explain later. First, we have to get you out of there.
“Oh, that’s easy. I’m pretty sure that Zazkal doesn’t know I have wings. I should be able to fly out, but I have no idea where to go. Where are you? How can I find you?”
“We’re not far, that’s why I can use heartspeak to talk to you. Use a locator spell.”
“A what?”
“A locator spell. Can’t you even do that? This is so humiliating. What will I tell my friends?
“Never mind. Just stay there. We’ll come and get you.”
“What are you going to do? Just swim up, knock on the door and say ‘Can Miriam come out and play?’ Zazkal will never let me go.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic. He has no choice. Nobody messes with a dolphin pod if they don’t want to be messed with.
There’s nothing like knowing that thirty or forty dolphins were on their way to rescue you to make a person feel better, and I did feel a whole lot better. Still, Zazkal was one scary fish, and I was not completely confident, especially if the rest of the family was like Stanley and Oliver...really nice guys, but not heavyweight types. Secrecy still made a lot more sense that an all out frontal attack.
This is a job for the invisible woman.
I peeled off the tape, took the shadow coat out of my left wing pocket and tried to hurry the tediously long process of unfolding it. I poked my arms through the sleeves and my wings out of the wing slits. I didn’t relax until I heard the click of the silver dragonfly clasp around my neck. My hands, wings and the sticking out part of my tail were as invisible as the rest of me and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Next, came the necklace from the left wing pocket. I put it on and switched to feet. Everything after that was a piece of cake. Spreading my wings and taking off, I flew up, over and out.