Mermaid Academy
Cameron Drake
Copyright © 2019 by Cameron Drake
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
For my mother, the kindest and most organized human I have ever met. I love you.
Contents
Mermaid Academy
Dawn
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Turn the page for an excerpt from the Vampire Princess series
Excerpt of Rogue Prince
About the author
Also by Cameron Drake
Acknowledgments
Mermaid Academy
The Academy, where only the elite are sent to train. The Trials might be over, but I’m not out of danger. I worked hard to get here, but now I have to fight to stay alive.
I battled for my life in the Trials. But the worst isn’t over. Now the winners must study, work and pass deadly tests meant to break us down and test our mettle.
If we fail, or even falter, we are dismissed. The shame would be impossible to live with. But I have no intention of failing.
The classes are grueling, especially for the kingdom’s future ambassador on land. But there’s more happening behind the scenes than I could have imagined.
My friend Dane turned out to be a Prince in disguise. He is demanding the same training. But he is in more danger than he thought. And our friendship means that I am a target too.
His mother the queen wants me to take my place at his side, as Royalty. But that is not what I want. I want to walk on land and serve the sea.
What does that mean for Dane and I?
Dawn
The stables were dark and quiet as I swam through them. It was early in the morning, too early for more than the faintest glimmer of light to reach down from the surface. I was up well before the Palace servants.
Not that I’d actually rested more than a little.
I hadn’t been able to sleep much since the Trials.
None of my friends were awake to distract me from the memories of what had happened or the challenges I was soon to face. The truth was, I felt like I was still in the Trials. Still fighting for my life. Still fighting for the lives of my friends.
Still terrified that someone might hurt them.
Even after surviving, we were all nervous about starting the Academy.
Our formal training had not started yet. Most of the other candidates were settling into the Palace or visiting their families. So I went to visit the only one who would never, ever turn me away.
Especially with the heavy bag of oysters in my hand.
My old net bag was gone, lost in the shuffle of the Trials and my subsequent change in position. I was still not used to being treated with the respect afforded to a Spark candidate. It had been a whirl of events culminating in my things being moved for me to the Royal Palace. Not that I had much. My worn uniform and the gifts had made the journey.
Somehow, Annaruth had noticed my trusty old bag was missing and magicked me up a new one. It looked nearly the same but it was a vast improvement. This one was stronger and deceptively large, expanding and contracting to fit to the load it carried, whatever it may be.
I had a sneaking suspicion it was strong enough to hold a Mer. Or even Beazil.
An upgrade, for sure. Everything in my life was upgraded. The clothes I wore. My room. And the food.
Especially the food.
Still, I missed some things about my old life. Things had been simpler, for one. And I’d had my friends, Lila and Beazil.
But I’d been hungry, I reminded myself. Unloved, unwanted, and often mistreated. I’d felt stagnated, like swamp water, bored by the day to day of cleaning and being belittled by my stepmother and my half-sister.
I’d wanted more.
And by Triton, I’d gotten it.
Now I was the latest darling of the Royal family and the nobility that surrounded them, trotted out in fancy clothes for dinners and events. I’d barely seen my friends in all that time. Starla was keeping busy with the other Messengers-in-training. Although the Academy had not formally started yet, many of the chosen Mer were already hard at work practicing.
But not me.
I spent most of my time trying to evade the Queen.
And her handsome son.
I sighed and swam into the farthest part of the stables. The entire stretch of stalls was reserved exclusively for Beazil. I noticed they had moved most of the other familiars and travel companions away. It was pretty funny, how nervous my familiar made other Mers.
The shark might be large with ferocious teeth, but he was pretty much a flounder when it came to temperament. Or a human’s lap cat, something I’d seen paintings of. Lazy, indulgent, and spoiled.
That’s my Beaz, I thought fondly.
He was snoring softly when I approached. Beazil was not a normal great white. He was the right size and shape, but he had somehow found a way to stay in one place. Ordinary sharks had to be constantly on the move. But not Beaz. He liked to move as little as possible. I thought it was because he was a familiar.
Either way, he was one special shark.
I scratched his chin and waved the net bag near his mouth, knowing he would sense that food was near. His eyes shifted toward me and he smiled. It was subtle, but it was definitely there.
“I’m lonely, Beazil. I miss you. I wish you could sleep in the castle with me.”
His real eye seemed to stare right into me. The magical crystal eye glowed with a soft, warm light. The memory of what had happened to him flashed in front of my eyes. I couldn’t escape the memory. It haunted me, awake and asleep.
I’d nearly lost him in the Trials. I wouldn’t risk his life again.
“I am going to spoil you rotten. And I’ll visit as much as I can.”
He seemed to nod, even though I knew he didn’t really communicate the same way as a Mer. I was opening and feeding him oysters one by one when I heard movement behind me.
“I thought I’d find you here.”
I turned to see Prince Pollux, also known as my former friend Dane, swim into Beazil’s stall.
Chapter 1
Four days later
“You can’t keep coming here.”
“I can’t?” Dane said, cocking an arrogant eyebrow at me. “Is there a law? Is it everyone, or is it only Princes who are not permitted to enter the stables?”
“You know what I mean,” I hissed, not being the least bit respectful. “Mers will talk.”
He crossed his arms over his broad chest, the muscles bulging in his handsome training suit. It was the first day of classes and I’d come to see Beazil early, as usual.
Of course, Dane had figured out my routine pretty quickly and interrupted me almost every morning over the
past week. Not that I wasn’t glad to see him. I was. I always was. At least, part of me was.
I was having trouble getting used to the whole out-of-reach, not-potential-boyfriend-material, Royal Prince thing.
It was a lot to swallow.
Plus, he was distracting. Disarming. Dangerous. Dane was far too handsome and overbearing and impossible to ignore, which was what I had decided to do for both of our sakes. He didn’t flirt with me, exactly, but he was far too attentive. I just wanted to keep my head down and get through the first year of training.
To be honest, I was worried about getting through the first week!
“I thought you didn’t care what anybody thought.”
“I don’t. But this is different. Everyone is watching us now. They are making all kinds of wild assumptions.”
“So?” he said, swimming closer. I noticed with annoyance that he’d brought his own bag of treats for Beazil. Lobsters, it looked like, already cooked and cracked so the meat could be easily pulled from the shells. “Let them watch. We’re just friends, right?”
The way he was looking at me was not friendly. It was much more than that. He looked interested and more than a little bit annoyed. I kept asserting that we were friends and he wasn’t liking it.
And he’d picked the perfect time to throw it right back in my face.
Argh!
“Yes,” I said tightly. “We are.”
We should be able to be friends. Lifelong friends, even. With him as our future King, I would be serving him for the rest of my life. I knew he wouldn’t deliberately make things difficult for me, but it would be hard to be around him when I had these annoying feelings about him from the Trials.
Watching him marry a Princess wouldn’t be fun, but it did no good to worry about that. There was a chance I wouldn’t even be here. I could be on dry land. I could be on another mission for the Queen.
I could be dead.
Now that the Trials were over, it wasn’t as if we could breathe a sigh of relief. Yes, they were dangerous. But so was the training we would receive. Not everyone survived the Academy, either.
I eyed his uniform. He would be in danger if he attended the Academy as well. The teachers were a combination of active-duty and former Royal Military, Messengers, and Sparks. And some of them were mean, from what I’d heard, bored and bitter at being put out to pasture, or just hardnosed because they were loyal to the Crown and wanted us to excel.
Some of them probably just wanted us to fail.
Either way, I had thought I was the only Spark in training. Dane might have earned his position as Spark alongside me, but I’d assumed it was in name only. I couldn’t imagine the heir to the throne would be allowed to actually train.
I knew he would hate that, but it was better that way. For him and for me.
It would be far easier for me to avoid him if he wasn’t attending classes alongside me.
Easier to avoid my feelings. And his.
“Does this mean you will be joining us for training?”
He smiled brilliantly, and I felt my stomach do a flip-flop. Damn him for being so gorgeous! It was downright annoying!
“Yes. I am,” he answered simply.
I frowned at him.
“With caveats, I’m assuming? They can’t let you put yourself in danger.”
“I didn’t get any special favors in the Trials, Tri.”
“I know that. But they didn’t know you were participating!”
“Yeah, well, let’s just say I put my fin down.”
I stared at him, my emotions warring. I was happy for him. I knew he didn’t like all the restrictions his title put on his freedom. But his attendance would definitely make my life more complicated.
So much for throwing myself into my work. I sighed.
He must have sensed my thoughts because his face darkened.
“Don’t worry. I won’t cramp your style, Spark.”
“I’m not Spark yet.”
“I’m sure you will excel, as always, Katriana. Best of luck to you,” he said stiffly, turning to swim away.
“Dane . . .” I called after him, knowing I should apologize.
He turned back and tossed me his bag of lobsters.
“It’s Prince Pollux. Try and remember that, Spark.”
I stared at him as he swam away, my jaw dropped. Somehow, I’d actually done it. I’d managed to push him away completely by being a jerk instead of dealing with my feelings. I looked down at the two bags in my hands and back at Beazil. He was watching me, his magical eye whirring with colors.
“Well, there’s no need for both of us to be miserable. Might as well start with the good stuff.”
I opened Prince Pollux’s bag and started feeding my shark.
Chapter 2
Chin up, I told myself as I swam into the opening assembly. You still need to get through the day without embarrassing yourself.
The chamber was already packed with every single Mer who had succeeded in finishing the Trials. There were more of us than needed, I knew.
Because some of us would fail. Some would die. And perhaps, others would be reassigned.
There was always room in the Armada for those who did not swim enough to be Messengers. Or shine brightly enough to be the Spark, I reminded myself glumly. I might get demoted or even sent away. I was having trouble casting off my mood from earlier that morning.
Dane’s words had followed me wherever I went. Even to breakfast, which was normally my favorite part of the day. Well, other than lunch and dinner.
We might still be in training, but they fed us like we were already champions. Like Royalty, really. Or at least the trays that magically appeared in my room made it seem that way.
I ate alone most of the time, but sometimes, Annaruth joined me.
“Where have you been?” Starla squealed as she enveloped me in a hug.
“They’ve been keeping me busy.”
“Showing you off,” she said with a knowing smirk.
“Ugh,” I moaned. “I wasn’t expecting so much . . . um . . .”
“Ceremony?”
I nodded. I was happy to see my friend. But it did nothing to dispel my mood from my conversation with Dane.
Speak of the Royal Mer . . .
Dane swam in, took one look at me, and found a seat on the opposite side of the room. Well, you did ask him to keep his distance, Tri, I told myself. It didn’t matter, though. It still hurt.
Rip swam in, and I pushed off from my bench. He looked fine, as if his injuries had never occurred. I waved, and he swam to sit beside me, pulling me in for a quick hug. I felt a blaze of heat from the other side of the chamber. When I looked up, Dane was staring at us.
He looked . . . jealous.
Triton, I couldn’t seem to do anything right. And this was just the first day. I tried to ignore the stares of my classmates. Each day started with a full assembly. In between, we only took classes that pertained to our future roles.
Our hopeful roles, if nothing went sideways during our years at the Academy.
I relaxed slightly when a familiar face swam purposefully into the room. Dante, Messenger and friend to my father, took his place at the podium.
“Does this mean you get special treatment?” I teased Rip under my breath.
He winked at me, murmuring, “You know it.”
Everyone quieted and waited for Dante to speak.
“This is the opening day of the Academy. I am your headmaster and Head Messenger. This is a school that opens only once every hundred years, a place to train and to prepare the next wave of warriors to fight for our blue world. Your studies will be rigorous. Demanding. The physical training will be worse. There is no higher calling than to serve the Queen. Now, we will begin with the history of the Royal Family and how the Trials and Academy came to be.”
“What class do you have next?” Starla asked, practically bouncing alongside me.
“Foreign history and etiquette.”
“
Me too!” She squealed, throwing her arms around me. “What’s after that?”
“Human history and etiquette.”
“Ohh . . . so that will be just you and Dane.”
I stared at her, stopping short in the middle of the busy hallway. I pulled her off to the side as students swam past us on their way to their next classes. I hadn’t thought of that. We were the only two Sparks. In fact, there had never been two chosen before, as far as I knew. Of course we would have the same classes.
“Maybe he already knows that stuff. From being, you know . . .”
“A Prince?” Starla asked, clearly a little dreamy-eyed. “He’s so wonderful.”
“Yeah, well, wonderful or not, he’s not going to be happy about private classes with me.”
“Whatever you say, Tri,” Starla said, smiling mischievously.
I sighed and we started swimming again. I was hungry already. Breakfast seemed a million leagues away. I was worried about doing well in my classes. And I felt guilty about being mean to Dane, damn it!
“How much longer until lunch?”
Chapter 3
Starla and I swam into another chamber, this one significantly smaller. Only Messengers, the Royal Messenger, and Sparks required this course. Once again, the room was set up with benches along all three sides, including the one we had entered through.
This time, we were some of the last to arrive.
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