Mermaid Academy

by Cameron Drake

  Removed. The word echoed in my mind. Dane removed? Our Queen? Annaruth?

  I panicked, sliding from my hiding place, unmindful of any noise I might have made. I swam frantically back toward the palace, daring to look behind me only once.

  There was no one there.

  Maybe they had not heard me. Or maybe they did not risk exposing themselves. I had no doubt they already wanted me ‘removed’ along with the Royal family I served.

  Fear and purpose had me swimming faster than I’d ever swum in my life.

  I swam through the massive gates and into the sleeping Palace. Without thinking, I found myself outside Annaruth’s chamber.

  “Wake! Annaruth, please wake!”

  The door opened and I was quickly ushered inside.

  Chapter 9

  “What were you thinking?” Dane swam back and forth, taking breaks only to glare at me. I sat on a settee underneath a magical fountain in Annaruth’s chambers, although calling them chambers was a vast understatement.

  It was kind of like a mini-palace of her own.

  The walls were decorated in ornate mosaics, with carved shell tiles and stones and what looked like real gems here and there as well. The bed was through a high archway, and it looked enormous. And this room held cabinets, a desk, trunks, and low couches surrounding the fountain, which was also tiled in stunning patterns.

  The water was tinted in a never-ending kaleidoscope of colors, spelled to stay separate from the cold salt water around it.

  “Tell us again. Leave nothing out.”

  I started my story for the second time, this time going into more detail. When I was done, Annaruth and Dane were silent.

  They exchanged a glance.

  “What?” I demanded.

  “Messengers have been going missing,” Dane admitted. “It started with your father.”

  I stared at them.

  “These . . . Mers might have something to do with my father’s death?”

  Dane nodded once.

  “He might not be dead,” Annaruth ventured. “There is a chance he could even be—”

  “Don’t say it,” I warned her as I shook my head violently. “My father is no traitor!”

  “He wouldn’t have to be a traitor to serve their cause. Not if he was magicked.”

  I felt fury at the thought. My father used against his will for so many years? It was unthinkable.

  “Triton . . . for all this time?”

  I might be young for a Mer, but we aged differently. Slower than two-leggers. If my father was still alive, he had been suffering for a very long time.

  “What do we do?”

  “The Queen will have to be notified. She will want to hear this directly from you, Katriana.”

  I lifted my chin and nodded. Annaruth turned to fetch a servant when I stopped her.

  “And I will need to hear from her what she intends to do to save my father.”

  Dane and Annaruth both turned to stare at me.

  “So be it.”

  Dane swam closer when she departed. He reached out to take my hand. I looked at our hands where they intertwined, then back at him. He was visibly upset. Worried. For me.

  “Be careful, Tri. My mother is wily. She never gives anything without asking for something in return.”

  “Even with her own son?”

  “Yes,” he said solemnly. “Even with me.”

  In the end, I faced the Queen alone. I didn’t have my friends to guide or steady me. The Queen had two advisors present.

  Lia and Gwond. I looked all three in the face one by one after I bowed.

  I was still in my training clothes from the day before. The Queen had not given me time to change. I suspected that this was deliberate.

  To say that I was out of my element was a vast understatement.

  It was nearly dawn when I was shown into the room. Somehow, the Queen was already dressed and looked awake, whereas I was close to falling asleep as I explained what I had seen and what actions I had taken. When I finished, my voice was raw with emotions.

  “I should have intervened. I should have tried to save her,” I said, nearly weeping.

  “You did the right thing. An untrained young Mer would have been no match for them. Even our fiercest warriors could not face so many.”

  I nodded once, thanking her for letting me off the hook. Though I wasn’t so sure I deserved it. What if it had been my father they had enchanted? I should have done something, and I knew it.

  “You may go. And say nothing of this to anyone.”

  “What of my father? The other messengers? Is anything being done to help them?”

  They looked angry at my question, but I held my ground, raising my chin to face her. She nodded then.

  “Yes. We have been searching for the missing messengers. We never gave up on any of them. This may aid us in our search.”

  “Can you use magic?”

  She nodded.

  “Now go, child. You have done well.”

  I bowed again and left. There was nothing else to say. I was tired and angry at myself for abandoning the messenger, who was most likely even now on yet another traitorous journey without rest or time to regenerate her magic.

  “Breakfast?”

  My stomach rumbled as I turned to see Dane. He’d been waiting for me. I nodded.

  “You okay?”

  I shook my head numbly. I was not okay. I would not be until I found out what had happened to my father.

  “If he’s alive out there, I have to find him.”

  Dane swam beside me, his voice hushed as we left the Royal chambers and swam toward the Academy.

  “I know.”

  Chapter 10

  “Pardon . . .”

  I heard the whispers everywhere as we swam into the dining room where the trainees gathered to eat. The chamber was large enough to accommodate us all, though not large enough to be imposing.

  “ . . . doesn’t know about . . .”

  I swam through, ignoring the voices.

  “What in Triton’s name is everyone talking about?” I said as I loaded up a seashell tray with food. Dane looked at the bundles of wrapped portions on my shell and laughed. I scowled at him. How could he be laughing under the circumstances?

  “I have no idea. But I’m sure someone will tell us soon.”

  I shrugged and followed him to a table.

  Starla and Rip both swam toward us but didn’t sit. They floated there, staring at me with matching expressions. Kind of like I was a fish with two heads.

  “Hi.”

  Starla and Rip exchanged a glance.

  “Are you okay?”

  I gave Dane a look but he shook his head. No one knew about my late-night expedition. Failed expedition, I thought sourly.

  “I think so? What is everyone talking about?”

  “She doesn’t know,” Rip said in a low voice. Dane sat up suddenly, looking at them with renewed interest. So did I.

  “Know what? Spit it out.”

  Starla swam closer.

  “Your half-sister has been pardoned. She’s . . .” Starla trialed off, wringing her hands in front of her.

  “She’s joining the Academy,” Rip finished for her.

  “Starting today,” Starla added helpfully.

  “What? How could this be?” Dane burst out.

  “They are training . . . spies? It’s supposed to be secret, but everyone knows. She had the highest marks for subterfuge. A few others were chosen.”

  I would have made a smart comment about who I thought was up for the task but I was too busy staring.

  Just then, the room went absolutely silent.

  Wearing a training uniform and looking almost subdued, my sister had just swum into the dining chamber. She looked around cautiously and saw me. Our eyes locked as the memories flashed through my mind.

  The attack on Beazil. The years of insults. The petty chores she loved to assign me. Her casual, day-to-day cruelty.

  And th
en, if I looked past all of that, the early years when I had adored her, coddled her, and begged to take care of her.

  Before everything changed.

  I sighed and shrugged. There was nothing I could do about it, either way. I’d never forgive her for the attack on my familiar. But I wasn’t sure she deserved to live her long life in a dungeon either.

  “Are you okay?” Starla asked. I looked at her and then at Rip and Dane.

  “I’m glad she’s not going to be punished forever.”

  “Wow, you’re a bigger Mer than I am,” Rip said.

  “She wasn’t always bad. I remember her when she was just a sweet little Mer. You know?”

  Dane nodded. Starla did too. Rip looked like he thought I was being way too forgiving, but he didn’t say anything.

  “I just want her to stay away from me,” I said with a sigh. “Though I kind of doubt she will.”

  “We’ve got your back, Tri,” Starla said. Dane and Rip nodded. I smiled, murmuring my thanks.

  “Now, can we eat?”

  The day passed in a blur. I was so tired. I was more or less treading water mentally through my Human and Merkind history classes. Thankfully, Annaruth collected me after lunch and gave me a sleeping potion. I was extremely relieved to skip that afternoon’s lessons with the General. I was definitely not up to fighting.

  I sighed and glanced through my scrolls as I snuggled into my seashell-shaped bed. My chambers had gotten some getting used to, being fit for a Princess and all. But I had come to enjoy them.

  And the sleeping nook, with its jeweled bed set on a platform, was actually kind of cozy.

  Cozy. That’s funny.

  I pulled my uniform off and dragged on a sleeping robe. I floated back onto the bed. I pulled my bag of school scrolls toward me, figuring I would review the lessons from that morning. I had taken notes, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t remember a thing.

  That’s how zonked out I had been.

  I had just started to unroll my Human History and Etiquette scroll when my eyes fluttered shut.

  Soft lights flickered to life in my chamber as my eyes opened. They were enchanted to burn only when needed. It was one of my favorite things about living in the Palace.

  Well, other than the food.

  And my friends.

  And having Beazil near and knowing he was protected.

  And training to do something important for the future of Merkind, of course.

  But the glowing orbs of light were in the top five, at least.

  There was nothing there. No threat. No reason to fear.

  I closed my eyes again, drifting easily back to sleep.

  A moment later, I sat up, fully awake this time. Someone was outside my chambers. I could hear the sound of voices. Something had wakened me. I stared as the doorknob to my chamber turned this way and that.

  “She thinks she’s too good to sleep in the barracks with the rest of us.”

  I recognized that voice. It was Minka, one of my sister’s cronies. She’d barely made it through the Trials, and I wasn’t even sure what assignment she’d been given. Diplomat, maybe.

  Or spy.

  “She is really here? In the visiting Royal section of the Palace?”

  My sister’s voice. I felt myself bristle at the insulting tone of her voice.

  “People say she’s practically engaged to Prince Pollux,” Minka sneered. “She must be giving him whatever he wants.”

  No answering giggle from my sister. No answer at all. A moment passed.

  “I doubt she’ll keep his interest. She has nothing. No class. No finesse. She’ll bore him quickly, no matter what she does.”

  Minka giggled at that.

  “Let’s go back. It’s almost curfew, and I don’t want to get caught out by the watchers.”

  “Okay,” my sister answered. And then there was silence.

  I stared at the ceiling, with several unwelcome facts circulating through my mind.

  People think I’m engaged to Dane.

  People think I’m, um, intimate with Dane.

  I’m housed separately from the rest of the trainees.

  Everyone else sleeps in something called ‘the barracks.’

  Thalia is still my enemy. She still wants to hurt me.

  Even after everything that had happened, it still hurt. A small part of me had hoped that she might have felt bad about what happened. That she had learned her lesson.

  That she had stopped hating me so much.

  I fought the sleep that threatened to reclaim me as long as I could. But the potion I had been given was too strong. I wondered idly how I had managed to wake at all as my eyelids drooped. There must have been some sort of caveat in the magic, allowing one to wake if someone came near.

  I scribbled a note to myself in my study scroll so that I wouldn’t forget what I had overheard and fell asleep with the quill still in my hand.

  Chapter 11

  “Where do all the other trainees sleep?” I asked without preamble.

  Dane looked at me in surprise as he joined me at breakfast. He slid onto the bench. He took a bite before answering me.

  “Why do you ask?”

  His answer, his manner, everything was nonchalant.

  Too nonchalant. He was hiding something.

  “I thought we all had our own chambers.”

  Dane shrugged, but I could tell he was avoiding answering me. I stared at him, watching him eat. For once, my food sat in front of me, uneaten.

  Starla and Rip joined us a few moments later.

  “Starla, where do you sleep?”

  She blinked at me, then looked at Dane.

  “Why are you looking at Dane? Answer me,” I stared at her and belatedly added a “Please.”

  She visibly gulped.

  “I sleep in the barracks. With all the other Candidates.”

  “Almost all the other Candidates,” Rip said under his breath.

  “Triton! Why am I being singled out?”

  “You know why, Tri,” Dane said without looking at me.

  “No. I don’t.”

  “Because you’re a target, okay? Because of me,” he said in a low, fierce voice.

  My jaw dropped open at the look on his face. He was upset that I was upset. He pushed away from the table, swimming away without eating his food.

  “I can’t believe I was so stupid,” I said miserably. “I thought everyone got their own room.”

  “Dane’s right,” Rip said. I looked at him in surprise. “Not only are you the only viable Spark Candidate, but you need added protection because of” —he swished his hand around in the water between me and the seat the Prince had recently vacated— “whatever that is.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “You, of all people, should not listen to gossip, Rip.”

  “Oh, no?” He took a bite of his crabmeat and roe seaweed wrap. “Why’s that?”

  “Because you’ve already been seen kissing at least four different Mers since training started.”

  “Only four?” He gave me a meaningful look. “I’d give up all other Mers if the right one said yes.”

  I tossed a piece of seaweed at him, not taking him seriously at all. Starla started giggling. I sighed and rubbed the space between my eyes as the horn sounded indicating it was time to get to class.

  “I’d better bring all this,” I said, gesturing to Dane’s and my uneaten food. “I know Dane will get hungry before soon.”

  “Dane will get hungry. Right . . .” Starla said with a wink as I put everything in my new net bag.

  I sighed dramatically as we joined the throng leaving the dining chamber.

  “I’m really going to miss my chamber.”

  “You can’t really be thinking of moving into the barracks?” Starla asked, agog, as we swam down the hallway toward our first class. Today was Magic and Magical Transformation. Even if Dane avoided me, he couldn’t avoid me in the second class.

  But Dane wasn’t there.

&nb
sp; I watched from the sidelines as the professor put everyone through their paces. They were creating their spheres of magic with varying degrees of success, but then they were supposed to transform it into another shape and give it a purpose. To do this, harnessing emotion was key.

  “Katriana. Step forward.” Grendor gestured to the rest of the class. “Everyone else, step back.”

  I closed my eyes in embarrassment as she threw up a magical shield to protect them all. I could see it, opalescent and shimmering, like an oil slick or bubble on the surface of the water. I exhaled and thanked Annaruth mentally for the sleeping draught and strengthening spell she’d given me the day before.

  I was still nervous about using magic. Never mind that having everyone watch me make the attempt was nerve-racking. Never mind that Thalia was watching this time, too.

  I needed all the help I could get.

  “All right, Katriana. Pool your magic. Slowly, now,” she instructed as I cupped my hands and glowing magic seeped out of them. I ground my teeth, closing my eyes and focusing all of my energy on keeping it contained and useful, not dangerous. “Now, think of something that makes you happy.”

  “Do I need to give it a shape?”

  “Not yet. Let’s see what your emotions can do by themselves. Happy thoughts, remember?”

  I nodded, thinking of Beazil lazily swimming beside me in the summer sea. We had a net bag full of oysters and were on our way to the cave to fill our bellies.

  The class was utterly silent.

  “Open your eyes, Katriana,” I heard her say quietly.

  In my palms was not a glowing sphere. It was something else. Something living.

  A tiny, glowing seahorse blinked up at me.

  “Command him. A simple task.”

  I couldn’t think of anything to ask of the tiny seahorse. He was looking at me steadily, with something playful about his little face and posture.

  “Command him to travel to the end of the room and back.”

  Command? That didn’t sound very nice. I leaned down and asked him politely to swim across the room and return.