Mermaid Academy

by Cameron Drake

  Chapter 29

  Nearly an hour passed as I slowly climbed the cliff path and made my way down a winding road that hugged the cliff’s edge. It was dark and cold and I was not all that good at walking yet. But I was here. I was safe. And no one else in the Sea would have to die for me.

  So I kept on, trudging slowly forward. No one had told me how slow two-leggers were. They didn’t move in all directions at will like we could in the water. I felt . . . flat. And stuck.

  And very, very hungry.

  “Food. I smell food.”

  I stopped short, staring at the lopsided little shack at the edge of what looked like a human settlement. It was a res-too-rant, I realized. One of the places where humans went to get food.

  Not that we’d gotten that in-depth about modern day-to-day human lives yet. I knew a lot about the Industrial Revolution, however. Thank Triton, our Human Etiquette professor had humored my fascination and endless questions about two-leggers so I had some practical information.

  Still, I was very literally a fish on dry land.

  A very stupid fish.

  I squared my shoulders and headed toward it, step by step, my feet feeling like they had anchors dragging behind them.

  You know what Annaruth would say? Fake it till you make it.

  What? How? I asked myself. Thankfully, an answer came from somewhere deep inside me.

  Just pretend to be human, you jellyfish.

  Right. Pretend. Say nothing. Smile.

  I opened the door and stepped inside.

  Delicious smells wafted over me. I could almost feel them on my skin. I nearly fainted from the intensity of it. Smells on land were much, much stronger than they were in water.

  It smelled greasy and salty and very, very good.

  “You alone?”

  I nodded at the woman with the large flat book in her hand. This was my first human interaction. I wanted to ace it.

  “Hungry?”

  “Yes, thank you,” I said, my voice sounding unnaturally loud to me. But everything on land was loud. Water apparently softened everything. That was going to take some getting used to.

  “Follow me, hon,” she said, leading me to a booth near the back. “This is one of the good seats,” she added as I slid into the seat and glanced out at the beach. “Slow season, so you get the whole section to yourself.”

  “Thank you,” I said nervously. She handed me the book and I thanked her again.

  “Know what you want to drink?”

  I shook my head and she shrugged.

  “Be right back to take your order.”

  Take my . . . what?

  I stared at the book in my hand. It was covered in plastic. I looked closer and realized you could open it. Inside were pictures of fish and lobster! I realized I was staring at a list of food. I could have any of these items and pay the number next to it.

  Humans were marvelous, inventive creatures! I loved them!

  I settled in, putting my backpack to the side and leaning over the menu. I wanted to try a little bit of everything, but I decided I had to pace myself.

  “What can I get you, hon?”

  “I would like a lobster roll, please.”

  “Chips or salad?”

  “Chips.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Yes. I would like the steamers. And a crab cake.”

  “That comes with chips or salad, too. Or you can do veggies.”

  “I believe I would like chips again,” I said, figuring it was safe. I’d had chips once in the Royal kitchen. If these were anything like those, I wanted to try them again.

  “Drink?”

  “What do you recommend?”

  “Most girls like diet soda with lemon.”

  “What do boys like?”

  “Regular soda.”

  “I’ll have that, please. With limon.” I smiled at her and asked if I could hang onto the menu. “Thank you, hon.”

  She gave me a funny look and walked off, leaving me to read the menu again. Thank Triton, our alphabet was extremely similar to two-legger writing. Plus, I’d been studying it at the Academy. Most Mers had a way with language, speaking and understanding multiple dialects. It was magical in origin, I suspected, though I’d never really thought about it before now.

  I tapped my fingers together and stared out at the water, wondering what my friends were doing right now.

  “SO good,” I mumbled to myself as I shoved another chip into my mouth. It lacked the subtlety of Batte’s cooking, but Triton, the food was good. And fresh!

  Coming from a Mermaid, that was high praise indeed.

  “You passing through, hon?” the waitress asked as she brought me a refill on my soda. I nodded. “Where to next?”

  “Not sure yet,” I said through my food, trying not to be totally disgusting but unwilling to spit out the salty, greasy goodness.

  “You’d better take something for the road then.”

  “Yes, please,” I said, trying to think of what to order. “What would stay fresh?”

  She laughed.

  “Not seafood, hon. I’ll have them whip you up a sandwich or two.”

  “Thank you. And may I have more crisps for the road as well?”

  She shook her head at me.

  “Such a polite girl. They’ll get soggy.”

  I smiled at her.

  “I’m fine with soggy.”

  Chapter 30

  My belly full, I continued into the well lit streets of the quiet town. My first human interaction had gone very well. I’d eaten well, paid without too much fuss, and learned to call people ‘hon’. A car drove past and I jumped, nearly dropping my precious bag of food. I knew about cars. And machines. They were land-boats, was how Dane explained it to me. But seeing it in person was a whole other experience.

  Hearing them was way more shocking.

  Land boats were loud.

  I frowned, looking around. There was very little happening here. Nobody was drilling for oil or dumping waste in the water. I needed to be where the people were if I was going to make use of my time on land.

  And I needed a place to rest. My feet were not used to walking. They were starting to ache.

  “Hotel. That’s what I need. Thank Triton I’d paid attention to some things in class,” I muttered to myself.

  “Are you looking for the bus stop? It’s easy to miss if you don’t know where to look.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  An elderly man was staring at me. He pointed up. There was a sign above me. It said New York.

  “Is this New York?”

  He shook his head with a chuckle.

  “You lost, girlie?”

  “I need to go to New York,” I decided. Even Mers knew that was the center of two-legger land. Or one of the centers, anyway. “Hon,” I added, figuring it was only polite.

  “You’re all the way up in Maine, girlie. That’s a long trip. But the bus will get you there eventually.”

  I wanted to ask him what a bus was but I didn’t.

  Play it cool, like Arctic water, Tri. You’ve got this. Kind of.

  “It’s cold to be waiting outside. Bus won’t be here for an hour at least. You all right?”

  “Yes, thank you,” I said. I had my chips. And the waitress had given me a bottle of water, tucked securely in my backpack. Another use for plastic I had marveled at. “It will be a full hour?”

  “Something like that. Don’t wander off too far, though, because there won’t be another one until tomorrow.”

  I nodded and gave my thanks. Two-Leggers were incredibly kind, I decided. So far, no one had screamed ‘Mermaid’ and tried to put me in a cage. That was a win as far as I was concerned.

  I walked a bit further down the block, fascinated by the shop windows. I looked in each one, wishing they were open so I could go inside and look at everything. Specifically, I wanted to touch things.

  Objects felt completely different when your skin was dry. I’d noticed in the res-to
o-rant. It was such a strange sensation. And the weight of it all! Even my clothes had weight!

  But I would get used to it, I reasoned with myself. I ran my fingertips over the glass in front of me. I was staring into a pet shop, with toys and small beds and stacks of canned food and pictures of adorable small teegers and canines everywhere.

  “Puppy food,” I read aloud off some of the products I could see. “Kitten mix.”

  There was so much of everything! Under the Sea, we had to make what we used. If someone was particularly skilled at making things, they sold directly to the rich. But everyday average Mer would not buy their familiar food in a can.

  I smiled, deciding Beazil would eat the whole can. The kittens and puppies, too, whatever they were.

  A rumble caught my attention, and I gasped at the whale-sized shape moving toward me.

  “Is that . . . the bus? Triton!”

  I ran toward it, using my stick to keep from falling down again. I stood there, trying to catch my breath as the doors opened. A man in a uniform stood there.

  “Going to?”

  “New York City.”

  “Did you buy a ticket online?”

  “I . . . uh . . . no?”

  “’Kay, that’ll be . . .” He fiddled with a little machine and looked at me. “One hundred and eleven.”

  “Dollars?” I asked, realizing how stupid I sounded.

  “Yes, dollars,” he said, giving me a funny look.

  I nodded and pulled out the folded paper money in my pocket. I stared at it, finding a hundred dollar bill and handing it over. I had some smaller bills from the res-too-rant. I showed them to him and he took a ten and a one.

  “You okay to be traveling alone? You special needs?”

  I wasn’t sure what he was asking, but I knew what it sounded like. It sounded like he didn’t think I was smart. Still, I clearly needed to be more comfortable handling money. Everything cost money here. It made things both much simpler and a lot harder.

  “I’m fine. I just can’t . . . see that well in the dark.”

  “Sure, kid. Just do me a favor and sit up near the front where I can keep an eye on you.”

  I nodded, feeling grateful.

  “And don’t take your bag off when you sleep or get up. Keep that thing glued to you.”

  I had no idea what ‘gloo’ was, but I nodded anyway.

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  He nodded, and I climbed onto the nearly empty bus, taking a seat by the glass in the second row. The bus rumbled back to life as the driver used a lever to shut the door.

  And then we were off. I gripped the edges of my seat as the whole bus lurched forward. The sensation was beyond strange, not at all like hitching a ride on a familiar or a friendly dolphin. I stared out the window into the darkness, the reality of my situation finally starting to hit home.

  Only a few hours ago, I’d been a candidate in the Academy with good friends around me. Now I was, at least temporarily, a dropout. I was alone in the middle of a very strange land. I was far from my friends and anything familiar. And even though two-leggers had been friendly so far, the bus driver’s words had made an impression on me.

  He thought I needed protection to stay safe. And he thought someone might try and take my bag. Everything I owned was inside it, so the thought was chilling, to say the least.

  This wasn’t like home. I couldn’t scavenge oysters if I got hungry or find an empty cave to sleep in. I needed money. I had to hold onto it.

  I closed my eyes, dozing off with the backpack strapped to my chest. It was oddly comforting to wear it like that. It felt like armor. Or cuddling an otter. When I opened my eyes a little while later, the bus was almost half full. I ate a little bit, deciding to save the rest for the morning. Then I closed my eyes again, trying to imagine what Beazil was doing right now.

  And then something odd happened. I felt the world shift as I slid through space. I blinked, looking around in shock.

  I was there.

  I could see the stable. One eye saw things in flat black and white, but the other . . . I experimented with focusing on one eye at a time. The other eye saw things that a normal eye couldn’t see. Colors, energy, and what looked like a glow that was either cool or hot, signifying safety or a warning.

  I was looking through Beazil’s eyes.

  And he wasn’t alone.

  Dane was there, talking to him. It was muffled, but I could hear him as clearly as if I was in the same room. Which I guess I was.

  My heart filled up as I listened to Dane telling my familiar I would be okay. That I would come back. That Dane would make sure he had plenty to eat in the meantime.

  The bus jolted, and I opened my eyes, the connection lost.

  But I could find it again. I would.

  And all of a sudden, I realized I wasn’t quite so alone after all.

  Turn the page for an excerpt from the Vampire Princess series

  Excerpt of Rogue Prince

  Friendship is built on mutual trust and admiration.

  “I’ll trade you… both your egg rolls.”

  I groaned and stared longingly at the egg rolls I’d been about to dig into.

  “Not the shrimp?”

  “That one too.”

  I grumbled and slid them over. Karen looked at me appraisingly. Then she stole a glance at Dylan, who was grabbing something from his car.

  We often met out here for lunch. Dylan wasn’t in school anymore but he worked not far away doing construction. I had no idea how he managed to pick up food, get here, eat and get back, but he did. And bless him, he’d brought Chinese food today.

  Karen was giving me an assessing look when I looked back at her.

  “He must really be under your skin. You love egg rolls.”

  “I am desperate.”

  “Okay, first tip is to imagine your mind as a steel box. That’s the basic stuff. I’m sure you’ve tried that. The other stuff requires energy work and you need to white light yourself first.”

  “White light?”

  “Imagine you are bathed in white light. Imagine it purifying you. You can picture a large bubble of it surrounding you if that helps.”

  “Like Glinda in the Wizard of Oz?”

  She nodded.

  “Exactly like Glinda.”

  Karen took a knife and cut both egg rolls in half. Then she slid a portion of each flavor back to me.

  “Thank you.”

  “You looked too sad. I couldn’t take advantage of you.”

  “I’ll always share my egg rolls with you, Karen.”

  She snort laughed, which she always did when she thought something was really funny. It made me laugh and then we were rolling on the blanket in the sunshine like a couple of drunk monkeys.

  There was nothing remotely dignified about us when we got this way.

  “You guys okay?” Dylan gave us a worried look as he sat crossed legged on the blanket. “Are you guys drinking wine coolers or something?”

  I tried to stop laughing. I really did. But there was no hope for it.

  “Nobody drinks wine coolers, Dylan.”

  “Some people do.”

  “Who?”

  He shrugged and muttered ‘chicks.’

  We started laughing again. Eventually hunger won out. Karen started explaining some of the ways to block a telepathic bond.

  “Is that was it is? Telepathic?”

  “Well, that’s the type of bond Fae usually have.”

  “What kind of bond is it do you think?”

  “Maybe a blend of a Vamp bond and Fae bond since you both have Angelic blood. The techniques aren’t perfect.”

  I bit into my half of the egg roll and almost moaned in ecstasy. It really was a sin to have such good Chinese food in this small town on the edge of nowhere. I thanked Nightfall for it every time I took a bite.

  Other than my friends, and the cozy house, it was one of the main reasons I had fought to stay here instead of jumping from town to town the wa
y we had for years. I had Chinese food at least twice a week without fail.

  So far, we’d been lucky. No one except Janelle had noticed that I was a little weird. No one had noticed that strange things happened in this town. Or that every once in a while, a biker or other degenerate came into the hospital with a shocking low blood volume.

  Of course, all that would change when Maxim came back.

  I caught Dylan staring at me with a pained look on his face.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You knew he was coming back.”

  “I did.”

  “Then what?”

  He just stood and brushed his hands off on his jeans.

  “I need to get back to work. Have a good day.”

  I watched him leave, then looked at Karen.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Do you really want to know?”

  “Yes. If I’m upsetting him… of course, I want to know.”

  “It’s not your fault its just…” She repositioned herself on the blanket. “Imagine if you loved someone. Like, really loved them, but you couldn’t be with them for whatever reason.”

  “Okay.”

  I knew that Dylan loved me. At one point, we had been in love. I loved him too, even though it was different now.

  “Now imagine that that person falls in love with someone else. Someone that everyone knows is bad for them.”

  “I’m not in love with Maxim!”

  “Imagine having a front row seat to that person denying their feelings, fighting against them, all that.”

  “But I’m not–”

  “Listen to me. You are my friend. I know it’s my fault that you aren’t with Dylan. But I’m an empath. I can tell you exactly what you felt when you mentioned that he was coming back.”

  I stared as she held up her fingers, ticking them off one by one.

  “You are angry with him and yourself.”

  True.

  “You are wistful. You want to see him but you know its treacherous.”

  Again true.

  “You miss him more than you could have imagined and are afraid you are in love with him, even if you won’t admit the possibility to yourself.”