Kingdom of Salt and Sirens

by J. A. Armitage

  “Oh, they’re the unicorn fish,” Darya says. “I used to love looking at those.”

  “Yes, they are, but these ones have huge horns that are anything from six feet upwards and they’ve been imprisoned so far down in The Deep that they no longer know right from wrong. No-one in their right mind would try to get through them.”

  “Surely someone could get through them.” It doesn’t sound that bad.

  “Well, first they have to get through the Bathysaurus.”

  “Don’t tell me they’re real too? Seriously, we’ve learnt about these fish in school but only as legends.”

  “No, they exist. Some of our kind have got to them but not come back. Like I say, only a fool will try and get to Zale to find out the secret of mermaids and humans living together.” Hurley turns around as Dad calls his name.

  I turn to face Darya.

  “Don’t you dare tell me you are even thinking about going down there, Nix.” She’s shaking her head.

  “I never said that. But, if it means that I can be with Sophia then I think she’s worth it.”

  Darya reaches out and takes my arm. “No, Nix. No-one is worth that kind of risk.”

  “I’m not going, Darya, but I’ll think about it.”

  “You’d better not. I don’t want to lose you as well...” She lowers her eyes.

  “What do you mean as well? Darya, what aren’t you telling me?”

  “It’s nothing, Nix. I’m good.”

  We don’t talk about it again during dinner, and afterwards I go to my room to study everything I can find out about Zale and the Bathysaurus.

  I need to know how dangerous this is going to be, because regardless of what I said to Darya, I am going to see Zale. I just hope I survive long enough to find out the secret.

  7

  Sophia POV

  At dinner, I tell Mum and Dad that I’ve made a new friend. “He’s really nice, Mum. He makes me laugh.”

  “Very good, Sophia. Just be careful. Jack says he doesn’t know anyone who knows him so he’s still a stranger.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake. Were you talking about this behind my back, Jack? It’s my decision when I tell Mum about Nix, not yours.” I storm away from the dinner table, run upstairs, and throw myself on my bed.

  After an hour or so, Mum knocks on the door. “Can I come in, Soph?”

  “Yeah, I suppose.”

  She comes in and sits on the end of my bed. “You know we care about you and just want you to live your life as much as you can. We’re just worried because no one knows your new friend, that’s all. Why don’t you invite him over for lunch sometime and we can meet him.”

  “Really? You want to meet him?” Sitting up in bed, everything feels so much better.

  “Yes, baby. If he makes you happy then we would love to meet him.”

  “I’ll ask him and see if we can arrange something. Thank you, Mum.”

  “We’re going to watch a film if you want to join us.”

  “What are you watching?”

  “One of the Mission Impossible movies.”

  “Nah, thanks. I’ll give that one a miss.”

  “No problem, Soph. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Yeah. See you then.”

  When she leaves, I sit in my window seat, looking out over the cove and the sea. I wonder what Nix is up to and whether he’s thinking about me.

  * * *

  After breakfast, I rush down to the beach. I can’t wait to see Nix, but it’s only as I’m running down the steps that I realise I don’t know how to get hold of him. When I’m on the sand, I have a moment when I don’t know what to do. Is it right? Should I be excited about him, even though he isn’t human?

  Walking towards the sea, I take a moment to breathe in the scent of the beach and the sea. The salt hangs in the air and I know it will lay on my skin for me to taste later. My hair will be frizzy and straw-like if I stay too long. The smells mingle in with each other. Suntan lotion, salt, ice creams, and coffee.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see something jumping out of the sea, and when I turn to the left, I see Nix, leaning on the rocks and waving at me.

  Running over to him, I sit in front of him, not sure if I should hug him.

  “Morning, beautiful,” he says, smiling at me. My heart starts flipping and flopping all over the place. I really have it bad.

  “Morning.” I can feel the blush rising from my chin up to my cheeks. “I didn’t know how to call you and let you know I was here.”

  He laughs. “You don’t need to. I know when you’re here. I feel it in here.” He puts his hand over his heart.

  “Really? You want me to believe that corny line?” I laugh out loud.

  He doesn’t say anything and when I look at him, he looks all serious. “No, really. It’s true. I knew you were here and you were looking for me.”

  “Oh, you’re serious. Sorry for laughing.”

  “It’s fine. I can’t explain how it works, it just does. So, how did you sleep last night? Did you dream of mermaids after I told you the truth?”

  “No, funnily enough, I didn’t. What do you want to do today?”

  “I would love you meet my sister, Darya. She knows all about you and she would love to meet you. Do you feel up to it today?” He looks at me like I’m the only person left in the world. I’d do anything for him right now.

  “I’d love that. But what if she doesn’t like me?”

  “Why would she not like you?” He frowns and tilts his head slightly to the side. “You’re beautiful, gorgeous, and fun to be with.”

  “Thanks. But I’m human. I didn’t think mermaids liked humans.”

  “Mostly they don’t, but Darya is open-minded. She’ll love you. The only thing is, you’re going to have to get in the sea.”

  “I don’t mind that. I love being in the ocean.”

  Standing up, I take my shorts and t-shirt off and leave them folded on top of my sliders.

  “Move out of the way then, fish boy. Let me show you how to dive in.”

  As I get into position, he moves to the side, laughing. I gracefully dive into the cold, dark sea.

  When I reach the surface again, I start shaking. “Oh my God, that’s cold. You could have warned me.”

  Laughing, he comes up and hugs me to him to try and warm me up. My legs wrap around his waist. “It was much more fun to watch how you reacted. This is warm for me. The further down we go, the colder it gets. “

  “Where will I meet your sister? Do I need to go under the water?”

  “No. She’s going to come up to see you. Do you see that little island out there?” He points to a small rock that juts out of the sea.

  “Yes.”

  “Have you ever swum out there?”

  I shake my head. “It’s quite far out.”

  He smiles. “We hang around there. On the other side of it there’s a small cove and some caves that we go to when we’re not in school. She’s going to meet us out there.”

  “I won’t be able to swim that far though.” I feel panicked already. It’s only our first hurdle and I’m going to fail.

  “Hey.” He touches my chin so that I look up at him. “I’ve got you. I’ll carry you if I have to. You can hang onto me and I’ll bring you out there.”

  “Don’t leave me out there. Please?” I look at him, pleading not to leave me.

  “Sophia, I’ve apologised for leaving you in the caves. I promise it won’t happen again.”

  “Do you pinkie swear?”

  “What’s that?” Again, he isn’t sure what I’m talking about. I forget he’s not a normal teenager.

  Giggling, I hold out my hand, palm side up, and use my thumb to hold back the next fingers so that only my pinkie is sticking out. “Copy me.” I watch as he tries to do it, and when he succeeds, I wrap my pinkie around his. “Pinkie swear that you won’t leave me on my own out here where it’s too far for me to swim home on my own.”

  He looks at our joi
ned fingers then, laughing, he shakes them both. “I pinkie swear that I won’t leave you out here on your own where it’s too far for you to swim home.”

  I try to keep a serious face, but just can’t seem to manage it. Laughing, I say, “Thank you. That means more to us humans than anything else.”

  He shakes his head, smiling. “You’re a funny breed.”

  8

  Nix POV

  We swim together until Sophia is tired and then I take her hand and pull her closer to me. “Climb on my back and put your hands around my neck. I’ll bring you the rest of the way.”

  She moves over my back and wraps her small arms around my neck. It feels strange to have someone hanging off me; I’ve not done it before. I concentrate on swimming and it’s not long before we arrive at the cove. It’s empty at this time of day and I send a message telepathically to Darya to let her know we’re here.

  Turning around, I wait for Sophia to climb off my back and onto the rocks. She shivers with the cold.

  “Darya’s on her way. She won’t be long.”

  “Does she know we’re here?”

  “Yeah. We can communicate telepathically.”

  “Wow, Nix, that’s really cool.” Her eyes are wide open. As I turn around, Darya jumps out of the sea and dives back in again.

  I moan. “God, she likes to show off.”

  “She’s beautiful.”

  “I know she is. I’m surprised a young merman hasn’t snapped her up yet.”

  Darya swims up to the cove and leans against the rocks. “Hi. You must be Sophia.”

  Sophia moves closer to her, smiling. “Yes, I am. And you must be Darya. I’m so excited to meet you. Can I see your tail, please? I’ve only ever seen Nix’s.”

  “Sure.” She turns around and flips her tail out onto the rocks. It’s a beautiful red and green colour.

  Sophia reaches out to touch Darya’s tail and I watch her with fascination. When her fingers touch the silky scales, she closes her eyes. I don’t know what she’s imagining or thinking of, but whatever it is makes her smile.

  When Sophia pulls her hand away, Darya slips back into the sea.

  “I can see why my brother likes you, Sophia. You’re very pretty.” She smiles at Sophia and then at me.

  We talk for an hour or so and Sophia gets back in the water because she feels uncomfortable being the only one on land.

  “Would you take me to the caves again, Nix?”

  “Are you talking about the Lost Caves?” Darya asks.

  “Yeah. Sophia has been in them a few times.”

  “Why do you like it there, Sophia?” Darya asks.

  “My sister used to take me there. She always found it peaceful. She would go there when she needed to think.”

  Darya tilts her head as she looks at Sophia. “Your sister? What’s her name?”

  “She was called Anna, but she died two years ago. The caves were her favourite place to go. She said she could think in there. Sometimes she would be gone for hours, which is why it was left so long before anyone went to try and find her.”

  “A… Anna?” Darya looks upset, angry even. “Your sister was Anna?”

  “Darya, are you okay?” She looks pale and suddenly she turns from Sophia and dives under the water, ignoring my questions.

  Sophia looks at the place where Darya left. “Did I say something to upset her? She left quickly. I don’t think she likes me,” Sophia says, with tears in her eyes.

  I try to ask Darya telepathically what’s wrong, but she blocks me from her mind. We can block anyone from our minds, but we don’t usually do it and not from each other. She’s worried me now.

  “Hey, of course she likes you. I don’t know what spooked her there. I’ll find out. Come here.” I open my arms for Sophia to swim into them. “Let’s go back to shore.”

  “No. Can we stay a little longer? I want to talk to you about something.”

  Smiling down at her, I grip her a little tighter. “Of course we can stay.”

  She tries to start her sentence a few times before she finds the right words. “Erm, would you like to come to our house for lunch tomorrow?”

  “Will your parents be there?”

  “Of course they will. They want to meet you.”

  “You’ve told them about me? Did you tell them what I am?” I could get into serious trouble if she’s told her parents. The less people that know about mermaids the better.

  “No, of course not. I just told them that you’re someone special to me and they wanted to meet you.”

  Hugging her tighter, I kiss the top of her head. “I’m someone special, am I?”

  Blushing, she looks up at me. “Yes, you are. I can’t explain how you’ve become so important to me in such a short time, but you are.”

  “Same here. You’re special to me too, Sophia. I want to bring you to my home, but it won’t be as easy as going to your house. My parents are… let’s just say my parents are wary of humans so it might not go as well as a visit to your house.”

  “Really? Is that going to be a problem?”

  “They think that humans just want to kill all the sea creatures. You can’t blame them, really. You hunt our fish, our whales, crabs, lobster and God knows what else, and then you eat them. Barbaric.”

  “I never thought of it like that. I love fish, but I think you’ve just put me off.” She giggles and it’s a gorgeous sound.

  “It’s okay. I don’t eat humans so we’re good.” I throw my head back and laugh.

  “What do you eat then? I just assumed you ate fish.”

  “We eat the plants and any vegetation we can find. It would be cruel to eat one of our kind.”

  “I guess that makes sense. So, will you be able to get some of the Rubins to come and visit me tomorrow?”

  “I’ll try and see what I can do. They’re being heavily guarded at the moment as they know some has been stolen.”

  “Don’t get caught or you could get into trouble and then I wouldn’t get to see you again.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t get caught. Actually, speaking of Rubins, I have some here. Do you want to try some and come for a swim underwater with me?”

  “How does that work for me?”

  I take a piece out from my pocket and hand it to her. “Keep a piece just in case you ever need to get away or want to come and find me. Then take the second piece and chew on it. It won’t taste nice to you, but after a little while you will feel a big bubble of air forming in your throat. This is the air that will help you to breathe underwater. A layer will form over the bubble so that when you open your mouth, you won’t swallow lots of water. It doesn’t last too long, so when you feel that bubble getting smaller, you need to signal me to get back up to the surface.”

  “It sounds scary and unbelievable. But then again, I didn’t think mermaids were real before yesterday.”

  She takes one piece and places it in her bikini top and the she puts the other one into her mouth. It’s funny to watch the changes in her face as she starts to chew the Rubins. She clearly doesn’t like the taste or texture of it as she scrunches up her face and holds her nose. After a couple minutes of chewing, she swallows it down and removes her fingers from her nose.

  “Oh my God. That was disgusting.”

  “You’re so funny. What was with the nose holding thing?”

  Laughing, she says, “That was so I couldn’t taste it.”

  A lump grows on her throat and I know that is the air bubble forming. “Come on. Let’s slip under the water and see if you can breathe.”

  “I’m scared, Nix. What if I can’t and I drown?”

  “You won’t. I’m here to protect you. Always.”

  She slowly lets go of my neck and slides under the sea. I lower myself until I’m face to face with her. “Breathe, Sophia. Breathe.” I’m willing this to work. I want her to see where I come from.

  She opens her mouth to take a gulp of air. Sea water enters her mouth and her eyes open wide as she r
ealises that she can breathe and won’t swallow the water. “This is amazing,” she says as she looks around at the sea life that congregates by the island.

  “Follow me. I’m going to show you around.” I’m so excited. I can’t wait to show her how beautiful our world is.

  Taking my hand, she swims alongside me. She’s slower than I am due to my tail being able to propel me further than her legs can. I point out different areas and species along the way.

  “That’s where we go to school,” I say, pointing at a large cave. We swim deeper and then the village comes into vision. I feel her tugging on my arm.

  “What’s that?” She’s pointing at the two villages.

  “They’re the villages that protect the castle.”

  “There’s a castle?” Her face lights up and she smiles.

  “Yes. That’s where we’re headed.”

  When we move over the villages and past the Rubins field, the castle comes into view. She stops swimming and stares at it. “Nix, this is beautiful. It looks like a magical castle just like the one at Disney World.”

  I don’t know what she’s talking about, but it’s making her smile so I don’t care.

  “Let’s swim closer.” I grab her hand and pull her along with me.

  “Don’t get too close and get into trouble,” she says, trying to pull my hand back.

  Laughing, I pull her closer to me. “This is where I live, Sophia. I won’t get into trouble.”

  She stops abruptly. “You live here?” I nod. “You live in a castle? Does that mean you are mermaid royalty or whatever it’s called?”

  Nodding again, I smile. “This has been in my family for generations. Remember I told you that my dad is the king and mum is the queen.”

  “Does that mean you will take over ruling this world one day?”

  I never really thought about it much, because I’m still young. “Yes, I guess it does.”

  “Wow!” She looks around her and at the castle.

  “Do you want to come in?” I’m not sure it’s a great idea, but we did come this far.