The Sea Witch (The Era of Villains Book 1)

by Valfroy, S. J.

  “That can’t be true,” said Serena. “Ronan’s making it up.”

  “He’s not. It can be found in the palace records. I’ve looked. Ronan, a seventeen-year-old boy, was banished by a king who was not much more than a boy himself—kicked out of Adamar with no food, no companions, and no map to show him the way to any of the other far off merfolk cities, basically sentenced to die out in Deep Ocean—all because he helped his unjustly imprisoned friend escape for a couple of hours and gave him some food and shelter.”

  Serena’s stomach twisted. It couldn’t possibly be true. The king and queen were stern in their reign, but not cruel. But Amphitrite’s cold, condescending sneer rippled in front of Serena’s eyes all the same.

  — — —

  Victor, Arcanus’ resident doctor, was a skilled but strange man. His hair was the color of the iron that Moira sometimes harvested from shipwrecks to trade with pirates for potion ingredients. His tail was only a shade lighter. His eyes were a blue so icy the irises almost disappeared into the whites. He was alarmingly thin, and his fingers were long and spindly like a spider crab’s legs. He had a habit of rubbing his thumbs against the tips of his fingers. He did it before performing any sort of examination—checking a heartbeat, checking throats and ears for infection, or inspecting underneath scales for bothersome parasites. He was always cracking odd jokes that made Serena and her fellow nurse and fast friend, Annabelle, look at each other, confused.

  “That old mermaid’s as crusty as a walrus on grooming day,” he said to Serena and Annabelle, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the door he’d just come out of where he’d been inspecting an elderly mermaid with a bad scale fungus. He laughed at his own joke. His cackling laugh always cracked at the end and turned into a cough. As he hacked away, Serena exchanged a look with Annabelle, who mumbled, “I don’t get it either.”

  When he had finished coughing, Victor held out a closed clam shell to Serena and said, “Rub her down with antifungal ointment please, Serena, and send her home with some more of it.”

  Ever since Serena had learned that Victor had been in and out of jail in Adamar for using experimental medicines on unwitting patients, she always double checked the labels of Victor’s prescriptions before giving them to patients. She flipped the clam shell over and inspected the information written in squid ink on the back. She recognized the manufacturer’s name and none of the ingredients listed stuck out as odd. She was growing more and more familiar with such things. Though she’d only been in Arcanus for a month, she spent most of her days at the infirmary. She, Annabelle, and Victor were the only staff, so even though Arcanus was a very small place, they were kept busy.

  Serena swam into the examination room. The old mermaid was rather beautiful despite the wrinkles and the tail fungus. Her long hair was as white as a beluga whale. It fell in a surprisingly thick braid all the way to the top of her pink tail.

  “There’s really no need for you to rub me down with that, dear,” she said before Serena could even open her mouth. “I can do it myself.”

  “How about we do it together,” said Serena. “It will take less time, and I can show you how much you need to apply to each affected scale.”

  “Alright then.” The old mermaid straightened her back and rubbed one hand in a dignified gesture down the front of her tail.

  “You really only need a thin layer, but you have to apply it twice a day. If you get it too goopy, it will get uncomfortable. Flip your tail up for me, please.”

  The old mermaid leaned back in the water and flipped her tail up so that it was level with Serena’s chest. The fungus was scattered down the length of it, the blue-grey spores poking out from under the scales in little patches.

  “Now make sure to lift the scale and apply the ointment to the underside at the base. You see?”

  The old mermaid nodded.

  “Now you can do the ones at the top, and I’ll do the ones at the bottom.” After a few moments of silent application, Serena said, “Tell me a little about yourself. It’ll pass the time.”

  “Well, I never thought I’d be here—an old mermaid with an old mermaid’s fungus.”

  “You look great, and anybody can get a fungus.”

  “That’s sweet of you, dear.” After a few moments pause, she said, “I used to be a singer. I was pretty famous back in my day.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Mmhmm. My name could reel in the big crowds. I sang at the palace in Adamar a lot. King Marten, he was Prince Marten back then though, was sweet on me.”

  Serena thought of Triton, and there was a twinge in her heart. It had been so long since she’d seen him.

  “I didn’t much care for him though. He liked himself a little too much, if you know what I mean.”

  Serena smiled, and the old mermaid smiled back, encouraged. Serena knew she’d talk through the rest of the application now.

  “The fame started to fade with my looks, but I was still making a pretty good living until something went wrong in my throat. I still don’t know what it was. The doctors couldn’t figure it out. I’d try to sing and an ugly croak would come out. And it hurt, too. I thought it was all over, but then I heard about this young sea witch.” Serena’s finger froze, a small blob of ointment on the tip. “She was about the same age you are now. What was her name?” Serena could hardly breathe. It couldn’t be happening again. “Moira! That’s it, Moira. She gave me a potion and fixed me right up. Cost me an arm and a fin, though, but by that time I was already taking care of my grandson, so getting my voice back to put food in his mouth was worth the price. You alright, dear?”

  “Yes, sorry, I’m fine,” said Serena, forcing her hands back to work. “I just got wrapped up in the story, that’s all.”

  The old mermaid beamed.

  “Would you believe I only had to take the one potion? My voice came back and it’s stayed back ever since. I could even hit some notes better than before.” Serena cringed, wondering what human girl or mermaid lost their voice so this old mermaid could have what she thought was hers back. “I’d probably still be singing in Adamar if I’d been able to keep my grandson out of trouble. He was in and out of prison so much that he only spent one birthday at home between seventeen and twenty-five. I had to get him away from there. Anyways, there I go telling too much. But that Moira woman, she’s a miracle worker. Should’ve gone back to her and seen if she could do anything to set my grandson straight.”

  She’d probably make him think he was a sea star or something, thought Serena. That would mellow him out. Yeah, she’d think that was real funny. And don’t forget, ‘No refunds.’

  She couldn’t believe someone else in Arcanus had mentioned her mother. Calling her a miracle worker was new. So far during her time in Arcanus, she had heard Moira called “powerful,” “gifted,” “something special,” and “a rarity among mermaids.”

  Annabelle had been the first merperson to mention Moira. One night, when Annabelle invited Serena over for dinner not long after they became friends, they had told each other why they had come to Arcanus. Annabelle grew up in a poor household and had been mercilessly bullied all through school. She had thought of running away many times but never had the courage…or the anger.

  “But then, two years ago, a shark smashed into our house while it was chasing a seal,” Annabelle had told Serena. “It was demolished. It really wasn’t much of a house anyways, of course, more like a hut. My parents didn’t have the time or the tools to carve a house of stone and didn’t have the money to commission one to be built with the Trident’s magic. We had nowhere to go, and it was the middle of winter, so we couldn’t just sleep out in the open while we rebuilt the house. We requested an audience with the king and queen and asked if they could restore the house. We didn’t ask for a better one, just the old one back. King Poseidon said that magic didn’t come for free. He said,
‘It’s the rarest resource in the ocean, and it costs accordingly.’ We couldn’t afford what he wanted. We couldn’t even afford the cost of having royal guard members come help us rebuild it by hand. My mother cried for days, and we did end up sleeping outside. One of the Arcanus recruiters showed up on the third day. The rest of my family wouldn’t come, but I couldn’t stay there any longer.”

  Serena had felt like she’d been smacked in the face. Why had she never heard stories like this before coming here? Probably because I had no friends, she had thought. But how could the king and queen be so cruel? They were supposed to help people. Whenever they made public speeches they sounded so sincere; they wanted to make Adamar a better place, a safe place, a place where all creatures were treated equally. Amphitrite doesn’t think I should be treated equally, she thought. She lets those rich girls hang all over Triton, and I can’t even look at him.

  Then Serena had told Annabelle her story.

  “That sounds just like the queen,” Annabelle had said, her lips a snarl. “The royals are a bunch of evil, selfish snobs.”

  “Triton isn’t like that,” Serena said. “He looked really upset when she was saying all those awful things to me.”

  “Why didn’t he say something then?” said Annabelle, looking doubtful.

  “I…I don’t know.”

  Annabelle’s face had softened when she’d realized Serena was close to tears.

  “He’s probably scared of her, of both his parents. He’ll have to get over that, though, if he’s going to be a good king,” she said.

  “Or if he’s ever going to speak to me long enough to realize we’re perfect for each other.”

  “If you really want to be with him that badly, you know what you should do?”

  “What?”

  “Get a love potion. There’s a sea witch in Adamar named Moira, and merpeople say she’s scary powerful. She can do anything.”

  Serena’s face had lost color in shock, and Annabelle had misinterpreted it as fear at the idea of magic.

  “Don’t look so scared. It’s not dangerous. Yeah, it’s a little unusual to snag a merman with a love potion, but think about it. You could ask her to make one that’s breakable. That way, you could just use it long enough to get his attention, let him get to know you. Then you could take it off of him, and if you’re really perfect for one another, he will have actually fallen in love with you anyways!”

  Serena had just smiled and acted like she thought it was an amusing little fantasy, and at first she had cast the idea aside as ridiculous. But it kept coming back to her more and more, tugging at her mind as she lay in bed each night. It wasn’t just a fantasy. She knew her mother could actually do it, but her mother’s magic was bad news. Wasn’t it?

  Not long after that night with Annabelle, Serena had been casually talking to another new friend, a merman named Alec whose blonde hair reminded her of Triton’s, when all of a sudden, he had brought up Moira.

  “Have you ever gone to see a sea witch?” he said.

  “What? Me? No. Have you?” she said, her voice sounding a little too high pitched in her ears.

  “I was thinking about it,” he said, looking down and picking at his scales.

  “Why?”

  He looked at her with a shy smile and said, “It’s a secret. But I have a buddy who says he knows about this witch in Adamar named Moira. Says she can do anything. He travels a lot, and he says he’s been to a lot of different sea witches, but Moira’s something special. ‘A rarity among mermaids,’ he called her. ‘The most powerful witch in the sea.’”

  “I would be careful, Alec,” Serena had said. “Just because she’s the most powerful doesn’t mean she’s the fairest or the kindest.”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” said Alec, looking slightly disheartened.

  Serena had hoped she had deterred him, at least for a little while, but she hadn’t been able to completely ignore the little spark of pride his words had ignited. She had never felt that way about her mother before. It felt good. It felt right. But at first, she had scolded herself and listed all the immoral things she knew her mother had done.

  Now, rubbing ointment onto the last patch of fungus on the old mermaid’s tale, that little spark of pride blazed again, a little brighter this time. Perhaps her mother really had restored this mermaid’s real voice instead of stealing a new one from someone else.

  “All done,” Serena said.

  “Thank you, dear.”

  “Now take the rest of this one, and I’ll go grab you another full one for you to take home with you, too.”

  — — —

  Serena almost turned back on her way to Casius’ home, but she shook her head and swam on. This was it. She had made her decision. Living in a place where every two out of three merpeople were criminals made her uneasy, despite the fact that she had made new friends. She stopped swimming again. Her friends. She couldn’t leave her friends. She had gone so long without friends; she couldn’t do that again, could she? But she wouldn’t be leaving all of her friends…hopefully. And really, Casius was the friend she felt closest too.

  Deep down she knew the real reason she wanted to leave Arcanus. She dreamt of Triton almost every night now. The familiar ache of fierce desire was back stronger than ever. Amphitrite’s words had lost their sting. She knew the truth now. Queen Amphitrite and King Poseidon were cruel, selfish, unfit rulers. She couldn’t let them influence Triton. She wouldn’t let Amphitrite force some pretty, wealthy, bubblehead who didn’t care about the kingdom (or anything except her hair) on him. He needed someone who could help him reach his full potential. Encourage his kindhearted nature towards his subjects. He needed her. And if she had to use a love potion to make him ignore his parents’ objections and make him see she was perfect for him, then that’s what she would do. Even if it meant asking Moira for help.

  Casius’ home was not a house. He lived in a large crevasse under a giant piece of volcanic rock. She gently pushed aside the sea weed he had strategically laid over the opening like a door.

  “Casius?” she called.

  “Serena, what a lovely surprise,” said Casius, emerging from the dark space underneath the rock, tentacles first.

  “Casius, I’m going home to Adamar. Will you come with me?”

  Chapter 4

  Sign on the Line

  “There it is,” said Serena, parting two stalks of kelp to reveal the family cave in its little clearing in the kelp forest. “I think you’d better stay out here for a while. She’s going to be furious, and octopus beaks and tentacles are used in quite a few potions.”

  “I’ll be waiting, then,” said Casius, not sounding too concerned. “Don’t let her bully you.”

  “I don’t let her bully me. That’s why she hates me so much.”

  Casius watched her swim into the glowing blue mouth of the cave and wondered if he should have spoken up. He had wanted to tell her that a love potion was probably not the solution. Triton shouldn’t need a love potion to fall for her. If he did, he wasn’t worthy of her anyways. But he had held his tongue because she was finally taking the first step to embracing her talent, and he was sure that was the right decision. He sank to the ocean floor and changed his skin to blend in with the sand so he would not be disturbed…and maybe he could catch himself a little lunch.

  A purple cloud of smoke was rising from Moira’s cauldron when Serena entered the cave. Magic was imperious to the effects of water, and the smoke acted just like smoke above the surface. Moira swished it out of her eyes when Serena entered.

  “Well, well, well,” said Moira, “look who decided to come swimming back home. Have you been wandering out on the edge of the reef crying for a whole month?” Moira laughed at Serena’s disgruntled look of surprise and anger. “You thought I didn’t know? I’ve been keeping a close eye on that slimy eel who calls herself a queen. I saw the whole
thing from right here.” Moira pointed a finger down at her cauldron with a smirk. She twirled the finger in the air, stirring the potion, and then grabbed a glass bottle from the shelf and threw in two flying fish fins. The smoke turned blue.

  “Poor, poor Serena,” said Hazel, appearing from the green-lit hallway to her room. Her face was pulled down in a mocking pout, her eyes ablaze with giddy joy. “Rejected by her prince. How rude of him to laugh in your face like that.”

  “I was surprised you had the guts to finally speak up. At least you kept your head held high,” said Moira, making Hazel’s eyes narrow. “You disappointed me, though. Sniveling in front of Amphitrite like that. I shouldn’t have been surprised. You’re a constant disappointment.”

  A wicked grin spread across Hazel’s face at that.

  “And then she swam away like a little baby,” said Hazel, puffing out her lip in a theatrical pout again.

  “Yes,” said Moira, dunking a clean vial into the cauldron and stoppering up the blue liquid, “poor little Serena swam off because she didn’t get her way. You swam like you have always swum from your destiny, your powers. You let that weak, insecure little tuna fish of a queen and her precious little brat get the best of you, beat you down, drive you from your own home. You’re a disgrace. Did you come back because you were hungry? Because you were cold? You’re so sure you’re better than me, so sure you don’t need me or my magic, and yet you come swimming back to me when you need something.”

  “I didn’t come back because I was hungry or cold,” said Serena, her anger quickly overpowering the small twinge of guilt Moira’s words had brought on—she had let Amphitrite drive her out of Adamar, and she had come back to Moira because she needed something. “If you had bothered to keep track of your own daughter like you keep track of the queen, you would know that I went to a new city to start over.”