I had only just brainstormed ways I could attend the ball without making a splash, but now that I saw the benefit and was on board with the ulterior motives of causing a stir, I intended to make the biggest splash ever. Sometimes you had to put your big-girl boots on and stomp some puddles.
So not only would I be attending the ball, I would be going in style, outfitted in the most daring, eye-catching, regent-seducing, obnoxious, doubly-provocative costume I could commission Abraxia to create.
Doubly-provocative because the entity I had in mind was none other than my very own mermaid fin, and not only did I plan on looking like an uber-stunning temptress from head to tail, but I could count on my brazen nerve to parade as one of them–as a full-blooded mermaid qualified to steal Coda’s affections–coming across as a direct threat, and rubbing all their pretty, perfectly-laid scales exactly the wrong way.
I was en route to commission the fin in question as soon as I was able to find my way out of the palace.
Brax was more than happy to serve as my partner-in-crime, her initial serious expression as she listened transforming gradually into a dark, wicked grin.
“You, Sayler, are a vixen,” she said with approval, and Project Fin was underway.
I wanted it gold. Gold to complement Codexious’s silver. A necklace-like chain around my waist that dangled gold shark-tooth charms as an extra statement, small gold seashell pasties for minimal modesty as my only chest coverage, and streamers and plumes for both my hair and the end of my fin that flowed for yards with gem-colored peacock-feather luster.
Abraxia had never seen peacock feathers before, but after I described them she was able to produce nearly the spitting image, down to the vibrant violet-to-sea-green iridescent shimmer.
I could have hugged her, so marvelous a job did she do on every aspect.
Of course to go with the motif I had gold eye-shadow and lip gloss and peacock-feather eyelashes, and a tribal necklace of gold hydroglyphs as the finishing touch.
Abraxia raised a saucy brow at me when I tried on the whole get-up. “Can you be my queen?” she teased, impressed.
My confidence swelled with her stamp of approval. This was going to work well.
The aurora dawned red, and Atlantis rallied for the ball. Something darker tainted the festive ambiance this time around, a daring, defiant energy lacing the water.
Viva la revolution, I thought ominously, admiring myself in the Clam Shop mirror. I was magnificent.
I’d spent many a pool day in my youth doing ‘the mermaid’ as my choice swimming technique, so the motion came naturally, and the fin had been properly designed to propel me like flippers, making my transition to full-fledged mermaid a painless, fluid one.
If I hadn’t already been pegged as the half-breed homewrecker pariah that everyone wanted to feed to the sharks, they might never know.
Because it was such a fluid transition, my ‘grand entrance’ didn’t initially catch as many eyes as the first ball. I glided in like any other mermaid, joining the gaudy, sultry masses.
Searching for me, Abraxia caught my eye, giving me a wink, and Turoxo, ever at her side during these events, leaned in to whisper in her ear as he watched me pass, looking impressed.
Contrary to the rest of the mermaids who had yet to notice anything out of the ordinary, I had to keep myself from gaping as I infiltrated the festivities.
I wasn’t the only thing that had been utterly transformed.
Coda had expressed his disappointment that I wouldn’t be there because he planned to debut our song to the public, but he hadn’t told me about the rest of his plans. The theme he had chosen for this ball reflected a page right out of our date to the geode caves and deep-sea waterfalls. It was a spectacular, relevant theme that anyone might have picked as the backdrop for an Atlantean ball and might not have meant anything, except that I knew that it did.
The existing slab of agate slice that was the marble floor served as the perfect foundation on which to build the rest of the look, all the pillars decorated with patches that mimicked gem-ruptured craters, draping clusters of crystal-studded Spanish-style moss hanging low from the chandeliers and everything that offered purchase, the lighting dark and twinkling, some manner of jet-powered, blue-lit currents rushing vertically between every set of pillars. The chandeliers sparkled faintly with fluctuating fiber-optics, a tiny species of firefly-like minnow bobbing and flitting throughout the dark ballroom.
I wandered through the glittering stalactites of moss that dangled from the dome, taking it all in, trying not to lose my focus in light of the overwhelming tribute that covered every inch of the place.
I wasn’t the only one who had out-done myself.
A fact that became all the more realized when I saw Codexious himself. His entire fin had been redecorated, swathed in a charcoal coating that was the shiny black-leather version of papier-mâché, marbled with silver fissures and cracks, and featuring a huge section from one hip down across to one tip of his fin that was crusted with crumbled aquamarine crystals and diamond dust to match the crater-gouged pillars. His tail was, in and of itself, a geode cracked open.
He had smudged the rest of his body with a smoky black substance as well, like he’d been playing in ashes, his eyes starkly lined in dark shadow and his webbed lashes studded with diamonds.
I had the precise reaction upon seeing him that I’d hoped to exact upon him. Wow.
We met amongst the crystalized moss, sizing each other up with equal amazement.
“My lady,” he greeted, surprised to see me.
“Codexious.” I could hardly eek it out in my stupefaction, rendered all but incapacitated in the presence of this Geode Prince.
Coda’s smoky gaze took in my tail, and I could swear I felt goosebumps, an ultra-real phantom sensation, all down the scales of my fin.
“You are…magnificent,” he gushed, very nearly at a loss for words. “I didn’t think you were coming.”
“I thought I’d surprise you,” I murmured coyly.
“I am…surprised,” he laughed, giving me a second appraisal.
“I haven’t missed our song yet, have I?”
His eyes aglitter with mirth and mischief and the reflection of the fantasy all around us, he returned his focus–with some effort–to my face. “Not at all. Some part of me resolved to wait until the very last minute, in the secret hope that you might show.”
I blushed gently, glancing down to avoid the direct intensity of his gaze, but that only aligned my own salacious ensemble in my line of sight and reinforced the blush, so I returned all attention to him lest I lose my nerve to pervade the ball as intended.
“I thought more about what you said,” I explained. “About drawing those responsible for the crimes against me out of the woodwork. And I decided it’s the only way to put the incident to rest–and, hopefully, restore some peace of mind for you to choose a bride.” I was surprised at the twinge of pain that accompanied those words, talk of him choosing a bride driving a physical shard into my gut. I clenched my body against it, continuing: “So here I am, my lord. The bait that you asked for. Let’s start a riot.”
His chiseled cheek twitched with an almost-smile, a keen but cautious gleam peering at me from under his lashes. “Are you sure?”
I stiffened with nerves. “I won’t be if you keep asking, so let’s just get on with it, shall we?”
He inclined his head, gracious and composed. “Swim with me?” I wormed up alongside him as he turned to head for the center of the ballroom.
It was then, emerging from the fringes of moss as a pair and taking center stage in the enchanted-cavern motif, that the heads began to turn. Those venomous alien eyes slithered and cut and carved to our tandem exhibit, crawling all over me, leaving tingling, burning tracks where they picked me apart. They undressed me, unraveled the very fiber of my being, clawed at my resolve with a thousand needles of disdain.
Which poisonous gaze was behind the crimes exacted against me? How ma
ny of them had banded together to get rid of me?
I locked gazes with Coda for moral support, suddenly not sure I could do this. He stared unflinchingly, affirmingly into my eyes, telling me I could. Just keep your eyes on me, his expression said. Don’t look at them. Nothing else matters.
This was what we wanted, I reminded myself. All I had to do was absorb myself into the bubble where no one but Coda and I existed, and the rest would take care of itself.
We twined around the chandelier, playing coy with one another, colorful pinpricks from the fiber-optics speckling us with equally fickle sparks of spotlight. The dim lighting lent me confidence, and as we toyed initially with each other I gained momentum for the charade.
How much of a charade it really was, was a technicality that didn’t bear thinking about.
The whispers rose to a full-on static of bubbles in the chamber, sputtering throughout the sidelines.
Feast your eyes, inking vixens, I projected telepathically to the lot of them, and then I thought no more of them.
Whether or not it was part of the scheme, Coda had eyes only for me. He orbited around me like I was the sun to his earth, skimming the length of my golden tail with his ash-stained fingertips. More of those clever phantom sensations tingled through my nerves at his touch. At some point, by some unseen signal from Codexious, our song began playing. It was subtle, not the blaring, majestic debut I expected, but fitting–just a touch of our exclusive magic to set the mood, faint enough that I was heartened it didn’t give too much of our private fantasy away. At the same time, it had to be obvious there was something deeper going on with us, the way we went into our own bubble and danced to an unfamiliar symphony like it was the most familiar thing in the world.
I arched backward and spiraled teasingly around him, snaking up the length of his body, polishing my back against him. He twisted free and glided through the fan of my fin, feeling the tantalizing brush of feathers against his chest. I escaped across the expanse to a massive split geode display, where the neatly sliced halves mirrored each other one on the floor and one hanging from the dome, the lower of which was polished to a perfect stage-like platform rimmed with potted silver ferns. A blue-rushing waterfall spanned from one geode slab to the other, running between the central cavities of each crystal. Coda and I faced off on opposite sides of the waterfall, trifling with a moment of ‘playing hard to get’, the regent’s face glowing a sultry indigo behind the liquid veil.
Remember how I kissed you in the Deep? said his intent look, making my stomach weak.
I would never in a million years be able to forget.
He couldn’t wait much longer before chasing me out from behind the waterfall, and then the song was rising to a crescendo, and he whisked me into a twirling whirlwind and we ascended toward the ceiling in such a rush of bubbles that no one could rightly see what we did, and he did kiss me then, briefly and soundly, his hands cupping my face and his fingers tangled in my hair and his face pressed to mine for one resplendent instant. A fleeting, scandalous secret exchanged in a moment of concealment.
My insides reeled. What was he doing? It was a daring move even for our strategy. I stared at him as he slowed among the moss-dripping dome rafters, half alarmed, half inflamed. Why did he have to be so beautiful and bewitching? Like a fae prince who had me under a spell, so heady it just felt like I was at the bottom of the ocean, drowning in a fog of heavy, sweet water.
“You are maddeningly lovely,” he murmured so no one but me could hear, plagued by the same struggle. The ceiling shadows obscured much of his face except that telltale silver glint of his irises.
My gills quivered as if drawing a steadying breath. What were we doing? There was more going on here than a strategy to flush out the jealous offenders. That was ragingly clear.
But if our hot and heavy display didn’t do the trick, I didn’t know what would.
I swallowed, trying to stay focused lest we give the ballroom a show to rival what we’d treated the electric eels to in the Deep. “Watch my tower after I leave tonight,” I appealed quietly.
The slightest frown weighted his brow. As if you have to ask, his expression said. “Of course.”
Pursing my lips, I nodded, not knowing where to go from there. Better if I left him, though, so the watchers saw his attention never waver and deemed him thoroughly smitten.
“I’m going to take a victory lap to gloat, now,” I informed him. “Rub it in their faces a little.”
“I won’t take my eyes off you for a second,” he conspired right along with me, but I got the feeling it had less to do with pulling off his part of the charade and more to do with him milking the freedom to unleash the lovesick beast from its cage.
And so I took my victory lap, calling on every ounce of willpower I possessed to swim unflinching through the lion’s den, a ballroom full of seething mermaid gazes and the searing attention of one hopelessly infatuated regent trained heavily on me.
27
They came for me in the ethereal light of the lavender aurora. Half a dozen of them, encroaching on silent, watery wings from the canal shadows, slinking like wraiths up the side of my tower and ghosting into the tranquil water where I feigned sleep.
With Pastel huddled close at hand in the chamber shadows and Coda–if I could count on him for anything–stationed somewhere nearby where he could swoop in instantaneously, I managed to lay there unmoving, the image of one carelessly, blissfully dead to the world, both eyes sealed all but completely shut.
There was that flutter of disquiet, of course–all right, that flutter of raging, terrified paranoia–that would never let me leave my fate completely in anyone else’s hands or tentacles while the mob closed in, and so there was that compulsive need to crack one eye just a tiny bit, every few seconds or so.
Peeking through the teeniest slit for what must have been the hundredth time, I found not the dank, dark dome of my turret looming over me, but a face. Distorted by shadow, pupils slitted like a dragon’s, a silent snarl twisting a very fanged mouth into a freakish mask, hand raised with a jagged blade–
Oh, ink, no.
I flailed upright, but not before an unidentified torpedo plunged into the tower and ravaged through the gathering of mermaids. It was then that I saw how many there were–my chamber chock full of hostiles. They had surrounded me, all of them wrapped in eel skin to ward against my octopus crony, and I saw another blade glint and another blade drop to the floor as the currently-invading brigade swept in to immobilize the offenders.
I caught a glimpse of Coda’s silver scales, Inaja’s aqua hair, and a flashing frenzy of other fins I didn’t recognize infiltrating the midst of the female savages to interrupt the murderous ceremony taking place, right before Pastel cracked a gnarled eye and inked the lot of them, and my tower coughed smoke-bomb pink.
A heady daze pervaded my bloodstream, cotton-candy giggles bubbling up from deep inside me.
Ink and murk, I cursed somewhere in the back of my mind. Here we go again…
Someone was pulling me up, through the neon obscurity and the band of unseen, hissing mermaids, and out into the clear water. I smiled like a fool at his wavering, warped face, the effects of the drug making him look like he wore a rhinoceros mask, and he left me to loll there, returning to the action.
Removed from the cloud of ink before too much of it had entered my system, my addled state cleared rapidly. What was I doing, giggling out here in the empty water like an idiot? With some effort I repressed the lingering, irrational mirth, dragging my focus back to my tower. Had everyone worn eel skins, except for me?
Probably.
The ink was dissipating, the chamber coming back into focus. The predatory, dragon eyes of the mermaids were reforming back into their regular exotic aspect, but the glint of their blades still gleamed savage and sharp as ever, scattered on the floor of my turret. They had planned to stab me in my sleep–apparently they hadn’t wanted to leave anything to chance this time around–and watching t
he pink cloud spreading thin I realized just how quietly and cleanly you could murder someone underwater and leave next to no evidence. In my world, if a gang of fiends stabbed you in your bed, the whole room would be splashed and stained with crimson. Down here, if no sharks caught wind, the blood would plume away as quickly as you bled out and there you would lie, peaceful and perfect, the water clean and clear and stagnant like nothing had disturbed the night.
It was an eerie realization, leaving me shaken.
I inched closer to the tower, staring in at those apprehended, wanting to see their faces. They were just a random assortment of mermaids, albeit a hissing, sniveling, less-glamorous-in-their-hatred bunch. I’d probably seen them at the ball, though I had no memory of any of their savagely-twisted faces. But whether or not they were memorable to me, I had left enough of an impression that they’d felt compelled to murder me–twice. Just…wipe me off the face of the earth–or bottom of the ocean–to eliminate me from the picture.
These were the faces of those who had fed me to the sharks.
A geyser of rage blasted through my calm, my whole body going hot in an instant. The only thing that stopped me from charging in there and giving them all a piece of my mind was the visual of Coda floating into my line of sight, looming in their midst with a dangerous calm, his silence commanding their attention, his composure taut, his face smoldering with such rage that I could only assume the only reason he hadn’t torn them all to shreds where they treaded water was because he couldn’t decide whose throat to rip out first.
Even I wanted to feint a step back from that look. Calm he might be, but it was the precise flavor of calm that came before a storm.
Finally, the mermaids’ hissing died down, and they fell into a sort of defiant cower before their regent.
“I just can’t decide which of you,” Codexious began bitingly, “I should award as my beloved, darling bride for this vicious tribute of violence.” His scathing gaze cut from one mermaid to another, committing each culprit’s face to memory. I wondered if he recognized any, if he remembered dancing with them, flirting with them…
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