“Yeah, but sharks eat mermaids!” I protested, my teeth chattering in between each word. The sleek grey and white serial killer ignored us as it glided by, proving her point. At least, for the time being.
“Just like us, sharks have to eat. We aren’t their first choice,” she explained. “We’re too boney, not enough fat to satisfy their hunger.”
I bit down on my lip and held my breath until the shark had passed. My mother turned around and hugged me. She congratulated me for being brave. That was the last word I would have used to describe myself during that moment, but my chest swelled with pride at the thought that my mother was proud of me.
Mirna’s sobs interrupted my memory.
“What are we going to do?” asked Dyna. “Can we get out of here and go find her?”
Yazmine shook her head. “There isn’t any way out.”
Mirna said, “Not unless—"
“We are NOT asking him,” Dainese spat.
“Who? Cyrus?” I asked.
Dainese turned toward me with rage in her eyes. “We are not asking him for any help!”
I debated backing down, but decided to stand my ground. “Why don’t you want to ask Cyrus for help?”
Dainese’s face had turned dark red. “It was her time to go back to the sea. The dragons don’t keep us here forever. You should know better. Plus, she’s been sent home. We should be happy for her!”
Mirna hid her face in the crook of Dyna’s arm and sobbed.
“But, I didn’t want her to go,” cried Mirna. “I want her back here with us.”
Her face softening, Dainese pulled Mirna into her arms and gave her a hug. “It’s going to be okay. Just think about it, she’ll be able to go back home and tell everyone about the dragons. And remember, she will have brought all of her jewelry and gold. They will gladly welcome her back into the kingdom and we will be one step closer to living together peacefully.”
Frowning, I asked, “Wait, if Azure isn’t the first to go missing, why hasn’t anyone in the sea heard of this place before? Why don’t the mermaids know that the dragons want to make peace?”
“We’ve been expelled from the kingdom,” said Dainese. “People don’t always want to listen to us.”
Could it be possible? Did the dragons really send one of the mergirls back to the sea? Had she attempted to tell my father or Uncle Tryon about this place? Did they ignore her? Heat rushed to my cheeks. Whenever I spoke, people listened. In fact, when myself or Gemma spoke, most merpeople practically tripped over their tails just to listen to my problems. I couldn’t fathom my voice not being heard.
Dainese’s shoulders rose and fell as she exhaled. “Hopefully she’ll have more luck than the others.”
A bell chimed three times followed by a booming announcement. “Aria, please report for your health screening.” It was the same voice I’d heard in the tunnel. My lip curled up in disgust at the thought of a landwalker recording the messages played for us.
My hand shook as I locked eyes with Dainese. “What if—”
She interrupted me and tugged on her ear. “They can hear us,” she mouthed.
Dyna swam to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Aria, if they let you go, please don’t leave without me.”
“I won’t go anywhere without all of you,” I promised.
The bell chimed again. “Aria, please report to the red door, now.”
“Can they hear us?” I asked, trying to mask my fear and anger.
Cyrus frowned. “Can who hear us?”
I kept my voice steady. “The dragons, can they hear us in this room?”
He didn’t respond, but his eyes rose to a small black device in the right-hand corner of the room.
I brought my hand to my face and fought the urge to chew on my nails. Looking around the room, I tried to find an escape route. There was only one door out and it had a large lock on it.
The small glass tank I had swam into only held enough water to cover my body from the waist down.
“Can I please have your arm?” asked Cyrus.
“I feel sick,” I lied. “Can you take me somewhere else?”
Worry flashed through his emerald eyes. “What are your symptoms?”
I let my head rest in my hands. “Um, dizzy. I feel really dizzy.”
He held the back of his hand to my forehead. His touch sent tingles down my spine. “You don’t feel warm. But, I can bring you to a quarantine room to let you rest while I run some tests.”
I nodded. Hopefully they won’t be able to hear us in the quarantine rooms. “Yeah, my, um, my mother was really sick the night I was taken. I’m worried I have the same thing.” Normally, I hated lying, but here, it came second nature.
“Scoot down a bit further,” instructed Cyrus.
As I followed his instructions, he moved behind me and unhitched the tank I was sitting in from the main tank.
Cyrus rolled the enclosure toward a metal door. “It’s kind of small, but it will be quiet.”
After securing my tank in the room, Cyrus left to retrieve several needles and small clear tubes.
When he returned, he closed the door. “Besides feeling dizzy, are you experiencing any other symptoms?”
“Can they hear us in here?” I asked, ignoring his question.
With a knitted brow, Cyrus narrowed his eyes on mine. “No. This room is not monitored.”
I crossed my arms across my chest. “What is really going on here?”
He frowned. “Pardon?”
“I don’t buy it. The story about the dragons wanting to live in peace with the mermaids. The way you looked at me. You know something you aren’t telling us. What’s really going on?”
A metal tray clanged on the ground. Cyrus’s eyes shot open as he looked down at his empty hands.
“And,” I continued, “What did you do with Azure? The others say that she isn’t the first to go missing.”
A sadness washed across his face.
He opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped himself.
“Cyrus, something isn’t right and you know it. Tell me what’s going on.”
He let out a slow sigh. “It’s complicated.” He reached one hand in his pocket.
I pressed my lips together and continued to stare at him.
“I can’t,” he protested.
I softened my voice. “How about I tell you a secret first… Then you can tell me what’s really going on here.”
Cyrus tilted his head to the side and ran his hand through his dark brown locks.
“I’m a princess,” I blurted out. I knew it was risky, but I had to try something, anything to get him to talk.
His face turned ashen in color. “Wh- wh- what did you just say?”
I tucked a fallen strand of ebony hair behind my ear. “My name is Aria and I’m the daughter of King Triden.”
“No, you can’t be,” Cyrus whispered. “The dragon found you outside the kingdom boundaries.”
“I was bringing food to Dyna and the other merpeople my Uncle Tryon threw out of the kingdom,” I explained. “We let our curiosity get the best of us and we went to the surface to see the dragon.”
Cyrus shook his head. “This can’t be happening…”
“What can’t be happening?” I asked, reaching for his hand.
He flinched as my fingers brushed against his.
“Aria, I don’t know how to tell you this…” Cyrus started, but trailed off.
“Tell me what?” I urged him to continue.
His pained expression was almost too much to handle.
“Cyrus, please,” I said, “Please tell me what’s going on.”
“King Falcor will be so upset with me,” he said quietly.
I gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Forget him for right now. Tell me the real reason we’re being held here.”
Several seconds passed before he said anything. I didn’t want to press him, but I needed an answer.
“It’s the King’s son,” Cy
rus quietly admitted, “he’s sick.”
My eyebrows shot up in confusion. “What does that have to do with mermaids?”
“The King has lost five children to the same plague.” Cyrus lowered his voice, “When his youngest son came down with the disease, he became desperate. The King vowed to do anything to help his son.”
Confusion set in, but I didn’t interrupt for fear that he would stop talking.
Cyrus let his head fall until his chin met his chest. “It’s called the scale plague, but most refer to it as scale rot. The King’s family is only one of many to be infected. Dragons across the country have been perishing for many years.”
“Scale rot?” I had never heard of this illness before. “Wait, why are you helping him?”
His hand tightened around mine. “Aria, I have to tell you something, but you must keep it to yourself. If the others find out, they’ll be devastated.”
“I promise,” I said.
“King Falcor kidnapped my family when I was just a young boy. I was immediately given a barrage of tests and after scoring high in math and science, he sent me to an elite school taught by landwalker scholars. After more than a decade of instruction, he insisted that I join the team dedicated to finding a cure for his sick children.”
I shook my head. “Why did you agree to help him?”
He exhaled slowly, pulling up a chair. As he sat down, his gaze met my eyes. “Aria, I’m not a landwalker.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
His face turned ashen. “The king threatened to kill everyone I loved if I didn’t do well in my studies. One time, when I failed a test on purpose, they retaliated by putting my sister in the tank…” He paused for several seconds before continuing, “I’ve looked after her for years, made sure she was healthy, and has happy as possible, but the others started to see that I treated her differently. Rumors started pretty quickly and they never died down.”
“Azure,” I whispered, my mind totally blown.
He shifted his weight, as if the memories were making him physically uncomfortable. “As long as I continued to study and search for a cure around the clock, the King allowed Azure to remain in the tank as new mermaids were kidnapped and brought here. She was treated well and given gifts, but she was still a prisoner. We never told anyone that she was my sister. The other mermaids thought she had some kind of crush on me. It was pretty gross, but it worked as a cover for our story.”
“I can’t believe the King made you test your own sister.” My voice was heavy with disbelief.
The golden flecks in his green eyes became blurry as his eyes filled with tears. “I refused. I just monitored her health. Besides the single scale and the first vial of blood, I never ran any further tests. Until this morning, the king allowed it to remain this way.”
My heart ached for him and his family. “I’m sorry, Cyrus. That’s terrible.” I paused, carefully selecting my words. “How many more have there been?”
His shoulders tensed. “Just the mergirls that are in the tank now. Azure told them there were others, it gave them hope that they would be allowed to go home one day.”
I let his words sink in. Lies. Lies to give hope. Lies to hide the truth. Everything was based on lies.
He continued, “The King believes that mermaids might hold the cure for the disease, but I haven’t been able to find a long-term solution to fight the scale rot. He’s growing impatient with me, and his son Arwyn has taken a turn for the worse, so he had Azure pulled from the tank and thrown into a cell. She’s barely given enough food to survive. He said my parents are next unless I come up with a cure. They live in a small house on the castle grounds and work in the castle from dawn till dusk.”
Stunned, I tried to make sense of the cruelty. “I just don’t understand…”
Cyrus’s shoulders rose then fell as he let out a slow exhale.
“Why does the king think we hold the cure?” I asked.
“I started drawing the blood of land animals and running tests,” Cyrus admitted. “But, nothing on land worked, so I moved on to fish, turtles, and other sea creatures.”
I blinked rapidly.
“I didn’t hurt any of them,” Cyrus said, holding his arms up for protection. “I just drew their blood and tried different antidotes on the King’s son.”
“Did anything help?” I already knew the answer to the question before it escaped my lips.
He shook his head. “Nothing worked until…”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up on end. “Until you tested a mermaid scales… That’s why the dragons keep us in a tank instead of in dry cages. They need our tails.”
Cyrus nodded, rubbing his face with both hands. “I used my own blood. At first, the results were promising. The King’s son showed signs of improvement. But, after a few doses, the symptoms came back. His scales turned a pale green and began to rot again.”
My mind flickered back to the previous day, when Dyna and I were announced to the dragons. On the inside of the castle, Cyrus had stood next to a small dragon with dull green scales. It must have been the dragon king’s son. Barely able to hold his head up, the dragon had looked sickly from the moment I laid eyes on him.
“If I don’t come up with a cure soon…” Cyrus dropped his gaze as he trailed off. “The king will throw me and everyone I love into the dungeon for the rest of our lives.”
Mind racing, I mentally listed off our options. There weren’t many. Either, find a cure, which didn’t seem very likely, or escape. Otherwise, we’d all spend our lives imprisoned in the castle with no hope of being returned to the sea.
He looked up from under his thick eyelashes. “I know what you’re thinking. It’s not possible.”
I chewed on my thumbnail. “We need to escape. There aren’t any other options.”
Cyrus swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “The dragons are everywhere. We’d never make it past the castle walls.”
“We need to come up with a plan, Cyrus. Otherwise, we’re all dead.” I rubbed my arms to ward off the chilling realization. “Or, best case scenario, we’d be stuck in a watery prison for the rest of our lives.”
His shoulders slumped.
“What if all of the mermaids get sick?” I asked.
Scrunching up his face, Cyrus looked at me with confusion in his eyes. “What?”
I shifted my weight in the tank. “You could bring us all into quarantine rooms. Tell the dragons that I brought a virus from the sea and we need to rest before you resume testing. The King would be livid if we were too sick to test. If you can give us 24 hours, we can escape in the middle of the night.”
“Escape where?” asked Cyrus. He held his arms up. “This place is a fortress. I can’t exactly walk you out the front door.”
I stared down at my scales. They weren’t nearly as shiny as they were when I first had been dumped in the big tank. My sister would panic if her tail didn’t shimmer as she swam through the deep sea.
“How can I sneak you out… How, how, how?” Cyrus muttered as he paced back and forth in the small room. Three steps to the right, followed by a short spin on his heel, then three steps to the left.
“If we all squeeze into this transport tank, could you sneak us out?” I asked, motioning to the glass box I was sitting in. “Throw a blanket over it? Pretend it’s medical waste you need to dispose of somewhere off castle grounds?”
He shook his head. “No, there are guards posted at every exit. They check everything that goes in and out of the castle.”
“What if we pretend to be landwalkers?” I asked.
“It will be too obvious,” said Cyrus. “The King’s guards will know the moment they lay their eyes you.”
He was right. I could barely stand on my legs, let alone walk confidently. I imagined that the other mergirls would be in the same boat.
“What if something goes wrong in the tank? What if it breaks?” I suggested. “Is there an evacuation plan we could use to our advantage?”
<
br /> “No, the tank is monitored twenty-four seven. The dragons would know.” His eyes lit up. “Wait, if I say you’ve come down with a serious virus, I could tell the dragons that we have to drain the water and clean the tank. We would have to move you all to the temporary tank you were held in when you first arrived.”
I rubbed my chin. “Okay, but how does that help us?”
“There’s an old drainage system in the other tank. It’s like a giant toilet.”
Arching an eyebrow, I searched my memory for the term toilet. I came up empty. “What is that?”
“What is what?” he replied.
“What’s a toilet?” I asked, the unfamiliar word sounded funny as it left my tongue.
The corners of his lips twitched. “Oh, right! We didn’t have those under the water.”
I shook my head.
“It’s…” he paused as if trying to find the right words, “it’s where you go the bathroom. When you flush the toilet, it sends everything down pipes that run through a water treatment facility run by imprisoned landwalkers. I don’t know why I didn’t think about this before!”
“How does a toilet help us?” I asked, my voice heavy with skepticism.
Cyrus managed a smile, but there was something off about his expression. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.
“If I manage to sneak my parents up here after their shifts in the kitchen, I can switch the drainage system on and flush us all down the pipes. We should come out in a small freshwater mote that surrounds the castle. There’s a tunnel on the south side that leads directly to the sea.”
“What about Azure?” I asked.
Cyrus pinched the bridge of his nose. “I should be able to get Azure out of her cell. The dragons guarding her trust me and if I tell them that she’s been exposed to a potentially deadly virus, they won’t want to be anywhere near her. They will gladly let me take her to quarantine.”
I tilted my head to the side and studied his face. “Do you really think this plan will work?”
He winced. “I’m not sure. Dragons guard the castle twenty-four hours a day. There’s a good chance they’ll see us when we reach the moat. It will be a miracle if we all make it to the sea.”
Sirens and Scales Page 353
