Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels

by Helene Boudreau

  I glanced from face to face as they sat on folding chairs scattered around Bridget’s office.

  “Don’t be silly, Dal. She’s one of us.” Mom stood and took me by the shoulders and addressed the rest of the group. “For those who don’t know, this is Jade.”

  Coach Laurena smiled and waved in acknowledgment since we’d met at the pool office just a few hours before. Daniel waved as well.

  “Okay…” I considered their faces for a second. Did this have something to do with school? The diner? Mom, Dad, and Eddie knew about the mermaid stuff, but surely that wasn’t what this meeting was all about.

  “Are you guys…” But I didn’t want to finish the sentence unless I knew for sure. One of the big rules about being a mer was that you kept the secret to yourself. Our Mer Code of Silence was the only way mers had been able to survive without being discovered.

  Bridget stood up first. “I guess this is as good a time as any. We’re going to need as much help as we can get, given the circumstances.”

  “Circumstances?” I looked from Bridget to Mom and Dad, trying to get a hint of what was going on. “Okay, somebody needs to clue me in on what’s really happening here.”

  Eddie cleared his throat.

  “Well, maybe this will help.” He turned to the group. “Will all the mers in the room please raise their hands?”

  Mom was the first to do so, then Coach Laurena and finally Bridget.

  “Coach Laurena?” I asked with a gasp. My underwater hockey coach was a mermaid? “Bridget?” I said even louder.

  All the time I’d been working at the diner’s ice cream parlor that summer I’d been trying to hide my secret from Bridget. And now I found out she was a mermaid, too? But the more I thought about it, the more it all made sense.

  “You’re a mer, too?” I looked over at Bridget and blinked a few times. “That’s how you knew how important the tidal pool behind the mall was.”

  “Yep. It had taken me a while to find it again after I transformed, but once I did, it became pretty important to me, too,” Bridget said with a smile. “Been a Webbed One for about fifteen years now.” “Webbed One” was the term for a human who started off as a mer.

  “And Coach Laurena?” I turned to her.

  “Three years this summer.” Coach Laurena placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder and turned to me with a mischievous smile.

  Back in June, I’d thought I was the only land-dwelling mer on the planet. Now I was staring, mouth open, at Mom plus Bridget and Laurena. Not to mention my mer-guy, Luke, eating his extremely salty fries back in the diner. Four other mers.

  My mind was officially blown.

  “Wow.” My knees wobbled. “I need to sit down.”

  I reached out to steady myself to keep from passing out and knocked over a pile of new stainless-steel pots, scattering them all over the floor.

  The sound of crashing pots brought Cori, Trey, Luke, and Serena to the office, wondering what the heck was going on.

  Eddie tried to explain what was happening while Bridget made sure there were no new customers in the diner so she could lock the front door.

  “Wait just a sec. Let me get this straight.” Cori held up a hand and closed her eyes as if trying to solve a quadratic equation in her head. We had all squeezed into the diner office and were standing, sitting, or perched on any available surface. “Who exactly are the humans and who are the mers here?”

  I pretended I was a talk-show host and grabbed a spatula to serve as my microphone.

  “Well, on Team Tail we have: Jade, Serena, Luke, my mom, Coach Laurena—” I pointed to each of them as I spoke.

  Just then, Bridget returned to the office. “And don’t forget about me.”

  “Bridget?” Cori put a hand to her mouth in disbelief. Bridget laughed and put an arm around Cori’s shoulder.

  “And on the leg team—” I began.

  “You’ve got Dalrymple Baxter, the husband and doting dad,” Dad piped up.

  “Chef Daniel, the dashing fiancé,” chimed in Daniel, flashing a smile.

  “And I’m the old guy who drinks too much coffee.” Shaky Eddie lifted his trembling mug.

  “So,” Bridget stood at her desk as if addressing a classroom, “we’ve all gathered here today because we’ve got ourselves a problem on the mer front.”

  “You mean all the vandalism happening on Talisman Lake?” I remembered what Gran and Luke had said about the sunken Jet Skis and damaged boats. “I thought we’d figured out Whatcha-ma-call-him was behind that.”

  I tried to be vague so Serena wouldn’t catch on to the fact that her dad was to blame for the shenanigans around the lake. Serena may have been the daughter of one of the vilest mers on the planet, but he was still her dad.

  “No,” Bridget said. “This isn’t about Talisman Lake, though we’re sure hoping that problem is under control.”

  Serena looked from me to Bridget, trying to keep up with the conversation. Mom put a hand on Serena’s shoulder and whispered something in her ear.

  “This new situation is more ocean-side,” Bridget continued while Mom translated everything for Serena in mer rings. “The truth is, the Mermish Council has decided to recall all land-dwelling mers.”

  A murmur rose from the group as everyone looked at each other, wondering what this meant.

  “Recall?” I asked.

  “They’re ordering all the Webbed Ones back to the ocean,” Bridget said quietly.

  Webbed Ones were humans who started off as mers, like Mom, Bridget, Laurena, Serena, and Luke. I started off as a human with mermaid tendencies so my situation was not quite the same as everyone else’s, but still—this was not good news.

  Most mer people thought Webbed Ones were just part of the fairy tales they were told when they were kids. The Mermish Council worked very hard to keep it that way to prevent ocean mers from defecting to land all willy-nilly.

  “But…” A large knot formed at the back of my throat as I tried to make sense of what was happening. “Why would the Mermish Council do that?”

  “There’s been some fighting between the Mermish Council and a group of mers who aren’t happy with the Council’s policies,” Eddie said.

  Mom continued to ring the mer translation to Serena. Her eyes grew wide.

  It’s like what Uncle Alzear told us before they locked us in the lake, Serena rang excitedly to me. Alzear talked about an uprising, remember? He said some mers would stop at nothing to see the Freshies free again.

  All the mers in the room looked over to Serena, while the non-mers searched our faces to try to understand what Serena had just said.

  “Serena’s right,” Luke chimed in. “Uncle Alzear told us a group of mers were starting some kind of secret revolution.”

  Uncle Alzear was Luke and our mer-friend Reese’s uncle and a sentry guard for the Mermish Council.

  “Well, the same underground—or underwater—revolution is gaining momentum,” Bridget said. “But the Mermish Council members are imprisoning everyone who opposes them in Talisman Lake with the rest of the Freshies.”

  “That’s nothing new,” I said, remembering the underwater tribunal when the Mermish Council had captured Luke. “Dame Council practically admitted that Serena’s parents were framed for a murder they didn’t commit because they had spoken out against the Council. Apparently, a lot of the Freshies in Talisman Lake are there for the same reason.”

  Serena gave me a grateful smile.

  Eddie chimed in. “About seven mers are being held at the canal by the sentries right now. They’re waiting for me to open the gate’s lock when the next boat comes through. That’s more prisoners than I’ve seen in the past three years.”

  “So where does this recall thing come in?” I asked. “If the Mermish Council is kicking its enemies out of the ocean, doesn’t that kind of solve the Council’s problem?”

  “Seven mers is just the tip of the iceberg,” Bridget said quietly. “Many more mers are secretly unhappy, and the Counc
il members want to make sure they’re ready for any more surprises. According to my source, the Mermish Council is revoking land status and drafting Webbed Ones into their forces to help fight the uprisings.”

  “What?” I cried. “That’s crazy. They can’t do that.”

  If all the Webbed Ones I knew were recalled to the ocean to fight for the Mermish Council that would mean losing Luke, Serena, Bridget, and…Mom. Plus Coach Laurena and any other Webbed Ones walking around Port Toulouse that we didn’t already know about.

  “Yeah, it’s not like they can force us to jump back into the ocean if we don’t want to,” Luke said.

  “Right,” I agreed. “What are they going to do—come pull us from our beds?”

  “Well, not exactly,” Bridget said. “But mers are governed by very powerful ancient laws. For instance, haven’t you ever had an urge to rescue a human in need?”

  A light turned on inside my brain. “Yes! Like that time Cori fell into the ocean down at Toulouse Point. And the other time she fell off the truck at the construction site.”

  “I really need to stop falling off stuff,” Cori joked.

  “Is that the kind of thing you mean?” I asked Bridget.

  “Yes,” Bridget said. “These are forces we have no control over. This time, the Mermish Council plans to enforce Tidal Law, which is basically like recalling all the aliens to the mother ship.”

  “Huh?” I asked.

  “It’s like we all have GPS trackers inside us, and when the Mermish Council members want to call us back, they switch on their homing device to lead us there,” Mom answered. “Every mer reacts to Tidal Law in a different way, but there’s no way we can fight against it if that’s what the Mermish Council wants.”

  “But Tidal Law? What do tides have to do with anything?” I asked.

  “Nature is a powerful thing,” Dad chimed in, putting on his engineering hat. “If we’ve learned anything from our research on tidal pools, it’s that we can’t make any assumptions.”

  Dad had a point. The tides in the tidal pool behind the mall had helped Mom and Serena become human by controlling the right amount of air and water and salt they breathed to force the change. Dad had invented the Merlin 3000 in our garage as a prototype that did the same thing, using a hot tub, computers, and a bunch of tubes.

  “So, when is this supposed to happen?” I asked.

  “If my source is correct, they plan on using the next supermoon when the tides are the strongest to help them.” Bridget glanced at the calendar.

  “What’s a supermoon?” I asked.

  “There’s a full moon every month or so, but every fourteen months the moon’s orbit brings it closest to the earth, making the full moon seem larger than normal,” Dad chimed in. “It also creates really high tides.”

  “They’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a while now,” Bridget said. “The supermoon and the high tides will create the best conditions for whatever they have planned.”

  “But even if they get us in the ocean, they can’t force us to fight for them,” Luke insisted.

  “Apparently they have some secret weapon they plan to use to control us but again, they’re waiting for the supermoon to take full effect so they can get the best bang for their buck,” Bridget added.

  “And they’re locking up anyone causing them grief in the meantime,” Eddie added.

  “But we have time to figure out how to beat this, right?” I asked. “When’s the next supermoon?”

  “Just hold on a sec and I’ll tell you.” Dad was already googling for the answer on his phone. “Oh, this is interesting. Did you know the word ‘lunatic’ is derived from the word ‘luna,’ which is Latin for moon? Some believe full moons can have profound psychological—”

  “Dad!”

  “Nine days.” Dad clicked off his phone and put it in his belt holder. “The next supermoon is nine days away.”

  “Nine days!” I cried. This couldn’t be happening. I’d just started dating and had finally made it to high school. Weren’t those the kind of things I should be worried about instead of being forced to fight in a marine war? “Why would the Mermish Council want Webbed Ones in the ocean again, anyway? So far, the Council has done everything it can to keep them a secret.”

  “They’re obviously getting desperate,” Dad said.

  Dad put his arm around Mom’s shoulder and laid his cheek against her hair. Just when I’d gotten our family back together, now the Mermish Council wanted to tear it apart again? No way!

  “This is all ridiculous,” I said with a shake of my head. “I still don’t see how the moon can be used to control someone.”

  “Interesting fact…” Dad pushed his glasses back up his nose and blinked quickly. “There’s actual scientific evidence that lunar phases have a physiological effect on human biological functions at the cellular level.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” I muttered. “That really clears things up.”

  “Maybe I can help.” Bridget pulled a few metal thumbtacks off her bulletin board and grabbed a large cooking pot I’d toppled over. “Come to the kitchen and I’ll show you.”

  We all filed into the kitchen as Bridget put an inch of water into the pot at the big sink. She dropped a bunch of tacks into the pot and pulled the heavy-duty magnet that held the food purchase orders off the kitchen fridge. We gathered around the sink to watch.

  “The moon acts like a big magnet over the water.” She held the magnet a short distance away from the water. The tacks jiggled in response. “The closer the moon is to the earth, like during a supermoon, the stronger the magnetic pull.” She hovered the magnet closer to the water and waved it over the thumbtacks. They followed the magnet’s path.

  “Even if we don’t see the forces of the tide and moon, they still control us,” she continued. “The Mermish Council has somehow found a way to harness this power and use it to its advantage.”

  Everyone talked among themselves as they discussed what this all meant. Finally, Eddie piped up.

  “So basically, we have nine days to figure out how to deal with this. We just wanted you to be aware of what’s going on so we can try to prepare the best we can.”

  “So what do we do in the meantime?” Coach Laurena asked. “I’ve got all the school teams to manage plus the fall aquatic program for the community center.” She grasped Daniel’s hand.

  “School Counshell?” Serena asked. “Hockshee? Chessh Club—”

  “Chess Club?” Mom and Dad looked at me and back to Serena.

  “Yeah, Serena’s been bitten by the school spirit bug,” I said.

  “I think the best thing to do is go about your business for now,” Eddie said. “Dalrymple and I will do more research on the subject. But if anything happens out of the ordinary in the meantime, report it back to us.”

  Everyone shifted in their spots, not quite knowing what to do next.

  “And I’ll try to get more information from my source,” Bridget said. “In the meantime, how about if Daniel and I fry up some clams for everyone to let all this information sink in?”

  “I’m on it.” Daniel opened the fridge door and started pulling things out. Everyone nodded in agreement and headed back out into the diner. I held back.

  “Hey, Bridget?” I asked once everyone else had gone. “Who exactly is this source you keep talking about?”

  “My son.” Bridget put the thumbtacks aside and dumped the water from the pot.

  “I never knew you had a son,” I said in surprise. In all the years I’d known Bridget, she’d never once mentioned any kind of family.

  “We all have our secrets, don’t we?” Bridget dried her hands and looked at me for a moment, then went to her coat hanging on the hook by the back door. She pulled a familiar-looking ID folder from her coat’s pocket, then walked back over to me and opened the folder’s flap.

  She turned the picture toward me. “I believe you kids call him Reese?”

  It was an underwater close-up shot of a teenager’s
face. Sure enough, through the shimmering water in the picture, the chubby, cheerful face of a teenage mer-boy I knew smiled back.

  Reese!

  Reese had told me that he’d lost his mother but that he always carried her memory around. Suddenly it all made sense.

  “So that’s why Reese carries your picture in his satchel. He has one of these ID folders, too. I thought he was a klepto, but you’re actually his mom?”

  “Yup. I had to give him up as soon as he was born. We’ve stayed in touch ever since, but it’s been hard.”

  “Ah, man.” My mind was about to explode from information overload.

  “Are you okay?” Bridget asked, reaching out to touch my arm.

  “Yes, but if you don’t mind, can I pass on the clams? What I could really use is the biggest Bridget Burger known to man.”

  Breakfast was tenser than usual the next morning after everything that had happened at Bridget’s Diner the day before. We sat around the kitchen table, trying to come up with a plan to deal with the possibility that everyone might be dragged back to sea in just over a week.

  Another thing throwing us off kilter was having the fourth seat at the breakfast table occupied by a new member of the Baxter family. But instead of looking worried, Serena looked positively blissful about the prospect of a looming mer revolution. She even tried some eggs instead of her canned sardine standby.

  Dad was freaking, though. He stood quickly from the table with his plate of half-eaten bacon, which, for Dad’s—ahem—healthy appetite, showed exactly how upset he was.

  “We’ll just build some sort of safe house until this thing blows over,” Dad said as he scraped his leftovers into the garbage can.

  “A safe house?” I asked. “Like when the FBI puts someone in the witness protection program?”

  “Not exactly. I was thinking of something more high-tech.” Dad’s work as an engineer had come in handy when he built us the Merlin 3000. He was obviously back in “mad scientist” mode. “I might be able to use one of our wind tunnels at work to create some kind of reverse force field. Maybe line the tunnel with anti-magnetic foil to block the forces of the moon?”